Well, good morning everyone. It is a beautiful day together.
We've got a wonderful study lined up.
So I hope you'll open your Bibles with me to Ephesians
chapter one. Ephesians chapter one, we're
going to just kick off this book and I'm going to do a little bit
of an introduction, a little outline and we're going to jump
right in and let's let's dive into this book together.
It's a wonderful day to worship and a wonderful day to study
with you, the Bible. So in Ephesians chapter one.
I've got kind of this, this keynote of this lesson I think
is this verse we're going to get to.
Paul is saying that you may know what is the hope of his calling,
the riches of the glory and the exceeding greatness of his power
toward us. This book is awesome.
It's encouraging. This book is.
Big picture, it's a little bit general in nature, but that
makes that makes some awesome concepts flow out of this.
And I hope that we can get this sense walking away from this
lesson today because Paul has a prayer for his audience, and I
hope we can work his prayer into our prayers very much in line
with what he says right here. We'll get to that in a little
bit. So first of all, what is the
purpose of this letter? And I'll get into an outline so
you'll see kind of how this is fleshed out.
But the purpose is number 1, to remind Christians of their
spiritual blessings. In Christ.
The mind is a muscle. The mind is trained, the mind is
guided. The mind doesn't just have
knowledge and it's just forever that way.
The mind has to be reminded, has to be trained like a muscle.
If you don't use a muscle, it atrophies, it dies.
So our spiritual lives must be reminded of the spiritual
blessings in Christ and as a response to that.
We're he's writing to exhort Christians to have a walk or a
life that is worthy of the calling with which you were
called. And that's later on in the book
in Chapter 4. We're not getting anywhere near
that this morning, so don't worry.
Here's an outline of this book. First of all, he's got a brief
introduction and we're going to talk about that in a minute.
It's interesting how brief it is.
And then he's going to get into verses 3 through Chapter 3.
Where he's talking about a section on doctrine and it's all
about our riches in Christ. The first section of this
doctrine or teaching section is going to lead up to the second
section is going to be our responsibility. 3 chapters of
doctrine, 3 chapters of responsibilities.
How he kind of lay this to this out and we're going to be
covering what's kind of in yellow here today.
Within that doctrine, he tells us about our spiritual
possessions in Christ, and those possessions are from the Father.
From the sun, from the Spirit. And the first prayer is for
enlightenment. That's going to cover the first
chapter, but just to give you a little bit of view of where
we're going the second chapter, he's going to get into our
spiritual position in Christ, how we are raised and seated at
the throne, We are reconciled and set into the temple.
He's going to have a second prayer for enablement.
And then he's going to get into our duties.
He's going to call us in our duties in Christ, starting in
Chapter 4, to walk in unity, to walk as one together, preserving
the unity of the Spirit with the proper attitudes, and edifying
the body of Christ by the grace given us.
He's going to then call us to walk in purity, not as the other
Gentiles, but to walk in love, to walk as children of light,
and to walk as wise. Next he's going to call us to
walk in harmony. Husbands and Wives is going to
be one of the instructions. He's going to talk to parents
and children. He's going to talk to masters
and servants. And finally it's a call to walk
in victory. Chapter 6 is going to get into,
which means standing in, strong in the power of the Lord and
equipped with the whole armor of God.
The kids a lot of times get excited about the armor of God.
I used to draw in my notebook at church armor because it was
related to the scripture we were studying, but as a kid I thought
that was pretty cool. So this is the outline and we're
starting today in the first section, first with the
introduction and we have the author and the recipient.
Remember all these letters were written to churches or accounts
to people. And we first learned that this
is written by Paul and apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of
God to the Saints who are and some translation or not
translations. Some of the early manuscripts
didn't include this phrase in Ephesus.
OK, but some of them did. So we'll talk about, you know,
maybe some conclusions from that.
But we what we do know for sure, without a shadow of a doubt, is
that he's writing to those who are faithful in Christ Jesus.
He's not writing to an audience of people who have never heard
the gospel. He's writing to people who are
already faithful in Christ. And that is sure, And I believe
that's the general tenor of this lesson of this letter.
He doesn't give any other introductions, many letters.
He's saying I'm writing to this congregation and I exhort these
specific people in this congregation to do this and
that. He does none of that.
