I’m so excited about our upcoming sermon series through the book of Ephesians. I grew up in a Christian home and in faithful Bible-teaching churches, but I still fight to live by the truths of who I am in Christ and not succumb to the enemy’s lies.
Here is a picture Julia (then our 12 year old daughter) made for me two years ago. We were in the midst of some trials, and unfortunately Julia was observing me more frequently sad and defeated than hopeful and overcoming. Satan is known as “the accuser,” and he ruthlessly launches his arrows of guilt, slander, disapproval, shame, and defeat. In the book of Ephesians, we are going to read and hear about the beautiful truths that we are chosen, adopted, empowered, sealed, redeemed, seated in the heavenly realms, and much more!
One of the great songs we sing at Koinos contains this line from Revelation 12:11: “We will overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony.” In our study of Ephesians, we’re going to see what Christ, the spotless Lamb, accomplished for us in His death and resurrection (specifically covered in chapters 1-3). We’ll reaffirm those truths as our testimony and take a close look at how those truths guide and shape our daily lives and relationships (chapters 4-6). As we take these truths to heart and live by them, we overcome the enemy of our souls, we put him to shame, and show him to be a powerless, defeated foe (under the feet of Jesus, which we heard about last Sunday!).
I need daily reminders of who I am in Christ. Likely you do too! Thanks to Jujie, I have her picture on my dresser to help me stay on track. In addition, I strive to dig into God’s Word daily. I John 2:14b says, “I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one.” Want to be strong? Want to overcome the evil one? You need the word of God to abide in you, to be at home in your heart, in the forefront of your thoughts. Here are some suggestions of how to do that as we go through this series:
- Read the book of Ephesians each day.
- Read through the entire book each week, a chapter a day. (There are six chapters, so that gives you one flex day.)
- Read chapter 1 every day for a week, then chapter 2 every day for a week, etc.
- Use passages in your prayers, particularly 1:15-22 and 3:14-19. Pray these Scriptures for yourselves, your families, for our church.
- Memorize a portion of Ephesians. One verse is a great place to start! Or a chunk of verses or entire chapter.
- Strive to be faithful in LIFE group. This way we can encourage each other with what God is teaching us, and we can hold each other accountable.
What about you? What Scripture reading idea do you plan to follow, and if you are going to memorize a passage, what is it? Like Julia’s picture says, You choose who to believe. Let’s together embrace the truths of what God says about who we are in Christ.
This post was written by Jeni Newman and used by permission.
