29/09/2019: A Life built on Jesus

CALL TO WORSHIP:          Psalm 96: 1-4a

Sing a new song to the Lord!
Let the whole earth sing to the Lord!
Sing to the Lord; praise his name.
Each day proclaim the good news that he saves.
Publish his glorious deeds among the nations.
Tell everyone about the amazing things he does.
Great is the Lord! He is most worthy of praise!

New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

READING:     Ephesians 2:1-10, 14-22

By Grace Through Faith

1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

English Standard Version (ESV)

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

A PRAYER FOR AFRICA
God bless Africa, Guard our Children, Guide our Leaders and Give us Peace! And may that Peace – begin with Me!

NOTES:
1. See (vs.1-10) “Saved by Grace – For Good Works”:
_____________________________________________________________________________________

GRACE 1
“Grace is something you can never get but only be given. There's no way to earn it or deserve it or bring it about any more than you can deserve the taste of raspberries and cream or earn good looks or bring about your own birth.
A good sleep is grace and so are good dreams. Most tears are grace. The smell of rain is grace. Somebody loving you is grace. Loving somebody is grace. Have you ever tried to love somebody?
A crucial eccentricity of the Christian faith is the assertion that people are saved by grace. There is nothing you have to do. There is nothing you have to do.  There is nothing you have to do.
The grace of God means something like: "Here is your life. You might never have been, but you are because the party wouldn’t have been complete without you. Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don’t be afraid. I am with you.
Nothing can ever separate us. It’s for you I created the universe. I love you.”
There’s only one catch. Like any other gift, the gift of grace can be yours only if you’ll reach out and take it.
Maybe being able to reach out and take it is a gift too.”

2. See (vs. 14-22) Breaking down walls – building peace:
_____________________________________________________________________________________

3
_____________________________________________________________________________________

DIVISIONS 2
Rev. Dr Janet Hunt writes – “The wall seems to grow only higher as too much of the time, many of us listen only to those who already agree with us, afraid of being tainted or convinced or proven wrong, perhaps. As a result, we do not allow our
positions and therefore our hopes and dreams – indeed, our very lives, to be refined by the fires of simple conversation back and forth.
Oh yes, there is so very much that divides us that we sometimes even find ourselves hesitant to bring up the controversial, fearful that our false sense of peace will be disrupted.”

QUESTION FOR THE WEEK: What “walls of division” have you built in your life?
_____________________________________________________________________________________

NOTES:
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Rev. Tim

1 https://www.frederickbuechner.com/blog/2018/3/5/weekly-sermon-illustration-grace?rq=Ephesians%202
2 Rev.DR. Janet Hunt: http://words.dancingwiththeword.com/2015/07/jesus-our-peace.html