First Be, Then Do

May 3, 2026 · Ephesians

Series · Ephesians · Week 39 of 51

Scripture referenced 14 passages

The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.

Romans 5:5 read as an encouraging word to lead into worship at the opening of the service

5 and hope doesn’t disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

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Ecclesiastes 12

The preacher opened to it by accident on his first day of seminary, hoping for encouragement, and read the warning about endless books and study

1 Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come, and the years draw near, when you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”;

2 Before the sun, the light, the moon, and the stars are darkened, and the clouds return after the rain;

3 in the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those who look out of the windows are darkened,

4 and the doors shall be shut in the street; when the sound of the grinding is low, and one shall rise up at the voice of a bird, and all the daughters of music shall be brought low;

5 yes, they shall be afraid of heights, and terrors will be on the way; and the almond tree shall blossom, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail; because man goes to his everlasting home, and the mourners go about the streets:

6 before the silver cord is severed, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is broken at the spring, or the wheel broken at the cistern,

7 and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

8 “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher. “All is vanity!”

9 Further, because the Preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge. Yes, he pondered, sought out, and set in order many proverbs.

10 The Preacher sought to find out acceptable words, and that which was written blamelessly, words of truth.

11 The words of the wise are like goads; and like nails well fastened are words from the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd.

12 Furthermore, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

13 This is the end of the matter. All has been heard. Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man.

14 For God will bring every work into judgment, with every hidden thing, whether it is good, or whether it is evil.

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Ephesians 4:1

cited as the opening urge to walk worthy, before the main passage

1 I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to walk worthily of the calling with which you were called,

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Ephesians 4:17-32

announced as the main passage for the morning

17 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind,

18 being darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their hearts;

19 who having become callous gave themselves up to lust, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

20 But you did not learn Christ that way;

21 if indeed you heard him, and were taught in him, even as truth is in Jesus:

22 that you put away, as concerning your former way of life, the old man, that grows corrupt after the lusts of deceit;

23 and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind,

24 and put on the new man, who in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of truth.

25 Therefore putting away falsehood, speak truth each one with his neighbor. For we are members of one another.

26 “Be angry, and don’t sin.” Don’t let the sun go down on your wrath,

27 and don’t give place to the devil.

28 Let him who stole steal no more; but rather let him labor, producing with his hands something that is good, that he may have something to give to him who has need.

29 Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth, but only what is good for building others up as the need may be, that it may give grace to those who hear.

30 Don’t grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

31 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, outcry, and slander, be put away from you, with all malice.

32 And be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving each other, just as God also in Christ forgave you.

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Ephesians 1:1-14

read aloud as part of a survey of the first three chapters, covering blessing, election, redemption, and the seal of the Holy Spirit

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, to the saints who are at Ephesus, and the faithful in Christ Jesus:

2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ;

4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and without defect before him in love;

5 having predestined us for adoption as children through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his desire,

6 to the praise of the glory of his grace, by which he freely gave us favor in the Beloved,

7 in whom we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,

8 which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence,

9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in him

10 to an administration of the fullness of the times, to sum up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens, and the things on the earth, in him;

11 in whom also we were assigned an inheritance, having been foreordained according to the purpose of him who does all things after the counsel of his will;

12 to the end that we should be to the praise of his glory, we who had before hoped in Christ.

13 In him you also, having heard the word of the truth, the Good News of your salvation—in whom, having also believed, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,

14 who is a pledge of our inheritance, to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of his glory.

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Ephesians 1:15-23

read aloud continuing the survey, covering Paul's prayer for wisdom and the greatness of God's power toward believers

15 For this cause I also, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which is among you, and the love which you have toward all the saints,

16 don’t cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers,

17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him;

18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of his calling, and what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

19 and what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to that working of the strength of his might

20 which he worked in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places,

21 far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come.

22 He put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things for the assembly,

23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

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Ephesians 2:1-10

read aloud covering the description of being dead in sin, God's mercy, salvation by grace through faith, and being created for good works

1 You were made alive when you were dead in transgressions and sins,

2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the children of disobedience;

3 among whom we also all once lived in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

4 But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us,

5 even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

6 and raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

7 that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus;

8 for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,

9 not of works, that no one would boast.

10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them.

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Ephesians 2:11-22

read aloud covering Gentiles brought near by the blood of Christ, the dividing wall broken down, and the church as God's dwelling

11 Therefore remember that once you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “uncircumcision” by that which is called “circumcision”, (in the flesh, made by hands);

12 that you were at that time separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off are made near in the blood of Christ.

14 For he is our peace, who made both one, and broke down the middle wall of partition,

15 having abolished in his flesh the hostility, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man of the two, making peace;

16 and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, having killed the hostility thereby.

17 He came and preached peace to you who were far off and to those who were near.

18 For through him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.

19 So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God,

20 being built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone;

21 in whom the whole building, fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord;

22 in whom you also are built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit.

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Ephesians 3:1-21

read aloud covering the mystery revealed, Paul's prayer for the church to know the love of Christ, and the doxology

1 For this cause I, Paul, am the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles,

2 if it is so that you have heard of the administration of that grace of God which was given me toward you;

3 how that by revelation the mystery was made known to me, as I wrote before in few words,

4 by which, when you read, you can perceive my understanding in the mystery of Christ;

5 which in other generations was not made known to the children of men, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit;

6 that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of his promise in Christ Jesus through the Good News,

7 of which I was made a servant, according to the gift of that grace of God which was given me according to the working of his power.

