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I don't know how it became part 
of my family's history or part 

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of my family's tradition, but 
we've got a thing that goes 

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whenever we get really excited, 
somebody in the family goes, 

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throws their hand up in the air,
the right hand up in the air 

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goes whoop, whoop. 
And I feel like doing that 

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whenever I hear us sing such 
songs such as that whoop. 

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And I hope that you feel that 
way after you hear the passage 

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of Scripture that the Lord has 
intended for us this morning. 

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Hear the word of the Lord. 
Blessed be the God and Father of

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our Lord Jesus Christ, who has 
blessed us in the heavenly 

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realms with every spiritual 
blessing in Christ, even as He 

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chose us in Him before the 
foundation of the world, that we

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should be holy and blameless 
before Him. 

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In love. 
He predestined us for adoption 

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to Himself as sons through Jesus
Christ, according to the purpose

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of His will, to the praise of 
His glorious grace which He has 

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blessed us in the Beloved. 
In Him we have redemption 

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through His blood, the 
forgiveness of our trespasses 

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according to the riches of His 
grace which He has lavished upon

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us in all wisdom and insight, 
making known to us the mystery 

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of His will, according to His 
purpose which He set forth in 

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Christ as a plan for the 
fullness of time to unite all 

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things in Christ, things in 
heaven, and things on earth in 

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Him. 
In Him we have obtained an 

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inheritance, having been 
predestined according to the 

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purpose of Him who works all 
things according to the counsel 

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of His will, so that we who were
the first to hope in Christ, 

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might be to the praise of His 
glory in Him. 

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You also, when you heard the 
word of truth, the gospel of 

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your salvation, believed in Him,
and were sealed with a promised 

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Holy Spirit, who is a guarantee 
of our inheritance until we 

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acquire possession of it all to 
the praise of His glory. 

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And this is the word of the 
Lord. 

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What? 
Please be seated. 

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If you didn't feel like whooping
after that, then I can't read it

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any better than that. 
This is this is Paul just 

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following. 
OK. 

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What I want you to do is I want 
you to imagine that you're 

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working for a big company or a 
major company in this world. 

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Now I know some of you are 
working home with families, some

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of you are working and you're 
self-employed, some of you are 

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students and stuff like that. 
But go ahead and jump to the 

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idea that we're all working. 
You're working for a company and

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the company makes widgets. 
OK. 

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And in reality, you don't even 
know what a widget is. 

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You don't know what a widget 
does. 

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You don't know the purpose of a 
widget, but the company makes 

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widgets and you love the company
because the company has such 

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great benefits. 
The company treats you really 

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well. 
You enjoy the people that you 

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work with. 
Frankly, it's a joy to go to 

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work during the day because even
though you don't know the 

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purpose of the company, you 
don't know what it does, you 

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really enjoy everything else 
about it. 

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And I fear that that's describes
a whole lot of people's 

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relationship with the church. 
We like certain things about it.

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We like coming to the church, We
like enjoying the fellowship of 

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the church. 
There's great benefits of being 

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part of this body and stuff like
that. 

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But the actual purpose of the 
church kind of eludes us. 

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Now, as I say this, of course, 
most of you are scrambling in 

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your mind trying to think, well,
what is the purpose of the 

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church or the purpose of the 
church is self-evident. 

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It's and then you start 
thinking, what is the purpose of

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the church now in this company? 
The widgets. 

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You find out that a widget is 
the most crucial, life giving, 

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affirming, blessed, desirable 
thing in the entire world. 

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You've been working for this 
company for all this time and 

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you haven't realized what a 
wonderful product you've been 

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producing. 
It's a life changing event and 

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you're suddenly transformed in 
the way in which you go to work.

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Everything changes. 
I can't imagine once you 

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realize, while important, how 
crucial this widget really is. 

