Practice Resurrection (Page 3)

The letter to the church at Ephesus was written to a community of Christ followers by Paul. Paul was writing to shape their identities in the gospel. He was so excited about writing to them about Jesus that he started his letter with a single, huge, sentence that contains seven verbs: blessed, chose, destined, bestowed, lavished, made known, and gather up. to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. (Ephesians 1:6 ESV) This fourth “rocket verb” is a tough one to translate. That’s why it is translated differently: favored, freely given, blessed, bestowed… The dynamic of whatRead More →

The letter to the church at Ephesus was written to a community of Christ followers by Paul. Paul was writing to shape their identities in the gospel. He was so excited about writing to them about Jesus that he started his letter with a single, huge, sentence that contains seven verbs: blessed, chose, destined, bestowed, lavished, made known, and gather up. The third of seven verbs that explode the opening sentence in Ephesians is “destined” or “predestined”. Check it out here… …he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will… Ephesians 1:5, ESV What a remarkable thought!Read More →

The letter to the church at Ephesus was written to a community of Christ followers by Paul. Paul was writing to shape their identities in the gospel. He was so excited about writing to them about Jesus that he started his letter with a single, huge, sentence that contains seven verbs: blessed, chose, destined, bestowed, lavished, made known, and gather up. The second word, “chose” is found in Eph 1:4: …even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. How remarkable is this that God chose us before we could have everRead More →

The letter to the church at Ephesus was written to a community of Christ followers by Paul. Paul was writing to shape their identities in the gospel. He was so excited about writing to them about Jesus that he started his letter with a single, huge, sentence that contains seven verbs: blessed, chose, destined, bestowed, lavished, made known, and gather up. Paul begins with “blessed”: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, (Ephesians 1:3 ESV) The blessed God blessed the followers of Jesus with “every spiritual blessingRead More →