"In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace." - Ephesians 1:7 (NKJV)I read about a prison surrounded by barbed wire. To make it look nicer, they planted pear trees along the fence. If you're driving by, the pear trees look pretty, and you might think the prison is a nice place. But if you go inside and look out, all you see is the bar...

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ." - Ephesians 1:3 (NKJV)A woman was teaching her child about money. Once he figured it out, the child asked her, "Mom, if you give me a hundred dollars, I'll be good." The mother replied, "Son, why can't you just be good for nothing... like your father?"This fu...

"To the praise of the glory of His grace by which He made us accepted in the beloved." - Ephesians 1:6 (NKJV)What's the ultimate result of God's eternal plan of salvation? It's simple: "to the praise of the glory of His grace." When we get to heaven, we're not going to be walking around talking about how good we were or how special we were. All the praise will go right up to God.There was a man na...

"Having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace by which He made us accepted in the beloved." - Ephesians 1:5-6 (NKJV)There are two great train tracks in Scripture that run parallel to one another. One is God's sovereignty, which simply means His purpose will never be thwarted by man. The oth...

"Having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will." - Ephesians 1:5 (NKJV)A few years ago in the NFL draft, Eli Manning was the quarterback the Chargers wanted. But Archie Manning, his father, made it clear publicly: "If you draft him, he's not going to come and play for you." It was pretty brazen, but he made it plain. "You may choos...