The document is a prayer that summarizes key themes from Ephesians 1:3-14. It thanks God for blessing and choosing believers in Jesus Christ, redeeming and forgiving them through Christ's blood, and sealing them with the Holy Spirit until their final redemption. It praises God for summoning all things in heaven and earth together in Christ.

1. Prayer
Gracious God,
you have redeemed us through Jesus Christ,
the first-born of all creation, whose birth
we celebrate as the child of Bethlehem.
Bless us with every spiritual blessing,
that we may live as your adopted children
and witness to your glory with
unending praise and thanksgiving.
Amen.

2. The Church Calendar
January 3

3. Ephesians 1:3-14
CHOSEN. DELIVERED.
SEALED. LOVED

4. Let us bless God, the father
of our Lord Jesus, the king!
He has blessed us in the king
with every spirit-inspired blessing
in the heavenly realm. He chose us
in him before the world was made,
so as to be holy and irreproachable
before him in love.
EPHESIANS 1:3-4

5. He foreordained us for himself,
to be adopted as sons and daughters
through Jesus the king. That’s how
he wanted it, and that’s what gave
him delight, so that the glory of
his grace, the grace he poured
on us in his beloved one,
might receive its due praise.
EPHESIANS 1:5-6

6. In the king, and through his blood, we
have deliverance—that is, our sins have
been forgiven—through the wealth of his
grace which he lavished on us. Yes, with all
wisdom and insight he has made known to
us the secret of his purpose, just as he
wanted it
to be and set it forward in him as a
blueprint for when the time was ripe. His
plan was to sum up the whole cosmos in
EPHESIANS 1:7-10

7. In him we have received the inheritance!
We were foreordained to this, according to
the intention of the one who does all
things
in accordance with the counsel of his
purpose. This was so that we, we who first
hoped in
the king, might live for the praise of his
glory. In him you too, who heard the word
of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and
EPHESIANS 1:11-13

8. The spirit is the guarantee
of our inheritance, until the time
when the people who are God’s
special possession are finally
reclaimed and freed.
This, too, is for the
praise of his glory.
EPHESIANS 1:14

9. BLESSED US in him.
CHOSE US in him.
FOREORDAINED US in him.
POURED OUT GRACE through him.
DELIVERED US in him.
FORGAVE US in him.
REVEALED SECRETS TO US in him.
MARKED US OUT through him.
RECLAIMED & FREED US in him.
SO ALL CREATION COULD praise him.

10. CHOSEN by God.
DELIVERED by Jesus.
SEALED by the Spirit.
LOVED by the One God.

11. If Jesus were not God, he would not
reveal God to us for only through God
may we know God; and if he were not
man, he would not be our Savior for
only as one with us would God be
savingly at work within our actual human
existence…If he was not really God,
then there was no divine reality in
anything he said or did, and if he was not
really man then what God did in him had
no saving relevance for human beings.
THOMAS F. TORRANCE

12. Against Christological heresies like:
- Docetism Clark Kent Jesus
Jesus as Superman, not really human
- Adoptionism Over-achiever Jesus
Jesus as chosen/divinized by God
- Eutychianism Blended/Alloy Jesus
Jesus as “other,” not human/divine
- Apollinarianism Download Jesus
Hybrid: human body, divine mind/soul
The Nicene Creed

13. Against Christological heresies like:
- Arianism In Between Jesus
not human or divine; first creature;
had a beginning; this theory was
growing in popularity/influence
outside of Alexandria and needed
to be countered/clarified…
The Nicene Creed

14. Benediction
Gracious God,
you have redeemed us through Jesus Christ,
the first-born of all creation, whose birth
we celebrate as the child of Bethlehem.
Bless us with every spiritual blessing,
that we may live as your adopted children
and witness to your glory with
unending praise and thanksgiving.
Amen.