Walk Worthy of the Calling

April 19, 2026 · Ephesians

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Series · Ephesians · Week 35 of 51

Scripture referenced 16 passages

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

Romans 5 opening encouraging word read before worship

1 Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ;
2 through whom we also have our access by faith into this grace in which we stand. We rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
3 Not only this, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces perseverance;
4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope:
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.
6 For while we were yet weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
7 For one will hardly die for a righteous man. Yet perhaps for a righteous person someone would even dare to die.
8 But God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we will be saved from God’s wrath through him.
10 For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we will be saved by his life.
11 Not only so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
12 Therefore as sin entered into the world through one man, and death through sin; and so death passed to all men, because all sinned.
13 For until the law, sin was in the world; but sin is not charged when there is no law.
14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those whose sins weren’t like Adam’s disobedience, who is a foreshadowing of him who was to come.
15 But the free gift isn’t like the trespass. For if by the trespass of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God, and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.
16 The gift is not as through one who sinned: for the judgment came by one to condemnation, but the free gift came of many trespasses to justification.
17 For if by the trespass of the one, death reigned through the one; so much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ.
18 So then as through one trespass, all men were condemned; even so through one act of righteousness, all men were justified to life.
19 For as through the one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the one, many will be made righteous.
20 The law came in besides, that the trespass might abound; but where sin abounded, grace abounded more exceedingly;
21 that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

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Psalm 34

song title referencing taste and see that the Lord is good

1 I will bless Yahweh at all times. His praise will always be in my mouth.

2 My soul shall boast in Yahweh. The humble shall hear of it, and be glad.

3 Oh magnify Yahweh with me. Let us exalt his name together.

4 I sought Yahweh, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.

5 They looked to him, and were radiant. Their faces shall never be covered with shame.

6 This poor man cried, and Yahweh heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.

7 Yahweh’s angel encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.

8 Oh taste and see that Yahweh is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.

9 Oh fear Yahweh, you his saints, for there is no lack with those who fear him.

10 The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger, but those who seek Yahweh shall not lack any good thing.

11 Come, you children, listen to me. I will teach you the fear of Yahweh.

12 Who is someone who desires life, and loves many days, that he may see good?

13 Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking lies.

14 Depart from evil, and do good. seek peace, and pursue it.

15 Yahweh’s eyes are toward the righteous. His ears listen to their cry.

16 Yahweh’s face is against those who do evil, to cut off their memory from the earth.

17 The righteous cry, and Yahweh hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles.

18 Yahweh is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves those who have a crushed spirit.

19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but Yahweh delivers him out of them all.

20 He protects all of his bones. Not one of them is broken.

21 Evil shall kill the wicked. Those who hate the righteous shall be condemned.

22 Yahweh redeems the soul of his servants. None of those who take refuge in him shall be condemned.

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Ephesians 4:1-16

main text for the sermon

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

2 with all lowliness and humility, with patience, bearing with one another in love;

3 being eager to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as you also were called in one hope of your calling;

5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism,

6 one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in us all.

7 But to each one of us was the grace given according to the measure of the gift of Christ.

8 Therefore he says, “When he ascended on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men.”

9 Now this, “He ascended”, what is it but that he also first descended into the lower parts of the earth?

10 He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.

11 He gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, shepherds and teachers;

12 for the perfecting of the saints, to the work of serving, to the building up of the body of Christ;

13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a full grown man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;

14 that we may no longer be children, tossed back and forth and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error;

15 but speaking truth in love, we may grow up in all things into him, who is the head, Christ;

16 from whom all the body, being fitted and knit together through that which every joint supplies, according to the working in measure of each individual part, makes the body increase to the building up of itself in love.

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Ephesians 1-3

described as inspiration and indicative foundation before application in chapters 4-6

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

1:2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

1:3 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;

1:4 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;

1:5 having predestined us for adoption as children through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his desire,

1:6 to the praise of the glory of his grace, by which he freely gave us favor in the Beloved,

1:7 in whom we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,

1:8 which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence,

1:9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in him

1:10 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;

1:11 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;

1:12 to the end that we should be to the praise of his glory, we who had before hoped in Christ.

1:13 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,

1:14 who is a pledge of our inheritance, to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of his glory.

1:15 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,

1:16 don’t cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers,

1:17 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;

1:18 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,

1:19 and what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to that working of the strength of his might

1:20 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,

1:21 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.

1:22 He put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things for the assembly,

1:23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

2:1 You were made alive when you were dead in transgressions and sins,

2:2 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;

2:3 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.

2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us,

2:5 even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

2:6 and raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

2:7 that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus;

2:8 for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,

2:9 not of works, that no one would boast.

2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them.

2:11 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);

2:12 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.

2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off are made near in the blood of Christ.

2:14 For he is our peace, who made both one, and broke down the middle wall of partition,

2:15 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;

2:16 and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, having killed the hostility thereby.

2:17 He came and preached peace to you who were far off and to those who were near.

2:18 For through him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.

2:19 So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God,

2:20 being built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone;

2:21 in whom the whole building, fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord;

2:22 in whom you also are built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit.