He doesn't give any specific names, any specific people.
And so this is a more general instruction.
But we can at least take pretty confidently that this was
Ephesus was maybe the first led church he gave this letter to,
had it sent to, because he's writing this from prison.
And so I'm not at all going to take away from the fact that
this is the letter to the church and Ephesus, but I don't think
it's going to really change that much because let's first talk
about how are the early Christians taught?
Why is this not a big factor? Number one, they were taught
directly by the apostles in person.
They did not write a series of letters, hand it to them and
say, OK, we're done. The apostles traveled around.
Preaching the gospel in person. Secondly, they were they taught
directly by others with the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
So the Apostles gave the gifts of the Holy Spirit to other
people, who then taught by the power of the Holy Spirit.
So you had secondary teachers from the Apostles.
Thirdly, they they wrote directly to churches and
letters. Like the the letter to the
church in Klossy Galatians, all those things were letters
directly written by the apostles.
And finally, and I think this is a key point in this concept, is
they were supposed to share these letters with one another.
We learn, we learn from Klossy chapter 4, verse 16, he says.
Now when this epistle is read among you see that it is read
also in the Church of the Leoticians, and that you
likewise read the epistle from Leoticia.
Point is, they were supposed to share these letters.
They were supposed to share this information.
So when we're reading this letter, we shouldn't get like,
oh man, he only wrote it to them.
So was it to them or was it somebody else?
These were to get around and this same message was taught all
over the place. OK, so it's a little bit of a
non issue now, just to kind of. Remind ourselves of how much
work was gone into spreading this gospel outside of just
teaching through these letters that were written and 2nd
printing is Chapter 11. Paul says three times thrice I
was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned thrice I
suffered shipwreck 3 times. He was on a ship that wrecked.
That's a traumatizing event you would think.
All said, three times happened to me 3 * a night in a day.
I've been in the deep. He was in the ocean for a day
and a night. Man the things they went through
and journeyings often I read Some biblical scholars pretty
much all agree that Paul's missionary travels on foot would
have been at least around 10,000 miles by foot alone, that would
equal walking back and forth to New York.
From LA to New York, back and forth four times he traveled
often in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of
by my own countrymen. And recently, I think one of our
members knows the impact of perils of robbers.
It it's unsettling. Kay had someone steal her car
not long ago. That's unsettling.
It just leaves you shaken up, Paul said.
Yeah, I had that. I had perils by my own
countrymen. I had perils by the heathen,
perils in the city, perils in the wilderness, perils in the
sea, perils among false brethren.
These apostles taught through so much difficulty and weariness
and painfulness and watchings, often always watching what's
going to happen next in hunger and thirst and fastings and cold
and nakedness. This is not the only way that
the that the early church was getting the word.
That's kind of one of the main points.
I thought it was an interesting side note to remind ourselves of
what lengths were went to to receive these words of God.
OK, let's keep moving, he says Grace to you and peace from God
our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
OK to the people who are faithful gods bring grace to you
and peace. Verses 3 through 14 is going to
be the longest sentence in the in the New Testament.
Now I want you to put yourself in this position.
Usually when Paul wrote a letter himself, he says it, he says I'm
writing this letter with my own hand.
But it was very common in those days for someone to speak and
ascribe would then write the letter out.
Paul is likely in prison in Rome at this time around the year, a
D 6163 in that range. So Paul is is speaking likely
speaking this letter and and you kind of get the sense of that as
the sentence goes and goes and goes.
All the way through 14 verses, he starts by saying blessed be
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I think it's interesting that he's going to use this phrase a
lot, the God and Father over and over in this letter.
And I think it's interesting specifically in light of the
fact that the church that this is maybe first written to an
Ephesus was the home of the goddess Diana or.
Or Artemis. She was revered by the Romans
and they had this temple that was built for her to honor her
that was absolutely massive and ornate from scholars and the the
things I was reading, they were saying it was about 220 by 425
by 60 feet. This is a massive structure that
is bigger than a football field probably more like the size of
the track that goes around the football field and and square
footage. This is a massive building and
this was dedicated to the goddess Diana.
