Ephesians on Refuge

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Jesus My Glory

Author

Keywords

Scripture

John 3:6-17 , Ephesians 2:8-10, Acts 16:31-34, 1 John 1:7, Philippians 2:5-8 , Matthew 5:14-16, Romans 12:1-2

O Lord God, You have commanded us to believe in Jesus; and I would flee to no other refuge, wash in no other fountain, build on no other foundation, receive from no other fullness, res...

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Faithful God, our Father, Lord and

Author

Richard Herman

Scripture

Psalm 139:13-16, John 16:33, Ephesians 4:3-6, Isaiah 40:29-31, 2 Corinthians 12:9, Jeremiah 1:4-10, Matthew 5:9

Faithful God, our Father, Lord and Counselor: By your grace you know our names before we are even born. By your grace you call us your own sons and daughters. By your grace you give us an eternal purp...

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God of grace and truth, hope and power:

Author

Richard Herman

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 6:10-11, Isaiah 58:11, Philippians 4:6-7, Isaiah 61:1, Psalm 147:3, 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, Romans 15:13

God of grace and truth, hope and power: in the midst of an ever-changing world, we delight that You are constant, joyous and loving, always the same, but never stagnant or boring. That’s why we’re so ...

lectionary

Fifth Sunday after Pentecost

Author

Darren Pollock

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 10:40-42, John 20:21, Acts 1:18, 2 Peter 2:13, Luke 17:10, John 3:18, Matthew 28:19, Ephesians 5:20, James 5:14, Colossians 3:17, Acts 3:6, 1 Corinthians 6:11, Acts 20:35

preaching commentary The Transitive Property of Welcoming In elementary school math you learn various basic principles of working with numbers…the commutative property, the associative property, th...

lectionary

13th Sunday after Pentecost

Author

Gabe Fung

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 6:10-20, John 8:44, John 10:10, 2 Corinthians 11:14, 1 Peter 5:8, Colossians 2:15, Ephesians 1:19-20, Ephesians 3:16, John 4:4, Matthew 16:18, Romans 16:20

Preaching Commentary Audience Paul’s letter to the Ephesians was probably intended for wider distribution and use among the various churches around Ephesus. As such, there is no particular crisis o...

lectionary

Third Sunday after the Epiphany

Author

Dustin Ray

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 4:12-23, Romans 5:12-21, Matthew 3:2-3, Isaiah 42:1-4, Hebrews 12:2, Genesis 1:3, Ephesians 2:1-10, Romans 8:3, Psalm 68:18, Ephesians 4:8

Preaching Commentary Preaching Angle: John Arrested, Jesus Preaches the Kingdom The major event in redemptive history which immediately precedes this passage is Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness....

liturgy

Confession and Redemption in Christ

Author

Trinity Lutheran Church, Lisle, Illinois

Keywords

Scripture

Acts 16:6-10, Psalm 124:8, Psalm 130:3-4, 1 John 1:9, Isaiah 1:18, Ephesians 1:7, Romans 5:8

Pastor: Our help is in the name of the Lord, People: who made heaven and earth. Pastor: If You, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? People: But with Yo...

lectionary

Third Sunday of Easter

Author

Darren Pollock

Keywords

Scripture

Acts 2:14a, 36-41, Luke 6:46, Acts 17:3, Romans 10:12, 1 Corinthians 1:2, 2 Timothy 2:22, Ephesians 4:5

Preaching Commentary Setting the Context: After the introductory tag from 2:14a this week’s text begins with “therefore” in 2:36 (Greek oun , which is the second word in verse 36 in the Greek text...

liturgy

By grace, through Jesus, God calls us His children

Author

Trinity Lutheran Church, Lisle, Illinois

Keywords

Scripture

Ezekiel 36:25-27 , Romans 5:8, Ephesians 2:8-9, 1 John 1:9, Psalm 51:10-12, Psalm 32:5

Pastor: By grace, through Jesus, God calls us His children so that we might become more like Him, setting our hope on His grace, and living as holy people who fear the Lord and love one another. Whe...

