Archive for the ‘Ephesians 1’ Tag
Who and Where Jesus Is, and What He’s Doing!
Filed under: Ascension, Ascension of Jesus, Bible, By Pastor Timothy, By Tim Brassell, By Timothy Brassell, Christian Living, Christianity, Church, Discipleship, Evangelism, Faith, GCI Windsor Mill, Maryland, God, God Father Son and Spirit, God the Trinity, God's love, good news, Gospel, Grace Communion Baltimore, Grace Communion International, identity in Christ, Inclusion, Jesus Christ, Love, Ministry, New Life Fellowship Of Baltimore Maryland, New Life Fellowship Of Windsor Mill, MD., On Mission with Christ, Participation with Christ, Participation with Jesus, relationship with God, Sermons, The Church, The Dance and Dream of the Trinity, The Father, Son and Holy Spirit, The Holy Spirit, The Plan of Adoption, Timothy Brassell, Trinity, Uncategorized, Union In Christ, Union with Christ, Witness, Witnessing to God, Witnessing to Jesus, Worship, Worshiping God, Worshipping Jesus | Tags: Adoption, Ascension, Ascension Sunday, Christian Living, Christianity, Church, Ephesians 1, Ephesians 4, Forgiveness of Sin, Glorified Humanity, God's Throne of Grace, Godly Encounter, Gospel, Human Being Perfected, Human Destiny, Jesus, Jesus Rules Everything, Jesus' Ascension, Love, Our Father's Help, Pastor T, Pastor Timothy Brassell, Pastor Timothy Brassell of New Life Baltimore, Pastor Timothy Brassell of New Life Fellowship, Reconciliation to Jesus, Reconciliation with God, Relationships, repentance, The Ascension of Jesus, The Father's Will, Trinitarian Theology, Trinity, Turning From Sin
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Part 1A
Part 1B
Scripture: Ephesians 1, 4
Introduction:
Summary and Goal:
On this Ascension Sunday, we ask, “Who is Jesus Christ?” And, “Who are you, Lord?” We get the incredible response and reminder that He is the Father’s Son in the Holy Spirit Who, as the God/Man, is The Way, The Truth, The Resurrection, The Life, and The Ascended One!
Theological Theme:
As the Ascended One, Jesus is ruling over all things with his Father and the Holy Spirit as the God/Man! Though He is living with the limitations of our glorified human nature, he is also living with the unlimited nature of his God Being, as one Person with two natures! Ruling over the earth was always Jesus’ destiny, even if we hadn’t sinned, for God alone can rule over all things within creation and outside of creation! God alone can rule over the visible as well as the invisible! Apart from Christ, no one can do anything! This is not just a statement coming from the fact that we have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory! Only the Father Son and Holy Spirit God can pull off Their real, full, and final goal inside their creation; the goal of the adoption of mankind into Their relationship!
Christ Connection:
In Jesus’ being conceived by the Holy Spirit, he has started something fresh and new right here in the middle of our broken humanity (for he was not born of the will of fallen man but of God). In his fleshly life as a baby, a child, a teenager, a young adult, and a full-grown man, he has completely undone every obstacle and all sin between the Father and us. We can relate with him and the Father and come before his throne of grace boldly to receive mercy in time of need! In his suffering and crucifixion, and his ascension to heaven as a fully glorified Man before the Father, Jesus is sharing everything He is and has with our human nature in the Holy Spirit.
Missional Application:
In the grace and power of the Holy Spirit Who is with us, and through whom Jesus knocks on the door of our hearts to live inside us, you can now turn and come to the Father! Through Jesus the Son you can live a life that glorifies God—great things Jesus has done! You are called to live in unity with Jesus and the Father by receiving the Holy Spirit, a relationship that is offered to you freely! You are summoned in Jesus by the Spirit to embrace and stop rejecting the Father! You are called to understand Jesus and stop putting off understanding Him! You are called to enjoy the Holy Spirit and stop grieving Him! You are called to receive and share this Good news with others!