8 To me, the very least of all saints, was this grace given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,

9 and to make all men see what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God, who created all things through Jesus Christ;

10 to the intent that now through the assembly the manifold wisdom of God might be made known to the principalities and the powers in the heavenly places,

11 according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord;

12 in whom we have boldness and access in confidence through our faith in him.

13 Therefore I ask that you may not lose heart at my troubles for you, which are your glory.

14 For this cause, I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,

16 that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, that you may be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inward man;

17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; to the end that you, being rooted and grounded in love,

18 may be strengthened to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and height and depth,

19 and to know Christ’s love which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

20 Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,

21 to him be the glory in the assembly and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

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Ephesians 4:17-24

expounded as the main teaching passage on walking no longer as Gentiles, putting off the old self, and putting on the new self

17 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind,

18 being darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their hearts;

19 who having become callous gave themselves up to lust, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

20 But you did not learn Christ that way;

21 if indeed you heard him, and were taught in him, even as truth is in Jesus:

22 that you put away, as concerning your former way of life, the old man, that grows corrupt after the lusts of deceit;

23 and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind,

24 and put on the new man, who in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of truth.

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Romans 12:1-2

cited as a parallel to Ephesians 4 on renewing the mind, presenting bodies as a living sacrifice, and not being conformed to the world

1 Therefore I urge you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service.

2 Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God.

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Colossians 3

referenced as a parallel passage on putting off the old self and putting on the new self, noted as likely written within two weeks of Ephesians 4

1 If then you were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God.

2 Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth.

3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

4 When Christ, our life, is revealed, then you will also be revealed with him in glory.

5 Put to death therefore your members which are on the earth: sexual immorality, uncleanness, depraved passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry;

6 for which things’ sake the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience.

7 You also once walked in those, when you lived in them;

8 but now you also put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and shameful speaking out of your mouth.

9 Don’t lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his doings,

10 and have put on the new man, who is being renewed in knowledge after the image of his Creator,

11 where there can’t be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bondservant, freeman; but Christ is all, and in all.

12 Put on therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, humility, and perseverance;

13 bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, if any man has a complaint against any; even as Christ forgave you, so you also do.

14 Above all these things, walk in love, which is the bond of perfection.

15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.

16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to the Lord.

17 Whatever you do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father, through him.

18 Wives, be in subjection to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.

19 Husbands, love your wives, and don’t be bitter against them.

20 Children, obey your parents in all things, for this pleases the Lord.

21 Fathers, don’t provoke your children, so that they won’t be discouraged.

22 Servants, obey in all things those who are your masters according to the flesh, not just when they are looking, as men pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God.

23 And whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord, and not for men,

24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.

25 But he who does wrong will receive again for the wrong that he has done, and there is no partiality.

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Luke 15

referenced as the prodigal son story illustrating the sequence of futility and God running out to meet the returning sinner

1 Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming close to him to hear him.

2 The Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, “This man welcomes sinners, and eats with them.”

3 He told them this parable.

4 “Which of you men, if you had one hundred sheep, and lost one of them, wouldn’t leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one that was lost, until he found it?

5 When he has found it, he carries it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

6 When he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’

7 I tell you that even so there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance.

8 Or what woman, if she had ten drachma coins, if she lost one drachma coin, wouldn’t light a lamp, sweep the house, and seek diligently until she found it?

9 When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the drachma which I had lost.’

10 Even so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner repenting.”

11 He said, “A certain man had two sons.

12 The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of your property.’ He divided his livelihood between them.

13 Not many days after, the younger son gathered all of this together and traveled into a far country. There he wasted his property with riotous living.

14 When he had spent all of it, there arose a severe famine in that country, and he began to be in need.

15 He went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed pigs.

16 He wanted to fill his belly with the husks that the pigs ate, but no one gave him any.

17 But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough to spare, and I’m dying with hunger!

18 I will get up and go to my father, and will tell him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight.

19 I am no more worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired servants.”’

20 “He arose, and came to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.

21 The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe, and put it on him. Put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet.

23 Bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat, and celebrate;

24 for this, my son, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.’ They began to celebrate.

25 “Now his elder son was in the field. As he came near to the house, he heard music and dancing.

26 He called one of the servants to him, and asked what was going on.

27 He said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and healthy.’

28 But he was angry, and would not go in. Therefore his father came out, and begged him.

29 But he answered his father, ‘Behold, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed a commandment of yours, but you never gave me a goat, that I might celebrate with my friends.

30 But when this your son came, who has devoured your living with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.’

31 “He said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.

32 But it was appropriate to celebrate and be glad, for this, your brother, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.’”

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1 Corinthians 1:18

quoted to the effect that the message of the cross is foolishness to those perishing but the power of God to those being saved

18 For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are dying, but to us who are saved it is the power of God.

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Recap

The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.

This sermon walked through Ephesians 4:17-32, with Pastor setting up the passage by reading all three opening chapters of Ephesians aloud so the congregation could hear the foundation before any instruction began. The core argument was that knowing who you are in Christ comes before any effort to live like it. Being precedes doing.

What was said

the preacher opened by reading the first three chapters of Ephesians straight through, without commentary, asking the congregation to close their eyes and listen. The point was deliberate: every command in chapter four sits on top of an enormous pile of things God has already declared true about believers. Redemption, adoption, inheritance, being seated with Christ in the heavenly places. None of that was earned, and none of it was conditioned on behavior. He asked the congregation to notice that Paul did not tell anyone to do anything in those three chapters.

