Author: Todd Baker

In Ephesians 4 we read: “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ (NKJV)” Before Easter we studied about the importance of the whole church working together to accomplish God’s work, giving a special emphasis to the fact that God has sufficiently equipped us to do His work.  This Sunday I want to focus on the Pastor/Teachers job – what is it?  Is just about preaching, marrying, and burying?  What has God …

Enjoy a time of music, Scripture, and reflection as we remember the incredible sacrifice God made for us on the cross.  Our focus will be on the Scriptural account and the significance of the events of that terrible day that produced the most wonderful gift.

God has called us to a certain way of life and a purpose for life, but do we make excuses for not living that out?  Isn’t it easy to look at what God has called us to do and say “I can’t”?  What we need to realize is that is a lie.  It is only true if you were expected to do it apart from Christ and His supply.  That, however, is not case for believers.  God has given us the equipping we need to live out His mission for us.  He has supplied the trainers and the power.  Watch …

We were a mess; we had nothing good enough for God. The prophet Isaiah said it well: “But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like fithy rags” (Isaiah 64:6 NKJV) When held in comparison to God’s holiness, our best deeds are like scribbles compared to a Rembrandt and they don’t begin to counteract the many wrongs that we have done. In Ephesians 2 we are reminded of this bad news, that we are spiritualy dead, part of an anti-God world system, under the sway of Satan, and guided by our lusts. A lot of …

We all like to think we are pretty good.  Sometimes we might think that we became Christians in part because of the good that is in us.  Maybe you think that the way to heaven is by having more good works banked up in your past that bad ones.  Ephesians chapter 2 shatters all those ideas and lets us know just how bad our congenital sin problem is.  It’s a lot of bad news, thankfully verse 4 starts with the words “But God”.  Listen to hear both the bad news and the good – the helplessness and the hope.  

There are many things we would like to ask God “Why” about, but have you ever thought about “Why did He save me”?  Or maybe for you the question is, “Why would He want to save me?”  The good news is He does, but even more than that, He tells us why in Ephesians 1 and I invite you to join me as we find those answers.

We pray for many things.  Sometimes ourprayers are spur-of-the-moment silent prayers for help, sometimes they are prayers for the health needs of others, sometimes they are brief thank-yous to God.  I wonder though, how much time is spent praying for the spiritual health and well being of others?  In this sermon, I encourage us all to follow the example of the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 1 and pray spefically for some key spiritual needs of your fellow believers.  I give you the same challenge that I gave the church at the end of the service when I preached this: pick …