3:1 For this cause I, Paul, am the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles,

3:2 if it is so that you have heard of the administration of that grace of God which was given me toward you;

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

3:4 by which, when you read, you can perceive my understanding in the mystery of Christ;

3:5 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;

3:6 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,

3:7 of which I was made a…

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Ephesians 3

compared opening of chapter 3 to chapter 4, noting Paul calls himself prisoner of Christ Jesus

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 4:1

Paul urging a walk worthy of the calling

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 4:11-12

gifts given for equipping the saints for the work of ministry

11 He gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, shepherds and teachers;

12 for the perfecting of the saints, to the work of serving, to the building up of the body of Christ;

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Ephesians 4:14

no longer to be children tossed by waves and every wind of doctrine

14 that we may no longer be children, tossed back and forth and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error;

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Ephesians 2:8-9

grace saved through faith, and we are his workmanship created for good works prepared in advance

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.

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Psalm 68:18

Old Testament proof text cited for Christ ascending and giving gifts to people

18 You have ascended on high. You have led away captives. You have received gifts among men, yes, among the rebellious also, that Yah God might dwell there.

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Philippians 2

Christ emptying himself, being found as a man, humbling himself to death on a cross

1 If therefore there is any exhortation in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and compassion,

2 make my joy full, by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind;

3 doing nothing through rivalry or through conceit, but in humility, each counting others better than himself;

4 each of you not just looking to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others.

5 Have this in your mind, which was also in Christ Jesus,

6 who, existing in the form of God, didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped,

7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men.

8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, yes, the death of the cross.

9 Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name;

10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth,

11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

12 So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

13 For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.

14 Do all things without murmurings and disputes,

15 that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without defect in the middle of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you are seen as lights in the world,

16 holding up the word of life; that I may have something to boast in the day of Christ, that I didn’t run in vain nor labor in vain.

17 Yes, and if I am poured out on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice, and rejoice with you all.

18 In the same way, you also rejoice, and rejoice with me.

19 But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered up when I know how you are doing.

20 For I have no one else like-minded, who will truly care about you.

21 For they all seek their own, not the things of Jesus Christ.

22 But you know the proof of him, that, as a child serves a father, so he served with me in furtherance of the Good News.

23 Therefore I hope to send him at once, as soon as I see how it will go with me.

24 But I trust in the Lord that I myself also will come shortly.

25 But I counted it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker, fellow soldier, and your apostle and servant of my need;

26 since he longed for you all, and was very troubled, because you had heard that he was sick.

27 For indeed he was sick, nearly to death, but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, that I might not have sorrow on sorrow.

28 I have sent him therefore the more diligently, that, when you see him again, you may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful.

29 Receive him therefore in the Lord with all joy, and hold such in honor,

30 because for the work of Christ he came near to death, risking his life to supply that which was lacking in your service toward me.

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John 17

cited alongside Ephesians 4 as New Testament call against division

1 Jesus said these things, and lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said, “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may also glorify you;

2 even as you gave him authority over all flesh, so he will give eternal life to all whom you have given him.

3 This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ.

4 I glorified you on the earth. I have accomplished the work which you have given me to do.

5 Now, Father, glorify me with your own self with the glory which I had with you before the world existed.

6 I revealed your name to the people whom you have given me out of the world. They were yours, and you have given them to me. They have kept your word.

7 Now they have known that all things whatever you have given me are from you,

8 for the words which you have given me I have given to them, and they received them, and knew for sure that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me.

9 I pray for them. I don’t pray for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.

10 All things that are mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.

11 I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them through your name which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are.

12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in your name. Those whom you have given me I have kept. None of them is lost, except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

13 But now I come to you, and I say these things in the world, that they may have my joy made full in themselves.

14 I have given them your word. The world hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

15 I pray not that you would take them from the world, but that you would keep them from the evil one.

16 They are not of the world even as I am not of the world.

17 Sanctify them in your truth. Your word is truth.

18 As you sent me into the world, even so I have sent them into the world.

19 For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.

20 Not for these only do I pray, but for those also who will believe in me through their word,

21 that they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that you sent me.

22 The glory which you have given me, I have given to them; that they may be one, even as we are one;

23 I in them, and you in me, that they may be perfected into one; that the world may know that you sent me, and loved them, even as you loved me.

24 Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me be with me where I am, that they may see my glory, which you have given me, for you loved me before the foundation of the world.

25 Righteous Father, the world hasn’t known you, but I knew you; and these knew that you sent me.

26 I made known to them your name, and will make it known; that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

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Acts

God adding to their number daily, and apostles choosing to minister the word rather than wait tables

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Titus

qualification for elders being apt to teach

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1 Timothy

qualification for elders being apt to teach, and Paul urging Timothy to do the work of an evangelist

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1 Peter

Peter saying each one has received a special grace gifting to serve one another as stewards of God's grace

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Recap

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

On Easter Sunday at First B Jackson, the pastor walked through Ephesians 4:1-16, the passage that New Testament scholar Klein Snodgrass called the greatest description of the local church in all of Scripture. The message traced how the unity already given to believers in Christ must be carefully maintained, and how the gifts Christ distributes to the church exist to bring that body to maturity. A covenant welcome for several new members opened the service before the teaching began.