Only after that foundation was laid did he turn to chapter four. He described the position of every person as binary: either in sin or in Christ, either in the kingdom of darkness or the kingdom of light. That line is crossed by belief. But he was quick to say that position and practice are two different things, and that in practice the Christian life looks less like a sharp line and more like movement, hills and valleys, gradually from darkness toward light.

He walked through the passage's description of life outside of Christ: hardness of heart leading to darkened understanding, which leads to what he called licentiousness, feeling like you have a license to do whatever you want. He connected that sequence to the parable of the prodigal son. The point was not to condemn but to show what the drift looks like when someone is not listening to the still small voice of the Holy Spirit.

Against that, Paul says in the text that the truth is in Jesus, and that believing it means putting off the old self and putting on the new one. Pastor connected this to Romans 12, noting that both passages make the same move: after chapters of solid theology, the application lands like a foot stomp. Be transformed by the renewal of your mind. Do not simply conform to the pattern everybody else is following.

He described sanctification as the stretch of the timeline between belief and death, driven entirely by the Holy Spirit and requiring humility. Gaining ground means answering the still small voice with obedience. Losing ground means turning it away. He was careful to say that any progress belongs to God, not to the believer's own effort or discipline.

The preacher closed the sermon before reaching verse 32, saying enough had been said, and moved the congregation into communion. He framed the Lord's Supper around the same two ideas the sermon had carried: the bread representing Christ's perfect obedient life given voluntarily, and the cup representing the blood of the new covenant, which covers both salvation and ongoing sanctification. The table was open to anyone who had placed their faith in Christ.

Doing a Bible study?

Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.

Pastor Nathan read through the first three chapters of Ephesians before moving to the instructional section, and said 'the being precedes the doing.' What does it look like practically to rest in who you are in Christ before focusing on what you should do?
Pastor Nathan described the sequence from hardness of heart to darkness to licentiousness, and compared it to the prodigal son. Have you ever recognized that sequence in your own life, and what did coming back look like?

and 3 more questions in the guide

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Good morning, everybody. Welcome to First Bee. Would you stand with us and join us in song? We're gonna just gonna read, an encouraging word from Romans five to lead us into worship. Hope will not lead to disappointment for we know how dearly God loves us because he's given us his Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

We're gonna sing a song called my hope is in you.

Out far away. I sing to you and my heart cries holy. Hallelujah. You alone. I wait for you and my soul finds rest and your selfishness.

You

Alright. Good morning. Welcome to First Baptist Church. Nice to see some delightful faces here. We got some new folks coming in.

This is great. Welcome to summertime, everybody. This is awesome. Okay. We're gonna get to Awana.

I think tomorrow is the Awana races. Am I wrong?

That's right.

Tomorrow tomorrow is the Awana races. They put a big racetrack down the middle of this room, and the kids go nuts cheering on for their little Pinewood Derby cars. It's a blast. It's a it's a really wild time. If you wanna come hang out with us, be here at 05:45 for the the fastest race in Teton County.

Neo music and message is happening over at Driggs this week on Wednesday over at the Driggs Fairgrounds. We got a woo in the back. Excellent. Whoo. It's a fun time.

If you know anybody who lives over there or just commutes through or you just wanna come on over, would you please show up at six to 8PM for a free meal, free music, and free message? Love to have you over there. The gear swap is over. First BBQ, these are really super fun. Between services, normally, we have food down the hallway.

But on these dates, starting May 17, we'll have food out here on the on the lawn outside in the sun. Bring your sunglasses and some sunscreen, and fill up your bellies and meet the folks at the church. We would love to have volunteers to come help us set up and clean up too. That's always a wonderful time. The dates are there and on the website.

My sister's closet is May 30. It's a women's clothing exchange down the hall in the fellowship hall. And it's jewelry, it's shoes, it's all kinda cool stuff. Please gently use or or new items only, please, and and reserve bringing them in until the week before if possible. But Casey McCooey is right up here.

If anybody wants to meet her, she's looking for volunteers to help set up and clean up. It's a big deal, so we would love to have you be a part of that. And the lost and found, speaking of clothing, if you've lost something, it's been found back there on the bookshelf. I'm pointing right at it back there. If you have any questions, let us know.

Please check, especially we have a lot of kids stuff in there at this moment. Vacation Bible School sign up has begun. The dates are there, June 22 through the twenty fifth. You can also look on there for things that we need to have donated to help set up and decorate. We're decorating cookies.

I mean, there's something for everybody. If you if you don't wanna be here for the kids section, you can decorate. If you wanna be there for the kids, like, we've got everything for you. So please show up and and be a part of that. And if nothing else, please pray for that.

All the other information is on the church website. There's tons of small groups and events to get together and get to know everybody. Would you please show up and and and participate? It's that's what the church is. It's all about community, working together, meeting people, and interacting, and and getting to share a life with each other.

One last announcement, everybody's favorite since it is becoming summertime. We're asking people to move towards the center aisle. If there's a gap between you, would you just shift over so as people come in a little bit late, they'll have a spot to to sit too. So consider moving in and up. The front row is here.

If these are Bruce Springsteen tickets, these would be the best in the house. Come on up, folks. Let's go. Alright. Stand up and greet each other.

