Central Idea: Christians tear down walls that divide to build a house that unites.

1. Our Hostile CONDITION. Verse 11-12

"You know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean.” Acts 10:28

2. Christ’s Peaceful CONSTRUCTION. Verse 13-18

3. The Church’s Pressing CHARGE. Verse 19-22

How to be a Peacemaker:

Main idea – God’s gift of salvation revives the walking dead to live for God’s glory

1. Salvation is because of grace

2. Salvation gives us new life

3. Salvation is by faith

“God’s workmanship” (Ephesians 2:10) vs. “that which God created” (Romans 1:20)

Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, because they are understood through what has been made.

2. Salvation gives us new life

3. Salvation is by faith

I. The Currency: God’s love and mercy

[4] But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,

II. The Transaction: Christ made dead sinners alive and holy

[5] even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved

[6] and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

III. The Receipt: God’s eternal commitment to His people

[7] so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

This Sunday we continue our series "Ephesians: God's plan for all people"

Rev. Sir Gregory Thornton will preach from Ephesians 2:1-3, "It's Worse than You Think." 

1. Experience the hope of your calling (Verse 18)

2. Experience that you are God’s glorious

inheritance (Verse 18)

3. Experience God’s power at work in you (Verse 19)

“When we forget about the Spirit, we really are forgetting God...There is a big gap between what we read in Scripture about the Holy Spirit and how most believers and churches operate today.”

Francis Chan

Main Idea: The Holy Spirit guarantees God’s current presence and future blessing in our lives.

1. Signed - Signed with Good News. Verse 13a

2. Sealed - Sealed as God’s Possession. Verse 13b

“whoever believes in me as the scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive.”

(John 7:38-39)

3. Delivered - Delivered to Receive our Inheritance. Verse 14

Join us as we continue on a transformative journey through the pages of Ephesians. We will discover God’s plan for the world, the church, and God’s plan for you.

Ephesians uncovers for us the profound riches of God’s grace, the blessings of salvation, and how mankind can live in unity. We hope that as we walk through Ephesians: God’s Plan for All People, we will be ignited with a passion for God’s Word and empowered to live by faith.

As the new people of God, Christians / Saints have experienced the abundance of God's good pleasure in His Providing all insight and wisdom.

This spiritual blessing from the Father reveals to us God's secret plan, - that at the fullness of times, God will restore harmony to all Creation by uniting, in Christ, all things in Heaven and on Earth.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 1:3

Main Idea: Live in and enjoy the blessing of redemption

1. In Him: WHO of redemption

Colossians 1:13-14, “He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son He loves. We have redemption, the forgiveness of sins, in Him.”

2. By His Blood: HOW of redemption

Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God."

3. According to the riches of His Grace: WHAT of redemption.

Big idea: Our adoption is in and through Christ alone, we must live according to the purpose of His will.