What was said

Ephesians divides cleanly into two halves. Chapters one through three are inspiration, stating what is already true about believers in the heavenlies. Chapters four through six are application, and one signal of that shift is the way Jesus is named: in the first half he is almost always called Christ, the anointed one, but in the second half he is called Lord. The pastor pointed out that you can say "yes, Lord" or you can say "no," but you cannot say "no, Lord" without contradicting yourself. That shift in title is the hinge the whole passage turns on.

Paul opens the application section by urging believers to walk worthy of their calling, and he immediately describes what that walk looks like: humility, gentleness, patience, and bearing with one another in love. The pastor noted that those qualities describe Jesus himself, who left the glories of heaven, could have called ten thousand angels at any moment, and still endured the disciples bumping their heads against the same walls over and over again.

The next move in the passage is the string of "ones": one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all. The pastor was direct about what that means for Protestant Americans, who he said are particularly good at dividing and denominating. He described driving the back roads of Georgia and passing a Church of Christ, then a Church of Christ in Yahweh, then a Church of Christ in God the Messiah, and said that kind of landscape should be upsetting to anyone who has been reading Ephesians four or John seventeen. The unity described here is not something believers manufacture, only God can establish it, but it is something any one person can ruin.

From the "ones," the passage moves to the gifts Christ distributes from his ascension. The pastor worked through apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastors-and-teachers as four categories, noting that all four have one thing in common: they are ministers of the word. He read the Greek behind "apostle" as "sent-out one," which is why he connected it to missionaries, and he described evangelists as people simply wired to present Christ wherever they are. He mentioned a man named Rodney Bishop from his childhood who ministered to strangers at gas pumps and in line at the store and simply could not help it. He located himself as a pastor-teacher, and acknowledged that is probably why he skipped the altar call entirely.

The purpose of those gifts is not to do the ministry for the congregation but to equip the saints so the whole body can do the work of ministry together. The pastor pointed to a church sign he once passed that listed the pastor's name and then read "ministers: the whole congregation," and said that is exactly what Ephesians four eleven and twelve teaches. The building up of the body in both quantity and quality belongs to every member operating according to their gift, not just to the people up front.

The passage closes with a picture of maturity: a body no longer tossed around by every wind of doctrine or by the craftiness of those who scheme against it, but instead speaking the truth in love and growing up in every way into Christ the head. The pastor used the image of a couple in premarital counseling, both moving closer to God and therefore closer to each other, to illustrate how unity in the body works the same way. When every part is functioning properly, the body builds itself up in love, and that growth, he said, is something that belongs to Christ himself, not to any human institution.

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

Pastor Nathan draws a distinction between chapters one through three of Ephesians being 'inspiration' and chapters four through six being 'application.' How does knowing who Christ is change the way you hear a call to walk worthy of your calling?
Pastor Nathan says the unity of the Spirit is something God establishes that we cannot manufacture, but we can ruin it. Where have you seen that play out, either in a church or in a relationship?

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Good morning, everyone. Welcome to First Bee. And would you join us and stand up and join us in song? Here's an encouraging word from Romans five to lead us into worship this this fine morning. Hope will not lead to disappointment for we know how dearly God loves us because he's given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

Join us in singing my hope is in you.

Alright. Have a seat, everybody. It's time for your morning announcements. We're delighted to hear all these perky wonderful faces. So glad to have you.

Awana is back tomorrow. It's our kids program, 05:45 to 07:30PM here. That's what this big circle is for. They play games in this room. It's super fun and exciting.

Meal music and a message is back on at Driggs this week, six to 8PM over at the Driggs Fairgrounds. It's just everything it says. There's a meal, there's a music, and there's message. And it's a super joyful place and a fun time. About 70 people have been coming.

So if you can't make it, at least be praying for that, please. That'd be great. Ed Wiggs' funeral has been scheduled for this upcoming Saturday, April 25 at 11AM. If you knew Ed, he was a a big part of drug rehabilitation here in this town, and we invite you to come celebrate his life on Saturday. There is a free gear and kids, infant, children's clothing swap on May 2.

There's a lot of information on our website. They are taking donations of new or gently used items, but you can also pick up things there too. So it's a a super valuable thing. Tell your friends. Speaking of clothing swaps, Casey McCooey is right here.

She can answer questions for you, but there's a women's clothing swap on May 30. Please don't bring items in until the week before that, and then we'll we can store them here in the church. But all kinds of items, jewelry, shoes, accessories, there's a lot of stuff that usually shows up. And if you could bring it in a little early, give her some time to sort, and she is looking for volunteers for that as well. So especially, I'm sure, on the cleanup end.

That's always the hard part to get volunteers. So stick around for that May 30, love to have you. Vacation Bible School has been scheduled. It's on the calendar, June 22 through the twenty fifth. Such a wonderful time.

That's the student registration and this one is for the volunteers. You can use that QR code or the links on our website for that. They're always looking for for people to volunteer. And what a way to spread the gospel to your neighbors and friends. Just invite them to come and participate and have a blast.

