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Speaker 1Good morning, everybody. How are y'all? Good morning. Good to be in the house of the Lord this morning. I just got up here.
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I just got up there. Is Scott here yet? Is he coming? You don't even know? Alright.
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I I feel a little bit off kilter because usually he's doing this and going, come on, everybody. Let's get with it. So, would you stand up and sing with us? We'll start off. Grace Greater Than All Our Sin.
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Hymn number three forty four. We have a lot of folks visiting this morning. Had a lot of folks visiting this morning in the first service. It looks like we've got quite a few now. Y'all are welcome.
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Sing out. Sing it like you mean it. Grace Greater Than All Our grace that greater yes grace untold points to the refuge the mighty cross grace grace grace that is greater than Amen. I love that old hymn. It's been a while since we've sung that or since I've sung that one anyway.
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I put a star next to that one. That's really, really good. Amazing Grace. Hymn number three forty three.
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Speaker 2Already come. His grace that dawned me, save thus far, and grace than when we first begun
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Speaker 1Walk and have a seat.
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Speaker 2Nice keychain.
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Speaker 1That's great. We're just we could go home. That's that's crazy. That's the sermon right there. So, we have some announcements though.
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Connect hour is still happening. If y'all want to get here a little early, you can have a cup of coffee and some donuts and things down the hall. Meet up with some of those first service people that love the fellowship and relationship. So connect hour happens. It still happens between services.
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And even though the kitchen remodel's going on, there's a big piece of cardboard over the kitchen because we're getting close to the end. So I think there's gonna be a reveal at some point. We're getting pretty close. So Monday nights at first B, even though we are in the middle of the kitchen remodel, it's still happening. So every Monday night, 06:00 in the evening, soft start.
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It's not a real hard start on that. It's 06:00 in the evening. We get together. And this is home sweet home for a lot of the first beef folks. We have a meal, music, and a message.
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Even when Carl's out of town, we're still doing meal, music, and a message there. We are having a good time going through. Run Ministries is going to be speaking tonight. If y'all have never heard Eric and Becky Watt present, you're really kind of missing out. You need to you need to hear this.
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Trust me. It's really good. They were in the first service this morning. But Eric and Becky are here. They are working that.
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RUN stands for Reaching Unreached Nations. And this is actually part of their this poster is part of their display up here. Hopefully, I'll remember to mention this when I get to the appropriate point in the sermon but Run Ministries will be present tonight at 07:00. The Turning Point Pregnancy Resource Center, we've been announcing this for a long time now. That gala, the annual gala, fundraising gala, is July 13.
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That's Thursday night. We have at 530 Spring Creek Ranch. Do you all know where that is? Up on the top of East Grove Mont Butte? Is it east or west?
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Half of you think one It's east for sure. I know it's east. Okay. East Grove Montview. Alright.
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It's great. So Spring Creek Ranch, 05:30 in the evening. It's a beautiful place to spend the evening. And Ken Sandy, the guy that is from Relational Wisdom three sixty, will be the speaker for that event. And then next Saturday, he will be speaking here.
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So before we meet again on Sunday, that's when he's doing this. It's Saturday at nine to 03:30, Discovering Relational Wisdom seminar. He has written The Peacemaker and several other books, actually. He's a really, really, really dynamic speaker. So anything else to add to that?
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Yep. So right here, he's planning on starting right at nine. And so if you want to go ahead and do it ahead of time, you can do it right here, or you can do it ahead of nine here in the foyer out there. So for everything else, you can check your weekly bulletin. And I'm thankful for that weekly bulletin.
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I take one home and I put it on my refrigerator. And I thank you for those who fold it. Joni and Jean Dimash come in every week and they fold those and get them ready for us. And it's really nice to have everything in one place because it takes forever for me to do this with everything. Right?
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Would you stand up and greet one another? And is there another announcement? Wait a second. There's one more. One more.
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I forgot. So, Becky Murphy and Martin Murphy are hosting Rahim and Zama Agayev. They are some of the missionaries that we support. They're hosting em this week and on Friday at 06:30 in the evening, they're having an open house for them. So, plan on that too.
