Ephesians 1:1-2
From Paul, who by God's will is an apostle of Christ Jesus—To God's people in Ephesus, who are faithful in their life in union with Christ Jesus: May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.

Paul always begins his letters with this wish of “grace and peace”. It’s a combination of a Greek greeting (grace) with a Jewish greeting (peace). So he’s fulfilling his mission of being a missionary to the Gentile world by bringing the good news of Jesus Christ, a Jewish carpenter.

Over the next few weeks, we’re going to be looking at the book of Ephesians. This morning, I want to launch us into that with a brief overview of one of the central themes of the book—a theme that should excite you and relax you at the same time. The theme of:

7.18.10 – The Unbreakable Seal

I am (finally) going to release "All the Time in Our World" as a single volume. Before doing so, I wanted to alert my readers here because, if you have already read "All the Time in the World" in it's four parts, you don't need to get this edition as there will be no difference. (As much as my pocketbook wouldn't mind the double-dipping, I don't want to stiff you, the people who make writing worthwhile.)

I wrote the following in response to a reader who had read (and liked!) “The Nice Guy” and wanted to know when the next Bat Garrett book would be out. He also wanted to know about the next Edward and Marianne story, so I answered that, too.

7.11.10 – For the last four weeks I’ve been talking about our mission statement. Why?

Mostly, it’s about focus. We’re not a big congregation (as you may have noticed), but we are a congregation that—I believe—was put here by God for a reason.

We’re limited in our resources. A larger congregation might be able to offer a singles class and a ministry to expectant moms and a dozen other distinct ministries. At this point in time, we can’t do that. So we narrow our focus to what we can do and what we must do.