And that's all we have on the list right now. And as we've been saying, and everybody's laughing at this, but I don't want you to laugh at this. Please, would you move to the center of the room and not leave seats between you so that way you make space for everybody who's about to come in? You look around now, you're like, there's plenty of room. In about three minutes, it's just gonna explode with more people.

So would you consider moving forward and moving into the center? Thank you so much. And we're gonna bring you back with a little music.

Yeah. And come why don't you stand up and say hi to your neighbor?

All throughout my history, your faithfulness walked beside me. The winter storm may wait for

Amen. You can have a seat for a second. I'll ask the ushers to come on forward. We're gonna enter a time of, worship through giving, and we're gonna sing a song called Psalm 34, which says, taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him.

Ray, can you pray for us?

Thank

you, Lord, for this morning. Thank you for this gathering. Thank you for this family gathered in your name, Called out of and into the body of Christ. Lord, would you use us? Would you use us to carry the gospel forward?

In Jesus name, Lord, may we do everything that it is that we do in Jesus name. Would you show us the way forward, Lord? We trust you. We trust you, Lord, to direct. We trust you to empower.

And, Lord, we want to give back what you've given to us provide for those in need, to provide for the way forward for the gospel. Would you show us the way that you want it done? Your will, Lord, done in your way is what we pray for. We're thankful to be alive, seeing the evidence as we've already sung about and breathing in deep and tasting and seeing, Lord, that you are indeed good. In Jesus name, would you bless this offering?

Gift and giver to do the work that we have before us. In Jesus name, amen.

I saw the Lord and he answered me and delivered me in from every fear. Those who looked on

We have a covenant ceremony to do and some of the children are gonna be coming up here. So, the Hugheses, the Leapers, the Williams, and Ben. Would y'all come forward? Ben, novice off. Okay.

We at the moment of announcements, although Nick's doing the announcements nowadays, usually I'm looking around, I'm seeing if I spot everybody. I didn't spot anybody. I didn't see any of these folks when Nick started, and I thought, we're supposed to do this at the end of that. We're gonna do this at the beginning of this. So here we go.

We have up here three three pairs and a single that and then the families that go with. I'll give you a chance if you wanna say something, you're welcome to, but I see the look on your faces. Okay. Do you wanna say something? You wanna introduce yourself?

No. Alright. Anybody? That's Wayne and Molly Hughes, Taylor and Lori Williams, and Ben, and the leapers. Are they around?

Are y'all coming forward? Okay. I was gonna say, and Jeff and Sheila Brown were supposed to be in this mix too. I'll mention that Jeff Brown is here. And he said, I'll stand up there for us if you want me to.

But Sheila's mom passed this past week. And so Sheila's mother, Delia Caparral, has had pancreatic cancer for two years. I've never had I've never heard there with her family and everything else, but she has passed on into glory. And I'm gonna wait for Jeff and Sheila till till they can both be here. Alright?

But this array up here just blesses my heart. To see God adding to their number daily in Acts is wonderful. To see him add into our number in this local church to me is just amazing and so I I couldn't come on a better day. Ephesians four is the text for the day. And it's talking about the unity of the body of Christ and how he has given specific gifts to all.

And he has given specific gifts to y'all that are needed in this church at this time. So, with that, I'll say the gist of the covenant is we're gonna do our best to serve you well as a body, as the body of Christ here in Jackson. And will you, all of y'all are believers in Jesus? Yes. Yes.

Okay. All of you believe that God has called you into First Bee at this time.

Yes.

Okay. Well, then, we will do our best. Can I get an amen? We will do our best to serve y'all well. Amen?

Amen. And will y'all do your best to serve this body and this community well? Yes. Amen. You're in.

Amen. Amen. So thank you very much. Kids, y'all can go to children's church now. We're gonna go straight into Ephesians four.

I love y'all, and I appreciate you. Thank you. This is

wonderful. Alright.

Here we go. So I listened to Vans exposition of the second half of Ephesians three on the Road. I drove down to Georgia. You know, I worked all day Monday after Easter and then drove to Georgia after that. And then I drove back over the past few days.

And I have been just bursting at the seams with this because there is I mentioned his name because it's so great. Klein Snodgrass. Scripted of the capital c church in all of scripture than Ephesians four one through 16. And being a pastor of a local church, this is I agree with him a 100%. This is great.

It's where the rubber hits the road, and it's really, really good. So here we go. Ephesians one chapter one, chapter two, and chapter three, I told you from the very beginning is inspiration is what it's about is your inspiration. It's not full of imperatives. It's just stating the facts.

This is the way it is in the heavenlies already that you are members of the body. It speaks a lot of unity and so there's inspiration that we've been called out of all of our different affiliations and into the body of Christ. So it's inspiration. And Ephesians four through six is application. And if you start off the conversation in Ephesians four, five, or six with somebody and they don't get Ephesians one, two, and three, it's gonna ethical application that comes in chapters four through six.

So we're just starting four today. We'll go four one through 16. And then if you look at Ephesians one through three and you see any passages about Jesus, almost exclusively, he is called Christ, the anointed one, Messiah Jesus. But if you see it in the application and ethical section chapters four through six, he's called Lord. Think about the ramifications of that.