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Friday evening, Raheem and Zama Agayev. They are missionaries that we do support and they will be staying with the Murphes until then. If you want more information, you can contact me or Becky Murphy. Now, you can stand up and greet one another.
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Speaker 2And let me stand. Pray the heavens table land a higher plane than I have found. Lord, plant my feet on higher ground. My heart has no desire to stay where doubts arise and fears dismay. No.
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Some may dwell where there's a bow my prayer and my aim is higher ground lord lift me up and let me stand my faith on heaven's table land a higher plane than I have found lord plant my feet on higher ground wants to live above the world though Satan's darts darts, let me are hurled. For faith has caught the joyful sound. This song of saints on higher ground. Or lift me up and let me stand. My faith on heaven's table land, a higher plane than I have found.
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Lord, I might be on higher ground. I want to scale the utmost height and catch a gleam of glory bright but still I pray till heaven I found and land my yawn to higher ground Lift me up and let me stand. I have faith on heaven's table land, a higher plane than I have found. Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.
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Speaker 1Amen. Man, this week, I asked Mike B, the early youth guy, if he would take me over the hill, you know, power plane that I found. I was gonna go over the pass to get the victory to get something. Could you drive me over there so I can bring something else back? And he said, sure.
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And so as we're heading out of here, we're just talking, he goes, well, I summited the grand yesterday. You did what? And he came down. He went up the whole way up to the higher plane that I had found. And then all the way back down in one day, and he was taking me.
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I would be in the hospital. I couldn't believe it. And it's like, he was full of energy. Anyway, he's not here. I wouldn't have mentioned it if he was here, but that's pretty crazy.
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Amazing Love. Hymn number three fifty one. He is young and light. That that is what I am not.
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Speaker 2I my oh, my. Oh, my.
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Speaker 1Are we on the same? Are we on the same page here?
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Speaker 2Amazing love. What sacrifice the son of God given for me despite rejected but oh the blood he shed for me pays and my death he dies that I might live that I my and now this love of Christ shall fold like rivers That I might live. That I might live.
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Speaker 1Amen. Y'all can have a seat. That's a beautiful song too. I didn't know it at the beginning of the song. I had read Amazing Love on your email that said we were singing that and thought of a different song named Amazing Love.
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But y'all did a great job leading that one. Frontline team, could y'all come forward please and would the would everybody here just join with me in praying for our lost and dying broken world. God, would you, this morning, have your will done in our hearts, lord? Would you align our will with yours in such a way or can we, lord, align our will in such a way that we just seek after the heart of God and the good of other people. Lord, we know that you have given every good and perfect gift.
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We know that you're our provider, Jehovah Jireh and lord, I want to acknowledge to you that I want other people to know what it's like to have the grace and peace and the comfort that Jesus offers in their life and lord, would you take what is placed in these plates, tithes, offers, offerings, and would you do your kingdom's work with this? Would you multiply it to do your kingdom's work to the ends of the earth? Just this morning, lord, we have had with us missionaries to Peru, Azerbaijan, all of the Middle East and North Africa, India, Indonesia, Japan, all in attendance with us here this morning. That I know about. God, there are a lot of missionaries to Teton County that are in this building right now and I pray that you would use everything that's placed in these plates, lord, to do your kingdom's work, to advance the good gospel that Jesus Christ has paid the sacrifice.
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He's paid for sin. He offers love and forgiveness. In Jesus name, would you do your will among us this morning? Amen. Three twenty twenty one right there.
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So we're up to Ephesians three. Actually, we're up to Ephesians three last week, I went through the whole chapter. And I told you that this week when we come back, we were gonna go through Ephesians three again. I felt like we needed to camp out on it a little bit. And as I studied this week and as I sought to implement it, I'm making lots of noise this morning.
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Ephesians three. So we had gotten up to that place, in Ephesians three, and we went through the whole chapter. And I feel like context is so, so important. You know, I'm always trying to share the context around everything. And since we're going cumulatively here and we're going ahead, the people who are here every week kinda understand what's going on.
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So we've been going chronologically through the New Testament letters in the order that they were written. And we are up to Ephesians three. So we've got a lot under our belt by this point, and we've got all of Ephesians to this point, under our belts this week. But this week, as I was sitting down and trying to distill this, I kept getting little messages from people, little texts, and I kept getting in my head these little kind of blurbs, small blurbs. So I assembled all of those small blurbs.
