Daily Dose of the Word of God - Ephesians 1: 3-7a

Kara Hackert, Director of Children & Family Ministires

Transcript

Kara Hackert  0:06 

Welcome to Elmhurst CRC's daily dose of the Word of God. I'm Kara Hackert. It's Tuesday, September 12 and Sunday's coming. This week we'll be climbing the ladder of faith with an emphasis on the letter A, which signifies adoption. Today we're going to read from Ephesians 1, verses 3 through 7a.

Kara Hackert   0:27 

Praise God for his spiritual blessings in Christ. Give praise to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing. Those blessings come from the heavenly world. They belong to us because we belong to Christ. God chose us to belong to Christ before the world was created. He chose us to be holy, without blame in his eyes; he loved us. So he decided long ago to adapt us. He adopted us as his children with all the rights children have. He did it because of what Jesus Christ has done. It pleased God to do it. All those things bring praise to his glorious grace. God freely gave us his grace because of the one he loves. We've been set free because of what Christ has done. Because he bled and died. Our sins have been forgiven. We have been set free because God's grace is so rich.

Kara Hackert   1:26 

Did you hear that line? We belong to Christ. Take a slow, deep breath and listen again: we belong to Christ. You belong to Christ. He has chosen you and he loves you. He decided long ago to adopt you as his child. It's not because of something you did to deserve it, or because you're good enough. He freely gives you this gift of grace. The work is his and because of his sacrifice, you have been forgiven and set free.

Kara Hackert  2:01  

Let's pray together. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for your many blessings. Thank you especially for the blessing of belonging to you. Thank you for choosing us to be your children and for adopting us into your family. Please help us live lives that praise you, Amen.