Spiritual warfare is not won by desire, resolve or willpower. Our strength to win spiritual battles comes from God alone. Ephesians 6 lays this out for us and gives us weapons and defenses to stand in this battle. Have you been STUMBLING lately? You might be under attack! You can turn right now and ask for help from the only One who does not lose. 

Ephesians 6 opens the subject of slavery. Does the Bible condone slavery? As we study this chapter we see that Paul is planting the seeds of the gospel on the inside so that the walls of this institution can’t contain it and they burst with the downfall of slavery. The Bible does NOT condone slavery. The gospel guts it from the inside out so it can’t live.  

Parenting is not for the faint of heart. It's hard. God has given us a special responsibility to teach our kids to know & love Christ. We only have a limited time to teach our kids so we need to WHAT and HOW God would have us raise them. 

Modeling our lives after the teachings of the Bible can make us look radically different from the culture we live in. This is especially true when it comes to marriage. The marriages within the church should look different from the rest of Northern Virginia. When we fear Jesus, we will joyfully embrace our countercultural roles that God has set up for husbands and wives.

What does it mean to be filled with the Holy Spirit? Is the Spirit's filling only for big moments in life and deep emotional experiences? As we continue studying Ephesians we see that we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit today and every day for every circumstance.

Do you love the light? In Ephesians 5, Paul challenges Christians to "walk in the light." This truly is a challenge because we live in a world that loves the darkness. Sexual immorality is an especially dangerous trap for the Christian and Paul offers warning and encouragement as we continue to walk in the light. 

When a church experiences growth it is easy to associate the church's growth with your own spiritual growth. Are you growing? Ephesians 4 gives us a few steps that we can take to ensure we are continuously growing disciples of Jesus Christ.

Do you want to be a part of a growing church? God has given us unique gifts to use to serve his church. When each part of the body is working properly it builds up the body of Christ and our church will grow.

Paul is not interested in the Ephesians merely learning some interesting information. He is expecting them to make some changes in the way they live. As we enter into the second half of this letter we find that it is full of practical application. Because who you are, changes how you live, and how you live matters. 

Are you all in for Christ and His Church? We are all at varying degrees of commitment when it comes to our involvement in the church. As we continue our sermon series through the book of Ephesians we are reminded that going all in for Christ is always worth it. When you are gripped by the gospel you will go, even through agony, for the glory of God.

Our church family is full of different demographics representing various ethnicities, nations, languages, cultures, levels of education, occupations, economic situations, and ages...we are very DIVERSE! These differences that we celebrate have the potential to build walls between us. Praise God that the cross of Christ breaks down these walls and we are reconciled. 

The world is full of artists who have created beautiful masterpieces. However, we forget the greatest masterpiece of all - us!  If we are living in Christ, then he has redeemed your story and created a beautiful testimony for each and every one of us.  We are His masterpiece. This is who we are.

We are continuing our series through the book of Ephesians. The apostle wants to hit home the fact that God does not value us based on our performance for Him. Our hope, value and power come from who we are in Christ. 

Have you have ever had a moment where you came to grips with the fact that your life was a mess? No matter how hard you tried, you couldn’t fix it. In Christ, your story doesn't stop there. We have hope. By the power of the gospel and the promise of the Holy Spirit there are better days ahead. This is who we are. 

The book of Ephesians serves as a mirror for us to see the reality of WHO we are in Christ and HOW we live in light of that reality. Our first look in the mirror is a foundational truth: we are chosen by God. That gives us incredible assurance and we can stop looking in all the wrong mirrors. And best of all, God gets all the glory!