Join us in this episode as we delve into Ephesians chapter 3 with a heartfelt reading by Alan J. Huth’s granddaughter, Myla. Explore the profound mystery revealed to the Apostle Paul—that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus. Alan shares insightful reflections from decades of journaling, exploring how these revelations have impacted his personal journey and the inception of the Ezra Project.
Welcome to Add Bible, an audio daily devotion from the Ezra Project. Allen J. Huth shares a Bible passage with comments from over 35 years of his personal Bible reading journals and applies the Word of God to our daily lives.
SPEAKER 03 :
Today brings us to Ephesians chapter 3 and our guest reader, one of my granddaughters, Myla, my 5th grade 10-year-old granddaughter. Listen to her as she reads Ephesians chapter 3.
SPEAKER 02 :
Ephesians 3, For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles, assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you, how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ. which was not made known to their sons of men in the other generations, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given me by working of His power. To me, though I am the very least of the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things so that through the Church, the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was according to the eternal purpose that He has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in Him. So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory. For this reason I bow my knees before the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of the glory He may grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work with us, to him be glory in church in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen.
SPEAKER 03 :
Thank you to my granddaughter, Myla. Let’s take a look at my journals on Ephesians chapter 3. In 1992, I was 37 years old. I read Ephesians chapter 3 and I wrote, Strengthen my inner man. Ground me in your love. Fill me with the fullness of God. And from 2002, at 47 years old, the year I started the Ezra Project, in fact, the very month I started the Ezra Project, I read Ephesians 3, and I wrote this in my journal. Mystery. That Gentiles, non-Jews, would become fellow heirs, partakers of the promise of Christ through the gospel. And then I quoted verse 12, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in him. And then I referred to verse 20. He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think. And I wrote a prayer concerning the Ezra Project. I wrote, bless the Lord, guide and direct me this day in the Ezra Project, the Secretary of State filing, office furnishings, funding, and help with the PowerPoint presentation. So you can see I was bathing this ministry in prayer and seeking God’s help in every way. I mentioned that I read Ephesians more than once in the month of April. So I’m going to flip to another day when I read Ephesians 3 so we can relate some more to growing the Ezra Project from its very beginning. On April 14th, 14 days after the start of the Ezra Project on April 1st, again, I read Ephesians 3 and I wrote, For what reason? To reveal the mystery that Gentiles should be fellow heirs with Jews. Paul understood his purpose and he fulfilled it. Acts 9.15 defines Paul’s purpose. Go, for he is a chosen vessel of mine to bear my name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. He spent the remainder of his life doing so. I hope now I am a chosen vessel of his to go and proclaim the power of his word to his children. And I refer again to my prayer. You have given people assignments in life. I believe you have given me mine to be a man of your word. Being a Gideon for 22 years has been a fulfilling part of my assignment. Now the second part, the Ezra Project, reconnecting God’s people to God’s word. I accept my assignment. I am very excited about it and look forward to watching you work in it like you have in my life in the Gideons. I continue to write about my prayer. Funding is confusing now. I thought so-and-so was going to be there for me in a significant way. This week he said funds would come through the church and they are struggling to pay their bills. It will be interesting to watch you work in this, Lord. And now let’s look at 2012, when I was 57 years old. I look at my journal date, and it’s actually my 37th anniversary. So on that day, I was reading Ephesians chapter 3, and I wrote, “…God called Paul to preach to Gentiles. He is part of revealing the mystery of Christ, which was not revealed to previous generations, and that is, that Gentiles are fellow heirs, partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel, according to verses 1 through 6.” Paul gets to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. Paul’s prayer, be strengthened with power through his spirit in your inner being, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, be rooted and guided in love, to comprehend the fullness of God, according to verses 14 through 19. Reminder, God is able to do far more abundantly than we ask or think. And that was verse 20. Interesting that I referred to my 37th wedding anniversary in my journal from 2012, and I’m recording this two days from our 43rd wedding anniversary. So let’s take a look at Ephesians chapter 3. In verse 3, Paul reminds the Ephesians that he did not receive