Maybe that that motherly goddess idea and it was rebuilt over and
over, it would be destroyed there, was later rebuilt over
and over in the city. And the last time, the seventh
time this was rebuilt, it was built in honor and dedicated to
Mary, the mother of God. And it was shortly after
destroyed again. So this city seems to want to
Revere this motherhood and God and and it's interesting that
he's writing continually this The God and Father.
It's about God the Father. And that doesn't mean any
disrespect at all to women whatsoever.
But God the Father is the focus here in this letter.
OK, Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the
heavenly places in Christ? I don't know about you, but when
I read a verse like this, it makes me just go mad.
I haven't even tapped into all of the beauties and the comfort
and the joy. I don't even scratch the surface
of what God has to offer every spiritual blessing in the
heavenly places. In Christ, this word, heavenly
places is literally the Heavenlys and in the Heavenlys
in Christ, it's used five times. This word is used five times in
the New Testament. And it's all in this letter.
It talks about an unseen reality, #1, where our blessings
are. In this verse it tells us this
is where our blessings are. And later on this chapter, it's
where Christ sits at God's right hand, where we now sit with
Christ because of his work, where rulers and authorities
observe God's wisdom, and where evil spiritual forces oppose us,
we get to be beneficiaries. Of all the spiritual blessings
in the heavenly places, the protection from evil, the
wonderful rewards One day man, it's it's good stuff, he says,
just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the
world. What an awesome thought not
everyone had. The upbringing has maybe the
relationships in your life where you feel chosen and selected and
special. God wants you to feel that way.
God wants you to know that you were chosen.
We're going to talk a little bit in a second about what that
doesn't mean. But I don't want that at all to
overshadow the fact that this is a wonderful blessing.
God chose us now because of how great we are.
Nope. He chose us in him and Jesus
before the foundation of the world, So before God even taught
the planets how to orbit, before the trees even learned how to
grow. I love that you and I were
chosen ahead of all that. If we were a forethought before
the world was even built, that gives us insight into why the
world was built. The biggest thing that I take
away is God built this world for us to be unified with Him and
for him to get glory in His creation.
That is an awesome, wonderful reality that God set up before
all this. Before man figured out all these
machines and devices and and all these things that are seem so
great before all that was even even a thought.
When God built the world, He first chose, you and I, that we
should be holy and without blame before him.
Now we're going to get into discussion about, you know, what
does it mean to be chosen by God?
God wants us to be holy and set apart and different.
Without blame, God has every good intention.
He didn't create this world to say hi.
I got you. It wasn't like a a game where
he's going to create this world and swap people.
No, he wanted us to be without blame.
He doesn't want there to be any any negative judgment.
It's a consequence of the fall that people would choose God,
choose their own desires over God, but he only had good
intentions for this world. Having predestined us to
adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good
pleasure of his will again that pre choosing God chose us a long
time ago, we should not be afraid of this word.
Do not be afraid of the word predestined.
It is a wonderful truth of God's plan.
God chose you and I before the foundation of the world.
That's an honoring statement. And he chose us to adoption.
Now it's interesting. God could have saved us from
hell and not actually adopted us, right?
Like if you wanted it to be that way, he could have said, I'm
going to save you from judgment, you're going to stay there,
don't do anything bad, just get you out of judgment and now
you're safe. He could have done that, pulled
us out of the judgment. He didn't just do that though.
He not only pulled us from judgment, but he adopted us into
his own family. If you were to do good for
someone, you can go feed somebody on, you know who's
who's less fortunate. You can give them a job, you can
give them clothing, you can buy even a place for them to to live
in. You don't have to adopt them as
a as a person, your family, to be good to them.
God did all the good things, all the spiritual blessings in the
heavenly places. And on top of that, he chose to
adopt you and I as sons and daughters by Jesus Christ.
To himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.
Because he had to. Because, well, Gia died for you,
so he had to do it. No, because he wanted to.
Because it made him happy to do that.
I hope we start to get the sense that God wants you.
God desires you not just because he had to, because his son died
for you, but because he wants you.
He wants to be with you. So let's talk about this word,
predestined. Because there is a sense in
which it can be a little bit of a cringy word for us.
It doesn't need to be. But let's talk about it #1 God
Predestined, yes, but what? He predestined the plan, not the
man. He predestined a plan where he
would save the world, where he would call people unto himself.
