Pastor Mike Impact Ministries

Todaywe will begin our study in Ephesians 3 and learn more about who Jesus is, whatJesus has done for us, the mystery of the church, and how we serve Him out oflove. We minister to a lost world, to people around us that maybe hate us, thatmistreat us, but we can love them anyway because Jesus loves us. Aswe've looked at this book so far, chapter 1 has taught us that we need toknow Jesus. Paul wrote in In Ephesians 1:18, “The eyes of yourunderstanding being enlightened that you may know what is the hope ofHis calling and what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in thesaints and what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us who believeaccording to the working of His mighty power.” Because we know who Jesusis, our position in Christ, we have an understanding of the exceeding greatnessof His power that works in us. Inchapter 2, it's about living Jesus. We've been saved by faith throughgrace (vv 8-9). But then in verse 10, remember: “We are His workmanshipcreated in Christ Jesus to good works which God prepared beforehand that weshould walk in them.” We see now we are to live Jesus because we know Him.We know our position in Christ. We know our calling through Him, from Him andfor Him. Now we live for Him. In a real sense it's not us living for Him, it'sChrist living in us. Paul said, "I'm crucified with Christ.Nevertheless, I live yet not I but Christ lives in me. The life that I now livein the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gaveHimself for me" (Galatians 2:20).  Whenwe realize that we know who we are in Christ, and we know our position inChrist. And we know our calling in Christ. Then we can live out the life ofChrist. He lives His life in us and through us by the power of His Holy Spirit. Now,in chapter 3, we're going to be talking about loving Christ. In verses17-19 we read, “That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; thatyou, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all thesaints what is the width and length and depth and height-- to know the love ofChrist which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness ofGod.” Then we can experience verse 20: “Now to Him who is able to doexceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power thatworks in us.”  SoPaul is now wanting us to know here verse 17 that we are grounded in His love.Christ loves us and we love Christ. When we truly know this then we can serveand minister and work out of love for Christ. Remember what Jesus said in Johnchapter 15? “If you love Me you will keep My commandments. We will not belike servants but we'll be like friends.” Why? Because out of love, we serveand minister because of His love for us. We have experienced His great love andnow we live for Him. Alsoin chapter 3, Paul begins to explain a great mystery. That mystery is thechurch. We're going to be talking about that over the next couple days. Today Iwant us to understand and have this desire to know Christ, to live for Christ, andto love Christ in that order. To love and be rooted and grounded in His love. Thismust be the foundation of our life in serving and ministering for Christ in awicked and evil world. Paul begins this chapter talking about being a prisoner.He's a prisoner in bonds in Rome. The church at Ephesus must be thinking, whyis Paul a prisoner? He's never committed any crimes.  ButPaul's saying, "No, I'm a prisoner and a bondservant of Jesus Christ foryour sake, for the sake of the gospel. Because I love Christ, it's not like I'min prison. Even here I have greater opportunities to serve and live forHim." When we love Christ, everything becomes an opportunity and aprivilege to share His love with the world around us that desperately needs toknow the love of God through Christ Jesus. Today,are you experiencing the love of Christ in your life and service for Him? I prayand trust that you are!

Todaywe are continuing to look at Ephesians 2:18-22. In these verses, we find thatGod's purpose for the church, God's purpose for Jew and Gentile. God's purposefor every human being is to know that you are of tremendous value to God. Itdoesn't matter whether you're a Jew, whether you're a Palestinian, whetheryou're called a Christian, whether you're called a Muslim, Hindu, a Buddhist, aRussian, an American, a Chinese, or any other nationality for that matter. Itdoesn't matter your ethnic background or your racial background. It doesn'tmatter whether you're rich or poor. You are of tremendous value to God.  Everyhuman being was created in the image of God. That means we have personality.That means we can think, we have a will, we have emotions. Every human beinghas all these things because we're created in the image of God. God's plan andpurpose is that we have peace with one another and that we get along with oneanother and that we love one another. The great commandment is to love God withall your heart, soul, and mind. Alongside of this first and great commandmentis the second commandment, which is the proof that we truly love God, that welove our neighbors as ourselves. No matter who our neighbor is.Wehave been created with and for something special. Every human being, no matteryour background and religion, no matter who you are, where you live, whereyou're from, or what you've been taught, you have been created with eternity inyour heart (Ecclesiastes 3:11).  In thelast verses in Ephesians 2, Paul reminds us, “For through Him we both haveaccess by one Spirit to the Father”. Yes, we can have access to the creatorGod and Father of the universe. You can have access to the God, already beingworshiped as “the unknown God” that many are still looking for.  But He can only be found “through”Jesus Christ alone.  Myfriend, only then can you enjoy personal peace and experience unity with thosearound you. Now, therefore, we're no longer strangers or foreigners, butfellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God (v. 19).Verse 20 tells us that this unity is: “built on the foundation of theapostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone.” Paulsaid in 1 Corinthians 3:6:11, “I planted. He says Apollos watered. But Godgave the increase." He then goes on to say, "For no other foundation can anyone laythan that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus."  WhenPaul said, "I laid the foundation," he says earlier in 1Corinthians 2:2, “For I determined not to know anything among you exceptJesus Christ and Him crucified”. Christ is the foundation and He's thechief cornerstone of Psalm 118:22. This is the chief cornerstone which thebuilders rejected and is often referred to in the New Testament as in verse 20.The “cornerstone” binds a building together.  Nowwe are part of His temple, the church of Jesus Christ, the universal church,the church which is His body. Oh, how wonderful to be a part of something sospecial and that's eternal. Nations come and go, institutions come and go, butone thing will last, for eternity, and that is the body of Jesus Christ, Hischurch. Today, you can be a part of His church by placing your faith, not in areligion but in a person, Jesus Christ! A religion didn't die for you! OnlyJesus Christ did! Thatis what this chapter is about. We're separated from God by our sin, but Jesusdied to give us eternal life. We can by faith trust Him and enter into ourunion with Him and with one another today. Would you do that? Would you trustChrist? And then if you know Christ, if you're in Christ, then as a follower ofChrist, tell others.  Today,would you tell someone about this hope, this faith you can have that changesand transforms everything and brings you peace with God and with others.   GodBless!

