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By Preston Morrison | Pillar Church
4.8
140140 ratings
The podcast currently has 684 episodes available.
The most played episodes among Podcast App listeners.

You were never an afterthought in the plans of God. In “You Are More Essential Than You Think | God’s Perfect Plan Always Included You,” we continue through Ephesians 1 and discover the magnitude of God’s plan to bring everything together under the authority of Christ—and the incredible truth that He has intentionally given us a place within it. Paul reminds us that because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God. We have heard the Good News, been brought into His family, and been identified as His own through the gift of the Holy Spirit. Our place in God's story isn't based on our importance, accomplishments, or ability to prove our worth. It begins with a God who set His love on us and chose to make us His own. In this sermon, you'll discover:How your life fits within God's greater plan through ChristWhat it means to be united with Christ and receive an inheritance from GodWhy God's plan has always included people we might be tempted to overlookHow the Holy Spirit identifies us as God's own and guarantees what He has promisedWhy understanding our place in His plan should ultimately lead our lives to bring Him praise and glory We can spend our lives wondering whether we matter, where we belong, or if God can really use us. Ephesians 1 gives us a much bigger perspective. God is working out a plan that stretches far beyond any one of us, yet in His love, He has intentionally invited us into it. You don't have to make yourself essential by becoming more successful, influential, gifted, or important. Your significance begins with belonging to Christ. And the Holy Spirit living within you is a reminder that you are His, His promises are secure, and His work in your life isn't finished. Your life matters to God, your place in His family is secure, and your purpose has always been part of His plan.

You were never an afterthought in the plans of God. In “You Are More Essential Than You Think | God’s Perfect Plan Always Included You,” we continue through Ephesians 1 and discover the magnitude of God’s plan to bring everything together under the authority of Christ—and the incredible truth that He has intentionally given us a place within it. Paul reminds us that because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God. We have heard the Good News, been brought into His family, and been identified as His own through the gift of the Holy Spirit. Our place in God's story isn't based on our importance, accomplishments, or ability to prove our worth. It begins with a God who set His love on us and chose to make us His own. In this sermon, you'll discover:How your life fits within God's greater plan through ChristWhat it means to be united with Christ and receive an inheritance from GodWhy God's plan has always included people we might be tempted to overlookHow the Holy Spirit identifies us as God's own and guarantees what He has promisedWhy understanding our place in His plan should ultimately lead our lives to bring Him praise and glory We can spend our lives wondering whether we matter, where we belong, or if God can really use us. Ephesians 1 gives us a much bigger perspective. God is working out a plan that stretches far beyond any one of us, yet in His love, He has intentionally invited us into it. You don't have to make yourself essential by becoming more successful, influential, gifted, or important. Your significance begins with belonging to Christ. And the Holy Spirit living within you is a reminder that you are His, His promises are secure, and His work in your life isn't finished. Your life matters to God, your place in His family is secure, and your purpose has always been part of His plan.

For many of us, salvation can become shorthand for one thing: I believe in Jesus, so one day I'll go to heaven. And while eternity with God is part of the promise, Ephesians 2:8–10 gives us a much fuller picture. In “Do You Really Understand Salvation? | How God Saves Us and What He Saves Us For,” we unpack one of the most foundational truths of the Christian faith: salvation is God’s work from beginning to end. We are saved by grace, through faith—not because of our effort, goodness, accomplishments, or ability to clean ourselves up. Grace is the source. Faith receives what grace provides. Salvation is a gift. That means we can stop trying to rescue ourselves and place our confidence fully in what Jesus has already done. In this sermon, you'll discover:Why grace, not human effort, is the source of our salvationWhat it actually means to be saved by grace through faithWhy our works, goodness, and religious accomplishments can never make us right with GodWhat it means to be God’s workmanship — His masterpiece — created and made new in ChristWhy good works don’t produce salvation, but genuine salvation produces a life of good worksHow God has already prepared purpose for you to faithfully walk in Paul understood this personally. In Philippians 3, he lists every reason he could have trusted in his own righteousness—his background, obedience, discipline, and religious accomplishments—and then says he considers all of it worthless compared with knowing Christ. His confidence was no longer in what he had done for God, but in what Christ had done for him. But salvation doesn’t leave us passive. Ephesians 2:10 says we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works that He prepared beforehand for us to walk in. We are not saved by good works, but we are saved for them. That is the order of the Gospel:His work.Not my work.Now I get to work. We don’t work to earn salvation. We work because salvation has already made us new.Our lives become the place where God continues His work—in us, on us, and through us—so that the way we live points people back to the One who saved us. Salvation isn’t simply about escaping judgment or securing eternity.It is God rescuing us, remaking us, and inviting us to walk in the purpose He prepared for us long before we ever arrived.

