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#14905 - Sealed by The Holy Spirit - Ephesians 1:9-14 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the study of God's Word with pastor and author Ed
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Taylor, recorded live at Calvary Church in Aurora, Co.
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To learn more about the many resources available through
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Abounding Grace Media or to tune into our live stream services,
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visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free
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Calvary Church app. Now.
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Here's Pastor Ed to take us into our study.
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Amen. Amen.
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Open your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 1.
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We're going to pick up where we left off last time in verse 9,
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and I've entitled our Bible study Sealed by the Holy Spirit.
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That really is where we're going to land this Bible study in
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being sealed by the Holy Spirit. Now we often say, and it's 100%
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true, that God has a plan and a purpose for our lives.
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And it's exciting to think about all that God wants to do, all
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that He's working out, all that He's working together, as it
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says in Romans chapter 8 and verse 28, all the UPS and all
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the downs. For some there are more downs
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and for some there are more UPS. But God, He knows what He's
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doing with our lives. And of course, in our life, we
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have our own goals. We have goals to be, you know,
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better husbands, better singles. We, we want to be better
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employees. We, we want to be better
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parents. We want, we have career goals.
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We have financial goals. We have all sorts of goals.
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But listen, those goals are not the end.
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They're not the end. God determines the end.
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And it's important that you and I yield our goals to the goals
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that God has for us. Very important that we grasp
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this because I don't know how many times I've come to God with
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prayer and my goal is just not his goal.
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And he's revealed that to me. But it's not only does it does
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it need to be seen when it's revealed, but also we need to
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accept it because nobody can serve 2 masters.
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No one can have competing loves and be effective in their lives.
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Because Jesus said you either hate the one or love the other,
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or you'll love the one and hate the other, yielding our goals to
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the goals of God. They're all a part of God's plan
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and our divine destiny. In Jeremiah chapter 29 in verse
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11, it says, for I know the thoughts that I think towards
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you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil to give
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you a future and a hope. And you're already in Ephesians.
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Just turn a page if you need to in Ephesians 2 in verse 10.
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We'll be here soon enough, but the Bible says, for we are His
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workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God
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prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
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Notice with me in verse 9. It says in chapter 1, having
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made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good
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pleasure, which He purposed in himself, that in the
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dispensation of the fullness of the times, He might gather
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together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven
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or which are on earth in Him. Now we drop in.
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If you're just starting with us in Ephesians, we're dropping in
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the middle of a paragraph. So let's go back to the
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beginning of the paragraph just for some context.
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We've already studied these verses, but let's go back and
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look at them. Verse 7.
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In Him we have redemption through His blood, the
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forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace which he
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made to a bound toward us, and all wisdom and prudence having
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made known to us the mystery of His will, the mystery of His
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will is being revealed. That word mystery, you can
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circle it. It's the Greek word mysterion,
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and it simply means secret. Now, it's important that you
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recognize the difference between the way we use the word today
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and how the Bible uses it. Because when we think of a
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mystery, we think of something we don't we got to figure out,
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like we're reading a mystery novel or we're watching a
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mystery movie and we're carrying it along.
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We're trying to figure out who did it and who done it, and
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we're looking to how this is going to be revealed.
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But that's not how the Bible uses it.
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When the Bible uses the word mystery, it actually refers to
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something that was hidden, but that God has revealed.
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So you don't have to figure this one out.
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Any of the mysteries in the Bible you can look back on and
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God has revealed what it is. They were once secret, but in
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God's timing, and that's key. In God's timing, they were
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revealed. They weren't really talked about
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these mysteries until the moment that they were needed.
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What is the mystery being referred to here in chapter 1?
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The mystery of the church. The church redeemed Jews and
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Gentiles brought together in Christ by faith.
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It was a mystery to the Old Testament prophets and to those
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that were a part of the Old Covenant.
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When you're reading through the Old Testament, it never mentions
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the church. It never mentions the coming
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body of Christ. The prophets didn't mention it.
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Those that were teaching didn't mention it.
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It was in the Old Testament a mystery yet to be revealed.
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Let's put it a different way to help you understand.
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Let's say one of the you were one of the disciples walking
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with Jesus. You think of the disciples
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hanging out with Jesus and and that whole crowd following
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Jesus. What were they expecting?
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What did they want? They were expecting a Kingdom.