Today,as we are looking at the last verses of Ephesians 2, we need to remember thatPaul has been talking about separation beginning in verses 11-12. TheJews were separated from the Gentiles, the Gentiles from the Jews. They bothwere separated from God because of sin. Next, we see reconciliation inverses 13-18. How now through the blood of Jesus Christ, we've been reconciledto God. We can be reconciled and have peace with one another. In these lastverses, Paul speaks of unification.  Paulhas repeated the word "one" to emphasize the unifyingwork of Christ: "who has made both one" (Ephesians2:14); "to create in Himself one new man" (Ephesians2:15); "might reconcile them both to God in one body" (Ephesians2:16); and, "we both have access by one Spirit" (Ephesians2:18). All spiritual distance and division have been overcome by Christ. In theclosing verses of this chapter, Paul gives three pictures that illustrate theunity of believing Jews and Gentiles in the church. Weare now one new nation (v. 19a).  Israel was God'schosen nation, but they rejected their Redeemer and suffered the consequences.The kingdom was taken from them and given to "a nation bringing forththe fruits thereof” (Matthew 21:43). This "new nation" isthe church. “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holynation, His own special people, (1 Peter 2:9-10).  Inthe Old Testament, the nations were reckoned by their descent from Shem, Ham,or Japheth (Genesis 10). In the Book of Acts, we see these three familiesunited in Christ. In Acts 8, a descendant of Ham is saved, the Ethiopiantreasurer. In Acts 9, a descendant of Shem, Saul of Tarsus, who became Paul theapostle. And in Acts 10, the descendants of Japheth, the Gentiles in thehousehold of the Roman soldier, Cornelius. Sin has divided mankind, but Christunites by His Spirit. All believers, regardless of national background, belongto that "holy nation" with citizenship in heaven (Philippians3:20-21). “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly waitfor the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ". Weare now one family(v. 19b). “But fellow citizens with the saints and members of the householdof God”.  Through our faith in Jesus Christ,we enter into God's family, and God becomes our Father. This wonderful familyof God is found in two places, "in heaven and earth" (Ephesians3:15). Living believers are on earth and believers who have died are in heaven.None of God's children are "under the earth" (Philippians2:10) or in any other place in the universe. We are all brothers and sisters inthe one family, no matter what racial, national, or physical distinctions wemay possess. Weare now one temple(vv. 20-22). In the Book of Genesis, God "walked" with His people.Enoch walked with God (Genesis. 5:22-24). And Noah walked with God (Genesis6:9). But then in the Book of Exodus, God decided to "dwell" with Hispeople:  (Exodus 25:8). God dwelt in thetabernacle (Exodus 40:34-38) until Israel's sins caused "the glory todepart" when the Philistines captured the ark in battle. (1 Samuel 4).  ThenGod dwelt in the temple Solomon built (1 Kings 8:1-11). But again Israel sinnedand the glory departed: “Then the glory of the LORD departed from thethreshold of the temple…” (Ezekiel 10:18-19). God's next dwelling place wasthe body of Christ: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and webeheld His glory " (John 1:14). But men took and nailed this body to a cross. Today,through His Spirit, God dwells in the church, the temple of God. God does notdwell in man-made temples, including church buildings (Acts 7:48-50). Goddwells in the hearts of those who have trusted Christ: (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). And God dwellsin the church collectively as we see in these last verses in Ephesians 2:20-22. Ourunity is in Christ and is best displayed when we love one another despite ourdifferences! GodBless!

Ifthere's one thing everyone needs, is looking for, and desires, it is to havepeace. To have peace within themselves, peace with God, and peace with thosearound them. But it often appears that many people today are bent on havingwar, at enmity with others, with hatred, malice, anger and violence in their heartsand lives. There is no peace in their lives, and they live to destroy any peacein the world around them. The Bible describes it this way in Isaiah 57:20-21, “Butthe wicked are like the troubled sea, When it cannot rest, Whose waters cast upmire and dirt. "There is no peace," Says my God, "for thewicked."  Theirhearts are against God, so their hearts are against everyone around them, andin a sense even themselves. But I believe that deep inside every individualthere is a desire, there is a yearning for peace. The only way to make thatpeace is with God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 5:1 tells us: “Havingtherefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our LordJesus Christ.” That's what we're talking about in these verses before ustoday in Ephesians 2:16-18.  Rememberin verses 11-15, Paul was dealing with the Gentiles basically and thereconciliation they needed and could now experience between themselves and theJews now that they were in the same church, in the same body of Christ. Now we'rein Christ (v. 13). Before we were aliens and strangers but now, we're a holynation. Colossians 1:19-22 speaks of this very thing: “For it pleased theFather that in Him all the fullness should dwell, speaking of Jesus. By Him,Jesus, to reconcile all things to Himself. By Him, whether things on earth orthings in heaven. having made peace through the blood of His cross, and you whowere once alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now has Hereconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy andblameless, and above reproach in His sight.” How wonderful, how powerful isthat? We'reno longer strangers because we are now in the family of God along with theJewish people. We had no hope. Now we've been called into one hope. We werewithout God, but now through Christ God is our Father. Nowin verses 16-18, Paul is talking about how both Jews and Gentiles needreconciliation as sinners with God.  Paul'sletter to the Colossians in chapter 2:13-14 says it this way: “You beingdead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alivetogether with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out thehandwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us, andHe has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to His cross." Inother words, the law tells us we're sinners. The law tells us that we arecondemned. God is a holy God and He must punish sin. God also at the same timeis a God of love. He's a God who wants us to know peace and have peace.  That'swhy in Ephesians 2:17, Paul writes: “He came and He preached peace.” Didyou notice that in verse 14 it says Jesus Christ is our peace. In verse15, He made peace because of the blood of His cross between us and God.Then in verse 17, He preached peace. Remember the angels saying to theshepherds that day on the hillside, "Peace on earth and good willtoward men”, is the message of Jesus Christ to all world of sinners."(Luke 2:13-14).   Ifyou want peace, the only peace you'll ever find and the only peace the worldwill ever find is in the person and ministry and work of Jesus Christ throughHis Holy Spirit that can be in all of our hearts at the same time. “Forthrough Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father” (v. 18).  Whata wonderful message for us today. We have a God that can take care of theenmity, bring reconciliation, and bring us back into a place where we can havefellowship one with another. Today,I trust you're experiencing that peace and joy in yourself, and with God, andwith those around you.  

