Introductory remarks:  My tag-line for the little book of Ephesian is “Treatise to Christian Community” and that theme is no more evident in this little book than in our section for today.  I’ve heard Christian people excuse their lack of confession of faith and their unwillingness to have conversation around their faith by saying, “my faith is a very private matter to me.”  Faith that is not held in and lived out in community might not be faith at all.  When we get together like this in our regular Sunday morning appointment, or when two or five eight of us get together for coffee or a meal, we will inevitably communicate about our faith, in some form or another, and that’s just a small part of living out our faith.  I have four notes to make today about living it out . . .
 
1.  Faith is   observable  .  V. 15
James 2:14-19; 26
 
2.  Love is   objectifyable  .  V. 15
John 13:34-35; Matthew 22:34-40; Romans 13:8-10; Galatians 5:13-17
 
3.  Gratitude is   durable  .  V. 16
Matthew 26:27-30; Mark 14:23-26; Luke 22:14-23; 1 Corinthians 11:24-26;
Ephesians 5:20; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18; Romans 8:28-29
 
4.  Prayer is   audible  .  V. 16
Philippians 4:4-7; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18;
 
Text:  Ephesians 1:15-23;
 
For further study, application and discussion:  What have you heard the Holy Spirit saying to you today and what are you going to do about it?