EPHESIANS 3 | BIBLE STUDY WITH ME

hey guys welcome back to my channel today's video we're gonna be continuing on with our ephesians bible study with me series and today we're gonna be in ephesians chapter three with this video we'll officially be halfway through the book of ephesians which is crazy if you haven't already watched the videos on chapters 1 and chapter 2 make sure that you go back and watch these before watching this video so that you're caught up to speed with what is going on in the book of ephesians but just a little refresher so the book of ephesians is a letter that the apostle paul wrote to the church at ephesus and he wrote this letter from prison and in this letter he covers some of the great themes and doctrines of christianity particularly as it relates to the christian community because one of the big themes of the book of ephesians is how jesus has united all people in him and so ephesians really gets into what is the gospel story and how does that impact our stories and the lives that we live so just a little recap on chapter one in chapter one paul starts with a greeting to the saints at ephesus and then he goes into detailing what are our spiritual blessings in jesus as children of god there's six of those spiritual blessings and then he ends the chapter off with thanksgiving and prayer in chapter two we look at what it means that we are saved by grace through faith that's likely a term that you've heard before but we unpacked what does that truly mean and then we looked at how we are one in christ how god has brought the gentiles in along with the jews and we are all one in him built on jesus who is the cornerstone today we're gonna dig into ephesians chapter three which actually holds one of my all-time favorite verses at the very end of the chapter so get excited for that as always any of the bible study tools or resources that i mention in the video are going to be linked down below so be sure to check that out if you have any questions about that as for the structure of this chapter so chapter three is divided into two subheadings the first of those subheadings is the mystery of the gospel revealed and that covers verses 1 through 13 and then the second subheading is titled prayer for spiritual strength and that's going to cover verses 14 through 21 so without further ado if you have a bible go ahead and pull it out and read with me in ephesians chapter 3 verse 1 for this reason i paul a prisoner for christ jesus on behalf of you gentiles assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of god's grace that was given to me for you how the mystery was made known to me by revelation as i have written briefly when you read this you can perceive my insight into the mystery of christ which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the spirit the mystery is that the gentiles are fellow heirs members of the same body and partakers of the promise in christ jesus through the gospel of this gospel i was made a minister according to the gift of god's grace which was given me by the working of his power to me though i am the very least of the saints this grace was given to preach to the gentiles the unsearchable riches of christ and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in god who created all things so that through the church the manifold wisdom of god might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places this was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in christ jesus our lord in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him so i ask you not to lose heart over what i am suffering for you which is your glory all right so let's break down that first subheading the first thing we see there in that first verse is paul is saying for this reason i paul a prisoner for christ jesus now some translations will actually say a prisoner of christ jesus which is more accurate to the original greek now it's ironic that paul would say this that he would say he is a prisoner of jesus because at the time when he was writing this he was actually literally a prisoner of rome this shows us that paul knew that even though he was technically a prisoner of rome he knew that rome was not in charge of his life jesus was there was a sermon i was listening to in preparation for this and it was talking on this point saying do we talk about our challenges and our circumstances in our life as if those things are in charge do we look at our circumstances and think that those are going to dictate how things go or do we recognize that god is the one in charge that even in bad or challenging circumstances he is ultimately in control and sovereign over it all using it all for the good of those who love him and who are called according to his purpose like it talks about in romans 8 28. the question the sermon posed is who is in charge of your life who do you recognize as being in charge of your life holding ultimate authority and ultimate sovereignty and being ultimately in control is jesus christ lord of your life and so like we talked about in my philippians bible study with me series god accomplishes his purpose even when our purpose feels thwarted paul was in prison when he wrote philippians and that could have felt like an interruption to god's plans but god used paul's imprisonment to make jesus known to those who were in prison with him and so god accomplishes his purpose even when ours feels thwarted and he brings fruitfulness even when we feel stuck the next note i want to make is on verse 3 where paul says how you have heard how the mystery was made known to me now mystery in the english we think of that word as being you know a mystery movie or something that needs to be solved or figured out but the greek word for mystery actually refers to something that was previously not known that has been made known by god and so the meaning there is a little