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Living By The Spirit!
Filed under: Bible, By Richard Andrews, Christian Living, Christianity, Church, Discipleship, Faith, GCI Windsor Mill, Maryland, God, God Father Son and Spirit, God the Trinity, God's love, good news, Gospel, Grace Communion Baltimore, Grace Communion International, identity in Christ, Inclusion, Jesus Christ, Love, Ministry, New Life Fellowship Of Baltimore Maryland, New Life Fellowship Of Windsor Mill, MD., On Mission with Christ, Participation with Christ, Participation with Jesus, Perichoresis, Prayer, relationship with God, Relationships, Sermons, The Church, The Dance and Dream of the Trinity, The Father, Son and Holy Spirit, The Gospel Project, The Holy Spirit, The Plan of Adoption, Timothy Brassell, Trinity, Uncategorized, union, Union In Christ, Union with Christ, Witness, Witnessing to God, Witnessing to Jesus, Worship, Worshiping God, Worshipping Jesus | Tags: Acts 14:22, Adoption, Chosen, Christian Living, Discipleship, Ephesians 1, Ephesians 1: 13-14, father, GCI Baltimore, God Father Son and Spirit, God in Flesh, God Incarnate, God Likes You, God the Trinity, God's Faith, God's Faithfulness, God's Gift, God's Grace, God's Healing, God's Hope, God's Humility, God's love, God's Love And Life, God's Mercy, God's Mission, God's Patience, God's Power, God's Presence, God’s possession, Gospel, grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, Grace Communion International, Holy Spirit, Humanity Uplifted, Humility, Incarnation, Included In Christ, Jesus, Jesus is the way the truth and the life, Jesus' Presence, John 3:16, John 6: 63, Live by The Spirit, Love, Outpouring Of The Holy Spirit, Participation with Jesus, Pastor Timothy Brassell of New Life Baltimore, Purpose, Redeemed, Relationship With Jesus, Salvation, Sealed, Sealed by The Spirit, sealed with the Holy Spirit, Spiritual Maturity, Spirituality, The Father, The Father's Love, The Holy Spirit, The Promise of the Holy Spirit, Trinitarian Theology, Trinity, Unconditional, Unconditional Love, Union and Communion, Union With Jesus, Wholeness in Christ, Worship
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Full Message:
Main Bible Verse: Ephesians 1: 13 – 14
Introduction:
How are we supposed to be living our lives in these times?
Scripture reminds us that we are sealed with the Holy Spirit who is the guarantee of our inheritance. “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.” –Ephesians 1: 13-14
Theological Theme:
These times bring insecurity but God’s [Father, Son and Holy Spirit] great desire for His people is that we feel secure in His love and power. Therefore, the perspective we have of this life should not change as the Spirit leads us to Jesus Christ.
God wants us to have an abundant life but we need to ask “what is our TRUE inheritance and what are we supposed to learn?’ Everything in this life may be unstable – We live in some very unstable times in our society but we are to live by The Spirit and not by our own ways.
Christ Connection:
John 3: 16 – God so LOVED US that he gave us JESUS. He is so passionate to having a people for His own possession that He gave us Jesus/His Son so we can be His possession, who live forever for the praise of His glory.
“By giving us the Holy Spirit, God seals or stamps us as his own at our conversion. And then the Holy Spirit continues to testify, authenticating the reality of this relationship by making us more and more like Jesus. The God who has thus authenticated this relationship will most certainly protect his people through trials and difficulties.” – Erik Raymond
Missional Application:
God sends us His Holy Spirit as a preserving seal to lock in our faith – as an authenticating seal to validate our son-ship, and as a protective seal to keep us out of destructive forces. God wants us to feel secure and safe in His love and power.
