God's Plan For Peace Series

God’s Plan for Peace

Ephesians – Our Riches in Christ

Ephesians 2:11-3:1

Turn your bibles to Eph. chapter 2.

Eph 2:11-22 NLT

11 Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders by birth. You were called "the uncircumcised ones" by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts. 12 In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from God’s people, Israel, and you did not know the promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. 13 But now you belong to Christ Jesus. Though you once were far away from God, now you have been brought near to him because of the blood of Christ. 14 For Christ himself has made peace between us Jews and you Gentiles by making us all one people. He has broken down the wall of hostility that used to separate us. 15 By his death he ended the whole system of Jewish law that excluded the Gentiles. His purpose was to make peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new person from the two groups. 16 Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death, and our hostility toward each other was put to death. 17 He has brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and to us Jews who were near. 18 Now all of us, both Jews and Gentiles, may come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.

19 So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. 20 We are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. 21 We who believe are carefully joined together, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. 22 Through him you Gentiles are also joined together as part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.

Great events have a way of cementing themselves in your mind.

I’ll bet everyone here can remember exactly where they were and what they were doing on the morning of Sept. 11th, last year, when you heard that terrorists had crashed airplanes into the World Trade Towers and the pentagon.

I was in my office and walked next door, and the staff there started telling me someone had crashed a plane into the Trade towers…..

Who can remember another disaster,

on January 28, 1986, what happened that day?

The space shuttle Challenger disaster. I still remember watching on TV as the camera showed Krista Mcaulliffes parents looking into the sky, and seeing the expressions on their faces as they realized something had gone terribly wrong.

If you’re in your early 30’s or older, maybe you can remember back to Feb. 12, 1973, this wasn’t a disaster, it was a good thing.

Anyone know what happened that day?

The first POW’s from Viet Nam returned home.

Or a Sunday evening, July 20, 1969, what happened that day?

The first man walked on the moon.

If you’re a little older, like me, maybe you can remember back to Nov. 22, 1963, That should be an easy one.

President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated. I was 6 years old, and heard about it when I got to my first grade class in the morning.

Some of you who are over 60 may remember Dec. 7, 1941 Another easy one.

Pearl Harbor was attacked. Even though that was 61 years ago, you probably remember where you were and what you were doing when you heard that news.

Oct. 29th 1929.

Black Tuesday, the stock market crash, setting off the great depression.

Now lets back up a little.

On November 9, 1989, a major event happened.

Who can tell me what it is?

The Berlin wall fell.

The so-called iron curtain came down.

If you look at lists of the most important events of the last century,

that’s included on every list.

It was incredibly significant.

A wall was removed, that represented all the hostility,

all the hatred,

and all the strife of the cold war.

The destruction of that wall was so significant,

that thousands of people around the world

have saved little chunks of concrete from that wall,

as treasured possessions.

In fact,

While I was writing this message,

I needed a break,

so as a lark I did a search on ebay and sure enough,

if you’d like to own your own piece of the Berlin Wall,

you can buy it on ebay.

(107 items listed)

Well I want to talk today about another wall that was torn down.