Pastoral Installation Service - March 2nd 5 PM

 

Just a reminder that our service will be at 5 PM this Sunday March 2nd.

There will be no morning service this week.

Dr. Barclays Bible Study - The Book of Ephesians Part 10

Dr. Barclay with Something to Think About - WITHOUT GOD

 WITHOUT GOD

..that at that time you were without Christ…

having no hope and without God in the world.

Ephesians 2:12

That statement was made by Paul concerning the Gentile people before they came to know Christ. Have you ever really considered what life would truly be like without Christ? There would be no one who has said He would not leave us, no one to pray to for help or guidance, and no hope for an afterlife or to see loved ones again. Just a bleak void awaiting everyone.

But the Bible does not give such a bleak picture for those who have Christ, who have God; only those who have not yet come to the realization that God is really the foundation of life and existence. The Scriptures go on to describe in a number of ways the state of those who are yet unsaved.

The Bible goes on to say that those without God are “dead in trespasses and sin” (Ephesians 2:1) and that they are never truly and fully alive as we were meant to be. Spiritually dead, so to speak, although physically and mentally still living.

The Bible also describes such people as being blind and not able to see the truth.

But even if our gospel is veiled, 

it is veiled to those who are perishing, 

whose minds the god of this age has blinded… 

(2 Corinthians 4:3-4)

Such people are also called slaves to sin - not really free but controlled by their own lusts and desires.

But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin…

having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.

(Romans 6:17-18)

In addition, such people were called lovers of darkness because their desires were such that only darkness could cover them.

And this is the condemnation, 

that the light has come into the world, 

and men loved darkness rather than light…

For everyone practicing evil hates the light 

and does not come to the light 

(John 3:19-20)

The Scriptures consider such persons as sick:

When Jesus heard it, He said to them,

“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 

I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” 

(Mark 2:17)

And also as lost:

What man of you, having a hundred sheep,

if he lose one, does not…go after the one which is lost?

…there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents 

than over [those] who need no repentance. 

(Luke 15:4,7)

If we fit into the above description, then we no longer fit into the image into which we were made, i.e., the image of God. And so we are called:

aliens…strangers from the covenants of promise… 

and foreigners…

(Ephesians 2:12,19)

and

children of wrath…

fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind…

(Ephesians 2:3)

All this if we have not accepted the one who

 

…has delivered us from the power of darkness 

and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love. 

(Colossians 1:13)

It certainly does give one a lot to think about.  

Pastor Caroline Barclay Feb. 23, 2025

Pastor Matthew Trott Feb 16, 2025

Pastor Caroline Barclay Feb 9, 2025

Pastoral Installation - March 2, 2025

 

Dr. Barclays Bible Study - The Book of Ephesians Part 9

Dr. Barclay with Something to Think About - WAS GOD, WITH GOD

WAS GOD, WITH GOD

In the first verse of John, there is a somewhat confusing play of words concerning  Jesus. The verse reads:

In the beginning was the Word, 

and the Word was with God, 

and the Word was God 

(John 1:1)

So, the question arises as to how the Word can both be with God and be God at the same time. If Jesus was, at that time, a truly created Son then He would not have been there at the beginning and it could not be said that:

 

All things were made through Him, 

and without Him nothing was made that was made. 

(John 1:3)

Now, the Greek word used for Word in the Old Testament was the word “Logos” which the Greeks often saw as "the power that puts sense into the world, the ultimate reason that controlled all things.”* There is, therefore, a being referred to as the Word, a being who is eternal, and therefore, is God, but also a being who does not encompass all of God’s attributes and so is a distinct entity. Two distinct personas in that the Father is not the Son nor is the Son the Father, and so it can be said that the Word was with God.

In Genesis, we are told that God created the heaven and the earth, whereas, here in John, it is said that Christ created all things stating very clearly that Christ and the Father are One.

Furthermore, John further states that:

In Him was life… 

(John 1:4)

…and again the word used for life here is the Greek word “zoe” implying the “life principle” instead of just biological life itself.

It is really impossible for a finite mind to comprehend the infinity of God and all the attributes thereof, but by noting all the meanings of the words involved, and considering the applications carefully, we can come to some terms with the meanings implied.

Thus, the concept that God can be God and yet be with God at the same time is a difficult one to grasp and yet it is what it is. This is one example of why one needs faith to please God.

And it does give one something to think about.

* From Dods, Morris, Barclay, Bruce, and others as quoted in the Commentaries of David Guzik on John 1:1-2

Dr. Spencer Barclay Feb. 2, 2025