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Over the past couple of months 
we've been looking at a 

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description of Hebron Church. 
We've kind of looked at it along

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these lines. 
At Hebron Church is a biblically

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based, Christ centered community
of disciples, A Reformed 

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classically evangelical church 
in the Presbyterian tradition, 

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worshipping, growing and serving
Christ in the eastern suburbs of

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Pittsburgh. 
We've had that kind of 

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description and we've talked 
about who we are to be or who we

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want to be, who we are growing 
to be, something along those 

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lines. 
We've also talked during this 

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sermon series about what we're 
supposed to do. 

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Last week we looked at what it 
means that we're missional. 

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Well, we've looked at a couple 
weeks before that about what it 

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means that we're part of the 
body of Christ. 

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And then we talked about 
worshipping, serving and growing

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together. 
We've talked about who we are. 

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We talked about what we are, but
we haven't necessarily touched 

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on why we are. 
Why has God called us as a 

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church? 
I think that this text that we 

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have before us does a fabulous 
job of outlining some of those 

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things for us. 
And I want to look at, and I 

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encourage you to grab your 
Bibles and turn to it for a 

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second. 
This is in Ephesians chapter 1 

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beginning in verse 3. 
And you begin by asking what 

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does, what does Paul here say 
that God has done? 

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What has God done? 
And you have this wonderful 

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description. 
Now many some of you might have 

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heard been studying this passage
and you know that this is all 

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one sentence in the Greek. 
This is Paul with motor mouth. 

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You know, this is this is Paul 
at his absolute worst. 

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And if you've ever read Paul and
you've thought man use a period 

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or a comma pal or something like
that, this is really where it 

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comes to four in in the four and
the English translators simply 

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can't do it. 
You can't have a 14 verse 

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sentence in English. 
And so in English, we've broken 

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it up here in the USB into five 
different sentences. 

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There are different versions 
that break it up into as many as

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eight different sentences 
because there's just so much 

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here. 
Listen to this. 

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This is what God has done. 
This is what Paul is excited 

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about when he says this is what 
God has done. 

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He has blessed us with the 
spiritual blessings in the 

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heavenly places. 
He has chosen us before the 

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foundation of the world in love.
He has predestined us. 

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Why? 
So that we could be holy and 

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blameless before Him. 
He has predestined us so that we

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would be adopted as His 
children. 

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We have in verse 7, redemption 
through His blood, the 

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forgiveness of our sins, the 
richness of His grace lavished 

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upon us, wisdom and insight, all
according to the mystery of His 

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will. 
Later on we're going to see that

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we're sealed by the Holy Spirit,
that we have the inheritance 

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that is expected for us. 
You've you got all of this 

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descriptions, all this work 
about what God has done and when

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you read this passage, it's easy
to get over. 

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You should get overwhelmed. 
John Thomas Manton, a Puritan 

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back in the 1700s sixteen 
hundreds. 

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He wrote 26 two hour long 
sermons based how many did I say

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he did 32 whatever he did, 
Thomas Mann did 32. 

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His Co worker upped him one a 
little bit, Thomas Goodwin and 

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he did 36 sermons on this. 
More recently, Martin Lord Jones

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did 26 sermons upon this 
passage. 

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Now before you start to panic, 
we're not going to do a sermon 

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series on Ephesians one, but why
not get it? 

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When you hear all of these 
things, you can see that it 

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really would be easy. 
Could we do a sermon on the 

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spiritual blessings that we have
in Christ in the heavenly 

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places? 
Oh, you could do probably two or

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three sermons and not get. 
Can we do a sermon series on the

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fact that He chose us before the
beginning of the world? 

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Could mercy? 
We could do lots of sermon 

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series on that. 
The fact that He in love, He 

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predestined us. 
What does that mean? 

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What does it mean that we have 
the inheritance in in Christ? 

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What does it mean that we are 
sealed by the Holy Spirit? 

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What does it mean that we are 
forgiven by our sins? 

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You can easily see how this 
could be. 

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This passage could be the basis 
easily of two hour long sermons 

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based on 30 some different 
passes 30 different times you 

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get together. 
You can see this about what God 

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has done here and the 
overwhelming nature of it and 

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the the blessed nature of it. 
The temptation of this. 

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My guess is that probably about 
half of you have been in a Bible

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study and you've tackled tackled
this passage in Ephesians that 

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sometime over your time of be 
going to church. 

