Unfortunately, men and women, I think the telemarketer tally board is how many or most people see the God of the Bible and the Christian life. Even those who don’t believe that God is the great tally marker in the sky often slip into living that way when it comes to prayer, church, sharing Christ, doing good deeds, doing my job or not sinning. Trying to earn something from God based on how I perform on a given day. It’s easy for us to think that how God feels about us—whether or not He will accept us, love us and forgive each day—depends on how many spiritual tally marks we have next to our names. Have I done enough good things, have I have prayed enough or won the battle with sin on a given day, or have been a good father or husband or Christian? And even worse, it’s easy to feel like at the end of each day, all our past works don’t matter and we need to prove ourselves with enough tally marks again each day. And I think many or most of us can go through life like this as we relate to God whether we are a Christian or not. And I hope this morning that we would allow the Bible to remind us anew that we are only made worthy of anything before God by His free grace alone.

What happens when love grows cold? There is this journey, this course that we are on and it is taking us somewhere. And our passage says that we all as a human race are on this same course—this same destination—together, toward the things that are making us dead. And we also saw last week that some people have gotten off of that course leading to spiritual death and have been raised into new life by God. After the sobering introduction, our passage takes a hopeful turn, revealing to us that rich, great and immeasurable are God’s love, mercy, kindness and grace to those who are dead in sin. As we look around in our world today and often in our own hearts, we are compelled to ask: what has happened to all of those things? Love, mercy, grace and kindness? Where have they gone? Maybe they are gone from your life as well, gone from your home. Gone in how we treat others, how we treat ourselves or how others treat us. But the good news this morning is that we can know from God’s Word—no matter how we have experienced God, no matter if we are doubting God’s love or discouraged by our world, no matter if we are unkind to others, or unkind to ourselves—we can know from our passage this morning that in a loveless, merciless, graceless, unkind world—in which sometimes we are the worst offenders—the God of the universe doesn’t just possess those things. But He is immeasurably rich and lavish in all of those things which are in such short supply today. And that truth, which the Bible calls the good news or the gospel, is more important today than ever before. And that may sound like exaggeration. But if we don’t have love, kindness, mercy and grace it may actually be the end of the world.

If you had a nail in your forehead, would you want someone to let you know it’s there? Would you want someone to help you get it out? Have we gotten so used to the pain and trouble in our life and in our world that we just want to complain about it rather than have someone actually help remove it? Thankfully the Bible is both honest and helpful when it comes to what the nail in our foreheads really is. It’s honest about what is causing us misery and about the nagging sense that something isn’t right in our human condition. Scripture shows us a relational and compassionate God who listens to our complaints, but also frees us from our greatest problem. Let’s read God’s Word this morning as we continue going through the book of Ephesians.

Does it ever seem sometimes in the world or in our lives that God has resigned? That He isn’t in control, that He isn’t on the throne? Or maybe that He is on the throne and in control, but that He just doesn’t care? We are going through the book of Ephesians as a church, and in Ephesians we see a group of believers in Ephesus likely feeling similar to us - experiencing trials, persecution and suffering on a daily basis for their faith. Let’s see what God’s Word has to say for us as it declares that God indeed is on the throne AND is in control. God has not resigned - God reigns!

We often hear that the power to be and do what we want lies within. But what happens when we don’t seem to have the strength to be, do or change anything? The Bible says we are free to be weak and unable because God works His immeasurably great power and strength toward us to bring us into life. Join us as we continue our series in the book of Ephesians looking at our Father’s power in our lives.

Imagine for a moment you have been an orphan your entire life - no father, no mother, no brothers or sisters. Alone in this world without a family. But one day you receive a letter that says you are the child of a famous and wealthy individual. You find out your family has been searching for you your whole life, and finally have found you - and you are no longer an orphan alone in this world. How would this make you feel? Join us as we go through the book of Ephesians as a church, and realize that this is exactly the offer God has in store for us - a rich and lavish inheritance of not just eternal wealth, but an eternal, ever-growing family.

Join us this Sunday as we go through the book of Ephesians as a church. This morning we will be focusing on the last few verses of Paul’s song of praise in Ephesians 1, observing the inheritance we have in Christ sealed by the Holy Spirit - truly a Down Payment for the Ages (ft. Caleb Knedlik, Pastoral Assistant at Elevate Hope Centennial).

Join us this Sunday as we go through the book of Ephesians as a church. This morning we will be focusing on the middle section of Paul’s song of praise in Ephesians 1, observing Paul’s conclusion that the power of Jesus must invade our lives to guide us and help us combat the the powers and authorities of this world that are evil and sinful (ft. Caleb Knedlik, Pastoral Assistant at Elevate Hope Centennial).

What does it mean that God’s love is unconditional? Is there really nothing we need to do to earn God’s love? Join us as we start a new series on the book of Ephesians in the Bible looking at God’s unconditional, adopting, unchanging love for His children.