The book of Ezekiel is among one of the hardest books of the Bible to understand. Yet, amidst all the imagery and obscurity, Ezekiel’s ministry was fundamentally a ministry of hope. This week, Rob preaches from Ezekiel 47.1-12, and invites us to experience the hope of Ezekiel’s vision.

Ezekiel is standing on this tiptoes, and he’s looking over the ledge – he’s trying to catch a glimpse of what God was doing in his day. And what he saw was something far greater than he could have ever dared to imagine! He’s seen a temple filled with the presence of God – and realized that God is going to come and dwell with his people again. And he’s seen a river – an impossible river that flows from God’s temple – and which brings the presence of God to the people, and brings healing and transformation and life wherever it flows.

From the very beginning of his letter to the church in Ephesus, the Apostle Paul’s writing and imagination is steeped in God’s activity in Jesus Christ. And he wants us to get caught up in that with him. As we continue our series going through Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, Rob preaches from Ephesians 1.11-14.

As he finishes unpacking the longest sentence in the New Testament, looks at the third blessing Paul identifies – that we have been given a future blessing, having been sealed by the Holy Spirit as a guarantee of our inheritance in God’s Kingdom. And this means we can take heart, and not despair for how things seem in the world around us, because we have received a living and assured hope – a hope that has been proven by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and which has been guaranteed to us by the sending of the Holy Spirit.

From the very beginning of his letter to the church in Ephesus, the Apostle Paul’s writing and imagination is steeped in God’s activity in Jesus Christ. And he wants us to get caught up in that with him. As we continue our series going through Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, Rob preaches from Ephesians 1.7-10.

As he continues to unpack the longest sentence in the New Testament, he looks at the second blessing Paul identifies – that in the present, we have received redemption. But in order for us to have redemption now, it means that we must have once been in bondage to something, and couldn’t free ourselves. As we press into the meaning of redemption, we find that we have been liberated through the abundant showering of God’s grace, so that we can be united together to Jesus in his new Kingdom.

From the very beginning of his letter to the church in Ephesus, the Apostle Paul’s writing and imagination is steeped in God’s activity in Jesus Christ. And he wants us to get caught up in that with him. As we continue our series going through Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, Rob preaches from Ephesians 1.3-6.

As he begins to unpack the longest sentence in the New Testament, he shows us that Paul is stretching and expanding our horizons to behold reality and time as so much bigger than we realized. And from our expanded horizons, Paul shows us that, before the beginning of creation, God’s end goal was not that we would simply exist and be ‘out there’ – but rather that we could come and be gathered up into him, and be adopted as his children.

From the very beginning of his letter to the church in Ephesus, the Apostle Paul’s writing and imagination is steeped in God’s activity in Jesus Christ. And he wants us to get caught up in that with him. As we begin a new preaching series going through Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, Rob preaches from Ephesians 1.1-2.

Unpacking Paul’s greeting to this church in Ephesus, and the say he addresses them, he helps us to see that from the very first words of this letter – and before he’s even got to verse 3 – the way Paul says “hello” reveals he is intent on grounding us in the good news of Jesus Christ, and the implications for what it means in our lives.