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Small Group Guide and Summary of my Sermon Notes!

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Eph 1:8-9 God made known to us the mystery of His will . . . which he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth.!

! en christou - Greek! ! WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE IN CHRIST? ! ! ! Introduction:! ! !

I REALLY WANT TO FOSTER IN YOU A LOVE FOR THE BIBLE! I WANT YOU TO SEE THE BIG OVER ARCHING THEMES OF THE BIBLE! I WANT YOU TO SEE HOW THE OLD TESTAMENT RELATES TO THE NEW TESTAMENT! I WANT YOU TO SEE GODS PLAN FROM THE BEGINNING! I WANT YOU TO KNOW THE FULL STORY OF THE GOSPEL!

This semester I will be teaching through the book of Ephesians. This is one of my favorite books in the Bible because it brings together so many HUGE themes. Ive titled this series All Things because Ephesians covers the biggest themes in the Bible:! 1. Who are you? What is your identity? And what does this mean for your life . . . ! 2. What are the implications of your identity for your life? !

3. 4. 5. 6.

What was Gods plan from the beginning? ! WHAT IS THE GOSPEL?! WHAT IS THE CHURCH?! What is the Churchs role in the world? !

2 MAIN PARTS TO THE BOOK:! - Chapters 1-3 are THEOLOGICAL! - Chapters 4-6 are about the CHURCH AND PRACTICAL LIFE ISSUES!

! ! The Big Picture: The Beginning! ! Ephesians starts in Genesis. ! !

Genesis 12:3 I will bless those who bless you, and curse those who dishonor you, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.!

! God had a plan to bless all the families of the earth. And he was going to do it through Abraham. ! ! Yet, it was a mystery as to how God was going to accomplish this plan.! !
After Adam and Eve ate the fruit there was NO way for sinful humanity to be in relationship with God. So God chose Abraham, revealed himself to Abraham, and said Abraham it all starts with you! Im going to use you to bring the World back into relationship with me. Through you all the nations of the world are going to be blessed. You are the doorway Abraham! !

So God chose Abraham to be the father of the nation of Israel. Isaac and Jacob came along and then the nation of Israel grew to millions of people. !

! So God set up a temporary Structure for them to be in relationship with Him. ! ! What was that Temporary Structure? The Law, Sacrices, Temple, and Priesthood.! ! ! ! !

But we all know that the blood of Bulls and goats will never solve the the problem of sin. The Law only served as a structure to make us aware of our sin so we can become aware of our need for God to rescue us. The Law teaches us humility and dependence on God because we are complete failures without His help. ! So Israel lived under the Law for a LONG time. The Law, Torah, was how they related to God. And, unless you were an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, then you were excluded from the blessing of being in covenant relationship with God through the Law.! Which leads us to the question, How is God going to fulll his promise to Abraham? How is He going to bless all the nations of the earth through Abrahams family (Israel)? Because, at that point in history, Israel was clearly the only nation with the blessing and privilege of being Gods chosen people. !

Mystery Revealed!

At this point there is an in-crowd and and out-crowd. Youre either in or your out and there is almost no way to change it. !

! In Crowd and Out Crowd. ! ! Narcotics Ofcer Illustration! ! In some ways the same is True for the Covenant Family of God (relating to the previous story)! !
Before Christ came on the scene the Covenant Family of God was restricted to Abrahams Offspring. In other words, If you were not an Israelite, and born into a Hebrew family, then you had almost no chance of having a relationship with God. !

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God established Israel as His covenant family. He made the promises to Abraham. And He said that IN ABRAHAM the nations of the world will be blessed. ! But this didnt make any sense because, at this point, only Israel was getting blessed. The nations of the earth, the Gentiles - YOU AND ME - were excluded from Israel and living in isolation from God. !

! There was an insurmountable division between us and God. ! ! THE TURNING POINT IN THE STORY! ! But God had a plan to expand His family. To Expand it a LOT. He wanted his family to grow.! ! ! ! Gods mystery was being revealed. ! ! !

Gods mystery of salvation hadnt been revealed yet. He hadnt yet shown the world how he was going to save everyone, including the Gentiles. ! AND then, at the turning point of History, there was born a baby in a manger to a Virgin named Mary. And He was the Son of God. !

It was no longer about how you related to Abraham the Israelite. It was now how you related to Jesus the Son of God. ! It was as if God said, You want to know how Im going to bless the whole world through you Abraham? Im going to do it through his great, great, great, great, great, great, great . . . grandson. And His name will be Jesus. !

! Funnel Example:! ! Get kids up front - Someone is Abraham and someone is Jesus. ! !
Abraham:! - Only descendants are included in his family. ! - Gentiles have no chance!

Jesus:! - All who have faith in Christ are in ! - Including Gentiles who are strangers to the promises of God. ! - All are united in the one new man!

! Everything Given to christ is now Given to us. This is what it means to be In Christ. ! !
Paul says it like this: (Ephesians 1:3-14)! In christ you are - ! - BLESSED WITH EVERY SPIRITUAL BLESSING IN THE HEAVENLY REALMS! - CHOSEN BY GOD! - HOLY AND BLAMELESS! - LOVED! - ADOPTED INTO HIS FAMILY! - REDEEMED FROM SIN! - FORGIVEN OF SIN! - COVERED IN GRACE! - HEIRS OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD! - FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT!

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Youre identity is NOW in Christ. God loves you with the same love as He loves Jesus. He sees you in the same way that He sees His son Jesus. ! This is possible because the promises to Abraham have now been extended to the entire world through Jesus Christ. THIS IS HUGE! THIS IS THE GOSPEL.!

! THIS IS GODS MYSTERY REVEALED. ! ! QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION! ! !

1. Where does the story of the Gospel begin (Based on our discussion in this teaching)? ! 1. Answer - Gen 12:3 with Gods promise to Abraham. ! - How has your understanding of the Gospel in the past been decient or lacking? ! - Explain to the group what you believed the Gospel to be. ! 2. Why is it important for you to know the whole story of the Gospel?! ! - A lot of right answers here, but Im looking specically for our need to understand the full promises of God as revealed in the Old Testament and the New Testament. ! - Why is it important for us to understand that God made a promise to bless Abraham?! ! - Because we are included in the promise and the blessing. It is important to know what a privilege it is to be included (grafted) into the people of God. !

4. How are we included into the covenant family of God? ! ! - Through Christ. It is no longer restricted to Abrahams descendents. ! 5. What does it mean that our identity is in Christ? ! ! - Spend some time talking about the above list from Ephesians 1:3-14