This is a subtitle for your new post

Introduction
: Last week I spoke from Ephesians 4 about Unity.
This week I move a chapter up to Ephesians 3 and to verses 14-21.
There are two words in this text: Rooted and Grounded that are the ‘foundational words’ of a few weeks of subjects for my Sunday AM messages.
Context
:
• For a brief time at the end of his second missionary journey, and then for more than two years on his third missionary journey, Paul ministered to the church at Ephesus (Acts 18:18–21; 19:1–41). During his time in this city that housed the famous temple to the Greek goddess Artemis, Paul saw many converted to faith in Jesus Christ and many others who opposed his preaching in the synagogues and homes.
• Paul wrote the letter to the Ephesians sometime in AD 60–61, around the same time he wrote Colossians and Philemon, as he sent all three letters by the hand of Tychicus, accompanied by Onesimus (Ephesians 6:21; Colossians 4:7–9; Philemon 1:10–12). It was during this time that Paul sat in Rome undergoing his first Roman imprisonment (Ephesians 3:1; 4:1), making Ephesians one of the four epistles commonly known as the Prison Epistles. The others are Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon.
• Paul divided his letter to the Ephesians into two clear segments; applying the truths of the first makes possible the actions and lifestyle of the second. Paul spent the first three chapters of the letter discussing God’s creation of a holy community by His gift of grace in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The members of this community have been chosen by God through the work of Christ, adopted as sons and daughters of God, and brought near to the Father through faith in His Son. All people with this faith—Jews and Gentiles alike—were dead in their transgressions and sins but have been made alive because of the person and work of Jesus Christ.
• While Paul was not responding to a particular theological or moral problem, he wanted to protect against future problems by encouraging the Ephesians to mature in their faith.
https://www.insight.org/resources/bible/the-pauline-epistles/ephesians
Transition
: Paul begins by employee his role in the matter besides the writing. He says, ‘I bow my knee.’
I.
Appeal
3:14, Paul says, ‘I bow my knee’ = I pray that you might not faint, but persevere.
‘For this cause,’ = the cause/sake of the Gospel.
II. Source – God
a. Head of the whole Family
b. Heavenly = greatness, superiority, power
c. Rich in His glory = rich (abundance) in grace
Greek doxa – splender & brightness; magnificent, excellent, majestic – opinion, judgement, view.
III.
Purpose
a. Being Strenthed – powerfully strengthened
b. Inner man – In the heart, the mind, and the soul.
2 Cor. 4:16, ‘Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.’ (NKJ)
Our Inner Man Needs
:
1.
Attention
–
2.
Evaluation
–
3.
Scrutiny
–
4.
Development
–
IV.
Result / Goal
a. ‘That Christ may dwell in your hearts’
b. That you being rooted and grounded
Words:
a. Rooted =
rhizoo
{hrid-zo’-o}
Meaning: 1) to cause to strike root, to strengthen with roots, to render firm, to fix, establish, cause a person or a thing to be thoroughly grounded
b. Grounded =
themelioo
{them-el-ee-o’-o}
Meaning: 1) to lay the foundation, to found 2) to make stable, establish
Parable of Seed and Sower
– Matthew 13
Next week, ‘That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith rooted and grounded in Love.
Conclusion
: My prayer for us, as was Paul’s for the Ephesian community and all Christians current and future was for there to be a people who would be firmly ‘rooted’ and ‘grounded.’

Post Resurrection Options
John 11:25-26 Introduction: Now that Resurrection Sunday is behind us, what’s next? Question: What happened with the people and the disciples after the ‘dust had settled?’ “Doubting Thomas” refers to Thomas the Apostle, one of Jesus’ disciples who famously doubted the resurrected Jesus’s presence. He initially refused to believe the other apostles’ claims of seeing…

Resurrection Life
Easter Sunday 2025 John 11:25-26 Introduction: The Power of the Resurrection: The resurrection of Jesus is seen as a powerful affirmation of God’s victory over death and sin. What we need to understand is that there was a tremendous demonstration; a magnificent display of God’s power at the resurrection of Christ from the dead, which…

On His Way
Palm Sunday 2025 John 12:12-16 Jesus On His Way Introduction: This message provides a detailed account of significant events leading up to Palm Sunday 2025, emphasizing the miracles performed by Jesus, His teachings, and the importance of Bethany in His ministry. Miracles and Blessings: Jesus performed numerous miracles, including raising Lazarus from the dead and healing…

By His Stripes
Isaiah 53:4; James 5:13-15 In the context of Christian faith, the command to “lay hands on the sick” refers to the belief that believers, empowered by the Holy Spirit, can participate in healing through prayer and the laying on of hands, as seen in verses like Mark 16:18 and James 5:14-15. NLT Mark 16:17-18 ‘These…

New Every Morning
Lamentations 3:22-24 Introduction: (NLT) ‘Because of the Lord’s Covenant Faithfulness, we do not perish. His Mercies never end; they are new every morning, how great is your faithfulness oh God, “the Lord is my inheritance, I will put my hope in Him”’. NKJ – ‘that we are not consumed’ Deuteronomy 4:31 ‘For the LORD your…

Hold On Tight
Isaiah 35:3; Hebrews 12:12 NKJ Isaiah 35:3 ‘Strengthen the weak hands, And make firm the feeble knees’. NLT Isaiah 35:3 ‘With this news, strengthen those who have tired hands, and encourage those who have weak knees’. NKJ Hebrews 12:12 ‘Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees’, NLT Hebrews 12:12 ‘So take…

Called and Appointed
John 15:12 John 15:12 “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 “Greater love has no one than this, than1 to lay down one’s life for his friends. 14 “You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. 15 “No longer do I call you servants,…

Onesimus – The NT Hobo
Book of Philemon Introduction: For some, especially the young, the word or term ‘hobo’ might not be familiar. Growing up there was an understanding in my mind that there were actually hobos who would jump onto trains to get them to and from wherever they were going. What is the history of the hobo? They…

Me and My Church
Introduction: There is the Church Universal And then there is the Local Church. Question: What is the Local Church. Place of gathering; The Location (could be at the beach), the structure or the building or the facility where one gathers for: • Worship and teaching: A place to regularly gather for worship, prayer, and hearing…