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February 28 - Ephesians 3 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello, friends. It's Shawn.
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  Here it is. Wednesday, it is the 28th of
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  February. It is almost the end of this
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  month. Three out of four years we would
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  be done. But no, this is a special year
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  and tomorrow is a very special day for the Connery family.
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  I'll get to that tomorrow, but I'm just excited.
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  No, today, Today's the hump day. It's the middle of the week, and
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  I hope you're going well. Whatever's happening in this
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  week of yours, good on you for inviting me in so that we can
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  continue to read this absolute Ripper of a book from Paul
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  yesterday. Oh, every day.
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  These six chapters are just so dense with beautiful, rich
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  theology and so instructive. You know, I don't know about
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  you, but sometimes I can wonder. It can't actually be as good as
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  it is. I'm making this up.
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  You know, you, you, you think about faith and you think about
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  what God has done for us. And you think, you know, I must
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  just be exaggerating this. But then you read through these
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  chapters and it is just verse after verse that says no, there
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  is no exaggeration. Jesus is spectacular.
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  He has done this all. You are loved.
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  You are brought before the Father, holy and blameless.
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  It is just so great and today is no exception.
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  So enough for me. Today is only 21 verses, so not
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  a long one, but we will soak every one of them up and just
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  learn and reinforce what we know to be true as we read together.
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  Ephesians chapter 3. When I think of all this, I pull
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  a prisoner of Christ Jesus for the benefit of you Gentiles.
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  Assuming by the way, that you know God gave me the special
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  responsibility of extending His grace to you Gentiles, as I
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  briefly wrote earlier, Guide himself revealed his mysterious
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  plan to me. As you read what I have written,
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  you will understand my insight into this plan regarding Christ.
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  God did not reveal it to previous generations, but now by
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  His Spirit He has revealed it to His holy apostles and prophets.
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  And this is God's plan. Both Gentiles and Jews who
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  believe the good news share equally in the riches inherited
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  by God's children. Both are part of the same body
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  and both enjoy the promise of blessings because they belong to
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  Christ Jesus. By God's grace and mighty power.
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  I have been given the privilege of serving him by spreading this
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  good news. Though I'm the least deserving
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  of all God's people, He graciously gave me the privilege
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  of telling the Gentiles about the endless treasures available
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  to them in Christ. I was chosen to explain to
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  everyone this mysterious plan that God, the Creator of all
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  things, had kept secret from the beginning.
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  God's purpose in all this was to use the Church to display His
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  wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and
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  authorities and the heavenly places.
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  This was His eternal plan which he carried out through Christ
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  Jesus our Lord. Because of Christ and our faith
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  in Him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God's
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  presence. So please don't lose heart.
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  Because of my trials here, I'm suffering for you, so you should
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  feel honoured. When I think of all this, I fall
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  to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of
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  everything in heaven and on earth.
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  I pray that from His glorious, unlimited resources, He will
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  empower you with inner strength through His Spirit.
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  Then Christ will make His home in your hearts as you trust in
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  Him. Your roots will grow down into
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  God's love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to
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  understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how
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  high, and how deep His love is. May you experience the love of
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  Christ, though it is too great to understand fully, then you
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  will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power
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  that comes from God. Now all glory to God, who is
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  able, through His mighty power at work within us, to accomplish
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  infinitely more than we might ask or think.
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  Glory to Him in the Church and in Christ Jesus, through all
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  generations, forever and ever. Oh man,
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  Yes, Lord, we come to you. We offer ourselves to you.
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  We respond to your gift of grace and love, and we pray that you
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  would do infinitely more than we could ever imagine in your
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  Kingdom. We are small, broken and
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  inadequate people. But it doesn't matter.
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  It doesn't matter because you and your gift and your sacrifice
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  makes us everything we need to be So help us always rest in
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  what you have done for us and not what we think we should be
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  doing in response. Make your home in our hearts.
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  Send your roots deep down into us to keep us strong, knowing
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  every day of your love for us. And we pray all of this in your
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  name, Jesus, Ah, man.