Are you aware of the power of your words? Words have the power to build up and destroy. And in today’s passage, Paul addresses the way Christians are supposed to use their words to build one another up. While corrupt speech seems so distant from us, we are all engaged in it at some point, often unwittingly, and when we do it can lead to bitterness, wrath, and malice. Paul gives us practical advice on how to use our speech to build up the body of Christ with Holy means through kindness, tenderheartedness and forgiveness.

The Church is built up when we are truthful and loving. Being truthful is about more than just not saying what is not true. We are instructed to be truthful with our words, our emotions and our actions, not merely avoiding error but rather pursuing love and the best for the glory of God and for those around us.

On Pentecost we remember how Jesus Christ gave us the Holy Spirit and formed the Church. The Holy Spirit sets our hearts on Jesus and empowers us to become more and more like Him. The best way to honour the Holy Spirit is to honour Jesus Christ by trusting in Him, surrendering our lives to His purpose and then striving to keep our minds and hearts set on His will rather than our own. We cannot fulfil the purpose for which God created us if we don’t trust in His power and exercise His power in our lives.

Learning how to do something must include learning how not to. Encouraging words are precious but are incomplete or inadequate for growing up towards spiritual maturity. We grow spiritually by leaving behind all the things of the dark and staying in the light of God’s love and truth. We need the truth of God’s Word to warn us, and help us to see the right pathway to avoid the dark and stay in the light of Jesus.

The Church is made of unified individuals all selected by God and uniquely gifted to work together under the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. To become this, it must be equipped by the authoritative writings of the Apostles and Prophets, the evangelists and it’s pastors, and then every one of it’s members must shoulder the responsibility of doing the work of ministry. It’s our responsibility to grow-up as individuals and grow-out as the unified body of Christ. The key to this growth is truth and love.

In last week’s sermon, we learned that when Christ ascended on high, he gave gifts to men. Now, in this morning’s passage, we learn more about those gifts and what their purpose was. It’s an important message for Christ’s church today, because it calls all who worship our Lord Jesus to work in His ministry. Ministry means “to serve,” and one of the greatest pitfalls of the modern church is that the ministry is left to those of the office of the clergy. Today, Paul teaches us that the gifts Christ left were actually the leaders in the church, and they are gifts because they equip us with what we need to serve - to minister.

Absolute surrender comes before absolute victory. Moses, a prince, became a shepherd before leading Israel to freedom. Joseph, a favourite son became a slave and prisoner before ruling Egypt. Paul the pharisee became an outlaw before leading the Church. The list continues but is headed up by our Lord Jesus Christ who put aside His glory and became flesh before being seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. Every Christian is uniquely gifted to glorify God and serve the Church, when we follow the same path from surrender to victory.

Unity is beautiful. We’re urged to maintain unity in the Church, but not all unity is good. Unity in disobedience is rebellion against the One eternal God and a terrible sin against Him. The unity of the One God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is the model for our unity, to be pursued in truth and in love according to God’s Holy Word the perfect Scriptures.

The rich blessings given to the Church to unify and empower us for God’s glory should raise in us the desire and earnest commitment to live our lives in a way that is consistent with what God has called us to be. The centre point of the book of Ephesians acts like a hinge joining what’s true to what we should do. We’re urged to live in a way worthy of the great things that have been given and revealed to us.

Today, 2,000 years ago, Jesus rose from the dead. It is known as the greatest miracle of all time and is the cornerstone of the Christian faith. In fact, in his letter to the Corinthians, Paul says that if the resurrection isn’t true, we have no need for our faith. The resurrection is what makes Christianity different from all other faiths. For all other world views and religions, their gods/prophets are dead and buried - worm food. But Jesus lives and is seated at the right hand of the Father. Today, we look at the resurrection and what it meant for the disciples, and how that applies to our lives today.

As Jesus was about to die on the cross, He cried out “My God My God, why have You forsaken me?”. Why did Jesus say this? Had God abandoned His own Son? What are the implications if He did, and what are they if Jesus wasn’t actually abandoned? These are deep and dreadful questions, but the answers are life itself.

Every year we celebrate Palm Sunday, we remember that Jesus fulfilled prophecy and rode into Jerusalem on a donkey foal, but what was it all for? Millions of people welcomed Jesus as their King just seven days before standing by and letting their leaders crucify Him. Thinking about what happened, and why God planned and gathered such an enormous crowd of witnesses helps us look at our own hearts and prepares us for another massive event, one that nobody should miss.

The world is increasingly self-centred and self-absorbed, true selfless service is uncommon and striking. A servant heart is a sign of the true Church, it always has been, it’s what Jesus taught and demonstrated. The Church must embrace a servant identity, attitude and action to show the world the love and power of Jesus Christ.

Why are we here, what is the meaning of life? God reveals Himself to us in many ways., everything is wrapped up in how we respond to His revelation. If we respond by worshipping Him, we discover our purpose and we are blessed forever. If we respond by worshipping anything else, we become lost and confused in meaninglessness. Understanding what worship is and how we should worship God, is the single most important thing we will ever do.

We’ve been looking at the 4 spiritual walls of Family Church. Last week, Pete spoke about scripture and this week, we’re looking at prayer. Prayer stems from our great need of a great God. And yet it is an area of our walk with Christ in which we all struggle at some point. So we look at prayer in a simple format today; what is prayer; why do we pray; and what do we pray for? We’ll be using the Davidic prayer as a model prayer to answer these questions. When we’re praying on our own and in the church community, we become the church.

There’s no shortage of voices telling us what’s right and wrong, what we can and cannot do, but are those voices true? The Bible claims to be true, trustworthy and essential. Can we trust it, and why do we need this ancient book, especially in today’s world of artificial intelligence and the access to knowledge. When we look at what Jesus believed about Scripture, and how the Holy Spirit of God has provided and protected it, we can be assured that Scripture is critical to the Church, no perhaps even more than ever before.

The way that Paul is lead by the Holy Spirit to pray for the Church to be empowered challenges us. The Church needs God’s power, but we also need to know how to use it. Are we complacent, content to be saved and trying to operate in our own strength? If we’re aware of the need for God’s power and His gracious delight to provide it, do we seek His glory with it? And finally are we committed to the expression of His wonderful power through the Church, or do try to operate as individuals?

For the last few months, we’ve been working through Ephesians and the salvation they experience as a result of their faith in God and their belief in the Son. It’s been about their identity in Christ as believers and Paul has been guiding them on how to deal with these matters for both the Jew and the gentile. Now Paul prays for them that they may take their salvation and build on it, to put it into action so that they may receive the wonders of God’s fullness.

Shame is the painful feeling arising from the consciousness of something dishonourable. Whether we feel shame for what we’ve done, or what’s been done to us, it presents us with a decision, sometimes a split second one. What we decide can either cause more pain, or be turned to glory. Paul writes to the Ephesians while being shamed for ministering to the Gentiles. In the midst of this shame it’s what he doesn’t do that teaches us how to deal with shame.