We'll bring you back with some music. Thanks.

It is good to praise you and make music to your name oh most high it is good to praise you lord and make music to your it is good to praise you and make music to your name oh most high it is good to praise you lord and make music to your name, oh most high, to proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness my song to you rise almost high.

Amen.

The winter storms made way for spring. And every season from where I'm standing, I see the evidence of your goodness all over my life, all over my life. I see your promises me Fear may come, but fear will lead. You lead my heart to victory. For spirit as When I pass through death, as I enter rest, I depend on you.

I depend on you for eternal life to be raised with

Amen. You can have a seat for a minute. Thanks for being here. We're just singing songs and praying to God as we're singing. This is we're gonna enter the time of worship through giving part of the service, And we're gonna sing a song called Fall Afresh.

And Ray, can you pray for us?

Sure. God, thank you for the group that's gathered here in your name this morning to hear from you, to praise you. It's a two way communication, Lord. I pray that we'd be actively seeking and in touch and sensitive to the still small voice of your Holy Spirit. Lord, would you direct us in the way that you'd have us go?

And Lord, without any pride buildup, would you allow us the power to move forward in the direction you want us to go? We ask that your gospel would advance with us, that your kingdom would advance. Lord, humble, obedient servants of the king is what we want to be. So, Lord, I pray that you'd use the resources that are placed in these plates and those that are metaphorically placed in the plates where we take the time to speak to a neighbor or a stranger, that we take the time to meditate on your word and just sit and be still, know that you're God. I pray that you'd fill us up to the point of overflowing, lord, and that your will would be done on earth.

Your will done in your way on earth as it is in heaven. In Jesus name, I pray. Would you do whatever you wanna do with

Amen. Your strength come wake

Children's Church Gonna leave a little bit of space.

There's a car parked in front

of Van's house that needs

be moved.

Alright. This is getting to be a regular occurrence. There's a Toyota RAV four champagne in color parked in front of the person that's right out here so the neighbors can't get out. So if that's you, champagne colored RAV four, please, if you would, head on out. I'm gonna invite up right now the family Anderson.

This is Alex and Emily and their young ones. And here they are. Alex and Emily and the kids are headed to Alaska to be missionaries. I'll let them tell you more about that. But we are sending them out.

I want you to be praying for them. I want you to know who they are. They sit in the back. They come over the hill virtually every Sunday. So I let him say what he has to say and then we'll go forward in Ephesians.

Glad you're here.

Good morning. Good morning. I'm gonna read this because I do not wanna be up here. Victory Bible Camp in Glacier View, Alaska exists to evangelize and disciple children, youth, and adults through Christian camping and many other events. Christian camps are the biggest catalyst for leading Americans to Jesus.

Last October, a chapel called Spruce Lodge at Victory Bible Camp burned down. For many years, this building was the heart of the camp where children, teens, and adults gathered to hear the gospel, worship together, and grow in their faith. Many people first placed their trust in Christ in that building. After it burned, the camp asked people to pray for the right person to help rebuild it. When we heard that prayer request, we immediately felt led to reach out and offer our services.

Earlier this year, our family traveled to Alaska to visit the camp, meet the staff, and learn more about this project. During our time there, we heard many testimonies of lives changed through the ministry of Victory Bible Camp. Every year, hundreds of children and adults gather to attend camps, retreats, and programs where they hear the message of Jesus and are discipled in their faith. While the previous building served the camp well, the ministry had already outgrown it. The new Spruce Lodge will be larger and better located to serve the growing ministry of Victory Bible Camp for many years to come.

By the end of our visit, the camp had formally asked me to serve as the general contractor for the rebuilding of Spruce Lodge. And after much prayer, we accepted with the full peace and joy from the Lord. My role will be to assist with the design and coordination of the construction of the new chapel and work with many volunteer teams who come to serve. As we build, the primary focus will be to share God's word and love with the volunteer work crews and subcontractors. This position is a ministry role, which means our family will be serving as self supported missionaries while we work at the camp.

We will be raising financial support for our living expenses during our time there. Our goal is to move to Alaska at the end of this month or beginning of June to begin the work of rebuilding the chapel for at least the next two years. We have been blessed to experience, sorry, answers to prayer and begun to see This is just because I don't like being up here. I'd much rather be under your car in the parking lot fixing things. To see answers to our prayers and begin to see God's provision in many ways.

We are excited for this opportunity God has brought before us to look for and look forward to being a part what he's doing. Man, I almost made it through. This is my wife Emily. This is Callan. This is Jack and Evelyn and I am Alex.

Thank you for listening. We will be, sorry, we will be in the back after this service and the next and milling around. Gotta stay here for one more second.

Church, we're sending out missionaries to Alaska. This is on this is on us to support them, right, in in in financial, in encouragement, and in prayer. I'm gonna start that here, and the hope is that you will continue this as they get sent out and as they stay out. K? God, thank you for the unique way that you have blessed, encouraged, and and just created the Andersons, Lord.

That you have provisioned them, that you have given them the talents and the resources to take on this endeavor for you, Lord. I pray as they step out into the mission field that you would protect this family, that you would protect this marriage, that you would bless this ministry. Lord, I pray for all the hearts that are here, Lord, that you would move those that you would have moved towards them in prayer and towards financial support. I pray, Lord, for this camp in Alaska. I pray that you would use it powerfully, that people would come to know you, the only true source of life and joy and hope in this world.

