The Messy Coffee Table

Welcome back! Let's dig in...Open up your Bible, read Ephesians 1:15-23. What Do These Verses Say About God and Ourselves? In the first 14 verses Paul is praising God for the faith of the Ephesians, and really fleshes out what it means that they came to faith...how it happens by God's good pleasure and will, all to the praise of His glory. For Him the Ephesians (and all believers in Christ) are made heirs to an inheritance in Heaven, marked with the seal of the Holy Spirit assuring us that we will be united together and with God under Christ (Ephesians 1:1-14). "For this reason," Paul begins in verse 15 (the reason being the God-glorifying faith of the Ephesians), “...I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers" (verse 16). Paul has been encouraged by their faith and desires to continue to encourage them towards a life that is fixed on God and his will. He tells them specific things that he has prayed for them, things that tell u...

Welcome to the FIRST EVER Messy Coffee Table Bible Study! Over the next couple months, we will be journeying through the book of Ephesians together. A number of things have kind of inspired the desire to do a Bible study on this blog: The Bible is the unchanging, living, God-breathed Word. It's where my faith is based and the place from which I long to encourage my readers. Ephesians is a book I've always loved in different phases of my faith journey, but have never walked through in an exegetical fashion, so I'd love to do that in the context of a larger community. Priscilla Shirer said at the Passion Conference in 2018, that if you hadn't read through the book of Ephesians yet, that you just had to do it, and that was the last little push I think I needed. Part 1 of Ephesians Chapter 1 (Verses 1-14) There’s a lot going on here...so to be clear from the get-go: I am not a pastor. I do not have a seminary degree. I am just a Jesus-lover exploring the Word of God...