8.29.10 – Let’s assume that everyone here is really good at keeping a secret. I’m not talking about illegal activities or anything like that. Let’s just say you’re the kind of person someone can take into their confidence for something like a surprise party. Or, a friend is having an operation and they don’t want everyone to know, but they tell you because they know you can be trusted to keep it under your hat.

8.22.10 – The idea of citizenship has been in the news a lot lately. Specifically, people in the press and politicians and pretty much everyone else is wondering what to do with people who are in the country illegally. I’m not going to address our national situation this morning except to say that it sets us up well for what Paul tells us next in Ephesians.

8.15.10 – Have you ever wished you had more money so you could do more for your kids, but at the same time, you didn’t want your kids to be “rich kids”? Why is that?

Maybe of us remember the rich kids from school. We’ve seen them in movies. The kids who have no appreciation for life, who expect everything to be handed to them on a silver platter because it always has been. As a kid, you might have envied the rich kid his wealth—but as an adult you don’t really want that for your kids, do you?

8.8.10 – Our newspapers and TV news are filled with bad things. Political corruption, oil spills (but I repeat myself), murder, robbery, etc. It can be very depressing.

Every so often, someone comes up with the idea of doing a news show that only covers good news. Even Ted Turner put his money behind such a show once. It didn’t last. There’s something about bad news that’s more compelling—at least, from a ratings standpoint—than good news.

8.8.10 – Our newspapers and TV news are filled with bad things. Political corruption, oil spills (but I repeat myself), murder, robbery, etc. It can be very depressing.

Every so often, someone comes up with the idea of doing a news show that only covers good news. Even Ted Turner put his money behind such a show once. It didn’t last. There’s something about bad news that’s more compelling—at least, from a ratings standpoint—than good news.

8.1.10 – From as far back as I can remember, I have been praying. My family prayed around the table before meals and we prayed before bedtime. So one of the passages that confused me in Scripture was when the disciples asked Jesus, “Teach us to pray.” That seemed strange, because I figured everybody knew how to pray. I sure figured I did.

I eventually came to see that my prayers were backwards. Instead of being God-centered, they were me-centered. As I’ve mentioned before: prayer is not about getting God in-line with me, it’s about getting me in-line with God.

Ephesians 1:1-2
From Paul, who by God's will is an apostle of Christ Jesus—To God's people in Ephesus, who are faithful in their life in union with Christ Jesus: May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.

Paul always begins his letters with this wish of “grace and peace”. It’s a combination of a Greek greeting (grace) with a Jewish greeting (peace). So he’s fulfilling his mission of being a missionary to the Gentile world by bringing the good news of Jesus Christ, a Jewish carpenter.

Over the next few weeks, we’re going to be looking at the book of Ephesians. This morning, I want to launch us into that with a brief overview of one of the central themes of the book—a theme that should excite you and relax you at the same time. The theme of:

7.18.10 – The Unbreakable Seal

7.11.10 – For the last four weeks I’ve been talking about our mission statement. Why?

Mostly, it’s about focus. We’re not a big congregation (as you may have noticed), but we are a congregation that—I believe—was put here by God for a reason.

We’re limited in our resources. A larger congregation might be able to offer a singles class and a ministry to expectant moms and a dozen other distinct ministries. At this point in time, we can’t do that. So we narrow our focus to what we can do and what we must do.

7.4.10 – “Welcoming everyone, wherever they are, to be a growing follower of Jesus.”

On this day every year, our country celebrates its independence. Over time, it has become known mainly for picnicking and fireworks, but we also tell the stories of George Washington and the troops, of the men who put their lives on the line to sign the Declaration of Independence, and of the onerous taxation and oppression that led them to do such a thing.