🌐 Learn more about Sonrise Church: www.sonrisebc.org💒 Support Sonrise: https://sonrise-bc.churchcenter.com/giving📱 Download our App: https://get.theapp.co/r78g🎥 Streaming License: CSPL166462🎵 CCLI License: 646243📖 Study Questions: https://sonrisebc.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Ephesians_Introduction_LifeGroup.pdf

In Ephesians 1:1–6, Paul opens his most sweeping letter from a Roman prison cell, and the first six verses carry the weight of eternity. Before unpacking the text, we trace the man behind the pen: Saul of Tarsus, a Pharisee so zealous he hunted Christians house to house, held coats at Stephen's stoning, and obtained letters of authority to extend persecution to Damascus. Then Christ captured him on the road, blinded him, humbled him, and redirected his life forever.The recipients matter just as much. These Ephesian believers emerged from the Artemis cult and Greco-Roman paganism with zero Old Testament background. Everything Paul teaches about identity in Christ was brand-new revelation to them. The letter unfolds in three movements: In Christ (what God has done), Like Christ (how identity shapes daily life), and For Christ (where you represent Him in home, work, and spiritual battle).Paul then opens the letter itself with a greeting that doubles as an act of defiance: calling Jesus Kyrios (Lord) in a Roman imperial stronghold where that title belonged to Caesar. He declares that God has blessed every believer with every spiritual blessing, chosen us before the foundation of the world, and predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, the Beloved. If your identity has been shaped more by culture than by Scripture, this letter begins to change that today.Key Texts: Ephesians 1:1–6; Acts 9:1–19; Philippians 3:5; Acts 7:58–8:3; Acts 19:24–27; Acts 20:29–31; John 3:16; John 16:33; 2 Peter 3:9; Revelation 2:1–7#Ephesians #BibleTeaching #ApostlePaul #Grace #Church #ChristianLiving #Discipleship #ChosenByGod #SpiritualBlessings #Jesus #NewTestament #Identity #SonriseChurchUtah