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That's what they were looking for, the Kingdom of God where
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Jesus Christ Messiah would rule and reign as a king sitting on
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the throne of David from Jerusalem, ruling over all the
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world. They even you could even reduce
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it down to something smaller. They were looking for the
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conquering king that would overthrow Rome and the
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oppression of Rome. That would be the immediate
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desire so that when they were reading through the scriptures
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and reading of the Kingdom, they really wanted it to come now, a
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transformed earth, a king. That was their hope, but there
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was another truth that was parallel to the coming king, and
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that was the suffering servant. This wasn't something they heard
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so readily. You can jot it down in Isaiah
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chapter 53. This is where you find the
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suffering servant mentioned in the Old Testament.
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Jesus himself. Jesus himself taught them many
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times. I'm going to come again and rule
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and reign. I will come again.
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But he told them they're going to kill me.
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They're going to kill me. I will suffer many things.
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I will die and be buried and and rise again and I'll be back.
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But he spoke of a time period in between.
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That was a mystery in the Old Testament.
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It's revealed now. Jesus said yes, the Kingdom will
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come, but not now, not the way you think and not the way you
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expect. First comes the church, the
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church age. There was no thought of the day
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of Pentecost, no pointing to the day of Pentecost in the Old
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Testament, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, Peter preaching,
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3000 people getting saved. That wasn't a part of the Old
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Testament teaching. It was a mystery of what would
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happen. And first comes the church, then
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the church age, which you and I are a part of right now.
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We're a part of the church age where the majority of the church
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is Gentile, non Jewish. Why?
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Because the Jews have and continue to reject their
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Messiah. They continue.
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If you go to Israel with us later this year, considering
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it's safe to go, when you go with us, you will see what a
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secular nation Israel is today as they continue this apple of
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God's eye, continue to resist the wooing of the Holy Spirit
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and believe in Jesus Christ who has come.
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They actually still think Messiah is coming.
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And you'll see posters all around Jerusalem of people that
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they claim to be Messiah, even some that they claim to be
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Messiah that has since died and hasn't risen again.
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It's a fascinating thing to see that now as God has turned his
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attention toward the Gentiles, then that will to end at the
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rapture of the church. When Jesus returns at the
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rapture of the Church, that will begin not too long afterwards,
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the great Tribulation period, where God will then turn His
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attention to the Jewish people and fulfill all of His promises
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to the Jew. Today God is pouring out His
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spirit on anyone who will believe, every tribe, every
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tongue, every nation. And still there are many
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thriving Messianic communities of Jewish believers throughout
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the world, in Israel, throughout our community, even today.
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But the majority of the church are non Jews.
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The majority of this church is non Jewish because this is the
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church age. You may have heard it referred
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to as the time of the Gentiles. This is God's work in the world
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today, in this moment, the Kingdom of God, the rulership of
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Jesus, King Jesus sitting on the throne is invisible.
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It's not seen with the eye, but then it'll be very visible
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today. The Kingdom is inside the hearts
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of men and women. Remember what Jesus said.
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Jesus said the Kingdom of God is in you.
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And what does that mean? But that for every individual
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that has placed their faith in Jesus Christ, every born again
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man, woman and child, every born again person has surrendered
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their life to the kingship of Christ, and He rules and reigns
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in your life right now and collectively in the church.
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Then he says in verse 10 that in the dispensation of the fullness
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of the times, He might gather together in one all things in
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Christ. So not only does He tell us the
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mystery of His will, but He also is revealing to us where
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everything is headed. He had given us the big picture
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of life. Isn't that what everybody wants
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to know? They want to know the big
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picture. They want to know how it's all
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going to end. They want to know what the
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future holds. Whenever, when, whenever.
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Someone's asking about the future, what they're asking for
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is a bigger picture. They want to see more than they
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see. It's hard to live in the now.
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It's hard to wait on the Lord. It's hard to be in prayer and
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wonder what's next. So when you're looking for the
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future, you're like, I want to see the big picture.
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Well, we get a hint of it right here.
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Everything is being moved forward.
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All of human history is being moved forward in Christ.
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Let's bring this down though now to something personal because
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it's wonderful to see God reveal mysteries about himself and
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Messiah. It's wonderful to learn as God
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is showing us new things in his word.
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But let's put it, let's bring it down personal in it, and let's
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consider this truth about God. God is revealing the mystery of
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His will in our lives day by day, like He is revealing to you
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new things every day of your life, revealing to you where the
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direction of your life is going, what is next for you.
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Some of you has you waiting and waiting quite a while.
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And what is He doing? He's saying, this is where I
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want you. I'm revealing to you my will for
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your life. I want you in this position.
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I mean, already we've learned even we're reading the Bible.
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Every time you read the Bible, God's revealing something to
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you. You can't ever approach the
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Bible. Please don't do this.
