Ephesians 2

 

August 14, 2020

Title: Ephesians 2 Bible Study

Text: Ephesians 2

Introduction:

1. We’re doing a bible study on the book of Ephesians. Last week, we studied the first chapter. To review: Ephesians was written in AD 60-61 by the Apostle Paul during one of his three known imprisonments in Rome. Ephesians is divided into two sections. Chapters 1-3 describe the believer’s position: who we are in Christ, how much God loves us, and our relationship with Him. Chapters 4-6 is about our behavior and how we can apply the truths learned from chapters 1-3 to our lives. Once we know how much God loves us, our behavior can change if we work with Him. We will want to walk in His ways, seeking to do His will. But we must develop our relationship with Him first.

2. We are in Christ: God’s chosen one. We’ve been adopted into His family. As God’s child, we’ve been sealed with the Spirit who comes to live within us. His Spirit gives us the power to do His good works, which He set out for us to do, not just the Jews but the Gentiles. Paul ended Ephesians 1 with his prayers over the believers in Ephesus.

3. The first chapter is about who God is and all that He has done for us. Chapter two focuses on us and who we are as a result of His goodness, mercy, and grace.

Proposition: Saved by faith, created anew by His hand, breaking dividing walls and brought all into unity.

Interrogative Sentence: How does our pre-Christ life break down dividing walls and foreordains our walk with Christ to perfect unity with the Father?

Transition Sentence: Who we once were is not who we will be in the future. We were dead to sin, but have been raised to life. We’ll first go over the first three verses, discussing our wrong based thinking, and who we were prior to Christ.

1. Reading from the NIV, Ephesians 1-3 says:

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.

a. WRONG BASED THINKING

In this passage of scripture, Paul is saying that before we knew Christ, we were dead in our sins. We were just like the unbelievers, following our lustful passions, our sinful nature, and were obedient to Satan. Because of this, we were subject to God’s anger.  1 Peter 5:8 says that Satan goes about as a roaring lion seeking anyone whom he can devour. One of the ways he seeks to devour people is through our thoughts. Wrong based thinking usually starts small but grows bigger until it becomes a stronghold in your life. A stronghold is a thought that is contrary to God’s word and can be demolished by the Word. 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 says as believers, we have the word of God to fight against Satan. When we humbly submit to God, the devil has to flee. Use God’s word against him. Speak to the devil. He’s certainly speaking to you.

b. WHO YOU ONCE WERE

Who you were before coming to Christ is not who you are today and who you will be in the foreordained future. You are a new creature in Christ. You were dead in your sins, but you have been made brand new, spotless to God. Don’t ever let your past determine your future. If you work with God, He makes all things new. He can open doors for you that you were convinced could never be opened. He can get people to show you favor, and they’ll have no idea why they like you; they just do. He will do anything for His children, have faith, and a heart of thanks. The world tries so hard to get rid of God, but anytime the world attempts to get rid of Him, the world gets worse. Why would anyone ever want to try to live without Him? Deuteronomy 31:6, and 31:8, as well as Hebrews 13:5 all say that He will never leave you nor forsake you. God doesn’t leave us; we leave Him. He’s always there, and He will wait for you to come back to Him. When a problem occurs, we need to run towards God, not away. Philippians 4:6-7 says to pray about everything. When you’re in need, be quick to pray to Him first, not others. Not that there is anything wrong with going to another Christian, but God should be first.

Transitional Sentence: I can’t imagine a life without God. I’m so grateful that we have been completely forgiven. Who we were is not someone I want to be. We’re saved by His grace and I’m grateful. We’ll now look at how God in His mercy rescued us from ourselves because of His loving grace.

2.  Pay attention to three words in the following passage from Ephesians 4-7: love, mercy, and grace:

But God is so rich in mercy, and 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 seated 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 RESCUED US

God wanted us, chose us, and graciously adopted us. In His mercy, He came to our rescue, saving us from our miserable lives. Because He is our loving Father, He would go to any extreme to save us. Just like you would do anything for your children if you saw one of them in trouble, so would God. He had our restoration set in place when He sent Jesus, His only Son, sinless, to take on our sins, die on the cross, and was resurrected to life. Because of Jesus’s selfless act, we now have eternal life with the Father. God sees us as He sees His Son: perfect, loved, and sinless. We have been stamped with the “not guilty” verdict. And it was a gift because of God’s grace. Because of God’s love, mercy, and grace, we have been saved, and we too have eternal life with Him forever. We are seated in the heavenly realms with Jesus, with all the spiritual blessings that Jesus has: we have to reach out and take them. To be seated in the heavenly realms means that we are united with Christ and our Father in heaven. Our works are done; there is nothing we can do to earn our salvation.