First,I want to thank you for your prayers for traveling mercies for my wife and Iyesterday as we left our home in Sneads Ferry NC around 3am to drive 6 hours upto Roanoke, Virginia for the ribbon cutting ceremony and the grand opening ofthe Go Center. Aroundnoon, we were got in the car to go to Charlottesville to visit my brother Mark atthe UVA Medical Center. We called to make sure it would be ok to visit him andwere pleasantly surprised to find out he was being discharged at that verymoment to go back home to Lynchburg. He has made an amazing recovery from hisbypass surgery. Todaywe want to look specifically at Ephesians 2:14-15, where it speaks of the factthat, “Jesus Christ Himself is our peace who has made both one and hasbroken down the middle wall of separation having abolished in His flesh theenmity that is the law of commandments contained in ordinances so as to createin Himself one new man from the two thus making peace.”  Myfirst big question as a brand-new Christian was how did people get saved beforethe cross? How did they get saved in the Old Testament? My friend over theyears I've concluded there's only one way of salvation. That is the way offaith. The way of faith through Christ Jesus. In the Old Testament, they lookforward to His sacrifice on the cross and now we look backwards, and by faith,both looks are taken. Everyone, both Jew and Gentile receive salvation becauseof Jesus and His sacrifice and blood shed on the cross. Verse15 reveals that the cause of the enmity was the law because the law had made adefinite distinction between Jew and Gentiles. The dietary laws reminded theJews that God had put a distance and difference between the clean and theunclean (Leviticus 11:44-47). But the Gentiles did not obey these laws.Therefore, they were unclean. Ezekiel the prophet reminded the priests thattheir task was to teach the Jews the difference between the holy and theprofane (Ezekiel 44:23). The divine ordinances given by God to Israel stood asa wall between the Jews and the other nations. In fact, there was a wall in theJewish temple separating the court of the Gentiles from the rest of the templeareas.  Archaeologistshave discovered this inscription from Herod's temple. It reads like this: “Noforeigner may enter within this barricade that surrounds the sanctuary andenclosure. Anyone who is caught doing so will himself be blamed for his ensuingdeath”. It was this wall that the Jews thought Paul and his gentile friendscrossed when the Jews attacked him in the temple and threatened to kill him inActs 21:28-31.  Inorder for Jews and Gentiles to be reconciled, this wall had to be destroyed,and this Jesus did on the cross. The cost of destroying the enmity was theblood of Christ. When He died, the veil in the temple was literally torn intwo, and the wall of separation (figuratively) was torn down. By fulfilling thedemands of the Law in His righteous life, and by bearing the curse of the Lawin His sacrificial death (Galatians 3:10-13), Jesus removed the legal barrierthat separated Jew from Gentile. For centuries, there was a difference betweenthem. But today, "there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek.For the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him. For whosoevershall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Romans10:12-13). Ohmy friend, what a wonderful Savior we have. He is our peace. We are now onewith anyone. The new creation is the church, the body of Jesus Christ. We arepart of that new creation. “Old things have passed away. Behold, all thingshave become new”. Oh, what a wonderful thing it is to have peace with God,peace with one another, and be made one in Christ, and with any and everyonewho accepts Him as their personal Lord and Savior. Godbless!

In these verses, we see that Paul isspeaking to the Gentiles, specifically telling them how by the blood of Christ thatthey have now been able to make peace not only with God, but with the Jewishbelievers also in the church. They have been brought together to be one. Veryimportant. God wants His church to be one. One in Christ. Despite our culturaland religious and other backgrounds that could cause tremendous enmity, division,and strife, God wants us to be one. Ourpreferences often divide us in the church over music, rituals, ceremonies anddifferent things that might take place. But God wants us to be one. Jesus said,"By this shall all men know that you are my disciples because you loveone another." It was the love of Christ that gave us oneness with Godthrough Christ Jesus and His blood on the cross. My friend, it's the love thatwe can have for God and for others that can help us to set aside ourpreferences and our differences and love one another in such a way that theworld sees this great reconciliation between those who are at enmity. Inever forget that in my first years of ministry, I was out visiting and stoppedalongside a country road to talk with a man from our church. While were talkingwe were accosted by a man who actually began to beat up my friend. When I sawthe drunk man coming down his driveway with a crowbar in his hand, I told myfriend we should drive down the road to get away from him. I drove down the roadbut my friend felt he had the right to stay where he was and the drunk man beganto beat up my friend. My friend went and reported it to the police, of course,and there were some issues that took place. A few years later on a Sundayevening, at a new members gathering, was a man who had gotten saved because hischildren had come to church and gotten saved. I'll never forget this because theman that got saved said, "See that man over there?" He said, "Iremember beating him up and having a terrible situation with him. Would youtell him I want to ask him to forgive me for the way I acted and what I did tohim?" It was a wonderful experience that night to watch two men who hadbeen at enmity, had been in a terrible altercation, now making reconciliationbecause of the blood of Jesus Christ and the peace that God had brought intotheir hearts. It was a great testimony to watch them over the next years they becamegood friends and worked together maintaining buses for our outreach ministry. Thiskind of peace and reconciliation is only possible through Jesus Christ. Sowe see that in this passage of scripture we're at enmity with God before oursalvation. Enmity with God began in the Garden of Eden when sin entered thepicture. When Adam and Eve sinned, they were separated from God. That's whatscripture teaches. They experienced death. Death is separation. They wereseparated from God. Their first two children, Cain and Abel, they experiencedenmity, deep-seated hatred to the point that Cain killed Abel, the first two brothersthat were ever born on planet earth.  Sincreated this enmity between human beings and only God can reconcile us. Then wefind that violence came into the earth because of the enmity between oneanother. The earth was filled with violence in Genesis chapter 6 and the floodtook place. But then even after the flood, men tried to make peace with eachother by building the Tower of Babel so that they can have unity. Yet this didnot bring unity. God scattered the nations and gives them the curse oflanguages that separated them.  Myfriend, there has always been this enmity because of sin. The only answer forsin is the blood of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 describes the ministryof reconciliation. Please take time to read these verses!God bless!

