Sermons from First Evangelical Free Church in Sioux City, IA

6:14-18a The imagery. Paul uses the picture of a Roman soldier’s armor to show a vital truth about how God provides for us to become the very people that He has called us to in Christ: the armor is provided for us, all we need to do is embrace the life that Jesus has called us to in Him.6:18b-20 The practice. Practically, “armoring up” looks like, among other things, treasuring the words of our King (the scriptures) and calling on Him in prayer for each other and for the spread of the gospel.The Point: Every Christian has been provided with what we need to stand firm and faithful in this life. That armor comes not from our own strength or knowledge, but instead from our King. When we trust and follow King Jesus, He will see us through this life.Prayer: Lord, you are so kind to provide all that we need for faithfulness – to give us the very armor that we need, that we can trust in you, following and calling on you, to faithfully navigate this life. Help us, both as individuals and as a church, to treasure Jesus in our lives and words and thoughts this day and each day, until He comes.Application: Make hearing from the Lord in the scriptures and calling on Him in prayer your regular habit. Ask Him to grow your faith, that you would be a faithful witness of who He is and what He is doing – and will complete! – in you.Here is how I will apply these truths: _______

5:15-17 Walk wisely. Paul gives three contrasts in our passage for today, two of them are found here. Both point to one reality: be imitators of God and walk as children of the light (5:1, 8). That starts with prizing new life in Jesus: not being unwise, but wise; not living foolishly, but pursuing what the Lord wills.

5:18-21 Filled with the Spirit. Ultimately, the way of life that Paul envisions is found in this third contrast: our aim as Christians is not to live in the world’s ways of debauchery, but instead it is to live Spirit-filled lives. Three pictures are given of what this looks like: melody to the Lord in how you live, thankfulness to Him in all things, and submission to one another in the pattern that Jesus Himself has exampled.

The Point: The Spirit-filled life is what we are called to and what the Lord offers to us. We are to earnestly call on Him to build our desire for what He offers to His people.

Prayer: Lord, we ask for you to do what is humanly impossible when you save us; now we ask that you continue that miraculous work in our heart and mind: make us to earnestly desire all that you have said is best so that we would experience the joy of being filled with your Spirit!

Application: Pray and ask the Lord to build in your heart and mind the desire for the life described here. Ask the Lord to give what He offers so that you would have this kind of Spirit-given joy in how you follow Him and love others.

Here is how I will apply these truths: ___________________

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28:1-4 Fear. There is so much that we fear in this life, and the first disciples had even more reasons: their Master had been killed in the most brutal and public way possible. As Mary and Mary come to the tomb, they also are confronted with fear: the fear of the miraculous!

28:5-7 Life. The good news is this: what Jesus had repeatedly taught is exactly what had happened. He was no longer dead in the tomb, but had risen. Jesus was alive! The mission for the women was simple: they were to look in, see for themselves that Jesus wasn’t there, and then take this wonderous news to the rest of the disciples.

28:8-10 Joy. On their way, the ladies meet Jesus Himself! Their fear is rapidly turning into joy! They respond with worship, and are then told to take the message of Christ’s life to the disciples who will see Him in Galilee.

The Point: Jesus Christ has risen from the grave, defanging death, and proving to those who follow Him that the life He taught about is a promise that He will deliver on.

Prayer: Father, thank you so much for giving us joy that we don’t deserve. Thank you for the cross; thank you for the empty tomb! Thank you that our King lives! Change our hearts to respond in worship and to live in joy.

Application: Trust Jesus Christ as your Risen King! Respond to Him with worship, with joy. Look for a way to spread that joy in Jesus to somebody else in the week ahead.

26:36-38 Let us pray… Following the events of the Lord’s Supper, Jesus and the disciples head to a hill overlooking town to spend time in prayer; they need to call on the Lord for spiritual strength to be faithful with what will soon come.

26:39-41 Any other way? Christ’s first prayer asks the heart-searching question: is there any other way to save God’s people than to die a brutal death on the cross? Yet, Jesus focuses on the Father’s will more than His own. The disciples, for their part, fall asleep – they give in to temptation instead of preparing themselves.

26:42-43 Your will be done. Christ’s second prayer mirrors the first, if anything intensifying Jesus’ desire to do the Father’s will. The disciples once more are found asleep.

26:44-46 The hour has come. Christ’s third prayer is much the same as the first two. This time, upon His return, we learn that the time for preparation has drawn to a close. Jesus is ready, even if the disciples were not.

The Point: Christ’s perfect obedience will bring about our salvation.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for doing what we could not. Thank you for being obedient where we have not. Thank you for giving so great a salvation to we who don’t deserve it!

Application: See your King being faithful – and respond with worship and with thankfulness!

4:17-19 What we were… Paul’s goal is to call the Ephesians – and us! – to see that there is, and must be, a radical difference between somebody who isn’t a Christian and somebody who is. Those who aren’t Christian live for the sorts of things that are the direct opposite of what will be valued in Christ’s kingdom.

4:20-24 Who we now are… Those who are Christian are called to daily embrace the gift that Jesus has given to us: we are to put off the old self and to embrace the new. Jesus has done the work, and we are to receive it. Christians should, in every way that treasures Jesus and values His words, look different from our world.

The Point: In Christ, every Christian has been given a new identity, a new life. We don’t earn it, but we are called to receive it and live in it each and every day.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, teach us more and more of our Savior – of all that He has done for us, of what we have in Him, and of what we will inherit in Him. In doing so, make us to see and to treasure all that He calls us to so that we would walk in His ways today and each day.

Application: How will you be intentional about putting off the old self this year? What thoughts and habits need to be cast aside because they are incompatible with Christ’s kingdom? How will you embrace Christ’s new identity given to you? What will treasuring Jesus look like in your life this year?

Here is how I will apply these truths: ___________________

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