Christ Jesus is indicative like straight up. He is the Christ. He is the one. He's the only begotten son of the father that could do what he did. He is it.

And either he will be your lord or he won't be. He's still the Christ no matter what. But this passage and the rest of the Ephesians is written to people who have trusted in Christ. Now, it's making him lord. Does that make sense?

Are you with me so far? Okay. Here we go. Ephesians four one starts off this way. Therefore, and that's all of the first three chapters.

Everything theological that he said, everything about Christ that he said. Therefore, I, Paul, the prisoner of the Lord. Now, if you look back to chapter three, it starts off almost exactly the same way. It says, therefore, for this reason, I guess, he says, for this reason, I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus, it's still in that first section and he calls him Christ. And then when he switches over, he's saying, I'm doing this because of the direction of my lord.

Does that make sense? You can say, yes, lord, or you can say no, but you can't say no, Lord. Does that make sense? That's a contradiction in terms. So it starts off the same way, and I'm convinced that Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is so excited, and I've been there.

You get so excited to say all this stuff that you get running around and saying different stuff that you had not planned on saying. He does that in chapter three a couple of times, and he does it in chapter four. Therefore, I, Paul, the prisoner of the Lord, and he had said earlier, on behalf of you, I'm I'm stuck here and I'm fine with it because now I get to sit down and write some to you. I urge y'all to walk in a manner that's worthy of the calling with which you have been called. Now, if you read that straight up without having chapters one, two, and three, it sounds like it could be a wagging finger.

He's going, walk worthy. But that's not what he's saying. He's saying because of all of this stuff, because Christ is actually king, and you in humility can be his subjects. I'm gonna say recognize that though you were a child of darkness, he's brought you into the kingdom of light and therefore, walk like it. Walk it out.

He's given you his indwelling spirit to direct and to empower you. So be walking it out. Urge you to walk in a manner that's worthy of the calling with which you have been called. And this is saying, and you've answered the call. You've you've joined up.

Right? You're in. And now walk like it. With all human and this is how you're to walk. And it sounds like somebody, if you listen to what it's saying, walking out, walking worthy is walking with all humility and gentleness.

Does that bring anybody to mind? It's Jesus. And who was leaving the glories of heaven and emptying himself of his divine rights, he comes to earth to be born as a man and to walk it out, walking worthy of the calling with which he was called in all humility and in all gentleness. He could've called 10,000 angels at any time and yet he didn't even at the cross. All humility and gentleness with patience and bearing with one another in love.

Oh my goodness. Can can you imagine being Jesus and teaching those disciples And having them just keep on bumping their heads against the same walls and sticking their foot in their mouth over and over and over again and saying the dumbest things, we do the same thing. And so if we love one another, we should be bearing with one another in love. And it comes up over and over and over again. If if I were to preach this same passage for two months, I could preach a different sermon on the same passage every time.

This week, I'm giving you what it says and I'm reserving the right to come back next week and tell you what else it says. Okay? All humility and gentleness with patience bearing with one another in love and being diligent to keep the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. Now, want you to see something here. The diligent to keep the unity of the spirit is not establishing unity.

You can't manufacture it. It is true in God. It is true, but you can't manufacture it. He's saying let me just say. In some, it says being diligent to maintain the unity or being careful to maintain the unity in some translations.

This is saying that you can't establish it because only God can establish that unity that comes from being in the body of Christ, but you can ruin it.

That's right. You

can quench the spirit. You can ruin it. And so be eager, the translation says, be eager to maintain or be diligent to keep the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. Now I could say this speaks to them. It spoke to the Ephesians definitely.

But as Protestant Americans, what do we do well? We divide. That's what we do well. We denominate. We're pretty good at that.

If you don't believe that's true, take a road trip to Georgia. Take the small roads. Pass the churches, and you'll see a church of Christ, and you'll see a church of Christ in Yahweh. You'll see a church of Christ in God the Messiah. You'll see a Baptist church of this stripe or a Presbyterian church of that stripe, and you'll see all kinds of stuff that'll be really upsetting if you're studying Ephesians four or John 17 or anything else in the New Testament.

We are not to be dividing. We are to be bringing together. And I know some of y'all say, but we can't do that at the expense of truth. Well then, love one another in such a way that you bring people into the truth. Okay?

And if you just decide, I'm right, they're wrong. You have already lost the battle. Right? We are both wrong. Do you get that?

We're both wrong. In any human argument, we're both wrong. And the spirit well, let me just let the scripture say it. Be eager to maintain the unity of the spirit. That's something that comes only from God, but it can be ruined by any podunk, anybody.

Okay? Be diligent to keep the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. Now there is one body. You remember when I say that in italics in the New American Standard means it's not there. It's there to make it make sense in English.

But the very next sentence after being diligent to keep the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace, it says, one body and it stomps its foot, really. It emphatic in the Greek. One spirit. There's only one Holy Spirit. He does not speak out of both sides of his mouth.

Okay? He's not telling you one thing and somebody else something different. Now he might have gifted you in different ways and you see things different. That's fine. But I can recognize when I see somebody has a gift that I don't have, I can recognize that that's good or I can be jealous of it or I can say it's bad, you know.