But he didn't say, I'll have that one have that one ahead of
time. He predestined the plan, not the
man. If you're not familiar with this
discussion that the two ideas that go against one another and
that we have to reason from the scriptures which one is right
because they can't both be right.
It's either the general election, or a general chosen
people, or an unconditional or a particular chosen.
What that means is did God choose a type of people, a group
of people, and a plan? Or did he handpick certain
people that they had no choice, They were just going to be, you
know, like the and Toy Story, like the little alien guys.
They're chosen to go by the claw.
It's not like that. We have to use Scripture wisely.
And the two things we have to reconcile, and this is a fair
argument to discuss. Number one, we have to know that
God gave us free will, but we also have to acknowledge God's
foreknowledge and planning. First of all, God's
foreknowledge and planning. God uses tools.
He uses people He uses timing He uses.
We read about the different people, God, when they chose
something, he was able to use them for that cause.
If Pharaoh chose to be against God, God's OK you're going to be
part of my plan to work about the saving of my people for
those who did serve him. God said, OK, I'm going to use
you to work about this plan. God uses tools.
He uses people. He sets up a plan.
But there is so much we don't know.
We cannot try to figure out every nuance of God's planning
his works. But we also have to really
respect the free will God has given us.
Repentance cannot be true if particular selection by God is
true. You cannot have free will if God
plucks you and decides you're going to be on his family.
Because repentance is a personal choice that I'm going to turn
from living this lustful, sinful by my own desires life and turn
around that takes a personal choice.
God cannot make a personal choice for me and it still be
free will. The beauty, the beauty of
repentance cannot be existent if God chose for you.
That's why it's so awesome that someone would have this strong
desire and urge but say no. God, you you say something else.
I'm going to follow you because I know you have what's better
for me. I know you have something that's
good for me. That can't be and a factor.
If free, if we have free will or if we don't have free will, our
free will. Let's let's take it to a story.
Let's say there's a love story. You have a man who just falls
deeply in love with a woman. He thinks just she's the most
beautiful woman in the world. She has the best personality.
She's the sweetest she. She just makes him feel so
special and he asks her on a date and she feels the same way
and they just have this wonderful marriage and life
together. That's what every single movie
and TV show ends up being about, because it's awesome.
It's a great story. OK, let's say story #2.
You have a man who falls deeply in love with a woman.
He just thinks she's the best thing in the world, she's the
most beautiful. She has all these qualities that
he loves. And he asks her on a date and
she says she wants nothing to do with him.
And so he responds by saying, well, I love you so much that
I'm going to, I'm going to trap you and I'm going to make you
love me. That quickly becomes creepy,
disgusting, morally and spiritually of horrible thing.
That's a that's abuse. That's you should go to jail for
that. It would be that kind of story
if God made you follow him. That's not love.
It's not loved by the person imprisoning the woman.
It's not love on the woman's part.
Being imprisoned for love, that's not love.
That would be creepy. It's not really love at all.
God predestined a plan where real love could exist, where he
could set up the plan and let you choose.
Are you going to love him? By the way, when people say how
can a loving God send people to hell?
I would. And I say back, how could a
loving God? Make people be with him.
That's that scenario we were talking about.
If you don't, if I don't want to be with God on earth, that would
be weird if he made me be with him in heaven, don't let people
work that in. Like like that's God's fault.
That would be weird and it would be creepy and love story.
And God gives us free will so we can have a pure relationship
with him. I'll just kind of close up with
a few analogies if this will help you God.
If, if a train system predetermines one trains going
to Sacramento, one trains going to Bakersfield, then that is a
predetermined route. But it doesn't mean that the
train station forces people onto a train, gives them a
predetermined plan, OK? The people who are chosen by God
are ones who are going to hear the call and respond in free in
faith. That is a type of group.
Of people. OK, so predestination is a
wonderful thing. We now we can appreciate it.
We don't get lost in the in the arguments about what it's not.
We can appreciate God's fore planning.
You weren't an afterthought to God.
You are the thought to God according to the good pleasure
of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace.
Man when we see that Paul is just going to it seems burst
into praise throughout this letter.
To the praise of the glory of his grace.
