1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:02,720 Great day to be here together to worship God. 2 00:00:03,120 --> 00:00:04,800 We have a great crowd this morning. 3 00:00:04,800 --> 00:00:07,040 We have a lot of visitors. We may have more visitors than 4 00:00:07,040 --> 00:00:09,520 our own this morning. We have so many who are either 5 00:00:09,960 --> 00:00:13,440 traveling or sticking out. And so thank you for filling 6 00:00:13,440 --> 00:00:15,320 their seats today. Thank you for being here. 7 00:00:15,560 --> 00:00:19,680 And we pray you are just as involved in this worship as 8 00:00:19,680 --> 00:00:24,340 anyone else here today, because our goal is to glorify God. 9 00:00:24,540 --> 00:00:26,100 And we are happy to do that with you. 10 00:00:26,420 --> 00:00:28,940 And hopefully through the singing, through the prayers, 11 00:00:28,940 --> 00:00:30,980 through the communing, through the teaching of God's word, we 12 00:00:30,980 --> 00:00:34,380 can do that together. If you weren't here last week or 13 00:00:34,380 --> 00:00:36,820 last time I taught, we were starting the study in the book 14 00:00:36,820 --> 00:00:39,860 of Ephesians and we're going to pick up in Ephesians Chapter 2. 15 00:00:40,180 --> 00:00:43,060 And we're going to try to cover this whole chapter today in this 16 00:00:43,060 --> 00:00:45,310 lesson. So Ephesians Chapter 2. 17 00:00:45,310 --> 00:00:47,830 I'll do a very brief recap. I know I've maybe got a little 18 00:00:48,070 --> 00:00:51,590 too and recap in the past and spent too much time reviewing, 19 00:00:51,590 --> 00:00:55,070 but it's so good to remind ourselves the flow of these 20 00:00:55,070 --> 00:00:58,630 letters because we read this book and it's all sectioned out 21 00:00:58,630 --> 00:01:01,350 nicely. But they just got this letter to 22 00:01:01,350 --> 00:01:05,110 the Church of Ephesians as one long scroll or pages of 23 00:01:05,110 --> 00:01:08,310 documents altogether. So it's helpful to get the flow 24 00:01:08,310 --> 00:01:11,070 of it. I've got the kind of the keynote 25 00:01:11,070 --> 00:01:13,310 of this chapter. I've labeled it as the verse 26 00:01:13,310 --> 00:01:17,030 that says that we've been brought near by the blood of 27 00:01:17,030 --> 00:01:19,110 Christ. And I've got a picture of a 28 00:01:19,110 --> 00:01:20,750 diamond with a dark background here. 29 00:01:20,750 --> 00:01:24,790 Because I think what Paul does in the in this chapter is he 30 00:01:24,790 --> 00:01:29,390 tries to set a very intentional stage for the gospel that they 31 00:01:29,390 --> 00:01:32,510 have accepted and and been brought into and he has to 1st 32 00:01:32,510 --> 00:01:36,390 paint a very dark background. If I were to have a diamond 33 00:01:36,390 --> 00:01:39,930 sitting in a in a very lit up room with white and everything, 34 00:01:39,930 --> 00:01:41,290 you couldn't really see it very well. 35 00:01:41,890 --> 00:01:44,370 But if I take a diamond and I place it on a piece of black 36 00:01:44,370 --> 00:01:48,050 velvet, I can see the beauty of that diamond and all of its 37 00:01:48,050 --> 00:01:51,290 glimmering angles because of the blackness behind it. 38 00:01:51,490 --> 00:01:55,010 And I think that Paul does that as he lays out this this chapter 39 00:01:55,010 --> 00:01:58,810 is he starts to paint a very dark picture of what things look 40 00:01:58,810 --> 00:02:04,330 like before this gospel and before this, bringing near by 41 00:02:04,330 --> 00:02:06,650 the gospel and the blood of Christ that he's going to talk 42 00:02:06,650 --> 00:02:08,490 about. So if you're wondering why 43 00:02:08,490 --> 00:02:12,490 that's the meaning there. So a couple of overview points 44 00:02:12,490 --> 00:02:14,130 again. Remember, the purpose of this 45 00:02:14,130 --> 00:02:17,210 letter was #1 to remind Christians of their spiritual 46 00:02:17,210 --> 00:02:21,890 blessings in Christ, and #2 to exhort Christians to have a walk 47 00:02:21,890 --> 00:02:24,930 that is worthy of the calling that they are called by. 48 00:02:25,170 --> 00:02:26,770 So these are kind of the overview. 49 00:02:26,770 --> 00:02:30,640 Remember, this book is broken into 3 chapters of teaching and 50 00:02:30,640 --> 00:02:32,080 then three chapters of application. 51 00:02:32,080 --> 00:02:34,920 So we're in the first couple chapters still where he's 52 00:02:35,240 --> 00:02:39,880 teaching us about what it means to be in Christ and our riches 53 00:02:39,880 --> 00:02:42,240 that are in Christ. So we already already covered 54 00:02:42,440 --> 00:02:44,200 our spiritual possessions in Christ. 55 00:02:44,200 --> 00:02:47,840 Today we're going to be getting into our spiritual position in 56 00:02:47,840 --> 00:02:50,160 Christ. We're going to talk about how we 57 00:02:50,160 --> 00:02:54,840 are raised and seated with Jesus by Jesus on the throne, where 58 00:02:54,840 --> 00:02:58,280 Jesus is raised on the throne and we are reconciled and set 59 00:02:58,280 --> 00:03:01,030 into the temple. And then just to give you an 60 00:03:01,030 --> 00:03:04,550 idea of where he's going next, he's going to talk about our 61 00:03:04,550 --> 00:03:07,630 responsibility in Christ going on in Chapter 4. 62 00:03:07,870 --> 00:03:10,470 So all these things we're going to talk about today, it's going 63 00:03:10,470 --> 00:03:12,790 to sound ripped. It's going to sound like we are 64 00:03:12,790 --> 00:03:16,950 brought in, we are welcomed, we are everything we can imagine 65 00:03:16,950 --> 00:03:20,750 being. And he's going to say then and 66 00:03:20,750 --> 00:03:22,150 the last three chapters of this book. 67 00:03:22,350 --> 00:03:24,430 So here's what you should be doing. 68 00:03:24,710 --> 00:03:27,550 It has to manifest itself in your walk. 69 00:03:28,170 --> 00:03:31,730 And he's going to talk about walking unity with the body of 70 00:03:31,730 --> 00:03:33,810 Christ. So it's important to be a member 71 00:03:33,810 --> 00:03:37,370 of a church because that is the body, the fullness of him who 72 00:03:37,370 --> 00:03:40,770 feels All in all we read last week and he's going to call us 73 00:03:40,770 --> 00:03:44,410 to walk in purity and harmony and walk in victory. 74 00:03:45,130 --> 00:03:47,210 OK, so that's the overview of the book. 75 00:03:47,530 --> 00:03:51,090 Let's get a running start. From last chapter we read that 76 00:03:51,090 --> 00:03:54,250 Paul was saying that he wanted that the God of our Lord Jesus 77 00:03:54,250 --> 00:03:58,690 Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom 78 00:03:58,690 --> 00:04:00,730 and revelation. He wanted something to be 79 00:04:00,730 --> 00:04:04,810 revealed to them, the knowledge of him, the knowledge of God. 80 00:04:04,970 --> 00:04:07,370 Paul wanted a knowledge of God to be revealed to him. 81 00:04:07,610 --> 00:04:09,570 How? That the eyes of your 82 00:04:09,570 --> 00:04:11,330 understanding would be enlightened. 83 00:04:12,170 --> 00:04:14,450 That you may know what is the hope of his calling? 84 00:04:14,650 --> 00:04:17,490 What are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the 85 00:04:17,490 --> 00:04:19,829 Saints? And what is the exceeding 86 00:04:19,829 --> 00:04:24,230 greatness of his power toward us, who believe according to the 87 00:04:24,230 --> 00:04:27,950 working of His mighty power, which he worked in Christ, when 88 00:04:27,950 --> 00:04:31,750 He raised him from the dead, and seated him at his right hand in 89 00:04:31,750 --> 00:04:34,790 the heavenly places? Far above all principality and 90 00:04:34,790 --> 00:04:38,670 power, and might and dominion in every name that is named not 91 00:04:38,670 --> 00:04:42,790 only in this age, but also in that age which is to come, the 92 00:04:42,790 --> 00:04:44,790 last couple verses of the last chapter. 93 00:04:45,030 --> 00:04:49,060 And He put all things under Jesus feet his feet, and gave 94 00:04:49,060 --> 00:04:53,100 him to be head over all things to the church, which is his 95 00:04:53,100 --> 00:04:56,420 body, the fullness of him who fills All in all. 96 00:04:56,420 --> 00:04:59,780 So that's the flow we have now we're picking up in Ephesians 97 00:04:59,780 --> 00:05:06,940 chapter two. He starts out by saying And you 98 00:05:07,620 --> 00:05:10,860 who were dead and trespasses and sins. 99 00:05:11,300 --> 00:05:14,940 OK, so I have here this phrase he made alive, kind of darkened 100 00:05:14,940 --> 00:05:15,540 out. And. 101 00:05:15,540 --> 00:05:18,860 And the reason is, if you look at your Bible, it's in italics. 102 00:05:19,380 --> 00:05:22,340 If you read a passage of scripture or it's usually just a 103 00:05:22,340 --> 00:05:25,820 couple words, they're in italics, It's because that was 104 00:05:25,820 --> 00:05:28,660 not originally there in the text when they translated. 105 00:05:29,220 --> 00:05:33,420 The italics portion will be something that translators put 106 00:05:33,420 --> 00:05:37,150 there for clarity's sake. OK, he's going to say this 107 00:05:37,150 --> 00:05:40,910 phrase that we were made alive shortly after this, but he 108 00:05:40,910 --> 00:05:42,830 actually didn't say it right here in the original. 