Ray Bentley

There's a lot of bad news in the world. I think you would agree with that. And. One of the reasons I like going to church, other than the fact that I'm the pastor, I'm supposed to be there. is that you get to actually hear some good news? Well, the disciples 2000 years ago, it was Easter was not the first one was not and is not a good time.

There are four different versions. Stories of the resurrection. Each one has its own unique little perspective. Luke was a doctor. He was a physician, and he brings out more of the compassion of Jesus than than any of the gospel writers, probably because that's the physician's heart that Luke himself had. You know, the story, about Jesus and about, Friday and the crucifixion.

Why did the angels roll this stone away? It was not to let Jesus out. Jesus has already risen, and he became the first of all who now would believe and trust in him shall not perish but have everlasting life and the angel comes and says, Jesus is alive.

God's desire and our dilemma. God wants a family. He wants many sons and daughters. And yet there is something wrong with us. And that is sin. And the only way that sin could be removed and death could be removed is for Jesus Christ to come in human form. Take our place as a substitute, as the Lamb of God, and die for the sins of the world.

We learn a lot about friendship through an encounter Jesus had with the Apostle Peter. Friendship is learning to receive. And Jesus was saying to Peter, Peter, if you don't learn how to receive, you aren't going to have anything to give. Jesus designed it so that it's a continual giving sometimes, and receiving and giving and receiving, and it becomes this beautiful gift of exchange spreading.

I like that I like being chosen by God in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. That's your destiny. His holiness. So you might as well get used to holiness now. And, you know, yield to it and desire it. it is who we are, who Christ is.

What do you mean, you chose me? It's a secret. You didn't choose me, I chose you, and this is a secret. Really? For the family of God. It's not something that you go out and you herald to the world, but, the very fact that you are here, at church and ready to worship the Lord and studying the Bible and ready to share in communion as a believer in Jesus Christ, is because God chose you before you chose him.

And we will find out later in this letter that actually, what you think of as the ministry in preaching and teaching and Sunday school and missions. the real work of the ministry is what happens outside of the church. It's not what happens in here. This is all the preparation, for the work of the ministry. And the work of the ministry happens when we go home, when we go to school, when we go to our occupations and and from God's perspective, there is really no secular calling.

the word saint means holy. And so now that's kind of interesting, because when it says that you're a saint, if you're a believer in Christ, it is saying that you are holy. I want later this week for you to really think about it for just a moment and go, are you kidding me? I'm a saint. How could I be a saint?

John McKay, the former president of Princeton Theological Seminary, wrote to this book of Ephesians, I owe my life. And he went on to explain that in July of 1903, when he was a boy of 14, he experienced through reading the book of Ephesians what he says as a boyish rapture in the Highland hills.