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And maybe this is a correction, but please don't do this.
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Please don't say when somebody's talking about reading the Bible,
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you say this, I already read the Bible.
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Don't say that. Of course you did read the
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Bible. I'm not saying you can't like
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tell someone that you completed the Bible a few days, but you a
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few times. But you know how some people
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will go. I don't need to read the Bible
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anymore because I've already read it.
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That's not that kind of book. It's not the kind of book where
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you already read it and now you know it all.
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You that's impossible. That's not going to happen
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because every time you're reading the Word of God, He's
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revealing something new to you. Let me give you an example.
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Turn back to Psalm 25 real quick.
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I was reading this last night for the first time.
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I picked the Psalm, you know, earlier in the week and I read
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it then, but I'm reading it last night like we are in our
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responsive reading for our service Saturday night.
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And I'm reading it and verse 3 jumps off the page of me.
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I would say of the 30 plus years I've been walking with the Lord,
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I've probably read Psalm 25, I don't know, 100 * 150 times.
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I don't know many, many, many times.
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And last night this just jumped off the page, verse 3.
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Indeed, let no one who waits on you be ashamed.
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Let those be ashamed who deal treacherously without cost.
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Show me your ways, O Lord, and teach me your paths for everyone
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that's waiting on the Lord today for anything for any amount of
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time. The Bible just says don't be
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ashamed. It it's not your fault.
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You don't have to carry the burden as if you made some big
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error or mistake or whatever. You're just waiting on the Lord.
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There's nothing to be ashamed about.
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And and even speaks of like the the principle of not being
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ashamed, like what you're waiting on.
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It's going to come to pass and you can wait.
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I'm like, Oh, I was encouraging. That was a fresh word from the
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Lord of something I probably and maybe you have read dozens and
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dozens of times over and over again.
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God is revealing the mystery of his will in our lives day by
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day. As we were learning in the
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greater series just a few months ago, we were learning that God,
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that underlying theme that ended up coming out of that series was
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that God knows what he's doing with your life.
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He knows the what and the how and the when.
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He knows what He's doing and you can trust Him and you can wait
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upon him. And here in Ephesians up to this
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point, because really we're just studying the introduction, these
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first few verses, they're so full with an introduction of
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theologic theological significance.
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I mean, I don't know the last time you wrote an e-mail to my
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friend who has been predestined by God, like, like Paul wrote
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that to the Ephesians, but we don't write like that.
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And so on his mind, he's very careful, inspired by the Holy
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Spirit to remind them that they've been forgiven, chosen,
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predestined, washed, cleanse, elevated, and they get to see
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the big picture. Everything's headed to Jesus.
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You can look at your life and see the same thing or not.
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You can look at your life and see the same thing.
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Is your whole life moving toward Jesus for the mystery of the
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body of Christ? It's very simple.
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The Kingdom of God will be filled with saved Jews and
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Gentiles. That's the mystery.
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That's the mystery that's been revealed.
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Verse 11. He says in him we also have
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obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the
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purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel
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of his will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to
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the praise of his glory. Mark that word heard, if you
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like to write in your Bibles circle it, it means to hear with
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understanding, to hear with understanding, not just to hear
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something you know you pass by. You might hear though, but you
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not only heard the words, but you understood what they mean.
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So he says that in him we have this inheritance.
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I jumped to, I jumped verses. That's what you get for being
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sick. Verse 13 is really good.
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That's where hurt is. Let's just start over.
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Back in verse 11. We studied predestination
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earlier. So if you missed that Bible
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study and this is a topic that you want to learn, you should go
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back and listen because we're not going to cover it here.
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The word I want to emphasize here is the word inheritance.
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Inheritance in Christ, you have inherited all that He has.
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Everything that He has is yours by faith, by relationship.
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I like this word because we understand it when we think of
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inheritance, we understand it. All of us.
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When we pass away, we are going to leave everything behind.
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You know that, right? We are taking nothing with us.
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And depending on how things have been set up, whether you have a
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will or a note or a trust, whatever you have, you are going
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to tell after you pass away through that paperwork who gets
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your inheritance. And your inheritance most likely
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will go to the people that are closest to you, the people that
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you love, your family. Our inheritance, Brie and I, our
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kids will receive an inheritance.
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It won't be much, but they'll receive what we have.
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And you know, my kids are going to get an inheritance and they
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did absolutely nothing for it. They didn't work for it.
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They didn't earn it. Like we didn't sit down and and
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tell them as a baby, OK, right now you have .01% of your
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inheritance and you need to work hard the rest of your life to
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earn it. Nobody does that.
