Title: In Christ
Scripture: Ephesians 1:1-14
Speaker: Reid Kapple, ReidK@cckc.church

“Merely having an open mind is nothing. The object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid.” -GK Chesterton

> Deconstruction: A sincere attempt to consider what you believe and what has influenced your beliefs in hopes of knowing and following Jesus.

“We might summarize the contents of the epistle as ‘indicative/imperative.’ The first three chapters offer descriptions of who believers are in Christ, and the second half of the epistle presents the implications and ramifications of this testimony.” -Lynn Cohick

> Start with God

“There is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but pitiless indifference...We are machines for propagating DNA.” -Richard Dawkins

"What I mean by the noble lie is one that deceives us, tricks us, compels us beyond self-interest, beyond ego, beyond family, nation, race...that will deceive us into the view that our moral discourse must serve the interests not only of ourselves and each other, but those of the earth as well." -Dr. Loyal Rue

> Know his story

“God’s cosmic kingdom...includes industry, technology, recreation, the arts, education, commerce, politics, and so on. As a result…Poverty matters to God. Gun violence matters to God. Racism matters to God. Divorce, child abuse, genocide, sex-trafficking all matter to God…Issues of justice in society, for Christians, are issues of liberating the creation from the work of the devil.” -Dr. Anthony Bradley

“Many Christians today think of salvation as leaving earth for heaven, but the story of Scripture is quite the opposite. The message of the kingdom of God is not an escape from earth to heaven but God’s reign coming down from heaven to earth. The focus of God’s reign is his people, but the scope of God’s reign is all of creation.” -Jeremy Treat (Seek First)

> Enter his family

"You sum up the whole of New Testament teaching in a single phrase, if you speak of it as a revelation of the Fatherhood of the holy Creator. In the same way, you sum up the whole of New Testament religion if you describe it as the knowledge of God as one’s holy Father. If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God’s child, and having God as his Father. If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers and his whole outlook on life, it means that he does not understand Christianity very well at all. For everything that Christ taught, everything that makes the New Testament new, and better than the Old, everything that is distinctively Christian as opposed to merely Jewish, is summed up in the knowledge of the Fatherhood of God. ‘Father’ is the Christian name for God. Our understanding of Christianity cannot be better than our grasp of adoption.” -JI Packer (Knowing God)