This past Sunday morning, I preached from Ephesians 2:11-13 – "Remember What You Were." For all the difficulties I have preparing last week (over the last weeks, for that matter), I was quite relaxed, focused, and eager about preaching Sunday morning. The passage is doctrinal in nature. But there is a practical concern that is addresses that I really felt it was important for MSMBC to hear – the danger to forget and the need to remember. Our spiritual passion is prone to grow cold when we forget how far we were from God without Christ and how God brought us near to him through Christ. Here is the skeleton from Sunday's message:
Title: "Remember What You Were"
Point: Ephesians 2:11-13
Theme: The need to remember
Point: Your relationships with God, other believers, and the lost people in your life will greatly benefit from you simply remember what you were before Christ saved you.
Probing Question: Have you forgotten what you were before Christ saved you?
Outline:
- Remember how far away from God you were without Christ (2:11-12).
- You were naturally alienated from God (v. 11)
- You behavior was against you (Eph. 2:1-3)
- Your birth was against you (v. 11a)
- Your background was against you (v. 11a)
- You were spiritually alienated from God (v. 12)
- You were separated from Christ
- You were alienated from the commonwealth of Israel
- You were strangers to the covenants of promise
- You were without hope
- You were without God in the world
- Remember how God brought you near to himself through Christ (2:13).