109 00:05:43,070 --> 00:05:45,630 So he's starting out with pure darkness in this. 110 00:05:45,630 --> 00:05:49,510 In this portrayal of what's going on, he says and you who 111 00:05:49,510 --> 00:05:52,710 were dead and trespasses and sins. 112 00:05:53,510 --> 00:05:56,870 So he makes a distinction here. He says trespasses and sins. 113 00:05:57,190 --> 00:06:00,230 And for my study, the reason I could or the reason being I 114 00:06:00,230 --> 00:06:06,940 believe is sins is a very maybe a a general way of saying you 115 00:06:06,940 --> 00:06:09,780 missed the mark. That's what the word sin 116 00:06:09,780 --> 00:06:12,300 literally came from. As I understand in the Old 117 00:06:12,300 --> 00:06:15,900 English, if you were to be an Archer and you would shoot at an 118 00:06:15,900 --> 00:06:18,660 opening or a target and miss it, they would say you were a 119 00:06:18,660 --> 00:06:24,020 Sinner, you missed the mark. And the concept is, from what I 120 00:06:24,020 --> 00:06:27,820 can picture is we can still be trying and we can miss the mark. 121 00:06:28,500 --> 00:06:31,100 We messed up. We sin even sometimes when we're 122 00:06:31,100 --> 00:06:34,380 trying to do what's right. That's how weak we are as 123 00:06:34,380 --> 00:06:37,290 humans. But trespasses is more of an 124 00:06:37,330 --> 00:06:41,010 overt if you trespass, you're going over a boundary. 125 00:06:41,010 --> 00:06:43,290 Usually know you're getting into something you shouldn't be into, 126 00:06:43,290 --> 00:06:47,690 and it's more willful. And he says you who are dead and 127 00:06:47,690 --> 00:06:51,650 trespasses and sins and missing the mark and overstepping God's 128 00:06:51,650 --> 00:06:53,330 boundaries. Maybe even you knew it. 129 00:06:53,650 --> 00:06:56,610 You were dead. And he's starting out by saying 130 00:06:56,610 --> 00:06:59,650 you because there's a distinction we set up in the 131 00:06:59,650 --> 00:07:01,930 first chapter between you and we. 132 00:07:02,990 --> 00:07:06,510 Paul was a Jew, and he's writing to people who some of them were 133 00:07:06,510 --> 00:07:08,350 Jews, some of them were Gentiles. 134 00:07:08,870 --> 00:07:10,510 Gentile just means they weren't a Jew. 135 00:07:11,190 --> 00:07:14,470 So some of these people had been God's followers throughout 136 00:07:14,470 --> 00:07:15,550 history. They were Jews. 137 00:07:15,790 --> 00:07:17,830 Other people had no history following God. 138 00:07:17,830 --> 00:07:21,350 They were Gentiles. So he's saying you Gentiles who 139 00:07:21,350 --> 00:07:24,110 haven't had history following God, were dead. 140 00:07:26,110 --> 00:07:31,630 This chapter is a spiritual recalibration for reality. 141 00:07:32,390 --> 00:07:34,670 We don't see ourselves and we're insane. 142 00:07:34,670 --> 00:07:36,670 We don't look at ourselves like we're dead men walking. 143 00:07:38,110 --> 00:07:39,510 There's a show called The Walking Dead. 144 00:07:39,510 --> 00:07:41,910 It's all about zombies. He says you were zombies. 145 00:07:41,910 --> 00:07:44,190 Basically, you were dead while you were walking. 146 00:07:44,190 --> 00:07:45,430 We don't see ourselves like that. 147 00:07:45,430 --> 00:07:48,030 We're in sin. We think I'm doing what I want. 148 00:07:48,470 --> 00:07:49,910 We really don't want to know it's best for us. 149 00:07:49,910 --> 00:07:54,670 Sometimes we were dead in trespasses and sins in what you 150 00:07:54,670 --> 00:07:57,630 once walked. So remember, he's not writing to 151 00:07:57,630 --> 00:07:59,390 a bunch of people who haven't been converted yet. 152 00:07:59,390 --> 00:08:03,190 He's writing to people who were once that way, and if we are 153 00:08:03,190 --> 00:08:06,470 going to be the people of God, we have to make it so that it 154 00:08:06,470 --> 00:08:10,390 was a once stay. We can't be a part of God's 155 00:08:10,390 --> 00:08:13,990 family and just make it part of who we always are, being dead 156 00:08:13,990 --> 00:08:16,670 and sin. He's called us beyond that. 157 00:08:16,670 --> 00:08:19,830 Past that, he says. In which you once walked 158 00:08:20,390 --> 00:08:23,630 according to the course of this world, according to the Prince 159 00:08:23,630 --> 00:08:27,310 of the power of the air, the Spirit who now works in the Sons 160 00:08:27,310 --> 00:08:31,350 of Disobedience. We talked about predestination 161 00:08:31,350 --> 00:08:34,870 in the first chapter, about how God had a plan that was laid out 162 00:08:34,870 --> 00:08:37,429 ahead of time. He didn't say, I'm going to save 163 00:08:37,429 --> 00:08:39,590 this person and I'm not going to make I'm going to make that 164 00:08:39,590 --> 00:08:40,870 person go to hell. He didn't do that. 165 00:08:41,309 --> 00:08:45,030 He laid out and predetermined a plan that said whoever will 166 00:08:45,030 --> 00:08:47,470 follow me, I will save them and give them everlasting life. 167 00:08:48,430 --> 00:08:51,710 Satan has some of his own predestination that goes on. 168 00:08:52,030 --> 00:08:55,870 So he kind of contrasts the two here by saying that Satan had a 169 00:08:55,870 --> 00:08:59,530 predetermined path. He had a course of the world 170 00:08:59,530 --> 00:09:01,570 that he is trying to manipulate the world with. 171 00:09:02,530 --> 00:09:07,170 And it's it's a very, it's a very real picture to be kind of 172 00:09:07,170 --> 00:09:09,690 like a puppet master. He doesn't say, doesn't decide 173 00:09:09,690 --> 00:09:13,450 for us to make wrongs, but he he's trying to lead us into a 174 00:09:13,450 --> 00:09:17,450 course, into a path that would be of disobedience to God. 175 00:09:18,370 --> 00:09:20,850 We don't see ourselves like this, right? 176 00:09:20,850 --> 00:09:24,820 We think we're doing what we want when we sin, but we're not. 177 00:09:24,820 --> 00:09:28,060 We're walking according to Satan's purposes when we 178 00:09:28,060 --> 00:09:30,140 following him. And you know, in English, 179 00:09:30,140 --> 00:09:31,820 there's there's multiple words for a walk. 180 00:09:31,900 --> 00:09:34,580 You could, you could say I was walking with a purpose to get to 181 00:09:34,580 --> 00:09:36,380 the back door. You know, if you're having to 182 00:09:36,380 --> 00:09:38,460 use the restroom during services, after services, you 183 00:09:38,660 --> 00:09:40,300 bolted to the back door. You have a purpose. 184 00:09:40,980 --> 00:09:43,620 But if you're walking through the mall, you're just meandering 185 00:09:43,620 --> 00:09:46,060 through. I think that's the sense in what 186 00:09:46,060 --> 00:09:48,620 she's saying here. We were just meandering through 187 00:09:48,620 --> 00:09:52,660 life without purpose, without true direction or reason. 188 00:09:52,660 --> 00:09:55,860 We were being led, according to the Prince of the power of the 189 00:09:55,900 --> 00:09:58,420 air, a dead fish can follow a stream. 190 00:09:59,460 --> 00:10:01,300 It takes something that's living to go upstream. 191 00:10:01,660 --> 00:10:06,420 Takes a living fish to go upstream against the current, he 192 00:10:06,420 --> 00:10:09,900 said You were dead. According to the Prince of the 193 00:10:09,900 --> 00:10:12,900 Power of the Air, who now works in the Sons of Disobedience, 194 00:10:13,300 --> 00:10:16,140 he's going to talk about the sons of God and the sons of 195 00:10:16,140 --> 00:10:19,550 disobedience and sonship just basically means that's who 196 00:10:19,550 --> 00:10:21,470 you're putting yourself in line with. 197 00:10:22,470 --> 00:10:25,470 If we follow Satan, we're putting ourselves in line with 198 00:10:25,470 --> 00:10:30,390 him like we are his descendants. But it says that he's the 199 00:10:30,390 --> 00:10:32,670 Prince. Remember, there's only one king 200 00:10:32,670 --> 00:10:34,990 of kings and Lord of the Lords, and it's not Satan. 201 00:10:34,990 --> 00:10:37,070 Satan has temporary power here on Earth. 202 00:10:37,070 --> 00:10:39,710 He's a Prince. He has power on earth, but it's 203 00:10:39,710 --> 00:10:46,310 not ultimate Among whom we all, among whom also we all once 204 00:10:46,310 --> 00:10:48,830 conducted ourselves. So before he was saying this to 205 00:10:48,830 --> 00:10:51,750 the Gentiles, to the people who hadn't followed God in the past, 206 00:10:51,990 --> 00:10:54,750 but now he's saying we all did it, Paul. 207 00:10:54,750 --> 00:10:57,910 And another point said, I, you know, I tried to serve God my 208 00:10:57,910 --> 00:11:00,750 whole life. He said it innocent, you know, 209 00:11:00,750 --> 00:11:03,110 with a good conscience. But it doesn't mean that Paul 210 00:11:03,110 --> 00:11:05,710 didn't sin. It doesn't mean even though Paul 211 00:11:05,710 --> 00:11:08,110 might have been trying, it doesn't mean that he wasn't 212 00:11:08,110 --> 00:11:11,640 living according to the lust of the flesh. 213 00:11:11,880 --> 00:11:15,640 He said we all once conducted ourselves in the lust of our 214 00:11:15,640 --> 00:11:18,520 flesh. Lust just means strong desires, 215 00:11:18,520 --> 00:11:22,680 passions, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, 216 00:11:24,040 --> 00:11:27,160 all of us. You know, sometimes I think 217 00:11:27,160 --> 00:11:30,320 about passions or lust being like anger. 218 00:11:30,520 --> 00:11:33,720 You know, lashing out, Want to hit somebody, Maybe lust for 219 00:11:33,720 --> 00:11:37,720 power or even a sexual lust. That's what usually we think of. 220 00:11:39,100 --> 00:11:41,020 Do you know any sin that I commit? 