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It was basically people were saying, oh, I've been reading Ephesians three because what did I ask you to do last week? Read Ephesians three. And then I said, actually, just read one through three. Make sure that you read it because if you take it in, this first section of Ephesians is all I like to say inspirational rather than application. It's inspiration rather than application.
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Now four, five, and six are very heavy on application. It tells you and urges you and exhorts you and commands you to do this, do this, do this. But this first three chapters is all about being. Being. And so it says what you were and what you are in the first three chapters.
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What you were and what you are and what you will be in the first three chapters and then in four, it really kind of meditates on how to live our lives today in the present based on what we were and what we are, how we should live, and where we're going to. So, Ephesians three, let's review. So, when I started reviewing, I thought, well, I need to go back a little further. I need to go back a little further. So, we went back to here.
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Ephesians one one and two, okay? By the will of God. This is the way it starts. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, sent out by Christ Jesus by the will of God. What was Paul doing when Christ met him?
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He was persecuting Christians. He was persecuting Christians. He was had writs to take anybody who was a practicing follower of the way back to Jerusalem for trial before the Sanhedrin. He was adamantly opposed to God but by the will of God, Christ met him on that road to Damascus and when he met him, what did he say? He said, you are persecuting my followers Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?
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Had Paul had Saul ever met Christ that we know of? He met him in that he met the body of Christ, the followers of Jesus. That comes very into sharp relief in Ephesians for me. By the will of God, to the saints in Ephesus and us here today, the faithful in Christ Jesus and he starts with grace and peace. I say always start with grace and peace.
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How many times have you all heard me and seen this slide? Always start with grace and peace. Every one of our New Testament epistles so far. Paul always starts with grace and peace. And if you look at it, he always ends with grace and peace too.
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Always start with grace and peace. I told him in the service this morning, you probably aren't gonna have enough in your margins of your notes to take down every one of these little blurbs today, but get the ones that grab you. Always start with grace and peace. Then we move on to Ephesians three one three through 14. It's one long sentence in the Greek.
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It's two zero two Greek words long. It's about four or five English sentences long without any renouns. It's an overflowing opening doxology. Paul introduces himself and his readers, and then all of a sudden, he just can't help it. And basically, what he's saying there's no guitar up here this time.
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What he's saying is, God is so good. God is so good. God is so good. He's so good to me. He answers prayer.
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He answers prayer. He answers prayer. He's so good to me. He does that in this way. God the father, Christ the son, and the Holy Spirit.
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These verses are very Trinitarian in their formula. To begin with, he's praising God the father for the work of Christ and the guarantee of the Holy Spirit. In this section and the next, I'll share a few things. I'm sharing basically the the synopsis verses from the previous sermons. God wants people to be saved.
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Now, last week, I talked about we've got the social gospel and we've got the priority of proclamation. Let there be no doubt. People are in peril and God wants them to be saved to begin with. Now, once they are saved, God wants his people to be filled with the spirit of God. He wants for them to live a life of obedience following the spirit's leading.
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God wants his people to be pure. Holy. If we took this book very seriously, we would have a hard time continuing in sin if we know we're in Christ. We will move from in sin to in Christ. God wants his people to be pure.
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He wants for them to be pure and that's sanctified. Good churchy word. He wants for them to be thankful. Do you all remember that sermon? I stepped in it the first service the last time, and I told a story about going to Wendy's, and I ordered something that was healthy for me.
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And when I got to the window, they gave me something that wasn't healthy for me. And so God wants his people to be pure. I chose to be thankful. We'll start the diet tomorrow. Anyway, God wants his people to be thankful.
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He wants for his people to be submissive. That's not just for the ladies. He wants for his people to be submitted to the governmental authorities. He wants for us to be submitted to the ecclesiastical authorities. He wants for us to be submitted to the Holy Spirit primarily.
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God wants for his people to be submissive and willing to do his will. God wants for his people to be ready to suffer. Paul, the joyful prisoner is writing this letter to the saints who are faithful in Christ Jesus. He wants his people to be ready to suffer and I like this. I took those divisions actually from Richard Traus.