Thank you for the Andersons. Would you bless them? Would you protect them? And would you help us to encourage them? Thank you, Lord.

Amen.

Amen. So we Tanya and I were sent out as construction missionaries almost exactly twenty six years ago. We left at the beginning of June twenty six years ago. And so I was a builder before I was doing this and I hated being up here. Van, what were you doing immediately before doing this?

Builder. Yeah. Builder. Steve, what were you doing before running the missions committee? There's hands on stuff to be done, and it takes people who are willing to put hands to the work.

So it's pretty awesome that that's happening. Ascent youth group is here this morning. That's awesome. I'm glad that y'all are here not to to call you out, but I am glad that y'all are all here. They've been church hopping.

It's a multi church youth group, and they have been bouncing around kind of as a unit, and I'm glad you're here this morning. So here we go. This is what we're going through today. Ephesians four seventeen through 32. I wanna start though with a quick story.

So a guy I was having breakfast. It's been several years ago now, but I think of it all the time. And I was talking about life and the future as a guy who had just kind of accepted Christ. And he was wanting to know what to do to grow in his faith and so, he wanted to grow in the knowledge of God. He was intense, sincere, pure hearted, and he wanted to serve the Lord and he wanted to grow spiritually.

So, what do I do? What book do I need to read? And he was just asking book in general and I said, Ephesians, you know Jesus already, right? Yes. So, for growing in the church and for growing in your faith, I say Ephesians because it is short.

It is easy to understand and it is very, very encouraging. Properly understood. It's short. It's easy to understand. It's very encouraging.

We agreed we'd meet again in a couple weeks. So we met in a couple weeks and when he met me, he met me with a kind of a sour face and he shook hands and I said, well, how'd you like the book I told you to read? He goes, I didn't like it. Ephesians? You didn't like Ephesians?

That's crazy, you know. So I said, why not? He said, well, you said it was gonna be short and it wasn't short. You said it was easy to understand and it was anything but. And you said it was very encouraging and it's the most depressing thing I've ever read.

He had read Ecclesiastes. I'm like, brother, brother, I never would have started you there, you know. My very first day of seminary, I sat down kinda earnestly wanting to get this, scared to death that I'd have to do this. Right? And I sat down and I said, Lord, help me to understand what you'd have for me.

Help me understand so I might be able to do what you want me to do. And my eyes fell upon. I opened up, you know, in the middle of the Bible. It was Ecclesiastes 12 and it said, furthermore, my son, be admonished by these. Of the making of many books, there is no end, and much study is wearisome to the bones.

Fear God and keep his commandments. That's the long and short of it, right? So, Ephesians four seventeen, I hope it's going to be encouraging and helpful. I want to start off with and I'm got another visual aid here. I thought, let's do some solid truth though.

Before we get to four seventeen because this is instructive. This is an instructive teaching passage about how to live. In fact, it starts out with, I urge you to walk in four one and then in four seventeen where we're starting today. Now, I say this and I testify in the Lord that you must no longer walk as Gentiles do in the futility of their minds. When it's talking about your practice, I wanted to say, if you don't get the first three chapters of Ephesians and you start reading right here, it feels like a wagging finger and it's saying, do this, do that, do that.

There's a list of do's and don'ts. That's not the way Ephesians is though. So solid truth from the first three chapters of Ephesians. I started off and I said, I'm just gonna highlight the encouraging part. So that's the first page.

That's the second page, and that's the third page. All of it's encouraging, and it's the ground for how we get to do what it is. So if you would, we got a lot of sugar to put in this bag, 10 pounds of sugar in a five pound bag. It's a Sunday morning. We got just limited time.

But would you close your eyes and listen to this for just a minute? I'm gonna read you the first three chapters of Ephesians. Paul, an apostle Christ Jesus, by the will of God, to the saints, if you're sitting there and go, oh, saints. A sinner saved by grace is a saint. To the saints who are at Ephesus, who are those who are faithful in Christ Jesus and that's them and that's you if you believe.

Grace to you and peace from God our father and Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. It's already true. Just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we'd be holy and blameless before him in love. He predestined us to adoption as sons and daughters through Jesus Christ himself according to the good pleasure of his will.

To the praise and glory of his grace which he favored us in the beloved. That's Christ Jesus. In Christ, we have redemption through his blood. The forgiveness of our wrongdoings. You've already won.

According to the riches of his grace which he lavished on us, in all wisdom and insight, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure which he set forth in Christ. Regarding his plan for the fullness of times to bring all things together in Christ. Things in the heavens and things on earth and him, we have obtained an inheritance. Having been chosen according to the purpose of him who works all things together in accordance with the plan of his will. To the end that we who were first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of his glory, in him you also after listening to the message of truth, the good news of your salvation, you also believed and you were sealed in him with the Holy Spirit of promise who is the first installment of our inheritance in regards to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of God's glory.

Does that sound encouraging to you? It is thoroughly encouraging. For this reason, I too haven't heard of the faith of the Lord Jesus which exist among you and your love for all of the saints. I never cease giving thanks for you while making mention of you in my prayers. Does it sound like he's wagging his finger?

He's not. He's saying these things are already true in the heavenlies. Let's be walking it out. Don't cease giving thanks for you while making mention of you in my prayers that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him. I pray that the eyes of your heart would be enlightened so that you will know what is the hope of his calling.