221 00:11:41,740 --> 00:11:48,660 Any selfish ambition, any jealousy, any pride in my heart, 222 00:11:48,660 --> 00:11:53,220 any gossip, any of those things we might call white collar sins? 223 00:11:54,860 --> 00:11:58,100 Those are lusts of the flesh. We are trying to fulfill a 224 00:11:58,100 --> 00:12:00,660 desire for something in us. That's not good. 225 00:12:01,580 --> 00:12:06,430 When we are trying to undermine somebody else and to to to 226 00:12:06,430 --> 00:12:10,670 slander them or say evil things about people back biting, there 227 00:12:10,670 --> 00:12:14,550 is a desire of either the mind or the flesh that we shouldn't 228 00:12:14,550 --> 00:12:20,710 be trying to satisfy, he says. And we were by nature children 229 00:12:20,710 --> 00:12:24,230 of wrath. Now some people say that and and 230 00:12:24,230 --> 00:12:27,110 imply that OK, see we were sinners from the get go for the 231 00:12:27,110 --> 00:12:28,550 moment you're bored, you were in Sinner. 232 00:12:28,550 --> 00:12:30,750 It's just your nature. Well no. 233 00:12:30,910 --> 00:12:33,550 There's plenty of passions that say that children are innocent. 234 00:12:34,430 --> 00:12:38,090 Children are the are pure before they reach a point where they 235 00:12:38,090 --> 00:12:39,530 start making decisions on right or wrong. 236 00:12:40,410 --> 00:12:45,770 So we weren't born with sin in our heart, but it's becomes 237 00:12:45,770 --> 00:12:47,650 nature when it just becomes your habit. 238 00:12:48,610 --> 00:12:50,970 You know, you could say, oh, it's just his nature to be late 239 00:12:50,970 --> 00:12:53,730 to work. Was he born late to work person? 240 00:12:53,730 --> 00:12:55,330 No. He chooses to make a habit of 241 00:12:55,330 --> 00:12:59,170 being late to work. The Bible says we were by 242 00:12:59,170 --> 00:13:01,250 nature. It was who we became. 243 00:13:02,480 --> 00:13:05,160 We became children of wrath. There it is again, lining 244 00:13:05,160 --> 00:13:08,000 ourselves up behind, behind Satan. 245 00:13:08,840 --> 00:13:11,000 It's who we were lining ourself up with. 246 00:13:11,000 --> 00:13:17,200 It's who we became. It was so natural to us, just as 247 00:13:17,200 --> 00:13:24,560 the others, you know, little side note here, little pause. 248 00:13:25,520 --> 00:13:29,120 Sometimes we feel like and the world tries to talk to us like 249 00:13:29,320 --> 00:13:31,360 there is no enjoyment in the Christian life. 250 00:13:31,910 --> 00:13:35,790 And sometimes we act like that and that is absolutely backwards 251 00:13:35,790 --> 00:13:41,070 and wrong from the get go when we when it says here that we 252 00:13:41,070 --> 00:13:44,190 were fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. 253 00:13:44,550 --> 00:13:48,630 The key here is that it's saying we once conducted ourselves. 254 00:13:49,670 --> 00:13:52,390 It's not that we can't have lives that are fulfilled and 255 00:13:52,390 --> 00:13:56,270 joyful and desire feeling, we can have desires that are 256 00:13:56,270 --> 00:13:59,110 fulfilled. The problem is when we try to 257 00:13:59,110 --> 00:14:03,230 conduct ourselves. And Psalm 37 verse four says 258 00:14:03,230 --> 00:14:05,030 this wonderfully. I love this verse. 259 00:14:05,030 --> 00:14:08,990 It says delight yourself also in the Lord. 260 00:14:09,790 --> 00:14:13,910 Make the Lord the things that you delight yourself in and then 261 00:14:14,030 --> 00:14:16,110 He shall give you the desires of your heart. 262 00:14:18,430 --> 00:14:23,350 Christians should be people who live fulfilled desire lives. 263 00:14:24,270 --> 00:14:28,150 If we are just Christian enough to see how God wants us to be, 264 00:14:28,150 --> 00:14:30,310 but we really don't get there, we don't really feel like doing 265 00:14:30,310 --> 00:14:33,490 it, then we haven't even gotten to the good party yet. 266 00:14:34,810 --> 00:14:38,090 If people try to talk to you like your life is unfulfilled 267 00:14:38,090 --> 00:14:41,010 and you don't get to live by desires, that's just wrong. 268 00:14:43,330 --> 00:14:46,410 We have to change our desires and ask God to change our 269 00:14:46,410 --> 00:14:48,810 desires within us. Have you ever had something you 270 00:14:48,810 --> 00:14:52,050 thought you would never enjoy doing, But then now you're like 271 00:14:52,050 --> 00:14:54,610 God. That was God for me. 272 00:14:55,760 --> 00:14:59,600 I never thought golf was going to be anything fun, enjoyable. 273 00:14:59,600 --> 00:15:02,040 I was, you know, in high school, you're playing basketball, 274 00:15:02,040 --> 00:15:03,600 you're playing baseball, football, you're playing the 275 00:15:03,600 --> 00:15:05,400 sports that are, you know, upbeat. 276 00:15:05,400 --> 00:15:06,960 And there's a lot of action and commotion. 277 00:15:07,320 --> 00:15:09,520 And I thought, how in the world do people just go out there and 278 00:15:09,520 --> 00:15:11,520 do that dumb sport when there's a ball laying on the ground, 279 00:15:11,520 --> 00:15:13,480 they slap it around. I thought it was just so dumb. 280 00:15:13,760 --> 00:15:16,320 I thought there's no way I'll never, I'll never enjoy that 281 00:15:16,320 --> 00:15:19,440 game. Maybe you've had things you 282 00:15:19,440 --> 00:15:22,600 insert anything that you thought you wouldn't like and that you 283 00:15:22,600 --> 00:15:26,870 now like, what changed? Well, for me, first of all, I 284 00:15:26,870 --> 00:15:30,070 surrounded myself with people to share it with that were good 285 00:15:30,070 --> 00:15:33,150 people. When I moved here, I didn't have 286 00:15:34,230 --> 00:15:36,630 all people who played baseball, basketball, football. 287 00:15:36,790 --> 00:15:39,430 But when I came here, Frank and and some of the others here 288 00:15:39,430 --> 00:15:42,150 played golf and so I was able to play golf with them. 289 00:15:42,150 --> 00:15:44,390 I had a good time. I surrounded myself with people 290 00:15:44,830 --> 00:15:49,070 to share that with. It took effort to to get to the 291 00:15:49,070 --> 00:15:51,430 point that I now really enjoy playing golf. 292 00:15:51,470 --> 00:15:55,160 I had to put in a lot of effort. Or I just go out there and try, 293 00:15:55,480 --> 00:16:00,160 OK, you have to try something. I had to have challenges. 294 00:16:01,160 --> 00:16:03,600 You know when when you go out to golf for the first time, you're 295 00:16:03,600 --> 00:16:04,680 like, God, this can't be that hard. 296 00:16:04,760 --> 00:16:08,280 You line up and you Shank it. Most of us still do, but you 297 00:16:08,280 --> 00:16:11,000 Shank most balls. When you first start, you 298 00:16:11,000 --> 00:16:13,920 realize how hard it is to do well. 299 00:16:14,600 --> 00:16:17,560 And so you get a kind of a reference point for what success 300 00:16:17,560 --> 00:16:19,960 is. You get a reference point for 301 00:16:19,960 --> 00:16:22,280 how hard it is to be successful in this game. 302 00:16:23,320 --> 00:16:28,560 Golf is incredibly challenging. And then you you have that one 303 00:16:28,560 --> 00:16:30,560 shot. People say there's a there's a 304 00:16:30,560 --> 00:16:32,720 famous phrase I hate golf. I hate golf. 305 00:16:33,160 --> 00:16:34,680 Nice shot. I love golf. 306 00:16:35,520 --> 00:16:38,720 You will have small successes if you play the game that keep you 307 00:16:38,720 --> 00:16:43,000 coming back. This is how, in my estimation, 308 00:16:43,280 --> 00:16:46,280 you change your perspective on something you don't like, that 309 00:16:46,280 --> 00:16:48,680 you then begin to like. You have to surround yourself 310 00:16:48,680 --> 00:16:50,600 with people to share it with their good people. 311 00:16:50,720 --> 00:16:53,460 You have to put in some effort, and when you put an effort, 312 00:16:53,460 --> 00:16:56,580 you're going to find challenges, and those challenges make the 313 00:16:56,580 --> 00:17:00,260 victory so much sweeter and you can start to appreciate the walk 314 00:17:00,660 --> 00:17:03,620 of whatever it is. That's true with golf, I think 315 00:17:03,620 --> 00:17:04,619 it's true with the Christian life. 316 00:17:05,500 --> 00:17:07,339 And you know what? You may have to overcome certain 317 00:17:07,339 --> 00:17:09,819 things. And golf you may, you might have 318 00:17:09,819 --> 00:17:13,099 to overcome previous messages that you said or the other 319 00:17:13,099 --> 00:17:14,859 people said to you, what a dumb sport. 320 00:17:15,300 --> 00:17:17,940 You may have to overcome that later when it gets hard, you 321 00:17:17,940 --> 00:17:19,819 might want to say, oh, this is such a dumb sport. 