Summary of The walking dead
Preamble
Brent explains that he is filling in this week for Pastor Kirk who fell off a scooter and received a concussion.
Ephesians 2 – You are dead!
Brent discusses the concept of death. He talks about the qualities of death. Brent connects this to Paul’s reference to spiritual death. Spiritual death is a separation from God, our alienation from God. Yet our society believes that “we are living!” But Paul is explaining that without a relationship with God we are actually dead – no purpose.
Qualities of being spiritually dead
- We are blind to Jesus
- We have no desire for God
- We have no desire to love God
- We have no desire to serve God
Definition of some terms
Transgressions – this word means we rebel, we go off the beaten path, we purposely go out of bounds.
Sin – this is a term that describes missing the mark, as an archer misses the bullseye.
We are enslaved – Romans 12:2
We blindly follow what our society wants, from beards to the Kardashians. A society that does not acknowledge God leads to a self-centered society. It also leads to a desire for ignorance of the truth — the truth that our world lacks compassion for poorer nations, war ravaged countries, or even those in the poor areas of our own country.
Paul says we should no longer conform to the patterns of this world! We must acknowledge God even though our society does not.
You are enslaved by the Devil
2 Cor 4:4 – Paul warns us that the Devil (“the god of this age…”) is real, that is influence is real, and that he has fully blinded people from God’s influence. We must be aware of the Devil’s influence. Without recognizing the Devil’s impact on the world we will be clueless to a major factor to the spiritual war around us.
Be ready for the spiritual battle
To be ready for this spiritual battle we must put on the armour of God. We also need to renew our minds. We must focus on God’s Word and his passions. This will help us fight against the influence of our society and the influence of the Devil.
By our nature we want to be enslaved
Paul reminds us that we were born this way. After the fall of man (Adam and Eve) all of humanity starts out “bent away” from from God. By recognizing this Christians should become the most merciful and graced-filled people. This should eliminate our judgmentalness.
God’s wrath
God’s wrath is His reaction to evil, disobedience, and sin. He is not a jerk in his judgement. He is not random. God is consistent in his wrath against evil.
God of Love and God of wrath – a contradiction?
This seems like a huge contradiction. But God’s wrath comes out of his holiness. His holiness quality makes it impossible for God to not act against evil. Without God’s wrath there is no need for salvation. God’s love is demonstrated through his sacrifice of his own son while we were still sinners.
There is hope for all of us – we “were enslaved”
When we are in Christ we are no long enslaved. We are no longer condemned! Through Jesus we have the redemption from our sins. God loves us too much to keep us stuck in that existence.
About this Message Series
This is a message in a series called Ephesians. The goal of this series is to discuss the topics and themes that arise from the New Testament book Ephesians. The book of Ephesians is a letter that Paul wrote while in prison. Sometimes it is called a Prison Epistle. It was written to encourage believers. He was encouraging other faithful followers of Jesus to serve in unity and love in the midst of persecution. This series was started in January 2016.
About the Speaker
Brent is the lead pastor here at SouthRidge. He and his wife Pam were part of the original church plant.