There's one body or one body, one spirit. Just as you were called in one hope of your calling. Your the hope of your calling is that you, yes, you escape death, hell, and the grave. Yes. But also that he would sanctify you and make you righteous where there was no righteousness.

Okay? So just as you were called in one hope of your calling, it wasn't by anything that you did, but you have the hope that God can rescue and he does. It reminds me so much of the second step of the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous or any other recovery. I've got a problem I can't do anything about, but there is a higher power that can restore me to sanity. Right?

The hope of that being the case, the very next step is I'm gonna let him. I'm turning over my conscious will to him. That's what this is saying. He's called me out of one thing and into the body of Christ, out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of marvelous light. One body, one spirit, one hope of the calling, one lord, that's Jesus, one faith that is true.

One faith, and we divide, and we denominate. There's one faith. If you have to put anything in front of Christian, get rid of the thing you put in front of Christian. Does that make sense? I'm a oh, I'm a Calvinist Christian.

Oh, I'm a Armenian Christian. Oh, I'm a whatever, Baptist Christian, whatever. Just get rid of the of the adjective. Christian's good enough. There's one faith.

He's calling us into unity around his word, and there are different interpretations of it. But with humility and with love, we can get past that, and I believe that it's possible because it is our call, and we have been empowered to do so. One Lord, one faith, one baptism. Oh my goodness. How many different ways have people been baptized?

There's sprinkling, there's spraying, there's our they used to do naked baptisms. Thank God. We don't do that anymore. They've done baptisms all kinds of ways. There's one though.

There's one baptism. Right? There's one God and father of all who is overall and through all and in all. So if we look at the one one one one one one, it goes like that. It's about unity, oneness as N.

T. Wright says in his book about this, this is about humility first, this chapter or this passage. Humility first, oneness is obvious, and then multiplicity, we'll get to that. It's about the diversity of gifts. Unity is not the same thing as uniformity.

We are different, but we are all useful in the kingdom. So it goes one one one one one and then it goes all, all, all, all, all. All united in Christ. And here we go. But to each one of us, grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift.

Now, this is an interesting thing. It looks like and it may be. It looks like it's saying that each one of us, we have a specific grace gifting. Gift that has been given and this is according to the measure of Christ's gift. You can look at this two different ways.

It's either that he has given in the amount that you need and he knows you better than anybody else or it's grammatically possible. That is saying that there will be some things that some of Christ followers just in one aspect will be just as good at it as Jesus. Oh, is that crazy to think about? He's giving it to the as out of the fullness of the riches that are in Christ. Now you're not gonna be Jesus.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not not saying that. But he's given you the ability to do exactly what he wants for you to do. And he says that in Ephesians two eight and nine, you know, his grace was saved through faith, all that. But then it gets to, we're his workmanship.

We're created in Christ Jesus to do good works that he is prepared in advance for us to do. He knows what the community needs. He knows what the church needs. He knows who he needs and where he needs them to do what he needs them to do. Now, this is where the question comes up.

Would you rather God work through your obedience or in spite of your disobedience? Each one of us has been given a gift. Actually, Peter says exactly the same thing. Just as each one of us has received a special grace gifting, we should be employing it in serving one another as good stewards of the multifaceted grace of God. Each one of us, grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift, and therefore, it says, it here is the Old Testament.

It's the book of Psalms. It's Psalms sixty eight eighteen in particular. So he's setting up he's Paul. He's setting up an old testament proof even though he's writing a letter to the Ephesians. He's sending it to him and he says, therefore, it says, when he ascended on high, he led captive the captives and he gave gifts to the people.

So that's from Psalm sixty eight eighteen. And it's an interesting thing because in Psalm sixty eight eighteen, what it says is this, you have ascended on high, it's a messianic song. You have led captivity captive. I love the way that puts it. You led captivity captive.

You took away the sting of death, hell, and the grave. You led captivity crafty. And it says, you have received gifts among men even from the rebellious that the Lord God might dwell there. And that does speak of Jesus and how he is and how he acts. But this says he received gifts and then Paul says he gave gifts.

So what do you do with the crowns?

When

faced faced with Jesus in glory, What does it say that he will give us a crown of righteousness and what will we do? We will lay them at his feet. So he gives and receives gifts from among men even from the rebellious that the Lord God might dwell there. And then he goes into this, which is a Pauline digression if I've ever seen one. It actually confuses the issue.

I wish it weren't there, but it is. So we're gonna cover it. This is what it says. Now this expression he ascended from Psalm 68. What does it mean except that he also descended into the lower parts of the earth?

He who descended is himself. He who ascended far above all the heavens so that he might fill all things. It's a it's a glorious little homage to Christ. That's wonderful. But to me, he he just kind of lost the trail there for a moment, and he gets back on right after this closing of the parenthesis.

So there it is. Now, this expression he ascended, it says he ascended, but doesn't that mean he also descended? Yes. He left the glories of heaven, and he came to earth and being found just as a man, Philippians two, like I said before. He walked it out, humbled himself even to death, death on a cross, and as he is doing that, he leads one of those guys.

One of those, the thief on the cross next to him into glory. He ascends and brings captivity captive with him. He who descended is himself also. He who ascended. Far above all the heavens.

