Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Take a breath, find your place, and read deeply. Discover the joy of reading God’s word with the Immerse New Living Translation (NLT) Bible.
This daily Bible podcast will take you through the Bible in a year following the Immerse Bible Reading Experience. So grab your family and small group and go through the Bible in a year together with Immerse. Each of the 6 volumes is available online or at your favorite Christian bookstore.
Henry: Welcome To Immerse: The
Daily Bible Reading Experience.
Day 35
Immersed in Ephesians.
While Paul was living and working
in Ephesus, he sent his coworkers
out to start churches across
the Roman province of Asia.
Epi.
FRAs planted churches in Colossi, Laia,
and Hira, but Paul was arrested in
Jerusalem shortly after leaving Ephesus
to deliver an offering for the poor.
Paul was eventually brought to Rome
and imprisoned while awaiting trial.
By the time he heard about the situation
in Colossi, he had been away from the
province of Asia for at least three years.
Paul realized that by now other
churches also needed advice,
encouragement, and correction from him.
He likely got information about
many of them from people who came
to visit and help him in Rome.
So Paul gave his coworkers ticket Kiss and
ESUs a letter to read to these churches,
in addition to delivering his letters
to the Colossians and to file Lehman.
Today, this letter is known as Ephesians,
even though the earliest and best copies
of a letter are addressed to God's
holy people, not God's holy people.
In Ephesus, as is the case
for all of Paul's letters, we
no longer have the original.
Paul is apparently writing to people he
has not met personally because he tells
the recipients that he has only heard
of their strong faith in the Lord Jesus.
By contrast, when he writes to
the Corinthians, he refers to
what I told you about Christ and
he reminds the Thessalonians of
how we brought you the good news.
In addition, the lack of specific
personal greetings at the end
also indicates that Ephesians was
written for a more general audience.
Because this is a more general letter,
Paul doesn't begin by explaining
his connection to the recipients
as he does in other letters.
Instead, he writes, a longer than usual
opening Thanksgiving, delivering a
big picture description of everything
God has accomplished through Christ.
The good news is the revelation
of how God has brought his
long-term plan to fulfillment.
God is one, and he intends to unify all
things under the authority of Christ.
Paul's prayer is for the believers
understanding that they would know the
great scope of God's work for them.
Their hope is secure because the same
power that raised Christ from the dead
is the power that also sustains them.
Paul begins the main body of his
letter by emphasizing the same truth
as in Colossians, that following
Jesus means beginning a whole new way
of life in a new kind of community.
Paul identifies the recipients
as Gentiles, but emphasizes that
in Jesus, they are now fellow
citizens with all of God's people
and full members of his family.
They were previously in exile in this
world without God and without hope,
but now they have been joined to
the Messiah because Christ has torn
down the wall of hostility that once
divided Jews and Gentiles, one new
human family, has come into existence.
Paul refers to this family as
God's new holy temple, the place
where God makes his home built on
the cornerstone of Jesus himself.
This has always been God's
mysterious plan to bring all the
world's people together in Christ.
And Paul's own special mission is to
announce this good news throughout the
Roman Empire, especially to the Gentiles.
Overcome by this vision for the world.
Paul writes his second prayer,
giving thanks for the great love of
Christ that makes it all possible.
How is this vision to be
implemented in the believer's life?
Together?
They should each use the special gift
God has given them to help both the
community and its individual members
to become mature in practical ways.
They should allow God's spirit to
renew their thoughts and attitudes.
And as he did in the letter to the
Colossians, Paul instructs them in how
the light of Christ should show itself
in their household relationships.
Paul concludes by pointing out
that God has given them everything
they need to resist the mighty
powers and this dark world and
continue to walk in Christ's light,
the letter to the Ephesians.
This letter is from Paul
chosen by the will of God to
be an apostle of Christ Jesus.
I am writing to God's holy people
in Ephesus who are faithful
followers of Christ Jesus.
May God our Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ give you grace and peace,
all praise to God.
The father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us with every spiritual
blessing in the heavenly realms
because we are united with Christ.
Even before he made the world, God
loved us and chose us in Christ to
be holy and without fault In his
eyes, God decided in advance to adopt
us into his own family by bringing
us to himself through Jesus Christ.
This is what he wanted to do
and it gave him great pleasure.
So we praise God for the glorious
grace he has poured out on us
who belong to his dear son.
He is so rich in kindness and grace
that he purchased our freedom with the
blood of his son and forgave our sins.
He has showered his kindness on us,
along with all wisdom and understanding.
God has now revealed to us his
mysterious will regarding Christ,
which is to fulfill his own good plan.
And this is the plan.
At the right time, he will bring
everything together under the authority of
Christ, everything in heaven and on earth.
Furthermore, because we are united
with Christ, we have received an
inheritance from God for he chose us
in advance and he makes everything
work out according to his plan.
God's purpose was that we, Jews, who
were the first to trust in Christ
would bring praise and glory to God.
And now you Gentiles have also heard the
truth, the good news that God saves you.
And when you believed in Christ, he
identified you as his own by giving you
the Holy Spirit whom he promised long ago.
The Spirit is God's guarantee that
he will give us the inheritance
he promised and that he has
purchased us to be his own people.
He did this so we would
praise and glorify him.
Ever since I first heard of your
strong faith in the Lord Jesus and
your love for God's people everywhere.
I have not stopped thanking God for you.