What are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, in the church, and what is the boundless greatness of his power towards those of us who believe. These are all in accordance with the working of the strength of his might, which he brought about in Christ, which he raised him from the dead and seated him at the right hand in the heavenly places. Far above all rule, earthly rule, all authority, all power, all dominion, and every name that is named not only in this age, but also in the one to come. And he put all things in subjection under Christ's feet and made him head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. Though you were dead in your offenses and sins in which you previously walked, that was the past according to the course of this world like everybody else.

According to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that's now working in the sons of disobedience, among them, we too all previously lived in the lust of our flesh, all of us, indulge in whatever desires of the flesh and of the mind. We were by nature children of wrath just like everybody else. But God being rich in mercy and because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our wrongdoings, made us alive together with Christ. It's by grace that you've been saved and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus so that in ages to come, he might show you the boundless riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. For by grace, you've been saved through faith.

It's not of yourselves. It's the gift of God that's not a result of your works. No one can boast for we are his workmanship. We were created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we should walk in them. Therefore, remember that previously, y'all, Gentiles in the flesh, you who are called on some circumcision by the so called circumcision which is performed by human hands.

Remember that you were at one time separate from Christ and excluded from the people of God and strangers to the covenants of the promise and having no hope and without God in the world but now, in Christ Jesus, you who previously were far away, y'all have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace. It ultimately comes down to what are you gonna do with Jesus. He himself is our peace. He made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall by abolishing in his flesh all of the hostility which the law composed of commandments expressed in ordinances so that in him, he might take the two and make them one.

In this way, establishing peace and he might reconcile them both into one body to God through the cross by it having put to death all hostility and he came and he preached peace to all of y'all who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him, we both have our access in one spirit to the father. Jesus said, there's no way except through me. So then you're no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with all of the saints. Sinners saved by grace are saints.

And you are of God's household having been built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. Christ Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone in whom the whole building being fitted together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the spirit. So for this reason, I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus, for the sake of all of y'all Gentiles, if indeed you've heard of the administration that God gave me, that by revelation, there was made known to me, this mystery, just as I wrote to you before. By referring this when you read it and understand my insight, it's the mystery of Christ which in other generations was not made known to mankind. God is revealing his will.

It has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets in the spirit. To be specific that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of that one body, fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the good news of the gospel of which I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace which was given to me according to the working of his power. To me, me, the very least of all the saints. This grace was given to proclaim to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ and to enlighten all people as to what the plan of the mystery is, which for ages has been hidden in God, who created all things, so that the multifaceted wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the whole cosmos, to the rulers, to the authorities in the heavenly places, and this was all in accordance with the eternal purpose which he carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord. It's in Christ that we have boldness and confident access through faith in Jesus.

Therefore, I ask you not to become discouraged about any tribulations on your behalf since they are for your glory. And for this reason, I bend my knees before the father and I'm praying for whom from whom every family on earth derives its name that he would grant to you. This is what Paul is praying for you. That he would grant to you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power through his spirit in your inner self so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith and that you being rooted and grounded in love, you may be able to comprehend with all the saints. What is the width and the length and the height and the depth and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge that you may be filled to the fullness of God and now to him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think according to power that works in us.

To him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. Y'all can open up your eyes. That all came before any instruction. Did you hear him say do anything in there?

So y'all are at first b this morning. Can I ask you to first be? Just be and then do. Okay? The being precedes the doing.

He wants you to know who you are in Christ Jesus, what is already true in the heavenlies. And then as you sit and meditate and think and pray and relate to people, listen to the still small voice of God and see what it is he wants you to do. But just be. Be still. First be.

Be still and know. Then the doing, that'll follow. Dwell with him for a while. This is the way Ephesians four starts off. Therefore, I, prisoner of the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner that's worthy of the calling.

You've been called out of the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of light. So act like it, basically. If I go to the new text for the morning, here we are at seventeen. Now, this I say and I testify in the Lord, Paul says, that you must no longer walk just like everybody else as the Gentiles do in the futility of their minds. They're darkened in their understanding and I know they have a loud voice and you can hear them hollering out all the time, but they're darkened in their understanding.

They just don't get it. They're alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that's in them due to the hardness of heart. That's the way our text starts off. Now, gonna give you a couple visual aids this morning. You are either in sins or in Christ positionally.

So our position is either we're part of the kingdom of darkness or part of the kingdom of light. So it's a binary function, straight up. In sins or in Christ. So that's our position. And that is what we have been saying, in Christ, in Christ, in Christ, that whole all those three chapters.

In Christ, in Christ, and then it says, there's a stark difference between the two. The kingdom of darkness and light. We're gonna cover two paragraphs today, and one of them is about the kingdom of darkness, and one of is about the kingdom of light. Now, this is a non binary function. In sincerin Christ, in practice, looks more like this.

You're moving from the kingdom of darkness towards the kingdom of light, and you are not perfected. Your theology might tell you that you can be. I would ask you to examine the scriptures. Positionally, yes, you're a part of the kingdom of light when you believe in Jesus. But our practice, a lot of times we're shielded from even knowing our own motives for stuff.

Our hearts are desperately wicked, deceptive. Who can understand them? So a little bit of humility goes a long way. God resist the proud, he gives grace to the humble. So here's a timeline.

The timeline is God chose from the beginning. You heard me say predestined a couple of times. I hope it didn't hang anybody up. I hope your mind's not smoking just thinking about that. God chose from the beginning a way.

