ephp2

           Ephesians
        Equipping The Saints
                   Part Two

THE PRIESTLY BLESSING
“…This is the way you shall bless the children of Israel:
The Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
So shall they put (invoke) ‘My name’
On the children of Israel,
And I will bless them.”
Numbers 6:22-27

To make His face shine upon you implies taking pleasure in the
worshiper, with the result that the Lord will be gracious or favorable
to the worshiper. And to lift up His countenance upon you, similar to
making His face shine…results in peace, the provision of all things
necessary for the well-being of the believer. As Moses’ face shone,
because of the presence of the ‘Shekina Glory’s’ face shining upon
him; resulting in PUTTING (INVOKING) MY NAME ON the
children of Israel.

TO EVOKE & INVOKE IS: to call up; to summon forth; to draw
out; to bring to pass, to address earnestly, call upon. We, the Body
of Messiah, are the New and added to the Israel of Yahweh God;
we are all under the Melchizedec Order of Priesthood now, no
longer a Levitical one. So we must invoke, summon forth His Name,
and this I do upon you, Children, before we begin our Lesson, in
Jesus’!

Ephesians Chapter One
   “Paul an Apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God; to the saints
who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus.” (Notice the place
each believer serves in the Body of Messiah is by the “will of God.”
Also, note to whom the letter is addressed…the saints, which is not a
religious title,
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but a declared state of being, “what you are, a holy people).” 3)
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has
blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in
Christ, 4) just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the
world” (before He created the cosmos…in Him, we were in His
loins), “that we should be holy and without blame before Him in
love, 5) having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to
Himself, according to the pleasure of His will, to the praise of the
glory of His grace, by which He made us
accepted in the Beloved.”

BLESSINGS IN HEAVENLY REALMS
   (Right from the beginning Paul raises the saint’s mind onto the
heavenly plane where it remains throughout the letter. The “spiritual
blessings” listed belong to “heaven”(as do the keys of the kingdom’s
authority), from all eternity and will there be fully realized at the end
of
time. But now these divine privileges and resources are available,
and the saints must know this and be equipped for each individual’s
ministry…which is not necessarily baking cakes, janitorial service, or
singing in the choir…eventhough we do and should. However, these
blessings are spiritual, they pertain to the Kingdom, to the Hand of
God’s power extended; we are His hand extended working His
works.

  The variety of “spiritual gifts” and other blessings of the heavenly
Kingdom distributed, are by the Holy Spirit to each member (organ)
of
Christ’s Body. The human body is an extreme functional Organism.
It
is a combining (putting together) of many parts working as a whole.
What affects one organ of the body affects the whole. “Each member
relates to and depends upon the other, each contributes to the
welfare of
the entire body worldwide,” 1 Corinthians 3 & 12.

When a person is conceived in the womb…immediately the sex of
that
person is determined and each organ (part) already has it‘s created
destiny (hand, thumb, finger, etc.), then that organ begins
developing!
When one is conceived in the Body of Messiah, that one organ in His
many membered Body, is already being formed for his or her special
work to be done in ministry. This is why “All things work together
for
good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose
(in
the Body).” And many times correction needs to be applied Roman’s
3
8:28-29. The amputation of one limb handicaps the entire body.
There
is no Christian brother or sister whom we do not need. The word
“body” (Greek soma) is related to sozo, meaning “to heal, preserve,
be
made whole.” The clear intent is that the supernatural energized gifts
are permanent for the work of the ministry in the Body as well as
evangelizing the World. This is the realm of Heaven’s Kingdom on
Earth and all heavenly places, the cosmos).

   7) “In Him we have redemption through His blood the forgiveness
of
sins, according to the riches of His grace 8) which He made to
abound
toward us in all wisdom and understanding,”

   No one is impoverished by becoming a Christian; the particular
Wealth Paul has in mind is in the realm of “all spiritual blessings”
even
among Angelic powers…”because of the Holy Spirit’s confirmation
in
us… the believer should not come short of any gift of the Spirit nor
of
His glory up to His second coming, 1 Corinthians 1:4-9.

   9) Having made known to us “the mystery” of His will, according
to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, 10) that in the
dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in
ONE all things in Messiah, both which are in the heavens and which
are on earth…in Him.” This will be the final results of the
Restoration!

    (In the Hebrew… heaven is always plural (cosmos); they believe
there are seven realms and some manuscripts say even more (11);
Paul was caught up to the third. The mystery of the Kingdom of
God & the Body of Messiah was formerly a divine secret, but in the
New Covenant, Paul’s letter to the Ephesian (and Colossians)
unveils the mysterious Secret more fully or at the Sohd
level…meaning ‘deeper’ …”even the angels longed to look into,
understand of what God was up-to).”

