Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #14911 - God's Not Done With You - Ephesians 2:8-10

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#14911 - God's Not Done With You - Ephesians 2:8-10 · 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. The Ephesians chapter 2 is where
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we are. We're going to pick up where we
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left off last time. Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8-9
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and ten, and I've entitled our Bible study.
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God's not done with you. And you may have seen the bumper
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stickers people have on their cars.
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God's not done with me yet. Fantastic biblical truth that we
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should hold onto. It's not just a cliche.
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Today God wants you to be reminded that He is not done
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with you. He is working in your life.
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That he what he has started in your life, He has promised to
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complete it. And we learn that here in this
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section. We're learning about salvation
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and how it's by grace through faith.
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It is not of works. It is not your works.
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It is not what I have done, but what God has done in our lives.
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Notice in verse 8 of chapter 2 the sum of our study last time.
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For by grace you've been saved through faith, and that not of
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yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of
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works, lest anyone should boast. We spent time in our study last
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time looking at salvation. 4 important truths about salvation
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by grace through faith 1st we learned that salvation is a gift
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of grace. Then we learned that salvation
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is enjoyed by faith. Thirdly, we learned that
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salvation gives you an eternal perspective or the hope of
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heaven. And then finally we learned that
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there's no boasting salvation by grace through faith means and we
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have nothing to boast of. Why?
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Because God is the initiator around this section in the
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margins. It's easier to do in your Bible,
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much harder on your tablets. But for those of you taking
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notes around chapter 2, verses 8-9 and ten, you should write
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somewhere God is the initiator. Or you could write, God started
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this. He's the initiator.
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We're the responders. We have nothing to take credit
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for in the work of God in our lives.
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He started this. He's the initiator.
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He's the pursuer, he's the rescuer, he's the reconciler.
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He's the one that initiates salvation with us.
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We merely respond, It says in verse 8 that salvation is a gift
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of God. It is not of your work in Titus
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chapter 3 verse 5. It is not of works of
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righteousness which we have done, but according to His
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mercy, He saved us. It's not of any good works, any
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good church works, any good Christian works.
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Nothing. No work of righteousness saves
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you. I think of 1 popular work of
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righteousness that unfortunately among some in the broader church
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today believes you are saved by this work, and that is water
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baptism. Water baptism is a work of
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righteousness. You go.
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What do you mean, pastor? A work of righteousness.
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As a Christian, you choose to obey God by being water
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baptized. It's not the other way around.
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A person that doesn't know God, that that isn't following God,
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isn't magically saved when he or she is water baptized.
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The only thing that happens to an unbeliever that gets in the
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waters of baptism without faith is that they get wet.
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They don't get saved. In the Bible, water saves no
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one. It's the blood of Jesus Christ
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that forgives sins, a work of righteous.
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You do good deeds, you read your Bible, you come to church, you
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pray. Those are all works of
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righteousness and none of them save you.
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They come from salvation. We'll see in a moment in verse
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10 where it says we are his workmanship created in Christ
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Jesus for good works. We are not saved by good works,
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but we are saved for good works. And we'll look at that a little
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bit more in just a moment. It's not even your faith.
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You and I, we cannot even take credit for our faith.
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It's like, well, you know, salvation is 95% God and 5% me.
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Not true. It's not 80% God and 20% you.
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It's not 5050. It is 100% God and 0% you.
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We're merely responding to the conviction of the Holy Spirit to
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the truth of the gospel, to understanding what God has done
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for us. Even the faith that we exercise
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according to Romans chapter 12, verse 3 has been given to us
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where Paul writes to the Romans as God has dealt to each one a
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measure of faith. And what does that mean in verse
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9? It means nobody can brag.
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There's no bragging in heaven. There's no boasting in heaven,
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and neither should there be any bragging or boasting on earth.
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We believe in the finished and ongoing work of Jesus, the
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finished work of the cross, and his continual work in our lives.
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Now there are two Bible words I want you to learn.
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You may already know them and I'm not going to develop them
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because I've already taught on them in Romans.
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So if you want to learn more in depth about these two words,
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actually 3 words, then you can go to the Bible studies on the
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app or on the website in the book of Romans and just put the
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words in the search bar and you can get the Bible studies to
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watch or listen. So you need to know these words
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#1 we've already learned one in Galatians, but it's good to be
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reminded. We need to know that when you
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were born again, you experience something known as
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justification. It's a big Bible word.
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You're learning in Bible college, you're learning in
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seminary. You might see it in
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commentaries, but it's good to know because it's still used
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today. You and I were justified by
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faith. The just shall live by faith.
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We learn in Galatians and justification refers to the
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moment you were born again and made right with Jesus.
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The instant, the millisecond instant you were born again, you
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were saved eternally, completely.
