Topic: Church

In our last official week in the book of Colossians,… read more

Colossians is a letter written by the Apostle Paul to… read more

Today we finish the book of Philippians and there are… read more

Philippians 4:1-3 serves as the culmination of Paul’s argument from… read more

In Philippians chapter 1 we saw Paul detailing his hardship… read more

Paul has spoken to the Philippians about his suffering and… read more

Today Paul moves into how we live and honor one… read more

We believe that God has taught us through the Scriptures… read more

“In Ephesians 4 Paul will talk about the spiritual “people” gifts of Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors/Shepherds, and Teachers (APEST). Paul picks these gifts here (because there are more gifts in other books of the Bible) for a purpose, that purpose is to help us see Jesus better.”

As Paul starts Ephesians 3, he stops his thoughts at verse 2 and explores a tangent until verse 14. This tangent reveals his own heart in the midst of hardship. Hardship is one of the ways that we experience the fullness of salvation coming together in the wonder of how He works amidst suffering.

In today’s passage, Paul reminds us how salvation entails being brought into God’s family. We are to be unified in our love and worship of Him; only by getting our eyes off ourselves and on Jesus will we ever see true and lasting unity. It’s important to remember that our very security in God’s family is a result of the work of Jesus Himself.

We have spent the last 4 weeks looking at Paul’s prayer about who God is and what He does in the world. While Paul normally starts his letter with a greeting before launching directly into how he is praying for a particular church or people, in Ephesians, He focuses on who God is first.