Ialso wanted to remind you of the grand opening tomorrow of the GO Center therein Bonsack, Virginia, right outside Roanoke, Virginia at 9:30am. You're morethan welcome to attend this grand ribbon cutting ceremony opening up the GOCenter. You can read more about this in my Pastor's Chat. Again, thank you somuch for your prayers and being a part of this ministry with us at Pastor MikeImpact Ministries. Today,we are continuing to look at Ephesians 2. We've been talking about how Paulhere in verse 11 begins to address specifically the Gentiles in the church. Anamazing thing took place when of course the Gentiles began to get saved. BeforeActs 11, there was no conflict in the church at Jerusalem. The conflict, strifeand contention, appears in the church when the Gentiles started getting saved inActs chapter 10. This is when Peter went to speak to Cornelius the centurionand brought him to faith in Christ. It was then in Acts 11 we begin to see thisconflict between the Jewish believers concerning circumcision and the Gentiles.Of course, even at the church at Ephesus, because there are both Jewishbelievers and Gentile believers, this conflict possibly was continuing. No doubtthat is why here in Ephesians 2 Paul is writing about the greatest peacemission that has ever taken place on planet earth. That's the peace JesusChrist came to make between us and God, and to make between us and others. Especiallybetween other believers that we might be one. AsI was reading through these verses 11-22, the word one keptcoming up. I circled it. It is important to note that God came to make us onewith Himself through Christ and make us one with one another. Rememberthat was the prayer of Jesus in John 17. Now in Ephesians 2:11. Paul had remindsthe Gentiles that before their salvation, they were without God. They werewithout hope. They were without Christ. They were alienated and strangers tothe commonwealth of Israel, separated from the Jews. Verse13 begins with: “But now”.  This“But now” parallels the “But God” in verse 4, “Whois rich in mercy with His great love”. “But now in Christ,you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Jesus Christ.”He goes on to write. We're going to read through verse 18. “For HeHimself is our peace, who has made both one and has broken down themiddle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity,that is the law of commandments contained in the ordinances, so as to create inHimself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that Hemight reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross,thereby putting to death the enmity. He came and preached peace to youwho are far off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have accessby one Spirit to the Father.” Howpowerful is that? So, we see a key word here is enmity. The word enmitymeans a deep-seated hatred between people or groups. It's often long-lasting.We see this enmity going on in America today between the left and the right inpolitics and the hatred that the left has for our president. We see thisenmity. It's long-lasting. That there seems to be no reconciliation or peace.We see in this passage of scripture the enmity between the Jews and theGentiles, between sinners and God. But thank God we see that Jesus Christ hascome with the greatest peace mission in history, there is only reconciliationbetween Jews and Gentiles, between God and man through Jesus Christ.  Haveyou made peace with God through Jesus Christ? I trust that it will encourageyou to know only through Christ you can receive reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:17-21). Godbless!

Paul talks about some definite things that have brought these twogroups together who usually were at odds with one another. In the first versesof this chapter Paul is addressing both the Jews and the Gentiles. Paul tells bothJews and Gentiles that God has made alive those who were dead in trespasses andsins. Remember that a Gentile is anyone who is not born of Jewish descent. Paulreminds them and us how before salvation in Christ we are all dead in ourtrespasses and sins because sin works against us. We're disobedient. We'redepraved, and we're doomed, and we are children of wrath. But God, but God whois rich in His mercy with a great love that He's loved us. And with that loveHe has now brought us salvation and reconciliation and redemption by His graceand through our faith in Christ (vv. 4-9). God has a plan for our life and weare His workmanship, land He has before ordained before the foundation of theworld that we should walk in these wonderful works of God, the good works thatonly He can do through us and let the light of Christ shine out of us andthrough us to a dark world. Nowwe come to verse 11. Here Paul is particularly addressing theGentiles, those who are not of Jewish descent. First, He reminds them, you'recalled uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision (the Jews) made in theflesh by the hand. The Jews look down upon the Gentiles, calling them the uncircumcision.The Gentiles were like dogs in many cases for most of the Jewish people.  Inverse 12 Paul points out that the Gentiles were without Christ being aliensfrom the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenant of promisehaving no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you whowere once a far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. The one wordthat best describes the Gentiles is without. They were “outside” in severalrespects. They were without Christ. They're without citizenship in the nationof Israel without the covenants. The covenants were given to Abraham and to hisseed.  BothJews and Gentiles were without hope. Historians tell us that a great cloud ofhopelessness covered the ancient world. Philosophies were empty; traditionswere disappearing; religions were powerless to help men face either life ordeath. People longed to pierce the veil and get some message of hope from theother side, but there was none (1 Thes. 4:13-18). Theywere without God. The heathen had gods aplenty, as Paul discovered in Athens(Acts 17:16-23). But the pagan, no matter how religious or moral he might have been,did not know the true God. The writer of Psalm 115 contrasted the true God withthe idols of the heathen. Itis worth noting that the spiritual plight of the Gentiles was caused not by Godbut by their own willful sin. Paul said the Gentiles knew the true God butdeliberately refused to honor Him (Rom. 1:18-23). Religious history is not arecord of man starting with many gods (idolatry) and gradually discovering theone true God. Rather, it is the sad story of man knowing the truth about Godand deliberately turning away from it! It is a story of devolution, notevolution! The first eleven chapters of Genesis give the story of the declineof the Gentiles; and from Genesis 12 on (the call of Abraham), it is the storyof the Jews. God separated the Jews from the Gentiles that He might be able tosave the Gentiles also. "Salvation is of the Jews" (John 4:22). Godcalled the Jews, beginning with Abraham, that through them He might revealHimself as the one true God. With the Jews He deposited His Word, and throughthe Jews He gave the world the Savior (Rom. 9:1-5). Israel was to be a light tothe Gentiles that they too might be saved. But sad to say, Israel became likethe Gentiles, and the light burned but dimly. This fact is a warning to thechurch today. When the church is least like the world, it does the most for theworld. 