Conclusion:
If we are having insecurity issues in understanding that we are to LIVE BY THE SPIRIT and WALK ACCORDINGLY, then we need to read scripture and remind ourselves, “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life.” –Acts 14: 22 and we need be in fellowship “strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith….” –John 6: 63
Circumstances will dictate other thoughts and you can forget who you are in Christ, what The Father did through His Son, and what that means for YOU but no matter how hard you are on yourself we have to be reminded that God has CHOSEN YOU and has REDEEMED YOU!
“To be sealed with the Holy Spirit is the gracious gift of God, whereby he demonstrates the authenticity of the believer’s relationship with him and his authority, ownership, and commitment to his people.” – Erik Raymond
Photo Compliments: https://dailyverse.knowing-jesus.com/
God’s Grace Expressed Through Jesus’ Love!
Filed under: Bible, By Ann Vinson, By David Stonesifer, By Tim Brassell, by Tony Marra, Christian Living, Christianity, Christmas, Church, Discipleship, Faith, GCI Windsor Mill, Maryland, God, God Father Son and Spirit, God the Trinity, God's love, good news, Gospel, Grace Communion Baltimore, Grace Communion International, identity in Christ, Inclusion, Jesus Christ, Love, Ministry, New Life Fellowship Of Baltimore Maryland, New Life Fellowship Of Windsor Mill, MD., On Mission with Christ, Participation with Christ, Participation with Jesus, Perichoresis, Prayer, relationship with God, Relationships, Sermons, Song, The Church, The Dance and Dream of the Trinity, The Father, Son and Holy Spirit, The Gospel Project, The Holy Spirit, The Plan of Adoption, Timothy Brassell, Trinity, Uncategorized, union, Union In Christ, Union with Christ, Witness, Witnessing to God, Witnessing to Jesus, Worship, Worshiping God, Worshipping Jesus | Tags: 2 Cor 12: 19, Adoption, Christian Living, Discipleship, Ephesians 1, father, GCI Baltimore, God Father Son and Spirit, God in Flesh, God Incarnate, God Likes You, God the Trinity, God's Faith, God's Gift, God's Grace, God's Healing, God's Hope, God's Humility, God's love, God's Love And Life, God's Mercy, God's Mission, God's Patience, God's Power, God's Presence, Gospel, grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, Grace Communion International, Humanity Uplifted, Humility, Incarnation, Included In Christ, Jesus, Jesus is the way the truth and the life, Jesus' Presence, Love, Mark 1: 14-16, Numbers 6: 24- 26, Outpouring Of The Holy Spirit, Participation with Jesus, Pastor Timothy Brassell of New Life Baltimore, Purpose, Relationship With Jesus, Salvation, Spiritual Maturity, Spirituality, The Father, The Father's Love, The Holy Spirit, Trinitarian Theology, Trinity, Unconditional, Union and Communion, Union With Jesus, Wholeness in Christ, Worship
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Part A: Pastor Tony Marra:
Part B: Pastor Dave Stonesifer
Part C: Pastor Ann Vinson
Part D: Pastor Timothy Brassell
Part E: Full Message: NLF Pastoral Team
Bible Verses: Mark 1: 14-16 Ephesians 1 2 Cor 12: 19 Numbers 6: 24 – 26
Introduction:
“God loves you so utterly and completely that he has given himself for you in Jesus Christ his beloved Son, and has thereby pledged his very being as God for your salvation. In Jesus Christ God has actualized his unconditional love for you in your human nature in such a once for all way, that he cannot go back upon it without undoing the Incarnation and the Cross and thereby denying himself. Jesus Christ died for you precisely because you are sinful and utterly unworthy of him, and has thereby already made you his own before and apart from your ever believing in him. He has bound you to himself by his love in a way that he will never let you go, for even if you refuse him and damn yourself in hell his love will never cease. Therefore, repent and believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.” —(T. F. Torrance, “The Mediation of Christ,” 94)
Theological Theme:
“The gospel announces that salvation is available by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, and not through additional obligations and works.”