322 00:17:20,460 --> 00:17:22,859 You may have to overcome that. You may have to overcome past 323 00:17:22,859 --> 00:17:26,300 failures because when you fail, it makes you think, I just 324 00:17:26,300 --> 00:17:27,420 can't. People say that. 325 00:17:27,420 --> 00:17:29,300 I just can't do it. It's not true. 326 00:17:29,300 --> 00:17:32,860 But okay, it's how they feel. You may have to overcome a fear 327 00:17:32,940 --> 00:17:35,220 of how others see you. You know, I've had people, I'd 328 00:17:35,220 --> 00:17:37,100 say, oh, come out with us just because I want to spend some 329 00:17:37,100 --> 00:17:39,780 time with so and so and and it's a good way to get out there 330 00:17:39,780 --> 00:17:43,060 together, Be outside and they say I'll just feel bad holding 331 00:17:43,060 --> 00:17:46,490 everybody else back. You may feel that way about the 332 00:17:46,490 --> 00:17:49,690 Christian life, that if you get started in this Christian walk, 333 00:17:49,690 --> 00:17:52,410 then we subject to criticism. You're going to be surrounded by 334 00:17:52,410 --> 00:17:57,330 people who are holier and OK, hopefully we're not really like 335 00:17:57,330 --> 00:17:59,050 that. Hopefully you're going to see 336 00:17:59,050 --> 00:18:02,450 once you surround yourself with people, that we're all here for 337 00:18:02,450 --> 00:18:06,530 the same purpose. You may have to overcome things 338 00:18:06,530 --> 00:18:10,170 that make it not enjoyable to you, but what you're going to 339 00:18:10,170 --> 00:18:14,650 notice is that we can start to delight ourselves in the Lord, 340 00:18:15,710 --> 00:18:18,030 and God will fulfill us in those desires. 341 00:18:18,710 --> 00:18:22,470 May we pray that individually and collectively that God will 342 00:18:22,470 --> 00:18:27,270 make us desire Him and His ways so that we could be fulfilled in 343 00:18:27,270 --> 00:18:28,990 Him. It's the best kind. 344 00:18:31,430 --> 00:18:36,990 But God verse four, who is rich in mercy because of His great 345 00:18:36,990 --> 00:18:42,350 love with which He loved us even when we were dead in trespasses, 346 00:18:42,970 --> 00:18:44,810 he made us alive together with Christ. 347 00:18:44,810 --> 00:18:48,410 By grace you have been saved. So here's where he says that 348 00:18:48,410 --> 00:18:49,970 this is where he introduces the light. 349 00:18:50,170 --> 00:18:51,930 He's been all darkness and gloom. 350 00:18:52,370 --> 00:18:55,410 And now he starts to introduce that we've been made alive, that 351 00:18:55,410 --> 00:18:58,570 there's this great God. And sometimes we get numb to 352 00:18:58,570 --> 00:19:00,850 this. As Christians we read this 353 00:19:00,850 --> 00:19:04,290 phrase and we get numb to it. And so this is a good spiritual 354 00:19:04,290 --> 00:19:06,370 recalibration. I want you to think for a second 355 00:19:06,770 --> 00:19:09,250 picture of God who does not love you. 356 00:19:10,470 --> 00:19:13,630 Sometimes we we start to think that just because our our minds 357 00:19:13,630 --> 00:19:16,310 like can we can you really love us but no, picture it picture of 358 00:19:16,310 --> 00:19:19,950 God who does not love you. That's Greek gods during this 359 00:19:19,950 --> 00:19:23,630 time they were gods but they had nothing to do with the people. 360 00:19:23,630 --> 00:19:25,550 They didn't really care about them. 361 00:19:25,750 --> 00:19:28,830 Picture of God who is not rich in mercy, who does not care 362 00:19:28,830 --> 00:19:33,630 about being merciful to you, who does not love you, and who when 363 00:19:33,630 --> 00:19:37,390 He saw you dead, said too bad, kick the dead body off to the 364 00:19:37,390 --> 00:19:40,160 side. Picture of God who thinks that 365 00:19:40,160 --> 00:19:43,840 way because we need to recalibrate to appreciate 366 00:19:43,840 --> 00:19:49,520 sometimes how rich God's mercy is for us, how great His love 367 00:19:49,520 --> 00:19:54,400 for us is, so that when he saw us dead in our sins, he didn't 368 00:19:54,400 --> 00:19:57,120 write us off, He didn't kick us to the curb. 369 00:19:58,240 --> 00:20:03,120 He has a persevering love that still sent Jesus to die for us, 370 00:20:06,920 --> 00:20:09,530 we all. And there's people in this room 371 00:20:09,610 --> 00:20:13,650 who I know have gone through difficult things for people you 372 00:20:13,650 --> 00:20:16,850 love. Maybe it's your children who 373 00:20:16,850 --> 00:20:19,210 have put you through, maybe the ringer, some of the things that 374 00:20:19,210 --> 00:20:21,610 you've been long-suffering in with them. 375 00:20:22,490 --> 00:20:25,450 Maybe it's a spouse. Maybe it's, you know, in the 376 00:20:25,450 --> 00:20:27,290 sense that maybe you had to care for a spouse. 377 00:20:27,450 --> 00:20:30,730 There's people in here that because of great love, you have 378 00:20:30,730 --> 00:20:32,890 done great things for people in your life. 379 00:20:36,190 --> 00:20:39,110 I want us to connect with God, to understand that's how God's 380 00:20:39,110 --> 00:20:42,990 great love is toward us. That though we were dead, though 381 00:20:42,990 --> 00:20:45,390 we were rejecting. You know, that's what that's 382 00:20:45,390 --> 00:20:48,670 what deadness implies. Deadness implies lifeless, 383 00:20:49,590 --> 00:20:54,070 Apathy, spiritual apathy, Unresponsive, cold, numb, 384 00:20:54,070 --> 00:20:56,230 hopeless. If it's spiritually, maybe it's 385 00:20:56,230 --> 00:20:58,390 rude. It's unwilling to change 386 00:21:00,030 --> 00:21:03,350 spiritually. Maybe we've we've seen that in 387 00:21:03,430 --> 00:21:08,900 people's lives around us. So why do we continue to show a 388 00:21:08,900 --> 00:21:12,860 rich love toward others and and great love and and mercy toward 389 00:21:12,860 --> 00:21:14,260 others? Why do we keep sharing the 390 00:21:14,260 --> 00:21:17,260 gospel or sharing the love with others? 391 00:21:18,140 --> 00:21:21,620 Because God did that for us. We learned that He love. 392 00:21:21,620 --> 00:21:26,820 We love because he first loved us, even when we were dead. 393 00:21:27,020 --> 00:21:31,980 God loved us so in our lives, as there's people in your life who 394 00:21:31,980 --> 00:21:35,560 are just not having any of your business, sometimes the people 395 00:21:35,560 --> 00:21:38,400 who are most adamantly opposed to your faith are the people 396 00:21:38,400 --> 00:21:41,520 who, in my experience, in people's lives around me, Those 397 00:21:41,520 --> 00:21:43,400 people are the ones sometimes the ones that flip sooner. 398 00:21:44,600 --> 00:21:46,880 Maybe there's people who are dead in their center around you. 399 00:21:46,880 --> 00:21:49,720 Why keep doing it? Why keep showing them love and 400 00:21:49,720 --> 00:21:53,840 mercy and kindness and being the light when it's unresponsive and 401 00:21:53,840 --> 00:21:56,760 boring? Because God did that for us. 402 00:21:57,640 --> 00:22:00,840 And as soon as we lose sight of that, as soon as we lose sight 403 00:22:00,840 --> 00:22:05,110 of the fact that we were dead and God loved us and that was 404 00:22:05,110 --> 00:22:08,510 merciful to us, we will not show mercy to others. 405 00:22:08,510 --> 00:22:14,550 I believe May we be merciful and show a persevering love toward 406 00:22:14,550 --> 00:22:19,310 others because God made us alive together with Christ, and we've 407 00:22:19,310 --> 00:22:23,990 been saved by God's grace. Verse 6. 408 00:22:25,030 --> 00:22:28,950 And raised us up together and made us sit together in the 409 00:22:28,950 --> 00:22:34,570 heavenly places in Christ Jesus. So God having saved us by grace, 410 00:22:34,730 --> 00:22:38,210 he raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly 411 00:22:38,210 --> 00:22:40,130 places. I get a very paternal image when 412 00:22:40,130 --> 00:22:43,890 I read this, almost like a father scooping one of some 413 00:22:43,890 --> 00:22:47,450 children up and and and raising them to sit together in these 414 00:22:47,450 --> 00:22:54,770 heavenly places in Christ Jesus that in the ages to come he 415 00:22:54,770 --> 00:22:58,490 might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness 416 00:22:58,490 --> 00:23:06,120 toward us in Christ Jesus. You know, sometimes when we 417 00:23:06,120 --> 00:23:10,360 think about heaven we think about this richness and God 418 00:23:10,360 --> 00:23:13,000 showing the the exceeding riches of his grace. 419 00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:14,920 Sometimes people think heaven's boring or whatever. 420 00:23:15,840 --> 00:23:19,600 Would God talk about richness and exceeding richness and 421 00:23:19,600 --> 00:23:22,600 kindness if it was some mundane, boring place? 422 00:23:22,600 --> 00:23:26,000 No. And when we get to heaven, we're 423 00:23:26,000 --> 00:23:30,460 going to be overflowing with praises for the richness and the 424 00:23:30,460 --> 00:23:32,620 goodness and the greatness. It's going to come out of us 425 00:23:32,820 --> 00:23:36,220 because that's how great heaven is, he says. 426 00:23:36,220 --> 00:23:40,140 Ages to come. There have been several ages 427 00:23:40,140 --> 00:23:41,900 that have passed in this in this earth. 428 00:23:42,260 --> 00:23:45,700 We think about the patriarchal age when we had the early 429 00:23:45,700 --> 00:23:49,700 fathers who from Adam to you might say to Moses, you had the 430 00:23:49,700 --> 00:23:51,580 patriarchs who led their families. 431 00:23:51,580 --> 00:23:55,100 You have the mosaic age. Once Moses came and delivered 432 00:23:55,100 --> 00:23:58,500 the Old Testament law, there's thousands of years covered in 433 00:23:58,500 --> 00:24:02,740 that spam. Then we have the Christian age 434 00:24:02,740 --> 00:24:05,540 where Jesus coming in, the Messianic age, where Jesus is 435 00:24:05,540 --> 00:24:09,020 now the Messiah and he has come and he died and he has set up 436 00:24:09,020 --> 00:24:11,620 his church. We have the Christian age today. 