When we think of missions work around the world, we usually have in mind the Great Commission of Matthew 28. However, in John 10 we have a complementary way of seeing global gospel ministry: Jesus the Good Shepherd is going to communities around the world and gathering his people into one flock. When we see this we need to ask ourselves: What does that activity look like, and what might my role be in it in this season of my life?

We like fullness.  A full gas tank, a full bank account, a full stomach, a full relationship, a full life are all good things and can provide some degree of satisfaction and joy in life.  But life can be full of all kinds of things, even good things, and still be empty, lacking in that which truly matters and yields true satisfaction and joy. Even the fullest life is empty without the work of God's Spirit in us.  Are you being filled with the Holy Spirit?  God is eager to do so as we walk according to his grace and truth in Christ. Listen as we explore Ephesians 5:15-21.

Watch how I do it. Follow my lead. If we're asked to imitate someone, what's required? Light. We have to see them - and, if they're to lead us, we have to let ourselves be seen, too. But we don't always want to be seen, do we? Often the cover of darkness feels better than the exposure of light. And yet, it's into that exposing light that we're called, that we're restored, that we're loved. Christ is Light: will you let Him expose you? Let Him ... for He is also Love: let Him love you honestly. Here we unwrap the truths of Ephesians 5:1-14

When you prepare to receive a visitor, you put some things off and some things on, some things away and some things out, depending on the guest. What if your guest is God the Holy Spirit come to make His home in you? That's what we're enabled and instructed to do in Christ: receive the Holy Spirit. He is the Helper, sent to prepare us to receive the promised inheritance of salvation! So how will you receive the Spirit? Will your reception bring grief, or relief? Let the Spirit prepare us to receive as we close out Ch. 4:25-32.

Old habits die hard. This is particularly true when it comes to the futile thinking and worldly ways in which we once lived apart from God. In Christ, we have been freed from those old habits to walk in truth and righteousness by the power of the Holy Spirit. But Paul reminds us that such a change doesn't come easy, and he calls on the church to diligently put off the old self and its futile ways and put on the new self that is created in the likeness of God. We continue in our study of Ephesians (4:17-24) to look at how in Christ we are called to a new walk and new wardrobe of righteousness and holiness together in Christ.

Having unveiled the many spiritual blessings and great privileges that belong to the church by God's grace in Christ and the power of his Spirit at work, Paul now gives attention to the great responsibilities that come with such privileges.  And the first thing he focuses on is living in light of the unity as well as the diversity that God has given to his church.  Join us as we look at Ephesians 4:1-16 and what it means to walk together as the connected, gifted, growing community of Christ's body in the church.

The apostle Paul's prayer for the church at the Ephesians 3 is a prayer for strength.  Not just physical strength, but spiritual strength that is empowered by God himself through the indwelling Spirit of Christ in our heart, and is rooted in the incomprehensible love of Christ for us. The goal of Paul's prayer is that we might not just comprehend, but experience the outpouring, overflowing love of Christ such that we would be filled to the fulness of God himself. We explore vs 3:14-21 with Paul and pray for God to strengthen and fill us with the overwhelming power of his love.

When we are called to live through times of difficulty, it is easy to doubt that God is at work at all in our sufferings. In Ephesians 3:1-13 Paul draws our minds and our hearts to worship God our Father because of all that He has accomplished through Jesus. He has redeemed broken and stumbling sinners like you and me and sends us out to declare the unsearchable riches of His grace to the nations! We pray your hearts will be warmed and encouraged as we consider the gospel together.

It seems as if few areas of life have not been touched by a heightened sense of division and conflict in these recent times whether political, racial, economic, social, or religious, there are "walls of hostility" that exist between different groups that are so entrenched that it leaves us wondering if there can ever be such a thing as true reconciliation and peace. God's answer to that is yes, but it will not be found in peace talks or man's efforts at reconciliation because such conflict in human relationships is symptomatic of the greater hostility that exists between man and God because of sin. Only when the great barrier of our sin is dealt with by God's grace through Jesus' Christ, can we have true peace and reconciliation in our relationships with others. This is why the church is the one place where the human distinctions that divide us must give way to the spiritual reality that unites us: the redemption from sin through Jesus Christ. We continue in Ephesians chapter 2 (11-22) and see that Christ himself is our peace.

The beauty and brightness of a precious diamond is seen and appreciated all the more when it is set against a dark background. So it is with the beauty and greatness of our salvation, the crown jewel among the rich blessings of God's grace in Christ. Only when set against the dark backdrop of our condition apart from God, can we know and appreciate the immeasurable greatness of his saving power for us, which has made us alive in Christ out of our natural state of being spiritually dead.  In Ephesians 2:1-10 we look at the great treasure that is our salvation by God's grace through faith in Christ.