The Process of Progress

Walk in ChristBrian Holt
Written By Olivia Zurawski

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Ephesians 4:17–32 | They say a tiger can't change his stripes. That a leopard can't change his spots. These sayings (actually derived from an Old Testament passage) are used to mean that one cannot change his or her essential nature.

Tigers are always tigers and will always act like tigers. Leopards are always leopards and will always act like leopards.

We think this about ourselves and other people sometimes. "I'll always be like this." "This is just who I am." "He'll never change."

In many ways, it's probably true...but what if a tiger was no longer a tiger? What if a tiger became something entirely different? What would it do then?

And what if WE became something totally different, what would we do then?

Open up to Ephesians 4 this week and find out.

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More from this series:

Sermons
This Is War
Walk in Christ, Brock Graham
This Is War
Walk in Christ, Brock Graham

Ephesians 6:10–24 | We are in a war. When God's people seek to live the way Ephesians calls us to live, we will be confronted and affronted by the schemes of the enemy. There is a spiritual realm and there is a spiritual war. God has given us His armor for this war and has equipped us to know what battlefield to drag these spiritual wars onto.

Walk in Christ, Brock Graham
The Gospel at Work
Walk in Christ, Brock Graham
The Gospel at Work
Walk in Christ, Brock Graham

Ephesians 6:5–9 | How does the gospel come to bear on your work? I don't just mean that you are looking to share the gospel at work, I mean how does an understanding of the finished work of Christ inform the way you work? The gospel shapes how you come under the authority of others in the workplace. The gospel shapes how you lead with authority over others in the workplace. This week's passage shapes what it looks like to bring the gospel to work.

Walk in Christ, Brock Graham
The Healthy Home
Walk in Christ, Brian Holt
The Healthy Home
Walk in Christ, Brian Holt

Ephesians 6:1–4 | As we continue in our verse-by-verse series through Ephesians, we’ve entered a section dealing with relationships dynamics in the home. And this week, the parent/child relationship is up!

Let’s be honest – parenting is hard! Sleepless nights caring for the physical needs of infant babies turn into sleepless nights waiting up for teenagers to come home by curfew. So much of parenting is difficult, but it is so, so good. Every second you invest and every effort you make is worthy of the time and energy.

In talking with parents, most feel like they’re doing a bad job. It’s like baking a cake that you have to wait 25 years to see if you put in the right ingredients and the cake keeps deciding stuff for itself. If you open the oven and look today, of course, it’s still gooey in the middle! It’s not fully baked yet.

So let’s start with this question: how do you honestly evaluate your parenting? What is it that makes you feel like you’re doing a good job? Or a bad job? More importantly, what do you really want for your children? And what environment is going to cultivate it?

What makes the home spiritually healthy?

Walk in Christ, Brian Holt
Husbands and Wives
Walk in Christ, Brock Graham
Husbands and Wives
Walk in Christ, Brock Graham

Ephesians 5:31–33 | Marriage is a beautiful representation of the relationship between Christ and his bride, the church. It was intended by God to be awesome and beautiful, and it's worth the work we put in to pursue the vision God has laid out for our marriage. Ephesians 5 lays a foundation for us to elevate the wonderful calling God gives husbands and wives and also gives us a roadmap for our marriages to be all God desires them to be.

Walk in Christ, Brock Graham
Walking Rightly - Pt. 2
Walk in Christ, Brock Graham
Walking Rightly - Pt. 2
Walk in Christ, Brock Graham

Ephesians 5:15–21 | All of us have heard the repeated refrain, "Time just goes so fast." The longer we live, the more and more we know that to be true. As imitators of God, we are to walk in wisdom, making the best use of the time. So what does that look like? How do we make the best use of time as people walking in wisdom? This week God's word will guide us into evaluating how we are doing at this.

Walk in Christ, Brock Graham
Walking Rightly - Pt. 1
Walk in Christ, Brock Graham
Walking Rightly - Pt. 1
Walk in Christ, Brock Graham

Ephesians 5:1–14 | We're talking about our walk with Jesus. Practically, what does the walk, or life, of a Jesus follower look like? This week we unpack 3 pretty clear characteristics of our walk with Christ. We are to walk in love, in the light, and in wisdom. Let's let God's word guide us into what that looks like in our daily life.

Walk in Christ, Brock Graham
The Process of Progress
Walk in Christ, Brian Holt
The Process of Progress
Walk in Christ, Brian Holt

Ephesians 4:17–32 | They say a tiger can't change his stripes. That a leopard can't change his spots. These sayings (actually derived from an Old Testament passage) are used to mean that one cannot change his or her essential nature.