For many of us, salvation can become shorthand for one thing: I believe in Jesus, so one day I'll go to heaven. And while eternity with God is part of the promise, Ephesians 2:8–10 gives us a much fuller picture. In “Do You Really Understand Salvation? | How God Saves Us and What He Saves Us For,” we unpack one of the most foundational truths of the Christian faith: salvation is God’s work from beginning to end. We are saved by grace, through faith—not because of our effort, goodness, accomplishments, or ability to clean ourselves up. Grace is the source. Faith receives what grace provides. Salvation is a gift. That means we can stop trying to rescue ourselves and place our confidence fully in what Jesus has already done. In this sermon, you'll discover:Why grace, not human effort, is the source of our salvationWhat it actually means to be saved by grace through faithWhy our works, goodness, and religious accomplishments can never make us right with GodWhat it means to be God’s workmanship — His masterpiece — created and made new in ChristWhy good works don’t produce salvation, but genuine salvation produces a life of good worksHow God has already prepared purpose for you to faithfully walk in Paul understood this personally. In Philippians 3, he lists every reason he could have trusted in his own righteousness—his background, obedience, discipline, and religious accomplishments—and then says he considers all of it worthless compared with knowing Christ. His confidence was no longer in what he had done for God, but in what Christ had done for him. But salvation doesn’t leave us passive. Ephesians 2:10 says we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works that He prepared beforehand for us to walk in. We are not saved by good works, but we are saved for them. That is the order of the Gospel:His work.Not my work.Now I get to work. We don’t work to earn salvation. We work because salvation has already made us new.Our lives become the place where God continues His work—in us, on us, and through us—so that the way we live points people back to the One who saved us. Salvation isn’t simply about escaping judgment or securing eternity.It is God rescuing us, remaking us, and inviting us to walk in the purpose He prepared for us long before we ever arrived.

There are some things about your past you need to remember—not so you can live there, but so you can understand just how much God has done. Ephesians 2 begins with a difficult truth: apart from Christ, we weren't simply struggling, misguided, or in need of improvement. We were spiritually dead. Sin had shaped our desires, the world influenced the way we lived, and we could never make ourselves alive through enough goodness or good works. But God. Those two words change everything. In “Dead to Sin, Alive in Christ | Understanding Who You Were, What God Did & Who You Are Now,” we walk through Ephesians 2:1–7 and the incredible contrast at the center of the Gospel. We were dead, but God—rich in mercy and because of His great love—gave us life when He raised Christ from the dead. We couldn't rescue ourselves, so Jesus did for us what we could never do on our own. And He didn't only save us from something. He brought us into an entirely new way of living. Before Christ, sin was our master. But because we have been raised and united with Jesus, what once ruled us no longer has the final authority over us. The world will still tempt us. Our flesh will still have desires that need to be denied. The enemy will still try to influence us. But the believer no longer approaches those battles as someone who is powerless. You have been set free. That freedom isn't permission to ignore sin; it's the power to stop living like you're still enslaved to it. Paul takes it even further: God has raised us with Christ, seated us with Him, and made our lives examples of the incredible wealth of His grace and kindness. Our transformed lives become living evidence of what a merciful and powerful God can do. So remember who you were—but don't confuse who you were with who you are. You were dead. But God made you alive. You were enslaved. But Christ set you free. You were ruled by sin. But now you are united with Jesus. You don't have to keep living like a slave to something Christ has already freed you from.
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