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We Christians in the West may need to be eased into this. We often do not take the demonic all that seriously in our thinking. Paul challenges our bias. He also lays the groundwork for all spiritual warfare: who the enemy is, where we fight, and how we fight.
These verses get skipped in most Christian churches in North America today. They are too much for listeners and for the clergy called to preach them. Why are they too much? Has Paul gone off the rails? Or have we? This sermon examines these questions in light of the gospel of Christ and emerges on the other side, showing that Paul’s teaching is Christ-centered, loving, and powerful in the Christian life.
Your heart has vessels. You know that from high school biology class. But, did you also know this? Your heart also is a vessel. It needs to be filled. This lesson from Paul explores two wrong ways people try to fill the heart and then gives one proper way. Your heart was always made to run on God, the Holy Spirit.
In this text, Paul gives examples of what it means to put off the old self and put on the new one in the Christian life. This sermon covers most of his examples under this question: what words should we speak? It places that theme into the contemporary context where words can go more wide and deep than ever before. It also gives questions that will help the Christian discern what words are appropriate when, as we live for the Lord who was and is our fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Paul compares and contrasts two different kinds of life in this Scripture: the Gentile life and the Christian life. He makes this comparison because they are the only two kinds of lives a person can live. This sermon, following Paul, makes the same comparison. It compares what life is, how drives in life are managed, and where this life comes from/goes to.
We live in a very divided culture. Sadly, church leaders have seen those divisions walk right into the Church. Even worse, it seems that no one can even agree on what truth is anymore. How does the Church respond to that? How can she maintain her unity? This sermon walks through this section of Ephesians to discover the biblical answer to the real-world problem of division we are currently facing.