bit different and so paul is talking here about how the gentiles have been brought into the family of god and how we've all been made one in christ that is the mystery he is referring to and we talked a lot more about this in chapter two what that means that the gentiles were brought in along with the jews and how we've been united in christ next note i want to make is on verse 7 where paul says of this gospel i was made a minister according to the gift of god's grace so like we talked about in the chapter 1 video paul understood that his ministry did not come about by his credentials but rather by god's calling it was by god's grace like he says that he was doing this and where god calls he matches it with power to enable us to fulfill that calling this makes me think of that quote maybe you've seen it on pinterest before it says that god does not call the equipped but rather he equips the called and so equipping or training that isn't bad in fact i think that to train or to equip ourselves is to steward well what god has given us but we must recognize that our training that our equipping that isn't what has secured for us the ministry or other opportunities but god's calling is it is his calling his doing his grace that enables and empowers us the next note i want to point out is on verse 8 and this really goes along with what we were just talking about in verse 7. here paul says to me though i am the very least of the saints so paul talks about himself in very lowly terms he is not boasting in his qualifications the same sermon i was listening to talked about how when we believe that it is based on our own qualifications then our self actually ends up getting in the way of what god is wanting to do because the power of the holy spirit actually flows best when we recognize that it is not us it makes me think of second corinthians 12 9 that says his power is made perfect in our weakness we must recognize that it is not our strength not our qualifications and we need to recognize that there is nothing that we can do on our own and so we need to regularly be getting in the habit of coming before the throne of grace which we have access to by the blood of jesus like we were talking about in chapter two one last note on this section when paul is referring to himself as a minister of the gospel he said of this gospel i was made a minister that word there is not a title of exaltation but rather a title of service so that greek word for minister that is used here is actually referred to a table waiter so like a waitress who is always at the bidding of his customers and so when paul says that he is a minister of the gospel he isn't puffing himself up with this title but rather he is saying that his life is given over to the gospel he wants to make it known to all peoples and then as it talks about in this passage it says that it would be made known to all people and that through the church the wisdom of god might be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places so as the gospel is made known to people that is actually also teaching and instructing the rulers and authorities in heavenly places the church is making known to them the wisdom of god we are a display of that i actually have one final note i want to read from my study bible on this section on that it's talking about how this wisdom of god is being made known to the world through the church and so this note says that god's wisdom has many facets and aspects like an intricately cut diamond and then rulers and authorities in the heavenly places refers to angelic beings so god's redemptive purposes are of interest to the angels and the whole host of heaven who are better able to glorify god when they behold and wonder what god has done and does in creating the church and so again we as the church are a display even to the heavenly beings of god's wisdom that is all for the first subheading so now we're going to be starting in on the second subheading which is prayer for spiritual strength starting in verse 14 and i just love this passage it says for this reason i bow my knees before the father from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his spirit in your inner being so that christ may dwell in your hearts through faith that you being rooted and grounded in love may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of christ that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of god now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think according to the power at work within us to him be the glory in the church and in christ jesus throughout all generations forever and ever amen the first thing i want to say about this section is that this is a really really great passage to memorize and i highly encourage you to do so there have been so many times that i have turned to this passage and just repeated it to myself repeated it in my heart when i was feeling anxious or unsettled to really ground and root myself in the reminder of god's love for me and his power in me because that is what this passage is talking about and if you really meditate on it it is truly incredible to think about what this passage is saying it's a powerful one to memorize and it's also a powerful one to pray to pray that god would strengthen you and your inner being that god would root and ground you in his love and that he would fill you with the fullness of him that's what it literally says at the end of verse 19 to know the love of christ that surpasses knowledge and that you may be filled with all the fullness of god that is a prayer that paul is praying and what a crazy idea to think that we can be filled with the fullness of god the first thing i want to point out is right there in verse 14 where paul says for this reason i bow my knees before the father so bowing of knees is a powerful prayer posture because when we are literally kneeling on our