So, he has returned. So, let's get back to the flow of thought without the parenthesis. Okay? Here, let it let it roll. To each one of us, grace was given.

It is according to the measure of Christ's gift and therefore, it says, when he ascended on high, he led captive the captives and he gave gifts to the people and the gifts and the gifts and the gifts three times sets this up and he gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as pastors and teachers. If you have an NIV, it'll give you five categories there. It'll say pastors, comma, teachers, but I think this is honestly, I think this is right. Everybody else thinks it's right. NIV don't think it's right.

It's close. He gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, some as pastors and teachers. So there are four giftings listed. All of these have something in common. Apostles and prophets and evangelists and pastors, teachers, all have in common that they are ministers of the word.

So pastor sounds like pastor, it's shepherd. So shepherds and teachers. One of the qualifications for shepherds or elders in Titus and in Timothy is that they will be apt to teach or ready to teach that they know the word and they're able to explain it well. That's part of it. So, apostles and prophets and evangelists and pastors and teachers are the giftings that are listed and it says that God gave those things to the church.

He gave those folks that are to serve as apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers. So, they are responsible for relaying the word of God. Now, you can look at this a couple of different ways too. You can say, apostles are those that Jesus sent out capital a apostles. There were the original plus Paul.

Right? Apostles. And you can look at the prophets and say it's a capital p prophet. Those are the old testament guys that we studied for months recently, minor prophets, not mentioned in the major prophets. You can look at it that way.

At this time, they probably saw it as the apostles are the ones that Jesus sent out. What it means is sent out ones. Era Era Pastali, you remember those shirts? It's and they always had mail on them. It's about things that are sent out.

Okay. To be sent by Jesus. That's what the original apostles were. And so that's a way of understanding it. I think a way of understanding in our time is those that we send out missionaries.

People who we send out missionaries. When Tanya and I went to the mission field, I've been in I've been in church my whole life. I've been in Sunday school my whole life. I had a theological kind of brain, I think, but I had never been to school for it. I had never studied it at great depth.

And what I noticed when I got to the field is I I really felt like I needed more training to be able to do that. I I can relay it to the to the thing, but we were sent out by our church in Georgia to go and carry what? The word. Now we carried it to a deaf school. There's some steps between them receiving the word.

I mean, a deaf school in Mexico. So, yeah. But we were sent out once. Prophets is anybody who foretells or foretells that this thus saith the Lord. They take the scripture and they relay it.

Presenting it, the ministry of the word. Thus saith the Lord. This is what God says and we all know of the Old Testament prophets. They in the New Testament, Agabus is one example of a guy who was speaking what would happen to Paul, for example. He was saying, this is what's gonna happen when you go to Jerusalem and it did.

So that's prophets. That's a gift. Evangelist. Evangelist are primarily concerned with having the word transmitted to people who do not yet trust in Jesus. And they presented it such a way as to bring people into the kingdom.

And there are some of y'all that are just wired as evangelists and it is the way that you are. I think of a few people in my head. There was a fellow when I was growing up named Rodney Bishop, and Rodney would minister to people at a truck stop, not like that was his normal job. Just he stopped to fill up with gas and at the pump, he's ministering to somebody and in line, he's ministering. In the bathroom, he's ministering to somebody.

And he's presenting Jesus the whole time. He just can't help it. That's who he is. Evangelist. I'm not primarily an evangelist, but I will say this.

I'm a pastor teacher. Timothy, I think, is a pastor teacher, but Paul says to Timothy, hey, Timothy, starting out, man. Do the work of an evangelist. I have had the overwhelming pleasure of presenting Christ to someone and have him accept it. Buddy in our midst had the pleasure this week of presenting the gospel to his mother who is dying and she accepted Christ.

Praise God. He was doing the work of an evangelist, right? Pastors and teachers, shepherding people in the way that they should go by ministering the word, relaying the word of God. How does the word of God come to bear on Yvonne's illness right now or Carolyn's illness right now? How does the word of God how can we encourage one another in that?

That's the domain of pastors and teachers. And this says Okay. Is that me? Most likely? Okay.

So he gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, some as pastors, teachers, and that they are their primary responsibility is ministering the word. And actually in Acts, we see the apostles and they had to to decide, are we gonna wait tables or are we gonna minister the word? And they set up and they had the first deacons ordained to take care of the ministry and actually the next sentence will go right into that. He gave some of the apostles and prophets and evangelists, pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry. I did pass one church that said, pastor so and so, I don't remember his name, and then it said, ministers, the whole congregation, and that is true.

According to Ephesians four eleven and twelve, the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, ministering the word to the people to be able to carry out the gifts that they have for the kingdom. This is not a new thing in Ephesians. It's a gift. It should be taken as such and know that he has empowered us to do good works and he prepared them ahead of time. For the equipment of the saints, for the work of ministry, so the church is to be ministering to itself and the community for the building up of the body of Christ.

And if you're looking at apostles and evangelists particularly, they're about adding to the number, bringing people in. Missionaries go out. They spread the word. They're doing the work as an evangelist and they're sharing and then people are coming into the body of Christ. For prophets and for pastors and teachers, I think their primary responsibility is for people who already believe the Bible saying, hey, prophets are going, we don't line up with this people.