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Here then are six clear declarations of God's will for our lives. He wants us to be saved, spirit filled, pure, thankful, submissive, and ready to suffer. Seek God's wisdom in applying these to the next decision you face. But that was drawn from inspiration and he's trying to give application, right? Think about this, and that's good.
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I brought this question forward and it wasn't really a command. It was just a question to ponder. Would you rather have God work through your obedience, aligning your will with his will? Accepting what he has for you in his will and then stepping out on faith and doing that. Would you rather God work through your obedience or in spite of your disobedience?
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Because God is going to work. He has a plan. He is working his plan. You are a part of that plan. Would you rather him work through your obedience or in spite of your disobedience?
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Now, God is so good. I had the slide in the wrong place. God is so good And that's what all of three through 14, it's a doxology on the goodness of the Trinitarian God that cares about people, that cares about every soul. God is so good. 15 through 23, I call it thankful and prayerful and to me, it looked like a syllabus.
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It was what we're going to go through in the rest of this book of Ephesians. He was telling us what this course looks like and this is a lot of what it looks like. God the father wills, Christ the son carries out that will, and the Holy Spirit guarantees. Now, that's taken from three fourteen. Three through 14, I'm sorry.
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God the father wills Christ the son carries it out and the Holy Spirit guarantees it. Now, Christ the son carries it out. Right after that, he equates the church to the body of Christ. So, if the church is the body of Christ and it is because he says it multiple times in different places all over. He uses the analogy a lot.
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The church is the body of Christ and Christ the son carries out the will of God. Who is to be carrying out the will of God? This is a commutative principle. Is that what it's called, Bob? Yeah.
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If Christ's body is the church and Christ carries out the will of God, then who is to carry out the will of God? The church. That's plan A. There is no plan B. God's will be done through the church.
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That's heavy. Would you rather have God work through your obedience or in spite of your disobedience? Because God is going to work. So, Ephesians two one through 10. So, it starts out and he's brought us to this high place that God has saved us, the God who's good, that he has made provision, and he's bringing people in and people are saved and they're being sanctified and they're being purified and some are suffering for the cause of carrying the gospel forward and then, he says this, and you, you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked.
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Notice that that's past tense. He's speaking to Christians here. You were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air because that's what people do. Every person starts in this camp. Following the prince of the power there, the spirit that's now at work in the sons of disobedience among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and we were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind.
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Remember that. But God, but God, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses, he made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved. He can't wait till verse eight to say that he has to say it right there. By grace, you've been saved and he raised us up with him and he seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus but God, you are dead in your trespasses but God He speaks of those two spheres in those verses and there's in sins or there's in Christ and like I said, if we took this really seriously, it would be a lot harder for us as Christians to have those little pet sins that we keep. Walking away from sins in Christ.
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Verse one through three and verse four through seven, show those two spheres. Now, I said this too when I was preaching through this that there's a wrong road that we could take. Once you have been saved, it's very easy for you to begin to think that you deserved it and you don't and I don't. It doesn't matter what you do after you still don't deserve it. It is by grace that you've been saved through faith and he says that in eight and nine.
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It's not of works so that no one should boast. It is the gift of God. Now, it can lead to pride if you start thinking that you're worthy or that you deserve it. It can also lead to a certain form of escapism where we escape the world altogether and turn inward as Christians and just have our holy huddle and we don't look out ever. That's a wrong road.
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It's a different lane on the wrong road but it's still the wrong road and then perfectionism. For you to believe that you have completely escaped your sin in Christ, when you start thinking that, it's very soon you're going to end up back here because pride goes before a fall and we have not been perfected. Positionally, yes, we are out of our sin and into Christ but practically speaking, we will find ourselves going back and that's why Paul reminds us again and again to be what you are. Be what you are. Be what you already are.
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The already saved, the not yet completely glorified and sanctified. So the application, and I left my slide as it was, application, because this still isn't a command. He has not commanded anything so far. It's by grace that you've been saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It's the gift of God so that no one should boast for we are his workmanship, his masterpiece, poema, poema, his poetry, his creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
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That is less application and more inspiration right there. There are good works. I don't know what your good works are that he has established for you. But would you rather be obedient and have him work through that obedience or disobedient and have him still work in spite of. I'd rather be a part of it.
