In Ephesians 1 Paul prayed his 3 “what” prayer. In Ephesians 3:16-19 he prayed his 4 “that” prayer. This was the prayer that he began putting together in Eph.3:1, until he had flashbacks of things to include in his prayer. Eventually he got around to praying this prayer which God the Father was surely willing to grant. All of this was based on Paul’s wonder and amazement at God’s unmeasurable love, which he couldn’t really give dimensions to! It is “So high you can’t get over it, so low you can’t get under it, so wide you can’t get round it,......

Read More

It is God’s intention that NOW His manifold or multi-faceted wisdom should be made known by the church to the principalities and powers, or the angelic realm. In fact, we saw in 1 Pet.1:12 that angels desire to look into and understand the grace that has been revealed to us. Sure the angels can sing, “Holy, Holy, Holy” (See Isaiah 6:3), around the throne 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. But you’ll never hear them sing, “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, I once was lost but now I’m found!” How blessed we are......

Read More

It might not seem like too much of a mystery to us, but in fact God’s Plan of Salvation included parts that were kept “Top Secret” since the world began (Rom.16:25-27; Col.1:26), even though it was actually referred to in Scripture (Rom.15:9-13), that is that the Gentiles would be included in God’s Salvation Plan.  You would think that this would be clear enough for Paul, but yet it took special grace from God for Paul to be able to see this, and further grace was given to him, because it was Paul......

Read More

Maybe you feel like you don’t fit in! Perhaps you have even been rejected! Well then, you are in good company. Our Lord Jesus Christ was ‘The stone that the builders rejected” (Ps.118:22; Mk. 12:1-12; Acts 4:1-12; 1 Pet.2:4-10). Yet now Christ has become the ‘Chief Cornerstone’ of the Temple that He is building (the church), a dwelling place for His Spirit (Eph.2:22). You can be a living stone, or a living rock in this building, when you are Regenerated (Born Again) by His Spirit and Fitted Together with other believers in the church......

Read More

Can you remember what your life was like before you came to Christ? In vv.1-3 we learned that we were dead in our trespasses and sins, but God made us alive. But in this second part Paul tells the believers to think back on how far from God they really were. We were ‘aliens’, ‘strangers’, and ‘foreigners’ having no hope and without God and yet still here in this world! We knew nothing about all the special privileges that being a citizen of Israel could bring. We were far off (vv.11-13) at that time! ‘But now‘, Wow! That changes......

Read More

In this first part of Ephesians 2 we are told, ‘You were dead’ and had to be ‘quickened’ or ‘made alive’ (vv.1-3). This ‘being Regenerated’ or ‘Being Born Again’ took place in us ‘when we were dead in trespasses’ (v.5). God did not wait for us to reach out to Him, because in our ‘dead’ state, bound as we were by sin (John 8:33-34; Rom 6:12-23; 2 Tim.2:25-26) we never would have! Thank God that in ‘His great love with which He loved us’ (Eph.2:4), He took the initiative so that Salvation is completely......

Read More

Having meditated and written about the grace of God lavished upon the believers (vv.1-14), what could Paul do but launch into prayer and thanksgiving for all the believers. At the core of Paul’s prayer he asks that the believers would come to a greater understanding of 3 Main things: (1) What is the hope of His calling, (2) What are the riches of the glory of His Inheritance in the saints, and (3) What is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe!...

Read More

Not only do we have Redemption through the blood of Christ, but we are completely forgiven. This was an amazing act of God’s grace, which God has ‘lavished upon us’ (NIV). However, God has revealed the mystery of the Council of His Will in that these things were planned for His own chosen people before the world began, in the councils of God’s mind with complete wisdom and understanding !...

Read More

It was great to get back from the summer holidays and get right back into the pulpit and begin a new series. This time starting in Ephesians. This first part covers only vv.1-6, but it is amazing to see the emphasis that Paul makes on God’s Will and Purposes! All of God’s Will and Purposes are for the Praise of the Glory of His Grace, and so it should come as no surprise to find out that Paul loves to talk about the grace of God in Salvation, placing it outside of anything that......

Read More