We are the church of the living God in Jesus Christ, Eph. 2.11-22.
We who believe, Jew and Gentile, living, dead, and yet unborn, are the church of the living God in Jesus Christ, recipients of God’s eternal grace, reconciled by the blood of Christ into one body, and incorporated as the new temple of God, a dwelling place for the triune God.
Our Focus Today
Christ himself is our peace, who has brought down the dividing wall of hostility between Jew and Gentile, and has reconciled us in one body, Eph. 2.14-16.
Invocation
Eternal God, you have granted to your people true peace and freedom in your Son. You have called us to be your agents, to serve as ministers of reconciliation. Please revive and cleanse our hearts, that we might bear faithful witness to your Gospel message where we are called to live and serve. Amen.
Gloria Patri
Glory be to the Father,
And to the Son and to the Holy Spirit:
As it was in the beginning,
Is now, and ever shall be,
World without end. Amen, amen.
Thursday: 2 Cor. 6.14-10.18
Christ himself is our peace, who has brought down the dividing wall of hostility between Jew and Gentile, and has reconciled us in one body, Eph. 2.14-16.
Reflection
According to Paul, Christ himself has become our peace, who has made both Jew and Gentile one and eliminated the hostility between us through his death, which abolished the force of the Law upon us. He has created in himself a new man in place of the two, making peace and receonciling us both to God in one body through the cross.
Apostles Creed
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord: Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. He descended into hell. The third day He arose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic* church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
*In the Apostles and Nicene Creeds, the term catholic refers to the Church’s universality, through all ages and times, of all languages and peoples. It refers to no particular tradition or denominational expression (e.g., as in Roman Catholic).
The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory for ever. Amen.
Doxology
Praise God from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him all creatures here below;
Praise Him above ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen.
Benediction
Your Son, O Most High God, has brought true peace and freedom to your people. Our kingdom mission is to serve as ministers of reconciliation. Transform us through your grace, that we might faithfully display and proclaim your Gospel message to those around us who still need to hear of your Son’s salvation. Amen.
Scripture Memory
Acts 17.29-31 (ESV)
29 Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. 30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”
Book Reading and Reflection
“The New Testament describes how Jesus Christ supersedes the temple cult (Mark 14:58; 15:38; John 2:19–21), and how the church (his body) becomes the new dwelling place (temple) of God (1 Cor. 3:16–17; 6:19; 2 Cor. 6:16; Eph. 2:21–22). The sense that there is a physical side to spiritual life and activity, a sense that came from the temple, continued in New Testament worship. Early Christians rejected the nonphysical spirituality of the Gnostics and continued to express their spirituality through physical means. For that reason the sense of sacred place (church buildings), sacred rituals (the Eucharist), and sacred ministers (ordained persons) all stand in the tradition of temple worship.”
~ Robert E. Webber, Worship Old and New. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1985, page 526.
Let God Arise! Focus
We are the church of the living God in Jesus Christ, Eph. 2.11-22.
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