SERIES INTRODUCTION

We start this new year returning back to the book of Ephesians and a focus on the renewed vision that Paul longs for every person and every community to experience. God’s aim is that according to the riches of His glory He may grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love. (Ephesians 3:16-17, ESV)

Ground in love. Settled in love. Rooted in love. Driven by Love. To live love. To love well. Is that really possible? Perhaps you too have noticed that the Christian church often designates “love” as a simplistic topic suitable mostly  for children’s Bible study groups. Of course we think it’s important—and we certainly ask others to try it. Perhaps most of us only really believe that true love will be possible when Jesus returns and the world is renewed and made afresh. Our fallen natures make love an impossible ideal in the world as it currently exists. Yet for Paul, who was inspired by the Holy Spirit as he wrote to the people in Ephesus—and to us today—there is a transformative power simply waiting for us to accept its movement in our lives.

We invite you to join us over the next four weeks as we challenge one another to consider what it could be like if we were to be grounded in love—

—in our Circle, through Ephesians 3:1-21. The Holy Spirit is the driving force that makes us vulnerable and honest in our personal relationships.

—in our Church, through Ephesians 3:1:-21. The Church is a living, breathing example to all the world that God’s wisdom is brilliant and appealing.

—in our Community, through Ephesians 5:1-6:9. We are to love our neighbors, to love like Jesus, to love on the next level.

—in our Center, through Ephesians 6:10-20. We are to be connected more deeply with Jesus through prayer. Jesus is our center and we will never give up because we are grounded in His love.

May we grow in our faith and be grounded in the love of Jesus.

Japhet J. De Oliveira
Senior Pastor 
Boulder Adventist Church

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Exploring Ephesians by George Knight
Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching by Ralph P. Martin
The Prison Letters for Everyone by N.T. Wright
Ephesians: Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary by Thomas B. Slater
Ephesians For You by Richard Coekin
Ephesians: Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament by Clinton E. Arnold
The Acts of the Apostles by Ellen G. White
The Message of Ephesians by John R. W. Stott
The Untold Story of the New Testament Church by Frank Viola
The Story of God Bible Commentary: Ephesians by Mark D Roberts and Scot McKnight