437 00:24:13,220 --> 00:24:17,220 There have been ages and those ages are thousands of years. 438 00:24:18,420 --> 00:24:23,430 I think what he's trying to get us to zoom out to is beyond our 439 00:24:23,430 --> 00:24:27,590 personal life, beyond our struggles, beyond our daytoday, 440 00:24:27,590 --> 00:24:30,550 mundane frustrations and and anxieties. 441 00:24:30,790 --> 00:24:34,030 He wants to zoom out and see the big picture that there are ages 442 00:24:34,030 --> 00:24:37,430 to come. And while it might not be 443 00:24:37,430 --> 00:24:41,110 separated like it was, there are going to be massive amounts of 444 00:24:41,110 --> 00:24:44,990 time that we that we span in the in eternity. 445 00:24:45,110 --> 00:24:52,580 And God wants to list up, lift us up with Jesus and show us 446 00:24:53,220 --> 00:24:57,060 exceeding riches of his grace and kindness in Christ Jesus. 447 00:24:58,540 --> 00:25:00,100 Can you believe that's said about you. 448 00:25:01,460 --> 00:25:07,460 You know we have tunnel vision and I don't know about you, but 449 00:25:07,460 --> 00:25:10,700 probably most people in this room are thinking about at the 450 00:25:10,700 --> 00:25:13,340 most maybe year out and you're just like, you know I've got 451 00:25:13,340 --> 00:25:15,220 this coming to my year. I've got these plans and this 452 00:25:15,220 --> 00:25:17,420 and that. But probably many people are 453 00:25:17,420 --> 00:25:19,040 thinking about the next month. That's me. 454 00:25:19,040 --> 00:25:20,120 I'm thinking about the next month. 455 00:25:20,120 --> 00:25:22,160 Right now. I've got some big projects lined 456 00:25:22,160 --> 00:25:23,120 up. I've got to get done. 457 00:25:23,360 --> 00:25:26,520 I've got, yeah, I've got some stuff finished and I've got kind 458 00:25:26,520 --> 00:25:29,160 of a lot of my plate. This next month, maybe for you 459 00:25:29,160 --> 00:25:31,040 it's the next week. Maybe you've got a lot of hard 460 00:25:31,040 --> 00:25:32,200 stuff. Maybe you got some things 461 00:25:32,200 --> 00:25:35,040 they're wearing on you. Maybe for some people it's just 462 00:25:35,040 --> 00:25:37,680 through today. If you're carrying burdens, you 463 00:25:37,680 --> 00:25:39,400 get to the point where you just have to get through today. 464 00:25:40,160 --> 00:25:41,720 That's that's man, and that's God. 465 00:25:41,720 --> 00:25:43,400 Give me what I need just to get through today. 466 00:25:44,200 --> 00:25:45,680 And I think that's a survival instinct. 467 00:25:46,430 --> 00:25:48,470 If you are trying to just get through something difficult 468 00:25:48,470 --> 00:25:51,430 right now, survival instinct says focus on this. 469 00:25:51,430 --> 00:25:54,110 Don't worry about months, years, anything like that. 470 00:25:54,110 --> 00:26:00,390 You just need to focus on them. But God wants us to zoom out 471 00:26:00,390 --> 00:26:04,190 because spiritually we need it. Spiritually we need to zoom out 472 00:26:04,190 --> 00:26:08,870 and say, yes, there are days and and and within days there are 473 00:26:08,870 --> 00:26:11,670 weeks and within weeks there are months and months and years and 474 00:26:11,670 --> 00:26:13,870 years and centuries and and millennia. 475 00:26:14,350 --> 00:26:18,110 And this is the perspective we God wants us to see that this is 476 00:26:18,110 --> 00:26:21,430 all small. If there are ages to come, there 477 00:26:21,430 --> 00:26:24,670 are thousands and years, thousands of years to come. 478 00:26:24,910 --> 00:26:29,430 Amazing Grace, the song says. When we've been here 10,000 479 00:26:29,430 --> 00:26:34,750 years. When we've been there 10,000 480 00:26:34,750 --> 00:26:39,140 years, bright, shiny as the sun, we will have no less days, 481 00:26:40,020 --> 00:26:44,300 10,000 years in to our heavenly experience, The eternal 482 00:26:44,300 --> 00:26:48,340 experience, 10,000 years in probably longer than the world 483 00:26:48,340 --> 00:26:51,180 has been around. There's not going to be one day 484 00:26:51,180 --> 00:26:53,980 less ahead of us than there is behind us. 485 00:26:56,620 --> 00:27:00,780 We need that spiritual perspective because this life 486 00:27:00,860 --> 00:27:06,960 gets difficult. He wants to show us, I think of 487 00:27:06,960 --> 00:27:10,560 a of a good father that can just welcome his children and show 488 00:27:10,560 --> 00:27:13,800 him this is all for you. He wants to show us and open the 489 00:27:13,800 --> 00:27:17,240 doors to us, the exceeding riches of his grace and the 490 00:27:17,240 --> 00:27:19,360 kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 491 00:27:20,720 --> 00:27:26,040 He didn't have to be that God, but he is and he did do what he 492 00:27:26,040 --> 00:27:32,110 did for us. One man said one way to see the 493 00:27:32,110 --> 00:27:35,030 greatness of the grace of God is to see how he begs man to 494 00:27:35,030 --> 00:27:38,350 receive it. When we offer a gift to someone 495 00:27:38,350 --> 00:27:41,470 and they refuse it, we are likely to allow them to refuse 496 00:27:41,590 --> 00:27:45,550 and leave them alone. God does not do this with us. 497 00:27:46,030 --> 00:27:49,830 Even when we refuse his mercy, He reaches into a storehouse of 498 00:27:49,830 --> 00:27:53,510 grace and persists with us, begging us to receive the free 499 00:27:53,510 --> 00:27:55,190 gift. This is backed up by Second 500 00:27:55,190 --> 00:28:00,150 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 20. It says therefore we Speaking of 501 00:28:00,350 --> 00:28:04,870 the teachers of God's word, are ambassadors for Christ, God 502 00:28:04,870 --> 00:28:08,590 making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of 503 00:28:08,590 --> 00:28:12,270 Christ to be reconciled to God. How great is the grace of God? 504 00:28:13,350 --> 00:28:16,270 Sometimes when we convert to God's ways we can't see how 505 00:28:16,270 --> 00:28:19,390 people would just won't throw away their old life and come 506 00:28:19,390 --> 00:28:22,230 join the Christian walk. Reasonably so. 507 00:28:23,470 --> 00:28:29,650 But we have been that person. Verse 8 of Ephesians chapter two 508 00:28:29,650 --> 00:28:32,930 goes on to say for by grace you have been saved through faith, 509 00:28:33,770 --> 00:28:37,250 and that not of yourselves is the gift of God, not of works 510 00:28:37,250 --> 00:28:39,650 less anyone should boast. So we're going to start to turn 511 00:28:39,650 --> 00:28:41,490 this diamond and see the different angles on it. 512 00:28:41,890 --> 00:28:44,690 And sometimes people get caught up and explain this a certain 513 00:28:44,690 --> 00:28:49,250 way and and they neglect the other angles of the diamond if 514 00:28:49,250 --> 00:28:54,650 that makes any sense. We are saved through faith but 515 00:28:54,650 --> 00:28:58,740 it is a gift of God our salvation and it's not of works 516 00:28:58,740 --> 00:29:02,060 less we should both so we can't walk and say man I did so good 517 00:29:02,060 --> 00:29:05,300 in this life I I earned myself a wonderful home in heaven. 518 00:29:05,380 --> 00:29:08,820 We can't do that. Our faith is one person 519 00:29:08,820 --> 00:29:12,940 described it as is like a hose. If you were thirsty and you go 520 00:29:12,940 --> 00:29:17,140 to drink from a hose, the hose did not quench your thirst. 521 00:29:17,620 --> 00:29:21,380 The hose brought the water to you, but the waters was 522 00:29:21,380 --> 00:29:23,540 satisfied your thirst. Maybe that maybe that's a good 523 00:29:23,540 --> 00:29:29,450 analogy to help explain that faith brings may bring us to God 524 00:29:29,450 --> 00:29:34,930 and they connect us to the water source, but it is God's saving 525 00:29:35,890 --> 00:29:38,530 God's gift that saves us. It is the water that quenches. 526 00:29:38,530 --> 00:29:42,770 It is God's saving grace that gives us the salvation that he 527 00:29:42,770 --> 00:29:45,130 that we have lest anyone should boast. 528 00:29:45,130 --> 00:29:49,210 We have nothing to boast about. We have nothing to pride 529 00:29:49,210 --> 00:29:53,310 ourselves in. For we are His workmanship. 530 00:29:53,310 --> 00:29:56,350 Why does it matter that we should not boast in our own 531 00:29:56,350 --> 00:29:58,950 works? Because it's not even our own 532 00:29:58,950 --> 00:30:01,950 works. It says we are His workmanship, 533 00:30:02,510 --> 00:30:06,630 created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared 534 00:30:06,630 --> 00:30:08,790 beforehand that we should walk in them. 535 00:30:08,790 --> 00:30:13,150 I get a picture of a Craftsman when I think of this, and we 536 00:30:13,150 --> 00:30:15,950 have this idea then that more that predestination is still 537 00:30:15,950 --> 00:30:18,790 floating through here. Not that God chose us 538 00:30:18,790 --> 00:30:22,240 individually, but God predetermined and preplan. 539 00:30:22,320 --> 00:30:24,800 They're going to works that his people are going to do. 540 00:30:25,080 --> 00:30:29,760 We don't have to do a PhD in research studies on how to do 541 00:30:29,760 --> 00:30:32,360 good in life because God gave us a clear plan. 542 00:30:32,520 --> 00:30:36,280 He prepared good works for us. We know what's right and wrong. 