THURSDAY, April 17th 2008

Hey Everyone~ Give a shout out to Kasey! She is turning 15 today!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KASEY!!!

Ephesians 2:12-22

12 At that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation,
15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace,
16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.
17 And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near.
18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.
19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,
20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone,
21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord,
22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

Wow, This passage is packed full so bear with me. In the Old testeament, God mainly focuses on his "chosen people" which are the children of Israel, (known today as the Jews). God used the Children of Israel to show his provision and protection for a group of people. Ok, there is alot more information about that, but I will move on, or this could get really long. So the pride and prejudices of The Jews vs. The Gentiles were huge. During these new testament times, the Jews thought that they were still "all that" and the Gentiles thought that they were "all that" so they all hated each other. Literally to the point that there was a wall outside of the temple that showed the Gentiles how close they could get before they would get killed. Now we come all the way back to the passage: Hopefully it should make a little more sense for you now!

The Gentiles, (people who were not jewish, like you and me) had no hope!! (vs. 12) But because of the blood of Christ, we now, (who are not jewish) can have the hope of salvation! Christ broke down the middle wall of separation! (The wall that kept us out of the temple) (14) And now we all have access to God (18) We are no longer strangers to God! He died for us and we are his! I am so glad that God was not prejudice to his people alone (the Jews) I am so thankful that he made salvation available to the Gentiles! (YOU AND ME!!!)

So Today was a little Deep! But also it was so powerful! STAY FAITHFUL IN THE WORD! GREAT JOB!