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A Year in the Bible with Daily Grace
S4: Week 27 Day 5: Applying Ezra 3:10-11 & Ephesians 2:11-22
00:07:12
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- [00:01]
Host
Welcome to A Year in the Bible with daily grace. This year we want to spend a few minutes with you every day walking through our study Christ in All of Scripture. Each week we will dive deeply into two passages of Scripture, one from the Old Testament and one from the New, seeing how they connect and point to Jesus.
- [00:18]
Alexa
Whether you are doing the study yourself or just following along with us here, we are hopeful that through studying these passages each week, you will see how Christ is not only present throughout the entire Biblical story, but but the center of it. Hey friends, welcome back to Year in the Bible. I'm Alexa and I'm joined by my co host for the week, Emma.
- [00:37]
Emma
Hi.
- [00:37]
Alexa
This week we studied Ezra 3, 10, 11 and Ephesians 2, 1122 and we learned about the rebuilding of God's temple and Jesus building us as temples and him being our cornerstone. So now we want to apply what we learned to our everyday lives. So that's what we're going to discuss today. Emma, can you share with us how you plan on applying these passages?
- [00:57]
Emma
Totally. There are so many different ways I think I need to apply these passages to my life. And I think first is just thinking through the sanctification process more kind of that Ephesians 2 focuses a little bit on. Again, I mentioned this earlier this week, our current condition, what is currently happening in our lives, and Jesus is continuously helping me to look more like Him. That's essentially what sanctification is. And I think being more aware of that process and being more intentional in spending time in the Word and spending time praying, praying, asking the Lord to just make my heart reflect him so that as you know, I'm being built into this temple where the Holy Spirit dwells. The temple is a good reflection of the Lord. And so I think just thinking through that process more and just being more aware of it, another area that I want to apply is taking time to praise the Lord for His goodness. We talked about this when we were Talking about Ezra 3 earlier this week and again just noticing how the people, when they laid the foundation on the temple, just took time to intentionally praise God for His goodness and his love. And, and rarely do I stop and reflect on the goodness of the Lord and rarely do I actually reflect on God's love for me. And so I want to take more time during my week to praise the Lord for His goodness and just praise the Lord for His love. Because the goodness that he just, that he pours onto my life, I'm so undeserving of. And he deserves the ultimate gratitude and thanks for that, I also want to reflect on the beauty of the gospel, the fact that Jesus died on the cross for my sins so that I get to, you know, walk free. I'm no longer a foreigner. I'm no longer excluded, you know, from the family of God. I am now invited in as a daughter and just being able to reflect on that a little bit more and just have a kind of more at the front of my mind throughout my day, especially when, you know, maybe I'm struggling with anxiety or I'm struggling with sin, or I'm struggling with my identity, I can be reminded of the gospel and who I am now in Christ because of what Christ has done for me. And lastly, I think I want to just take more time to rest in Jesus as the cornerstone. I think Paul was intentional in Ephesians 2 When he, you know, called Jesus us the cornerstone. And again, the cornerstone is the stone that holds everything together. And I am very prone to trying to live very, you know, independently from my own strength, do things kind of the way I want to do them. And I get really tired and stressed and anxious very quickly when I kind of try to pull from my own strength. But Jesus has given himself as the cornerstone for me to be able to live from and rest in. And so just being more intentional with foundating my life in the ultimate cornerstone and resting in Jesus and pulling from his strength. As I walk through the day to day life when I'm doing work, when I'm interacting with family and friends and serving, Jesus has offered himself as the cornerstone where I can do that. And so I think just resting, resting in him.
- [03:50]
Alexa
I love that. Emma. It's such a good reminder that, you know, us being temples for God's glory isn't something that we do in our power. Yeah, you know, it was Christ who made us a temple. He is the cornerstone. So it's him who we are to rest in, to be people who worship God rightly. And I think that just really challenges me in my dependence on Jesus. So often I am prone to try and just depend on myself to be a faithful Christian. But it's Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit who empowers me. And so that means I need to fully depend on him. So, you know, this week's passages, they, they reminded me of what Peter says in First Peter 2, 4, 5, when he writes, as you come to him, a living stone rejected by people, but chosen and honored by God. You yourselves as living stones, a spiritual house are being built to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Christ. And then that passage reminds me of what Paul says in Romans 12:1 when he says, therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true worship. So both of those passages make me think about how being a temple for the Lord involves me glorifying God in all that I do, and involves me essentially saying to God, you can have all of me because I, you know, I worship you alone. And that sounds good, right? But it can be hard to do because I so often want to live for myself instead of God and I am so prone to worship other things than Him. But like you were saying, Emma, about sanctification, you know, it's God who was building me up as a spiritual house in Christ and by the Spirit. So why would I not depend on God to be what he is building me to be?
- [05:39]
Emma
No, absolutely. I totally agree with that. I think that's so encouraging.
- [05:42]
Alexa
Alexa well, as we begin to close out today's episode, we want to end in a time of prayer. So just take a moment after Emma reads each prayer prompt to come to the Lord and speak to Him.
- [05:51]
Emma
Thank the Lord today for his presence. Ask Jesus to continue to build you up as a temple. Ask Jesus to help you. Rely on him as the true cornerstone.
- [06:39]
Alexa
Thanks so much for joining us this week and Emma for joining us as well. And we hope that you join us next week as we continue studying more of Christ in all of Scripture. Thank you for listening to today's episode of A Year in the Bible with Daily Grace. Be sure to check out our show notes for some helpful links and resources related to today's episode. And make sure you're following aalygrace Podcast and hedaily Grace Co on Instagram for more Bible study resources and encouragement. We're looking forward to studying God's Word with you again tomorrow. Bye, friends.