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It's a done deal. You were saved, which leads to
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the second word. After you were justified, you
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would be, you immediately entered into what is known as
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sanctification. Sanctification.
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This word refers to the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in your
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life that is changing you and conforming you into the image of
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Christ. And how do we enjoy this?
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By faith. Our faith leads us to obedience,
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to surrender, to humility. There's no need to work and toil
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anymore with good works. No more sweating, just resting
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in the Lord. We have nothing to boast of or
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brag in the Lord. He has done the work and He is
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doing the work, which leads you to the third word.
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They all go together. Justification instantly
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sanctification, your rest of your life.
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And then when you and I enter into the presence of Jesus
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Christ, you will experience the third word.
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That's glorification. You'll have everything you've
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ever wanted in the presence of God.
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New body, new mind. Cleanse.
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Devolves present, past sin in our lives.
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Amazing. The presence of God we'll bring
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in our lives when we're with Him for all of eternity.
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Nothing to boast on, nothing to brag about.
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Salvation by grace through faith is the one characteristic that
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distinguishes Christianity from every single religion throughout
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all of history, past, present and future.
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Many years ago I read about a newspaper article.
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You guys remember newspapers, newspapers.
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We don't see many of those anymore, but there was a
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newspaper called the Grand Rapids Press.
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It covered this story and the headline was this conversion to
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the Hindu faith is torturous. I'm like, oh, that's
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interesting. Here the article stated in
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summary and I quote a W German businessman has completed his
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conversion to the Hindu faith by piercing himself through the
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cheeks with 1/4 inch thick 4 foot long steel rod and pulling
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a chariot for 2 miles by ropes attached to his back and chest
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by steel hooks. Like hey bro, congratulations
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you made it. And you know what he could look
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back on? Hey, I'm a Hindu because look
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what I have done. Look what?
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Here's the scars on my body. Look what I have done.
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You know what a believer in Christ says?
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Hey, you don't look to my scars. You look to the scar, the nail
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scarred hands and feet of our Savior Jesus Christ.
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It is not what we have done. You know this poor guy, he could
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have come to Christ and just simply had a life of all eternal
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life by faith. He could have believed the
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gospel and it would have changed his life.
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But instead he chose a false religion and the rest of his
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life, no doubt unless he's rescued from it, would be more
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of this nonsense. Work, work, work, work, work and
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just give it all and work hard and maybe one day you'll
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experience eternity. But he didn't have to do that.
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Jesus already went through the pain and agony.
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For you and for me. And because God knows our
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credit, our tendency toward taking credit for the things
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that actually belong to him, he says, hey, I gave, I gave you
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look to me. It's not our works.
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We're safe for them, but not by them.
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Verse 10. Now is where I want to spend
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most of our time today. Verse 10.
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We looked at 8:00 and 9:00 more in depth last time.
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It says for we are his workmanship.
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Again, you're writing all over this section of Scripture circle
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that word workmanship. We don't use it very much
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anymore, but the Greek word will help you remember it.
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You you may not use workmanship very much, but the Greek word is
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the Greek word poema from which we get our English word poem
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very interesting word to be used for we are his poema, 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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So much to unpack in this verse. The first thing I noticed is
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that God is working in your life that you're justified, but
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immediately he begins working. It is God's will.
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You know how sometimes we wonder what God's will is?
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I mean, we want to know what the future is.
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We want to know what's going to happen in our lives.
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We want to know how this situation is going to work.
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And, and that's a legitimate prayer, a legitimate prayer.
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Some of you have been praying and seeking the will of God for
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your life and you want to know what career to go into and what
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school to go to and what decisions to make.
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And those are all great prayers. You should bring them to the
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Lord, casting all your cares before him.
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And many times you'll come up and maybe ask me what my opinion
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is. And quite frankly, with all
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those questions, I have no idea what the will of God for your.
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Your life is I'm going to pray with you.
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There are times when I don't even know what God's will is for
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my life, what the future might hold.
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But I do know this. I do know this.
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I can say definitively, God brought you here today.
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You're listening to this not by accident.
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You're watching it online, not by accident.
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I know the will of God for your life.
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I know this absolutely 100% of all the things you're facing,
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all the things you want to know, all the things you're wondering
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about, this is it. You should write this down and
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never forget this. This is God's reminder to you.
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You ready? God's will?
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Are you guys ready? God's will for your life is that
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you change. You change.
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I wonder who just received that? Like directly, you've been on a
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course in your life and God says it's time to change, and it's
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been time to change for a long time, and you're resistant and
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you're rebelling. You're doing your own thing.
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You don't want to listen to me like you've been doing.
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And God's will is for us to change.
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And the change is headed somewhere.