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I'd rather walk in the good walks he's got prepared for me. That's inspiration. I'm glad that he works both ways. That's a gracious and merciful God that does. Works do not save but saving faith always shows itself in good works.
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A faith that saves works. Here we're up to two eleven through 12. Therefore, remember, that's the first imperative that we have in all of the book of Ephesians. Remember, and he says it twice. Remember that at one time, you Gentiles in the flesh called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision.
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He's being a little sarcastic there because at this point, most of the Jews had not accepted Christ and they were trusting in the works of the flesh and works of their hands which is made in flesh by hands. They're trusting in that rather than in God. Then he says again, remember, remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of the chosen people of God, Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world. He says, remember twice. That's the only imperatives we have in all of the first three chapters of Ephesians and what he's saying is remember what it was like to be lost.
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I use the word lost in this context because that's what most Christians nowadays call people who are not believers. Are we as guilty as the so called circumcision of pointing out their lostness? Remember that at one time, you Christians Wow. Therefore, remember that one time you Gentiles in the flesh called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision which is made in the flesh by human hands. Remember, that you are at that time separated from Christ.
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You are alienated from the commonwealth of Israel. Strangers to the covenants of province, having no hope and without God in the world and actually, he says that there is a dividing wall of hostility between faithful Jews and Gentiles. He goes on in the text to say that Christ in his flesh on the cross has torn down that dividing wall, the but now. But now, in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. He has torn down that dividing wall of hostility and now, instead of looking like complete different things, there are Gentile flavored Christians and there are Jewish flavored Christians, but they're all Christians by the cross.
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Two seventeen through 22, I'll start with 19. These are those household words. So every word that has to do with household, all of these are related in the same Oikos word family. He's saying that you are no longer outside of the household aliens, but your fellow citizens and saints and members of the household of God. You are built on household, built up.
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The foundation of the apostles and the prophets. Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone in whom the whole structure. That's a household word. Being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him, you also are being built together, another household word.
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His point is that all of you, whether you're Jewish flavored, Gentile flavored, a Baptist flavored, Lutheran flavored, Christians, You are one household and we'll get to that in chapter four. He'll make it explicit. One faith, one body, one baptism. Why we divide ourselves? You are being built together into a dwelling place for God and that's that ultimate household word right there.
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If we were to think about that we, the people that are in this building right now and the people who are in the other buildings right now, If we, Christians in this valley, really saw ourselves as the dwelling place of God, collectively, we're the dwelling place of God as we get along. We're the dwelling place of God. I think there would be less to divide us and there would be less sin. I think we'd be ashamed of the things we say if we really saw the body of Christ, capital C Church as the dwelling place for God and the only hope, the only hope that anybody outside of Christ has. The word of God is very important.
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The word of God lived out through his church is amazing. The ecclesia, that's from two Greek words, ek and kaleo. It's out from and to. So, it's out from one thing and into another and it is called out from one thing and into another. People who have been called out from the world, every tribe, tongue, and nation to God and the outcome of that call, everyone who receives that call and comes is a part of the body of Christ.
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And who is it that carries out the will of God? The body of Christ, the church. The church is the body of Christ. Ephesians three, so this is what we got to last week. We covered the whole chapter three last week.
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I'm covered a little bit of it this week. It's a lot of scripture at one time, but I think that this context matters because we're setting up all of the four, five, and six for the next few weeks. Now, one through three are about being. Four through six are about doing and being. The centrality of the church, I think so far up to chapter three, you've already been seeing it but it has not been quite as explicit as it is in chapter four where he said, chapter three where he says this, insight into the mystery of Christ which was not made known to the sons of men and other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the spirit.
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This mystery, the mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. The good news of the message of the cross is that for everyone who believes, it's the power unto salvation. But for those who see it as mere foolishness, they're perishing. The mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs brought into the same body. Of this gospel, I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace which was given to me by the working of his power.
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To me though I'm the very least of all the saints. This grace was given to preach to the Gentiles unsearchable riches of Christ. Now, Paul was familiar as a Pharisaic Jew with the riches of Christ and he knew they were unsearchable. He did not know how unsearchable they were because when he met Jesus on that road, now, this is available to everyone. That's amazing and he was made though he was against him adamantly before.
