"Why can't we all just get along?" Isn't that the question of the day....or year...or century...or history! As the picture above illustrates, people naturally put up walls that separate them from others. We are experiencing walls of race, political party, economics, gender, and others! Trust me when I say there has been no higher or thicker wall in history than the wall between the Jews and the rest of the world!
Last week we learned that we are not responsible for "creating ourselves" by looking inward and trusting our feelings or imagined identity. Unredeemed humanity create religions and pursue goals and dreams and ambitions all based on being driven by fleshy desires and imaginations! Relative to God and truth, everyone starts out dead, dead, dead!
But God makes us alive in Christ, and restores to our lives the meaning and purpose they were meant to have in relationship with our heavenly Father. We get a new life and new desires and new hopes and a new future. This is true for every human, whether Jew or non-Jew!
God does something more miraculous. In Jesus, He tears down walls of hostility and tribalism and racism and hatred and cultural superiority while becoming the bridge between people. God makes us alive, but doesn't leave us isolated! He joins us to other living people from every ethnic group to form a new community, a new family, and a living house of worship!
Is it possible to have peace on earth? Goodwill? If so, where is it? What's the problem? If not, is there any hope? Tonight I believe God will answer some of these questions! If God can bring together Jew and Gentile, there is no gap that He can't bridge.
View and see!
Steve
Ephesians 2:11-22
January 6, 2021 • Pastor Steve Feden
Ephesians 1:1-6
November 18, 2020 • Pastor Steve Feden
Ephesians has only six chapters and is not written to address a specific issue or problem among the Ephesians believers. Rather, Paul knows that in order for them to have future ability to live as children of God in the middle of Ephesian culture, they will have to gain a deeper and deeper experience of God's love! This is what he is addressing. We will dive right in and watch as the great, methodical, theological mind of the Apostle Paul is overcome with impassioned gratitude over the deep ways God has touched his -- and our -- lives! WARNING: Anyone who actually reads and believes the things we will talk about is likely to experience greater depth of transformed relationship with God and the people in your life! View and see! Steve
Ephesians 1:7-14
December 2, 2020 • Pastor Steve Feden
What does "relationship with God" really look like? I mean, we talk about the fact that Christianity is a "relationship" and not "religion", but what is the real difference? Doesn't Christianity often feel like religion? Obey the commands, do this, don't do that, and so on. I am fully convinced that Ephesians is a "relationship guide". The first chapter is filled with the foundational blocks of relationship with God as HE designed it to be. If we can comprehend Ephesians 1, it will forever impact our understanding of what relationships are supposed to be, and what the basic building blocks of healthy relationships are! Last week we saw the Father's plan. This week we will how the Son (Jesus) participates and how the Spirit participates! View and see! Steve
Ephesians 1:15-23
December 9, 2020 • Pastor Steve Feden
A few years ago, Helga and I enjoyed a long bike ride with friends. We started in Munich Germany and ended in Venice, Italy. It was an epic journey for which we spent time studying maps to prepare. I don't think I need to tell you that the experience of the ride itself was the hope and the joy and the thrill. The map was useful, but could never be a substitute for the ride itself. To this point, in Ephesians 1, Paul has given us a map of healthy relationship with God. Being chosen, adopted, accepted, redeemed, forgiven, and secure have been points on that map. Great stuff, right? Yes, but it is still a map! What do I mean? Starting in verse 15, we read Paul's prayer for the believers in Ephesus. The prayer is filled with Paul's desire for these precious Jesus' followers. The gist of his prayer? I would love to tell you, but you will need to tune in. I promise it will be worth it. Just like the map is no substitute for the experience of the ride, so the study of doctrine and intellectual knowledge of God are not the end in themselves. This remarkable passage of scripture is sure to stretch your imagination (hint hint). View and see! Steve