February 22, 2023 • Will Ramirez
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<aside> 🗒️ Summary
In the book of Ephesians, Paul writes to encourage the Ephesians to walk in the riches of God's grace. He wanted them to understand the wonderful blessings that God gives to every person who is in Christ. One of these blessings is the creation of the church, which Paul discusses in chapter two. He explains that God brought the Gentiles and Jews together to form one body united through Jesus. In chapter three, Paul reveals that part of God's plan for his life was to preach the good news to the Gentiles and to reveal that the creation of the church was part of God's master plan.
My topic this morning is the purposes of God. I want to discuss how God is a planner and how he carries out his plans. As we look at passages that mention his will and purpose, we can see that God's will is not a sterile, unemotional decision on his part. It's based on his desires and his goodness. We can see this in Matthew 18, where Jesus shares a parable about a shepherd who leaves his 99 sheep to find the one that went astray. Jesus is telling us that God doesn't want anyone to perish. He wants a relationship with every single one of us.
God's plans are rooted in his loving intent and goodwill towards us. We need to remember this when we discuss difficult topics such as abortion and transgenderism. God wants certain things, and he makes plans based on those desires. The Bible tells us that God's will shapes his eternal purposes, not the other way around. When we understand this, we can see that God's plans are not arbitrary or cold. They are based on his love for us, and his desire to see us thrive. Let us remember that as we seek to understand the purposes of God.
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