What does it mean to be a stranger in the world?

That's a lonely idea right up there with one of the saddest words in our language,

Paul tells the Gentile converts. Now, therefore, ye are no more strangers and foreigners,

but fellow citizens with the saints. Being a stranger in the world is what it means to be

without Christ in our journey. A stranger in the world is exiled from Him and from home.

That would be lonely indeed, but Paul tells us something remarkably comforting in these chapters.

Hello, we're Scott and Maureen Proctor, and this is Meridian Magazine's Come Follow Me podcast.

This week, the topic is, for the perfecting of the saints, and we are studying the book of

Ephesians. You can find the transcripts for these podcasts at ladderdaysaintmag.com forward slash

podcast. And while you're there, sign up for free for Meridian's Daily Magazine bringing you all

the news of the church inspirational stories and so much more from a hundred top writers.

We first learned about Paul's experience in Ephesus in Acts 19. Ephesus was an important

coastal trade city on the Mediterranean in what was then called Asia Minor, but is today's turkey.

The population was estimated at as much as a quarter of a million, and even today,

its magnificent ruins speak of a beautiful ancient city. We've been there many times,

it's a beautiful city. Paul chose Ephesus as the hub for spreading the gospel through the

province of Asia, though as we remember, this was the place also where a temple to Diana,

or Artemis, stood, which was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. A riot arose

led by the silversmiths who were making profits off of making silver shrines to Diana.

Paul had disturbed their market with his preaching. According to them, he had turned away much people,

saying that they be no gods, which are made with hands. So in Ephesus, Paul is writing a people

who had responded deeply to his teachings, even though they lived in a world drenched in paganism

...