Sermon Central
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Spiritual Blessings Series
Contributed by Thomas H on Oct 4, 2010 (message contributor)
Summary: This is an amazing passage which describes the spiritual blessings God has given us. Paul is so excited about these spiritual blessings that in the Greek original, this whole passage is one sentence - like a little kid whose just been to an amusement par
Have you ever met a young child who has just been to Dreamworld for the first time? Can you imagine what he might say if you asked him how was his time there. He might be so excited that he might answer something like:
Well, guess what, we went to Dreamworld and first we went to the Tower of Terror and it was so fast you wouldnt believe it and we were going very fast on it and we went up and up and up and when you are at the top you are also on the tower that has the Giant Drop which we also went on which was awesome and went we were dropping down you could see everything like the Cylone which is this massive roller coaster that goes so fast and is so scary and cool almost as awesome as the Runaway Reptar Roller Coaster which is also awesome and so fast and you dont sit down in it but you hang underneath the tracks and you see everything like the Claw where you spin around on this wheel and you go upside down even up to 9 stories high and you can see the skyscrapers at Surfers Paradise when you are at the top and it really makes your stomach feel queasy, just like the Wipeout which is smaller but like being stuck in a tidal wave and it was so awesome and I just love Dreamworld it is so exciting there is so much to do and when are we going back again?
He is so excited, he has so much to say! So excited in fact, that he cant stop talking! Theres no full stops in his story, Its just one big long sentence! Today we are going to look at one big long sentence in Scripture. It is written by someone so excited and excited about something much more exciting than Dreamworld! He is so excited he just cant stop writing the sentence has no full stops! It is just one big long sentence. In fact, the sentence is so long that we will have to split the sentence over two Sundays as we go through it!
This sentence is Ephesians 1:3-14, but today will will just look at verses 3-10.
In all the English translations there are full stops in this passage. The translators have made these verses into several sentences. But in the original there are no full stops! It is a 12 verse long sentence! Paul is so excited, he just keeps writing!
If we take the full stops out, as in the original, Ephesians 1.3-14 comes out something like:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ even as God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world for us to be holy and blameless before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption through Jesus Christ for Him, according to the pleasure of His will for the praise of the glory of His grace which He generously gave us in the Beloved in whom we have the redemption through His blood, which is the forgiveness of sins according to the wealth of His grace which He lavished on us in all wisdom and insight, having made known to us the mystery of His will according to His pleasure which He purposed in Christ for the plan of the fullness of time to head up all things in Christ - those in heaven and those on earthin Him, in whom also we were selected, having been predestined according to the purpose of the one who accomplishes all things according to the purpose of His will for us to be for the praise of His glory, those who had already hoped in Christ and in whom also you, having heard the word of truth, that is, the good news of your salvation, in whom you also having believed, were sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise which is the guarantee of our inheritance for the redemption of His possession for the praise of His glory!
Paul is just so excited that he cant stop. But to understand what he is saying, we need to slow down! So much so, that we will split our study of these verses over 2 Sundays. Today we look at verses 3-10.
These verses contain some incredibly profound statements. They are not just profound, but life-changing. And thats why Paul is so excited and so should we. Lets have a look at what he is so excited about:
Vs 3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
