What is so important that you are willing to be imprisoned for it? Paul was a prisoner, apparently under house arrest in Rome. He writes, I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus. Did you hear what Paul said? . . . I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus.

Paul writes, I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus. Paul is not in prison because of Roman law. He is not in prison because of some crime. Paul is not a prisoner of the Romans. He is not a prisoner of the Jews. He is not Nero’s prisoner. Paul is the prisoner of Christ. What a staggering statement. What an amazing declaration.

No wonder Paul pauses before praying … In view of all that God has done for us in Christ . . . Paul is about to pray for the Christians in Ephesus but he pauses mid-sentence, he is arrested by what he writes.

Ephesians 3:1-13

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Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. That’s how the New Living Translation begins this passage. Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. And yet we do. We forget this fact. We were outsiders!

Just recently, I was reminded about the film ‘The Outsiders’. It is based on the 1965 coming-of-age novel by S.E. Hinton and it follows two rival gangs, the Greasers and the Socs. The book has the same title as the film — The Outsiders.  The Oxford dictionary defines an ‘outsider’ as a ‘foreigner’. It is someone who is excluded from or is not a member of a group. It is a person who does not belong to a particular organization or profession.

The dictionary gives an example of usage, “There were the popular kids and then there was me, the outsider who didn’t belong to any of the categories that made up our school.” Do you identify with that picture? Have you ever been made to feel an outsider?

Reading: Ephesians 2:11-22

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Reading: Ephesians 2:1-10

On Thursday’ morning, I woke up with the word ‘PROFILE’ in my mind. It wasn’t as if I had gone to bed thinking about the word. In fact it wasn’t as if I had thought about it in the previous days. 

The word ‘profile’ was quickly followed by the word ‘IDENTITY’. I then knew what it was about — EPHESIANS Chapter Two  — Paul’s Letter to the Christians in First Century Ephesus. Just don’t ask me how I knew this, I just did.

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“Please, sir, I want some more.” 

Let it be crystal clear that when you come to God and ask for more, you are not coming to some hard or tyrannical workhouse master - you are coming to your loving Heavenly Father who lavishes his love and grace upon you.

We could spend eternity praising our Father God for the grace that he has lavished on us. But Paul does not stop there – he keeps pressing on for more. Are you hungry for God? In Psalm 34 the Psalmist says, Taste and see that the Lord  is good. Are you feeding on the living bread, but hungry for more?

Reading: Ephesians 1:15-23

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Some people have what is commonly called the gift of the gab. They can sit down on a plane or a train, a bus or a boat and strike up a conversation with a total stranger. Without appearing too inquisitive or in your face -  they seem to know the right questions to ask or the correct comments to make — they are masters of small talk. 

Others of us have to work hard at making conversation. Perhaps we do not identify easily with total strangers. Perhaps we are afraid that we will be rejected. Perhaps we feel we lack the necessary skills:

We don’t know the comments to make. We do not know the questions to ask. We are not good at small talk.

It can be a bit like that with prayer …

Reading: Ephesians 1:1-14

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The first in the series, “Christ Speaks to his Church”. Ephesus

[podcast]http://www.wiveliscombe-congregational.org.uk/Audio08/ephesus.mp3[/podcast]

Bible Reading: “Revelation 2:1-7″ or to listen click here