Christianity Oasis Forum

[cimi]

April 18
Good Friday


I'M ALIVE

READ:
Ephesians 2:1-10
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You He made alive,
who were dead in
trespasses and sins.
__Ephesians 2:1
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Laura Brooks, a 52-year-old mother of two, didn't know it but she was one of 14,000 people in 2011 whose name was incorrectly entered into the government database as dead. She wondered what was wrong when she stopped receiving disability checks, and her loan payments and her rent checks bounced. She went to the bank to clear up the issue, but the representative told her that her accounts had been closed because she was dead! Obviously, they were mistaken.

The apostle Paul was not mistaken when he said that the Ephesian believers were at one point dead__spiritually dead. They were dead in the sense that they were separated from God, enslaved to sin (Eph. 2:5), and condemned under the wrath of God. What a state of hopelessness!

Yet God in His goodness took action to reverse this condition for them and for us. The living God "who give life to the dead" (Rom. 4:17) poured out His rich mercy and great love by sending his Son Jesus to this earth. Through Christ's death and resurrection, we are made alive (Eph. 2:4-5).

When we believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we go from death to life. Now we live to rejoice in His goodness! __Marvin Williams

`````````````````````I know I'm a sinner and Christ is my need;``````````````````````````
`````````````````````His death is my ransom, no merit I plead.``````````````````````````
``````````````````````His work is sufficient, on Him I believe;``````````````````````````
``````````````````I have life eternal when Him I receive. __Anon.```````````````````````
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Accepting Jesus' death gives ame life.

*********************************Today's Bible Reading __ Ephesians 2:1-10********************************

1 And you He made alive,
who were dead n trespasses
and sins, 2 in which you
once walked according to
the course of this world,
according to the prince of
the power of the air, the
spirit who now works in
the sons of disobedience,

5 among whom also we all
once conducted ourselves in
the lusts of our flesh,
fulfilling the desires of the
flesh and of the mind, and
were by nature children of
wrath, just as the others.

4 But God, who is rich in
mercy, because of His great
love with which He loved
us. 5 Even when we were
dead in trespasses, made us
alive together with Christ
(by grace you have been
saved), 6 and raised us up
together, and made us sit
together in the heavenly
places in Christ Jesus, 7 that
in the ages to come He
might show the exceeding
riches of his grace in His
kindness toward us in
Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace
you have been saved
through faith, and that not
of yourselves; it is the gift
of God. 9 not of works, lest
anyone should boast. 10 For
we are His workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus for
good works, which God
prepared beforehand that
we should walk in them.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>INSIGHT<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Twice in today's passage, Paul affirms that our salvation is God's gift,
for "by grace you have been saved" (vv.5,8). He reminds us that we
are saved so that we can do good works (v.10). In other epistles,
Paul encourages us to be "zealous for good works" (Titus 2:14)), to
be "fruitful in every good work" (Col. 1:10), and to demonstrate "an
abundance for every good work" (2 Cor. 9:8). Martin Luther put it
this way: "We are saved by faith alone, but the faith that saves is
never alone."