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It's headed toward the path of Christlikeness reflecting His
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character. Not only that, but you know
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what's going to happen. You're going to be starting to
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live out in these good works that God's already prepared for
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you. He's already got the direction
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for your life. You just need to follow him.
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So many they make Christianity this, this works based religion.
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So hard to do and so hard to keep.
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And you just don't like I can't keep up And you feel condemned
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and you you just feel like a loser because you can't do
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everything and you want to do everything.
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And it's so complicated and it's not that complicated.
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Here is Christianity in a nutshell nutshell.
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You ready? Follow Jesus.
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Follow him. Read the Bible, pray and do what
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it says. That's Christianity.
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Christianity is not a religion, it's a person.
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And the more you learn about Jesus, the more you begin to
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reflect his character and his nature.
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The more you follow him, the more you learn about what he has
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for your life. You're his poem, his Poema.
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You know, when you look at an expanded definition of Poema,
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you know you'll come to the word masterpiece.
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So plug that word into the verse.
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You are his masterpiece. That's a fascinating thing to
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think about. You are his masterpiece, a work
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in progress of growth and strength.
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From glory to glory and strength to strength.
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You literally are changing. You can see and look at your
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life and you'll be able to see that you are changing, that
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you're not the same person you were, that you are being changed
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into his image. And it might be shocking to
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people around you. It might be shocking to you.
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OK, it is a shocking thing to take just like a step back and
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look at your life like everyone else does.
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And you're like, man, God is really changing me.
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Like I am not the same person and I don't want to date myself
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right now, but I don't have any choice.
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I am what I am. I'm as old.
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I'm a grandpa. I've been a grandpa for a while,
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but I'm a grandpa. So I'm an old guy.
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I'm coming up to my. 40 year high school reunion, 40 years,
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that's a long time, 40 years. And I'm looking forward to
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walking in to the other five people that are in my 40 year
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high school reunion. And I'm, I'm looking forward to
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this because I haven't been to one since my 10 where they gave
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me the microphone and I just preach the gospel to all those
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guys. But now, 40 years later, I can't
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wait to go in and go. I'm alive.
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But really, not just humanly alive, that's going to open the
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door for somebody that many people thought wouldn't be alive
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40 years later. And talk about not physical
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life, but spiritual life. Because I'm alive because I was
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born again and given spiritual life.
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So I can look at my life. And there are times when I look
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at my life and I'm like, man, I wish I was a little bit farther
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along or wish I had victory over this or walking through life
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just like you do, just as a believer, brother in the Lord.
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But then at the same time, I have to look back and go, Oh no,
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no, you don't understand how far, how far God has brought us.
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How faithful he has been. Didn't we just sing that song?
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He has been faithful every day of our life.
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You, you have to like these songs that are chosen and prayed
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over by our worship team. They, they're chosen on purpose
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to remind you of the truths that God has been faithful and he has
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been faithful because I'm his workmanship and so are you.
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You're his masterpiece. You know, many years ago, Marie
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and I had the privilege of walking through the Sistine
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Chapel and it I don't even know another word to describe except
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all the artwork in there is just unbelievably stunning.
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I mean, it's more than a picture could ever contain.
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You walk in and you're just surrounded and swallowed in to
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the work of a man by the name of Michelangelo.
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And you know what? The Sistine Chapel is known as
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his masterpiece. He devoted his life, this was
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his life's ambition, into that building.
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And as stunning as that building might be, and as beautiful as it
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is, you are much more stunning than the Sistine Chapel because
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the Sistine Chapel is going to pass away.
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But you're eternal. You're the eternal masterpiece
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of God, and he's working in your life.
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You're more stunning and glorious than that.
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Just receive that by faith. Receive that by faith today.
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You are the masterpiece of God to show off His love and mercy
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and grace and kindness to the world.
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We called you. I did in earlier studies.
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You're a trophy of His grace, something to show off to the
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world what God can do when He chooses the foolish things of
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the world to confound the wise, when He chooses those that might
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be written off and forgotten or overlooked or just going on with
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life. And God says, no, that is
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someone I want to show off my this is I want to teach grace to
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the ear, but your life is teaching grace to the eye.
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To your family and friends and your coworkers, God is working
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in you with each brush stroke, working through each correction,
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making you His one-of-a-kind, unique masterpiece.
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That's why we're all different. Another reason why we don't
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boast and we shouldn't boast is we're all different.
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Everybody's a unique masterpiece.
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You have a unique role. I'm not better than you.
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You're not better than me. We're just sisters and brothers
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in the Lord God, doing what God has called us to do.
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The best thing that we can ever aspire to in our walk with
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Christ is faithfulness. Just be faithful.