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You've done a Bible study and 
you've looked at Ephesians. 

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If you haven't by the way, you 
should get in one and I'm sure 

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we can generate a Bible study 
here that would look at 

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Ephesians. 
It's a marvelous book, and you 

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would never leave that first 
chapter just exploring it 

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because it details for us what 
God has done. 

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But I don't want you to miss 
something, and this is a crucial

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biblical reading skill that 
every Christian needs to 

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develop. 
Don't miss Paul's point in 

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telling us this. 
Why is Paul telling us all the 

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things that God has done here? 
OK, you get overwhelmed in 14 

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verses. 
You get overwhelmed with all 

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these things that God has done. 
But yeah, it's easy to lose 

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sight of the fact that Paul has 
a particular purpose in mind 

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when you have this Bible study 
in in Ephesians 1. 

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And immediately you want to 
start talking about what does it

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mean that Christ in love 
predestined us before the 

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foundation of the world? 
And you want to spend all your 

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time exploring that and having 
all this discussion and the 

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Bible studies riled up about it 
because they want to understand 

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it and everybody's talking about
it, etcetera. 

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Is it possible that you missed 
Paul's point? 

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What is Paul's point? 
Look in verse 3 for a second. 

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Blessed be the God and Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ. 

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Other translations, Praise be to
God and our Father of our Lord 

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Jesus Christ. 
Why? 

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Because of all of these things, 
what does Paul want you to do? 

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Paul doesn't want you to have a 
philosophical discussion. 

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00:09:49,440 --> 00:09:51,960
He doesn't want you to talk 
about the theological and 

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challenges of this passage. 
He doesn't want you to get over.

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Now. 
Do we want do we want to 

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understand predestination? 
Of course we do. 

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00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:04,760
Do we want to understand how 
it's possible that God in love 

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00:10:05,280 --> 00:10:07,280
ordained us before the beginning
of time? 

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00:10:07,280 --> 00:10:09,360
Of course we do. 
Do we want to understand what it

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00:10:09,360 --> 00:10:12,920
means that by His blood we are 
forgiven of our sins and 

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00:10:12,920 --> 00:10:15,200
trespasses? 
Of course, all of this is 

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provided for us so that we are 
encouraged to dig into this. 

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But if you're ever looking at 
this passage and you're not LED 

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00:10:23,200 --> 00:10:27,440
overwhelmingly to say praise be 
to God, then you're missing the 

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00:10:27,440 --> 00:10:30,160
whole point. 
The whole point of Paul here is 

200
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not to educate you on what 
predestination is, or on what 

201
00:10:33,680 --> 00:10:37,280
adoption is, or on what the Holy
Spirit does or any of those kind

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00:10:37,280 --> 00:10:41,480
of things. 
All of that is intended by Paul.

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00:10:41,720 --> 00:10:45,240
Paul's expectation is if you 
understand it, if you don't 

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00:10:45,240 --> 00:10:48,760
understand it, if you love it, 
if it frustrates you, if 

205
00:10:48,760 --> 00:10:52,600
whatever it does, Paul expects 
that long list all to bubble out

206
00:10:52,600 --> 00:10:56,000
of you and to cause you to say 
praise be to Jesus. 

207
00:10:56,840 --> 00:10:57,280
What? 
Yeah. 

208
00:10:57,320 --> 00:10:58,200
Whoop. 
Somebody whooped. 

209
00:10:58,360 --> 00:11:00,360
I didn't see the arm go in the 
air, but that was close enough. 

210
00:11:00,720 --> 00:11:01,560
Yeah. 
Actually, I'm. 

211
00:11:01,680 --> 00:11:02,440
I'm. 
I'm excited. 

212
00:11:02,440 --> 00:11:02,880
I should. 
Whoop. 

