First Wesleyan Church
Mission Statment of First Wesleyan Church
"Striving to be a light to our community and to the world, that all may see Jesus."
Sermon Outline - Sunday Morning, November 10, 199
Ephesians 2:11-18 I. INTRODUCTION A. The Ephesian Church had Succeeded in Doing the Impossible B. They had Bridged the Gap Between Christian Jews and Gentiles II. DIVIDING WALLS IN OUR SOCIETY A. Walls of Superiority 1. A game we play to hide insecurity. a. I have to make you feel more insecure than I do. 2. Walls spring up within the Church that keeps it divided. a. Walls are built from doctrinal positions, worship styles and church size. b. The church down the street is not our competition. Satan is our competition! c. God is interested in our unity. Disunity makes the world skeptical of the gospel. B. Walls of Hatred Henry Emerson Fosdick: "Hating people is like burning your own house down to get rid of a rat." a. Racial Hatred is not a skin problem. It is a sin problem. b. Racial Hatred is institutional. It has been passed down from generation to generation. c. Satan gained a foothold in this nation when Christian men and women turned a deaf ear to the cries of injustice in the years of slaver, and then in the years of segregation. d. If the church today refuses to take a stand Satan's foothold grows stronger and stronger. C. Walls of Indifference a. People carry the weight of old hurts with them. b. They put them in a sack and throw it over their sholder, but put more in it as they go along. III. JESUS CHRIST IS OUR PEACE A. Some Messages of Peace are Really a Lie 1. Forced Peace through laws and rules. Changes the behavior, but does nothing to change the heart. 2. Peace through Separation. The Nation of Islam and Louis Farrakhan are those who speak about peace and atonement, but really speak of further separation and hatred. B. Christ Alone Is Our Peace. 1. Literatlly Greek translation, "He and He alone is our peace." 2. He did not provide our peace and then retire for us to enjoy the peace. He still stands today as the pathway through which reconciliation can take place. C. Jesus Brings Peace in Bringing People Together. 1. Through Jesus those far away are brought near. Verse 12 show five ways in which the Gentiles were disconnected from an understanding of God. 2. The rules of temple worship displayed their disconnectedness. There were notices etched in stone around the outer court warning than any non-Jew that entered the inner court would suffer the penalty of death. 3. Archeaologists found pieces of these notices dating to AD 70. The Ephesian letter dated around AD62. 4. Long before society caught up, the Ephesian Christians made it a priority to break down the walls of cultural and societal division. 5. They believed in a God bigger than the walls. 6. The time is long past due to join them in this ministry of reconciliation.
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