Welcome To The Family
Pastor Mike Snodgrass
January 18,2026
A Study in Ephesians 1:1-14 – Welcome To The Family!
Overview of the Book of Ephesians:
- Author: The Apostle Paul, Paul identifies himself in verse 1. Likely written while in prison at Rome. Written around the year A.D. 60.
- Audience: The Church in Ephesus, possibly a circular letter for several area churches due to some of its features.
- City of Ephesus: Ephesus was the most important city in western Asia Minor (Turkey). Located on the most direct sea and land route to the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire. Acts chapter 19 describes the Apostle Paul’s evangelistic outreaches to this primary city.
- Theme: The central theme to this letter is that:
- All things are created for ultimate unity in Jesus! This message brings hope to a hopeless, wandering world. Our world struggles for meaning, truth and Paul expresses that this hope is found only in Christ!
- Obtain liberty through Christ! This is incredibly relevant for today’s culture and today’s church! WHY?
- The Church is the mechanism and place where this all happens! In a world so divided and hostile, the Church is to lead the way by showing the literal divided humanity coming together as one under Christ!
- Why Study: In a world of confusion, hostility, and hopelessness, Ephesians reminds us of who we are, what God has done for us and, therefore, who we can be in Christ and the ability to accomplish this through his Spirit and His Church! It is the eternal purpose of God which he is fulfilling through his Son Jesus Christ and working it out through the Church!
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- NEW FAMILY – NEW PERSPECTIVE vs.1-2
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To God’s holy people in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus: 2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
ESV Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
- Paul uses a “familial tone” in “Grace and peace”.
- Grace TO you –
- Grace is the power of God to live for God!
- Peace is God centered stillness
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- BENEFITS FOR BEING PART OF GOD’S FAMILY: Vs.3-14
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. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.
- GOD CHOSE US verses 3-4
- In spite of you…God chose you!
- Being Chosen on the playground
- Being Chosen as a spouse
- Amazing love
- John 15:16 “You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you”
- Despite our circumstances and shortcomings
- “To accept at the depth of our being that we are chosen by God is the antidote for our insecurity, our neurotic fears, our striving to be accepted, our self-depreciation”.
- Chosen for a Purpose – “To be holy and blameless in love”
- Moby Dick
- “We need something to hold in a slippery world”.
- This world and sin do not provide PURPOSE!
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- GOD ADOPTED US verses 5-6
5 In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.
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- Predestined – literally means to determine beforehand.
- Don’t get hung up on this! It has been predestined in JESUS!
- What we miss is the fact that the destiny of the Christian believer is in the hands of a God who loved us so much that He gave Himself for us in Christ!
- The salvation of Christ is universal in the sense that it is available to all.
- Paul uses the word
- Huiothesia – adopt
- To formally and legally declare that someone who is not one’s child is to be cared for as one’s own child including complete rights of inheritance.
- Adoption is receiving all of the benefits of the family inheritance.
- We are living in the RIGHT NOW BUT NOT YET!
- Sons and daughters but have not received the total of our inheritance
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- GOD REDEEMED US verse 7
7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, 9 he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.11 In him we were also chosen having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 12 in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.
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- Redeem – To Exchange Something Of Value For Something Of Equal Value! To Set Free And Save!
- Greco-Roman practice of redemption: Slaves were freed by the payment of a ransom. Similarly, the ransom necessary to free sinners from the bondage of sin and the resulting curse imposed by the law was the death of Christ (through his blood).
Galatians 3:13 – 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—
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- It was through His Blood!
Romans 3:23-25 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood…
1 Peter 1:18-19 MSG – Your life is a journey you must travel with a deep consciousness of God. It cost God plenty to get you out of that dead-end, empty-headed life you grew up in. He paid with Christ’s sacred blood, you know. He died like an unblemished, sacrificial lamb.
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- GOD FORGIVES US verses 7-8
7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding…
1 John 1:9 – 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
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- Justice satisfied means forgiveness is forever secure; God will never demand payment twice for the same sin.
- Grace – God’s free, unearned kindness and love, granting forgiveness, salvation, and spiritual strength to the undeserving.
- Grace is on the front end! We have not nor cannot earn it!
9 he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.11 In him we were also chosen having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 12 in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.
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- WE HAVE ASSURANCE verses 13-14
13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.
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- Wax seal on a letter
- Certified mail
- No greater guarantee than the Holy Spirit!
- WE RECEIVE AN INHERITANCE verse 14
13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.
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- We receive NOW that understanding of the mystery in Christ!
- We receive NOW the inheritance of God’s lavish grace because of Christ!
- The Christian mystery is not secret knowledge for a few. It is a revelation of divine truths – once hidden but now openly proclaimed!
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