Walking with Jesus

Introduction

The creation of this work was the result of unusual developments which some would attribute to happenstance and others to God’s providence. You may be the judge after considering the following.

During May 2000 a friend invited my wife and me to visit the Spring hill presbyterian Church in Mobile and hear their new minister, Norman McCrummen. We accepted his invitation.

The following March, Dr. McCrummen was preaching on anything but Ephesians when he interrupted his sermon, paused long enough to slowly scan the congregation twice, and said, “I want everyone to read the first and second chapters of Ephesians by next Sunday” and promptly returned to his sermon. The next day i called him and said, “I can’t do it” a few times. Finally, his light went on and he said, “What can’t you do?” I said, “I can’t read the first and second chapters of Ephesians by next Sunday.” he asked, “Why can’t you? It will only take ten to fifteen minutes.” I responded, “I have fifty-eight to sixty expository messages on the first two chapters of Ephesians that took thirty to thirty-five minutes to present.” his response was, “I want to read all those and everything else you have on Ephesians.” Thus began the long, arduous, and heartwarming journey of converting handwritten notes along with printed ones into the written word. it has been a joyful, though demanding experience.

Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians has been described as “The holiest of the holies.” My love affair with it began in the 1980’s when I read a book containing great sermons of the twentieth century. The most impressive one was written by Martyn Lloyd-Jones. as a result, I read other works of his including his exposition of Ephesians. Thereafter, unexpectedly, I was asked to teach an adult Bible Study Group. They said they would provide the material, but I demurred and said, “I would gather my own material.” This set in motion the process of acquiring knowledge through the best expository works available at the time on Ephesians including Martyn Lloyd-Jones, William Gurnall, Ruth Paxson, Markus Barth, John Calvin, Otto Weber, and others.

The objective was to present the essence of Paul’s letter as it was presented to him by the Lord Jesus and the holy Spirit. Further, to mine the gold available in the fruitful works of those fertile minds that God had cultivated and enabled to expound upon the truths that his only begotten Son had revealed to his apostles and disciples. Therefore, it was a paramount obligation to express God’s truths in a simple, straight- forward manner according to the dictates of the holy Spirit so that the reader may grasp it and interpret it according to the will of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.