Ephesians 2:4-9 - “Made Us Alive Together With Christ”

Welcometo Pastor's Chat today. Well, this morning I have a special prayer request foryou. Today I am leaving along with my son Jonathan and a nephew Jason Rigginsfor Egypt, Jordan, and Slovakia. I'll be driving this morning to Raleigh tocatch my first flight up to Dulles. And there we'll meet with Jonathan andJason. And then from there, this evening, we'll be flying to Egypt where we'llland on Sunday evening. We will have a couple days in Egypt to tour with someEgyptian ministry friends. We will also be preparing for our tour that we're doingOctober the 14th with a wonderful group of people, who are very excited aboutthe upcoming trip. I'msaying all that to tell you that I might not be able to do a pastor's chat eachday as we'll be spending many hours in flight and also in foreign countries andmight not always have good internet connections. I'll do what I can to keep youupdated on our trip and if possible, post some Pastor Chats. On Tuesdayafternoon, we'll be leaving Egypt to go to Jordan where we'll spend at least a coupledays and there visit with some of our ministry partners. We hope to spend sometime encouraging some of the leaders there that we work with in the refugeeministry in Amman, Jordan.  FromAmman we'll be flying to Slovakia to spend a few days with my sister Janet and herhusband Charles Baldis. They have been faithful missionaries for over 30 years.The occasion that really prompted this whole trip is a wedding I have been askedto speak at by my niece Tina Baldis. She has also served faithfully with herparents over all these years. We are very excited that on Saturday, Tina isgetting married to a wonderful young man named Jozef Ličko. Iam looking forward to this trip with my nephew and my son. And we're excitedabout the divine appointments that we're going to have along the way. We askfor your special prayers for traveling mercies and for these divineappointments. Pray that God gives us open doors of opportunities to share withthe people that we will providentially meet along the way. We always have thatgreat privilege and see miraculous things that the Lord does and we're lookingforward to that. We need your prayers. Your prayers will help us have thoseopen doors. They will give us boldness to speak and give us wisdom to know whatto say, how to say it and when to say it.  Itis a volatile world in the Middle East. And we are there to help bring thepeace of God into those different locations and places in people's lives byshowing them the way through Jesus Christ. Just the fact that we're there,there will be more light in the spiritual darkness there because Christ livesin us.  Andthat's what we're talking about today in Ephesians 2:5. We talked yesterday inverse 4 about how “God because of His great love with which He loved us”,has provided mercy and grace that saves us through the blood of the cross ofJesus Christ. Now we find here in verse 5, even when we were dead in our trespassesand sins, God made us alive together with Christ. Not only did the Lord JesusChrist love us, He has made us alive. The King James version says that “Hequickened us”, which means the same thing. He made us alive.  Theway He makes us alive is through the gospel, through the Word of God. In the Gospels,it's recorded that Jesus raised at least three people from the dead. Rememberthe widow's son in Luke 7:11-17, Jairus's daughter in Luke 8:49-56, and Lazarusin John 11. In each case, Jesus spoke the Word and His Word brought forth life.The Bible tells us in Hebrews 4:12 that “the Word of God is quick” which meansit is alive. It's living and it's powerful.  Whata glorious truth!!!! “God made us alive together with Christ”!!!  We are so grateful and excited about all that God is doing here inAmerica and around the world. Keep on praying!!!!