213
00:11:04,800 --> 00:11:09,640
This is the the intent here is 
to draw us into praise of the 

214
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Lord Jesus Christ. 
And the fact that we can read 

215
00:11:12,360 --> 00:11:17,520
this passage and I have been in 
so many contentious discussions 

216
00:11:18,120 --> 00:11:20,880
where at the base of this is 
this passage and our 

217
00:11:20,880 --> 00:11:24,040
understanding of this passage. 
And the two of us walk away and 

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00:11:24,040 --> 00:11:28,200
neither one of us feel like 
going woop betrays not the 

219
00:11:28,200 --> 00:11:31,760
confusion of the gospel, not the
frustration of our Lord's 

220
00:11:32,280 --> 00:11:37,080
Lord's, this revelation. 
It betrays my own brokenness and

221
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my own sinfulness and my 
insistence that this is about 

222
00:11:40,200 --> 00:11:43,480
me, that this passage is about 
me, and therefore I need to 

223
00:11:43,480 --> 00:11:45,600
understand it. 
If I don't understand it, then I

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00:11:45,600 --> 00:11:49,440
can't say, praise be to God. 
Paul's like you're crazy. 

225
00:11:49,640 --> 00:11:52,600
Look at everything that Paul is 
God has done for us. 

226
00:11:52,920 --> 00:11:56,160
How can that motivating force, 
how can that drive in your life 

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not be to say what praise be to 
God because of all of this in 

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which he has done. 
When we're reading the 

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scripture, always ask yourself 
why is the author writing this 

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to us? 
Why does God provide this to us?

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Does he want to spark our 
interest and and and engage our 

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curiosity so that we dig deeper 
into the word and understand him

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more? 
Of course he does. 

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Of course he does. 
But the point of this passage is

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to have you leaving this room, 
Whoop, just so excited. 

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Praise God for what he has done 
and for what he's doing. 

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Now, if that's Paul's reason for
writing this for us, what's 

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God's purpose in doing all of 
these things? 

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What is God's purpose in 
providing us with spiritual 

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blessings in Christ? 
What's God's purpose in love 

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predestining us before the 
creation of the world? 

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What's God's purpose in 
lavishing the mystery of His 

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will upon us? 
What? 

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What is God's intent here? 
Now, we could hypothesize, we 

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could kick around different 
ideas, and we will in a few 

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seconds. 
But doesn't it make more sense 

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to look right here in the 
Scriptures? 

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Look in verse 6 for a second, 
verse 6, Paul's talking about 

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how in love we're predestined to
be adopted in his sons. 

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You know what adoption means. 
Can you imagine what that means?

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To be adopted as his Son in 
Christ Jesus according to the 

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purpose of his will. 
Again, you get overwhelmed with 

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all of that was just possible 
and then you come into a purpose

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statement. 
Here's the reason why he's doing

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this to the praise of his 
glorious grace to the praise of 

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his glorious grace. 
You know, why is God doing all 

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this? 
OK, let's check. 

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00:13:52,720 --> 00:13:57,240
Look in verse 12. 
So we have this wonderful 

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00:13:57,240 --> 00:14:01,320
inheritance that we are 
intending for the his purpose is

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00:14:01,320 --> 00:14:03,640
to grant us with this wonderful 
inheritance. 

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00:14:04,040 --> 00:14:08,280
So what look at verse 12. 
So that we who are the first to 

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hope in Christ, so that we 
Christians who hope in Christ, 

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00:14:12,240 --> 00:14:19,240
so that we might be to the 
praise of His glory, so that we 

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might be to the praise of His 
glory. 

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Why does God do all these 
things? 

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Why does He have an inheritance 
for us? 

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00:14:24,720 --> 00:14:26,160
Why is He blessed us with all 
this? 

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00:14:26,280 --> 00:14:28,720
Why is Christ gone to the cross 
of Jesus Christ? 

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00:14:29,120 --> 00:14:32,440
So that we might be to the 
praise of His. 

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00:14:32,440 --> 00:14:35,960
Let's check to make sure. 
Look at verse 14, the wrapping 

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up of this passage, the wrapping
up of his sentence, actually 

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00:14:38,560 --> 00:14:41,880
this long sentence where He 
overflows with all the things 

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00:14:41,880 --> 00:14:44,520
that God has done on our behalf.
How does He end it? 

