What if the church wasn't something humans invented — but a mystery hidden in the heart of God for thousands of years, only revealed after the resurrection of Jesus Christ?

In Episode 270 of the Under God Podcast, Pastor Daniel Hayworth launches a brand-new 6-part teaching series through the book of Ephesians — one of the most foundational letters in all of Scripture. In this first installment, Pastor Daniel walks through the entire first chapter of Ephesians and unpacks the mystery of the church: God's eternal plan to build a spiritual family, plant it in the darkest places on earth, and fill it with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

Pastor Daniel begins by setting the historical stage. Ephesus wasn't a quiet Bible Belt town — it was one of the most powerful and wicked cities in the Roman Empire. Home to the Temple of Artemis (one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world), the city was built on pagan worship, sexual prostitution cults, sorcery, and emperor worship. Yet the Apostle Paul looked at this dark stronghold and chose to plant a church — because he understood that the gospel is undefeated.

What You'll Discover:

✅ Why Paul deliberately planted a church in one of the darkest cities in Roman history

✅ How the cultural pressures of ancient Ephesus mirror what Christians face today

✅ The 8 spiritual blessings every believer receives in Christ — adoption, grace, redemption, forgiveness, knowledge, inheritance, the seal of the Spirit, and eternity

✅ Why Jesus warned the Ephesian church in Revelation about abandoning their first love

✅ How biblical unity defeats the world's counterfeit model of diversity

✅ The doctrine of substitution and why God sees His Son when He looks at you

✅ The superpower of pulling wisdom down from heaven through prayer

✅ Why in Christ, believers have already overcome the world

Scripture References:

📖 Ephesians 1 (entire chapter) – God's plan for the church revealed

📖 Revelation 2:1-5 – Jesus' letter to the church at Ephesus

📖 1 Corinthians 2:6-8 – The hidden wisdom of God

📖 2 Corinthians 5:17 – New creation in Christ

📖 James 1:5 – Asking God for wisdom

📖 Acts 19 – Paul's ministry in Ephesus

This is Part 1 of a 6-part series through the book of Ephesians. Pastor Daniel Hayworth serves as a pastor at Vintage Church in Central Texas. This teaching was originally delivered as a live Wednesday night Bible study and is part of Under God Podcast's ongoing mission to equip Christians with biblical confidence and practical wisdom for real-world battles.

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