By Scott Brown
Pastor, First Baptist Church, Waverly

Focal Passage: Ephesians 6:10-20

The Christian life is a battle. This is something that needs to be said again. Walking with Jesus is walking to battle! Paul gives an illustration the Ephesians would be all too familiar with, as a major Roman city.

Each piece of armor Paul describes as a picture of the spiritual armor we must have in order to do battle with our true enemy. There are three things about a soldier’s armor that really help to accent this incredible text. [Read more…]

By Scott Brown
Pastor, First Baptist Church, Waverly

Focal Passage: Ephesians 5:22-6:4

The practical application Paul gives here might seem out of place at first glance but it is a perfect picture of everything he has been writing to this point.

First, if God has transformed us personally He transforms us privately as well as publicly. I confess it is easier for me to be in public the man I want everyone to think I am than to actually be that man in the private, comfortable parts of my life. That’s where it counts the most, though. Who I am on stage matters nothing if it is not matched by who I am at the dinner table. [Read more…]

By Scott Brown
First Baptist Church, Waverly

Focal Passage: Ephesians 5:15-21 

Paul, here, encourages believers to be careful to walk wisely. What exactly does it look like to walk wisely? Wisdom is the blessing Solomon chose which pleased God. Wisdom is offered freely to any and all believers who would ask for it in faith according to James. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of it in Proverbs. 

What is wisdom, then? J.I. Packer describes it by saying, “To live wisely you have to be clear-sighted and realistic, ruthlessly so, in looking at life as it is. 

Wisdom will not go with comforting illusions, false sentiment, or the use of rose-colored glasses.” Wisdom, then, is being able to see things clearly as they truly are and being able to respond rightly to them.  [Read more…]

By Scott Brown
First Baptist Church, Waverly

Focal Passage: Ephesians 5:1-14

This chapter starts with the transitional statement to which the previous chapters have been building. Paul says, “Therefore (because of everything you’ve already read), be imitators of God, as beloved children.” 

After this statement he begins to expound on what that will look like. When I think on that command to imitate God like beloved children, I think of my own children. 

A few years ago, I was pastoring a church in Orlando and I was going on a visit with my daughter to see someone. I was rushing to get there and traffic was horrible. I started to get in the flesh and yell at the other drivers from the safety of my car. “C’mon! Get out of the way! You crazy Florida drivers!”  [Read more…]

By Scott Brown
Pastor, First Baptist Church, Waverly

Focal Passage: Ephesians 4:17-32

Several years ago, I did a study through the gospels, taking special notice of every time someone encountered Jesus and their response to Him. Some people left Jesus rejoicing, some enraged, still others left perplexed. There were multiple responses to encounters with Jesus but no one left an encounter with Jesus unchanged. [Read more…]

By Scott Brown
Pastor, First Baptist Church, Waverly

Focal Passage: Ephesians 4:11-16

God’s desire for His Body (the church) is for it to grow — not only by quantity but by quality. The Great Commission doesn’t end with just making more believers but with making more mature believers by “teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you.”

Something my faith family knows all too well about me is that I can’t stay still long, literally and figuratively. I always have to be making forward motion. I often remind them that “good enough” is sinful when God has called us to great. I fear that there is a temptation in each of us to slow down, settle and accept “good enough” in our walk with Christ, our local church, and our lives. [Read more…]