Hope you are having a blessed 6^th day of Christmas!  This Sunday, we will conclude our Christmas celebrations as we hear the good news from the letter to the Ephesians:

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, ⁴just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. ⁵He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, ⁶to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. ⁷In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace ⁸that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight ⁹he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, ¹⁰as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. ¹¹In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, ¹²so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory. ¹³In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; ¹⁴this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God's own people, to the praise of his glory.  Ephesians 1:3-14

As we conclude the Christmas season, we are reminded of the blessings we have received in Christ:  spiritual blessings, adoption, redemption, forgiveness, knowledge of the mystery of God's will, an inheritance . . .  all this and more lavished upon us!  Makes most of our gift giving at Christmas seem pretty puny!

·         How would you describe the spiritual blessings you receive from your relationship with Christ?

·         Back in the 1970s, there was an evangelism campaign using bumper stickers that read: "I found it," but this passage reminds us that we haven't found God rather God has found and chosen us. 

o   What difference does it make in your life to believe that God has chosen you to be a part of his own people?

·         One phrase that is repeated several times in various ways is that all things happen in accordance with God's will.  What does this passage tell us about God's will?

·         This passage also reminds us that God's plan is to gather "all things in him."  If we are to be a part of God's plan, what does it mean to our personal evangelism and our corporate ministry to work towards the day when "all things" on heaven and earth are gathered into God?

Have a happy and safe New Year!

See you on Sunday!