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 Mystery 2   The Church as The TEMPLE Of GOD

The Mystery of Christ Made Known In Us --We are HIS TEMPLE  Eph 2:11–2:22

  Mystery Made Known (in Paul’s “prior words” per Eph 3:3)    (Body in 2:16)

 Past and Present Conditions of Those Without Christ Ephesians 2:11-22

The Gentiles were without Christ, aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenants, without hope and without God. Now Gentiles who were once far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. God makes known what He had planned before the foundation of the world.

– Through the precious blood of Christ there are three things He does:

1. He is our peace, making both Jew and Gentile one;

2. He has broken down the middle wall and abolished Nationalities - Jew and Gentile no longer separated by the Law.

3. He makes in Himself one New Man. This is what God has accomplished, taking believing Jews and believing Gentiles, gathering them into one; the masterwork of God. Today God is building His Church through the work of the Holy Spirit, with believers the living stones and Christ the Chief Cornerstone.

  Mystery 3 Mystery of – CHRIST Our Inheritance (Eph 3:4-8)  –    (Body in 3:6)

A. God has made known to Paul the mystery which was hidden in other generations that the Gentiles should be partakers of His promise in Christ by the Gospel.

- The Old Testament has many promises for the Gentile nations, but that we have been made fellow-heirs and partakers of Christ had not been made clear until the Book of Acts was written.

B. That Paul was made a minister in The Power of GOD for the sake of The Gentiles.

- Paul might have made much of the ministry to which God called him and the superior knowledge by revelation, but rather they humbled him before God. The more we know of the mysterious plans of God, the less we will think of ourselves and the more we will glory in God. The purpose of Paul’s preaching was to make all men see what the fellowship of the mystery was in Christ, that the manifold wisdom of God might be known by the Church.

Mystery 3 – The Day of Pentecost: and the Infilling of The Holy Spirit into all who believe. In Chapter 4 we have 4 verses dealing with The Holy Spirit and 3 in Chapter 2 --  and 2 verses in each of the other chapters. So the center of Who, Where and Why deals with The Holy Spirit IN Believers Doing What God wants us to do....

(Mystery 3 is briefly treated in Ephesians and is sandwiched between The Passover and The Day of Trumpets:) Other Books like Galatians and parts of Romans deal with the importance of The Holy Spirit, being the New Testament Way of Life leading to Righteousness.

1 & 2 Passover (Unleavened Bread) -- Jesus has paid the price and directs to be holy          

3 Pentecost (Feast of Weeks) -- The Holy Spirit has directed Believers to live The Word.

4 Trumpets - Ephesians, Colossians, Galatians sets out the boundaries for The Church

       Trumpets (The Voice of God) is the Theme of Ephesians as a whole....