After three weeks of theological foundation on the topic of authority, we'll spend the rest of the series considering all of the diverse offices God bestows with authority in Scripture. This Sunday, we'll consider the husband's authority in marriage—what it means, and doesn't mean.
This series is based loosely on the book, Authority by Jonathan Leeman.
The gospel impacts every area of our lives. As we continue in Ephesians this Sunday, the Apostle Paul applies his exhortation to submission in two significant places—our home and our work. We'll see how our union with Christ transforms our relationships with our parents and our bosses.
We have an incredible privilege this Sunday to hear from Neel and Chalor Roberts, missionaries to Thailand. Neel preached on the freedom only Christ provides. Neel joined Ruggles back in 1984 and was sent as a missionary from our church to Thailand with OMF in 1987. In 1993, he married Chalor, who is Thai and a graduate of Phayao Bible Institute. Chalor works with Shan Migrant Children in Mae Sai and Chiang Rai in North Thailand. Neel supervises Christian workers in the Upper Mekong Region.
It's tough to follow Jesus when we're surrounded by people who don't—particularly when it comes to issues concerning sexuality. How can we faithfully live as light in the darkness? That's what our passage is all about this week.
How do people change? How do you change? Make a new year's resolution? Finding a new experience? Turn over a new leaf? In our passage this Sunday, we'll see more specifically how a Christian's union with Jesus Christ transforms our identity and enables us to live together as "members one of another."
What makes a church grow? Is it up to the pastor or a specific music style or a kind of program? We come this Sunday to a significant transition in Ephesians. From "grace in" to "grace out" or generally, from teaching to application. How does our union with Christ work out into unity with one another? And this Sunday, how does our union with Christ grow us in maturity together?
The Apostle Paul has, so far in Ephesians, offered an incredible vision of how God's grace in Christ saves his people and unites them in the church. Yet the reality often falls short of this beautiful picture. We need God's help to live this out! How? That's what this Sunday's passage is all about.
Last week, we saw how the power of God is at work in Christians as individuals, saving us from God's wrath by raising us up through our union with Christ. This week, we'll consider the other area where God's word points us to see his power at work: the church.
Ephesians 1 ended with a glorious declaration of God's immeasurable saving power at work in our world. But when we look around at the death and sadness and ungodliness the world today, sometimes it's hard to see evidence of God's power. Where do we see God's power at work today?
What do you pray about most? As we continue in our sermon series in the book of Ephesians, we move from praise (last week) to prayer. The Apostle Paul prays that the church in Ephesus—and Ruggles—would know Jesus better: his hope, our value, and his power.
It's a new year in Boston. Thousands of people have moved into the city with plans for their education, career, and future. It's likely you also moved to Boston at some point with a plan. But what about God's plan? Have you ever wondered—or worried—about God's plan for your life? We being a new sermon series in Ephesians this Sunday. We'll see the "mystery" of God's plan for us revealed, and why it should bring us incredible joy.
In the midst of all the tragedy, division, and disappointment of our day, it can be easy to wonder, where is God? Is he really in control? Where do we look to see the power of God at work? We're taking a break in our 1 Timothy sermon series this week to reflect on the theme from Fenway Kids Adventure Week. We'll see in Ephesians 2:1-10, that we can see God's power at work in us, his people.
This Sunday we welcome Rev. Dr. Ron Bouthillette to preach to us an encouraging word from Ephesians 3. Ron was a member and ministry intern at Ruggles back in the 1970s, and he loves our church. Currently he serves as a professor at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and as Associate Executive Minister of The American Baptist Churches of New Hampshire and Vermont.
We're taking a one-week pause in our Memento Mori sermon series to welcome Pastor Ron Bouthillette. He's going to preach a New Year's message on our foundational identity in Christ.