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00:14:45,720 --> 00:14:47,840
Why? 
So that we might be to the 

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00:14:47,840 --> 00:14:52,040
praise of His glorious grace. 
Sorry, I've smeared everything 

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00:14:52,040 --> 00:14:56,240
together there to the praise of 
His glory at the end of verse 

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00:14:56,240 --> 00:14:58,960
14. 
Why is God working? 

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00:14:59,920 --> 00:15:01,840
Why does God do all these 
things? 

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00:15:01,840 --> 00:15:04,840
Why is God blessing us so much? 
Why does He have all of this 

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00:15:04,840 --> 00:15:09,360
intent to the praise of His 
glory? 

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00:15:11,440 --> 00:15:15,520
Now all too often we use that 
kind of as a nickname or as a 

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00:15:15,520 --> 00:15:18,880
moniker or as a throwaway line 
to the praise of His glory. 

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00:15:19,280 --> 00:15:21,000
I don't think you can possibly 
do this. 

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00:15:21,000 --> 00:15:25,000
In this one single sentence of 
Paul where he outlines all the 

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00:15:25,000 --> 00:15:28,800
wonderful things that God has 
done for us, He says 3 different

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00:15:28,800 --> 00:15:35,560
times, this is for my glory, 
this is for my glory, this is 

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00:15:35,560 --> 00:15:39,400
for my glory. 
Now, what's the alternative? 

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00:15:41,240 --> 00:15:43,840
The alternative, of course, is 
that God's doing all those 

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00:15:43,840 --> 00:15:49,880
things for my glory. 
Let's face it, God loves me so 

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00:15:49,880 --> 00:15:55,360
much, and we know that he does. 
Here in this very passage, we're

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00:15:55,360 --> 00:15:59,000
told how very much from the 
beginning of the world, God 

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00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:03,960
loved me so much that he sent 
his own Son to die on my behalf.

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00:16:04,600 --> 00:16:08,240
Because He loved me so much, 
God's got to do it for me. 

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00:16:10,200 --> 00:16:12,480
And it takes a second again to 
reread those words. 

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00:16:12,840 --> 00:16:18,800
That he's doing it for the 
praise of His glory, for His 

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00:16:18,800 --> 00:16:22,240
glory. 
Now all the spiritual blessings 

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00:16:22,240 --> 00:16:25,040
that he pours out upon me, it's 
easy to get distracted and to 

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00:16:25,040 --> 00:16:27,120
think, oh, these blessings are 
all for me. 

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00:16:28,120 --> 00:16:30,800
These blessings are given so 
that I can be happy. 

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00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:34,120
Why does God exist, after all, 
if not to make Henry Knapp 

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00:16:34,120 --> 00:16:39,080
happy? 
That should be funny because you

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00:16:39,080 --> 00:16:42,960
know that's ridiculous. 
But my guess is that some of you

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00:16:42,960 --> 00:16:45,880
didn't laugh and giggle because 
you know that down deep, that's 

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00:16:45,880 --> 00:16:51,120
what you think too. 
That God exists so that we can 

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00:16:51,120 --> 00:16:56,000
be happy, that God exists for 
our glory. 

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00:16:57,040 --> 00:16:59,760
That God exists to make my life 
easy. 

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00:17:00,120 --> 00:17:05,160
God exists to serve me because I
have so many needs and he's got 

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00:17:05,160 --> 00:17:09,640
so much power. 
But this text forces us to look 

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00:17:09,640 --> 00:17:11,720
at everything the other way 
around. 

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00:17:12,160 --> 00:17:19,000
It's to the praise of His glory.
Now, there's spots when we think

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00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:24,880
like this where you're tempted 
to form a dichotomy that the 

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00:17:24,880 --> 00:17:28,319
Scripture doesn't have in mind. 
A dichotomy 2 opposites. 

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00:17:28,920 --> 00:17:32,480
God does all these things for my
good or God does all these 

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00:17:32,480 --> 00:17:37,080
things for His glory, and the 
Scripture consistently binds 

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00:17:37,080 --> 00:17:40,160
them together, holds them 
together, and says, no. 

