Welcome to Timeless Truth with Pastor Jim Thomas. In season 1, Pastor Jim is leading us in a study of Ephesians. Today’s passage is Ephesians 1:15-23.
Paul’s prayer for the believers. Paul moves from praise to prayer for his readers. You can learn a lot about someone when you hear them praying. What did the apostle Paul pray for and what does it suggest to us about how we walk out our own life with God?
“Prayer is beyond any questions the highest activity of the human soul. Man is at his greatest and highest when, upon his knees, he comes face to face with God.”
– D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount
Gratitude and giving thanks leads our hearts to joy!
Paul uses four different Greek words to describe the energy and effort God exerted to save us and also makes available to us.
- power= dunamis = capability or potential
- working= energeia= effective or operational power
- strength= kratos= power exercised in resistance & control
- might= ischus= inherent, vital power
The Crucifixion, the Resurrection and the Ascension comprise a trilogy of Christ’s victorious work. The Cross accomplished the victory, the Resurrection confirms the victory, and the Ascension perpetuates the victory.
The power of the resurrection was constantly on Paul’s mind. And the impact the resurrection will have on us was too!
“As only God can create, only God can renew his whole creation. It started with the resurrection of Jesus—one new thing that changes everything. In lives transformed by the Spirit of Christ, we have a foretaste of the new future.”
– Richard Bauckham