Yesterday, I promised I'd give an update on my brotherMark and his triple bypass surgery at the UVA hospital in Charlottesville,Virginia. The surgery went extremely well, according to the report of thesurgeon to his family after he came out of surgery. But last night we heardthat Mark was in excruciating pain from the surgery.  Also, we were told that Mark will be inintensive care for at about five to seven days. You can continue to pray forhim. Pray for his wife Renee as sheministers to him and his family during this time and as he recovers andrecuperates from this surgery. Yesterdaywe also mentioned the ribbon cutting ceremony for the Go Center that's going totake place in the Bonsack, Roanoke area of Virginia this Saturday morning, November1st, at 9:30am. Again, if you live in that area, we invite you tocome. If you don't live in that area, I want you to pray for the Go Center. Iremember when I became a believer, I felt the Lord was calling me to missionsand that He wanted me to go overseas. I surrendered my life to ministry under amissionary thinking that that's exactly what was going to happen. But the Lordhad other plans and led me to stay in America as a pastor. Yet at the same time,the Lord gave me a tremendous burden to do all I could to facilitate missions,to encourage people to pray, to give, and to go.  Overthe last 50 some years in ministry, we've watched God do amazing things. One ofthose things is that my heart has been moved and blessed by the fact that my familyis very involved in missions. And especially my son Jonathan who is the head ofGlobal Partners in Peace and Development. The Go Center Out was born out of thishumanitarian organization by the great passion Jonathan's and his wife Heidi hasfor missions and the unreached peoples of the world. This is the central themeof Go Center.  Ilove what others are already saying about the Go Center. The mission's directorof the Parkway Church on the Mountain wrote after visiting it: "The GoCenter has the potential to spark the fire for a movement of young people toengage in a great commission. This incredible unique discovery experience willenable families to actively participate in learning about God's plan for thenations and the unreached people groups of the world. You'll leave the GoCenter in awe that you just made your way across the globe without setting afoot on an airplane."  JeremiahHambrick, the lead pastor of Bedrock Church Roanoke, wrote this: "I've hadthe unique privilege of witnessing the transformation of the Go Center from arundown church building into a place full of purpose and potential. It's morethan just a building. It's a launching pad for global mission right in theheart of the Roanoke Valley. The Go Center isn't just a place to visit. It's anexperience that draws you into the story of God's heart for the nations, takingyou on a journey to the world's unreached people groups and inviting you toplay a part in His global mission.” Again,I want to invite you to come this Saturday for the grand opening starting with theribbon cutting ceremony at 9:30. If you can't attend this Saturday, at a laterdate bring your family and a group of young people. Help let them see whatmissions and really what the heart of God is all about. That's been my heartfor over 50 some years and I'm so blessed to see it now just blossom into thisgreat Go Center to continue to facilitate and to excite people about doing whatGod has called us all to do. That is to go into the world and make disciples ofall the nations. All the nations, even those who've never heard of Jesus, needthe opportunity to hear. Ireally want to encourage you to help us with the Go Center. Even if you don't liveclose by you can pray and you can give. And if you live close you can participate by volunteering. You can visitthe Go Center website at: https://www.gpartners.org/gocenterto learn more about all these opportunities.

I'm so thankful for your prayers these past couple weeks while we'vebeen on tour in Jordan and in Egypt. It was a wonderful, wonderful tour. Everyoneon it was tremendously blessed. We met new friends. We built new relationships.We saw some exciting things that reminded us that our God is God. He is the Godof all the earth. He is the God of all the nations. Despite the fact there's somuch division, strife, hurt, pain in the Middle East, I'm telling you, God isat work there in a marvelous way in the lives of so many people. People arelooking for peace. Peace, even there in all the areas of these countries. We'reso thankful for your prayers during this trip. We're glad to be back. Also,I want to announce, if you live in the Roanoke or Lynchburg area of Virginia,we'd love to invite you to come to the GO Center this coming Saturday. Therewill be a ribbon breaking ceremony for the Grand Opening at 9:30. The GO Centerwill be open to help encourage people to go into all the world with the gospelof Jesus Christ. To go in prayer, to go on mission trips, to go with theirgiving. This facility was designed to get an experience of being on the missionfield right there in Bonsack Virginia at the GO Center. You can look up moreinformation at the www.gpartners.orgwebsite. I trust that you will plan on coming. That is this Saturday, November1st at the GO Center. I think it's going to be a great way that people aregoing to be touched to be on mission with God and for getting a new view ofwhat missions is really all about. That's what the GO Center is about, toencourage, also enlighten people about missions. That's really what the Bibleis about. It's about the heart of God who loves the world and how He preparedin eternity past a plan to bring redemption and reconciliation to every person. That'swhat Paul is talking about here in Ephesians 2:10-22 that we are presentlylooking at. We see that this chapter is telling us that God is on a great peacemission to reconcile the world to Himself through Jesus Christ. I love theseverses. We've already gone down through verse 10 talking about how we can besaved by grace. We who were dead in sins now can be made alive in Christ Jesus.We have been redeemed. We've been forgiven. We find that all through the bloodof the Lord Jesus Christ.  Inverses 11-13, Paul writes to the Gentiles in the Church at Ephesus, "Thereforeremember that you once Gentiles in the flesh." Remember he's writing tothe church at Ephesus who mainly were made up of Gentiles, non-Jews, who arecalled uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision, made in theflesh by hands. That at that time you were without Christ, being aliens fromthe commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenants of promise, having nohope, without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once faroff have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” Actually,in these next verses through verse 22 at the end of the chapter, we see thatthree words summarize what this chapter is about: Separation, reconciliationand unification. The Gentiles were separated from God. They were separated fromthe covenant. They were separated from Christ. They were separated fromcitizenship in the holy nation. They were separated, without hope, without God.That's the condition of every sinner, both Jew and Gentile. This includes everyonethat has never accepted Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. We'reseparated from Him. My friend, only God can reconcile us to Himself through Hisson Jesus Christ.  Again,thank you for your prayers and tomorrow we will update you on my brother. Godbless!