Tigers are always tigers and will always act like tigers. Leopards are always leopards and will always act like leopards.

We think this about ourselves and other people sometimes. "I'll always be like this." "This is just who I am." "He'll never change."

In many ways, it's probably true...but what if a tiger was no longer a tiger? What if a tiger became something entirely different? What would it do then?

And what if WE became something totally different, what would we do then?

Open up to Ephesians 4 this week and find out.

Walk in Christ, Brian Holt
Unified Body, Diversified Gift - Pt. 2
Walk in Christ, Brock Graham
Unified Body, Diversified Gift - Pt. 2
Walk in Christ, Brock Graham

Ephesians 4:7–16 | We are unified as a body of Christ by the seven "ones" we looked at last week, and yet we are made up as a diverse community with diverse gifts that are to be used and stewarded for the building up of the body. Together let's step into an understanding of how this unified body we call the church thrives when we all bring a diversity of our giftedness to it.

Walk in Christ, Brock Graham
Unified Body, Diversified Gift - Pt. 1
Walk in Christ, Brock Graham
Unified Body, Diversified Gift - Pt. 1
Walk in Christ, Brock Graham

Ephesians 4:1–6 | The body of Christ is beautifully unified with a diversity of gifts. When we understand what unites us and how the diversity of our gifts are to operate in that unity, we experience all God intended us to experience as a member of his body. Over the next two weeks, we will dive deeply into this unity of body and diversity of gifts.

Walk in Christ, Brock Graham
His Power, His Glory
Walk in Christ, Brock Graham
His Power, His Glory
Walk in Christ, Brock Graham

Ephesians 3:14–21 | We all need spiritual power, and where else can we turn for spiritual power other than the God of all power. As Paul moves us from the doctrinal rich first part of the letter to the wonderfully practical second part, he prays for spiritual power for Jesus followers who will read this. We join in the petitions and praise of this prayer as we walk through it this Sunday.

Walk in Christ, Brock Graham
Mystery Made Known
Walk in Christ, Brock Graham
Mystery Made Known
Walk in Christ, Brock Graham

Ephesians 3:1–13 | Paul unpacks the ministry God had given him to steward to make the mystery known that Jews and Gentiles are fellow heirs together through the gospel. In doing so, he helps us understand 2 things that are worth it for us today in making the gospel known.

Walk in Christ, Brock Graham
One In Christ
Walk in Christ, Brock Graham
One In Christ
Walk in Christ, Brock Graham

Ephesians 2:11–22 | Ephesians 2 began with this beautiful paragraph of how God has taken us who we were in our spiritual deadness and given us life in Christ. This paragraph is so beautiful that it can overshadow the beauty of this next paragraph connected to it. Christ has not only demolished the dividing wall between us and God, Christ has demolished the dividing wall between believers as well. Let's rejoice together at how Christ, by his blood, has truly made us one in Christ.

Walk in Christ, Brock Graham
The Gospel in a Paragraph
Walk in Christ, Brock Graham
The Gospel in a Paragraph
Walk in Christ, Brock Graham

Ephesians 2:1–10 | When we remember where we were before Christ we rejoice all the more in where we are now in Christ. The bad news of who we were pre-Jesus makes us worship over who we are now in Jesus. Let's walk through and worship together seeing this as we walk through the gospel in a paragraph.

Walk in Christ, Brock Graham
That We May Know
Walk in Christ, Brock Graham
That We May Know
Walk in Christ, Brock Graham

Ephesians 1:15–23 | It's one thing to know doctrinal truths in the head, it's another thing to see them with our hearts. Coming out of the riches of the doctrine that is ours in Christ, Paul has a prayer for these believers. His prayer is that God would open the eyes of their heart so they will see these truths and in seeing these truths they would know three things with certainty.

Walk in Christ, Brock Graham
All God Has Done In Christ
Walk in Christ, Brock Graham
All God Has Done In Christ
Walk in Christ, Brock Graham

Ephesians 1:1–14 | Blessed be God!

Life is about this. God is the center and source of everything. He is supreme over all, and He is worthy of us blessing or praising him with all of our beings. If we need some kindling to stoke our praise, let's walk through this wonderful, worshipful run-on sentence Paul begins Ephesians with and lets it lead our heart to cry out in praise to Bless God for all He is and all He has done.

Walk in Christ, Brock Graham
Olivia Zurawski https://www.makerscc.com
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