Sermon Central
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Ephesians
Contributed by Thomas H on Oct 4, 2010 (message contributor)
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1. An Extraordinary Introduction
Contributed on Oct 4, 2010
In this extraordinary introduction, Paul introduces us to his letter to the Ephesians with a blessing of grace and peace - two words which neatly describe what Christ has done for us and which Paul develops in his letter to the Ephesians.
Ephesians 1:1-2 As many of you know, for the last few years we lived in the former Soviet Union. I remember one morning a young man came up to me, wanting me to translate a letter from Russian to English for him. He had some acquaintance in an English speaking country and he wanted me to ...read more
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2. Spiritual Blessings
Contributed on Oct 4, 2010
This is an amazing passage which describes the spiritual blessings God has given us. Paul is so excited about these spiritual blessings that in the Greek original, this whole passage is one sentence - like a little kid whose just been to an amusement par
Ephesians 1:3-10 Have you ever met a young child who has just been to Dreamworld for the first time? Can you imagine what he might say if you asked him how was his time there. He might be so excited that he might answer something like: Well, guess what, we went to Dreamworld and first we ...read more
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3. An Awesome Inheritance
Contributed on Oct 4, 2010
Who wouldnt like to be an heir of a vast business empire worth billions? To have enough money to have whatever you liked and never have to worry about anything? Yet a material inheritance fades in comparison to the incredible spiritual inheritance of e
Ephesians 1:11-14 An Awesome Inheritance Who has heard of Lachlan Murdoch? He is the heir of vast media Empire, which his father Rupert Murdoch built up over many years. He is worth billions. Who has heard of Paris Hilton? The first I heard the name of Paris Hilton I thought it was a ...read more
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4. A Prayer To See Clearly
Contributed on Oct 4, 2010
Why do we find it so hard to focus on our spiritual blessings in Christ? Why do the things of this world seem so much more attractive than the things of the next? It is because we can see the things of this world. That's why Paul prays for us to have a
Ephesians 1:15-23 When I was a young adult, about 20 years, I was part of a youth/young adults group at the church I was going to. One day one of our youth leaders had a bright idea. We would all climb Mt Beerwah, in the Glasshouse Mountains. He told us the sunrise from the top was ...read more
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5. Death To Life!
Contributed on Oct 4, 2010
Death to life - what an extreme! In this passage Paul talks about the amazing thing God did for us through Christ for those who follow Jesus - He took us from one extreme to another - from death to life!
Ephesians 2:1-10 Think of extremes. What extremes can you think of? Perhaps of drought and flood at the moment. A few years ago, in 2004, a geographer called Nick Middleton made a series of documentaries titled Going to extremes. During these documentaries, he visited the hottest, coldest, ...read more
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6. Spiritual Refugees
Contributed on Oct 4, 2010
In this passage, Paul talks about how we used to be refugees - aliens, without citizenship and cut off from the promises of God. Then through Christ, God destroyed the barrier of sin that made us refugees and those who follow Jesus now have citizenship a
Ephesians 2:11-18 Last year, we travelled back to Australia via the USA. We had a couple of days in southern California, so we decided that we would hop down to the Mexican border and pop over into Mexico for a few hours to see what it was like. I found a town on the map called Tecate a city ...read more
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7. The Church - Where God Lives
Contributed on Oct 4, 2010
There are many ideas out there of what the church is or what it ought to be. In this passage Paul tells us what God's idea is of the church - and God's idea is, is what counts!
Ephesians 2:19-22 The Church Where God Lives What is the church? What is a church? Is it a building? An institution? I grew up as a Catholic. We were taught that the Catholic Church is The Church. It is an elaborate institution, with churchs, cathedrals, basilicas and the Vatican, which ...read more
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8. The Mystery Of Christ
Contributed on Oct 4, 2010
Who loves a mystery? In this passage Paul talks about a mystery hidden in ages past which is now revealed - that believing Gentiles are now included in God's people!
Ephesians 1:1-6 The Mystery of Christ Who likes a mystery? People seem to like mysteries. Look at the popularity of mysteries in novels, films. The Bible is the best-selling book in the world, but do you know who comes second? With 4 billion copies sold, the novels of Agatha Christie are the ...read more
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9. God's Gift Of Service
Contributed on Oct 4, 2010
How do you view serving God? As a chore? As an inconvenience? Paul, who was in jail because he served God, viewed serving God as a gift, a privilege that God had given him!
Ephesians 3:7-13 How was your week? Did you have a good week? Or a bad one be honest. Whos had a bad week? Whos had bad things happen this week? This month? Year? Ever? Life can be tough it is not always not easy. We can struggle with all sorts of things. We can have money ...read more
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10. Guess How Much I Love You
Contributed on Oct 4, 2010
In this passage, Paul prays for the impossible - that God would give us the strength to understand the un-understandable love of God!
When our children were smaller we were given lots of childrens books. One of them was called, Guess how much I love you. The book is about 2 hares. One is big and he is called Big Nutbrown Hare. The other is small and is called Little Nutbrown Hare. They are probably a daddy and his son. ...read more
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11. A Few Christian Buzzwords - Calling, Gifting And Unity
Contributed on Oct 4, 2010
What is unity? In this passage, we learn what true biblical unity in the church is.
Buzzwords. Who likes buzzwords? Paradigm shift. Synergy. Empowerment. Exit strategy. Wellness. Offshoring. Downsizing. Benchmarking. Mission Critical. Fuzzy logic. We love our buzzwords. But do we always know what we mean when we use a buzzword? Do other people know what we mean? How ...read more
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12. The Whole Church Equipped To Minister
Contributed on Oct 4, 2010
God has given the church certain people whose job it is to equip the members of the church so that the whole church functions properly.