God's grace is so awesome that we should praise its glory that
he would do something like that for us because he made us
accepted in the beloved. The beloved is Jesus, which he
made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence.
Not in brainwashing and in scammering, but in wisdom and
prudence. You should come to Christ with a
clear mind. And knowing what you're doing,
having made to known to us the mystery of his will, where the
Old Testament is often a mystery because God's plan wasn't fully
unveiled, it wasn't fully revealed.
And so it's a mystery according to his good pleasure, which he
purposed in his in himself. There it is again.
It keeps telling us God wanted this.
God chose this even from the beginning of time.
That in the dispensation of the fullness of the times, or in the
administration of a of a particular time, the fullness
being when it was all full and ready, and it couldn't be
contained anymore until it just had to happen, He might gather
together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven
and which on which are on the earth in him.
All things. You're neither Jew nor Greek,
male nor female, slave nor free. The Bible says you are all one
In Christ Jesus. We are unified in Him.
In Him we also have obtained an inheritance.
You mean, after all this discussion, we get a peace?
Yes, we get a peace of God's great inheritance being
predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all
things according to the counsel of his will.
There it is again, His will, he keeps saying.
Are you getting the idea that God wants you?
God wants you. You're not just someone God
doesn't like. He wants you.
That we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise
of his glory. He's going to draw a little
connection. You're a contrast between the
Jews who first trusted in Christ because the gospel went to them
first. And next he's going to talk
about the Gentiles, so that we who first the Jews trusted in
Christ should be to the praise of his glory, with God's great
plan laid out. The only response from them
should have just been praised to God, because there was people
waiting for that. There was people who saw the
mystery and who had faith through all that confusion.
They might have been enduring, but they had faith so that when
it all happened, they were ready to praise his glory.
When when Christ first came and was there for them to behold, in
Him, you also now he's talking about Gentiles you also trusted
after you heard the Word of Truth, the gospel of your
salvation, and whom also having believed you were sealed with
the Holy Spirit of promise. There's a concept here of being
sealed. It's it's a mark.
It's a it's a brand. You're sealed, meaning a sign of
ownership, he says. You were sealed for a new
ownership. You were adopted earlier, he
said. And then during the Greek times
and in the Roman times, adoption meant you had a whole new life.
If you had old debts, they were gone.
If you had an old family, that's your old family's gone.
And you had a you're a completely new person when you
were adopted under that time period, And now he's saying
you're sealed or you were branded.
With the Holy Spirit of promise, you have been taken under by new
ownership. You're not that beaten down old
business. Now you are a brand new
renovated and sealed by the Holy Spirit who Speaking of the Holy
Spirit is the guarantee or it can be literally translated to
down payment of our inheritance until the redemption of the
purchase possession. We are the purchase possession.
God made a down payment. Well, he's He made the He paid
the whole price. Jesus paid the price.
The Holy Spirit is a down payment reserved until the time
when God comes back to get us, till the time when all this is
going to be brought into fruition.
We have the Holy Spirit. We have God's plan.
We have His guidance, we have His ways until the redemption.
Of the purchase possession. If I buy a voucher for something
I can redeem that voucher at the store.
So when I was skiing a lot I got a voucher for from school for
something. So I can go get take this
voucher lift ticket. I can go up to the ski resort
and they would give me or redeem the value of that and I would
get to go ski God. One day is going to redeem or
turn in or exchange for the purchase possession with.
Which is us to the praise of His glory there to get it, that
phrase just keeps popping up to the praise of his glory.
That's how we should respond to this, with praise to him.
Therefore, because of all of this great inheritance and this
great work that's been done and all of these things, I also,
after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for
all the Saints. Remember, Saints just means
those who are Christ, those who are.
Called by God and faithful to him, do not cease to give thanks
for you making mention of you in my prayers.
This letter is going to get into an application section later,
but I think this is a great spot for us to get some application
and a great spot for us to see where this all goes, Paul says.
I didn't stop. Thank giving thanks for you and
praying for you these specific things.
That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may
give to you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge
of him. OK, first of all, what is this
spirit of wisdom? When the Bible talks about a
spirit of something, it's it's not referring to from my study.
It's not referring to the Spirit, the Holy Spirit.
