Mars Hill Fellowship

MESSAGE |

I'm Alive!

SERIES |

It's A Family Reunion

SCRIPTURE |

Ephesians 2:1-10

SPEAKER |

Pastor Joseph Ardayfio

KEY THEME |

Even though we were once spiritually dead because we followed the ways of the world + the ruler of the air, gratified the cravings of the flesh and followed the desires and thoughts of the flesh, God, because of His great love for us, has made us alive in Christ.

1)    We were spiritually dead in our transgressions

a.  You can only have one master. When we followed the ways of this world and the ruler of the air, we gave Lordship to someone/something other than God.

b. All of us, at some time, were slaves to the flesh.  We did what the flesh wanted because we wanted to please the flesh.

c. Either consciously or subconsciously, we allowed the values of this world to shape our mindset and our thinking.

d. All of these conditions caused us to fall under God’s wrath.  Just as a person physically dead does not respond to physical stimuli, so a person spiritually dead is unable to respond to spiritual things. They are not just a “good” person, in the eyes of God, they are at war with God.

2)   BUT, God has made us alive through Christ!

a.  While we were still dead in our transgressions, God made us alive through Christ.

b.  God’s love (intrinsic quality) was expressed to us as grace and mercy (relative quality).

c.  Many of us don’t understand the nature of God’s love because we have an imperfect idea of love, but God’s love towards us reveals the perfect, unselfish love of the Father.

thoughts for further study

1)     How do you feel hearing that you were once enemies with God, under his wrath, because of sin?

2)     How does God's love change the way that you respond to Him on a daily basis?

3)     What does it mean to be alive in Christ?