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They just get it. Why?
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Because they're my kids. They're just going to get it.
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I don't ask them to work for it. I don't want them to work for
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it. I don't even want to think about
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it. They don't even need to worry
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about it. But because I can't take it with
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me, they're going to get all that we have accumulated over
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the years. Marie and I, you know, the
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conversations we have with our kids are not about inheritance.
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They're about, hey, you know what, we're getting older and
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just I want you to know you're going to take care of us.
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That's how it's going to work. You're going to take care of us.
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You're going to have all full responsibility.
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We raised you, we changed your diapers.
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Guess what? You get to do our inheritance.
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Imagine receiving something you never worked for.
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You know, my parents, they, they didn't have much.
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They were check to check their whole life.
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They didn't have much. But what they did have was
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special. Their whole life.
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They worked for it and they got distributed appropriately to
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everyone according to their wishes.
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And then we move forward and it carries on.
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Our inheritance isn't so much about our four O 1 KS or our
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jobs or our careers or our cars or our homes or any of the
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physical possessions. Our inheritance is in Christ.
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There's so much more valuable than anything you could ever
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have or never work for. All those other things are
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important. Prepare for the future, take
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care of things. That's great, But your
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inheritance is in Christ light of the world.
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And then we come to verse 13, and in verse 13 it says in him
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you also trusted after you heard.
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So go ahead and circle it. Now I've already instructed you.
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It means to hear with understanding.
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You heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in
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whom also you have believed. And we're sealed with the Holy
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Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance
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until the redemption of the purchase, possession to the
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praise of his glory. They heard again.
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We have to come back to the city of Ephesus, a Pagan idolatrous
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city, very much disconnected. This city in Asia Minor, modern
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day Turkey, very much disconnected from Jerusalem,
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from Judaism. And Paul comes to town as a
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missionary with the gospel of Jesus Christ to a Pagan
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idolatrous city. And what does he do?
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He proclaims the gospel and what did they do?
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They heard it with understanding.
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They heard it with understanding.
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And when you hear something with understanding, it always leaves
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you at a crossroads. So anytime you have a new
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biblical truth, anytime you're confronted with truth with
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something that that is forcing, you hear it and understand it.
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It forces you to make a decision.
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And this crossroads, when it comes to the Gospel, there are
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only two decisions. There are not four, there are
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not six. There are only two decisions.
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So let's think about it backing up a little bit.
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Most of us in the room are born again.
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So this applies to us. Most of us have a relationship
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with God. We are followers of Christ.
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So we can say definitively that we heard the gospel and we
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responded, we heard the gospel. So let's let's go back in time
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to the city of Ephesus where you're just doing your thing,
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going through life and Paul comes through this happened to
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you. It could have been a mom, it
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could have been a grandmother, it could have been a Co worker,
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it could have been a something on online, on TV.
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However, somebody shared with you the word of truth.
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And again, I want you to notice in verse 13, the word of truth
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equals the gospel. For you guys that are into math,
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the word of truth equals the gospel.
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The good news, the gospel is the truth about your life and mine
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and the gospel. Somebody sometime in your life
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started a very uncomfortable conversation with you.
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I'm sure it usually is because they had to start in a real
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rough place talking about your life personally and the sin that
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was in your life. Now it was the perfect timing of
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the Lord, but it was a hard conversation to have to be
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confronted with your own behavior because we look to
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ourselves mostly we think the best of ourselves and we just
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kind of excuse, oh, that was just a little mistake or I was
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but but the reality is, is sin has separated you from God.
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Sin is very serious you you. There was a time in life where
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Adam and Eve, a real man and a real woman lived in a real
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garden with personal wonderful relationship with God.
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And then they sinned and it was broken and they ran away from
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God. So many today, that's the
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testimony of their lives. Maybe even you, you're running
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away from God. I'm grateful that in part of the
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running, you're watching this or listening to this, or even in
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the room today. I commend you for taking that
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step toward God. But you still have to deal with
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your sin. And I know it's hard.
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It was hard for all of us. And I'm sure as they were
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sharing with you, they told you the devastating effects of sin.
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They, they said something like that.
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The wages of sin, kind of like a job, The wages of sin is death.
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It's not going to lead to anything good.
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It it is destructive and harmful.
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And again, you don't need anyone to really explain that to you
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because you have your own life. You know, the broken
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relationships, you know the difficulties, you, you know, the
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route that you took with drugs and alcohol.
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You know, the issues of life that have separated you from God
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and others. The wages of sin is death.