Iam so reminded, as we think about what's going on right now in the news, thatJesus Christ is coming soon. The Bible says when everyone is saying peace andsafety, then sudden destruction will come upon them (1 Thessalonians 5:3).Before real peace comes in the millennial reign of Jesus Christ, there will bethe rapture of the church and then a terrible seven-year tribulation period, asI understand the prophetic Scriptures in the Bible. But we can still pray forpeace today. This is something that we can pray for, “that we might live godlyand quiet lives, that we might have the opportunities to share the gospel ofJesus Christ with everyone we possibly can” (1 Timothy 2:1-3).  Again,I ask for your prayers. You know that while we travel, we are not able to makeour daily pastor chats. I trust you'll just go back and look at maybe some ofthe old chats. You can do that on YouTube and even on Facebook. Just look themup and go back and listen. I trust they'll encourage you and bless you whilewe're missing our daily chats. We hope to be back by October the 26th from thistrip. Wehave been looking at Ephesians 2. In these first 10 verses we see how that sin worksagainst us and brings death into our lives. “But God”, (I love verse four), butGod, God works for us. He redeems us. He forgives us. And it's all through theblood of His son Jesus Christ. He exalts us. We sit in the heavenly places eventoday in Christ Jesus. We are to the praise of His glory. What a wonderfulchange takes place when we meet Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. We talkedabout how that we are saved by grace through faith alone in Jesus Christ. Thatfaith makes a difference because it's a faith that not only saves us, it's afaith that works in us and through us and out of us. God works in us, throughus, and for us as we trust in the blood of His son Jesus Christ. Nowas we get down to verse 11 through the end of the chapter, we're finding aboutthe peace that God can make between not only ourselves and God, but betweenourselves and others. The Gentiles and the Jews were so divided because theJews look down very much upon the Gentile people as you see in these verses.Now the Jew and Gentile can go to church together and be made one in JesusChrist. I am telling you, it doesn't matter what religion you are, what faith youare, what background you might have, what culture you were raised in. When youcome to know Jesus Christ as your savior, other believers become your brothersand sisters in Christ. They, I'm telling you, can be loved in Christ. You canhave oneness in Jesus Christ. That means you have peace. You not only havepeace with God, but you also have peace with those around you.  Thecircumcision were the Jews that was made with hands. Circumcision was a sign ofthe covenant that God had made with His people Israel. The Gentiles were theuncircumcised. Paul now addresses the Gentiles in the church at Ephesus. Theywere without Christ. They were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel. Theywere strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God inthe world. But now in Christ Jesus, those “who were once afar off have beenbrought near by the blood of Christ”. What a powerful message for us today.Come to Jesus through His blood and you can be made one with those around youin Christ!  Myfriend, today you can have peace with God and peace with those around you.That's the real peace we should all be seeking today. Godbless!

Godhas a plan for your life. He has a purpose for your life. God has a will foryour life. That's what we're looking at here in Ephesians 2:10. “For we areHis workmanship”. We're His poem. We're His masterpiece, “created inChrist Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walkin them”. That we should walk in them. Walk in what? The good works thatGod has prepared for us to walk in beforehand. In eternity past, God chose thatwe should glorify Him by walking in His “good works”. Everyhuman being was made in the image of God. That's why it doesn't matter who youare, where you're from, what your ethnicity is. It doesn't matter what coloryour skin is. My friend, you are of tremendous value to God. God loves you. Godsent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for you. It doesn't matter whether you're amurderer or you're the best person in the community. God loves you. God wantsyou to know His will and plan and purpose for your life. That's one of the mostamazing things in all the world. That is that we know and can know the will ofGod, God's plan, purpose for our lives.  Yousay, "How can I know that? How can that take place?" Ephesians 5:17even hints about this very same theme where the apostle Paul wrote, "Therefore,do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is." God'swill for our lives is not some mystery. God has prepared it beforehand and thatwe should walk in it. I love Psalm 139 that tells how God created us withpurpose. He created us and He has us in His mind and in His heart always. Heknows everything about us and still yet He still cares for us. The Bible saysHe cares about the sparrow and notices when it falls from the sky. God feedsthe birds of the air, the fowls of the air. God is in charge. God loves Hiscreation.  Butof all of creation, He loves the human beings that He created in His own imagemore than anything else in eternity. The most famous verse in scripture, John 3:16,tells us that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son”. Thatword world there is every human being that's ever been created and placed onplanet earth. God loves you.  Nowhow do we know that will for our lives? I love Romans 12:1-2, where Paulwrites: “I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that youpresent your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto God that's onlyyour reasonable service and do not be conformed to this world but betransformed by the renewing of your mind that you may know and prove what isthat good and acceptable and perfect will of God”.  Howdo you find and know the will of God? First, as you read in Ephesians 2:1-3, byrealizing that you're a sinner. You're condemned. You're depraved. You have nohope. Then in verses 4-7, “But God”! God is working for you. He loves you. Hecares for you. He has redeemed you by the blood of His Son. He has forgiven you!God has called you out of the grave clothes to live a changed and exchangedlife. His life living through you. God exalted you to sit in the heavenlyplaces in Christ Jesus.  Nowyou can find that will, that perfect plan and will of God for your life. As abeliever the first aspect of the will of God for your life is to live a holylife. It's God's will that we be sanctified, that we be set apart (1Thessalonians 4:3). That we live a life that pleases Him as we yield ourselvestotally to God (Romans 12:1). Then we're not conformed to this world, but welive a life that's different than the world lives because Christ is living inus. Then you will know, you'll prove, you'll understand what the will of God is(Romans 12:2).  Myfriend, when you know what that is, you have purpose in life. You have a planand a mission in life to be on mission with God! How exciting that is! Oh, I'llnever forget the day I began to find and understand God's purpose and plan formy life and the difference it has made for me. God will do the same for youtoo, if you let Him!

