Ephesians 5:18



I have been preaching through the book of Ephesians since last November here at El Bethel Baptist Church. I am currently working on the 37th message through the book and I must say it is a life changing experience to study this Epistle verse by verse. There is no other verse of scripture that has ever impacted my life as Ephesians 5:18 has.

"And be not drunk with wine,wherein is excess;but be filled with the Spirit"

First of all let me speak to the point of drinking here. This verse does not in any way give us permission to drink as long as we do not get drunk. The word "excess" in the Greek is the word "sozo" which means saved. However if you add this little word "is" too it and look at the Greek meaning of the Phrase "is excess" it defines itself as "unsaved". Now let us look at the word "drunk" the word drunk here in its verb tense in the Greek is speaking about the process of getting drunk and not the act of being drunk. Now if anyone here has ever had a problem with alcohol you will understand that the process of getting drunk begins with the first drink. Therefore put the original meaning in the Greek and here is how Ephesians 5:18a reads "Do not begin the process of getting drunk (do not even take a drink) because this gives the appearance that you are unsaved (lost). I believe strongly that a Christian is supposed to be completely abstinent from all alcohol.

However that is not what impacted my life, what impacted my life what the rest of the verse. "but be ye filled with the Spirit" This is a command and not something that happens only during big conventions or when a famous evangelist come too town. This also is not what happens when ten people surround you at the alter and pray over you until you speak in some language that no one can understand (BTW another subject for another day). Being filled with the Spirit is a command for every Christian every day! Therefore that leaves us the question "how do I become full of the Spirit?" When you are saved you are immediately filled however I am speaking to those that have been saved and now want to be once again re-filled. Here is what impacted my life. The way to be filled with the Spirit is to simply ask God to fill you and by faith believe that He will and guess what happens? Your filled with the Spirit. I am begging you try it. Watch your prayer life go to new levels. Watch sin in your life become mountains that you have to forsake. Watch your worship become like it has never been before. The only way I can see that this will not work is if there is some immoral sin in your life that you must repent of and ask forgiveness and then be filled with the Spirit. I am telling you this is not a request of God this is a command!!!!!


Weight loss update I am down 23 pounds and feeling better. I am walking about 3 miles a day and have not anything deep-fried in 4 weeks (this is tough living in the south we deep fry everything).

Also we lost our first regular season flag football game to Forrest last Saturday 24-14. Will had a good game as he scored both our touchdowns but we waited too late to gave him the ball. He had only one carry in the first half. This is my fault since I am head coach I do not want my son to get all the carries so that it does not look like I am only playing him. However I think he has proved himself and I have no other choice but too give him the ball. We play at 2 p.m. Saturday at home against MTCS.

God Bless
Dan Reed

Losing weight and Church Hopping!!!!


I want to first begin with an announcement that I have started a new lifestyle (not a diet since it has long been proven that diets do not work) and this lifestyle includes No soft drinks, no sweet tea, nothing deep fried (I'm crying right now) and no hamburgers. What it does include is a lot of water, salads, baked chicken, sub-way sandwiches and walking about 3 miles a day. I began this lifestyle on Monday August 4 this was the first Monday after our family vacation to Atlanta. I am happy to say that since this day according to my Wii fit I have lost 19.9 pounds. This is losing weight entirely too fast and I know that but here is the truth. I do not go hungry, when I am hungry I eat however instead of little Debbie's I know eat grapes, prunes, banana's, apples or my favorite a bowl of raisin bran. I eat two meals a day because I am not nor have I ever been a breakfast eater so I eat two big meals and alot of fruit between meals. I also want too say that I feel better than I have in a long time. This also may sound crazy but this new lifestyle has done wonders for my prayer life. Everyday after lunch I walk 30 minutes around the gym in the life center where my office is located. During this 30 minutes I spend praying for every member and visitor of our church. I pray for a different page on our list and by the time Friday is over I have prayed for everyone on the church active roll and other request that were given to me. I can not begin to tell you all that I have seen the Lord do in this short time. One thing is for sure everyone that draws breath underestimates the power of prayer including myself.

few announcements

Mike my oldest brother is 40!!!! I still can not believe I have a brother who is 1. A Democrat and 2 is 40 years old. Unbelievable.

Scott my next oldest brother is 37!!! He is not a democrat but he is bald and so is Mike.

I'm 31 and still have a lot of hair (although thinning at a rapid pace) but I out weigh both of them by several pounds.

side note: My dads wife Judy once told dad that he thinks his boys (Mike, Scott and Dan) were perfect and he needed to realize that they have their faults as well. Dad responded and asked her what are his boys faults. She responded without a moments hesitation that......

Mike is too smart
Scott is Bald
Dan is too fat

I say Amen!!!!!

My son Will will play his first regular season flag football game Saturday at Chapel Hill. We have played one scrimmage and we beat Cascade 26-0. I am the head coach of the team and I must confess I never in my life played one organized game of football. Therefore the first flag football game I ever watched I was the head coach of the winning team. BTW Will had one carry in this game for 70 yards and a TD.



Second Subject today is Church Hopping:

I will speak short and plain on this subject. It is Okay and by all means not a problem if you want to go to another church from time to time to visit family or go to a homecoming, see someone in your family baptized and other things of this nature. However it is wrong to constantly be going from one church to another. Once you have visited churches and found the one the you desire to be your church home then you commit yourself to that church and remain faithful. The main reason for those who are constantly visiting other churhces is they do not want to be accountable and they like to be the "visitor" whom everyone is supposed to speak too when they visit. There is my rant for the day................................. Many more to come I am sure.


God Bless
Dan Reed