The Letter to the Ephesians, Pt. 3
We’ve spent two weeks looking at Paul’s introduction, and now we turn our attention to a powerful prayer given by Paul for all the faithful in Christ Jesus. We’ve got some big questions this week - like what is the church? What is a “spirit of revelation?” and what is our future hope? While we won’t finish any of these questions (and probably never will in this life) we’ve got to make a start. Let’s dig in!
“The Body of Christ”(No artist given), University of Portland
Anchor Texts:
Ephesians 1:15-23 ESVUK - Thanksgiving and Prayer
Questions to Ponder:
If the church is Christ’s body - how do we define membership in the body of Christ? How do you get in? Stay in?
Put “having the eyes of your heart enlightened” into you own words (v. 18). What kind of experience is this? Emotional? Spiritual?
Look at V. 22 - do you think Christ is over everything? Or just “everything for the church”? Does it make a difference to us?
Why do you think Paul goes out of his way to express how powerful the power of God is in Vv.1 19-20?
What does it mean that “the immeasurable greatness of his power” is “towards us who believe?" (v. 19).
The Theme in Song:
Here is a song that for the past 27 years has spoken to many Christians about the spiritual awareness we pray for so that we can recognize the presence of God in the world.
The Theme for Kids:
Today we talked about the church being Christ’s body - but that’s one way to describe it. What IS the church? This video should help kids (and adults too!) understand it a bit better.