Please read Ephesians 2: 11-22 and use these notes to prepare for Sunday morning worship.
Sermon Focus: Resurrection Today: Restoration
Key Verse: “For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us.” (Ephesians 2:14)
- Think of the dividing walls you see in our community and our world. If Christ has broken down those walls, what should our relationships look like?
- Where do you find hostility in the relationships you engage in? How can the power of the resurrection, the pure love of God, help you to overcome that hostility?
Key Verse: “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.” (Ephesians 2:19-20)
- Ephesians is clear that the power of the resurrection has restored human relationships to make us one household of God.
- Jesus is the cornerstone of this restoration and we are called to live into restored relationships. What relationships do you need the power of God’s love to help you restore?
Connection for Today:
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of the beloved community, a restoration of broken relationships that use power to inflict harm over the other. How can we be builders of this a community where all are considered beloved and all are restored into whole relationships with one another?