Transitional Sentence: Not guilty, forgiven, sinless, loved and chosen. These are the words that our Father says about us. He saved us. We are seated in the heavenly places with Christ, given eternal life. As God’s handiwork, we’re saved by faith and created anew in Christ Jesus. We’ll look at this next.

3. Ephesians 8-10:

“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 anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”

a. SALVATION BY FAITH

We have our salvation by faith when we believe that His Son died on the cross for our sins. There is absolutely nothing we can ever do to make God love us anymore. He loves us as we are right now, at this exact moment.  So many people think they need to earn their salvation by good works, this is not true. We are saved by God’s grace; all we need to do is come in agreement that Jesus died for our sins and was resurrected to life. That’s it. Believe by faith.

b. WE ARE GOD’S HANDIWORK

We are God’s handiwork. Don’t ever think that there is something wrong with you. There is nothing wrong with you. Psalm 139 says that we were made with God’s hand. Just think about this for a minute. I have two cats, and they get themselves into trouble quite often. One day, I found the skeleton of a small bird in my yard. You could see how God made something so little completely perfect. Every bone was perfectly placed. God’s creation is complete: our galaxy, the earth, and the animals. He certainly made us flawless as His chosen ones. So, don’t ever criticize yourself; you are perfect to the creator of the universe. You are God’s precious child. Change your thoughts to reflect how God sees you.

c. CREATED ANEW

God created us anew in Christ Jesus to do the good things He planned for us. We were once dead in our trespasses, but have been made anew. God sees us as He sees Jesus: flawless and sinless. God isn’t ever going to push His will on us; He’s given us free will. He wants us to align our will with His, His good plan that He has for us. It is a will that He planned for us long ago. He ultimately knows what will make us the happiest, and doing His good plan is what will bring us the most joy.

Transitional Sentence: Believe by faith that Christ died for our sins so that we might have eternal life with Him and our Father forever. He has created us anew by His righteous hand. He sees us just as He does Jesus: flawless. By God’s grace, we’ve been saved. His desire is for us to have a changed heart and that the dividing walls that separated the Jews from the Gentiles have been broken. We have been unified, joined together through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, who lives in our hearts.

4. Ephesians 11-22:

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 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.

a. SAVED BY GRACE

The first part of this scripture has to do with the past Christians. People thought they needed to prove they were saved by being circumcised. In Galatians chapter 3, Paul was trying to prove his point to the Galatians that they received the gift of the Spirit by their belief in the message about Christ, not by obeying the law of Moses. That even Abraham, who was uncircumcised because the law didn’t exist during his time, was considered righteous in God's eyes because of his faith only, not because of his works.  Our salvation has nothing to do with our works. We are saved only by God’s grace. We do not need to work for our salvation.

b. CHANGE OF HEART

Verse 11 says their works only affected their bodies and not their hearts. God will change our circumstances if we ask Him to, but not always. He cares more about changing our hearts than our circumstances. I’ve prayed for situations to change, and He’s answered my prayer. But other times, He didn’t, but when I look back, I realized my heart was changed: the way that I looked at the circumstance.

c. BREAKING DOWN WALLS

The rest of the passage has to do with breaking down the dividing walls that once separated the Jews from the Gentiles. Jesus preached peace to both groups: the Jews and Gentiles. Jesus wanted unity among everyone. We don’t need to compete with one another: We are all equal in God’s eyes. God sees us all the same: united, one in Christ. There is a perfect union when we obey God’s commandments. When we do, we experience not only God’s protection but the perfect unity which is through Jesus. God wants all of His children worldwide to have unity with each other, just as He and Jesus were united. Unification with the Father is possible through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. At our salvation, the Holy Spirit comes and lives in our hearts, and brings us into perfect unity with the Father. We are God’s children forever, and He is glorified when His children are united. We show the world that we are united when we come together as a community to show love to one another.

d. GIFT OF THE SPIRIT

To seal the deal, the guarantee of our inheritance, He gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit. God's Spirit comes to live inside our hearts when we accept Christ to dwell and never leaves. It is a gift to guide, teach, comfort, and heal: The Spirit intercedes for us, and bring to remembrance of all that God has ever said. 