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And then once I'm sure they, you could see and they, they had,
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they had a, you had an understanding of that.
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They let you off the hook and said, but, but there's a way
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out. While the wages of sin is death,
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the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.
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They might have even shared with you, and it's amazing.
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You don't know anything about the Bible, but there's a couple
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verses you do know that you didn't even know they were in
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the Bible, some of them. But one of them, you know, they
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might have even shared this with you, that God so loved the world
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that he gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever would
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believe in him would not perish and have everlasting life.
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And maybe it was in that moment tears began to fill your eyes
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and you begin to feel the weight of your separation from God.
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And you began to think, what, what do I need to do?
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What, what? And, and then right then and
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there you started, well, let's just pray.
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And they led you in a prayer and you said something like, God,
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forgive me, I, I confess my sins to you.
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They were helping you with what the Bible says.
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The Bible says if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus,
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and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the
24:10
dead, you will be saved. That's what the Ephesians heard.
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They heard it with understanding and they were at a crossroads.
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Here are the two points of the crossroads.
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You ready? When you hear the truth, you
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either number one, believe it or #2 reject it.
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And I purposely use the word reject because I want you to
24:32
feel the weight of that word because I know there are some
24:35
among me who would among us. They would say, well, pastor,
24:38
I'm just one of those slow burners.
24:40
You know, it just takes me some time to think about it.
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And you know, I'll think about it.
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I'll spend some time and I'll get back to you.
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Well, that's not 1/3 option. That's option #2 that's not 1/3
24:51
option. It's like you'll get back to me
24:52
right in this moment today. You believe or you don't
24:56
believe. And I respect that you're a slow
24:58
burner and you need more information.
24:59
But the reality is this, you either believe the gospel or you
25:02
don't, or you might say, I'm one of those studiers, pastor.
25:06
I want to study it. So I don't even own a Bible.
25:08
So I'll get one of your free Bibles or I'll buy one
25:10
downstairs and I'll go start reading the Bible and I'll and,
25:13
but, but you've already heard the gospel.
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And so that's not option #5 that's still option number 2.
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So you need more information. You need to study more.
25:22
You're taking your life into your own hands because you're
25:25
accountable now for hearing the gospel, the word of truth.
25:31
God has ordained, he has determined, he has set in order
25:38
the preaching and teaching of God's Word as a means for saving
25:44
souls. This is his methodology, the
25:47
proclamation of the gospel. Not everyone receives the the
25:53
gospel to believe. Let me show you turn over to
25:55
Matthew chapter 13 with me, would you?
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Matthew chapter 13. I want to take you back to a
26:01
familiar teaching a parable of Jesus in Matthew chapter 13.
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We're not going to spend a lot of time here, but enough for you
26:09
to see seeds are planted, but on not everyone believes and just
26:17
using this parable math wise, 25% of the seeds take and 75%
26:24
reject. So notice in the beginning there
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in verse one it says, on the same day Jesus went out of the
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house, sat by the sea, of great multitudes were gathered
26:36
together, and he got into a boat and sat, and the whole multitude
26:40
stood on the shore. Then he spoke many things to
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them in parables, saying, Behold, A sower went out to sow,
26:47
and he sowed some seed by the wayside, and the birds of the
26:51
air came and devoured them. Some fell on Stony ground or
26:55
Stony places where they did not have much earth, and they
26:59
immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth.
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But when the sun was up and they were scorched, and because they
27:05
had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns, and
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the thorns sprang up and choked them.
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But others fell on good ground, yielded A crop, some a
27:15
hundredfold, some 60, some 30. He who has ears to hear, let him
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hear. The seed here represents the
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gospel. The soils represent the hearts
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of men and women and so you see that there were different ways
27:30
that the seed was received and only one of the four continued
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on and you go, Ed Well, where do you get that?
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Jump to verse 18. Jesus explains for us the
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parable. Therefore hear the parable of
27:44
the sower. When anyone hears the word of
27:47
the Kingdom and does not understand it, then the wicked
27:50
one comes and snatches it away. What was sown in his heart?
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This is, This is he who has received the seed by the
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wayside. Verse 20.
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But he who received the seed on Stony places, This is he who
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hears the word and immediately receives it with joy.
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Yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while.
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For when tribulation or persecution arises because of
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the Word, immediately he stumbles.
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Now verse 22. He who receives seed among the
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thorns is he who hears the word and the cares of this world and
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the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes
28:30
unfruitful. But he received the word.
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He who received the seat on good ground is he who hears the word
28:37
and understands it, who indeed bears fruit, produces some a
28:42
hundredfold, some 60 and some 30.