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00:17:40,520 --> 00:17:45,040
God pursuing His own glory is 
exactly what makes it for my 

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00:17:45,040 --> 00:17:47,560
good. 
Look back again at the text in 

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00:17:47,560 --> 00:17:50,440
verse 12. 
Why has God done all these 

319
00:17:50,440 --> 00:17:52,520
things? 
So that we who are the first to 

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00:17:52,520 --> 00:17:55,960
hope in Christ, so that we who 
believe in Jesus Christ might be

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00:17:55,960 --> 00:17:58,680
to the praise of His glory. 
He has created us. 

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00:17:58,760 --> 00:18:03,120
What is best for me? 
What is best for me is when my 

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00:18:03,120 --> 00:18:07,280
Lord pursues not what I think is
good, not what I want, not 

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00:18:07,280 --> 00:18:09,880
what's going to make me happy, 
but what is going to bring Him 

325
00:18:09,880 --> 00:18:14,520
glory. 
What brings Him glory is what I 

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00:18:14,520 --> 00:18:17,680
need to be pursuing because 
ultimately that's what's good 

327
00:18:17,680 --> 00:18:19,880
for me. 
It's not an either or. 

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00:18:19,880 --> 00:18:23,120
It's not that God's either after
my good or He's after His glory.

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00:18:23,240 --> 00:18:28,520
God is after His glory and that 
is my good and that is your good

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00:18:29,080 --> 00:18:36,120
over and over again, temptation 
of our hearts, temptation of 

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00:18:36,120 --> 00:18:39,240
sin. 
The temptation of of every 

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00:18:39,240 --> 00:18:43,800
thought that you have is to 
drive the world Dr. Everything 

333
00:18:43,800 --> 00:18:48,840
in the world towards yourself to
realize that because of the 

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00:18:48,840 --> 00:18:53,520
sinfulness, and this is if 
you're no matter what your 

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00:18:53,520 --> 00:18:58,040
struggle is in life, no matter 
what your temptation is in life.

336
00:18:58,840 --> 00:19:02,240
We struggle with the self 
centeredness that is at the core

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00:19:02,240 --> 00:19:07,240
of sin, at the center of sin and
that drives us away from the 

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00:19:07,240 --> 00:19:12,320
glory and praise of our God and 
Father, Lord Jesus Christ, even 

339
00:19:12,320 --> 00:19:15,760
though everything about him is 
the pursuit of his own glory. 

340
00:19:15,960 --> 00:19:20,400
It's a pursuit of his praise, 
his joy, his blessings. 

341
00:19:22,320 --> 00:19:27,560
So why does heaven church exist?
Do we exist for your good? 

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00:19:29,400 --> 00:19:34,680
Do we exist for your happiness? 
Is it just a cute Christian 

343
00:19:34,680 --> 00:19:37,080
thing to say? 
We exist for the glory of God, 

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00:19:38,800 --> 00:19:41,280
not if we're going to be 
serious, not if we're going to 

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00:19:41,280 --> 00:19:43,920
be everything that we say that 
we are biblically centered 

346
00:19:43,920 --> 00:19:46,920
Christ, but biblically based 
Christ centered reformed, 

347
00:19:46,960 --> 00:19:49,480
classically evangelical 
Presbyterian. 

348
00:19:49,480 --> 00:19:52,280
Our thoughts process. 
If we are following through with

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00:19:52,280 --> 00:19:55,440
those things. 
We have what one goal in life 

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00:19:55,800 --> 00:19:58,080
and that is to be for the praise
of his glory. 

351
00:19:58,640 --> 00:20:03,640
Now that's again just sounds 
like a throwaway line until we 

352
00:20:03,640 --> 00:20:06,840
think about it. 
To the praise of His glory. 

353
00:20:08,080 --> 00:20:13,920
What is glory? 
Glory is God's magnificence, His

354
00:20:13,920 --> 00:20:19,960
splendor, his character, His. 
It is shorthand for his very 

355
00:20:19,960 --> 00:20:23,080
essence. 
When Moses says God, show me 

356
00:20:23,080 --> 00:20:26,920
your glory, He's not saying show
me a characteristic, show me a 

357
00:20:26,920 --> 00:20:29,200
trait of you. 
Show me a side of your life. 