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Just just be faithful. Just give God your all and stay
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steady and faithful no matter what comes your way, knowing
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that God is doing the work. He's the one that's changing
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you. Now I want you to turn over,
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would you as we wind down today to Jeremiah chapter 18, Jeremiah
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chapter 18, because this idea and truth that God is working in
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US is beautiful, easy to understand.
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So is this illustration saying almost the same thing from a
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different angle through the prophet Jeremiah?
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Remember the author of the Bible, We're not men primarily,
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but the author of the Bible is God inspired by the Holy Spirit,
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using men to write down what he wanted recorded.
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And so you'll see God saying the same thing, different ways to
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help us understand and grasp his character and nature.
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Please be careful not to emphasize so often how hard the
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Bible is and how challenging different passages are, because
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most of the Bible is not hard to understand.
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Like just today, thinking about, well, God is like working in my
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life and making a masterpiece that's easy to understand.
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You're worried today, don't know how God's going to provide?
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Jesus says look at the birds. That's easy to understand.
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You're wondering what the future might hold and if God really
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cares for you or he's abandoned you.
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What did Jesus say? Look at the flowers.
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Aren't they so beautiful? Oh, they're great.
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Well, God loves you more than the flowers and he loves you
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more than the birds. The Bible is easy to understand
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if you'll be open for God to speak to you.
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This illustration here, super easy to understand.
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It's one of the best illustrations in all the Bible.
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Jeremiah chapter 18, verse 1. Chapter 18, verse one.
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The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying Arise and
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go down to the Potter's house, and there I will cause you to
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hear my words. So Jeremiah and his ministry to
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a rebellious resistant nation is told to go down to the Potter's
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house. But I want you to notice again,
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I, I wish we could probably develop this, but we won't
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today. But I just want you to see this,
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this little detail in what he says.
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He says, go down to the Potter's house and there I will cause you
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to hear my words. So he's going to go to the
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Potter house to see something. But in seeing it, God's going to
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speak to him. To me, that's pretty cool
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because God is speaking all the time.
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If you just open your eyes, you just open your eyes, God will
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speak to you. He will use things to reveal his
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eternal truth to you. And for Jeremiah, in a ministry
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to a resistant, rebellious nation, Go down to the Potter
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house. I got a message.
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For you there. I want you to see what he's
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doing. I'm going to speak to you.
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Notice verse 3? Then I went down to the Potter's
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house, and there he was making something at the wheel, and the
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vessel already being developed into something.
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The vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the
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Potter, so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed
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good to the Potter to make. Then the word of the Lord came
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to me, saying, O House of Israel, can I not do with you as
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this Potter, says, the Lord? Look.
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As the clay is in the Potter's hand, so are you in my hand.
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O House of Israel. This is the word of the Lord to
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Jeremiah for the nation. Jeremiah, I want you to pay
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attention to the Potter. So you, you and I, we're all
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going down to the. Potter's house today.
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This is not an unusual illustration.
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We could picture it in our imagination.
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Even in the life of our church, we used to have a ministry come
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here every year where there be a big pottery, pottery
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demonstration, appear with a Potter and a wheel and a big
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lump of clay. And we'd watch him for the whole
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service, develop something right before our eyes.
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So to think of a Potter working with clay, it makes sense.
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We can grasp it because God wants us to understand him.
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He wants us to get it. And in this illustration of
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Jeremiah, both for him and us now, it is symbolic.
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So there are three things symbolic in this illustration #1
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is the Potter. The Potter is an analogy of the
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father. The Potter represents God the
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Father. He's sitting at a wheel, a wheel
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that's spinning and dirty. And sometimes it goes fast,
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sometimes it goes slow moving. The the clay around the wheel
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represents life, life, life circumstances.
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Sometimes it's spinning and you're dizzy and you don't know.
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Get me off, get me off. At other times the wheels not
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spinning at all and you're like. What are you doing?
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Why is it so fast and why is it so slow?
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Life can be like that, can throw you some curveballs, and life
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can just be difficult. And then the final illustration
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is the clay, the lump of clay, the clay that doesn't cost much
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and just over on the corner here doing nothing.
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And I've got good news and bad news for you.
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You ready? The bad news is you're the clay.
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The good news is, you're the clay.
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The clay represents us. Again, it's not a value
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statement of how valuable we are, except that we're more
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valuable when we're in the hands of the Potter.
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We're much more valuable. You want to be in the hands of
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the Potter. You want to be in the place
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where greater value can be worked out in your lives, that
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your life will matter. You want to be in the hands of
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the Potter. Why?
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Well, you'll notice the Potters making something.
24:10
Jeremiah sees he's making some. It's beautiful.
24:12
It's already a vessel. What would I see by that is that
24:15
Jeremiah can already recognize what that vessel is going to be.
24:18
I don't know about you, but when I was growing up, we took art
24:21
classes in school, and I remember it was elementary
24:24
school or it was junior high. I don't remember.
