Daily Dose of the Word of God - Ephesians 2: 8-10 Artwork

Elmhurst CRC

Welcome to Elmhurst Christian Reformed Church! Here you will find the audio version of the messages from the weekend services taught by Pastor Gregg DeMey and Pastor Jeff Klein with occasional guest pastors, as well as our weekday devotionals. We hope you enjoy the messages and are encouraged by God’s Word.

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Elmhurst CRC

Daily Dose of the Word of God - Ephesians 2: 8-10

June 26, 2025 • Gregg DeMey • Season 1 • Episode 897

0:00 | 3:41

Gregg DeMey, Lead Pastor

Gregg DeMey 0:07

Good morning and welcome to Elmhurst CRC's Daily Dose of the Word of God. This is Gregg DeMey, Lead Pastor at the church and it is Thursday, June 26th. Our 5th Sunday serve is coming and an online worship service will be dropping tomorrow. Today's Bible reading comes from Ephesians 2, verses 8 through 10.

Gregg DeMey 0:31

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Gregg DeMey 0:51

You have probably heard these amazing verses before. If you ask most North American Christians, "who does the saving spiritually? Most of us will get it right - It's Jesus! But if you ask, "How does salvation happen?" Things get a little murkier. The most common answer would be, "Well, I'm saved by faith in Jesus!"Well yes, but that's not quite right. According to Ephesians 2, the Bible clearly teaches that we are saved, "by grace through faith." Jesus saves and he saves us by God's grace - the free gift of his sacrificial life, death and resurrection.

Gregg DeMey 1:37

Grace equals the gift of God. Grace is free, undeserved and unmerited. God gives us Jesus anyway in our darkest hour. So where does faith fit in? Faith is the opening in our soul so that we can receive that gift. With a closed heart, no gifts enter. An open and receptive heart flows God's gift and graces.Understanding this theological spiritual truth puts our good works and service in their proper place. When we truly experience God's grace and forgiveness in Jesus, good works inevitably and immediately follow. Works don't save us, grace does. Even our faith as a good work doesn't save us.

Gregg DeMey 2:30

Ephesians 2 says we are God's workmanship, and he made us to follow in his footsteps and to do good in Jesus name. Our works and acts of service simply continue the good spiritual momentum that God's grace got rolling in the first place. Our works can't start the spiritual engine - only God's grace can do that, and it has because Jesus saves. Isn't that comforting?

Gregg DeMey 3:00

Let's pray. Oh God, today I want to open the window of my soul as far as I can so that the fresh wind of your Holy Spirit can blow in and that I can openly receive freedom in Christ. Once again, how good you are God, to love us first and provide exactly what we need in Jesus and his strong name, we pray amen.