It's referring to a disposition of the heart that we give
ourselves to. OKA, Spirit of grace We give
ourselves to a spirit of of of goodness and grace.
Here he is saying that God will give you a spirit of wisdom or a
heart that will be dominated or guided by wisdom.
He wants us to have a heart that is guided by wisdom and
revelation. Okay.
Revelation. Usually when we think of that
word, we think of End times, the Book of Revelation, confusion,
and other people giving their revelations from what they claim
to be God. And so it's kind of a can be a
confusing topic that's the exact opposite of what the word
revelation means. The word revelation is to reveal
something. So he's saying here that he
wants them to have the spirit of something that is revealed and
opened up to them. Of what?
In the knowledge of Him, God wants us to know Him.
Isn't that reasonable for anyone to expect out of a relationship,
to be known by the other person in the relationship?
That's by wisdom, and not by what other people think, but by
wisdom and what's right and revealed.
When something is revealed, you don't reveal.
It's not to reveal something, it's fake.
It's to show what it truly is, to be opened up.
God wants us to to see, opened up to us a true knowledge of
Him. God wants us to know him.
God wants us to understand him. And the great thing about a
relationship with God, if I understand a friend of mine, we
have a great relationship. It doesn't change my whole life.
If I understand God, it changes everything.
If I really understand God, it will change my whole life.
It will change my whole perspective.
It will change my motivations. It changes everything.
Because when I understand someone, as long as they're
good, I trust them. When I trust someone, they can
provide for me. If I don't trust someone, they
can't provide for me in any way. Tell you what I mean.
I want my son. I want Charlie to know me well
because I'm hopeful that he'll see he can trust me for whatever
his needs are. That I can take care of physical
needs emotionally is, you know, whatever the list might be.
I want him to be able to trust me because the more one trusts,
the more 1 can be provided for. If you're in a relationship and
you're not emotionally available, you can't be
emotionally provided for. God wants us to know him so we
can trust him and trust him so we can provide for us What a
good father, what a good God we have.
I hate misunderstanding when I read a book, when I used to read
books, more when I was made to an AR programs.
Or love a book. But then there was a point at
which one of the characters or a group of the characters would
misunderstand what's going on with the other good guys.
Right there. There's a misunderstanding that
creates tension and that's what the author wants.
But I hate it because my mind was like, no, you need to know
that everything's fine. You you agree everything's good.
I hate misunderstanding. How do you think God feels?
Taylor and I were just talking on the way to church about some
of the She was watching a documentary about a cult
situation, some of the claim to be Christian groups.
And it was ended up being false advertising and all this
hypocrisy. How do we think God feels being
misrepresented all the time, being mistrusted and
misunderstood and even hated? God must hate that because it
know how. He knows how it affects people
and he is how and he knows how their their understanding is
darkened and and their world gets darkened by that.
Does does Paul pray that everyone who's going to teach
someone a wrong knowledge of God be cut off and gone away?
No. He writes to the person who has
the only control over their mind.
He writes to the only person he wants to pray for the person who
is responsible for how their mind sees God.
And that's me. That's you.
We are the only person. Who is responsible for how we
see God? He wants us to have wisdom and
to be revealed who God really is and we can't control everyone.
I can't control how you see it. I can only have my mind changed
to really understand God for who he is.
Our own mind is the only one capable of seeing God the way he
is to be seen like that song says.
And I'll see him as he is, and I'll know him as I know that's
the goal. The eyes of your understanding,
Being enlightened, he says. Enlightened is not some
mysterious mythical thing. It's it's to be shown, shown
light upon. If something's in the dark and
you want to see what it really is, you shine light on it.
You can't see something for what it is until it's been
enlightened or clarified. If I see a flower or something
beautiful or good in the dark, I can't really appreciate it for
what it really is. All the beauty that has.
I can't see evil and things that are ugly for what their true
ugliness and evil is unless it is enlightened.
Enlightenment just provides clarity for what's reality.
God wants us to have eyes of understanding that are shown for
what they really that shows things for what they really are.
Why? So that you may know what is the
hope of his calling. Hope itself is one of the
greatest things in life. Secular literate writers always
use hope as a main theme because it's it's one of the most
powerful things in life. The Bible says faith, hope and
love. And the greatest of these is
love. And I have hope in my calling
and the calling from God, the calling to God.