24:28
But I do remember doing something.
24:29
They made us do something with clay and all the kids in there,
24:32
you know, we were trying to make things with clay.
24:34
And most of us, you know what? We made ashtrays for our parents
24:40
to smoke. That's what I made.
24:41
I have a vivid memory of making some lame ashtray for both my
24:45
parents as a gift. Look what I did for you.
24:48
An ashtray for you. Because I know you'll use it.
24:55
Potter's not like that. You might feel like that
24:58
sometimes, but that's not how God is.
25:00
He's making you into a beautiful vessel.
25:03
And as he's making you into a vessel, that lump of clay, what
25:06
happens? It says in verse four that it
25:08
was marred in His hands. We don't use that word marred
25:12
very much. You know, the word we use today.
25:14
I think another version of the Bible uses this way, not marred,
25:18
but ruined. It was ruined.
25:22
It was ruined. I wonder how many are listening
25:24
to me today that look at their life and you see ruins.
25:28
You see ruins like it says in another place.
25:31
You just see ashes. The ashes ruined.
25:37
You see all of us, believer and unbeliever alike, face ruins.
25:43
All of us are marred. This world's hard, difficult,
25:47
touched and tainted by sin. We all make mistakes.
25:51
We all make big mistakes, small mistakes, whatever it may be.
25:54
We're all all marred. We all face ruin.
25:59
I wonder how many today are just beating yourself up because the
26:02
relationship you're in ruined. You might be beating yourself up
26:07
because your kids, you just see your kids turning their back on
26:09
the Lord ruined. You're on the other side of a
26:13
job. You just got laid off or the
26:15
economy is hard ruined. Your five year plan not
26:19
happening, ruined. And here's the key.
26:23
You have to ask yourself the question, are you ruined in the
26:27
Potter's hands? Because if you're ruined in the
26:30
Potter's hands, then there's a future.
26:33
You've got to be in the Potter's hands.
26:36
That's what it says here. The vessel was marred in the
26:38
hand of the Potter. And what did the Potter do?
26:41
He made it again into another vessel.
26:45
There is a future and a hope for you in Christ.
26:48
Salvation by faith through grace by.
26:52
Grace through faith means that God is working in your life,
26:55
that it's not dependent upon all your good works and all your
26:58
good deeds. You know, you have a great week.
27:01
You can say with great confidence, I had a great week,
27:03
God loves me. Yes, you have a horrible week.
27:07
You know what? You can say God loves me because
27:09
it's not about your works. You're not the Potter.
27:13
And that may be another message you need to hear today.
27:15
You are not the Potter. You're not in control.
27:20
This is not your gig. You belong to God.
27:23
You surrendered your rights to him when you were born again.
27:26
You said your way, not my way. Jesus said you want to follow
27:30
me. What?
27:30
You must first deny yourself. This is the life of self denial.
27:35
You're not the Potter you can't take, although you can, you can
27:40
ruin things by taking things into your own hands, trying to
27:44
be God. How many of us, you don't need
27:46
to raise your hand, but how many of us, God will already say,
27:48
hey, you're not the Potter, Ed, you're not the Potter.
27:51
I already gave you your shot and you tell me how that went for
27:53
you and. Like, I'll tell you how it went
27:55
for me. It was disastrous.
27:58
It was absolutely a disaster. Doing things my way, following
28:03
my own lead, making my own decisions, disconnected from the
28:07
Potter, disconnected from God. I heard everybody that was close
28:11
to me and even people that never even knew me.
28:14
Yeah, it was a disaster when I was born again.
28:16
I'm not the Potter. The truth be told, I've never
28:19
been the Potter. There's only one Potter, the
28:23
Father, and He is whose hand you want to be in.
28:28
You want to follow Him and trust him, because if your life is
28:32
marred in the hand of the Potter, you immediately get to
28:36
connect to hope and you know that God is not done with you.
28:40
His character and His nature is love.
28:43
And you know the Lord Father is shaping us and molding us.
28:46
And so many times we love it. It's wonderful when when his
28:50
will lines up with our will, we're just so happy.
28:53
Like this is amazing. This is awesome.
28:56
And yet when things don't line up the way that we want, we may
28:59
not be so excited. Or when the bottom falls out and
29:03
things seem completely lost and I'm ruined.
29:07
No, not in the Potter's hand. Because he's ready to make it
29:10
again into another vessel. Why?
29:12
Because you're his poem. You're his workmanship.
29:16
You're his masterpiece. I don't know.
29:19
I didn't read much about the Sistine Chapel when I put this
29:21
together. I don't know how it all went
29:23
down. How many years?
29:24
I'm sure there's a lot of history behind that.