Conclusion:

a. We are saved by faith. We are created anew by His hand. God broke down the dividing walls and brought all: Jews and Gentiles into a perfect unity through the indwelling of His Spirit.

b. How is your spiritual growth? Are you growing in Christ? Tell God every day that you love Him and need Him. Ask Him to show you anyone that needs your help. Tell Him every day to use you. We should tell God to prune away anything our lives that isn’t producing good fruit. Ask Him to mold you into the image of Christ. He will. Rely on the Holy Spirit to change you, speak to you, and teach you the things of God. Know your worth. You are a child of God, so you can walk with your head held high.  

 

 

 

Ephesians 3

 

Title: Ephesians 3 Bible Study

Text: Ephesians 3

Introduction:

1. We are doing a bible study on the book of Ephesians. Ephesians is known as the prison epistles, written by the Apostle Paul during one of his known impressments. It is divided into two sections. Chapters 1-3 describe the believer’s position: who we are in Christ, how much God loves us, and our relationship with Him. Chapters 4-6 is about our behavior and how we can apply the truths learned from chapters 1-3 to our lives. When we know how much God loves us, our behavior can change if we work with Him.

2. The first chapter is about who God is and all that He has done for us. Chapter 2 focuses on us: who we are as a result of His goodness, mercy, and grace. In chapter 3, God reveals the mystery that Gentiles are now included in the gift of salvation.

Proposition: Gentiles share in God’s blessings, coming boldly to the cross, power of prayer.

Interrogative Sentence: What are these blessings, and how can we now come boldly to the cross, and what are the prayers of Paul?

Transitional Sentence: I’ll try and answer all of that in the few minutes that we have with each other. First, we will discuss Paul’s revelation into God’s mysterious plan and his credibility. So, let’s dive in.

I. Reading from the NIV, Ephesians 3 verses 1-5 says:

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.

a. PRISONER OF CHRIST

In verse 1, Paul called himself a prisoner of Christ Jesus for the benefit of the Gentiles. He was a prisoner of Rome, but that is not how he viewed himself. He saw himself as a prisoner of Christ. When we know that we are working for Christ and refuse to let a bad circumstance affect our good works for Christ, our whole way of looking at things can change. He knew that it wasn’t any fault of his own that he was in prison, that it was all for Christ who was strengthening him. We have to stop letting a bad moment in a day or what someone may have said to you affect our joy. We have our joy in Christ, not our circumstances. God has adopted us into His family, saved us, and has a great plan for your life. Paul knew this, and he wasn’t going to let his imprisonment steal his destiny and keep him from doing what God called him to do.

b. REVELATION OF MYSTERIOUS PLAN

Verse 3 says, “As I briefly wrote earlier, God himself revealed his mysterious plan to me.” Paul wrote that the information given to him was from God that God had revealed it to him. Here he is establishing his credibility. He said God had revealed the plan to him. He didn’t make it up, nor was it given to him by someone else. It came from God through the Spirit.

Transitional sentence: Paul begins Ephesians by stating that he is a prisoner of Christ for the Gentiles benefit. He hints that God has revealed a mysterious plan to him. We’ll now learn what the plan is and the details involved. 

II. Verses 6-7, “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.”

a. GOD’S PLAN

Paul explains what God is doing with the Gentile believers. He lists three things: They are heirs with Israel, members of the same body, and they share in the promise of God’s blessings.
1. HEIRS WITH ISRAEL AND MEMBERS OF THE SAME BODY

First, the Gentiles are heirs with Israel and members of the same body. In Genesis 12:3, it says, “I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.” What does this mean? It means that Gentiles now share in all of God’s promises as the Jews do. We are all one in Christ. The Gentiles share in the same blessings that God promised to the Jews. As God’s adopted children, we share in Christ’s inheritance. What is Christ’s inheritance? Reading from Hebrews 1:2, “And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son, he created the universe.” All that Jesus has we have. We are co-seated with him in the heavenly places, and we are co-heirs with Him. Because of Christ, everything God has given to Jesus, He has given to us: because of His grace. We were once completely far away from God, strangers. But because of the blood of Christ, we have been brought near.

