This weekend, we begin a new summer-long sermon series that will take us through the New Testament letter to the Ephesians. The Apostle Paul wrote this letter while he was in prison in Rome for preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He wrote to a church that he knew quite well. Eight years earlier, he planted the church in Ephesus. He spent three years there helping them begin their journey of faith and guiding them in that journey. Then, in the closing years of his life and ministry, Paul wrote to the Ephesians. It is a letter that one author called “the Grand Canyon of Scripture” – breathtakingly beautiful and utterly inexhaustible. Read it once, read it again, read it over and over again, and you will always find truth to feed your soul. I would encourage you to read it! We’ll begin the series this weekend as we unlock the many riches of Ephesians 1:1-2. I’m excited to share these truths with you.
As we bring our summer-long study in Ephesians to a close this weekend, we fast forward thirty years from when the apostle Paul wrote Ephesians to when the apostle John wrote Revelation. Revelation is a fascinating Biblical book for many reasons, not the least of which is Jesus’ pointed observations of seven prominent first century churches. Jesus’ observations are in the form of seven letters contained in Revelation 2 and 3. Each letter is a personal letter from Jesus in which he both commends and corrects the behavior of each church. He begins with the church at Ephesus because it was the most prominent of the seven churches.
At the time Paul wrote Ephesians, the church in Ephesus was newly planted and full of first generation Christians. By the time Jesus dictated to John what we call Revelation 2:1-7, the church was 30 years old and there was a second generation of Christians. With that in mind, join the GCC family this weekend as we learn what pleases Jesus, and doesn’t please him, when he looks at a church.