543 00:30:37,160 --> 00:30:40,960 God prepared them for us that we should walk in them. 544 00:30:41,200 --> 00:30:44,200 So it's not our great works, we're just walking in God's 545 00:30:44,200 --> 00:30:46,760 ways. That's the beauty of God's plan. 546 00:30:47,160 --> 00:30:51,650 It's not about us at all, but this does encourage me as I 547 00:30:51,650 --> 00:30:55,890 think about you know a a Craftsman and and workmanship. 548 00:30:56,690 --> 00:30:59,130 I like to do art myself. I haven't done it in a long 549 00:30:59,130 --> 00:31:01,250 time. I like to do woodworking and if 550 00:31:01,250 --> 00:31:05,290 I have a piece of craft that I have worked on and I am 551 00:31:05,330 --> 00:31:08,850 satisfied and happy with it, man, it's there's a sense of 552 00:31:08,850 --> 00:31:11,330 pride and joy that comes with like you know, you go out to 553 00:31:11,330 --> 00:31:14,330 your your portfolio wherever you have it. 554 00:31:14,330 --> 00:31:17,890 Maybe it's woodwork stored away and you go, man, I'm really 555 00:31:17,890 --> 00:31:21,760 happy with how this turned out. I put I was able to get a lot of 556 00:31:21,760 --> 00:31:23,680 working on this project and I feel good about that. 557 00:31:24,040 --> 00:31:26,960 But there's those other projects where I go into and I'm like, 558 00:31:26,960 --> 00:31:30,120 oh, I never finished that. And that's not to be 559 00:31:30,120 --> 00:31:34,040 condescending in any way, but I more personally want to be 560 00:31:34,760 --> 00:31:37,400 someone who God looks at and is proud of his workmanship. 561 00:31:38,360 --> 00:31:41,640 I'm not not pridefully, because it's not about me after all. 562 00:31:41,760 --> 00:31:44,600 But I want God to be happy with his work in me. 563 00:31:45,620 --> 00:31:48,740 As we think about ways to positively change our mindset 564 00:31:48,940 --> 00:31:53,060 away from just being fear driven and afraid of condemnation. 565 00:31:53,540 --> 00:31:55,300 That's a positive outlook. You know what? 566 00:31:55,300 --> 00:31:59,260 God can be happy with me. Then we can be a workmanship 567 00:31:59,260 --> 00:32:03,460 that He's proud of. Now. 568 00:32:03,500 --> 00:32:08,860 Unlike tool, or unlike a piece of wood or or a black canvas, 569 00:32:09,260 --> 00:32:11,220 the canvas has no say over what happens. 570 00:32:11,220 --> 00:32:12,740 We are different than that. We can. 571 00:32:12,740 --> 00:32:16,980 We decide whether we will be worked on by God, but the point 572 00:32:16,980 --> 00:32:22,540 is I want to be well worth it. God is proud of to let him work 573 00:32:22,540 --> 00:32:24,580 on me. Verse 11. 574 00:32:24,580 --> 00:32:29,340 Therefore remember that you once Gentiles in the flesh. 575 00:32:29,340 --> 00:32:31,900 So he's kind of making that distinction again here between 576 00:32:31,900 --> 00:32:35,980 Jew and Gentile who were once Gentiles in the flesh who are 577 00:32:35,980 --> 00:32:38,900 called uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision meaning 578 00:32:38,900 --> 00:32:41,260 the flesh by hands. This is referencing the Old 579 00:32:41,260 --> 00:32:43,060 Testament law. You had to be circumcised if 580 00:32:43,060 --> 00:32:46,370 you're a male. So you, who were called the 581 00:32:46,370 --> 00:32:51,210 uncircumcision people, who were Gentiles, that at that time you 582 00:32:51,210 --> 00:32:56,810 were without Christ, put yourself for a second in the 583 00:32:56,810 --> 00:33:00,530 shoes of not being able to access Jesus. 584 00:33:02,170 --> 00:33:06,890 These Gentiles were aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel and 585 00:33:06,890 --> 00:33:10,940 strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and 586 00:33:10,940 --> 00:33:13,700 without God in the world. From the beginning of time, God 587 00:33:13,900 --> 00:33:17,180 told his people he had a blessing for them, He had a 588 00:33:17,180 --> 00:33:22,860 promise for his people. But the Gentiles were strangers 589 00:33:23,060 --> 00:33:26,620 and aliens from that. They have no place in it. 590 00:33:26,620 --> 00:33:28,220 They were without God in the world. 591 00:33:29,820 --> 00:33:31,780 There's a sense of being stranded on earth. 592 00:33:32,500 --> 00:33:37,300 If you think about that the Gentiles were stranded on earth, 593 00:33:37,670 --> 00:33:42,830 Raise your hand if you can trace your lineage back to the 12 594 00:33:42,830 --> 00:33:45,870 tribes of Israel. I feel comfortable asking that 595 00:33:45,870 --> 00:33:48,150 because I know none of us can. The records were destroyed. 596 00:33:48,750 --> 00:33:51,630 No one in this room can prove that you are tied to God's 597 00:33:51,630 --> 00:33:53,510 lineage. Therefore, I'm a gentile. 598 00:33:53,510 --> 00:33:56,310 You're a Gentile. We cannot prove our connection 599 00:33:56,470 --> 00:33:59,630 to God's family. From the start we were all 600 00:33:59,790 --> 00:34:02,430 stranded on earth. There was no way off this earth, 601 00:34:02,790 --> 00:34:06,630 only down into the ground. But now in Christ, you who are 602 00:34:06,630 --> 00:34:10,670 once a far off, you heard once on the outside looking into this 603 00:34:10,670 --> 00:34:13,510 great fellowship of God's people, he said. 604 00:34:13,510 --> 00:34:16,510 Now you have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 605 00:34:17,070 --> 00:34:19,830 We don't have to live on the outside looking in the Fomo, the 606 00:34:19,830 --> 00:34:21,909 fear of missing out on God's plan. 607 00:34:22,070 --> 00:34:29,630 We have been brought near by the blood of Christ, for He himself 608 00:34:29,630 --> 00:34:32,670 is our peace. Jesus is our peace. 609 00:34:33,719 --> 00:34:37,199 Who has made both one. He's taking these both these 610 00:34:37,199 --> 00:34:39,760 Jews and these Gentiles, and he's made us both one. 611 00:34:39,960 --> 00:34:43,080 And he's broken down the middle wall of separation. 612 00:34:43,840 --> 00:34:47,920 The middle wall of separation. If you go to the Old Testament 613 00:34:47,920 --> 00:34:49,360 time, sorry for the blurred picture. 614 00:34:49,560 --> 00:34:52,800 This is what it would have looked like in their Old 615 00:34:52,800 --> 00:34:55,000 Testament Tabernacle, their place of worship. 616 00:34:55,239 --> 00:34:59,200 Remember, the most Holy place is like this little square room. 617 00:34:59,360 --> 00:35:02,400 Then you have the holy place. Just for a quick refresher, this 618 00:35:02,400 --> 00:35:06,040 special place where's where God God's presence was among his 619 00:35:06,040 --> 00:35:08,000 people. This special place called the 620 00:35:08,000 --> 00:35:10,320 Holy of Holies. Only the High Priest. 621 00:35:10,320 --> 00:35:13,120 One man could go in once a year to be in the presence of God 622 00:35:14,000 --> 00:35:16,200 once a year. It was so dangerous and 623 00:35:16,200 --> 00:35:18,400 sometimes intimidating they had to tie a rope to his foot 624 00:35:18,640 --> 00:35:20,600 because if he died in there, no one else could go in. 625 00:35:20,760 --> 00:35:24,520 It was that sacred and. Then you from there you have the 626 00:35:24,520 --> 00:35:27,040 holy place where the priests would go in and do their daily 627 00:35:27,200 --> 00:35:29,380 things. Then you go out from there. 628 00:35:29,380 --> 00:35:31,700 You'd have the court of Israel where Jews could go. 629 00:35:32,300 --> 00:35:36,140 Then you had the court of women where Jewish women could go. 630 00:35:36,340 --> 00:35:39,300 And then outside of that you had the court of the Gentiles. 631 00:35:39,620 --> 00:35:43,620 If you were a proselyte, meaning you were converted to Judaism, 632 00:35:44,060 --> 00:35:46,500 to God's people from being outside. 633 00:35:47,100 --> 00:35:48,700 This is as close as you could get. 634 00:35:49,580 --> 00:35:53,060 And they had a wall separating. As I understand it was about 5 635 00:35:53,060 --> 00:35:56,620 feet high. You could not go inside if you 636 00:35:56,620 --> 00:36:03,870 did. There used to be signage posted 637 00:36:03,870 --> 00:36:08,830 around, carved in stone and painted in red lettering, and 638 00:36:08,830 --> 00:36:11,430 here is a picture of what one might have, what one of the old 639 00:36:11,430 --> 00:36:15,870 Ones look like, their signage warned the Gentiles, saying No 640 00:36:15,870 --> 00:36:20,110 foreigner is allowed within that balustrade and embankment about 641 00:36:20,110 --> 00:36:22,430 the sanctuary. The sanctuary is God's place. 642 00:36:23,100 --> 00:36:26,260 Whoever is caught violating this rule will be personally 643 00:36:26,260 --> 00:36:28,140 responsible for his ensuing death. 644 00:36:29,460 --> 00:36:33,660 This was no joke. You go in there and people go 645 00:36:33,660 --> 00:36:34,700 crazy. Here's an example. 646 00:36:35,500 --> 00:36:39,620 Acts chapter 21, verse 28. Jews from Asia seeing him. 647 00:36:40,180 --> 00:36:43,780 So they were seeing, I believe, is Paul coming in to the temple. 648 00:36:44,460 --> 00:36:47,540 They stirred up the whole crowd and lay hands on him crying out. 649 00:36:48,060 --> 00:36:49,900 So they're going to accuse of something that didn't really 650 00:36:49,900 --> 00:36:51,660 happen, but they thought this happened. 