Todaywe're continuing to look at Ephesians 2:10. We are talking about the good worksthat are produced after salvation in our lives through the ministry and work ofthe Holy Spirit. “God working in us both the will and to do of His goodpleasure” (Philippians 2:13). We always need to remember we are not savedby good works but we're saved unto good works and for good works for the gloryof God. James 2 makes it really clear that we're justified before God by faith,but before men, and even the assurance that we have of our own salvation, isthe fact that we have a faith that works for us and in us and through us andproduces good works because faith as he says at least three times in verses 14through 26, that “faith without works is dead”.  TheBible speaks of many different kinds of works. There are the “works of thelaw” in Galatians 2:16. There are the “works of the flesh” that arelisted in Galatians 5:19-21. There are the “works of darkness” in Romans13:12 and Ephesians 5:11. There are the “dead works” in Hebrews 6:1 thatlead to death. Then there are the “works of righteousness” in Titus 3:5that refer to religious works, or in other words, good deeds that we think cangive us our salvation and make us holy before God. But remember Isaiah declaresthat all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags in God's sight (Isaiah 64:6).My friend, if our righteousnesses are filthy, oh, what must our sins look like? Theworks that Paul's talking about in Ephesians 2:10 here have two specialcharacteristics. First, they are good works in contrast to the works ofdarkness and wicked works. If you contrast Ephesians 2:10 and Ephesians 2:2,you'll see that the unbeliever has Satan working in him and therefore his worksare not good. Because the believer has God working in him, therefore, his worksare good. His works are not good because he himself is good, but because he hasa new nature from God and because the Holy Spirit works in him and through himto produce these good works. My life verse has been Philippians chapter 1:6: “Beingconfident of this very thing that He who has begun the good work in you, Hewill perform it. He will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ”.  Itis sad today that so many believers put a little emphasis or no emphasis on theworks of the believer because they don't want to mix it up with works andsalvation. But the Bible makes a big deal about our works in Matthew 5:16. “Letyour light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorifyyour Father which is in heaven”. We don't perform good works to glorifyourselves but to glorify our Father which is in heaven. The apostle Pauldesired that Christ would be magnified in his body even if it meant death.Philippians 1:20-21. We should “abound to every good work” (2Corinthians 9:8). We should be “fruitful in every good work” (Colossians1:10). We are “equipped by God for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:17). Weshould be “zealous unto good works and maintain them” (Titus 2:14). Wefind also in Hebrews 13:16 that our good works are actually “spiritualsacrifices that we offer to God”. It'simportant to note that we don't manufacture these good works. They're theresult of God working in our heart. Paul said, "By the grace of God, Iam what I am" . My friend,when you truly have been born again and the Spirit of God lives in you, therewill be good works produced in your life for the glory of God and others willsee it and magnify God and many will believe. Rememberour good works are evidence that we have been born again. "Not everyonethat says unto Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but hethat does the will of My Father which is in heaven" (Matthew 7:21).Our good works are also testimonies to the lost (1 Peter 2:12). Our good worksthat are produced by the fruits of the Holy Spirit in us will also win us theright to be heard.

From thefirst verses in this chapter we have learned that sin works against us. Itcondemns us. It sends us into an eternity separated from God. “ But God” inverses 4-9, we find that God though works for us. He has provided for us agreat salvation through Jesus Christ. We have redemption and forgiveness ofsins, and God has exalted us to sit at the right hand of the Father along withJesus Christ. Oh, how blessed we are. God works for us.  Butnot only that, God works in us. That's what we're looking at in these verses.We first are told we're not saved by our works. We're saved by His grace (vv.8-9). Now, we sometimes then set works aside and forget that not only are wesaved to live for eternity with Jesus Christ, but we're also saved to live forGod now on earth. So the next verse, verse 10, says, "For we are Hisworkmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God preparedbeforehand that we should walk in them." I wish we had time today todo a study in the New Testament on the phrase “good works”. Startingin Matthew 5:16 where Jesus said, “Let your light so shine before men thatthey may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven”. Godraised us from the dead in Christ. Not so that we would continue to sleep andlive in our grave clothes, but to live a new life and live out the goodworks of God. It's not that we do so much for God. It's what God is able todo in us. But until we accept His work for us, we'll never know what it is forGod to work in us and through us to do His will for His glory. Oh, what ablessing when we begin to learn that lesson. It's God who works in you both towill and to do of His good pleasure. AfterLazarus was resurrected from the dead the people standing by were told to takeoff his grave clothes and set him free, let him go and be an example, atestimony. When people saw Lazarus later, it says they believed in Jesus (John12:1-11). My friend, that's what we want the lost world around us to do. Not forthem to see our good works and glorify us and give us a pat on the back, but toglorify our Father which is in heaven and believe in His Son Jesus Christ! Thesame resurrection power that saves us and took us out of the grave clothes willmake us and mold us and give us strength and wisdom and grace to live a lifedaily for the glory of God. Please take the time to meditate on Romans 6 and 8and learn about the resurrected life we have in Christ, and the Holy Spirit andHis work in us.  TheBible gives us many examples in the lives of people who experience God's workingin them. As we let the Word of God live in us, as we begin to meditate on Histruth, and we begin to spend time with God in prayer daily we too can experienceHis awesome working in our lives. But is also means we will face suffering andit's through these means, the Word of God, through prayer, and throughsuffering that God begins to do that mighty work through us that He has “preparedbefore and ordained that we should walk in them”. Itis important to know that we could only “walk in them” when we'rewalking hand in hand with Jesus, abiding in Him, His word is abiding in us, andwe're walking in prayer (John 15:1-5).  Thenif we ask anything in prayer, He will answer those prayers and He will beglorified in our lives as we are one with Him and one with the Father. Rememberthat was Jesus' prayer for us in John 17.  Wethen to begin to live a life where we are not doing what we want to do, butwhat He wants us to do. We're walking in His will day by day and enjoying allthe blessings of eternity right now on earth. It's a blessed life and that'swhy He gives us the Beatitudes to live by (Matthew 5:1-11). Remember theexamples in the Scriptures it was only after suffering like Moses, like Joseph,like David, and so many others in scripture, that it is when God exalted themand He used them for His glory in a wonderful and mighty way. 

