The Castle Church Door

By God’s grace, I have finished preaching through Ephesians. It has been exhausting, as Paul is always exhausting (since it is always difficult to know what to omit). I have now started on Daniel, and hope to make it a fairly short series (about 16 or 17 messages, far fewer than Ephesians’ 56 sermons). Anyway, here is an index of all the Ephesians sermons. Introduction to Ephesians Chapter 1 Dear Ephesians ...

Ephesians 6:21-24 5/11/2008 Audio Version One Peanuts cartoon shows Linus and Charlie Brown talking together, and they are talking about the Bible. Linus is talking about Paul’s letters, and he says that it always feels strange reading Paul’s letters, since it feels like he is reading someone else’s mail. It certainly does feel that way when we hear from Paul’s letters about people we don’t know very well, like this Tychicus. ...

Ephesians 6:18-20 5/4/2008 Audio Version A man took his small son with him to town one day to run some errands. When lunch time arrived, the two of them went to a familiar cafe for a sandwich. The father sat down on one of the stools at the counter and lifted the boy up to the seat beside him. They ordered lunch, and when the waiter brought the food, the father ...

Ephesians 6:17 4/20/2008 Audio Version The citizens of Feldkirch, Austria, didn’t know what to do. Napoleon’s massive army was preparing to attack. Soldiers had been spotted on the heights above the little town, which was situated on the Austrian border. A council of citizens was hastily summoned to decide whether they should try to defend themselves or display the white flag of surrender. It happened to be Easter Sunday, and the ...

Ephesians 6:16 4/13/2008 Audio Version The story is told of a teacher who wanted to prove to his class the law of the pendulum. The law of the pendulum states that if you release a pendulum, and it swings to the side, when it comes back it will never reach as high as its starting point. Gravity and air friction will slow it down. So the teacher demonstrated this with a ...

Ephesians 6:15 4/6/2008 Audio Version In the time of ancient Rome, Rome was famous for many things. However, there were few things more famous that Rome’s military might. They were the only superpower of the world at that time. What made Rome’s armies so famous was the training, discipline, and equipment of the soldiers. Roman soldiers trained with weapons that were twice as heavy as the ones they actually used in ...

Ephesians 6:14b 3/23/2008 Audio Version Once upon a time, a woman went to an unusual store to buy something for her husband. Only she didn’t quite have enough money to purchase the item. But the store owner was kind, and knew how important this item was to her and her husband. And so, he set up interest-free payments on a monthly schedule so that she could take it home immediately. The ...

Ephesians 6:14 3/9/2008 Audio Version Pulpit and Bible Study Helps vol 16 number 5 tells this story: Dr. Clarence Bass, professor emeritus at Bethel Theological Seminary, early in his ministry preached in a church in Los Angeles. He thought he had done quite well as he stood at the door greeting people as they left the sanctuary. The remarks about his preaching were complimentary. That is, until a little old man ...

Ephesians 6:10-13 3/2/2008 Audio Version Craig Larson says this: “Recently National Geographic ran an article about the Alaskan bull moose. The males of the species battle for dominance during the fall breeding season, literally going head-to-head with antlers crunching together as they collide. Often the antlers, their only weapon are broken. That ensures defeat. The heftiest moose, with the largest and strongest antlers, triumphs. Therefore, the battle fought in the fall ...

Ephesians 6:5-9 2/17/2008 Audio Version A retired friend became interested in the construction of an addition to a shopping mall. Observing the activity regularly, he was especially impressed by the conscientious operator of a large piece of equipment. The day finally came when my friend had a chance to tell this man how much he’d enjoyed watching his scrupulous work. Looking astonished, the operator replied, “You’re not the supervisor?” It’s a ...