And That's The Way It Is
Rex Yancey
Ephesians 2:8-10
"Tell it like it is" a phrase that became common in the decade of the sixties, and carried over into the seventies. It had its origin in the personal growth movement, when the emphasis was on personal confrontation, honesty and openness in sharing of feelings.
Walter Cronkite ended his national news broadcast by saying, "And that's the way it is."
Paul needed no encouragement to tell it like it is. But not only that, he told it as it could be.
At 12:21 a.m. on a morning in November 1979, the doctor pronounced Jesse Walter Bishop dead in the gas chamber of the Nevada State Prison. Bishop was a career criminal who committed his first armed robbery at the age of fifteen, and spent 22 of his last 27 years behind bars. Bishop renounced all efforts to stay his execution for a murder he had committed in 1977. He even waived his right to a jury trial, immediately pleading guilty. He could have been given an appeal minutes before his execution, but said no, with these words: "This is just one more step down the road I've been headed all of my life. Let's go."
Paul tells us how it is down the road we are headed and how it could be. I want us to look at that this morning.
1. MAN'S PREDICAMENT
Paul begins by describing the past life of the Christians at Ephesus. "And you,"… This also describes every one of us.
1. You were dead.
Adam was alive, but dead after his disobeyed God. He was alive physically and dead spiritually. He was lost. Paul said "A natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised."
When man attempts to make something he uses the best materials. He uses the purest clay. (Frank Stewart, potter at Louisville, Ms) He uses the finest marble, and the choicest wood. But God goes to the refuse heap and selects materials that are worthless. The Ephesian Christians wer ...
Rex Yancey
Ephesians 2:8-10
"Tell it like it is" a phrase that became common in the decade of the sixties, and carried over into the seventies. It had its origin in the personal growth movement, when the emphasis was on personal confrontation, honesty and openness in sharing of feelings.
Walter Cronkite ended his national news broadcast by saying, "And that's the way it is."
Paul needed no encouragement to tell it like it is. But not only that, he told it as it could be.
At 12:21 a.m. on a morning in November 1979, the doctor pronounced Jesse Walter Bishop dead in the gas chamber of the Nevada State Prison. Bishop was a career criminal who committed his first armed robbery at the age of fifteen, and spent 22 of his last 27 years behind bars. Bishop renounced all efforts to stay his execution for a murder he had committed in 1977. He even waived his right to a jury trial, immediately pleading guilty. He could have been given an appeal minutes before his execution, but said no, with these words: "This is just one more step down the road I've been headed all of my life. Let's go."
Paul tells us how it is down the road we are headed and how it could be. I want us to look at that this morning.
1. MAN'S PREDICAMENT
Paul begins by describing the past life of the Christians at Ephesus. "And you,"… This also describes every one of us.
1. You were dead.
Adam was alive, but dead after his disobeyed God. He was alive physically and dead spiritually. He was lost. Paul said "A natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised."
When man attempts to make something he uses the best materials. He uses the purest clay. (Frank Stewart, potter at Louisville, Ms) He uses the finest marble, and the choicest wood. But God goes to the refuse heap and selects materials that are worthless. The Ephesian Christians wer ...
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