Ephesians 4:7-16 The Whole Church Equipped to Minister This week Marcela my wife had a splitting earache. Last weekend it was so painful that she spent most of it in bed with painkillers unable to sleep from pain. Also unable to hear properly. All sounds were just ringing in her ears. First ...read more
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13. A New Way Of Living
Contributed on Oct 4, 2010
"Would you like fries with that?" is what we hear whenever we go to McDonalds. Some people think Christianity is like that - that we can order salvation but holiness is an optional extra. Here Paul tells us that holiness is not an optional extra to the
Earlier this year we looked at Eph 2:1-10. We looked at extremes. Do you remember the extremes we looked at? Extremes of weather: 40C Mongolia in winter to +45C Dubai in summer. Think of other extremes. Earlier in the year when we last looked at extremes the Mary River was in flood. We looked at ...read more
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14. Anger, Speech And Forgiveness
Contributed on Oct 4, 2010
Anger, our speech and forgiveness - all things we need to work on with God's help as we put off the old self and put on the new.
Ephesians 4:25-5:2 Last week when we covered Ephesians 4:17-24 we talked about our new life. That when we become Christians there ought to be change. We need to leave behind the life we once lived, the life we lived as unbelievers and we need to put off the old self and put on the new. We ...read more
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15. Living A Life Of Sexual Purity
Contributed on Oct 4, 2010
Sex. It is big in today’s world. As Christians we are constantly pressured to conform to the world’s low sexual standards. But we must resist and in this passage Paul gives us God’s standards for sexual purity.
Ephesians 5:3-14 Living a life of sexual purity Sometimes when watching the news on TV some footage might be coming up - say a bomb explosion or war scene - and before they show the footage there is an announcement something like this: This footage contains scenes which may offend some viewers. ...read more
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16. Time Is Ticking Away
Contributed on Oct 4, 2010
Our time on this earth is short. Are you making the best use of your limited time on this earth for the Lord’s work?
Ephesians 5:15-17 Making the best us of our time. Youve all heard the scenario: if you knew you only had a certain amount of time to live, what would you do with it? Say you had one year left. For some reason, you knew you had exactly one year left to live. You had until the 25th July 2011 and ...read more
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17. Being Filled With The Spirit
Contributed on Oct 4, 2010
This sermon presents us with two contrasts - living a life of drunkenness and debauchery, or living a life filled with the Holy Spirit.
Ephesians 5:18-21 Whats your idea of a good time? A really smashing good time? Think about what you regard as a good time. Then think about what your friends who arent Christians think is a good time. Your friends, family, workmates, that is, the ones who dont know Christ. What do they regard as ...read more
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18. Submission - The Who, What And Where
Contributed on Oct 4, 2010
Submission is not a popular word in today’s society, yet it is a biblical concept. This sermon explains what biblical submission is and then applies it to how wives are to submit to their husbands.
Ephesians 5:21-24 Wives submit to your husbands Well we have finally arrived at that famous or infamous - passage: Wives submit to your own husbands. Why is this passage so famous or infamous? Why is this passage controversial? Why is the whole idea of wives submitting to husbands is ...read more
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19. Husbands, Love Your Wives
Contributed on Oct 4, 2010
As we’ve been going through Ephesians, we’ve seen how much Christ loved the church. Now, husbands are instructed to love their wives in this same kind of sacrificial way.
Ephesians 5:25-33 Husbands love your wives Have a look at our society today. Is it functioning well? Are people kind and considerate to each other? Do people agree with each other? The world is just emerging from a global financial crisis - or perhaps it isnt yet emerging we dont yet know. ...read more
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20. Children And Parents
Contributed on Oct 5, 2010
The first memory verse we taught our children was Ephesians 6:1 - "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right." On this Fathers’ Day sermon we look at this famous passage, as well as the responsibility of fathers.
Ephesians 6:1-4 Children and parents Children, I’ve asked you to come down the front because the first half of this sermon is for you. Have any of you learnt Ephesians 6:1? Do you know what it says? 6:1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. So who is this Bible passage ...read more
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21. Slaves And Masters In 2010
Contributed on Oct 5, 2010
This sermon addresses slaves and their masters - something we don’t have in 21st century western society. How do we apply this sermon to today’s situation?
Ephesians 6:5-9 Slaves and masters in 2010 Over the last few weeks we’ve been looking at a number of relationships. We looked at the husband and wife relationship. We looked at the parent child relationship. These relationships are interesting and are marked by two features. Firstly – they are ...read more
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22. Holy War!
Contributed on Oct 6, 2010
In the famous passage of Ephesians 6:10-20, we are told to arm ourselves with God’s armour. Why? It is because we are engaged in a spiritual battle - a holy war!
Ephesians 6:10-20 Holy war How do you view Christianity? How do you view the the Christian life? How do you view your life as a Christian? How do you view your role as a part of Christ’s church? I have come to realise that different Christians view the Christian life differently. Some people ...read more
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23. The End To An Extraordinary Letter
Contributed on Oct 6, 2010
In these last few verses of Ephesians, Paul blesses his readers with grace, peace, love and faith - all of which are themes running through the whole letter of Ephesians.
Ephesians 6:21-24 The End to an extraordinary letter Well we’ve finally arrived. We are at the end, the end of Ephesians. I don’t know if you’ve been counting, but guess how many sermons we’ve had on Ephesians this year? 22. This final one will bring it to 23. 23 sermons on 6 chapters. In most ...read more