knees we are in a position of surrender and humility before god one of the things the enduring word commentary also said about this verse this picture of paul on his knees praying that it bears a resemblance to solomon's kneeling prayer at the dedication of the temple in the old testament and it said that many parts of this prayer of paul's here in this subheading bear a resemblance to that prayer of solomon's that draws a connection to how the apostle paul is now dedicating the christian church much like solomon was dedicating the temple one of the things the sermon pointed out that i thought was cool is that this prayer addresses the trinity it says i bow my knees before the father and then he's praying that they would be strengthened with power through the spirit so that christ may dwell in their hearts and so it acknowledges all three persons of the trinity one of the things that i thought was cool one of the times i was reading through this before is how it says i bow my knees before the father from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named i want to read a note i took from last time i read this that names biblically are often tied to character reputation and even purpose so many times in the bible a name that a person has the meaning of that name is directly tied to their purpose or what role they played in god's story and so knowing that according to this verse every single family on earth is named by god regardless of whether or not a family knows god god knows them so even families who may not acknowledge him or know them god knows them and he is intimately acquainted with the plans he has for them next note is the part of the prayer that says so that christ may dwell in your hearts through faith this is a note from the enduring word commentary again it said that there are two greek words for this idea of to live in or where we get this word dwell and one of those greek words communicates this idea of living in a place as a stranger and then the other word communicates this idea of settling down in a place to make it your permanent home and this first uses the second of those two words so it is conveying the idea that jesus wants to settle down in our hearts there's an idea of permanence around that that he is not just wanting to visit our hearts or to reside there as a stranger he is wanting to make home in our hearts something the sermon i listened to talked about that i thought was really cool is he was asking the question is my heart a place where jesus feels welcome or is it a place that is constantly putting him at odds with my thoughts my actions my behaviors jesus is perfectly sinless so is our heart is it a place where he feels at home and welcome or is it a place that is constantly putting him at odds with what we have filled our hearts with like david prays in the psalms he says god search my heart and show me if there is any way in me that grieves you and so the question the sermon asked is what are we filling our hearts with because that is where jesus dwells and we cannot keep our hearts pristine on our own efforts but we must learn to respond quickly when the holy spirit reveals sin and convicts us and this also happens only by the spirit another thought from the sermon is that as paul is praying that the saints that the saints in ephesus which again we are saints as believers as well as he is praying that we are able to comprehend what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of christ he is praying that we would know the love of christ that surpasses knowledge so this isn't just a head knowledge of god's love but rather an experiential knowledge of god's love that is what changes us and that is something we should be regularly praying for to truly know god's love and as i was reading that just now it stood out to me how it's saying comprehend with all the saints so all around the world believers in christ jesus may we comprehend with them all what is the magnitude of god's love for us okay the next note i want to make is on verse 20 and this is the one i referenced at the beginning of the video that is one of my all-time favorite verses it says now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think according to the power at work within us so this verse here is what's called the doxology and that simply means a praise him and so this verse is a reminder of god's power which is able to do even more than we think and it is also a reminder that this same power is also in us because of his holy spirit so this is a verse i oftentimes turned to when praying for my future husband and a verse i now see the fulfillment of in tyler it was something i prayed especially in times of discouragement because it reminded me that god was capable and was able of doing so much more than what i could see in that moment because in those moments of encouragement i couldn't see and i just share that because that verse has a special place in my heart for that reason and for many other things that i've prayed for over the years but i do want to say that i do think we need to be careful because i think that sometimes people do sort of slap this verse on different situations and see it as almost like a genie in a bottle prayer thinking that god is going to give me exactly what i want and make it perfect and nothing's going to be hard and everything's going to be fairy tale like and that is not what this verse is but rather in this verse paul is trying to stretch our perspective to help us understand what god is capable of as for the how of how god answers prayers that might be different and often is different than we would imagine because that's exactly what this verse is saying that it's far more even than we could imagine and it's gonna look different from person to person but it is and will be immeasurably more than we could think to ask for or imagine because god is so much