Ephesians 1 (résumé): Spiritual blessings in Christ

Ephesians is a letter written by the apostle Paul to Christians in Ephesus, which was a Greek city which today is part of Turkey. Its main message is that God has saved us through Christ, united us as one people, and calls us to live a new life worthy of that calling. 

In chapter 1 Paul, an apostle, greets the Ephesians with grace and peace as he always does in his epistles. Then he praises God for all his spiritual blessings in Christ. "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world... he predestined us to be adopted as sons through Jesus... he gave us redemption through Christ's blood... and forgave our sins according to his grace... and made known to us the mystery of his will... and in him we were chosen... so that we might be for the praise of his glory... and you were included in Christ when you heard the Gospel... and you were sealed by the Holy Spirit... to the praise of his glory". Then Paul proceeds with a prayer of thanksgiving for the saints at Ephesus: "I have not stopped giving thanks ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord... and I pray that God will give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you might know Jesus better... and I pray that you might be enlightened to know the hope to which he has called you... and his incomparable great power... which God exerted in Christ to raise him from the dead and seat him at his right hand... far above all rule and authority... so that God placed all things under his feet and made him head of the church which is his body".

Sermon Preparation

Yesterday I worked on 2 new sermons. One, on Mark 6:6-13, is part of my series in the Book of Mark for the town of São Mamede and is entitled "Jesus sends out the twelve". The other is the beginning of a new series for Patos on the Book of Romans and is entitled: "I am not ashamed of the Gospel" and will cover chapter 1. 

I also dealt with a number of difficult pastoral matters yesterday for which I value your prayers. Sometimes our work takes us through dark valleys which are very challenging. 

I have just eaten delicious cassava with a fried egg. 😋

Election Results

As expected, yesterday's election for president of Brazil will go to a second round run-off between the top two candidates out of the original 13 candidates. The run-off between President Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro will take place in 3 weeks time on October 25th. In the first round yesterday Flávio Bolsonaro obtained 47.03% of the vote and Lula received 45.16% which was a surprise as the opinion polls were predicting just the opposite with Lula ahead by a similar margin. I therefore expect Flávio Bolsonaro to win the run-off, but we shall see. There certainly was a big swing to the right in Brazilian politics yesterday and the new Congress will be far to the right from the previous composition. It was interesting to see yesterday that it was a good day for the ex-President Jair Bolsonaro's family with his wife elected as a senator, his brother as a federal deputy, and one son elected senator, another as a federal deputy, not to mention his son Flávio who could be president on January 1st!

General Election Day

Today is Brazil's 4-yearly general election for President, Senators, Federal Deputies (MPs), State Deputies and State Governors. Each voter places 6 votes! Brazil has a population of 214 million with an electorate of 158 million, yet we will have the results early tonight thanks to the excellent electronic voting system. 

I placed my votes just before midday which took me nearly 2 hours to do because there was a mix-up with my documentation and then there was a long queue. But I voted, which was the important thing, as I see voting as a Christian duty voting for the candidates who serve the common good and benefit the poor.

I led last night's communion service and Pastor Rafael preached a good sermon on the sufferings of Job. Numbers were down owing to the switch from Sunday to Saturday, but they were reasonable.

Service on Saturday

Our main service of the week has been switched from the usual 6:30 pm slot on Sunday owing to the General Elections this Sunday. The service will be held today, Saturday, at 5:30 pm and it will be a communion service which I will be leading and at which Pastor Rafael will be preaching from Job chapter 1. This will leave everyone free for election day to vote and cheer or cry! As voting in Brazil is digital and electronic it means that on Sunday night we will have the results quite early, though the decision for president, and maybe state governor, will probably go to a run-off second round of voting 3 weeks from now on October 25th.

Liz went to Green Pastures yesterday with Josinete and Zenaide preparing things for the next event there at the end of the month which will be another youth camp. Please pray. There are always masses of preparations to be done for these camps.

Mid-Week

Last night I led the mid-week prayer meeting in Patos, Pastor Rafael took the service in Teixeira and Pastor Murilo took the service at Santa Teresinha. In Patos Firefighter Romildo gave the study on Acts 1:1-5 and Erika and Davi led the praise and worship. It was a good service.

Please pray for the General Election in Brazil the day after tomorrow when 158.7 million voters will go to the polls to elect President, Senators, Federal Deputies, State Deputies and State Governors. The main contenders for President are President Lula standing for reelection for the last time, and Flávio Bolsonaro who is the son of ex-president Bolsonaro who is serving a 27 year jail sentence for having planned and attempted a coup after loosing the last election. 

Toilet/Shower Unit

We have concluded building another toilet/shower unit for an extremely poor family who had never in their lives had a toilet before! The building took place in the Riacho do Meio Community in the Municipality of Diamante at the mud and sticks house of Francisco de Assis and Edineida and their two children. We installed a flush toilet, a wash basin and a shower inside, with a sink to wash the clothes outside and the family is very happy and grateful. 

The 4-Legs project with hair sheep and goats continues to go well and we have just distributed a lovely sheep at the Queimadas Community in the Municipality of Tavares.

Our church at Teixeira is changing pastor as the previous pastor Maésio, who wasn't doing very well, has left. Yesterday we had 2 meetings dealing with this matter and Pastor Rafael, from Patos, is going there later today to take the mid-week service. Please pray for the Teixeira church up in the mountains. 

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