To the praise of His Glory.........

Ephesians 1 

The Message

^3-6How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He's the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth's foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.

 ^7-10Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we're a free people—free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free! He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need, letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. He set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth.

 ^11-12It's in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.

 ^13-14It's in Christ that you, once you heard the truth and believed it (this Message of your salvation), found yourselves home free—signed, sealed, and delivered by the Holy Spirit. This signet from God is the first installment on what's coming, a reminder that we'll get everything God has planned for us, a praising and glorious life.

 ^15-19That's why, when I heard of the solid trust you have in the Master Jesus and your outpouring of love to all the followers of Jesus, I couldn't stop thanking God for you—every time I prayed, I'd think of you and give thanks. But I do more than thank. I ask—ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ, the God of glory—to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing him personally, your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is he is calling you to do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for his followers, oh, the utter extravagance of his work in us who trust him—endless energy, boundless strength!

 ^20-23All this energy issues from Christ: God raised him from death and set him on a throne in deep heaven, in charge of running the universe, everything from galaxies to governments, no name and no power exempt from his rule. And not just for the time being, but forever. He is in charge of it all, has the final word on everything. At the center of all this, Christ rules the church. The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church. The church is Christ's body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence.

Making God's Passion Our Passion....

Alas, I am getting to the message from Sunday...and I must confess, this was difficult to transcribe due to the amount of passion Don had while preaching. Too hard to keep up with a man in the flow of the Spirit! Anyway, I want to get a bit of the message out in public, but this was one of those messages that everything built on each thing he said from the beginning and I just couldn't bring myself to reduce the message to just notes and to transcribe it would have been a bit much. So, I am attempting to see if I can't upload the message somehow and make it available in MP3 format. 

I am willing to mail a copy of it to anyone who would like a copy and I will have my email available on my blog in short order. Please feel free to email me and I will get you a copy of this message. (lydiajgrewell@yahoo.com)

In the meantime here is a tid bit of the introduction;

"What does it mean to be the body of Christ? What does it mean to be a church, a local expression of God's mighty work across the world?

At least in part, it means weeping with those who weep, rejoicing with those who rejoice learning and growing together, we can't feel exactly each other's pain and sometimes we can't even relate - but, we can LOVE.

We must step back and recover God's passion and vision for his church. What is it He is looking for? What is it that He desires? How, first and foremost, does He even view us as His people?

We need to overcome the Crisis of Modern Disillusionment(both the world's and our own) & Recover God's Perspective and Passion. 

The church has not always been a delight, we've all had challenges....that which God desires to see is not always our experience. The church has become so many things, - it has become a grand experiment, try everything and anything, grow it big enough to make a mark or leave an impression, it has become a business enterprise. Our world today is filled more with churches who seem concerned with displaying something humanly grand than encountering God, and displaying the grandness of God.

(We will be surveying the book of Ephesians for vision.)  

Making God's Passion Our Passion....

Alas, I am getting to the message from Sunday...and I must confess, this was difficult to transcribe due to the amount of passion Don had while preaching. Too hard to keep up with a man in the flow of the Spirit! Anyway, I want to get a bit of the message out in public, but this was one of those messages that everything built on each thing he said from the beginning and I just couldn't bring myself to reduce the message to just notes and to transcribe it would have been a bit much. So, I am attempting to see if I can't upload the message somehow and make it available in MP3 format. 

I am willing to mail a copy of it to anyone who would like a copy and I will have my email available on my blog in short order. Please feel free to email me and I will get you a copy of this message. (lydiajgrewell@yahoo.com)

In the meantime here is a tid bit of the introduction;

"What does it mean to be the body of Christ? What does it mean to be a church, a local expression of God's mighty work across the world?

At least in part, it means weeping with those who weep, rejoicing with those who rejoice learning and growing together, we can't feel exactly each other's pain and sometimes we can't even relate - but, we can LOVE.

We must step back and recover God's passion and vision for his church. What is it He is looking for? What is it that He desires? How, first and foremost, does He even view us as His people?