I pray for you constantly asking
God the glorious father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual
wisdom and insight so that you
might grow in your knowledge of God.
I pray that your hearts will be
flooded with light so that you
can understand the confident hope
he has given to those he called.
His holy people who are his
rich and glorious inheritance.
I also pray that you will understand
the incredible greatness of God's
power for us who believe him.
This is the same mighty power that
raised Christ from the dead and seeded
him in the place of honor at God's
right hand in the heavenly realms.
Now he is far above any ruler or authority
or power or leader or anything else.
Not only in this world, but
also in the world to come.
God has put all things under the
authority of Christ and has made him
head over all things for the benefit of
the church, and the church is his body.
It is made full and complete by Christ who
fills all things everywhere with himself.
Once you were dead, because of your
disobedience and your many sins.
You used to live in sin just
like the rest of the world.
Obeying the devil, the commander
of the powers in the unseen world.
He is the spirit at work in the hearts
of those who refuse to obey God.
All of us used to live that way
following the passionate desires and
inclinations of our sinful nature.
By our very nature, we were subject to
God's anger just like everyone else.
But God is so rich in mercy.
He loved us so much that even though we
were dead because of our sins, he gave us
life when he raised Christ from the dead.
It is only by God's grace
that you have been saved for.
He raised us from the dead along
with Christ and seeded us with
him in the heavenly realms because
we are united with Christ Jesus.
So God can point to us in all future
ages as examples of the incredible wealth
of his grace and kindness toward us.
As shown in all he has done for us
who are united with Christ, Jesus.
God saved you by His grace when you
believed, and you can't take credit
for this, it is a gift from God.
Salvation is not a reward for
the good things we have done,
so none of us can boast about
it for we are God's masterpiece.
He has created us a new in Christ
Jesus so we can do the good
things he planned for us long ago.
Don't forget that you,
Gentiles used to be outsiders.
You were called uncircumcised heathens
by the Jews who were proud of their
circumcision even though it affected
only their bodies and not their hearts.
In those days, you were
living apart from Christ.
You were excluded from citizenship
among the people of Israel, and
you did not know the covenant
promises God had made to them.
You lived in this world without
God and without hope, but now you
have been united with Christ Jesus.
Once you were far away from God, but
now you have been brought near to
him through the blood of Christ for
Christ himself has brought peace to us.
He united Jews and Gentiles into
one people when in his own body.
On the cross, he broke down the
wall of hostility that separated us.
He did this by ending the system of law
with its commandments and regulations.
He made peace between Jews and Gentiles
by creating in himself one new people
from the two groups together as one body.
Christ reconciled both groups to God
by means of his death on the cross.
And our hostility toward
each other was put to death.
He brought this good news of peace to
you, Gentiles, who were far away from
him, and peace to the Jews who were near.
Now all of us can come to the Father
through the same Holy Spirit because
of what Christ has done for us.
So now you Gentiles are no
longer strangers and foreigners.
You are citizens along with
all of God's holy people.
You are members of God's family.
Together.
We are his house built on the foundation
of the apostles and the prophets, and
the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself.
We are carefully joined together in him
becoming a holy temple for the Lord.
Through him, you Gentiles are also
being made part of this dwelling
where God lives by his spirit.
When I think of all this, I Paul,
a prisoner of Christ Jesus for
the benefit of you Gentiles.
Assuming by the way that you know, God
gave me the special responsibility of
extending his grace to you, Gentiles.
As I briefly wrote earlier, God himself
revealed his mysterious plan to me.
As you read what I have written,
you will understand my insight
into this plan regarding Christ.
God did not reveal it to previous
generations, but now by his spirit, he
has revealed it to his holy apostles
and prophets, and this is God's plan.
Both Gentiles and Jews who believe
the good news share equally in the
riches inherited by God's children.
Both are part of the same body and
both enjoy the promise of blessings
because they belong to Christ Jesus by
God's grace and mighty power, I have
been given the privilege of serving
him by spreading this good news.
Though I am the least deserving
of all God's people, he graciously
gave me the privilege of telling
the Gentiles about the endless
treasures available to them in Christ.
I was chosen to explain to everyone
this mysterious plan that God,
the creator of all things, had
kept secret from the beginning.
God's purpose in all this was to use
the church to display his wisdom in its
rich variety to all the unseen rulers
and authorities in the heavenly places.
This was his eternal plan,
which he carried out through
Christ Jesus, our Lord.
Because of Christ and our faith
in him, we can now come boldly and
confidently into God's presence.
So please don't lose heart because of
my trials here, I am suffering for you.
So you should feel honored when
I think of all this, I fall to
my knees and pray to the father.
The creator of everything
in heaven and on earth.
I pray that from his glorious,
unlimited resources, he will empower
you with inner strength through his
spirit, then Christ will make his home
and your hearts as you trust in him.
Your roots will grow down into
God's love and keep you strong.
And may you have the power to
understand as all God's people should.
How wide, how long, how high,
and how deep his love is.
May you experience the love of Christ,
though it is too great to understand
fully, then you will be made complete
with all the fullness of life and power
that comes from God now all glory to God
who is able through his mighty power at
work within us to accomplish infinitely
more than we might ask or think.
Glory to him in the church and
in Christ Jesus through all
generations, forever and ever.
Amen.
This concludes today's
immer reading experience.
Thank you for joining us.