In September 1999, NASA lost a $125 million Mars probe, not because of an asteroid, not because of alien interference, but because two teams of rocket scientists weren't unified. One team used the metric system, the other used the imperial system, and neither side recognized the error until it was obviously too late. A $125 million satellite completely destroyed because of a lack of unity in the process of completing the mission. If that kind of disunity can destroy a mission to Mars, what does disunity do to the mission of the Church?

Can you imagine being so committed to a calling that you're willing to face prison, hardship, and even death to pursue it? That's not a hypothetical question, it's exactly the kind of commitment the Apostle Paul described in his farewell speech to the church he loved most. And his words have something urgent to say to us today.

In Ephesians 3:2-7, the apostle Paul makes a stunning claim that would have shocked his fellow Jews: through Jesus, Gentiles were coheirs of the promises of God along with the Jews. God's secret plan to save the world was a plan hidden in plain sight for generations, now fully revealed in Jesus Christ.

What if the thing standing between you and a completely new life wasn't your effort, your willpower, or your track record, but simply a gift you hadn't yet received? That's exactly what the Apostle Paul wants us to understand in one of the most powerful passages in all of Scripture.