Today we have a guest preacher, Mike Caparelli, who is the director of Unmuted. The mission of Unmuted is to give victims of various kinds of traumatic experiences their voices back. Mike speaks from 2 Samuel 13 and the idea of the conscience. He challenges listeners to stay attuned to what their God-given conscience is telling them, and warns of the consequences of stifling the conscience.
Ephesians: How Truth Transforms
Ephesians 4:15-16
The great aim in the Christian life is to become like Jesus. It is to display the very life of Christ as it grows in and through us to the world. This work of spiritual formation in the church is accomplished when each part is working properly in the practice of speaking the truth in love. In other words, the church equips the church; the church builds the church; the church makes the church grow. As important as pastors are in helping the church to grow spiritually, it is God’s design that the church grows by the interdependence of all the parts working together. Church people minister to church people. This message is an encouragement to each of us to play our part well in speaking and receiving truth in the church community. Practical instructions are given in the last segment of the teaching to help us develop more honest relationships.
Ephesians: Gifted
Ephesians 4:7-14
Likely, we’ve all heard someone described as “gifted”. Usually, this word is used to describe a special type of person that possesses unique qualities. It carries the idea that most people—us common folks—cannot and should not be described as gifted. In our church experience we tend to regard orators, music leaders or outgoing winsome personalities who are good at evangelism, as gifted. In honest moments we wonder why others are gifted and we are not. But the Bible does not support these notions at all and, in fact, teaches us that every child of God is gifted by God to contribute to the grand design of God in building the Church of God.
Ephesians: Unity
Ephesians 4:1-6
We find ourselves living in a world filled with people who we disagree with about a great many matters. As Christians, we also find ourselves in a Church world filled with people we disagree with about a great many matters. Is unity even possible? What can be do to foster unity with others? This talk comes from Ephesians 4:1-6 but also comes from the many experiences I’ve had over three decades of deep involvement in the Church. Unity is not only attainable for God’s people, it is the very prayer of Jesus (John 17). This message is very practical in helping us to work through disagreements with others.
Ephesians: The Power Within
Ephesians 3:20-21
One of the greatest tactics of Satan is to try to convince us that we are powerless. He lies to us and tells us that we aren't holy enough, righteous enough, prayerful enough to be effective. He tells us we are still too sinful for our words and actions to make any real difference in people's lives. When we allow ourselves to be duped, the result is discouragement, silence and inaction. The benediction of Paul in these verses is a reminder that God is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond what we can imagine - through us! We are more powerful than we know! This is a message of encouragement to the child of God to not shrink back in unbelief but speak out for God and keep laboring for the advance of the gospel.
Ephesians: Experiencing God's Love
Ephesians 3:14-19
This message from Ephesians 3 is a prayer for God’s love to be made real in us. When we come to faith we begin to understand the Father’s love in small measure, but this understanding grows more and more through the years. Even after we learn all the Scriptures about love and hear countless teachings about God’s love, even after singing songs for years about God’s love—we still need fresh revelations! The prayer of Paul is, essentially, that we would fully comprehend what we already know, namely, God’s love. Knowing this love is more than head knowledge. God Himself, at times, opens the eyes of our heart and enables us to see it in all of its glory. My prayer for this message is that it would create in us a greater hunger to experience the love of God above all else and that we’d be stirred to seek after it. Nothing is more transformative than experiencing the loving embrace of the Heavenly Father!
Standalone Sermons: Good Samaritan
I intended on resuming our sermon series on the book of Ephesians but about the middle of this week I felt moved to stay on the theme of racial justice. I’ve been reading a lot and watching a lot of content lately and trying to get perspectives from every angle. Listening to a black pastor (TD Jakes) share his story this week with Hillsong NYC pastor (Carl Lenz) left me undone. I admit that there is so much suffering in the world that I can hear about and feel numb to. But when I listened to this pastor, it was as if the Lord Himself was helping me to understand and feel empathy. In one point of the conversation the pastor was talking about the parable of the Good Samaritan and it became the seed for this week's sermon.
Ephesians: Another Layer of Grace
Ephesians 3
Continuing on with our Ephesians series, we find ourselves at the beginning of chapter 3. In this passage, Paul writes about the Grace of God in a way we don't often think. Looking deeper at this word we reclaim an even fuller meaning of this amazing, unmerited favor of God.
Ephesians: Household of God
Ephesians 2:11-22
As this terrible pandemic is affecting our planet there is another kind of pandemic that has been going on for years and shows no signs of letting up soon. I’m talking about the spiritual pandemic of God’s people being bored, sour, cynical, divided, ungrateful and cold in heart. It’s not surprising that this widespread problem is happening because the prophets, apostles and Jesus himself predicted it would happen in the latter days. The verses in Ephesians 2:11-22 are a medicine for the mind. When we take this “medicine” consistently through the practice of contemplation we will find ourselves full of health and life. This message aims to evoke awe and gratitude.
Ephesians: Workmanship
Ephesians 2:10
It is a universal belief that we humans are responsible to shape our own lives into something significant. The Christian faith actually teaches the opposite - God Himself is the shaper, the artist, the potter. The implications of this are wonderful! Instead of floundering in our moral inadequacies in the effort to become people of virtue, we trust God Himself to fashion us into the image of His Son. This message is an encouragement to all who struggle to live up to the high standards of the Word of God. We can relax on the Potter’s wheel and allow the Master Potter to do what He does best.