2. THE GENTILES SHARE IN THE PROMISES OF GOD’S BLESSINGS
What do these blessings include?

1. SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS

Eph 1:3, “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.”  We are God’s adopted children, members of His family; we have been forgiven because of Christ’s shed blood on the cross; sealed with the Holy Spirit who is our helper: The Spirit resides in our hearts and gives us power and strength.

2. GRACE

Eph 1:7, “He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins.” Because God is so good, He wanted a family. He chose and adopted us into His family. He knew everything wrong that you would ever do, but He still chose you. He loves you that much. Because sin had entered the earth by one man’s decision, another man Jesus brought us redemption. Redemption means to buy back. Christ bought us back from our slavery to sin. We have forgiveness of sin and eternal life for all because of Christ’s shed blood on the cross. We have our redemption because God is so rich in His grace. We can do nothing to earn our forgiveness and salvation; Christ’s blood has already paid it. It is a gift. A gift that we didn’t deserve, but God so graciously gave it to us.

3.WISDOM

Eph 1:8, “He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.” God has not left us in the dark. He gives us wisdom and understanding into the good plan that He has for our lives. It says in James 1:5 that if anyone of us lacks wisdom, ask, and it will generously be given to us.  The Holy Spirit is our helper, teacher, and our interceder. The Spirit teaches us all things related to God and His ways and keeps us out of trouble. How do we know if the Spirit is speaking to us? It will line up with scripture. God will never lead us down a path of confusion or sin. If you’re on the fence about making an important decision, how’s your peace? If you don’t have peace about something, that’s God speaking to you. Perhaps it isn’t the right timing, or something better is coming your way soon. Learn to listen to God’s voice.

4. ETERNAL LIFE

In the book of Mathew, starting in verse 27,

Then Peter said to him, “We’ve given up everything to follow you, What will we get?” Jesus replied, “I assure you that when the world is made new and the Son of Man sits upon his glorious throne, you who have been my followers will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or property, for my sake, will receive a hundred times as much in return and will inherit eternal life.

Whatever we give up or lose to follow Christ, He will return to us a hundred times, and we will inherit eternal life. Some people have had bad childhoods but still decided to follow Christ, and He has more than blessed and provided for them in their later years. I had a good childhood, came from a Christian family, and was well cared for: This doesn’t mean that I didn’t make bad decisions. I did. But God was always waiting for me to come back to Him in repentance. He never left me; He never distanced Himself from me because I sinned; God was right by my side where He always has been because He is a good and gracious God. And because I chose to repent and come back to Him, He has more than provided for me. We don’t lose our inheritance because we sin. He doesn’t change His mind and give the plan that He has for our life to someone else. That plan is ours, and only ours.

Transitional Sentence: As Gentiles, we are heirs with God and share in all of His blessings, including eternal life. God is very gracious, and He isn’t going to withhold from us the good plan that He has for us. Because of Christ and our faith in Him, we can come boldly to the throne before God.

III. Verses 8-13 read:

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 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.

a. GRACIOUSLY DESERVING

In verse 8, Paul says that he is the least deserving of all God’s people, but God gave him the privilege of telling the Gentiles about the treasures available to them in Christ. God is a good and gracious God, and He will not ever hold his plan back from you from being achieved. He never withheld from Paul, and He won’t withhold from you. His word always comes to pass. It doesn’t matter how you see yourself; what matters is how God sees you. He knows the beginning from the end. He sees how you will be in the future when you accept Him and begin working with Him to change for His good purposes. Don’t compare yourself to other people: This will never get you anywhere but discouraged or full of pride. Look to God and work with the Holy Spirit. Ask God to reveal to you anything that isn’t pleasing to Him about you; He will. But know this: He loves you exactly the way you are now. He will never love you more than He does at this exact moment. 

b. BOLDLY COME TO THE CROSS

Verse 11 and 12 states that the Gentiles were brought into God’s kingdom because of the sacrifice of Christ, and we are able to come boldly and confidently into God’s presence. Because of what Christ has done on the cross, we can all come boldly into God’s presence. Our salvation is a gift, and there is nothing we can do to earn it. To come into God’s presence means we can pray to Him with confidence. The bible tells us to pray big prayers: to pray with boldness and with faith that you will receive what you ask for if it is in accordance with God’s will. 

