Ephesians: A Celebration of Salvation

I have, for years, had a desire to lead our church, Rockport Baptist, through a study of the Book of Ephesians.  With that study finally beginning this Sunday, I've written the following as a sort of "introduction" for our congregation.

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,

 To the saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus: 

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Ephesians 1:1-2 

With these words we begin what I believe will be an exciting and faith-building journey through this book of Ephesians.  It’s been called many things.  William Barclay called it “the queen of the epistles”  Another man likened it to “the Grand Canyon of Scripture”.  It’s “pure music!” says another.

But what is it about this letter that has drawn such high praise?  For surely “all Scripture is given by inspiration of God” as 2 Tim 3:16 declares.  So it can’t be that this book is ”more God’s word” than some other portion of Scripture.   Yet it is here that we have, distilled into it’s purest essence, the very heart of the Gospel itself.  So let me give you three things that have been noticed about this book of Ephesians before we begin our study

(1) Someone has noted that Ephesians is intercession! 

More than any other book in the New Testament, it has the feel and quality of an extended
prayer.  As you read it, it takes hold of you and lifts you up into the very presence of God Himself in the “heavenly places” (1:3)

(2) Ephesians is exaltation

There’s a celebration going on here! This is not just some dry tome giving us our doctrine as it instructs us about the grace of God.  This is a riotous explosion of grace that brings great joy in Christ!

(3) Ephesians is evangelism

Here, in the clearest possible terms we will see again and again the great lengths and heights to which God has gone to rescue us from our sin and to bring us home safely in Christ.

That’s why I’m calling this study,   A Celebration of Salvation!  Here is something that is meant to make you rejoice as you see just how extravagant the grace of God is, that has been poured out for us sinners in Christ Jesus!!

May God give us eyes to see!   
Pastor S. Scott Lee

Grace Camp Meeting Messages

What a great time God gave us at this year's Grace Camp Meeting! Here is a link to all the messages from this three day conference at Rockport Baptist Church.

By Grace Alone: Dan Quayle Was Right (some notes on Savage and savagery)

An excellent perspective on the anti-bullying bully, Dan Savage.

By Grace Alone: Dan Quayle Was Right (some notes on Savage and savagery)

Headed out to T4G

Getting ready to head to Louisville for T4G. Looking forward to it.

My daughter's blog

My daughter recently began her first blog with an article on depression that I found so encouraging I wanted to share it here.

Rockport Systematic Theology Class Downloads

Why Study Theology? Bottom line: Because God is worthy to be known. Indeed, Jesus said that this, in and of itself, is what eternal life is really all about -- "that they may know You, the One True God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent" (John 17:3). And so that is our goal at Rockport Baptist Church: to know God as fully as possible (as we make Him known to the world).

And when we say "to know God, we don't just mean to know him in a merely intellectual way. As Puritan Pastor William Ames once put it, "Theology is the doctrine or teaching of living unto God."That is what we want: real knowledge of God that is more than just knowing about God. It is knowing God as a Person who is real and who has revealed Himself clearly in the Scriptures (and most fully in His Son) so that we may delight "to glorify God and enjoy Him forever" as the old catechism says.

That is our aim. And so we are meeting each week at Rockport to study God's wonderful revelation of Himself! We are using Dr. Wayne Grudem's excellent book, "Systematic Theology" as one of our guides. But of course, the Scriptures are our main and surest guide of all!

These studies are available for download here -- both the mp3 audio files as well as thePowerpoint slides that I use each week.

Our hope is that these may be a help to other travelers who desire to know God even more.

To the Praise of the Glory of His grace.

S. Scott Lee

The 180 Challenge

If you have not done so yet, please take time to watch this video.