That God has the best life possible for me to live now and
forever. I have hope that God will give
me wisdom and in the way God calls me.
I have hope that God will give me wisdom, that He will teach my
immaturities, my selfishness and my pride, and humble me before
him and others. I have hope for the good that
God can do through me. I have hope that I can do good
for others and to others. God threw me the hope of the
calling of God through me provides hope in that way, and I
hope God will give me a better life after this one.
Every bit of God's plan gives me hope in His calling.
He says that the eyes of your understanding, being
enlightened, that you may know is the hope of this calling,
that you may know where the riches of his glory, of his
inheritance. And the Saints, I always read
this verse, and I'm sorry if this coloring makes it
distracting for you to try to understand.
I was just trying to highlight certain things.
I'd always read this like it was the glory of our inheritance.
And I just noticed it's so cool that it's the glory of his
inheritance. We are the glorious inheritance
of God, he kept saying by his will, by his predetermined
purpose, by His this, by His desire.
Is that we are His glorious inheritance, the glory of his
inheritance. And who and the Saints.
That's a wonderful thought. It brings it kind of full
circle. Yes, we have the inheritance
from God, as he's going to say in a minute, but we are his.
What he's looking forward to, We are his posterity.
We are his generation. The flip side of that, like I
just said, and what? And also what is the exceeding
greatness of his power toward us who believe.
So we've got there His inheritance and us bringing us
to him is good for him. And we also see the greatness of
his power toward us who believe now he's no longer saying we as
Jews or you as Gentiles. He's saying us together who
believe. According to the working of his
mighty power, which he worked in Christ, Christ without Christ,
none of this happens. When he raised him from the
dead, and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly
places, there it is again the heavenlies far above all
principality, and power, and might and dominion, and every
name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which
is to come. And he put all things under his
feet. God put all things under Jesus's
feet and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
which is his body. The body of Jesus is the church,
the fullness of him who fills all and all.
And that's the end of our chapter, that we as the church,
we're not perfect, but the institution of the church, the
goal of the church, we are to be the embodiment.
Or if Christ was here, the church should be what Christ
would be doing if Christ were here.
That's us. We are the church, the fullness
of Him who feels All in all. And I pray today that we will
walk away with a prayer for our own individual lives and a
prayer for our congregation together that we would.
Have a spirit of wisdom and revelation, and the knowledge of
Him, that we would together have eyes that are enlightened in our
understanding to truly know the hope of His calling and the
riches of His glory, and us as the inheritance and
understanding. All how his power works toward
us who believe. May that be our prayer.
Because it's Paul's prayer that can only be worked on us
individually. My heart cannot be changed.
If yours does alone. I have to do.
My heart has to be changed. Your heart has to be changed.
May this all change us today. I recommend it.
I'm going to try to do that too. Pray this section of verses that
we will grow as Paul one of the. Church of the Ephesus and
wherever else this letter was spread to go and that's our
study today. If you have not been added to
the Christ, if you're not, if you're not a faithful in Christ
Jesus that he started addressing this letter to, we got to get
there 1st and it's a wonderful plan.
He wants you to hear his plan which is from the Holy Spirit,
God teaching us His word. We need to believe that word and
and repent of our past life change and go from my way to
God's way. We need to confess that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God. There's no name under heaven by
which men may be saved, but through Jesus Christ.
Then he's the Son of God. We'd be baptized for the
remission of our sins. It's not a work for you to be
baptized to save yourself. That's not a work you are
literally submitting. Somebody else is down there to
assist you in baptism. You're submitting your life to
God, to the watery grave of baptism where you access the
blood of Jesus, we're told in Romans, and you can.
Begin that walk with Christ And if you need support, if you need
prayers of any kind, we're happy to provide that now, while we
stand and while we see. We thank you for listening to
our podcast put on by the Church of Christ at 2215 Plans Rd. in
Bakersfield. If you would like any additional
information or you would like to receive a free Bible
correspondence course by mail, please e-mail us at
info@churchofchristbakersfield.com. Our service times are Sundays at
10:30 AM and 5:00 PM and Wednesdays at 7:30 PM.
Please make plans to join us. We would love for you to be our
honored guest.