Summary of Be together
Preamble
Kirk tells a story about his freshman year (first year university) while living in Ottawa. Ottawa is cold! Kirk use to walk and skate on the river to school. Then his grandmother bought him a bus pass. Kirk explains his frustration about standing at a bus stop…in the freezing cold! Kirk also discusses how hard it was to connect with people since he lived off campus. Then in late December Kirk was able to move into one of the residence that was on campus. Kirk discovered how enjoyable life “on the inside” was compared to the off campus living.
Now everyone is offered the “on the inside” access to the family of God – not just the jews
Kirk connects his freshman year experience of living off canvas to then moving on campus to the concepts in Ephesians chapter 1 and 2. In these opening chapters Paul writes that everyone is given access to God through Jesus Christ — not just the Jews. (Ref: Eph 1:13-14.)
Paul is writing from prison (Ephesians 3:1)
Kirk does a summary of how Paul has ended up in a Roman prison in Rome.
Paul isn’t discouraged because of his circumstances. Paul could have easily been discouraged. It doesn’t seem like things are going his way. It seems like his quest of proclaiming the Gospel is being derailed. But instead Paul uses this situation to continue proclaiming the Gospel. He also continues to support and care for the churches he has visited by writing to them. One of his letters was written to the church in Ephesus.
Paul calls himself a prisoner of Jesus Christ
Paul doesn’t even view the Romans as the reason for his confinement. He credits Jesus with his imprisonment, meaning, he realizes this is all for Jesus and because of Jesus.
Ephesians 3:4-6
Kirk points out that Paul spent 3 years learning about the “mystery” of Jesus Christ. Kirk challenges us to spend time investigating God, through study and prayer. We must seek God to understand him.
The Gospel can’t be contained
We can see that Paul was able to proclaim the Gospel even from prison.
The Gospel can’t be muted
We can see that Paul was given audience with high power political officials and military leaders. Paul couldn’t be stopped even in circumstances that seemed very stifling.
The Gospel can’t be stopped
Phil 1:12-13 – Paul writes that because of his confinement the word of the Gospel has spread further and faster than expected. It was even recorded that members of Caesar’s household became believers.
About this Message Series
This is a message in a series called Ephesians. The goal of this series is to discuss the topics and themes that arise from the New Testament book Ephesians. The book of Ephesians is a letter that Paul wrote while in prison. Sometimes it is called a Prison Epistle. It was written to encourage believers. He was encouraging other faithful followers of Jesus to serve in unity and love in the midst of persecution. This series was started in January 2016.
About the Speaker
Kirk Wood is the associate pastor of community engagement at SouthRidge Church in Langley. He grew up loving hockey and even became a pro hockey ref, as well as a fire fighter, all before becoming a pastor.