{"id":26433,"date":"2023-05-23T22:00:04","date_gmt":"2023-05-24T05:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/ephesians-1_11-23-copy\/"},"modified":"2023-05-09T14:39:54","modified_gmt":"2023-05-09T21:39:54","slug":"ephesians-2_1-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/ephesians-2_1-10\/","title":{"rendered":"This Makes Me Wanna Shout"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ephesians 2:1-10 \u00a0 \u00a0 Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Ephesians 2:1-10.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

In Ephesus\u00a02:1-10 we find one of the best summaries of the Gospel anywhere in the Bible.\u00a0 Here Paul summarizes the core message of Christianity.\u00a0 When I read Ephesians 2:1-10 with an open heart, it makes me want to shout and cheer because of how incredibly good and undeservingly kind God has been to us.\u00a0 Praise God!<\/p>\n

Ephesians 2:1-5 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions–it is by grace you have been saved.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses\u00a01-5: \u00a0These verses show us the “before” and “after” pictures of what happens when we place our faith in Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

BEFORE: \u00a0We were dead in our sins (v1).
\nAFTER: \u00a0 \u00a0God made us alive with Christ (v5).<\/p>\n

BEFORE: \u00a0We used to follow the ways of this world, living in sin and following the devil who is called “the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient” (v2).\u00a0 Being sinners by nature we deserved God’s wrath (v3).
\nAFTER: \u00a0Because of God’s great love for us, He showed us mercy (v4). He sent Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for us, taking God’s wrath away from us.<\/p>\n

Ephesians<\/strong>\u00a02<\/strong>:6-7 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 6-7: \u00a0What does Paul mean when he says that “God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus”?\u00a0 It means that while today we physically live on this earth, spiritually we are right now seated with Christ in heaven.\u00a0 So we are no longer mere “earthlings”, but our citizenship is in heaven and our spiritual position is that we are seated in heaven with Jesus Christ (v6).\u00a0 Incredible!<\/p>\n

Ephesians<\/strong>\u00a02<\/strong>:8-9 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>not by works, so that no one can boast.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 8-9: \u00a0We did nothing to earn God’s forgiveness and salvation.\u00a0 Rather, “it is by\u00a0grace<\/em>\u00a0that you have been saved” (v5, 8) through faith in Jesus Christ (v8).\u00a0 What is grace?\u00a0 Grace is God’s free, undeserved kindness in our lives.\u00a0\u00a0Ephesians\u00a02\u00a0clearly shows us that we are saved not by our own works or by having faith in ourselves, but purely by God’s grace.<\/p>\n

Ephesians<\/strong>\u00a02<\/strong>:10 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 10: \u00a0Why doesn’t God take you to heaven immediately the moment you receive Christ?\u00a0 It’s because God made you to do good works for as long as you are on this earth.\u00a0 That was His plan from the beginning.\u00a0 We are not saved\u00a0by\u00a0<\/em>our good works, but we are saved\u00a0for\u00a0<\/em>good works.\u00a0 You are not an accident or a mistake.\u00a0 You are God’s handiwork, His masterpiece.<\/p>\n

Father, thank You that when I was dead in my sins, You made me alive in Christ.\u00a0 When I deserved Your wrath, You showed me Your mercy.\u00a0 When I followed the devil, You turned me around and gave me Your Holy Spirit.\u00a0 It is by grace that I am saved.\u00a0 Now that I am saved through faith in Jesus Christ, and now that I am spiritually raised with Christ in heaven, may I do the good works You created me to do.\u00a0 In Jesus’ name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Ephesians 2:1-10.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

In Ephesus\u00a02:1-10 we find one of the best summaries of the Gospel anywhere in the Bible.\u00a0 Here Paul summarizes the core message of Christianity.\u00a0 When I read Ephesians 2:1-10 with an open heart, it makes me want to shout and cheer because of how incredibly good and undeservingly kind God has been to us.\u00a0 Praise God!<\/p>\n

Ephesians 2:1-5 (NIV)
\n1\u00a0\u00a0As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,
\n2\u00a0\u00a0in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
\n3\u00a0\u00a0All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.
\n4\u00a0\u00a0But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
\n5\u00a0\u00a0made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions–it is by grace you have been saved.<\/p>\n

On verses\u00a01-5: \u00a0These verses show us the “before” and “after” pictures of what happens when we place our faith in Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

BEFORE: \u00a0We were dead in our sins (v1).
\nAFTER: \u00a0 \u00a0God made us alive with Christ (v5).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26435,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26433"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26433\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26436,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26433\/revisions\/26436"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}