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He was made that. Why would he call himself the least of the saints? Can you imagine being Paul and having to hold on to having persecuted followers of the way? Who's the baddest bad guy you can think about right now? Seriously, y'all can answer it out.
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Y'all can say so. I'll move this podium over. Right now, who do you think is the baddest bad guy around? ISIS. Mean, when we y'all saw the pictures, the images of the Egyptian Christians being beheaded, you've heard stories of missionaries, you've heard stories of martyrdom.
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This is a prayer actually by a real person. It's not probably a theological guy but it's somebody who had been saved and this he had had had his family killed and the daughter that was not killed was sold into slavery and the son that was not killed was sent to a jihadi camp. He's going to be raised up to be a terrorist. Eric Watt was here this morning. This is part of their presentation.
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I just asked him to stand up for a minute. So, I'm retelling the story he told the first service. This man, I am blessed by God. He understood that he had been taken from his sin and into Christ. I am blessed by God.
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I no longer hold anything against anyone. The love and forgiveness that I have experienced from God almighty. I pray every day. God, please send your holy power to Isis people and change their hearts. Now, I agree that volitionally, you have to make the choice but this guy is praying a prayer for people that kidnapped his kids and killed the rest of his family.
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To bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things. There was no greater divide than Jew Gentile at the time that this was written. Right now, I think American Christian and ISIS member is probably about as far apart as we can imagine. To bring the light for everyone, what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages and God who created all things so that through the church, he says it again, Ecclesia, those who've been called out from every tribe, tongue, nation. Through the church, the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.
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And in chapter six, that's obvious that that's the demons and the and the unseen spiritual realm that's felt and oppressive. So that through the church, the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in heavenly places. This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus, our lord. It is through the actual physical body of Christ being hung on that cross. His body broken for us, his blood spilled, for all of those who would be called out and accept the call and drawn into the family of God, the church, in whom in Christ Jesus, we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.
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Now, it is by God's grace but it's also through our faith that handles both ends of that spectrum. God is the one doing the drawing and we are the ones doing the accepting. In him, we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him so that so I ask you not to lose heart over what I'm suffering for you which is your glory. I asked somebody mentioned during the week, they just said, what would you tweet about last week's sermon? If you're gonna tweet, y'all know what tweeting is?
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It's on Twitter. It's 140 characters. You only have 140. It's like a text. And so if you were to tweet last week's sermon, just one tweet, what would it be?
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And several of them, one of them said the centrality of the church. That's why that slide was up there. Another one says, I noted the power of unity when all the peoples will come together in Christ name and will unify. There's power in that. So, I ask you not to lose heart over what I'm suffering for you which is for your glory.
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God wants his people to be ready to suffer. It is a theme of this book. And then this was another tweet. It actually was spoken to me. He goes, paradoxes, man.
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You got Paul, who's a joyful prisoner. You've got the chosen people of God who who are now to be ministering God's blessing to those who are outside of the faith. The dividing wall, the hostility come down. There are a lot of paradoxes as you look back at chapter three especially and that's what I ask you to read. Paradoxes.
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Paul says that his suffering was their glory. That's interesting that he wrote Colossians and Ephesians and Philemon and Philippians all while he was stuck in jail. We would we wouldn't have it if he was still rolling and tumbling throughout the holy land like he had been. It's pretty amazing that that's the way God works. He has to get him to sit still to write these letters so that we've had we have it.
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Ephesians three fourteen through 21 is a prayer and it's that God may bring about everything that Paul has been discussing because given our bent and our starting place being the prince of the power of the air who controls, people will divide and continue dividing and continue dividing. So, Ephesians three fourteen through 21 is a prayer and Paul says this, for this reason, I bow my knees to before the father from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named. That according to the riches of his glory, he may grant to you to be strengthened with power through his spirit in your inner being. So, he wants you to experience it individually and so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith that you, church, being rooted and grounded in love. Now, what are we starting off as?
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What are we rooted and grounded in to begin with? Dead in our sins and trespasses but his prayer is that we would be rooted and grounded in love. The kind of love that gives a perfect, holy, spotless record as a ransom for anyone who would believe. So that you may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and the length and the height and the depth and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge and that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now, I purposed this week to just read one through three over and over just to see about the being part before I even consider the doing part.