29:26
But Can you imagine a guy on his back for years and years and
29:29
years painting that ceiling and then some dude just shows up and
29:32
does a bucket of paint all over it.
29:34
And like, I think I'd be upset. First thing I'd do is flick him
29:38
off the the painting scaffolding there.
29:41
It's like dude. Get out of here.
29:43
But now I've got, you know, as a painter, I'm like, I spent all
29:45
these years putting all this together and this guy throws a
29:49
bucket of paint. Oh, I'm just done.
29:50
I'm done. I mean, if that did happen, I'm
29:53
sure he would frustrate him and upset him.
29:55
But you know what? It's back to work.
29:58
Got to fix this. And God is alone is the one that
30:02
can fix the issues in your life to give you the strength and the
30:05
hope for the future. He's working in you, both to
30:10
will and to do for His good pleasure.
30:12
For Jeremiah, the the word to the nation was come back to me
30:16
and I'll, I'll, I'll fix all the things that you have destroyed
30:20
by sin. Come back to me.
30:22
That was the message of the Potter to them, the message of
30:25
the Potter to you. Maybe come back to him.
30:28
It may be trust him. It may be knowing you're not the
30:31
Potter, you can trust him with your life, but for all of us,
30:34
for sure, the message of the Potter today, if you want to
30:37
come back to Ephesians with me in chapter 2 and the message of
30:40
Ephesians chapter 2, verses 89 and 10 is that salvation is by
30:45
grace through faith. It's not of works, lest any man
30:49
should boast, but we are his workmanship created in Christ
30:53
Jesus. God is working in US, fashioning
30:57
and molding us. The message for us today is that
31:00
God will complete what He started in your life.
31:04
That He's not done with you, that if you would turn to Him
31:07
today, He's still at work. The process begins over and over
31:12
again being conformed into the image of Christ.
31:15
The message for us today is that God wants you to be moldable and
31:19
soft in His hands. He wants you to respond with
31:22
humility and grace. He doesn't want you all
31:25
defensive and upset that things aren't working out your way, but
31:29
to trust Him with your life, just like you did in the moment
31:33
that you were saved. You are God's masterpiece.
31:36
You are not the Potter, and He wants to express Himself to the
31:40
world through you. You're not merely a trophy of
31:43
His grace. You are His masterpiece.
31:46
He wants to reveal Himself to the world through the body of
31:49
Christ. He is the head.
31:51
Jesus is the shepherd, Jesus is our pastor.
31:55
And to me it's astounding to think that God is working in US
31:59
and he already knows what he's doing with our lives.
32:01
How do you, how can you say that, pastor?
32:03
Because the Bible says that we're walking in works that were
32:05
already prepared for us. This is God's will for your
32:09
life. Yeah.
32:09
But I just think I've ruined it all.
32:11
And I've just. No, you're ruined in the hand of
32:14
the Potter. You haven't ruined it all.
32:16
God is the God of the second chance and the third chance.
32:19
And for some of you, I need my calculator for how many chances
32:22
you have. Because God is gracious towards
32:25
you. And as long as you're breathing,
32:27
you can turn to the Lord. As long as you're alive, you can
32:30
turn to the Lord. Today, believer and unbeliever
32:33
alike, we want to be his masterpiece.
32:37
It makes such a huge difference when you realize this, it
32:41
changes your life in a depth that you've never experienced
32:46
it. It makes everything so much more
32:48
valuable. You know, like it's, it's the
32:51
difference between just trying to be good.
32:53
I'm trying to be good pastor, I'm trying to read my Bible
32:55
pastor, and then feeling guilty all the time because you can
32:59
never measure up to your trying and God doesn't want you to try.
33:03
He just wants you to be. Just be who you are and believe
33:07
Him. When God says something, believe
33:09
him and then follow Him. You're his workmanship and He
33:16
loves you and He's giving. He's not giving up on you.
33:19
He's not tossing you aside, but making you into something new.
33:22
That's important to know in a society where we just throw
33:25
things away when they're broke. Especially guys like me that
33:28
can't fix anything. He's like, I don't know, I just
33:31
get a new one. It's easier to get a new one
33:32
than to try to fix it because I was just all that time and I was
33:35
just disposed. But God's not disposable.
33:37
You're not disposable to God. These are just toss you away.
33:40
You're unique, one-of-a-kind masterpiece.
33:42
You need to jot that down. You're unique, one-of-a-kind
33:45
masterpiece. Well, I don't feel like it.
33:46
That's where you have to take your thoughts and feelings
33:48
captive to the obedience of Christ.
33:50
We're not talking about what you feel.
33:51
We're talking about the truth. This is God's work in your life.
33:54
Yeah, but I'm so ruined. But you're on the wheel and
33:56
you're in the Potter's hands, and he's going to make you into
33:58
something else. And here's the key.