Transitional sentence: God sees the beginning from the end. He has a unique plan for each of us, and He will not withhold it from us. We are God’s adopted children, and because of Christ and our faith in Him, we can come boldly to the throne. Paul ends Ephesians 3 with prayer and encouragement.

IV. Verses 14-21:

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 in 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 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.

a. IN PAUL’S PRAYER, HE PRAYS THAT GOD WOULD:

1. GIVE THEM STRENGTH THROUGH HIS SPIRIT

The Spirit gives us the strength to do the things that God has asked us to do. He isn’t just going to ask us to do something for Him and then leave us alone. God is right there with us giving us the strength that we need. He gave David the strength to fight Goliath. He gave strength to Gideon to fight his oppressors. Gideon needed to trust the Lord, and he did. Therefore the enemy was defeated. His strength came from trusting God. Your strength also needs to come from trusting in the power of God’s word.

2. GOD WILL MAKE HIS HOME IN IN OUR HEARTS

Because of Christ's sacrifice on the cross, God dwells in our hearts at salvation. His gift is His Spirit, which makes His home within us. You can’t get any closer than that. We need to have faith that His Spirit resides in us. We are His precious children, and there isn’t anything that He wouldn’t do for you. There are many titles for His Spirit: He is our Helper, Teacher, Interceder, and Guide. Just think about it for a minute: You have God’s Spirit living within you! There is nothing that you can’t do with God giving you the strength, protection, and love to guide you through all things. His Spirit will never leave us.

3. ROOTED AND ESTABLISHED IN GOD’S LOVE

I think that we can all say that we know God loves us, but Paul wants us to have an intimate knowledge of His love. This can happen when we spend time with Him: by reading His word, prayer, and worship. I have been spending time reading God’s word every morning with a cup of coffee. Throughout the day, I pray. I don’t usually pray for an extended period, but moments of prayer: either a request or just simply saying, “Hey God, thank you so much for your goodness, provision, and your protection.” I can honestly say that I feel like I have a close relationship with God, but it could always be better.

4. HAVE THE POWER TO UNDERSTAND HIS LOVE  

When we are rooted and grounded in God’s love, as mentioned in verse 17, we can begin to understand His love. Everything God is is love. That is who He is. 1 John 4:8 says, “but anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” He displayed love when He sent His only Son to die for all of us. He certainly didn’t need to. But He did. He made the great sacrifice while we were still His enemies. If you can begin to understand the width, length, height, and depth of His love, we can feel confident in doing what He’s called us to do. He’s going to be with us: He’s going to strengthen us: And He’ll be displaying His love, always.

b. PAUL ENDS HIS PRAYER WITH AN ENCOURAGEMENT

His final prayer is that we’d pray big prayers.

Ephesians 3:20 says to pray with boldness. “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.” But you need to have faith that He is going to answer your prayer. The way that I look at things, I’ll pray about anything, and quite frankly enjoy asking for big things. I know that if He doesn’t want me to have something, I won’t get it. I know He’s looking after me. It may be that it may not be the right timing or not suitable for me. Or He’ll say yes! I’m raising two teenage daughters. What I’ve learned is that God loves them more than I do. When one of them does something I disagree with, I give it to God. God isn’t going to leave them; He doesn’t want them to go down the wrong path either. He’s going to pull them back in. You’d be amazed at how much more quickly He can deal with a situation than I can, and He does a way better job. So pray about it. Even if they seem a long way off, and it may look as if there is no way in the natural, they can’t be brought back, pray, and give Him praise and thanks.

Conclusion:

We have been rooted and grounded in God’s love. The mystery of God is that we all are included in the gift of eternal life, salvation. We all can come boldly to the throne of God because God sent His only Son to die on the cross for us. Christ willingly gave of Himself so that we can know the Father as He does. We are united as members of the same body, and we share in the blessings of God. We can do all things through Christ, who is our strength. With the Spirit of God residing within us, there is nothing that we can’t do for God without Him right by our side. Be encouraged. Pray with boldness and faith. Come to the cross and stay there.