Hi! And Welcome back to Bible Study! This is my favorite time of the whole week. I hope it is yours too. Even just digitally it’s so much fun for me. Today we’re continuing our study of Ephesians with chapter 2 and I’m praying we’ll see deep and wonderful things in the time we spend looking at and trying to understand these words.
Let’s start with a prayer:
Dear Lord Jesus, these words ahead are absolutely wonderful and there is much to see. I’m asking for wisdom and revelation so that we can know exactly what You want us to know as we try to focus on the words before us and the meaning behind them. What You want us to see is what I want to see. So reveal this lesson. In Your holy and precious name, I pray. Amen.
August 11, 2020
Ephesians2
Read Ephesians 2:1-2 NIV
1 As for you, you were ______ in your transgressions and _____, 2 in which you _____ to _____ when you followed the ways of this _______ and of the _______ of the ____________ of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are ______________.
As for you… yes, you and me. Every single one of us before we accepted Christ were following the ways of the world and living in the kingdom we no longer live in once we belong to Christ. Believing in and Obeying Jesus transfers us to God’s kingdom even while we still live amongst the kingdom of evil.
Remember who Paul is writing to in this letter? The faithful in Christ. This is us now. You are meant to be faithful.
I was reading from 1 Timothy one morning this week and these verses, this letter to Timothy from Paul has application for us in our walk too. This is what I read:
1 Timothy 6:11-16
But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords,who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.
Read Ephesians 2:3
3 All of us also ______ among _______ at one time, gratifying the __________ of our flesh and following its ________ and _________. Like the rest, we were by __________ deserving of _______.
All of us are born sinful. It’s only with faith in Christ that we get saved, redeemed, chosen, adopted and a million other blessings just for faith in Christ and what He’s done for us and who He is and remaining in Him.
Read Ephesians 2:4-7
4 But ____________ of his great ______ for us, God, _____ is rich in ________, 5 made us ______ with Christ even when we were ______ in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God _____________ us up with Christ and __________ us with him in the ____________ ________ in Christ Jesus, 7 in _______ that in the coming ages he might show the ________________ riches of his _________, expressed in his ______________ to us in Christ Jesus.
Stop. That should have reminded you of something we read last week. Those incomparable riches of grace. Read the ultimate purpose of this book and life.
Ephesians 1:6
1:6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.
Review:
But because of His ________________________, God who is ______________________, made us _________ with Christ even when we were dead in ____________________
Grace, Grace, God’s Grace.
Do you know the definition of Grace? Unmerited favor.
And it’s poured out on us every single day over and over and over again “in place of grace already given” is how John puts it.
Overflow of the Joy of the Love between the Father and the Son is what John Piper says it is.
Infinite, Eternal, Immeasurable riches of grace.
Which we can experience as His kindness to us, in everything.
Incomparable riches of unmerited favor. Can you feel it too?
No Impossible with You
By I Am They
There’s no heart You can’t rescue
No war You can’t win
No story so over, it can’t start again
No pain You won’t use
No wall You won’t break through
It might be too much for me
But there is no impossible with You
Great Things
By Phil Wickham
Come let us worship our King
Come let us bow at His feet
He has done great things
See what our Savior has done
See how His love overcomes
He has done great things
Read Ephesians 2:8-10
8 For it is by ______ you have been saved, through _______—and this is not from yourselves, it is the _____ of _____— 9 not by ________, so that no one can _______. 10 For ____ are God’s handiwork, ___________ in Christ Jesus to do ______ works, which God prepared in ___________ for us to do.
In case you didn’t see it, Paul says it again. Grace comes by faith because through faith you are saved and it’s all gift, not any works we can do. It’s all a gift. The kind of gift that keeps coming, never ending, over and over and over blessing us. Our response should be to give thanks and then share it with someone else.
Read Ephesians 2:11-12
Jew and Gentile Reconciled Through Christ
11 Therefore, remember that ____________ you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)— 12 remember that at that ______ you were separate from Christ, ______________ from citizenship in Israel and _____________ to the covenants of the promise, without _____ and without ______ in the world.
Remembering should encourage us to share the blessings we receive, to share our faith and the wonderful Lord and Savior we now know. Praise God that we are never without hope anymore. That’s two versions of the same Scripture and both are worth listening to. The first is Hillsong, the second We The Kingdom. Sometimes we just have to stop and sing when we study, don’t you think? “Praise God, praise God, from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, Praise Him, for the wonders of His love.”
We have been ________________ through Christ according to the subtitle. Yes, the Gospel is about reconciliation.
Read Ephesians 2:13-16
13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were ____ away have been brought ______ by the blood of Christ.
14 For he himself is our ________, who has made the two groups one and has ______________ the barrier, the ____________ wall of ______________, 15 by setting _________ in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to _________ in himself _____ new humanity out of the _____, thus making ________, 16 and in one body to ____________ both of them to God through the ________, by which he put to death their ____________.
That last line… by which he put to death their hostility. There is not one of us who hasn’t seen hostility, a lot of us have experienced it. But in Christ, we have peace. He is our peace.
Read Ephesians 2:17-18
17 He came and preached ________ to you who were far away and ______ to those who were near. 18 For through _____ we both have ________ to the Father by one Spirit.
Read Ephesians 2:19-22
19 _____________________, you are no longer ____________ and ____________, but __________ ________ with God’s people and also ____________ of his ____________,
Oh wait, I have to say, this is such good news. My greatest desire is to live in the house of God all the days of my life as David puts it in Psalm 27. And look! We’re members of his household. How can it get any better than that. But oh does it ever.
Read Ephesians 2:20-22
20 built on the foundation of the _________________ and ______________, with Christ Jesus ______________ as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined ________________ and rises to become a holy temple in the ________. 22 And in ______ you ______ are being ________ together to become a ___________ in which God _______ by his Spirit.
Ah ha ha, yes, we’re not just living in God’s house, we are God’s house. Each of us a part of it.
Praise God. Oh Lord how wonderful being Yours is.
Let’s end this one in praise. See you next week for chapter 3.