The gospel is the Good News of God, that we are included in the life and love of God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit by grace. It is nothing we have earned or deserve but rather something given as a free gift to us. We have to remember that Jesus is THE Savior of the world. The struggle in believing this good news is that it sounds really good but it is not easy to receive and can only be received by the grace of God; That means GOD working in us to WILL and to DO and to BELIEVE that it is actually the truth of our lives in Jesus, in our place and on our behalf!
“Grace is the hardest thing for us to be reconciled to, because it implies the renouncing of our pretensions, our power, our pomp and circumstance. It is opposite of everything our ‘religious’ sentiments are looking for.” —Jacques Ellul
Christ Connection:
Salvation is a Revelation, something God has to lead us to. Since Jesus Christ is the center-point of God, then Salvation is actually the Person Jesus Christ. But this is something only God can reveal, and through Jesus Christ. That means from beginning to end, Jesus Christ is the only one who pulls off what God wanted done with us.
The primary message of the gospel is NOT that you need to receive the gospel, but rather the gospel HAS RECEIVED YOU! The Father HAS RECEIVED YOU in Jesus Christ, by The Holy Spirit; but the good news always proclaims REPENT! When we say Jesus Christ lives IN US, we mean Jesus lives inside our human nature hence He made “human nature” capable of being able to receive that He did good for us. However the Father-Son-and-Spirit-God is NOT a substance but a relationship. God IN us means us having an INTIMATE RELATIONSHIP with God, Father, Son and Spirit!
Because Jesus is our Salvation, Salvation is a proclamation not just in Word but also in Deed.
“God came in Christ, in our place and on our behalf, to actually undo what we had done (Eph. 1:10). In that undoing, a real relationship (via the hypostatic union) between God and mankind was forged in the Son of God’s own person.”—Clarifying Our Theological Vision, by Gary Deddo
Missional Application:
Salvation is a Proclamation and that proclamation is— Repent and receive Jesus as your Salvation! Salvation as a RELATIONSHIP with Jesus Christ. It is relying on Jesus Christ. It is praying to God The Father through Jesus Christ in The Holy Spirit, and this is what we witness to others about that they may share in this relationship with us! All of humanity is encouraged to turn from what they were thinking and doing by turning to Jesus Christ! The Father calls His humanity to turn from turning away from Jesus and begin to relate with and trust Jesus in union with the Holy Spirit! God-Father-Son-and-Spirit loves and includes all of mankind in relationship with Himself through Jesus, the Son of God made human..
“Grace is to be understood as the impartation not just of something from God but of God Himself. In Jesus Christ and in the Holy Spirit God freely gives to us in such a way that the Gift and the Giver are one and the same in the wholeness and indivisibility of His grace…”—(Thomas F. Torrance, Reality and Evangelical Theology. Westminster Press. 1981. pgs 14,15).
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I’m Always In the Way
Filed under: Bible, By Bill Winn, Christian Living, Gospel, Love, Perichoresis, Relationships | Tags: Adoptio, and the Life, Bible, Christianity, Ephesians 1, father's day, Foundations, god the father, God the Holy Spirit, God the Son, Incarnation, Inclusion, Jesus, John 14:20, John 14:6, Love, Participation, Sonship, the Truth, The Way, Trinitarian Theology, Trinity
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Happy Father’s Day Dad! I love you!
Ever since I was a little boy I have been in the way.I was always in the way. Even when it did not feel like it, I was in the way. I was in the way even when I didn’t know it. When I was a teenager I never ceased to be in the way. As a husband I’m constantly in the way. As a father, pastor, son, brother, and friend… I’m in the way. When I was an unbeliever I was in the way. As a believing Christian I’m in the way. In fact, I believe that from before the foundations of the world were laid… I have been in the way. I will always, for eternity, be IN the Way! And you too! (John 14:6 & 20, Acts 17:28) ~Bill Winn
Trinity and Humanity 