We need to overcome the Crisis of Modern Disillusionment(both the world's and our own) & Recover God's Perspective and Passion. 

The church has not always been a delight, we've all had challenges....that which God desires to see is not always our experience. The church has become so many things, - it has become a grand experiment, try everything and anything, grow it big enough to make a mark or leave an impression, it has become a business enterprise. Our world today is filled more with churches who seem concerned with displaying something humanly grand than encountering God, and displaying the grandness of God.

(We will be surveying the book of Ephesians for vision.)  

"Christ in you, the hope of glory"

This verse has been swirling around in my head for some time. As time goes by and I learn more about the mystery of the gospel this verse takes on more meaning and richness in my heart. I am still growing more aware of the glory God intends for my life, and knowing that Christ lives in me brings this closer to home for me! But I don't want to stop with me! I don't want to focus solely on what God is doing in me, for me and meeting my specific needs. Although these are all wonderful amazing things, in and of themselves, it's just not enough! You see knowing Christ's life is now in mine, or as mine or through mine, because when I came to Christ, I died, to sin, to law and essentially to myself(in the spiritual realm) has made a huge impact on my life! But there's more.....not only do I receive glory through Christ's life manifest in mine, but God receives glory through me! Hmmm......God did not just send Jesus to rescue me.....there is so much more than that. If we stop there, we stay focused on...well....ourselves! Don't get me wrong that Christ came to save us is quite tremendous, amazing and baffling to our feeble minds....but there is so much more!!!
This is so exciting that God has put this in my mind and on my heart, as today I heard a wonderful message reiterating these truths, and the glory of God, or should I say the glory due His name, was ultimately at the core! The praise of His Glory!

I love Ephesians chapter 1, I think it essentially captures what my feeble mind is trying to verbalize, or should I say type.....okay so it's too long..check it though..but just to highlight.....it sums up the grace of the gospel given to us and three times Paul states it is for the praise of his glory! He did it all for us, for the praise of His glory! So he could have a whole host of sons and daughters, that glorify His name around and in all the earth!!

I have also been loving this worship tune, "You are the Lord, You're the Famous One, Famous One, Great is Your Name in all the earth. The heavens declare You are Glorious, Glorious, Great is Your Name in all the earth."

"Christ in you, the hope of glory"

This verse has been swirling around in my head for some time. As time goes by and I learn more about the mystery of the gospel this verse takes on more meaning and richness in my heart. I am still growing more aware of the glory God intends for my life, and knowing that Christ lives in me brings this closer to home for me! But I don't want to stop with me! I don't want to focus solely on what God is doing in me, for me and meeting my specific needs. Although these are all wonderful amazing things, in and of themselves, it's just not enough! You see knowing Christ's life is now in mine, or as mine or through mine, because when I came to Christ, I died, to sin, to law and essentially to myself(in the spiritual realm) has made a huge impact on my life! But there's more.....not only do I receive glory through Christ's life manifest in mine, but God receives glory through me! Hmmm......God did not just send Jesus to rescue me.....there is so much more than that. If we stop there, we stay focused on...well....ourselves! Don't get me wrong that Christ came to save us is quite tremendous, amazing and baffling to our feeble minds....but there is so much more!!!
This is so exciting that God has put this in my mind and on my heart, as today I heard a wonderful message reiterating these truths, and the glory of God, or should I say the glory due His name, was ultimately at the core! The praise of His Glory!

I love Ephesians chapter 1, I think it essentially captures what my feeble mind is trying to verbalize, or should I say type.....okay so it's too long..check it though..but just to highlight.....it sums up the grace of the gospel given to us and three times Paul states it is for the praise of his glory! He did it all for us, for the praise of His glory! So he could have a whole host of sons and daughters, that glorify His name around and in all the earth!!

I have also been loving this worship tune, "You are the Lord, You're the Famous One, Famous One, Great is Your Name in all the earth. The heavens declare You are Glorious, Glorious, Great is Your Name in all the earth."