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[[http://www.jesusnetwork.eu/de/doku.php/jn_de_2010_11_01|Deutsche Version]] [[Start|| Wiki Start]]
[[topics_collection_ii|| Topics Collection ii ]]
======God and our Future ...======
Monday, Nov 1, 2010. We are in the middle of Ephesians, Chapter 1. Paul
writes to the Christians in the antique town of Ephesus. He talks about
faith in Christ and what it means. He talks about who God is and how
we can get to know him. We continue today, looking into verse 18-20.
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**Amazing future ...**
Future is one of the important visions and ideas of our time. We want our
society to be fit for the future. We want our economy to be ready. We all
want to have a future ... there is a considerable interest and effort to
prepare for the future.
The bible has been talking about the future ever since. Prophecy is about
things God has done in the past, does now and will do in the future. The
New Testament, in particular, talks about the future of people of faith.
The apostle Paul writes:
18 I pray that the eyes of your inner being may be given light, so that you
may realise
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**what an amazing future awaits the people he has called to be his**
,
and what a glorious treasure we, his people, are going to be for him. 19
I also want you to know how amazingly great is his power which is at work
in those of us who trust in him a mighty power 20 which he used to raise
Christ from death and to place him at his right hand in heaven.
21 Christ has
been given much greater power than every other ruler, greater than every being
who has authority and power, greater than every being who has control over
others. He is more powerful than any other being 1(human or spiritual), both
those existing now and those who will exist in the future. 22 God made every
other being inferior to Christ, and he exercises his authority for the good
of his church (i.e. his people).2 23 The church is his body, which he fills
with the fullness of all he is.
Future for his people ...
Let us go step by step and start with verse 18. God wants us to have a future.
But even more than that: God has prepared an amazing future for his people.
That is the starting statement here and then Paul explains in more depth
how this is carried out and how God will do it.
We will discuss the different parts of this text over the next days, bringing
up all the far reaching claims and promises. But first of all we need to
realize that God in fact wants us to have a future. We might be in a difficult
situation. We might not see how in fact things could improve. We might
suffer from some severe illness and be close to death. But God wants a future
for us personally. He does not give us up. He has power to establish this
future even through death and defeat, he has more possibilities than we can
imagine. He is the almighty God - and he is not far from any one of us.
[[http://www.jesusnetwork.eu/en/doku.php/topics_collection_ii|... more texts]]