651 00:36:52,120 --> 00:36:55,920 They said men of Israel help. This is the man who teaches all 652 00:36:55,920 --> 00:36:59,000 men everywhere against the people, the law and this place. 653 00:36:59,160 --> 00:37:04,160 And furthermore, he also brought Greeks into the temple and he 654 00:37:04,160 --> 00:37:09,000 has defiled this holy place. They were, they were stirring up 655 00:37:09,000 --> 00:37:12,040 an up war because of this. That's how big of a deal it was 656 00:37:12,240 --> 00:37:15,920 if you were a Gentile. And they thought this happened. 657 00:37:15,920 --> 00:37:18,400 It didn't really happen. But they thought the Gentiles 658 00:37:18,400 --> 00:37:21,200 were brought in and they're like, whoa, whoa, whoa. 659 00:37:21,200 --> 00:37:23,280 This guy came in and he crossed the line. 660 00:37:23,640 --> 00:37:27,280 We have carved stone to show you can't go in here. 661 00:37:30,480 --> 00:37:37,160 That's why when it says that Jesus has broken down the middle 662 00:37:37,160 --> 00:37:39,800 wall of separation, that's that wall of separation. 663 00:37:40,120 --> 00:37:43,720 The law that was keeping out the Gentiles has now been broken 664 00:37:43,720 --> 00:37:48,120 down by Jesus Christ. Having abolished in his own 665 00:37:48,120 --> 00:37:51,800 flesh, they took his flesh to abolish it. 666 00:37:51,880 --> 00:37:57,240 The enmity, the separation, the the angst, the the problems that 667 00:37:57,240 --> 00:38:01,040 were in that relationship, that is the law of commandments 668 00:38:01,160 --> 00:38:05,840 contained in ordinances so as to create himself one new man from 669 00:38:05,840 --> 00:38:08,240 the two. God took Juke, he took Gentiles. 670 00:38:08,360 --> 00:38:11,480 Bam. Now they're one, thus making 671 00:38:11,480 --> 00:38:15,480 peace, and that he might reconcile them both to God in 672 00:38:15,480 --> 00:38:19,570 one body through the cross. We are that one body. 673 00:38:19,850 --> 00:38:22,050 Bible tells us we are the church, the one body. 674 00:38:22,410 --> 00:38:26,370 Through the cross, therefore putting to, thereby putting to 675 00:38:26,370 --> 00:38:30,890 death the enmity Jesus did the great greatest switch around 676 00:38:30,890 --> 00:38:33,410 ever. He through his own death, put to 677 00:38:33,410 --> 00:38:36,530 death, suffering, pain, separation, death. 678 00:38:36,650 --> 00:38:41,170 Self it took. His death, though to put to 679 00:38:41,170 --> 00:38:44,650 death the enmity. Verse 17 And he came and 680 00:38:44,650 --> 00:38:49,160 preached peace to you who were a far off, who was a far off the 681 00:38:49,160 --> 00:38:52,280 Gentiles, and to those who were near, Who were those who were 682 00:38:52,280 --> 00:38:54,000 near the Jews, the Jews were near. 683 00:38:55,320 --> 00:38:59,680 He preached peace to both Jew and Gentile, for through him we 684 00:38:59,680 --> 00:39:03,560 both have access by 1 spirit to the Father. 685 00:39:04,680 --> 00:39:06,960 We don't stand here. Some people in this audience say 686 00:39:06,960 --> 00:39:12,600 I'm Jewish, so I've got this in with God and you guys have to 687 00:39:13,040 --> 00:39:17,000 crawl on your knees up here. No, we all come with one spirit. 688 00:39:17,900 --> 00:39:22,820 We all come in the same piece. We come in the same Ave. to the 689 00:39:22,820 --> 00:39:24,700 father. We have the same plan. 690 00:39:26,860 --> 00:39:30,980 How First Corinthians chapter 12 verse 12 through 13 says for as 691 00:39:30,980 --> 00:39:35,020 the body is 1 and has many members but all the but all the 692 00:39:35,020 --> 00:39:38,700 members of that one body being many are one body So also is 693 00:39:38,700 --> 00:39:41,340 Christ. Here's the kicker for by 1 694 00:39:41,340 --> 00:39:44,060 Spirit, that same phrase he just used in Ephesians. 695 00:39:44,060 --> 00:39:48,560 By 1 Spirit we were all baptized into one body. 696 00:39:48,600 --> 00:39:50,880 How do you, Jew in the body, how do we become one? 697 00:39:51,120 --> 00:39:53,040 Jews had to be baptized into Christ. 698 00:39:53,080 --> 00:39:55,480 So do Gentiles. On the day of Pentecost, they 699 00:39:55,480 --> 00:39:58,200 were baptized and added to the Church. 700 00:39:58,320 --> 00:40:02,560 We are baptized into that one body, whether Jews or Greeks, 701 00:40:02,560 --> 00:40:06,400 whether slaves are free and of and have all been made to drink 702 00:40:06,520 --> 00:40:10,720 into one Spirit. So that's how we both. 703 00:40:10,720 --> 00:40:15,720 Have access to 1 Spirit through the Father, verse 19 of 704 00:40:15,720 --> 00:40:18,040 Ephesians 2. Now, therefore, we're finishing 705 00:40:18,040 --> 00:40:20,880 up here. You are no longer strangers and 706 00:40:20,880 --> 00:40:24,800 foreigners, your fellow citizens. 707 00:40:24,800 --> 00:40:28,240 With the Saints and members of the household of God. 708 00:40:30,720 --> 00:40:33,640 This is true of the Gentiles. This is true of anyone in this 709 00:40:33,640 --> 00:40:38,080 audience who has said you have an opportunity to be members and 710 00:40:38,080 --> 00:40:40,000 fellow members in the household of God. 711 00:40:40,200 --> 00:40:44,360 This isn't just citizenship, this is familial household. 712 00:40:44,950 --> 00:40:48,350 This is members of God's family. We talked about that last week. 713 00:40:48,870 --> 00:40:53,630 How awesome is that? You know there are people, maybe 714 00:40:54,070 --> 00:40:56,750 there are people we know who suffer the consequences their 715 00:40:56,750 --> 00:41:00,230 whole life of actions they make. For example, in the in the 716 00:41:00,230 --> 00:41:05,750 education, if you're a teacher and you commit sexually indecent 717 00:41:05,750 --> 00:41:08,310 acts with a minor, you will never be able to get a job in 718 00:41:08,310 --> 00:41:10,550 that field again. You you will suffer the 719 00:41:10,550 --> 00:41:12,750 consequences your whole life. There is nothing you can do. 720 00:41:13,910 --> 00:41:16,910 Spiritually speaking. We are all members of the 721 00:41:16,910 --> 00:41:19,510 household of God. And that's true. 722 00:41:19,510 --> 00:41:22,830 No matter what you've done, none of us will be fit to sitting 723 00:41:22,830 --> 00:41:24,950 here in this room this morning as members of the household of 724 00:41:24,950 --> 00:41:26,270 God. We wouldn't. 725 00:41:26,590 --> 00:41:30,790 None of us have the history, the pedigree to say, yeah, I'm, I'm 726 00:41:31,070 --> 00:41:33,510 straight and narrow. I belong God's family. 727 00:41:33,590 --> 00:41:36,630 No. But because of Jesus. 728 00:41:36,990 --> 00:41:41,670 We are all members, despite our past of the household of God. 729 00:41:42,500 --> 00:41:45,500 Having been built on the foundation of the apostles and 730 00:41:45,500 --> 00:41:48,940 prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. 731 00:41:49,140 --> 00:41:51,620 As I understand, during that day they didn't have all the 732 00:41:51,620 --> 00:41:53,940 concrete and stuff we have today, so they would have to go 733 00:41:53,940 --> 00:41:58,130 to a field, find a big stone. And they would build everything 734 00:41:58,130 --> 00:42:00,770 else off of that one stone. Because likely you're not gonna 735 00:42:00,770 --> 00:42:04,570 have four big giant stones to build your building off of. 736 00:42:04,770 --> 00:42:08,170 So you'd find one cornerstone, and you layout the rest of the 737 00:42:08,170 --> 00:42:10,690 building off that corner. You'd square your walls. 738 00:42:10,890 --> 00:42:14,210 You'd let that be the primary load carrier of the weight of 739 00:42:14,210 --> 00:42:16,460 the building. Today we do something very 740 00:42:16,460 --> 00:42:20,260 similar. We we pour foundation or some in 741 00:42:20,260 --> 00:42:23,740 some circumstances. You have corner peers. 742 00:42:23,780 --> 00:42:27,660 You have corner supports that are concrete, that hold up a 743 00:42:27,660 --> 00:42:30,540 structure. That's a similar concept. 744 00:42:30,540 --> 00:42:33,620 Here. The Christ is that cornerstone 745 00:42:33,740 --> 00:42:35,460 where everything else is built off of it. 746 00:42:35,740 --> 00:42:39,740 The apostles and prophets spread God's word and taught God's word 747 00:42:40,140 --> 00:42:43,460 from the Holy Spirit. They built up that foundation. 748 00:42:43,960 --> 00:42:47,280 It was all off of the chief cornerstone, Christ himself. 749 00:42:48,920 --> 00:42:53,440 And we are being built up. In whom? 750 00:42:53,440 --> 00:42:55,920 The whole building being fitted together. 751 00:42:56,520 --> 00:42:58,600 That's us. We are being fitted together, 752 00:42:58,760 --> 00:43:04,360 grows into a holy temple in the Lord and whom you also are being 753 00:43:04,360 --> 00:43:08,840 built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. 754 00:43:09,080 --> 00:43:10,880 This is the conclusion of this chapter. 755 00:43:12,240 --> 00:43:15,710 We are being built together. Sometimes it's easy for people 756 00:43:15,710 --> 00:43:18,910 as members of a church to be like I just, I don't like them, 757 00:43:19,470 --> 00:43:22,670 or I don't want to deal with people at church because I've 758 00:43:22,670 --> 00:43:25,350 had too many bad experiences. Well, guess what? 759 00:43:25,350 --> 00:43:27,750 We are being built together for a dwelling place of God. 760 00:43:27,750 --> 00:43:30,990 This is bigger than us. This is bigger than my problems. 