Heaven Defines Us (1 of 3)
Series: Heaven
Tony Nester
Ephesians 1:3-14
Last week I tried to bring Heaven closer to us. Instead of setting Heaven so high above us that we can't see into it, and so far ahead of us that it recedes away into the future, I wanted you to see Heaven as the Apostle Paul did: as a reality that's touching us now.
I quoted Dallas Willard who was fond of saying, ''Eternity is in session.''
And going back into the Gospels, I quoted Jesus who announced that the Kingdom of God is close, at hand, and in us.
And what I hoped you would recognize is that Heaven grounds us. Once you know that you have been made alive in Christ, and raised with Christ, and seated in the Heavenly places with Christ, then you have a spiritual grounding in your life. Because you know your place in Heaven, you can handle the places you find yourself in on earth.
Now today I want to engage with another reason Paul says Heaven matters now to every believer in Christ.
The comedienne, Lily Tomlin, once quipped, ''I always wanted to be somebody, but I should have been more specific.''
Paul gets specific about our Christian identity. He does this by identifying the heavenly realities which shape our earthly life. He calls these realities our ''spiritual blessings in the heavenly places.'' (Ephesians 1:3).
And once he begins identifying these blessings, he goes on and on; he can hardly stop himself.
In your Bibles you'll find that Ephesians 1:3-14 is divided into numerous sentences.
But that's not the way Paul wrote it, or perhaps dictated it. In the Greek it's all one sentence of 202 words! It's as though once he began talking about how much of Heaven we have been given, he couldn't stop until he finally ran out of breath.
Heaven is touching us now, Paul says, by blessing us with every blessing Heaven has to offer us:
We are, he says, chosen, holy, blameless, loved, destined, adopted, God's own children, beloved, redeemed, forgi ...
Series: Heaven
Tony Nester
Ephesians 1:3-14
Last week I tried to bring Heaven closer to us. Instead of setting Heaven so high above us that we can't see into it, and so far ahead of us that it recedes away into the future, I wanted you to see Heaven as the Apostle Paul did: as a reality that's touching us now.
I quoted Dallas Willard who was fond of saying, ''Eternity is in session.''
And going back into the Gospels, I quoted Jesus who announced that the Kingdom of God is close, at hand, and in us.
And what I hoped you would recognize is that Heaven grounds us. Once you know that you have been made alive in Christ, and raised with Christ, and seated in the Heavenly places with Christ, then you have a spiritual grounding in your life. Because you know your place in Heaven, you can handle the places you find yourself in on earth.
Now today I want to engage with another reason Paul says Heaven matters now to every believer in Christ.
The comedienne, Lily Tomlin, once quipped, ''I always wanted to be somebody, but I should have been more specific.''
Paul gets specific about our Christian identity. He does this by identifying the heavenly realities which shape our earthly life. He calls these realities our ''spiritual blessings in the heavenly places.'' (Ephesians 1:3).
And once he begins identifying these blessings, he goes on and on; he can hardly stop himself.
In your Bibles you'll find that Ephesians 1:3-14 is divided into numerous sentences.
But that's not the way Paul wrote it, or perhaps dictated it. In the Greek it's all one sentence of 202 words! It's as though once he began talking about how much of Heaven we have been given, he couldn't stop until he finally ran out of breath.
Heaven is touching us now, Paul says, by blessing us with every blessing Heaven has to offer us:
We are, he says, chosen, holy, blameless, loved, destined, adopted, God's own children, beloved, redeemed, forgi ...
There are 11576 characters in the full content. This excerpt only shows a 2000 character sample of the full content.
Price: $5.99 or 1 credit
