This is the Bible study guide for February 5-11, 2012. On Sunday, I'm preaching from Ephesians 1-3, from the entire section devoted to Paul's description of God's plan and our role in it. The study questions are from those three chapters.
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This is the Bible study guide for January 29 to February 4, 2012, containing questions for Ephesians 3, Zephaniah 3, and Luke 13:1-9.

Sunday morning's sermon will be from Ephesians 3, and Sunday evening's sermon will be from Luke 13:1-9. Zephaniah 3 will be a supplemental reading for Sunday morning's sermon.
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This study contains questions from Ephesians 2, Leviticus 19:1-18, and 1 Peter 1:12-2:13. On Sunday morning, I'll be preaching from Ephesians 2, and I'll be preaching from the other two passages on Sunday night.
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This is the Bible study guide for January 15-21, 2012, including questions from Ephesians 1, Psalm 8, and Proverbs 1.
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_Our faith can become very self-centered and selfish. We "pick" a church to go to based on whether we like the singing or the style of teaching, or because or friends go there or they have a well-known preacher. We like the benefits of our salvation (eternal life, forgiveness of sins, the Holy Spirit) but we don't always like the sacrifice that this requires of us. We complain about attending worship; we're too tired to pray; and the Bible is too difficult to read.

But in the Bible our faith is not about us, it's about God. This is especially so in the opening section in Ephesians (1:3-14). There, Paul focuses on the reality of our spiritual experience--and demonstrates that it is rooted in God's grace, for God's glory, not for our own preferences.

Paul lists six "benefits" we receive because of God--God has blessed us, he chose us, he predestined us for adoption as his children; in Christ he redeemed us, he gave us an inheritance, and he sealed us with the promised Holy Spirit. While we receive benefits from this, the purpose is for God's glory to be praised.

God's glory is praised by our proclamation, both in speech and deed. This is the fulfillment of Old Testament promises where Israel was to be the light that drew in all nations to God's glory (Isaiah 49:1-7; 60:1-3). Yet, this fulfillment comes in Christ and carries through to us who are "in him."

We can be self-centered or God-centered, but not both. God's glory needs to be reflected and we can reflect it. In Ephesians, Paul teaches that God's glory can be reflected in our prayers (1:15-23; 3:14-21), in unity (ch 2), in maturity (ch 4) and in our household relationships (5:22-6:9).

What would be different if you changed your focus from self to God? How would that change the way you worship (or even the content of your worship)? How would it change your relationship with others, both in and out of the church, knowing that each relational interaction provided you with an opportunity to reflect and give praise to God's glory?
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This is the Bible study guide for the week of January 8-14, 2012. On Sunday I'll preach from Ephesians 1:3-14 on the theme of "God's Glory and Blessing." The questions in the study guide are from Ephesians and 2 Samuel 7:1-17.
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This is the devotional guide for October 16-22, 2011. In it, I've focused on the theme of baptism. As you go through this week, you'll learn both why we are baptized and what happens when we are baptized.
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This is the devotional guide for September 11-17, 2011. The questions are from Proverbs 6, James 3:13-17, and Ephesians 4:17-32. The theme is centered around gossip and unwholesome speech.

Please share this with others if you find it useful and helpful.
Devotional Guide for September 11-17, 2011
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1. From Ephesians 1, what things has God done for the church? How has God incorporated the church? How does Paul's prayer (Eph. 1:15-20) tie in with these themes?

2. If Ephesians 1 is about the action of God in forming the church, how does chapter 2 develop the same ideas, but with emphasis on humanity?

3. What prompts Paul prayer in Ephesians 3? What does he pray for? How is this prayer a model for us?

4. How does Ephesians 4 describe the diversity that exists within the unity of the church? How is this developed in practical ways in ministry?

5. What is the theological basis for the good works described in Ephesians 4-5?

6. How is the "household relationships" (Eph. 5:21-6:9) teaching rooted in our relationship with Christ?

7. How does the armor of God serve to both protect us and build us up in faith (Eph. 6)?

8. In Philippians 1, what experience does Paul want the believers to have (1:11)? How is this illustrated in his own experience (chapter 1)?

9. How is Christ an example for us (Phil. 2)?

10. What should we have confidence in, according to Philippians 3? How does Paul describe this in his own experience?

11. How is the practical teaching in Philippians 4 tied in with the teaching in chapters 1-3?

12. According to 1 Thessalonians 1-3, how did the Thessalonian believers receive the word? How is this a model for us of both teaching and receiving the word?

13. What practical instructions does Paul offer in 1 Thessalonians 4-5?
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As I've been studying biblical church leadership over the past year, I keep coming back to the New Testament books of 1 Timothy and Titus and these passages: 1 Corinthians 12-14; Romans 12:3-8; and Ephesians 4:7-16. It's rare for a book on church leadership to give proper attention to these passages, so I find myself reading and thinking about these texts (and commentaries on them).

Recently, I found a book called The Equipping Ministry of the Pastor (EMP), by Jerry File. EMP is a short book, only 93 pages long. But it's well-written, and it covers the pastor's work by specific study of the problems in the Corinthian church (mainly due to the arguments over spiritual gifts in chapters 12-14), the work of the pastor detailed by Paul in 1 Timothy, and the five-fold ministry of leadership presented in Ephesians 4.

Dr. File states that the goal of church leadership, and the ultimate purpose of the pastor (referred throughout as the teaching-shepherd, via Ephesians 4:12), is to equip the saints for perfection. The pastor does this mainly through teaching the word to the congregation. (It's the congregation's responsibility to learn and to allow the pastor time for study and teaching.) Teaching the congregation is done both corporately and privately, either in small groups or in individual meetings.

File also places emphasis on the role of the evangelist. He points out that, biblically, evangelists would proclaim the gospel, call the converted together to form a church, and appoint elders before moving on to a different area. These appointed elders could become the teaching-shepherds of the congregation, or the congregation could employ a teaching-shepherd from outside the congregation.

As File is presumably Baptist, based on the seminaries he attended, it's no surprise that he does not cover the role of the apostle and prophet in the contemporary church. In fact, he states that these roles were foundational (Eph. 2:20) and have since passed away since the foundation has been laid. He locates this foundation in the completion and formation of the New Testament. While I see this logic, I also have some reservations about it and see no problem acknowledging that God may gift, through his Spirit, different individuals to function apostolically or prophetically. The difference for me is that these are not given titles of "apostle" or "prophet." Instead, they function this way because of their gifts.

Much attention is paid to the equipping of the church. The pastor is to teach the word because it's through the word that the church becomes equipped for ministry, and it's through equipping that the church is perfected. This incorporates insights from 1 Corinthians 12-14, as File points out that the church is not to expect the pastor to do all the ministry. In fact, the church, through their various gifts, is expected to minister to each other. They learn about this, and become equipped for it, through the teaching ministry of the teaching-shepherd/pastor.

This book is a little light in places and I would have liked more depth. Overall, it presents a nice study, almost in outline form, of the work of the pastor and the expectations of the church. For me, the attention paid to biblical texts lets me offer a strong recommendation for this book. If you are looking for a book that details biblical leadership, you will be happy with this one.
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