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good shepherd ev lutheran church school ephesians ephesians in the year of our lord 2011 the lord who has to teach and to hear given us power let him also give us the power to serve and to do dr martin luther ephesians words family belonging team-spirit partnering in this letter the holy spirit again summarizes and reinforces the truth that the living god and his eternal son rule victoriously over creation the first three chapters tell again of god s incredible grace and mercy in eternity before time existed god chose to save us through his eternal son those who trust in jesus christ are united in jesus christ 4:5 because the barrier of sin has been destroyed 2:14 once and for all the holy spirit has gifted god s people differently in god s church for god s purposes and god s glory 4:11 as many of the letters written through paul the holy spirit uses the last chapters to instruct in practical ways how god s people live as freed and redeemed children of god the letter to the ephesians includes a great description of the christian life symbolized with various parts of common roman army apparel in fact many refer to ephesians as the armor of god letter ephesians simple outline i chapters 1-3 this is how it is praise god ii chapters 4-6 so this is what we do praise god keyphrase to godbetheglory what a letter the holy spirit taught the apostle paul to write are you feeling a little down a bit spiritually tuckered out has the day-to -day life turned into a slow irritating pointless journey the spirit encourages us lift up your eyes look into time before time see god s grace for you look into time past see jesus complete god s heaven-bound highway for you look to time coming see god s glorious plans for you thanks and praise be to god!

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ephesians introd uc t io nandsett in g first we have the introduction of who is writing and to whom the person is writing paul an apostle of christ jesus by the will of god clearly the lord wants people to know that his apostle paul was the writer it was not one of paul s admirers not timothy luke tychicus or onesimus god records that it was paul the apostle consistently and repeatedly tells how he became one in galatians he introduced himself as paul an apostle not sent from men nor through the agency of man but through jesus christ and god the father who raised him from the dead galatians 1:1 in first corinthians he explained that jesus appeared to james then he appeared to all the apostles last of all he also appeared to me i m like an aborted fetus who was given life i m the least of the apostles i m not even fit to be called an apostle because i persecuted god s church 1cor 15:7-9 paul is not puffed up in the lord s apostle we see a basic principle that the spirit works in believers hearts god is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble james 4:6 1 peter 5:5 next from where was paul writing answer prison the letters titled ephesians philippians colossians and philemon were written during paul s first imprisonment in 60 -62 a.d acts 28:1521 to whom paul is writing to the saints which are at ephesus and to the faithful in jesus christ this letter appears to be an encyclical that s a letter that was to make the rounds from church to church the saints christians are saints not in the sense that they are more moral upright and religious but because god has brought christians into a new relationship with himself and this occurred not because of their own doing or good works but only on account of what christ has done for them they have been declared righteous in jesus christ and set apart for him and his service page 2 saints is a word at which we all shudder a little we don t like to be called saints because we have such a silly idea of what a saint is we think of a saint as being unreal so very good so holier-thanwe-are so unlike ordinary human beings but the saints of the new testament are not that way they are people like christians are today like you and me saints are people who are hit with struggles and difficulties who have disturbances at home problems at work and troubles everywhere else they re normal people in other words but one thing is remarkable about them they are different that is really the basic meaning of this word saint in the greek it is a word derived from the word for holy and holy means distinct different whole set apart for and be longing to god and therefore living differently that is the invisible faith-mark of the saint it is not that he has no problems only that he approaches them differently as god s child god s child hops hurdles in a different manner for obstacles are heaven-directed challenges intended to bless not harm a christian has a different mindset imitating god his father through jesus christ a characteristic of christians is that they are faithful which means of course that they don t quit the faithful in jesus christ what a title i desire as each christian does to be acknowledged as faithful in jesus christ however i know there are many many days decades when my conscience lets me know i don t meet that target but that s what a christian does he doesn t quit being a christian a christian just doesn t stop why because the love of god in christ jesus compels and propels him john knox when he was dying requested that the book of ephesians be read at his death-bed john bunyan when in prison based his famous work pilgrim s progress on the book of ephesians.

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page 3 position of believers chapters 1 -3 praise be to the god and father of our lord jesus christ who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in christ paul doesn t waste any time he lifts up the wonderful news of god the father has blessed praise or blessing is called for from believers upon the living god and father now obviously there is nothing in us to bless god instead all any creature can do is humbly recognize his glory and honor and goodness how can we even do that we are sinful human beings aren t we yes but the father already has blessed us as one christian put it we are not sitting here groaning ephesians paul then opens his letter with his greeting to the saints grace be to you and peace from god our father and from the lord jesus christ what i really like about this is that the apostle doesn t spend a lot of time opening this letter he doesn t ask about how their great uncle s brother s niece s dog s sister is doing he doesn t ask about the weather he doesn t start writing about how nice it is to write to them he doesn t start writing about everything that is going on in his life no he starts by giving a short greeting then he immediately starts praising god and proclaiming his wonderful works and crying and fretting and worrying and questioning our own salvation the father has blessed us and therefore we will bless him if you think little of what god has done for you you will do very little for him but if you have a great notion of the father s great mercy to you you will be greatly grateful to your gracious god us these blessings are for christians both jewish and gentile the old testament believers had a strong sense of being blessed by god called and chosen for hundreds of centuries the spirit with one little word declares god s blessings are bestowed to all christians jews and gentiles p r i vi legesofbelie ve r s chapters 1 3 every spiritual blessing somebody pointed out that our thanks are due to god for all temporal blessings they are more than we deserve but for our spiritual blessings our thanks to god thunders hallelujahs just think a new heart is better than a new coat to be an heir of god is better than being the heir of the greatest billionaire to have the living god is infinitely more blessed than to own vast acres of land god has blessed us with spiritual blessings these are the rarest the richest the most enduring of all blessings they are priceless in value if we have no appreciation for spiritual blessing then we live at the level of animals animals live only to eat sleep entertain themselves and to reproduce we are made in the image of god and he has something much higher for us every blessing we receive we receive in christ this means that god wants to bless us with every blessing available to us one needs to make use of many superlatives god gives tremendous treasures of divine wisdom he bestows generously the knowledge-surpassing displays of god s love to his people such as the riches of god s grace 1:7 the exceeding riches of god s grace 2:7 the riches of god glory ephesians 3:16 and the unsearchable riches of christ 3:8 christians are chosen by the father vv4-6 redeemed by the son vv7-12 sealed by the spirit vv13-14

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10611 state hwy 13 south wisconsin rapids wi usa 54494 phone 715.325.3355 phone 715.325.6812 e-mail 1goodshepherd@gmail.com ephesians good shepherd ev lutheran church school chapter 1-3 privileges of believers chapter 4-6 practices of believers chapter 1-3 beliefs of believers chapter 4-6 behavior of believers come and see go and tell get out what is the best medicine for you when you get down in the dumps what do others recommend for getting out of the doldrums get in 1 what do you imagine the apostle s tone of voice was when he was saying this 2 in vv3-14 list activities and descriptive words relating to the father to jesus to the holy spirit what does your list show you about god his goals for us 3 in v 4 god chose us in v9 he revealed his plan to us in v11 god chose us in v13 we hear his plan and believe how does god s choosing relate to our believing get going 1 what excites you the most about god s relationship to you 2 how do you know if you are chosen you have been adopted by the living god how does this affect how you view yourself 3 does this change how you view god explain we re on the web 1goodshepherd.org brainstorm some ways we can help fellow christians sort out god s will for themselves ephesians 1:9 tells us god has already made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure sometimes christians wonder what is god s will for my life so the question is since god has already made known his will how can i find out god s will for my life?

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