358
00:20:29,440 --> 00:20:34,560
He's saying, Lord, I want to see
you as you really and truly are.

359
00:20:35,800 --> 00:20:40,680
What we need to be is about the 
praise of his glory, the focus, 

360
00:20:40,680 --> 00:20:44,760
the attention, the the heart 
breath of the pumping of every 

361
00:20:45,720 --> 00:20:49,480
worship service, of every 
program, of every discipleship 

362
00:20:49,480 --> 00:20:53,360
idea of every pastoral moment, 
every time I'm getting together 

363
00:20:53,360 --> 00:20:54,720
with you. 
What is supposed to be the 

364
00:20:54,720 --> 00:21:00,280
driving force that's behind it? 
His glory, but not just His 

365
00:21:00,280 --> 00:21:05,040
glory. 
It's to the praise of His glory,

366
00:21:05,800 --> 00:21:10,000
to the praise of His glory, to 
the outward manifestation and 

367
00:21:10,000 --> 00:21:14,200
elevation and magnification of 
His glory. 

368
00:21:14,840 --> 00:21:18,240
That's what we're supposed to be
about so that it's not just a 

369
00:21:18,240 --> 00:21:20,320
toss away line. 
It's just not a cute thing that 

370
00:21:20,320 --> 00:21:22,240
Christians say. 
It's not just something in the 

371
00:21:22,240 --> 00:21:24,160
background. 
It is something that is 

372
00:21:24,160 --> 00:21:26,440
essential to what we are doing 
to the praise. 

373
00:21:26,440 --> 00:21:29,440
I did something I shouldn't do I
to the praise of his glory. 

374
00:21:29,840 --> 00:21:32,080
That's what we are about 
everything in which we are 

375
00:21:32,080 --> 00:21:34,680
functioning on. 
And this is something now that 

376
00:21:34,680 --> 00:21:38,760
you need to hold me accountable 
to, and you need to hold the 

377
00:21:38,760 --> 00:21:42,800
elders accountable to, and I 
need to hold you accountable to.

378
00:21:43,560 --> 00:21:50,000
When you're frustrated with God,
which you read the Psalms and 

379
00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:52,520
you know the frustration with 
God is something that the 

380
00:21:52,520 --> 00:21:55,720
psalmist himself experienced 
over and over again, there's 

381
00:21:55,720 --> 00:21:58,440
nothing wrong with that. 
But if you're frustrated with 

382
00:21:58,440 --> 00:22:02,680
God because He's not meeting 
your needs, you've missed the 

383
00:22:02,680 --> 00:22:06,800
idea of why God has called you 
into existence. 

384
00:22:07,560 --> 00:22:09,280
He has called you into 
existence. 

385
00:22:09,400 --> 00:22:11,520
He has loved you before the 
creation of the world. 

386
00:22:11,680 --> 00:22:15,400
He has redeemed you by the blood
of His Son, Jesus Christ. 

387
00:22:15,560 --> 00:22:18,400
He has sealed you with His Holy 
Spirit so that you might have 

388
00:22:18,400 --> 00:22:23,400
this wonderful inheritance for 
the praise of His glory. 

389
00:22:24,520 --> 00:22:27,440
You can't praise overstatement, 
Hank. 

390
00:22:28,400 --> 00:22:31,240
You shouldn't praise with your 
mouth shut. 

391
00:22:32,720 --> 00:22:36,360
You praise the Lord by 
magnifying Him. 

392
00:22:36,840 --> 00:22:39,760
How is it that we're going to be
this missional community that is

393
00:22:39,760 --> 00:22:41,520
going to touch the people around
us? 

394
00:22:41,680 --> 00:22:46,120
How is it that we are going to 
be an example of the of the love

395
00:22:46,120 --> 00:22:50,000
that God has poured out into our
own hearts so that others might 

396
00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:56,320
see it is so that we let them 
see us praise His glory? 

