A Taste of Grace with Bruce Green

Spiritual Warfare: Identifying The Enemy (1)

Paul writes in Ephesians 6:12 that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” In light of Acts 19:11-20, and the temple of Artemis, I have no doubt that the disciples at Ephesus needed no elaboration from PaulContinue reading “Spiritual Warfare: Identifying The Enemy (1)”

Living Under The Influence

The church is not man made, it is God given! There is a church of God because of the grace of God. It is His workmanship (Ephesians 2:10). And where does the Spirit fit into all of this? The body without the Spirit is dead! This community of grace known as church is a Spirit-created community (John 3:3-5; Titus 3:3-5). Its members are saidContinue reading “Living Under The Influence”

Hope For A Hurting World

The divisiveness and fragmentation in our country today can only bruise the heart of Him in whose image we are made. He is not the Father of a certain nation, tribe or family—He is the Father of us all. To recognize anything less is bad theology and it leads to even worse biography. While weContinue reading “Hope For A Hurting World”

Alive and Amazed

“Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or think according to the power that is at work among us . . .” (Ephesians 3:20). What are we supposed to do with passages like this one? Texts like this are found throughout Ephesians. There’s 5:1 where we’re told toContinue reading “Alive and Amazed”

Advancing On Our Knees

John Sedgwick was a general in the Union Army during the Civil War. He came from a military family. His grandfather was a general during the Revolutionary War and served with George Washington. Sedgwick graduated from West Point, served in the Mexican-American War, and was involved in numerous Civil War battles including Gettysburg, Antietam andContinue reading “Advancing On Our Knees”

Ephesians

Ephesians and the “Heavenly Realms” (1) Ephesians and the “Heavenly Realms” (2) What Makes a Church Special? Alive And Amazed Rescued! (2) God At Work (2) Scale & Scope (1) (3) Scale & Scope (2) (3) Hope For A Hurting World (4) Living Under The Influence (5) Spiritual Warfare: Identifying The Enemy (1) (6) SpiritualContinue reading “Ephesians”

Wake Up!

I suppose there’s a tendency to treat Luke’s account of Eutychus falling asleep during Paul’s preaching like one of those human interest/humorous stories tacked on to the end a newscast. Or, like the humor Shakespeare and other writers employ, we might want to frame it as offering us a change of pace to Luke’s otherwiseContinue reading “Wake Up!”

Speed Trap

The first chapter of Acts is an overlooked text. That’s understandable because of the fireworks that occur in the second chapter when the Spirit is sent, Peter’s proclaims a mighty message about Jesus, three thousand people are baptized, etc.). Still, there’s a reason Luke wrote Acts the way he did and the first chapter isContinue reading “Speed Trap”

Seeing The Other Side

We all know about the other side: the other side of a coin, the other side of the moon, and if you have more than one child, the other side of the story. The other side is a good thing. If we’re seeing just one side it means our perspective is fragmented, partial, and incomplete.Continue reading “Seeing The Other Side”

The Regret That Brings Life

After King Agrippa has heard Paul‘s defense (which seems to have struck a nerve with him – Acts 26:26-28), he tells Festus, “This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar (v. 32). Perhaps he is faulting Paul’s strategy in appealing to Rome (he knows nothing of the plot againstContinue reading “The Regret That Brings Life”