34:00
You just have to submit yourself back in Jeremiah.
34:02
Remember, he made it into a vessel.
34:04
That what, please. That the Potter, this is what he
34:07
wants to do is just get along with the program of what God's
34:10
doing in our life, and we'll be so much happier.
34:13
It's like, yes, Lord, I can see it.
34:16
Because, you know, we do go up and down on our walk.
34:18
With the Lord, we do, we have our ups and downs, our good
34:22
weeks, our bad weeks. We can look at anything in our
34:25
lives and go, I wish I was stronger.
34:26
I wish I had victory over this. And you know, the people that
34:29
we're around to the the world that we're in, you know, they
34:33
can see it. We, we call it up and down.
34:35
But you know what the world calls it?
34:37
People you work with, people you interact with, you know they
34:39
call. You know the churches.
34:40
Are filled with hypocrites. I see so many inconsistencies
34:44
with Christianity and the reason they're coming to that
34:46
conclusion is because that's they see our lives and we know
34:50
our lives. They're by grace of God.
34:52
You know, we understand our lives, but the world, the world
34:55
is constantly throwing its salvos against us and saying,
34:59
you know what, so inconsistent, so hypocritical.
35:01
And you know, I don't want anything to do with the church.
35:03
And what does the church do? We get so defensive.
35:06
I don't want you to be defensive.
35:08
You know, you're especially on social medias.
35:09
You read that as you just go, bam, you go right back.
35:11
We're not hypocrites. We're not.
35:13
And you know, that doesn't do anything.
35:15
It doesn't do anything. You want nobody to Christ
35:18
fighting him like that. The wrath of man does not
35:22
produce the righteousness of God.
35:25
But you know what, next time somebody points out maybe an
35:27
inconsistency in you or a hypocrisy in you, let me help
35:32
you with that. Because certainly a self
35:36
examination of our lives, we can see in ourselves that there have
35:40
been times when we've acted hypocritically or that we have
35:44
been inconsistent or we've had a down.
35:47
Somebody hit us on a bad day. You know, that's what we call
35:49
it. Somebody hit us on a bad day.
35:50
But for someone that doesn't know Christ but sees us as
35:53
Christians, that hits them pretty hard.
35:56
Oh yeah, it's just a bad day. But for them, it's like, I want
35:58
nothing to do with that because of their view of Christianity is
36:01
not a true vision of Christ. And certainly on a bad day,
36:04
we're not giving it to him. So let me prep you for this.
36:07
It might change your life. You know, it might change your
36:09
whole perspective. Next time, you know, somebody
36:11
says the church is filled with hypocrites and inconsistencies
36:15
or even points out to you, you can just say, you just pause,
36:18
here's the answer, here's the answer.
36:20
This is the answer. You ready?
36:22
Will you please forgive me for giving you that view of
36:26
Christianity? Forgive me for what I said,
36:28
forgive me what I did. Don't don't make it about, you
36:30
know, for I'm sorry you felt. That way that that take
36:34
ownership of whatever is being pointed out and then add to it.
36:39
Add to it because that's going to disarm somebody that's upset
36:42
with the church. They're going to expect a fight.
36:44
They're probably picking a fight.
36:46
And the best thing to do when somebody's picking a fight is
36:49
just. Take a step back so you don't
36:50
get hit in the jaw, right? Just step back.
36:53
I don't want to get into a fight.
36:54
And so when somebody's pointing out things, your church, that
36:57
church, I can't believe the church, Christians on and on and
36:59
on. You could also.
37:01
Say, especially if you know them, he's like.
37:03
But one thing you don't understand as.
37:05
Bad as it. Is right now.
37:06
I was much worse. It was much worse in my life
37:12
before I met Christ. Much worse.
37:14
Yeah. And what does that do?
37:16
That opens the door for you to tell them just how much worse it
37:20
was, and it becomes a testimony of the work of God in your life
37:25
instead of a fight that nobody's going to win.
37:27
Nobody's going to win that fight.
37:30
God doesn't. Didn't call us to go into all
37:31
the world and pick fights and defend God.
37:35
Oh, I'm going to defend God. Can you imagine God looking now?
37:40
Oh, there's that. Trying to defend me again.
37:43
He doesn't need me to defend him.
37:45
He needs me to follow him. Follow him.
37:49
And sure, there's ups and downs in our lives.
37:52
We make mistakes, sinful mistakes.
37:56
The best response is humility, brokenness.
38:00
It's like, man, you think it's bad now?
38:01
You have no idea how bad I used to be.
38:04
What? Yeah.
38:05
Let me tell you a story. And you take them back and you
38:09
begin to tell the story of God's redemptive grace to your life.
38:14
And what happens, what gets shown off, what gets showed off
38:17
in your life is the grace of God.
