Chosen

Message Notes

After Jesus ascension and the coming of the Holy Spirit, the church was launched and began to spread. It started in Jerusalem with the Apostles and quickly spread to Antioch due to persecution.

One key city the gospel spread to was Ephesus. Ephesus was part of the Roman empire and a central city for commerce, culture, and governance. Ephesus was a central city that had surrounding villages.

On Paul’s first two missionary journeys he traveled all over what is now modern day Turkey, Greece, Iraq, and Syria.

On Paul’s third missionary journey his target city is Ephesus.
This is where he knew God wanted him to go and plant a new church.

Ephesus was known for its massive temple to the Greek mythological goddess Artemis.
Artemis was the goddess of the hunt, wild animals, nature, vegetation, childbirth, care of children, and chastity.
Artemis was also a patron of healing and disease, particularly among women and children, and believed to send both good health and illness upon women and children.

The temple of Artemis is considered to be one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
It was massive in size, scope, and influence. Many people made their living off selling sacrifices and statues to this goddess.

Paul would have seen the temple of Artemis long before he actually reached Ephesus.
He walked with confidence knowing that is where he was called to serve.
Once there, Paul began to preach and teach. People responded in mass and a new church was born.

Paul’s time in Ephesus is well documented in Acts 19.
According to Acts 19, Paul spent about 3 years in the city teaching people about Jesus, two of those years were spent teaching in a school.

God used Paul in a mighty way.

“God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.”
Acts 19:11-12

Around two years later Paul was imprisoned in Rome for preaching the gospel.
He was put under house arrest.
He became very dependent on his visitors because they were the ones who brought him food and provisions.
He was in chains, yet had some freedoms.

While under house arrest, a man by the name of Tychicus came to visit Paul.
Paul had written a letter that would travel with Tychicus back to Ephesus to be shared with the believers.

This letter is what we know as “Ephesians”

Even though Paul was bound by chains by the Romans, he knew that he was free in Christ.
He wanted them to know that their temple was not made by human hands.
Their temple was eternal, made by the power of the Holy Spirit that resided in them.

In these verses Paul conveys deep spiritual truth that applies to every believer in real time.

Believers are

- Showered in God’s kindness
- Chosen for greatness
- Marked with the Holy Spirit.
This changes everything.

Why does it change everything?
Because once you know that God is for you and with you - it gives you purpose, meaning, and security.

“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To God’s holy people in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Ephesians 1:1-2

One of the best known reasons for why people don’t trust Jesus is because they know a few of his followers.

“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. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 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….”
Ephesians 1:3-8a

Believers are showered in God’s kindness.

God blesses every believer in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
Blessings such as peace, joy, love, spiritual gifts, insight in to God’s will for us, and the joy of looking forward to spending eternity with Jesus.

If you grew up in an environment where you were never good enough, this may be hard to accept.
Same is true if you are in a relationship where your partner constantly highlights all your faults.
You hear it enough, eventually you start believing the lies.

This is truth, God is for you and showers blessings on you.
Receive them. Embrace the blessings.
Stop telling yourself that you are not good enough to be blessed or that God would rather bless someone better.
Just take in His promises and own them because God gives them to you.
You are loved, you are wanted, you are chosen.

“… With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ. 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, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.”
Ephesians 1:8b-12

Believers are chosen for greatness.

Before the creation of the world God chose you. God picked you.

Pastor John’s Story about football

You are not God’s last pick you are his first pick.
You are His first-round draft pick.
God chose you before the creation of the world, He wants you on His team.
He chose you for greatness.
God is for you.
He wants to bless you because you are His child.

“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, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.”
Ephesians 1:13-14

Believers have been marked by the Holy Spirit.

How does God mark you? By putting the Holy Spirit in you.

The moment you heard the truth that Jesus Christ is LORD,
and chose to repent of your sins,
and chose to believe in Jesus,
the Holy Spirit indwelled you.

This mark is the guarantee that you are his.

Pastor John’s Story about old tools

When you believe in Jesus, even if your faith gets rusty or weak, you are still a child of God.

Having the Holy Spirit also guarantees your eternal inheritance.
That eternal inheritance is waiting for you in heaven.

The kingdom of God isn’t just about the here and now, it’s about the “there and then.”
We live for God’s glory here and now and get to be with him forever in heaven.

This is a well-founded hope that enables believers to overcome any immediate struggle.
We know that this world is not our home forever. Our eternal home is not the grave, it is not ashes in a box, it is in heaven where everything works and every relationship is good and everyone has a perfect body that isn’t broken or infected with illness.

The gospel doesn’t affirm our behaviors, it transforms them.

The gospel is what transformed people who worshipped Artemis turning them into Christ followers.
The gospel is what set people free from sexual sin.
The gospel is what set people free from shame.
The gospel is what made everyone equal before God almighty unlike the culture of the day.
The gospel brought people together and didn’t divide them.

Paul witnessed the transformation of believers not the affirmation of a sinful life.