Christianity: Basically a Zombie

Movie with HopeEphesians 2:1-10

Ephesians 2:1-3 (New American Standard Version)

“And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.”

Galatians 5:19-21 (The Message)

“repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community.”

Ephesians 2:4-5 (New Living Bible)

“But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)”

“He is jealous for me; Loves like a hurricane, and I am a tree; Bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy; When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory; And I realize just how beautiful you are and how great your affections are for me.And oh; How He loves us oh; Oh how He loves us; how He loves us ohWe are His portion and He is our prize; Drawn to redemption by the grace in his eyes; If grace is an ocean, we're all sinking; So heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss. And my heart turns violently inside of my chest; I don't have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way He loves us. Oh how He loves us!”

Ephesians 2:6-9 (The New Living Bible)

“He raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus. God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.”

Ephesians 1:20-21(New International Version)

God “raised Him [Christ] from the dead and seated Him at his right hand in the heavenly places {the epouranios}, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.”

Ephesians 2:10 (New American Standard Bible)

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

John 6:29, “This is the work of God,

that you believe in Him whom he has sent.”

Galatians 5:22-23, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy,

peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

gentleness and self-control.”

Romans 12:6-7, “In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if

God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher,

teach well.”

Matthew 10:8, “Heal the sick, raise the dead,

cleanse the lepers, and cast out demons.”

Matthew 22:37-40, “You must love the LORD your God

with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and

greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your

neighbour as yourself.”

Matthew 28:19, “Go therefore and make

disciples of all the nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the

Holy Spirit.”

God has prepared good works for us to do.

We were dead in our

trespasses and sins.

Walked according to the course of

the world.

Lived in the lusts of the

flesh.

We indulged in the desire of

the flesh and of the mind.

God saved us, by grace and through

faith.

We are his workmanship,

created in Christ.

God made us alive together with

Christ.

God raised us up with Christ

God seated us with Christ in the

heavenly places.

No one can boast of being saved of their

own merit.

God is showing us the surpassing riches of

his grace in kindness.

We should walk in the good works God prepared for us.

LIFE

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GOD

RAISED

CHRIST

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LONGER

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ZOMBIE

LIFE

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ZOMBIE

GOD

RAISED

CHRIST

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LONGER

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ZOMBIE

Ephesians 2:1-10 (The Message)

“It wasn’t so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn’t know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It’s a wonder God didn’t lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.

Ephesians 2:1-10 cont. (The Message)

Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.”