   17) “May God, the Father of glory give you a spirit of wisdom
and perception of what is revealed, (made known to us) to bring you
to full knowledge of Him. 18) May the eyes of your mind be
enlightened so that you can see what hope His call holds for you,
how rich is the glory of the heritage He offered to us who believe,
19) and how extraordinarily great is His power that He has exercised
for us believers; 20) Christ’s power at work in Him when God raised
Him
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from the dead and enthroned Him at His right hand, in heaven, 21)
far above every principality (realm visible & invisible), ruling force,
power or sovereignty, or any other name that can be named, not
only in this world (age) but also in the world (age) to come. 22) He
has put all things
under His feet (authority), and made Him, as He is above all things,
the Head of the Church, which is His Body, 23) THE FULLNESS
OF HIM (that is, the Body) who fills all in all (everything
everywhere).”

   (The Holy Spirit is the divine & supernatural source of wisdom &
revelation. (“And you and I have to study to show ourselves
approved unto God… a workman that needs not to be ashamed…
rightly dividing, in it’s context, the WORD OF TRUTH.”)   The
eyes of your understanding being enlightened literally means that
your heart may receive the brightness of glory which will be the
resulting development when the wealth of God’s investment in you
is understood. Selah! According in v. 19 occurs repeatedly and
means “in the same measure as” or “to the exact degree,” the power
of God worked in Christ…O, my goodness…what a word is this?
The exact same degree when He raised Him and seated Him at His
right hand…the Heavenly places refers to not only at God’s right
hand but the Greek word here refers to the invisible realm that
encircles our present daily situation, the arena or sphere of spiritual
activity… God’s angelic host & the demonic. Christ’s authority,
which includes every age and excels every known power or name, is
here and now (see also v. 3; 2:6; 3:10; 6:12).

   (V.21 Principality & power & might & dominion are terms
consistently used for ruling authorities in both the visible and the
invisible realms (see 3:10). But also the books of Daniel & Ezekiel
make it plain who are behind “visible authorities & powers” ruling
them! The NT reveals an invisible hierarchy of evil powers who
deceive & manipulate human behavior, thereby advancing satanic
strategies. Christ Himself & all who are in Messiah are shown (by
Paul here) to be placed in authority above all these powers, an
authority that only spiritual warfare can declare in demonstrating the
name of Yeshua, Jesus, and maintain 6:12. However, the believer
must be equipped and fully armored…being able to STAND).

STRATEGIES OF JESUS OUR COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF The
meaning of Strategy: art of conducting military operations (warfare);
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Generalship (Believers Sonship); skillful management in getting the
better of an adversary! Stratagem: artifice (skilful, skilled Leader in
war; scheme for deceiving enemy; ruse (Gk. to lead an army).
Strategic: Pert.-(inent) to, based on strategy; subject to the matter at
hand (pertinent). In the seven lessons of “The Strategies of Jesus”
we learned (only touched on really) how He taught His disciples
warfare & that He gave them authority & power over all the ‘power
& strategies’ of Satan’s Empire…by using His Name…in My name!

THAT IS WHAT THE KEYS OF THE KINGDOM ARE FOR!
Talk about God’s scheming for deceiving Satan…God kept His
mouth shut…from the beginning of the Creation’s ages. “But we
speak the wisdom of God in a mystery” says Paul,” the hidden
wisdom which God predetermined (ordained) before the ages for His
glory, which none of the rulers knew; for had they known, they
would not have crucified the
LORD of Glory…”

   Children, had Satan known Messiah’s power, authority & His
glory
would be transferred to us over Satan’s Empire…”they never would
have CRUCIFIED YESHUA…It has now been revealed to Satan’s
hosts by the Body of Christ, you and I, that we have been given
authority over them!.” But we don’t know it ourselves or we don’t
understand it!!!!

If the angelic hosts of Satan can keep you and I from KNOWING &
UNDERSTANDING THIS FACT…THEY WILL CONTINUE TO
RULE OVER THE APOSTATE CHURCH!
Ephesians 2:8-10 seq.; 1 Corinthians 2:7-8 seq., Selah!

   (VV. 22-23 His Body: The primary drive of the Ephesian letter is
to show the Body of Messiah, you and I, as the present, physical
presence of Christ, that is who the Body is. We are to be filled with
Him by the Holy Spirit, and assigned by the Lord Jesus to represent
Him in His fullness to society to minister His life, love, and power!
What has happened to us, Children? We need to return to “Apostalic
Doctrine” and count the cost of “Discipleship” till we reach our
inherited wisdom of “SONSHIP”).

To the praise of God’s Glory! We love you blessed Saints!
Shalom, SheepShed of Sent Ministries

SheepShed Publications

Lessons

Ephesians Part Two