the revelation of the mystery of Christ from the other apostles. He got it directly from Christ in a revelation. In verse 6, he describes that mystery. This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. I’m not Jewish. You probably aren’t either. So aren’t you glad that this mystery was revealed and that we were grafted in with the Jews to have a chance at eternal life? In verse 7, Paul declares his role in revealing this mystery. And to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for the ages. Paul reminds himself and those in Ephesus that he once persecuted the church, so he is the least of those who should be bringing the good news to them, the Gentiles. And in the latter verses of chapter 3, Paul prays for the Ephesians. Let’s listen in, starting with verse 14. For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory, he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. What a prayer! Are you strengthened with power through His Spirit? Does Christ dwell in your heart? Are you rooted and grounded in love? Do you know the love of Christ? Are you filled with the fullness of God? And chapter three closes with one of these great, great verses of scripture, one I quote often, verse 20. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than we can think or imagine is the way I learned it. According to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever. and ever. Amen. Yes, Jesus can do far more abundantly than we can think or imagine. Do you believe it? I say I quote that often because I’ve seen it in my own life. God has blessed me so often beyond what I can think or imagine. I hope you’ve had similar experiences. Let’s pray in thanks. Father, we thank you that you revealed the mystery of the ages to Paul. And that mystery is that we as Gentiles are included in the plan of salvation. Paul’s revelation said it was from the very beginning. It was never for just the Jews. It was always for every person from every tongue and every tribe and every nation. We thank you that as participants in the gospel, we can be strengthened with power through your spirit, that you can dwell in our hearts forever. that we can be rooted and grounded in love, and that we can be filled with the fullness of you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. And as partakers in the gospel, we can be assured that you can do far more abundantly than we can ask or think. Your power is at work in us. To God be the glory. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Amen. Thanks for listening to AdBible today. Across our listening audience, more and more of you are supporting AdBible by visiting our website at EzraProject.net and purchasing resources like Club 365 subscriptions, Bible reading journals, and one or more of our day-by-day through the Bible devotional books. We thank you so much and encourage more of you to do the same. You will find helpful and inspirational tools to enhance your personal time in God’s Word. Today I want to review the three tools we see most listeners getting. First, Club 365. This is a monthly subscription opening our vault of all Add Bible audio recordings and all printed pages of the entire Day by Day through the Bible devotional series. By joining Club 365 for only $7 a month, you have access to both audio and written information on all 66 books of the Bible. Club 365 is a goldmine, and it is completely flexible to your personal Bible reading plan. So if you’re reading Matthew or Isaiah or Psalms or Revelation, you have access to audio or written comments, applications, and prayers on any of them at your fingertips. Get Club 365 at EzraProject.net today, like so many others have. Secondly, another hot seller are our Bible reading journals. We offer two. One is a chronological Bible reading journal that contains a daily Bible reading plan chronologically. You don’t have to buy a chronological Bible. Just get our chronological Bible reading journal. It has over 200 pages, so you can journal your way through the entire Bible. This book is our number one bestseller over the last two decades. The other journal is called the Trio Bible Reading Journal because it has three annual Bible reading plans in it. a New Testament schedule, an Old Testament schedule. But if you do them both on the same day, a complete Bible reading plan, you’ll finish the Bible in 365 days. We have a limited supply of the TRIO Bible reading journal. The cool thing about our journals is is they start when you start. Day one of the schedule is the day you start, not January 1. Again, completely flexible to your Bible reading habits. Order your journal for just $9 at EzraProject.net and we ship it free. And the third product people are ordering is one of our day-by-day through the Bible devotional books. There are only 11, but they cover all 66 books of the Bible, filled with comments about passages, applications from the passages, and prayers related to the passages. Listeners are understanding Bible passages in a whole new way, thanks to digging deeper with a day-by-day supplement to their daily devotions. You can find all 11 books on our website at EzraProject.net. They are available in print and digitally. Get one today and start understanding your Bible in a whole new way. So that’s all for today. Join me tomorrow for another chapter of AdBible. I know you’re going to enjoy it. And want to share it with others.