He knew that any creative thing would not measure up to his majesty and his glory and his goodness. So he chose from the very beginning before the foundations of the world a way that sinful mankind could be saved and Christ work is that way. It's the only way presented in scripture. Christ work, it includes his obedient life, his sacrificial death, his voluntary sacrificial death on behalf of anyone who would believe, his burial, his resurrection. I could go further and say his session where he's seated.

We've already mentioned it twice at the right hand of God interceding for you. So that's Christ's work and then with his apostles, the gospel witness goes forward. This is the good news that there is a way. This is that way. They point to Jesus.

And the gospel witness is followed either by rejection or by belief. Rejection means the wrath of God remains on you. You are still in the kingdom of darkness. Belief means you are no longer a part of the kingdom of darkness you have brought into a kingdom, the kingdom of light. Okay?

So belief, that's where we say you got saved. Okay? God chose from the beginning the way and you accepted the way you're saved. And then, our practice. Right there between belief and death is sanctification.

Okay? The sanctification process is up and down. Sometimes we gain a few yards, sometimes we lose a few yards. Kinda like football. Right?

It's the work of the Holy Spirit though. So the Holy Spirit is a the spirit of God speaks and he speaks with a a very sincere and very still voice that is urging us in the direction of what he would have us do. To answer the still small voice with obedience is to gain ground. Right? It really is.

It's to gain ground. And then when we kick it back and we go, I don't wanna do that, then we lose ground. So the sanctification process, hills and valleys, here we are in the valley looking up at these mountains and we've got a ways to go and keep a little humility because any growth we get is because we're just being obedient to the still small voice of God. And the sanctification process goes on until we're ultimately saved. There's a there's one that says the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved, it is the very power of God.

Okay? So ultimately saved is the day of the Lord or the day of our death when we meet Jesus. Right? So that's ultimately saved. And then glorification there, if I were to put this, it's like that.

Here we go, from darkness to light and it's it's a movement towards and yeah, the hills and valleys maybe a little more darkness in there, but we know how it is. Glorification, we're looking forward to that, but we ain't there yet. Can I get a witness? Yeah. Here we go.

So now, yield to righteousness for your sanctification and we'll go back to the text. Here it is. 17 says this, now this I say and I testify in the Lord that y'all must no longer walk just as everybody else does. I'm calling you out of them, I'm calling you out of the darkness and into the light and so you wanna avoid the futility that the world is spinning its wheels in. That's what this looks like.

They're darkened in their understanding, professing to be wise. They really are acting as fools. They're alienated from the life of God insisting that they know all because of the ignorance that is in them. They just don't get it. Now this essay I testify, they're dark, do the hardness of heart and they they have become callous and they've given themselves over to all types of sensuality whatever they want, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.

That's the paragraph I'm talking about. That is kind of this is the way of the world. So there's a sequence to futility and it looks like this. There's a hardness of heart. I don't wanna do that.

I wanna do what I wanna do. I don't wanna listen to that. I wanna be right. Not so much righteous, but right. God's given me free will, I'm gonna use it.

And there's darkness there, it says so. There's profound ignorance to the point of not even be able to see what you can't see, and that breeds licentiousness. Licentious is a big old word. It just means you feel like you got a license to do whatever you wanna do. Licentiousness is the opposite of legalism.

Legalism is one ditch that church folks often fall into, but licentiousness is what we fall into when we just feel like I'm going headlong into whatever I want, snorting, doing whatever I want. Like a hog and slop. Just doing whatever you wanna do. Right? Licentiousness, I've got license to do anything and some people even would have the nerve to call that liberty in Christ.

I've been saved. Can do whatever I want. They're all forgiven. Past, present, and future sins are all forgiven, so I'm gonna just do whatever I want to. This is not the way you learn from Christ actually.

Paul will say that in just a minute. Okay? So you'll be practicing all kinds of uncleanness. There's a sequence to this futility. And you'd recognize it's going down.

It looks a whole lot like the prodigal son. Yeah. And you're alienated from the life of God. Now just like the prodigal son, when you realize, hey, I've had all of this sequence going on in my life, and I find myself in a place that it's not making any sense and it's not going well, and I realized that I gotta go back. God's ready to run out and meet you.

Okay. That's the prodigal son story. Can go find that one in Luke. But here it is. That's not the way you learn in Christ.

That's not the way you learn in Christ. If assuming that you've heard about him as he is and that you were taught in him as the truth itself is in Jesus. The truth is in Jesus. He's the way, the truth, and the life. He's the well that never runs dry.

We just been singing that this morning. Assuming that you've heard about him and that you're taught in him as the truth is in Jesus, it's not just somebody telling you about him and you didn't get it or it's not just something where you're professing it, but you don't really understand it and it hadn't hit your heart yet, really. That's not the way you learn in Christ. Assuming you've heard about him, the truth is in Jesus to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life. It's corrupt through its deceitful desires and to be renewed in the spirit of your mind and to put on the new self created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and true holiness.

Put off your old self. So the truth is in Jesus. He said, if anybody would follow after me, let him deny himself, put off the old self, and take up the cross and follow me. Put off your old self which belongs to the former manner of life. It's corrupt through its deceitful desires and be renewed in the spirit of your minds.

Does this sound like anything else we've heard before? Brad had a sermon about this one not too long ago. So, that sounds familiar. That's from Romans 12. I appeal to you brothers and sisters.

