Questions:
3. God
4. Acts 9:4 Encounter on road to Damascus, 9:17 given back sight, 14:19 stoned but then raised back, 20:9 brought back Eutychus from window fall, 16:26 jailhouse rock
5. From the seat of the throne in heaven, God has blessed us with all the power of being adopted into his family, of being co-heirs with Christ
6. a. chosen, blameless, gave glorious grace, redemption through his blood, forgiveness of sins, made known the mystery of his will, to be in Christ for the praise of his glory, marked with a seal, deposit, guaranteed inheritance.
b. redemption, forgiveness, to be in him and as such to be holy in the eyes of God
c. Adoption as brothers to Christ to be glorified by, in and with Him.
7. deliverance, rescue, salvation, atonement for guilt, repurchase – rescue helps me understand just how “at risk” I was.
Closing Thoughts:
I think you could do an entire sermon series on any one verse in Ephesians 1. This is truly one of my favorite and one of the deepest chapters in the bible, IMHO.
For example, lets take our self image. How are you feeling about yourself? Do you consider yourself to be a saint? Do you consider yourself to have been blessed by God with EVERY spiritual gift, all the spiritual blessings of heaven? Do you consider that God chose you and in His sight you are blameless and holy? Are you feeling holy?
But that is what Paul says of the believers in Ephesus who are, frankly, no different than us. Not of these positive self images are because of anything they did, other than hear and believe (not major feats of skill). But they are no less true. But how we take away from God’s glory by denying the glory that He has cast upon us (not for ourselves, but because of who He is).
What difference would it make in your approach to live as a saint? What difference could you make as someone chosen by God fully blameless and holy in His eyes? What great things could you do without the baggage of doubt and worry.
The song Amazing Grace does not say we remain a wretch, only that we were one.
There is a poster I saw that sums this up: What if you lived a life so that each day Satan said, “Oh, no, he/she is awake.”? What is holding you back?
The Notes are Good 