This coming Sunday I will conclude my preaching on Paul's letter to the Ephesians. I wanted to start with Ephesians because I want Christ Baptist Church to be committed to God's plan for the church. We need a high veiw of the church. We need God's view of His church. We need Christ's passionate love for His bride.
I am a bit sad as I think about moving on from this great letter. I feel like I'm taking a close friend to the airport after a fruitful and life-changing visit. I will still be able to talk to this friend and benefit from frequent corespondence. But it will be a long time before we have a visit like this again.
If God gives me 50 years with Christ Baptist Church, I would love to preach through all of Scripture. It would be great to preach as a 78 year old man through Ephesians again and pass the torch to the next generation.
So, I'm preaching an overview/summary message of Ephesians this Sunday (God willing). Pray for me. This is a huge task. You can download most of the individual messages from our website.
3 comments:
I pray that the members Christ Baptist Church and all the churches across this land will love the church just as Paul encouraged the Ephesians to love it. May God lead us to have a love and commitment such as this to the body he has placed us in.
May he use pastors and leaders to encourage, edify and build disciples that glorify him through a deepened understanding of biblical church membership.
Justin,
I just complete an order of a number of commentaries on Ephesians from Westminster Bookstore. (Thanks for the previous blog entry. I saved a bunch of $$$.)
For the past two summers at FBC, Duncan I have taught on the basic doctrines of the bible - however I feel God leading me to teach through the book of Ephesians soon. My desire is similar to yours. To help God's people at FBC, Duncan to understand God's passion for the Bride of Christ, His church.
I know how you feel about leaving a book behind. I spent over a year preaching through James on Sunday evening here. There is nothing that compares to expository preaching!!
Where is God leading you after Ephesians?
Justin,
I have memorized the NIV text of Ephesians and in so doing spent a lot of time mulling over the message of the book. I believe the theme of Church unity is possibly the most directly addressed subject in the epistle. I have a short post on my blog, titled The Message of Ephesians which sums up my observations on that point. I don't think you could have chosen a better text for this message!
As a seminary student (only three classes to go!), I'd love to be a resource for you to bounce thoughts off as you're preparing your sermon. If you're interested in taking advantage of that, my work email is asturt@us.ci.org.
Andy
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