South Baptist Church
Online Notes for Sunday's sermon
Welcome to South and this Live YouVersion Event. We are just starting a series entitled "Refocus - The Book of Ephesians" - we hope that you will enjoy the notes and Scriptures below, to supplement Pastor Scott's message!
The context - Ephesus
Ephesus maintained the primary harbor for the province of Asia Minor. It also was strategically located at the junction of four of the most important Roman roads in Asia. As a result of these first two things, the city itself became a very wealthy one that many people wanted to live in, leading its population to grow to somewhere between 250,000-500,000 people. The third thing that made the city of Ephesus so important was the fact that it was the center of the worship of the goddess Artemis/Diana.
The Sender, the Recipients, and the Greeting
Sender: Paul
Recipients: Ephesian believers
Greeting: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Ephesians 1:1-14 ESV
Chosen in Him
-> God’s choosing of people is not a new idea introduced in this passage of Scripture.
-> ALL works of God’s choosing took place before the foundation of the world.
-> There is a necessary part of personal belief when it comes to God’s choosing us. (vs 13)
Adopted as Sons
-> Our adoption was something that God PREDESTINED us for.
-> Our identity changed the moment we believed.
-> Our adoption cost something very precious--the blood of Jesus Christ.
Granted an Inheritance
“In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.”
Our inheritance is the righteousness of Christ. Wow.
Sealed with the Spirit
“In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”
The seal in that era was recognized to represent ownership (when God seals a person with the Holy Spirit, he is marking that person as belonging to himself), security (when God seals a person with the Holy Spirit, it is as if he is saying, “This person belongs to me and is a member of my family and nothing can change that.”), and power (the seal of the Spirit brings with it the power of God - power that is greater than anything that is in this world, or even in the spiritual world).
Text Giving
If you would like to set up text giving from your phone, just text any amount to '84321', and you will receive a link that walks you through the setup process. It takes a few minutes to set it up, but then after the initial setup, it will take just a few seconds to give your offering this way. Highly recommend it!