liturgy

Jesus–our Lord, Savior, Friend and

Author

Richard Herman

Scripture

1 Corinthians 13:4-7, Matthew 11:28-30, Isaiah 41:10, Ephesians 2:8-9, Psalm 23:1-2

Jesus–our Lord, Savior, Friend and Companion: To be “in” You is to no longer be strangers to Your Father, or to one another. In You–we are brought near. In You–we are redeemed and forgiven. In You–we ...

lectionary

Second Sunday after the Epiphany

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

John 1:29-42, Revelation 17:14, Isaiah 52:13-15, Isaiah 53:, Ephesians 6:12

Preaching Commentary Summary of the Text Our lectionary text can be fairly easily broken into two major sections, with verses 29-34 concerned with John the Baptist testifying to Jesus’ ministry and...

blog

A Violent Man Gentled by Grace: Abba Moses the Black

Author

Bill Gaultiere

Scripture

Mark 14:36, Colossians 3:12, Matthew 6:1, Philippians 2:6-11, Romans 1:1, Isaiah 53:7, Mark 14:61, 1 Timothy 1:15, Ephesians 2:8, Luke 18:10-14, Matthew 5:23-24, Mark 7:8, Matthew 7:1-6, Matthew 16:52

Gentled by grace. That’s the incredible and inspiring story of Abba Moses the Black. He was a violent thief who became a humble and kind monk and one of the great Desert Fathers who served the Lord ...

lectionary

11th Sunday after Pentecost

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 4:25-5:2, Ephesians 5:1-2, Acts 9:4

Preaching Commentary Taking Off the Old Clothes and Putting on the New Our passage continues Paul’s teaching on “the putting off of the old self” (anthropos) (of sin, corruption, and death) vs.22 a...

illustration

Reading Scripture as a Black Man

Author

Bryan C. Loritts

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 2:13, Acts 8:26, Exodus 2:21, Numbers 12:1, 1 Corinthians 7:21, Ephesians 6:5, Colossians 3:22, Acts 10:null

As a black man, I pause when I see that Jesus was taken to Africa as a baby for refuge (Matthew 2:13–18). My blackness will not allow me to gloss over the Ethiopian man whom Philip cozies up to in Act...

illustration

Donne, Undone

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 5:31-33, Matthew 19:4-6, Romans 8:28, Proverbs 22:1, 1 Timothy 3:7, Titus 2:7-8, Philippians 2:15, 1 Peter 2:12, Galatians 6:4-5, Daniel 1:17-21

While movies and novels often present stories of a budding love interest willing to give up everything for “true love” (Romeo and Juliet, for example), the renowned poet, and later clergyman, John Don...

liturgy

Heavenly Father, You provide shelter

Author

Austin D. Hill

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 46:, Isaiah 25:4, Lamentations 3:22-23, Psalm 89:1-4, Ephesians 3:17-19, Hebrews 11:

Heavenly Father, You provide shelter, comfort, and hope to us. We lift our praises to You this morning, for Your faithfulness inspires belief in us. Your limitless love reveals more of You to us day b...

liturgy

Prayers of the People, Form V

Scripture

Luke 15:11-32, Psalm 51:10, 1 John 1:9, Psalm 103:2, 1 Thessalonians 5:18, John 17:21, Ephesians 4:3-6

Deacon or other leader In peace, let us pray to the Lord, saying, "Lord, have mercy" ( or "Kyrie eleison"). For the holy Church of God, that it may be filled with truth and lov...

illustration

Defining Home

Author

Jen Pollock Michel

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 2:19-22, John 14:2-3, Hebrews 11:13-16, 2 Corinthians 5:1, Psalm 23:6, Revelation 21:3

In her book Keeping Place: Reflections on the Meaning of Home , Jen Pollock Michel reflects on the nature of home in a transient age. In this short excerpt, Michel focuses on etymology of home in v...