What are we gonna do about it? We need to humble ourselves together and pray and fall into line with this by God's hand and by his spirit. And then pastors and teachers are patting them on the back and saying we can do this together. That's what I see it as. Okay.

So for the building up of the body of Christ. Now, for the building up of the body of Christ, is that quantity or quality? Yes. It is both. It's both things.

So until when? Until we all attain to the unity of the faith. Are we there yet? Lord, have mercy. We're not close.

Until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the son of God. The knowledge of the son of God is really important. In the first three chapters, it mentions it over and over. What is he praying for? I'm praying that you'll be filled with the knowledge of God.

And so if you get the knowledge part of it, that's great. Then you're able to apply it with wisdom. Until we all attain to the unity of faith and the knowledge of the son of God to a mature man. We get to a place of maturity in Christ. There are a lot of different places in scripture where it says, I acted like a child, but then now I'm acting like a grown up.

So here it is. This is until we all attain to the maturity of a grown up. To the measure, and this man could be men and women, it's not a it's not qualified to just be we're we're all to be like grown men, it's grown ups. To mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. Whatever the gift is that God has given you individually to serve you collectively until we all attain to where we're operating at that fullness that's in Christ.

That's how long we're gonna be doing this. Are we there?

I am.

No, we're not. Come on. Ephesians four fourteen says this, now as a result, as a result of this, we're no longer to be children. So, maturity, don't act like a child. When you grow up in the faith, sometimes you see this and you get almost inured to it or you get inoculated against it, against how powerful the word of God is, we're no longer to be children just tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of people, and by craftiness and deceitful scheming.

We do have an enemy, we do have a lot that is working against us. But if we will hold on to and be eager to maintain the unity that's in the body, lovingly correcting actually. Let me let me let this say it. The next sentence says, but be speaking the truth in love. If you just speak the truth and you're wagging the finger and you're being ugly about it, you're not gonna win anybody over.

If the person knows that you love them and that you're ministering the word and and the case of the apostles and prophets and evangelists and pastors, teachers, you're ministering the word because you love. It's not helpful to tell somebody who needs strong medicine that they're not really that sick. They need the strong medicine. We need the word. We need for it to point out our sins, and we need to be humble about it.

Speaking the truth and love, we're to grow up in all aspects into him who is the head, that is Christ. He is our example. If we're looking to him as the old premarital session goes, if you're looking to God right here and groom is here and bride is here and you're both seeking to get closer and closer and closer and closer to Christ, then you're gonna be getting closer and closer and closer to each other. Okay? We're looking to him in all aspects who is the head, Christ.

We're growing up. We're maturing in this. We're not dividing anymore, but we're coming together in love around the Christ, one body, one faith, one lord, one baptism from whom the Christ, from whom the whole body being fitted and held together by whatever joint supplies according to the proper working of each individual part. Can can we say that we all agree about this? When your body is hurting, one part hurting hurts the rest of the body.

You can localize pain kinda, but if you're dragging a leg, it messes with the rest of your body. I've got lots of witnesses out here. Lots of witnesses who've been to two times, whatever, orthopedics or whatever. If if one part of your family is hurting, it hurts the whole family. If one of us is not operating at our fullest, it hurts the whole body.

So we want to be growing up and fitted and held together in Christ, the proper working of each individual part. And that causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. Now, the body says, the body will build itself up if people are operating according to this in all humility with gentleness and patience and they're bearing with one another in love, then the body will itself build itself up. Amen. It is the body of Christ.

It's not a human institution. The unity that is in the body, we cannot establish, but we can ruin. Okay? So here's another one of these, for the building up of itself and love. Is that quantity or quality?

Yes. It's both. And I think that's the last slide. That's the last slide. Would you all stand with me?

And as you process this, there are lots of different ways of looking at it. Vaughn Roberts, actually an Oxford scholar, but I saw him present on this in 2010 and it still rings in my ears a lot of what he said. He said, John Lennon sings about, you know, imagine all the people living like as one, you know. And he goes, then the world will be as one is the way that song close. And everybody longs for that.

How is that gonna happen? Von Robert says, first of all, by an outworking of the call and second by a proclamation of the word. The word will do the work if we let it. Amen. Let's sing loud.

Amen. I guess you can tell that I'm a pastor and teacher and not an evangelist because I didn't do the altar call. Just skipped it entirely. You don't forget about that when you're an evangelist. Right?

I'm here all week and I mean that. I'm always available. It's easy to find me. So, if you want to come talk about Jesus or coming into the church, come find me and this is the benediction for the day. Paschal's first memory verse from preschool.

I love it. Therefore, encourage one another and build each other up. Just as you also are doing. Can't tell you what an encouragement it is to me to see y'all's faces and to see y'all joining and coming in. It's so good to be a part of the body of Christ.

Encourage one another. Build each other up just as you're already doing. In Jesus name, may he add to our numbers and the numbers of the other churches in the valley so that we may fight the battle that has already been won together in Jesus name. Amen. Amen.

I got you covered.

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