761 00:43:30,990 --> 00:43:34,030 This is bigger than my don't like so's or whatever. 762 00:43:34,150 --> 00:43:36,950 We have a bigger responsibility than to worry about our petty 763 00:43:37,310 --> 00:43:40,430 concerns. People have done wrong things. 764 00:43:40,430 --> 00:43:42,670 And that doesn't mean there aren't boundaries set. 765 00:43:42,670 --> 00:43:45,230 That doesn't mean there's a whole lot to be said about that. 766 00:43:45,910 --> 00:43:52,510 But as the big picture, may I treat the family of God like we 767 00:43:52,510 --> 00:43:54,390 are being built up for a dwelling place of God. 768 00:43:54,390 --> 00:43:57,110 It's not about me. It's about God. 769 00:43:57,710 --> 00:44:01,840 If I'm going to be committed to an organization, it has to be 770 00:44:01,840 --> 00:44:04,080 with this purpose. And if we're not committed to 771 00:44:04,080 --> 00:44:07,880 being a member of the church, we're not committed to building 772 00:44:07,880 --> 00:44:12,240 a dwelling place for God, how can we say that? 773 00:44:12,240 --> 00:44:14,160 You know I want to follow God. Except if we're not going to 774 00:44:14,160 --> 00:44:18,480 commit ourselves to building up God's dwelling place. 775 00:44:20,120 --> 00:44:22,200 What a special. Responsibility to be able to 776 00:44:22,200 --> 00:44:25,040 build up a place for God to dwell among us. 777 00:44:25,080 --> 00:44:27,760 It's not this building. We were in Oregon last week. 778 00:44:27,760 --> 00:44:29,240 We were worshipping on the side of a mountain. 779 00:44:29,440 --> 00:44:30,600 It was beautiful. It was wonderful. 780 00:44:30,600 --> 00:44:31,640 There wasn't a lot of people there. 781 00:44:31,800 --> 00:44:33,200 So we can we're able to make it happen. 782 00:44:34,640 --> 00:44:35,960 God doesn't dwell. Buildings made with. 783 00:44:35,960 --> 00:44:40,560 Hands in the Old Testament, Solomon designed this elaborate 784 00:44:40,560 --> 00:44:41,680 temple. Look how big it was. 785 00:44:41,680 --> 00:44:45,160 These are people down here. It was golden and it was ornate. 786 00:44:45,160 --> 00:44:47,800 It was carved. All these special images and 787 00:44:47,800 --> 00:44:52,480 symbols, First Samuel 15, verse 20. 788 00:44:52,640 --> 00:44:55,680 Two has the Lord has a great delight and burnt offerings and 789 00:44:55,680 --> 00:45:00,320 sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord the whole To 790 00:45:00,320 --> 00:45:04,200 obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen is better than the 791 00:45:04,200 --> 00:45:07,320 fat of Rams. This wasn't it for God. 792 00:45:07,880 --> 00:45:11,760 God didn't need this, and so God didn't stop. 793 00:45:11,760 --> 00:45:15,200 There in his plan, God's ultimate plan is this. 794 00:45:16,120 --> 00:45:18,000 This building is nice. It doesn't matter. 795 00:45:19,050 --> 00:45:21,730 God's ultimate plan is not. To be an ornate, beautiful 796 00:45:21,730 --> 00:45:25,370 structure, It's for people like us to come together and lift him 797 00:45:25,370 --> 00:45:28,690 up and to be committed to his cause, spreading his truth, 798 00:45:28,930 --> 00:45:32,890 loving one another. Jesus says they will know, they 799 00:45:32,890 --> 00:45:35,170 will know me. Jesus says by how we love one 800 00:45:35,170 --> 00:45:38,250 another. Are we building up a church, a 801 00:45:38,250 --> 00:45:43,130 dwelling place of God that respects God's greatest design 802 00:45:43,130 --> 00:45:47,820 plans of all? God does not dwell in temples. 803 00:45:47,820 --> 00:45:50,060 Made with hands, but in the hearts of his people. 804 00:45:52,540 --> 00:45:56,300 In conclusion, take it away from this There is nothing one man 805 00:45:56,300 --> 00:45:57,580 wrote. This list I thought, was pretty 806 00:45:57,580 --> 00:45:59,340 fitting. There is nothing as noble as the 807 00:45:59,340 --> 00:46:01,780 Church, seeing that as the temple of God. 808 00:46:02,620 --> 00:46:06,340 There is nothing so worthy of reverence as the Church seeing 809 00:46:06,340 --> 00:46:10,220 God who dwells in it. There is nothing so ancient 810 00:46:10,220 --> 00:46:13,260 since the Patriarchs and Prophets worked to build it. 811 00:46:14,370 --> 00:46:17,530 There is nothing so old, so solid, since Jesus Christ is the 812 00:46:17,530 --> 00:46:20,290 foundation of it. There is nothing so high since 813 00:46:20,290 --> 00:46:22,690 it reaches as high as the heavenly places in Christ. 814 00:46:23,010 --> 00:46:25,650 There is nothing so perfect and well proportioned. 815 00:46:26,370 --> 00:46:28,890 Since the Holy Spirit is the architect, you think you're not 816 00:46:29,010 --> 00:46:30,290 the way you should be in this house. 817 00:46:30,570 --> 00:46:32,250 God has a place for you in the building. 818 00:46:33,290 --> 00:46:34,530 God's not a bad architect, he knows. 819 00:46:34,530 --> 00:46:37,730 What he's doing there is nothing more beautiful because it is 820 00:46:37,730 --> 00:46:40,970 adorned with the building stones of every age, every place, every 821 00:46:40,970 --> 00:46:43,240 people. From the highest kings to the 822 00:46:43,240 --> 00:46:46,040 lowest peasants, with the most brilliant scientists and the 823 00:46:46,040 --> 00:46:48,880 simplest believers. There is nothing more spacious, 824 00:46:49,400 --> 00:46:52,400 since it is spread over the whole earth and takes in all who 825 00:46:52,400 --> 00:46:54,720 have washed the robes and made them white in the blood of the 826 00:46:54,720 --> 00:46:56,680 Lamb. There is nothing so divine, 827 00:46:57,080 --> 00:47:00,440 since it is a living building, animated and inhabited by the 828 00:47:00,440 --> 00:47:05,800 Holy Spirit. I challenge all of us. 829 00:47:06,040 --> 00:47:09,440 Whether we are committed to being here or whether maybe you 830 00:47:09,440 --> 00:47:13,100 don't come all that often to question how you. 831 00:47:13,500 --> 00:47:17,300 Are being made into a support for God's body here on earth. 832 00:47:18,140 --> 00:47:22,180 How are you committed to this cause, making that a theme of 833 00:47:22,180 --> 00:47:26,500 your life that I'm going to be a member of this organization? 834 00:47:26,500 --> 00:47:28,500 We're not perfect. We go around the room. 835 00:47:28,500 --> 00:47:31,020 None of us are perfect by any means. 836 00:47:31,540 --> 00:47:35,660 But we will work together for one common purpose, to glorify 837 00:47:35,660 --> 00:47:38,700 God on this earth. And there's in this visual they 838 00:47:38,700 --> 00:47:41,080 had some steps. You could take or leave this 839 00:47:41,080 --> 00:47:42,760 visual. It's just maybe visual aid. 840 00:47:42,920 --> 00:47:46,480 The steps are something that we do to get into this body. 841 00:47:47,240 --> 00:47:49,360 The Bible says we have to hear before we can believe. 842 00:47:50,160 --> 00:47:52,760 Faith coming by, hearing, hearing by the word of God, We 843 00:47:52,760 --> 00:47:55,120 have to believe. We have to be willing to repent. 844 00:47:55,120 --> 00:47:59,120 Luke 13 and three We have to be willing to change our life and 845 00:47:59,120 --> 00:48:02,040 to not walk in the course of this world, but be conformed to 846 00:48:02,040 --> 00:48:04,620 him who called us. We have to be willing to confess 847 00:48:04,620 --> 00:48:08,060 that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, Romans 10/9 and 10, and be 848 00:48:08,060 --> 00:48:12,900 baptized as we read in that one Spirit and be added to the body 849 00:48:12,900 --> 00:48:16,140 mark 16 and 16. Once you're added to the Church, 850 00:48:16,140 --> 00:48:18,820 once you remember, that's just where the journey begins. 851 00:48:19,020 --> 00:48:21,660 We don't stop there. This is where the walk starts 852 00:48:21,820 --> 00:48:23,940 and we mess up. And if you are someone who needs 853 00:48:23,940 --> 00:48:26,940 the prayers of the Church to get on the right path for support, 854 00:48:27,060 --> 00:48:30,340 whatever means we have this time now set set aside in the 855 00:48:30,340 --> 00:48:32,940 invitation. But this isn't the only time you 856 00:48:32,940 --> 00:48:36,060 can come anytime. Talk to one of us and we can 857 00:48:36,060 --> 00:48:39,620 work things out of whatever needs you have. 858 00:48:39,620 --> 00:48:41,420 Please come while we stand and while we sing. 859 00:48:42,700 --> 00:48:45,740 We thank you for listening to. Our podcast put on by the Church 860 00:48:45,740 --> 00:48:50,180 of Christ at 2215 Plans Rd. in Bakersfield. 861 00:48:50,900 --> 00:48:54,340 If you would like any additional information or you would like to 862 00:48:54,340 --> 00:48:57,300 receive a free Bible correspondence course by mail, 863 00:48:58,060 --> 00:49:03,380 please e-mail us at Info at. Churchofchristbakersfield.com 864 00:49:04,100 --> 00:49:09,340 Our service times are Sundays at 10:30 AM and 5:00 PM and 865 00:49:09,340 --> 00:49:13,780 Wednesdays at 7:30 PM. Please make plans to join us. 866 00:49:14,260 --> 00:49:16,420 We would love for you to be our honored guest.