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This is discouraging and encouraging at the same time.
28:51
It's discouraging that so many reject, so many reject, but
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what's encouraging is that we get to be a part of the process
29:00
of those that receive. We're not really responsible for
29:05
the response. That's not on.
29:07
That's not for us to be concerned about, even though it
29:10
breaks our heart if someone that we love or care about rejects
29:13
the gospel. What you and I are to do is to
29:17
be faithful. Paul would say in First
29:20
Corinthians chapter 3 and verse six, I planted, Apollos watered,
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but God gave the increase. You could say that you and I are
29:29
just spiritual farmers. Some of us are watering, some of
29:34
us are sowing, but God gives the increase.
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Coming back to Ephesians now, for those that embrace the Word,
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look what happens when you embrace the Word and you're born
29:45
again and you're restored in your relationship with God.
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What happens? First of all, you are sealed
29:52
with the Holy Spirit of promise. This is encouraging that when
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you're born again you are indwelt by the Holy Spirit and
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you are also sealed. A work of God in your life is to
30:04
seal you. That seal is very important.
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We've learned so far that Ephesus was a large city, one of
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five large cities in the Roman Empire.
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It was a port city. So a lot of business came
30:18
through Ephesus and when they would sell their goods here in
30:24
Ephesus, this large and busy seaport, they would crate them
30:30
and they would seal them. And in order to assure that they
30:33
were delivered the same way they were sent, they would take a
30:37
ball of wax and put it on the box.
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And the owner would take his signet ring and press that wax
30:44
so it would be sealed so that on the other end, when the box was
30:49
delivered, the receiving port could see the signet mark of the
30:53
owner of that box to either, you know, for the sale or to be
30:57
delivered to the owner. This is encouraging to me of the
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work of the Holy Spirit. There's so much talk about today
31:06
of whether you can lose your salvation or not.
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And you know, my biblical view of that is that you are safe and
31:12
secure in God. You are kept by the power of the
31:15
Holy Spirit. Wasn't your works that saved
31:17
you? It's not going to be your works
31:18
that keep you. But this is also encouraging.
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God seals you and sealing that seal, that little signet, that
31:27
little piece of wax on the box said two things.
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Number one, it spoke of ownership.
31:34
It was that box was owned by the person that put their signet
31:38
rink in it. But secondly, it also spoke of
31:41
security. As long as the seal was there,
31:46
you knew that it wasn't tampered with, that the contents that
31:49
were in part A arrived in Part B because they got there with the
31:54
seal. Now I want you to think about
31:56
that spiritually for a second. We're going to learn later on
31:58
when we get to Philippians sometime soon we'll get to the
32:02
book of Philippians and we'll be in chapter 1 and chapter 1 is a
32:05
verse you probably already memorized that he who began a
32:07
good work in you will what complete it until the day of
32:11
Jesus Christ. One of the evidences of the
32:15
keeping power of God in your salvation is that not only are
32:19
you and I indwelt by the Holy Spirit, Not only are you and I
32:23
baptized by the Holy Spirit, but we're also sealed.
32:27
God has placed His mark on you, and His mark is the indwelling
32:32
of the Holy Spirit. Even more so, this is
32:36
encouraging that if we're sealed by the Holy Spirit, then we're
32:41
in the hand of God and no one can snatch us out.
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Romans chapter 8 says the same thing.
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No one can take you out of his hand.
32:49
He knows what you're going through, He knows what you're
32:52
facing, and he's with you. Not only have you been sealed,
32:56
but notice in verse 14, you, the Holy Spirit is the guarantee of
33:02
that inheritance, the guarantee of that inheritance until the
33:06
redemption of the purchase, possession to the praise of his
33:11
glory. There's a guarantee that you're
33:14
going to make it. You just received that today.
33:17
The Holy Spirit in you is a guarantee that you're going to
33:21
make it that God's going to bring you all the way through
33:25
that he has promised you are his.
33:28
The Bible says purchased possession.
33:31
You've been redeemed by his blood and the Spirit of God in
33:34
my life is the guarantee of our inheritance.
33:37
One day soon God is going to claim his goods all to the
33:43
praise of his glory. I want you to notice that it's
33:45
used three times in this section.
33:47
I don't know if you saw that. Notice back in verse 6 this
33:50
phrase to the praise of His glory.
33:53
Then verse 12 it says to the praise of His glory, and then
33:58
verse 14 to the praise of His glory.
34:02
This is God's purpose for your life.
34:04
Your life is to the praise and glory of God.
