JESUS BRINGS US TOGETHER SO HE CAN SHOW UP THROUGH US IN POWER (4 OF 9)
by Craig Smith
Scripture: Ephesians 2:11-22
Jesus Brings Us Together So He Can Show up Through Us in Power (4 of 9)
Series; Identity Theft
Craig Smith
Ephesians 2:11-22
I. Introduction
I want to start today by telling you about one of the saddest cases of identity theft I've ever seen: [the wolf at Pine Ridge]
The real tragedy was that when he lost his identity, he also lost his power. And the same thing can happen to those people who call themselves followers of Jesus.
II. Main Body
A. The problem
11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called ''uncircumcised'' by those who call themselves ''the circumcision'' (which is done in the body by human hands)-- 12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.
Paul starts off here in much the same way that he did in the passage we looked at last week: by reminding us of what was once true of us. He does that because he knows that fully appreciating where we are now requires remembering where we came from.
Now, in the earlier part of chapter two, Paul talks about things that were true of all human beings because of the lines we all crossed and the marks we all missed. But here, he's focusing specifically on things that were once true of a group called Gentiles, meaning non-Jewish people.
There were two kinds of differences between the Jews and the Gentiles: obvious and significant.
1. Obvious, but ultimately insignificant
One of the most obvious differences was that Jewish men were circumcised and Gentile men were not circumcised. Now, this is not what I would call a comfortable subject for anyone - and especially not for all the guys in the room - so I want to keep this as low-key as possible. So if you don't know what circumcision is...Google it. And if you're a kid and you don't know what circumcision is, ask you parents. Parents: have fun with that.
Bu ...
Series; Identity Theft
Craig Smith
Ephesians 2:11-22
I. Introduction
I want to start today by telling you about one of the saddest cases of identity theft I've ever seen: [the wolf at Pine Ridge]
The real tragedy was that when he lost his identity, he also lost his power. And the same thing can happen to those people who call themselves followers of Jesus.
II. Main Body
A. The problem
11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called ''uncircumcised'' by those who call themselves ''the circumcision'' (which is done in the body by human hands)-- 12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.
Paul starts off here in much the same way that he did in the passage we looked at last week: by reminding us of what was once true of us. He does that because he knows that fully appreciating where we are now requires remembering where we came from.
Now, in the earlier part of chapter two, Paul talks about things that were true of all human beings because of the lines we all crossed and the marks we all missed. But here, he's focusing specifically on things that were once true of a group called Gentiles, meaning non-Jewish people.
There were two kinds of differences between the Jews and the Gentiles: obvious and significant.
1. Obvious, but ultimately insignificant
One of the most obvious differences was that Jewish men were circumcised and Gentile men were not circumcised. Now, this is not what I would call a comfortable subject for anyone - and especially not for all the guys in the room - so I want to keep this as low-key as possible. So if you don't know what circumcision is...Google it. And if you're a kid and you don't know what circumcision is, ask you parents. Parents: have fun with that.
Bu ...
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