397
00:22:57,040 --> 00:23:00,200
How is it that we're going to 
raise our children so that when 

398
00:23:00,200 --> 00:23:03,160
they go off to college, they 
don't wander away from the 

399
00:23:03,160 --> 00:23:05,320
faith, They don't pursue things 
that they shouldn't? 

400
00:23:05,480 --> 00:23:08,240
How is it that the teachings 
that we give here are going to 

401
00:23:08,240 --> 00:23:10,240
anchor themselves in their heart
and their soul? 

402
00:23:10,360 --> 00:23:13,800
It's not simply that we teach 
them the right theology or that 

403
00:23:13,800 --> 00:23:16,360
we make sure that they come to 
church or that we, of course we 

404
00:23:16,360 --> 00:23:21,200
got to do all those things, but 
they have to see us praise His 

405
00:23:21,200 --> 00:23:26,760
glory. 
And parents, friends, everyone 

406
00:23:26,760 --> 00:23:30,800
of you, I know how hard that is 
because it sounds like you're 

407
00:23:30,800 --> 00:23:34,440
being hyper religious, you know,
Hey, good job today on that to 

408
00:23:34,440 --> 00:23:39,360
the praise of his glory. 
You know, I how, how annoying 

409
00:23:39,360 --> 00:23:41,520
would that person be after about
3 minutes? 

410
00:23:42,240 --> 00:23:44,600
OK, but we've got to be those 
people. 

411
00:23:45,440 --> 00:23:48,240
That's if we're going to do what
God is doing. 

412
00:23:48,240 --> 00:23:52,000
Can you is anybody surprised 
that God is up in heaven saying 

413
00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:54,400
to my glory, to my glory, to my 
glory. 

414
00:23:55,280 --> 00:23:58,480
He's doing that. 
We need to do that. 

415
00:23:59,440 --> 00:24:01,960
We of course, we've got to find 
ways to do it that are not 

416
00:24:01,960 --> 00:24:08,040
annoying perhaps, but we've got 
to be about the praise of His 

417
00:24:08,040 --> 00:24:12,840
glorious grace. 
Thanks be to the Lord and our 

418
00:24:12,840 --> 00:24:17,200
God in heaven, who has loved us 
as He has, who has ordained us, 

419
00:24:17,200 --> 00:24:20,800
that He has ordained us so that 
we might be the guarantee of our

420
00:24:20,800 --> 00:24:25,160
inheritance until we acquire 
possession of it in heaven, All 

421
00:24:25,160 --> 00:24:27,840
to the praise of His glorious 
grace. 

422
00:24:28,760 --> 00:24:32,960
Whoop. 
Lord Jesus, thank you again for 

423
00:24:32,960 --> 00:24:37,240
gracing us with your presence 
here in this place, for 

424
00:24:37,240 --> 00:24:40,680
overwhelming us with all that 
you have done for us. 

425
00:24:40,680 --> 00:24:43,680
The spiritual blessings that you
have poured out upon us that are

426
00:24:43,680 --> 00:24:46,520
listed here in this text and 
that go so much deeper than this

427
00:24:46,520 --> 00:24:50,120
text, and all for the way in 
which you have sacrificed 

428
00:24:50,120 --> 00:24:54,440
yourself, given of Your love and
care, directed things, all for 

429
00:24:54,440 --> 00:24:58,560
our good, and yet Lord, all to 
the praise of your glory. 

430
00:24:59,000 --> 00:25:02,000
Lord, we want to be men and 
women that do exactly what you 

431
00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:05,920
have done here, that we would be
shaped, that we would be molded 

432
00:25:06,280 --> 00:25:09,920
all to the praise of your glory.
Lord, make heaven church, be 

433
00:25:09,920 --> 00:25:13,320
known that way. 
Make us as individuals be known 

434
00:25:13,320 --> 00:25:16,880
that way. 
Make my own heart reflect that. 

435
00:25:16,880 --> 00:25:19,680
Lord, we pray all to the praise 
of your glory. 

436
00:25:19,680 --> 00:25:21,080
We ask. 
Amen.