34:07
Your life is to draw attention to God.
34:10
Your life is supposed to be spent as salt and light to the
34:14
praise and the glory of God. For some of you it's your
34:16
testimony. For some of you it's your
34:18
faithfulness. For some of you, it's your
34:20
benevolence, your generosity. Every great spiritual gift and
34:24
fruit is in is is in our lives in order to bring praise and
34:29
glory to God. And this is where we get in
34:32
trouble church. We begin to take the glory of
34:35
God to ourselves as if we've done some great thing, as if we
34:40
are more important. Sometimes it's subtle.
34:43
I've met a lot of times I've seen this in my own life where
34:46
it's subtle, but at other times it's pretty dramatic where men
34:51
and women will take the credit that belongs to God.
34:54
And the Bible is clear in Isaiah chapter 48, verse 11, God will
34:58
share his glory with no one. And how important that is in the
35:02
culture that we live in today. That's all about developing
35:06
platforms and drawing attention and influence and making sure
35:11
that everyone knows what you're buying, what you're wearing, all
35:14
of that. In our world, God, God, there's
35:16
just one platform for the Christian and it's Christ.
35:19
That's it. We're all bringing people to the
35:23
saving faith in Jesus Christ, which is why, just as a side
35:27
note very quickly, why here in the sanctuary, we really do our
35:32
best as a church and his leadership to create an
35:35
environment where you can study the Word of God in a time of
35:41
relative peace. Like this is a Bible study
35:44
environment. We don't want anything to draw
35:47
your attention away from Him. So for, for example, if you have
35:52
children, you can use the children's ministry so that they
35:55
can, they can learn the Bible at their own level.
35:57
Of course, your, your children are always welcome here.
36:00
But, but in, in terms of when, about after 10 minutes, after I
36:03
start talking about 5-10 minutes, you know, sometimes the
36:06
kids are like what? It's wave over their heads.
36:09
I mean, I try to, I try to think of everyone's going to be in the
36:12
sanctuary. But sometimes you know, I just
36:13
the word predestination and they go pre what, like they don't
36:16
know. So we have these different areas
36:19
where people have dedicated their lives to ministers.
36:21
So why this can be more of a teaching atmosphere and just for
36:25
90 minutes in your life, you you can focus your life on nothing
36:30
other than the teaching of God's word.
36:33
We made a decision years ago to help this environment be to help
36:37
you focus on the Lord by making a purchase.
36:40
I want, I wonder if you want, I wonder if you can guess.
36:43
I'm not going to ask you because we will be here all day what
36:45
purchase we made. But I'll just tell you we bought
36:48
when we moved from the school to this building, we bought chairs
36:52
with the most amount of foam that they offered.
36:57
And you go Ed, What does that mean?
36:58
What what does difference does that make?
37:00
Well, we want you to be comfortable.
37:03
We want you to be comfortable. These chairs you're on right now
37:05
have a little bit more because they added more foam since the
37:08
first time we bought them. Because if you were with us in
37:10
the school, you know that the chairs were very uncomfortable.
37:15
You'll see them around the building and you wonder, what's
37:18
this orange chair doing here that looks like I ate lunch on
37:21
it in the in my middle school. Well, we brought one chair of
37:26
every color with us, so we would never forget where we came from.
37:30
Now, we did the best that we could in that little room there.
37:33
We tried to create an atmosphere so that the proclamation of the
37:37
word of God would be in an environment where it would be
37:41
best received. That's important to us.
37:44
How can that be applied to your life?
37:46
It can apply to your life is making sure that you are in the
37:51
right environment when you share with someone the right timing,
37:54
praying for the right words. We want that atmosphere to be
37:59
so. We want that atmosphere to be
38:02
such that you can pay attention and learn with minimal
38:06
distractions because the proclamation of the gospel is
38:10
very, very important. The Word of God is very
38:14
important. The learning and the equipping
38:17
of the Saints is very important. God is preparing us right now
38:22
for our eternal destination. He's equipping us for work this
38:26
week. He's equipping us for what's
38:28
happening in our home, and we have the Spirit of God inside of
38:32
us as a guarantee. I had this thought.
38:34
I'm going to date myself to some degree, but I had this thought
38:37
about a guarantee because many, many years ago, I remember my
38:41
mom going to Kmart. Do you guys remember Kmart?
38:44
She would pick out what she wanted to buy and walk us to the
38:48
back and she would go and she was going to put that item on
38:53
layaway. Yeah.
38:54
For you guys younger, Google it. AI layaway.