Now, in Romans, he's given us eight chapters of full, pure, good theology. Then three chapters answering a question about what goes on with the Jews. And 12 starts with the application. Boom. Stomps his foot.

I appeal to you then, brothers and sisters. By the mercies of God, be presenting your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God. That's your spiritual worship. Don't be conformed to the world. Don't just be like everybody else, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.

That by the testing you may discern, what is the will of God? What is he saying to me? What is good and acceptable and perfect? He says it in his word. He says it in the church.

He says it through Christian witness. He says it through his spirit. He says it in prayer. Be putting on the new self. That sounds familiar too.

If you've read Colossians lately, oh, what a chapter. Colossians three, probably written written within two weeks of Ephesians four. Put off the old self, put on the new self. He says, put on the new self created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and in true holiness. Remember all three of those first chapters?

He's saying this is yours. It's already yours. It's already yours and to lay claim to it, it just takes the humility of stepping in saying, Lord, lead me away from that darkness and lead me into your light. Lord, I long to do your will. Show me your way.

I'll walk in it. So the binary function is either we're in sin or in Christ. Kingdom of darkness or kingdom of light choice is yours that's out there. But our practice recognize that you might be looking around and you see Christians and you go, well, I'm better than him. He's not the goal.

Okay? Our practice is walking from the darkness into the light because we've been empowered by holy God and his spirit. It's the only way that it's possible. So, yield to righteousness for your sanctification. I think we've said enough.

I'm not going to go to thirty two. We're going to stop right there. I want to pray. I'm going ask the ushers and the elders to come forward and this is an open table. So, communion, the Lord's supper, you might have heard it called the Eucharist, whatever.

We're practicing an open table today. So, if you recognize that you have been called out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light and you believe in Jesus that he is the way that that has happened to you, this is an open table. All it requires is faith in him. Whether that happened eighty five years ago or whether it happened during this little chapter of Ephesians where he said, that's what I want, Lord. Do that to me.

It's an open table. Anyone who's placed placed their faith in Christ may partake. We are gonna go spread this out. Okay. Oh, wow.

Florina's calling me to the piano. Let me finish this business first. We're gonna distribute the bread first. This is a little cracker and is representative of the body of Christ. He walked out a perfect life and had a perfect record that could be given voluntarily and sacrificially for anyone who would put their trust in him.

This is representative of that. We will follow this with a little individual cup, plastic cup full of grape juice and that is representative of his innocent blood that was shed on behalf of all who come to believe. I'm gonna say a prayer before we distribute the bread which I think is gluten free if that matters to you. Yes. Lord God Almighty, I pray that this little representation of your life, of your perfect record, Lord Jesus, Your humble submission to the spirit in obedience to the father.

Lord, I pray that this little representative would be a blessing to all who would partake. And Lord, for those who know that they have not placed their faith in Christ and they are rejecting it. I pray lord that as they let this pass, that you would begin to soften their hearts. That you would begin to enlighten their understanding and that by the witness of those seated around them that partake, they would see something in their lives and hear something in the words of those that would draw them into your kingdom. In Jesus name, we pray.

Amen. Amen. On the same evening that that Jesus was betrayed, he gathered his disciples in the upper room and he said to those original disciples and by their witness it, his voice rings out to us here today. He said to them, he says to us, this is my body which is given for you. Take this, eat of it as often as you will in remembrance of me.

Lord, thank you for your humble submission and obedience. Obedience unto death, even death of a cross. It's for this reason that your name is above every name. Every knee will eventually bow, Lord. So I pray that we would be submitted to you and to your spirit in the same way.

Just as God the father sent you out, you have sent us out. I pray that we'd be walking it out, Lord. Worthy of the calling. Lord, would you bless this little representation of your blood? This little plastic cup of grape juice as we distribute it, Lord, I pray that you would bless it and that everyone who would partake would sense your presence in their life and their power that is in the blood of Christ to cleanse, to break every chain, to cleanse every sin, to sanctify us completely.

In Jesus name, we pray. Amen. You know rock of ages by heart? Yes. Rock of ages.

We go. Don't just go ahead. You can play. Play something pretty. So during the old rugged cross, I thought of the line from Rock of Ages.

Excuse me. Rock of Ages cleft for me. Let me hide myself in thee. Let the water and the blood from thy wounded side which flowed. Be of sin, the double cure, save from wrath and make me pure.

So this is a representation of blood that was shed so that we would be saved. It is not just that though. It's saved and made pure. So it's salvation and sanctification. It's possible in Christ following his example would be impossible without his spirit.

So allow for Jesus's words to sink deep in. After supper, after he had already broken the bread and passed it to his disciples, it says, after that, he took also the cup and he said to them and he says to us, this is the new covenant in my blood. Take this, drink it in, do it as often as you will in remembrance of me. When he said that, he said the old covenant, yes, it was on you, but the new covenant is on me. It's in my blood that you're saved and that you will be sanctified.

He said, do this as often as you will in remembrance of me. And Paul tells us that as often as we do this, remember his death until he comes again. Would you stand? And we'll sing the doxology to close. So praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Praise him all creatures here below. Praise him above ye heavenly host. Praise father, son, and holy ghost. Amen. As as a blessing as you go, there is one body, one faith, one baptism, and next week, we will be doing at least one baptism.

If it's time for you, let me know this week. In Jesus name, go and be blessed. Amen.

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Communion Ephesians Identity In Christ Kingdom Of Darkness Old Self New Self Sanctification

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