more creative than we are and how he answers prayers and how he works in our lives and he truly knows what and who and how and when is best final note i want to make is on the final verse that is verse 21 it says to him be glory in the church and in christ jesus throughout all generations forever and ever amen we must remember that all of it all of it comes back to this end that god's glory is the ultimate goal that is all for ephesians chapter three the verses i'm gonna pick to do a little bit of a deeper study on are verses 16 through 19 and those are the verses that hold this prayer that we would know the love of god and the power of god in us so i'm going to pull out my scribe bible journal right here and we will dig in okay so i wrote that verse out as you can see my pen started to run out so i had to grab a new one and we got bolder here but what a great place to get bold right that we may be filled with all the fullness of god so here's what it says that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his spirit in your inner being so that christ may dwell in your hearts through faith that you being rooted and grounded in love might have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of christ that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of god the first thing i want to write out is actually something i noticed when i was writing this verse out so paul is praying for all of these things here and it feels like a lot going on but he's praying for certain things so that other things might happen and in here we see sort of two end goals so again he's praying that this might happen that this might happen so that this might happen and then down here we have the same thing that this might happen that this might happen that this may happen so i want to write down what those two goals are because ultimately that is the pinnacle of paul's prayer he is praying that all of these things happen so these two things may happen hopefully that makes sense [Music] okay so here's what i wrote down the two goals are one that christ may dwell in their hearts through faith and in our hearts through faith and two that they may be filled with all the fullness of god or that we may be filled with all the fullness of god and as you can see those two things are very related it's a prayer that jesus may dwell in our hearts and that we may be filled with the fullness of god the next thing i want to do i don't know if you guys remember doing like sentence diagrams in elementary school and i can't actually even remember exactly how to do that but i want to do some bracketing and circling to break apart the different parts of this prayer so paul is praying that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened so we want to be strengthened with power is the second part of that through his spirit in your inner being the prayer is that we would be strengthened in our inner being with power by his holy spirit through his spirit and that really just paints this picture of being fortified of being secure again being grounded and rooted in that inner being in that inner place and i think that inner being is that place where when we are not reminding ourselves and filling ourselves and rooting ourselves in the love of god that is the place where we often feel unsettled or uneasy or anxious but paul is praying that we would be filled and strengthened in that inner place and next it's saying so that christ may dwell in your hearts through faith that you being rooted and grounded in love might have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of christ that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of god and really why i do that is again to just help visually break apart the sentence to try to wrap my mind around it a little bit more next i want to write a note from the enduring word commentary on these four descriptors for the love of christ and so i'm just going to show you that here from the commentary it says that to come to any understanding of the dimensions of god's love we must come to the cross the cross pointed in four ways essentially in every direction because god's love is wide enough to include every person god's love is long enough to last through all eternity god's love is deep enough to reach the worst sinner and god's love is high enough to take us to heaven so i'm just going to copy those things down here in my notes okay so i just copied those four descriptors down here and then like i did for the ephesians chapter 2 video in this application section down here which i kind of already veered into i'm just going to reflect on what this is saying and sort of repeat it back in my own words to work it deeper into my heart okay so here's what i wrote out i put god's desire is that i am strengthened and fortified in my inner being by the power of his spirit so that christ can reside in me through faith that as i am rooted and grounded in love i might be able to comprehend along with all believers in experiential knowledge of his love that i might be filled with his fullness it's a little chicken scratchy because i got excited and wrote fast but what an incredible truth that god desires this for us that is ephesians chapter three i love this chapter so much don't forget to comment down below letting me know what your favorite verse or take away from this chapter was and then also leave a gold star emoji if you have been following along with this bible study with me series in real time and then if you found this video helpful or encouraging please be sure to give it a thumbs up and then also hit the subscribe button thank you so much for watching and i will see you back here next week for ephesians chapter four bye

Channel: Kaci Nicole

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Id: ozcLbMDQGGo

Length: 27min 5sec (1625 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 18 2021