38:58
They didn't let you take things with if you didn't have credit,
39:01
you took it back. And what you could do is put a
39:03
down payment on it. You could put a down payment.
39:06
And what you were saying was I'll be back.
39:09
When I have more money, I'll be back.
39:11
And you could keep paying on that.
39:13
And what the company was saying to you is with this down
39:16
payment, you are declaring ownership and we'll go with you
39:20
as long as as soon as you pay it all off, it's yours.
39:22
You can walk out the door. That down payment, that
39:25
guarantee the Holy Spirit is a down payment.
39:30
Jesus is coming back. He's going to take you home and
39:33
you're going to have the fullness of all that He's
39:35
promised in your life. And we have that, that beautiful
39:39
desire to know what God is doing in our life.
39:42
And He's revealing the mystery of His will in our life one day
39:46
at a time. And you and I can have
39:48
confidence in our salvation. There's no need to live in fear
39:53
of losing it. Rather, live in the joy of
39:56
living it and enjoying your new, fresh relationship with Jesus.
40:01
Amen. Well, Lord, thank you for the
40:05
privilege of Your word. And even with a few stumbles
40:07
along the way, God, your word does not return void.
40:10
It always accomplishes the purpose for which it's sent.
40:14
And we pray now that you would pour out Your Spirit on us.
40:20
Thank You for the reminder that what you've begun, you're going
40:24
to complete it. You promised we have the Spirit
40:28
of God in our lives as a guarantee.
40:31
We see the Spirit of God in our lives almost daily with the
40:35
fruit of the Spirit, Love and joy, peace, patience, kindness,
40:40
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, all of
40:44
these new attributes that come to us through your Spirit God.
40:50
And I pray for those that heard the Word today, the gospel that
40:56
truly need to respond, not in rejection, but in belief that
41:04
they would respond today, that they would believe on the Lord
41:09
Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins.
41:13
And if that's you today, I want to invite you right where you
41:15
are. Would you just stand to your
41:16
feet? I want to pray with you.
41:18
I've already shared the entire gospel, so I don't need to do
41:20
that again. What I do need to do is help you
41:23
make a decision and bring you to the point of decision.
41:28
So today, if you would say, pastor, I want to believe on the
41:31
Lord Jesus Christ and follow him with my life, would you just
41:34
stand to your feet? I want to pray with you, God
41:37
bless you. Who else would say that's me?
41:40
And I really mean that. God bless you.
41:42
In a moment, someone's going to stand alongside of you just to
41:46
follow up with you. That's all that's happening.
41:49
So don't be startled by someone walking up to you.
41:52
Who else would say that's me? Today's the day, today is the
41:59
day that's that's the beauty of the work of the Holy Spirit in
42:04
our lives that you heard the gospel that Jesus loves you,
42:09
gave his life for you. Do you know there's a passage in
42:12
the Bible that says Jesus taught us there's no greater love than
42:16
anyone than this than to lay down his life.
42:20
God bless you, lay down his life.
42:24
Jesus laid his life down for you, and today that is the day
42:29
of action and response. You guys out on line, I, I don't
42:36
see you, but I recognize you on the radio, maybe downstairs in
42:42
the overflow. It's a special day, a wonderful
42:48
time of salvation. And so those of you that
42:50
respond, pray with me, would you?
42:52
You could say you can talk to God directly and say something
42:55
like this. God, I admit that I've sinned
42:57
against you and I ask you to forgive me and I choose to
43:04
follow you today. Like the pastor said, I, I
43:09
heard, I understood and I believe and I turn away from my
43:18
sin today and ask you to forgive, change my life.
43:23
I choose to follow you and Father, I know anyone anywhere
43:28
that prays that you hear them and you receive them.
43:31
They're not cast out, tossed aside.
43:34
They don't have to clean their life up before they come.
43:37
You, you have them. The Spirit of God seals them.
43:44
The guarantee of salvation is in them.
43:47
So bless those that turn to you today.
43:49
And all of us, Lord, we're reminded that you've promised
43:56
and thank you. I just thank you too.
43:58
It's not always easy to live, but I also thank you that you
44:02
reveal your will to us day by day.
44:05
We'll keep looking to you in Jesus name, Amen.
44:09
We pray that you've been encouraged by this Bible study
44:12
delivered live from the sanctuary of Calvary Church for
44:15
prayer. Call us at 87730 grace that's
44:20
877-304-7223. To listen to this message in its
44:26
integrity or to join us for our live stream services, visit us
44:30
online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free Calvary
44:35
Church app. Be blessed as you worship Jesus
44:38
this week.