As the revelations of the last few weeks now make abundantly clear, our freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and our freedom of religion may have never been in greater jeopardy than they are right now. The remainder of this year will likely determine whether we will remain a free people or succumb to a terrible tyranny.

This week we continue our study with Ephesians 5:19:

The world now stands at one of the greatest watershed points of human history. The next few years will be more crammed with destiny and purpose than most will be able to keep up with. For those who serve the Lord, it will be an opportunity to accomplish and witness some of the greatest exploits ever done in His name.

This week we will continue our study with Ephesians 3:7-9:

The written Word of God, the Scriptures, is the basis for all Christian doctrine. The gift of prophecy is not used for establishing doctrine—rather it is used by the Lord to direct His people in the present and sometimes in revealing the future. When prophetic revelations have been wrongly used to establish a new teaching, these have inevitably been false teachings and have often resulted in the beginning of a cult. We should never give credence to one who seeks to use a revelation to establish a doctrine.

Amos 3:3 asks, “Can two walk together unless they are in agreement?” This has often been wrongly interpreted to mean that we cannot walk together with someone unless we are in full agreement. If that was true, we would not be able to walk with anyone, including, in most cases, our spouses! Amos 3:3 is a question, and the answer is “yes.” I think the answer would be more accurate if we can walk together in any area that we agree on.

We have briefly studied three phases of development, maturity, and operations in the church. For the purpose of this study, “Taking the Land,” I would categorize them:

1) Taking the land
2) Occupying the land
3) Making the land fruitful

Our text for this week is Ephesians 5:11-12:

Heaven is real. The most wonderful experiences on earth cannot compare with the glory we will experience in heaven. And it will never end! Our life today will be filled with wonder and awe to the degree that we can perceive this unfathomable inheritance we have in Christ. It is the basic calling of every Christian to perceive and experience heaven now, and bring evidence of it back to earth so that others will begin to look up.