Redeemer Church Of Waterford

Before we examine the particular blessings which are ours from God the Father through Jesus Christ it is essential that we consider the character of the God from whom these blessings flow. Paul has one phrase to describe God's character: "the glory of His grace."

No doctrine provides more comfort and assurance while at the same time generating so much debate as does the doctrine of election. What does it mean that God has chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world? Does God choose some people for salvation and condemn others to hell even if they desire to be saved? If God sovereignly chooses those whom He saves, why does anyone need to repent and believe? These and other questions raised by the doctrine of election are considered in this message,

Behind all of the events of human history, and all of the events of your life - both insignificant and life-altering, is God. Paul’s primary objective in his letter to these Ephesians is to demonstrate that the world is not operating by blind fate (1:9-10). There is a God who is in absolute control over the events of history - and your life. This God is a Father. ​

DUE TO A TECHNICAL ISSUE THE LAST TEN MINUTES OF THIS SERMON WAS NOT RECORDED. Our being IN Christ does not diminish the responsibilities we have AT Ephesus. But the reality of our lives AT Ephesus must be shaped by who we are IN Christ, and not by the prevailing culture. How then are we to live IN Christ AT Ephesus? The answer, Paul says, is as "saints" and "faithful." What does a saint look like? What does it mean to be faithful?

These twelve verses in our English Bibles are actually three stanzas in the original language, each stanza focused on the work of one of the three persons of the Holy Trinity in devising, executing, and making effectual God's great purpose to redeem sinners.

Our being "in Christ" does not negate the necessity and responsibilities of our being "at Ephesus," which is to say, citizens of the particular communities in which we live. But our being "in Christ" necessarily creates a tension with the prevailing culture within which we must live as "saints" and "faithful in Christ Jesus." How do we navigate this tension?

In Ephesians we are brought face to face with God. In the very first verse and throughout the first chapter we are confronted with the glory of God in His eternal plan - the mystery of His will - to redeem a people for Himself. The mystery of God's will is devised in the counsel of His will according to the good pleasure of His will. God is behind all of the events of history for the praise of His glory and to redeem His people out of the world.

Why is anyone a Christian? In the eternal purposes of God, from the foundation of the world, God chose a people for Himself in Christ out of all of those who have been justly condemned as objects of His wrath. He did this not because of any merit in those He chose, but according to the good pleasure of His will, according to the exceeding greatness of his grace, according to the riches of His mercy.

Our identity in Christ is not a result of us doing the imperatives of Ephesians 4 - 6, but rather resting in the indicatives of all that God has done for us in Christ in Ephesians 1 - 3.

In response to His obedience, the Father has given the Son a "name which is above every name." What is that name and how does it relate to the consecration of Jesus as King? We turn to Isaiah and Hebrews for the answers.

Why was it necessary for the eternal Son of God to be sent by the Father from His glory to earth in a body made in the likeness of sinful flesh? The body of the flesh of the Son of God is the instrument of the reconciliation of ruined sinners to a Holy God.

Why didn't people recognize Jesus as the Son of God? He was "veiled in flesh." "In him dwells all the fullness of the godhead BODILY." The Son of the Father, begotten by the Father from eternity, is "made in the likeness of sinful flesh" by taking on a body that he himself created. He is "made in the likeness of men," "made a little lower than the angels," "made like unto his brethren," "made flesh," "made of a woman," "made under the law." This raises some questions: was Jesus sinful? Did He sin? COULD He sin?

In this message we examine the meaning of "the fullness of time" and contrast the human birth of Jesus as an event in time with the "only-begottenness" of Jesus which is eternal and without beginning. We also turn to Psalm 139 to examine the details of how precisely the "Word was made flesh" in the womb of the virgin Mary.

God sending His only begotten Son into the world IS the humiliation of the King of Glory. But to understand why this is the case, it is necessary to understand what the Bible means when it says Jesus is "the only begotten Son of the Father." “Who, being in the form of God” (Philippians 2:6) means that, prior to his birth in Bethlehem, the Second Person of the Blessed Holy Trinity existed from eternity “in the form of God” and “equal with God.” To what does “only begotten” refer in the Gospel of John? Not to the human birth of Jesus in Bethlehem - His incarnation. Rather, “only begotten” refers to what theologians like Augustine termed “the eternal generation of the Son.” The eternal generation of the Son means that the Second Person of the Blessed Holy Trinity receives His life from God the Father who receives His life from no one; and the Son receives this life from eternity so that there never was a time when the Son was not receiving His life from the Father. ​

When Jesus prays in John 17 to be glorified with the glory He shared with the Father from before the world began, what is that glory like and how do human beings respond when they encounter it? You don't have to imagine; the Bible tells us plainly.

As we enter into the Advent Season we begin by considering the character of the coming King. The Apostle Paul describes this King as Eternal, Immortal, Invisible, and God only Wise.

There are three supernatural phenomena in the Bible: miracles, signs, and wonders. What are the differences? How does the Bible define a "miracle"? Is the gift of miracles active in the church today, and if it is, how so? It is clear that “miracles” in 1 Corinthians 12:9 and 28 refers to the Holy Spirit’s authority over the spirit of darkness. It is also clear that the gifts of miracles and healings were rare in the early church and most likely limited to the Apostles or those immediately connected to the Apostles: 1 Corinthians 12:28-30. The primary purpose of these gifts in the New Testament was to affirm to the Jewish people those chosen by God as having received divine revelation from God in the same way God used signs and wonders in the Old Testament to affirm his choice of Moses and Aaron, and the prophets. ​

The only time the word "healing" occurs in any of Paul's letters is the three times it occurs in 1 Corinthians 12. Do we put more emphasis on healing than the Bible does? What does the Bible say about how we are to handle sickness and disease in the post-apostolic church?

What is "the good work" which God the Father began in us? When did He begin this work? How will we know when this work is completed? In this message we examine the broad scope of the Trinity's work in saving us: the commencement of the work, the continuation of the work, and the consummation of the work as described by the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Philippians.