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I know what's coming. But the being part. And as I kept taking in this week, I felt I just couldn't sit still. I had to get out and see people and do things and help somebody. I sang a song or just a little clip of a song in the first service.
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It's called Help Somebody If You Can. It is not a Christian hymn. It's by Van Zant. I think they're somehow related to Leonard Skinner. We all remember the Leonard Skinner Mother's Day sermon I did a few years ago.
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It says that, actually, and don't there are cowboys here, so it was a cowboy and his wife is who the song was about. He goes, never the grandmother and grandfather of the singer, he goes, never let a cowboy fix the coffee. I don't know why. That's not the point of the song. Never tell a joke that ain't that funny more than once, and help somebody if you can.
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The refrain says, help somebody if you can and get right with the man being Jesus. Get right with the man. Get that first. Be that and then help somebody if you can. And it will overflow if you will pay attention and believe these first three chapters.
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I I love this week. I was filled to overflowing all week long because I was taking in the word of God and it was reassuring me and assuring me and I dare say, guiding me to help people. Some of those works that were prepared beforehand. It was so nice. I had somebody come up after the first service.
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I gave actually, I finished a lot sooner in the first service too, ten minutes ago but anyway, when I gave time for testimonies at the end and there were a couple people that gave some vague testimonies but one of them came to me afterward and she said, I've been praying since I left. She was in school in Italy recently. Said, I've been praying since I left that God would use me in some way. I'm availing myself, lord. Do what you will and she said, I accidentally helped plan a church while I was there.
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She's too humble to say that in front of everybody but she said, there's a Hillsong Church in Milan now that wasn't there when she left. Praise God. So the next verse is right here. I think this is the turning point of Ephesians. So yes, one through three is inspiration.
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Yes, application comes in four to six but this now to me seems to be the hinge upon which it all turns and it is a prayer that God would do his will. Just like this man's prayer right here. Now, to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, would you think to pray for the ISIS members themselves that they would be converted to Christ? That's not my first thought. I want mercy but I want justice for some some of them, you know, and that that turns my heart to say, now to him who's able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think according to the power that's at work within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever.
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Amen. That ends chapter three. Be willing to forego your privilege for someone else's glory. For our missionary family right here, thank you for foregoing your privilege for others' glory. That's what Paul was doing, sitting there in jail.
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He could have backed off of his argument and been set free. He could have not appealed to Caesar and he wouldn't have had to go anyway. I want you to think about this. Doing follows being. It does in Ephesians and it does in all of other of Paul's other.
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He establishes your motivation and your inspiration before he ever asks you to do anything. Doing follows being. So, first be, first, be. Be a Christian. Concentrate on God that he is your salvation.
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He is your redeemer. He's your hope. He is the one offering the grace and you just put your faith in that and first, be. Not everything in is application. Some things are inspiration but I'm going to turn a corner here too between those two and go to Ephesians four.
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Just these first three verses and think about this, having considered everything I've just told you, that's what the therefore is there for. I therefore, a prisoner of the Lord, urge you, Christians, to walk in a manner that's worthy of the calling to which you've been called. With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another, bearing with one another. Christians, across denominational lines, across theological riffraff disputes. Bear with one another.
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Hone in on it. Yeah, the theology's gotta be good but bring them together instead of pushing them away. Bearing with one another, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. Amen. So, we'll look at this.
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We'll this is where we'll start next week. I, therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner that's worthy of the calling to which you've been called. Out of your sins and into Christ, take your sins seriously. In all gentleness and humility with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit, and the bond of peace. I think that's the last slide.
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Is that the last slide? Alright. Would you all stand with me? And let's sing God is so good. How about that, Judy?
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What's the net? What were we going to sing? Oh, that's good. We'll sing O Master, Let Me Walk With Thee. Hymn number six sixty five.
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That'll work. Oh master, let me walk with thee. Would you sing out if you know I can't think of a better song service to go with the first three chapters of Ephesians. That nails it. And now for benediction.
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Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself remember, he himself is our peace from chapter two. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our father who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace. May he comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word. Amen. Amen.
