When the tide goes out along the Southern California coast, it leaves behind separated pools of water — starfish in one, crabs in another, each isolated, no harmony. That's the picture of the world without Christ. Different pools of race, religion, and ideology, with no peace and no unity. Jesus changes everything.

In this message from our series "Fullness," Pastor Ron opens Ephesians 2:11–22 and shows how Christ has demolished every wall that separated us — from God and from each other — and made us one new people in him.

Our Alienation — Five Things We Were Without: Before Christ, the Gentiles were without a Messiah, aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to God's covenants, without hope, and without God. Five strikes. Totally outside. The hope of the pagan world was eat, drink, and be merry — because there was nothing else.

Our Reconciliation — Jesus Is Our Peace: Since the fall, man has signed peace treaty after peace treaty, and every one has been broken. But there was one perfect peace mission — signed in blood at the cross, kept forever. Jesus himself is our peace. He abolished the wall, fulfilled the law, and made both Jew and Gentile one new man in himself.

Our Unification — Three Metaphors: Paul uses three images to show what that unity looks like. Fellow citizens — no first class and second class in God's kingdom, we're all equally loved. Members of the household — not just citizens but family. And living stones — built together into a holy temple, with Jesus as the cornerstone that holds it all together and keeps it from going off.