TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. Ephesians 2:4-5
Read: Ephesians 2:4-9
Listen: Ephesians 2
TODAY’S MESSAGE
The Ephesian Christians were dead, but they aren’t anymore. Jesus brought them to life. Paul wants them to know how wonderful that truly is. Paul doesn’t want them to forget how dead they were, but they also need to remember the grace of God which brought them to life. It wasn’t something they did. They didn’t perform some religious ritual at the local temple to gain their spiritual life. They didn’t finally do enough good things to outweigh the bad. Paul makes it clear it is God who made them alive. They are alive because of their faith in Jesus and his defeat of death on the cross. It’s like Paul never wants them to get over the fact that God saved them—people completely dead in their transgressions and sins. The God of the universe loved them so much that even when they were dead, he died on the cross to save them.
This good news is true for us as well. Our relationship with God doesn’t depend on something we do. We aren’t kept from a relationship with God because of how bad we used to be. We don’t have to do something to keep earning our relationship with God. God came down for us. Jesus lived a perfect life, died on the cross and rose again because he loved us. It’s amazingly good news. It’s something we need to constantly remind ourselves of and be in wonder of. When we do, it impacts everything about our life. It changes the way we think about God, ourselves and others.
IN YOUR CHAIR TIME TODAY
Thank God for his incredible love through the song, “Thank You, Lord,” sung by the Ada Bible Worship team this past weekend. Worship God through the lyrics as you thank God for grace, mercy and salvation.
2023 SPIRITUAL PRACTICES
Join us all of 2023 developing a different spiritual practice each month. SPIRITUAL PRACTICES are intentional regular activities to deepen our relationship with God and mold us to be more like Jesus.
February is SABBATH. Keep track of our spiritual practices at beyondtheweekend.org/spiritualpractices.
Download a printable PDF of the BTW week here.
