Expositional Excerpts

As we wrap up this discussion on Ephesians 4:1-6, we remember that It is vital that we as the church live in unity! In verses 4-6 we look at the idea that The Church Family is Built on Unity . And in the course of the discussion we discover that this unity is doctrinal in nature, and it must be.

Ephesians 4:1-6 can be summarized with this idea: It is vital that we as the church live in unity! We saw in v. 1 that There is a Command for Life, which is to live our lives worth of the calling that has come with our salvation. Now, in verses 2-3 we note that Our Life In the Church Should Bear Certain Characteristics : a) humility, b) gentleness, c) patience, d) bearing with one another in love,...

As we begin this new, practical application section of Ephesians 4-6, we see, that God is calling the church to live in unity! In order to do that, we see in 4:1 that there is a command for life . Under this, we see the a) conditions of the one giving the command, b) the force of the command, c) the root of the command, and d) the parameters of the command.

As we look at this incredible doxology, we said that We ought to give glory to God that is due His name! In order to do that we saw 1) The Powerful Recipient of Glory. Then in this episode, we examine 2) The Purposeful location of the display of his glory, and 3) The Prevailing Time of his glory.

We begin discussing this incredible doxology and have as our proposition: We ought to give glory to God that is due His name! In order to do that properly, we see with this verse, the powerful recipient of glory.

We wrap up the discussion on Paul's prayer for the Ephesians from this section (vv. 14-19) today, being reminded that we can and should pray powerful prayers . The content of our powerful prayers is being discussed further today (having been started in the previous episode), and here we note that there is a logical reasoning for power - which answers the question of why should I being praying for...

As we continue with the proposition that we can and should pray powerful prayers we move on to vv. 16-19 with the idea the "We should pray powerfully for others." This examines the content of Paul's prayer for the Ephesian believers. And as we look at v. 16 in this episode, we see the reasoning for the power as well as the appeal for power.

We begin a new section that comprises Ephesians 3:14-19 which is a great prayer of the Apostle Paul. We learn, as a guiding principle for this section, that we can and should pray powerful prayers ! In order to do that, we see from vv. 14-15 first of all, that We should always recognize the power behind our prayers. We see a powerful gospel , a powerful posture , and a powerful God that helps us t...

As we continue to examine the idea that we must count our roles as ministers of the Gospel a great privilege , we look at the last verse in this section which tells us that experiencing trials due to obedience is a part of our privilege as Gospel ministers.

As we continue to discuss the idea that we must count our roles as ministers a great privilege , we examine the idea that we must always remember the purpose of our ministry (v. 10) and that God's plan for our current ministry was foreordained (vv. 11-12).

As we continue working with the idea the we must count roles as ministers a great privilege we examine this idea that we must always keep task at the forefront of our minds. To do this, we look at the actual proclamation of the Gospel, as well as the target of the Gospel.

We begin a new section that encompasses Ephesians 3:7-13 where we discover that every believer has been made a minister of the Gospel. Therefore, we must count our roles as ministers a great privilege ! To do that we see 1) Being made a minister of the Gospel is a powerful act of God , and 2) Being made a minister of the Gospel is humbling .

We have been working under the idea that, as believers, we need to understand the mysterious nature of the Church here in Ephesians 3:1-6. There are five truths that come from these verses about the church that help us along the way. Today we look at the fifth and final idea, that The mystery of the Church is its distinction from the nation of Israel and that its composition includes all people. T...

As believers We need to understand the mysterious nature of the Church . We now look at the fourth truth that helps us unravel this mystery, namely that the mystery of the Church was not known prior to the generation of the Apostles .

As believers, we need to understand the mysterious nature of the Church . To do that, we continue to examine five aspects of this mystery by now looking at the third: The mystery of the Church is not supposed to be kept a mystery any longer.

Paul decides to dig in a little more into this idea of the "household of God" from Eph. 2:19. Even early on, believers may not have fully understood just how radically different this new entity called "The Church" actually was. So Paul tells them that the Church was in fact a mystery. As believers, we need to understand the mysterious nature of the Church . To do that, we will examine aspects of t...

Wrapping up the discussion on Ephesians 2:11-22 we are being governed by this idea: Believers need to understand the mysterious design of the Church. We saw that, 1) There was a problem in the past (vv. 11-12); 2) There is peace in the present (vv. 13-17); 3) There is a promise in the present (vv. 18-22). It is this last point that was started in the previous episode as there are five promises to...

As we begin this last section of verses 11-22, we are governed by the idea that believers need to understand the mysterious design of the Church . First, in vv. 11-12 we saw that there was a problem in the past. Then, in vv. 13-17 we saw that there is peace in the present. Now, in vv. 18-22 we see that there is a promise in the present as well. We look at the first two aspects of that promise in t...

As we continue the discussion of the idea that believers need to understand the mysterious design of the church , we started in on the second aspect of that, that there is peace in the present, in verses 13-17. Having already discussed that a) Peace came at a point in time, b) Peace came through a person, c) Peace through Christ's sacrifice brings the gentiles into the church, we dive into the fou...

We begin looking at Ephesians 2:13-17 in this episode, but only make it through the first part of 2:14. Having examined the problem of the past in vv. 11-12, we now look at the fact that there is peace in the present in this section. There are five aspects of the present peace and we get through the first three and start in on the fourth in this episode.

We continue the discussion started in 2:11 which falls under the problem of the past and spend this episode examining the four-fold aspect of the "Gentile Problem" from 2:12.

We begin a discussion on Ephesians 2:11-22 with the proposition that believers need to understand the mysterious design of the church . The elements of the design that help us in our understanding are three-fold. We begin looking at the first today, namely that there was a problem in the past.

We wrap our discussion on Ephesians 2:7-10 by looking at verse 10 in today's episode. It is the purpose of the display of God's riches that he delights to put forth that interests us. We have already established that the riches of his grace is bound up in the salvation of sinners, but is it only salvation, or is there something more that God intends to be a part of the showcase of his riches? List...

As we continue to look at this section from Ephesians 2:7-10, we continue examining the several elements of the display of God's grace that he delights to put forth. In these two powerful verses we look at the third element, which is the means of becoming God's display of grace. There are four truths that we must understand in order to become God's display of riches.

We begin exploring the section of Ephesians 2:7-10 and the idea that God delights to put his riches on display . The first thing we look at with this is the time of the display of his riches. Then, we examine the nature of the display of his riches.