This week’s message emphasizes the importance of unity among believers, highlighting that through the cross of Jesus, Jews and Gentiles are no longer separated but are united as one body in Christ. We are reminded that Jesus serves as the perfect Cornerstone upon which our faith and lives should be built, encouraging us to put aside differences and focus on our shared salvation.

We are warned against the distractions caused by division, which deter the church from fulfilling its mission to reflect God's glory and wisdom in our community. Finally, we are all urged to boldly enter God’s presence, inspire one another to love and good works, and maintain the unity that God desires for His church.

Today's message emphasizes understanding the Christian life as a transformative process. Pastor Chris drew from Ephesians 2:1-10, which depicts a journey from being spiritually dead in sin to being made alive in Christ by God's grace and ultimately living for His purpose. This spiritual rebirth isn't earned by works but is a gift received through faith. As a result, Christians are called to actively live out their new life, being examples of God's grace and doing the good works He planned. The message urges believers to not sit on the sidelines but to engage in life wholeheartedly for God's glory, embodying the change from death to life.

A Study through the book of Ephesians

As we heard in Sunday's message, our God is a faithful God. He has and will come through on His promises. We learned that by stepping into a relationship with Jesus, we are blessed to be a part of the "Family of God". In the Family of God, we get to see how our story and God's story intertwine. We get to live the exciting life of trusting in God's plan for our lives over our own.

This is exciting news! Not only do we get to be a part of His plan, but we also get to be guided by The Holy Spirit that He promised us. Each day we get to choose to be guided by our flesh or our Spirit, and this is a gift from God. This week, I encourage you to continue to trust in God's plan for your life, knowing that you have the Holy Spirit to help guide you in each step that you take!

Blind Bartimaeus

In Luke 18:9–14, Jesus shares the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector to illustrate the profound impact of humility before God. The Pharisee stands in pride, comparing himself to others, while the tax collector humbly acknowledges his brokenness and pleads for mercy. This story reminds us that true righteousness is not about how we measure up to others but how we align our hearts with God's standards. As Martin Luther said, "God created the world out of nothing, and as long as we are nothing, He can make something out of us." Embrace humility, recognize your need for God's grace, and let Him transform your brokenness into strength.

The character of abundant faith is evident in the way we pray and the way we persevere in our relationship with God. When things get tough or don't go the way we want, are you more apt to say God owes me this, or I wonder how God will show himself through this situation? Are you more apt to keep praying the same prayer over and over, or are you willing to allow God to edit your prayers and, in doing so, get on the same page with Him? No doubt God hears our prayers, but do we have the patience to wait on him and allow him to transform us in the process?

In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, both of their lives ended in death, both of their eternities were irreversible, and both had a chance to respond before they died, but only Lazarus chose Jesus, and that made all the difference for eternity.