Ephesians 1:3-14

by Alyce.

(The Message)

^3-6How blessed is God! And what a blessing God is! God is the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before Jesus laid down earth’s foundations, God had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of God’s love, to be made whole and holy by God’s love. Long, long ago God decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure God took in planning this!) God wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.^7-10Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we’re a free people—free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free! God thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need, letting us in on the plans God took such delight in making. God set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth.^11-12It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.^13-14It’s in Christ that you, once you heard the truth and believed it (this Message of your salvation), found yourselves home free—signed, sealed, and delivered by the Holy Spirit. This signet from God is the first installment on what’s coming, a reminder that we’ll get everything God has planned for us, a praising and glorious life.

QUESTIONS:

• What is the verse that sums up this passage? (key verse)
• What is the main idea of this passage?
• Which verse or verses made you think?
• Which verse did you have to read twice to understand?
• Are there any words that you don’t understand? Did you look up the meaning?
• Is there a key WORD that repeats OR sums up the idea of the passage?
• Did anything take you by surprise?
• Do you believe God had a plan as described?
• What part does Jesus play?
• If you were to give this a title, what would it be?
• How does this apply to your life today? Can you use this in your every day life? Can you use it for a) personal encouragement; b) encouragement to others; c) as a guide on how to deal with a problem; or d) as a guideline for an area of your life?
• How would you share this with someone else? Can you summarize it in a sentence or two?

These are guideline questions. Next week I will share what I found, but you all should answer these questions first. — Alyce

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