08-18-2019 – What’s in a Name?

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8.18.19 ~ Ephesians 3:13-21, What’s in a Name?

Read Ephesians 3:13... Paul doesn’t want them to lose heart over his temporary suffering (see 2Corinthians 4:8-9, 16; 11:24-28), but rather consider their eternity in heaven (see Romans 8:18; Philippians 1:12-14).
Read Ephesians 3:14-15... We have been given a new name (see John 3: 3, 5-6; 1:12-13).
Our most distant relative is God Himself.
Genesis 1:26, “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.’”
Genesis 1:27, “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”
Genesis 2:7, “Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.”
Genesis 2:18, “Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.’”
Genesis 2:21-22, “So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man.
Christians are related to Abraham, not through his bloodline, but through his faith (see Romans 4:1-3).
Abraham (cf. Genesis 15:6) believed that God would give him numerous descendants (see Romans 4:19-25).
Abraham is the true spiritual father of all who trust and believe in Christ (Galatians 3:26-29).
The word Christian means adherent [close follower] of Christ (cf. Acts 26:28, becoming one; Acts 11:26, living as one; 1Peter 4:16, suffering as one).
Read Ephesians 3:16-19... Paul wants us to grasp and appropriate all we have in Christ (cf. 2Peter 1:1-3), not because of any inherent goodness, ancestral heritage, or could ever earn it, but because God loves us so much.
Paul prays for us to be strengthened in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, because we have confessed that Jesus is Lord, believing in our heart that God raised Him from the dead, making us God's possession, God’s children.
Your Father in heaven has given you His name and all that you need, now and forever through Jesus Christ.
Philippians 4:12-13, “I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”
Read Ephesians 3:20-21... Paul encourages us to have confidence in God “who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think," and this is "according to the power that works within us,” through God's Holy Spirit.
Everything we do individually, and corporately, in the Church, is for God's glory, "throughout all generations, for ever and ever!”
Colossians 3:17, “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.”
And all God's children said? Amen!