38:20
And then you defuse the whole situation, you bring it down.
38:23
And what do you do? You keep following the Lord.
38:26
You keep following Him faithfully.
38:28
Listen, you and I, we are saved by the grace of God through
38:32
faith. It is a gift of God.
38:35
And now you're free to do good and to allow the Lord to express
38:38
himself through you, not for salvation, but because of it.
38:42
You're not saved by good works, you're safe for them and this is
38:46
God's purpose and plan for you. Follow Him and enjoy the
38:49
goodness of God. That's it, that's His plan for
38:51
your life. Just follow Him and enjoy His
38:54
goodness. Amen.
38:56
Amen. Father, thank you for your word
38:57
today as it speaks to our hearts and develops.
39:02
You know, this sense of, I wonder today how many are just
39:04
fighting, fighting, fighting, fighting, fighting and not
39:08
resting, just resting, knowing that you're going to take care
39:13
of it, You're going to lead us. Our identity is not in the
39:18
fight. Our identity isn't following
39:20
you. And I'm grateful, Lord, that you
39:23
would minister to us. And it's true, there's no joke
39:27
about it. Things would be far worse in our
39:30
lives. We'd have more inconsistencies,
39:33
more hypocrisies if we didn't know you, if you weren't working
39:40
out your masterpiece in US. And today I might have failed
39:46
you, and today I might have made a mistake with someone.
39:50
But it's far better than it was 10 years ago, 20 years ago,
39:54
because you're conforming us into your image.
39:57
So I pray over our church today. I pray over those connected to
40:00
us. Pour out your spirit on us,
40:02
Lord. Lead us to follow you to
40:06
appreciate the work you're doing.
40:09
And truly to get along with the program and that's just to
40:12
follow you humble ourselves before the mighty hand of God
40:16
and you'll lift us up. And that's the place of joy all
40:20
that you are doing in my life, in our lives today in Jesus
40:24
name, Amen. Amen.
40:26
Let's stand together, church. So good stuff to talk about the
40:30
grace of God, the goodness of God.
40:34
I talked to someone recently who was telling me about a previous
40:38
experience where he was given by his church a list of things he
40:44
had to do. And he couldn't do them.
40:48
And they were pretty strict things that this, this and this.
40:51
And if you don't do this, this and this, then you're out.
40:56
And the lists were all kinds of behaviors.
40:58
And certainly the brother needed to change his behavior.
41:01
But there was one thing he really needed to do and that was
41:04
come back to grace. You see when you come back to
41:07
the beginning where Jesus said in in Ephesians, if you're going
41:10
to. Develop a, a list, just give a
41:12
verse and what Jesus said to the church in Ephesus in Revelation.
41:17
He says, remember from where you have fallen, repent and then go
41:21
back and do the first works. That was the purest part of our
41:24
walk with the Lord. You know, back in the beginning,
41:28
back in the beginning, he's like, well, whatever you have
41:30
for me, God, whatever you want from me, I'll do anything and
41:33
I'll go anywhere. That's the purity that God's
41:36
always calling us to, simple faith.
41:40
And it's not simplistic, it's simple.
41:42
So today, if you need to give your life to Jesus Christ, I
41:44
want you to do that. There'll be men and women here
41:47
up on the at the stage. I mean, most of the pastors are
41:49
gone. Men, you know, they're at the
41:51
men's retreat, they're going to Thailand, having babies.
41:54
Everybody's gone. But we got people, we found
41:57
people to come and serve you today as many of the pastors are
42:01
out serving the Lord different places.
42:02
Great. You can come up and talk to us.
42:05
You can pray with us. There's men pastors, there's men
42:07
and women on our prayer team up here because we want to minister
42:10
to you. If something really resonated
42:12
you, don't leave without processing it out loud, just
42:15
letting the Lord pray. Just take it to the Lord with
42:18
another brother or sister, but follow him this week.
42:22
Put the Bible study to the test. Test me on what I said.
42:26
Choose to follow Him, choose to believe Him.
42:28
Choose to walk in grace. Choose to ask for forgiveness.
42:32
There's somebody here that I spoke directly to your heart and
42:35
you just need to go and take ownership.
42:38
Just ask for forgiveness. That's it.
42:39
Take ownership. The Lord has set you free.
42:43
He'll set you free. He will set you free.
42:48
Why? You're His masterpiece.
42:52
And he wants you to walk in freedom.
42:53
Amen. We pray that you've been
42:56
encouraged by this Bible study delivered live from the
42:58
sanctuary of Calvary Church for prayer.
43:01
Call us at 87730 Grace that's 877-304-7223.
43:10
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43:13
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43:19
or download our free Calvary Church app.
43:22
Be blessed as you worship Jesus this week.