Ephesians 2

(Audio: English)

SUMMARY: The speaker discusses the feeling of being an outsider or foreigner, whether due to traveling, moving to a new city, or being of a different culture. In the early church, non-Jews felt like aliens and outsiders, but through Jesus Christ, the divide between Jews and gentiles was broken down, making everyone full citizens in the body of Christ. This unity created a mandate for the church to break down racial, cultural, social, economic, and "coolness" divisions. The church is being built like a building with the foundation of the Apostles and prophets, and everyone starts as a foreigner. This reality breaks down any right for one culture to claim dominance over another. In a church like Lion of Judah, everyone is a full citizen and equal, regardless of culture or background.

The passage discusses the importance of the church as a dwelling place for God, built on the foundation of Jesus Christ and the Apostles and prophets. It emphasizes that God is the one who builds the church and uses believers as materials, and that the church must be sanctified and set apart for God's service. The passage also highlights the idea that what we believe affects how we live, and encourages believers to trust in God's building process and not force their own agendas.

God builds the house, so don’t force things or get in the way of what God’s doing. We need to remember that we’re part of something bigger than ourselves, act like it, and respect those who have come before us. The real purpose of the house is to be a dwelling place for the Lord Almighty, so we must live lives of obedience and holiness as individuals and as a church community. Every ministry must be a holiness ministry because the church is set aside for God and must be holy. These truths are extremely relevant and we need to live in light of them.

Tonight I’m talking tonight about, we’re talking tonight about being an outsider, being uncomfortable, being a little how shall be say, feeling like a stranger, feeling like things just aren’t good or easy or something like that.

Now, has anyone in here ever been a foreigner? I don’t think anyone here’s ever been a foreigner. You’ve been a foreigner. Maybe you grew in another country and you came to the United States at a certain age. So do you remember what it was like when you first came here? Do you remember how hard it was to maybe learn a new language or adapt to the culture? Or maybe if you were here with your parents, it might have been easier, but if you came here and you had to learn how to eat this food that the Americans eat all the time, it’s not just as good as the fridge you have back home, right? And it was kind of hard to get used to that.