Quote

Author

Edwin Markham

Keywords

Scripture

Luke 19:1-10, Ephesians 2:14, Galatians 3:28, 1 John 4:7-8, John 13:34-35, John 8:1-11, Luke 10:25-37

He drew a circle that shut me out— Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout. But love and I had the wit to win: We drew a circle that took him in!

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The Reconciling Love of the Father

Author

Jen Pollock Michel

Keywords

Scripture

John 1:12-13, Romans 8:15-17, Galatians 4:4-5, Ephesians 2:12-13, Colossians 1:21-22, 2 Corinthians 5:18-19

In her book Keeping Place: Reflections on the Meaning of Home , Jen Pollock Michel reflects on the nature of home in a transient age. In this short excerpt, Michel reflects on the Biblical doctrine...

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Salvation From and For

Author

John Ortberg

Keywords

Scripture

John 10:10, 2 Corinthians 5:17-18, Romans 5:9-10, Ephesians 2:8-10, Colossians 1:13-14

Being saved always involves being both saved from something and saved for something. We are saved for shalom—a flourishing life with God. What are we saved from? Salvation as described in the Bible is...

illustration

Traveling the Highway

Author

John Bunyan

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 16:11, Psalm 23:3, Psalm 119:105, Ephesians 2:8-9, 1 Peter 2:24, Micah 7:19, Romans 6:6

Now I could see in my dream that the High-way Christian was to travel on was protection on either side by a Wall, and the Wall was called Salvation. Burdened Christian began to run up the High-way, bu...

Quote

Author

C. S. Lewis

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 3:23-24, Mark 10:17-22, Ephesians 2:8-9, Isaiah 64:6, Revelation 3:15-16, Matthew 7:21-23

A world of nice people, content in their own niceness, looking no further, turned away from God, would be just as desperately in need of salvation as a miserable world-and might be even more difficult...

Quote

Author

Max Lucado

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 2:4-5, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Romans 5:8, Psalm 40:2, Isaiah 61:1, Revelation 3:20, Matthew 11:28

Let him into the mire and muck of our world. For only if we let him in can he pull us out.

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The Safest Place on Earth and the Spirit

Author

Max Lucado

Keywords

Scripture

2 Corinthians 1:21-22, Ephesians 1:13-14, Ephesians 4:30, 1 Peter 1:3-5, Romans 8:38-39, John 10:28-29

The Seed Vault in Svalbard, Norway bills itself as “the ultimate insurance policy for the world’s food supply,” storing 1,214,827 seed samples from every nation on Earth. The seeds are stored at -18°C...

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When a Muslim is Welcomed Before She is Converted

Author

JR Woodward

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 9:10-11, James 2:1, Romans 12:18, Ephesians 2:14, 2 Corinthians 5:20

A number of women at Kairos Los Angeles have at times assisted a local ministry that helps women who are in transition. They provide housing and often help these women find jobs. Some of these women s...

liturgy

Let us go before our God, confessing the ways we have dismissed

Author

Trinity Lutheran Church, Lisle, Illinois

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 46:10, Ephesians 2:10, Psalm 51:10, Philippians 4:19, Psalm 42:1

Leader : Let us go before our God, confessing the ways we have dismissed His plan for internal peace from our lives. Leader : Heavenly Father, we crave rest and seek it everywhere but with You...

liturgy

Adapted from Ephesians 2:19-22

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 2:19-22

So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God, Being built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus ...

liturgy

Inspired by Ephesians 3

Author

Darren Pollock

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 3:8, 12, Psalm 72:13, Isaiah 60:1

Hear the good news of the boundless riches of Christ: our God has pity on the weak and delivers the needy when they call. In Christ Jesus our Lord we have access to God in boldness and confidence thro...

liturgy

God of our hearts, we come to You

Author

Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church

Keywords

Scripture

Luke 19:10, Ephesians 2:1-5, Ephesians 2:8-9, Isaiah 53:6, 1 John 1:9, Proverbs 3:5-6

God of our hearts, we come to You admitting that we are lost. In our lives of chaos, we have lost our peace. In our selfishness, we have lost our ability to care for others. In our self-reliance, we h...

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