Today we're looking at Ephesians chapter 2. In verses 1-3, wesee how sin works against us and brings us death and destruction and despair.Then we see in verses 4-9 how God works for us. Both these are past tense inthe sense that what God does for us has already been accomplished in ChristJesus. We're seated in the heavenly places. We are now to the praise of Hisglory. We've been redeemed by His blood. By His grace, we have been saved.That's all been accomplished because of the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. Now,in verse 10, we're talking about what God is present tense doing in us. We are Hisworkmanship. God is working in us. The Greek word translated workmanship ispoiema, from which we derive our English word poem. It means that which ismade, a manufactured product. We are God's—someone said it thisway—masterpiece. Just as all of creation is God's poem singing His glory andHis praise, we are His creation as new creatures in Christ Jesus. We are to theglory and the praise of God the Father. We're His masterpiece. We are His poem.How wonderful is that?  God'splan and His purpose for us is to be conformed to the image of His son JesusChrist (Romans 8:29). We know that wonderful verse in 2 Corinthians 5:17. “Forif any man be in Christ, he's a new creation…”. Oh my friend, that's theposition we have in Christ. “God is working in us even now to do His willand His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). Goddoes this great and wonderful work through the ministry and power of His HolySpirit. Christ finished the work of redemption on the cross. But He rose fromthe dead, and He returned to heaven. There in heaven He carries on Hisunfinished work of perfecting His church. You can read about this in Ephesians4:7-16 and  also in Hebrews 13:20-21. “Nowmay the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that greatshepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant make youcomplete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is wellpleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever and ever.Amen.” You can't say it better than that.  Christis equipping us for our walk and for our work here on earth. To do this, He hasthree special tools. First, we have the Word of God. In 1 Thessalonians 2:13,we read these great verses. Paul said, "For this reason, we also thankGod without ceasing, because when you receive the word of God, which you heardfrom us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, theword of God which also effectively works in you who believe." Now, howawesome is that? God uses His Word. When we read it and understand it andmeditate on it and feed on it, the Word goes to work in our lives to cleanseus, to nourish us, to lead us, and to guide us in so many ways. Secondly,as we pray, God uses prayer to connect us to Himself and His great power. Ephesians3:20-21 “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all thatwe ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory inthe church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” Aswe pray, God's Spirit works in us to release His mighty power and grace.  Finally,God uses suffering. 1 Peter 4:12-14 says it this way: “Beloved, do not thinkit strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though somestrange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake ofChrist's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad withexceeding joy. If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you,for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He isblasphemed, but on your part He is glorified.” God says this suffering isfor the purpose of us being made more like Jesus. It draws us back to the LordGod Himself. Suffering makes us look up to Jesus and makes us depend totallyand absolutely upon Him.  

Todaywe're looking at Ephesians chapter 2:1-9. In these first three verses, we findthat sin works against us. I believe you could summarize all nine of theseverses with Romans 6:23: “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God iseternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord”. Yes, sin works against us, butmy friend, God works for us. And, “…If God be for us, who can be against us?”(Romans 8:31). God has great love. He's rich in His mercy! (v.4).  In verse five, we see He's made us alivetogether with Christ. And also in verse 6, He has raised us up to sit together withChrist in the heavenly places. He's exalted us in Christ.  Everything'sin Christ. I've underlined it in my notes, in Christ and throughChrist. It's all because of Jesus. The gift of God is eternal life throughJesus Christ our Lord. So, not only has He loved us, but He's also made usalive. He's exalted us. He keeps us, we see this in verses 7-9. Yes,God also keeps us. We believe the Scripture definitely teaches we have eternallife. And when we have eternal life in Christ Jesus, it's a life that willnever leave us. He is eternal. Because of that, His life lives within us. It'snot our life. We didn't save ourselves. We're not saved by works of our ownrighteousness, but according to His mercy, His grace, He saved us. Grace issomething we did not merit. We deserve death. And I love that verse in Romans5:8. “But God commended, He manifested His love toward us. And that while wewere yet sinners, Christ died for us”.  That'sthe riches of His grace in Christ Jesus. He died for us. The church at Ephesuswas a persecuted church. That's why Paul wrote chapter six of this letter tothe church there, reminding them that we don't wrestle with flesh and blood butwith principalities and powers”. Remember, as you read Acts 19, there waspersecution going on even as Paul was in process of leaving the city. And theysought to beat him and to destroy him and to kill him. And yet God protectedhim as he left the city with a great group of believers loving the Lord, livingfor Christ.  Jesuspromised His believers, "You will suffer persecution." He said,"They hated me, they'll hate you." Just because now the Christians inAmerica are facing ridicule and persecution and trials and we're seeing ithappen, we forget that was the norm of the church through the centuries. Matterof fact, in many countries today, we're finding that the persecuted church andthose who are dying for the name of Jesus Christ is the greatest it's ever beenin Christian history. We were just in Egypt and there we were with the CopticChristians in several locations, and we remember just a few years ago 21 ofthese believers had their heads cut off because of their faith in Jesus Christ. Myfriend, today God wants to encourage us. You might be lonely today. You mightbe tired today. You might be weary today. You might feel opposition today. Youmight not feel like trying to take another step as a believer and living forJesus today. You need to remember God works for you. He cares for you. He lovesyou. He has mercy and grace for you today. He will make you alive in Christ. Hehas exalted you and you should remember you're seated in the heavenly places inChrist. And our citizenship is not on earth. Philippians chapter 3, but it's inheaven with Him. We're just pilgrims passing through and oh, we have somethinggreat and awesome to look forward to.  Butwe can enjoy heaven on earth right now in Jesus Christ. And that's what Godwants us to know. We are not trying to work for our salvation. It's a donedeal. Jesus did the work already for us on the cross of Calvary. All we can dois receive. Oh, today make sure that you believe, you receive, you trust, andyou take these words to heart.  Godwants you to be encouraged today with these words, and I trust that you are,too.  Godbless!

We just had a very busy weekend this weekend in Lynchburg and Roanoke,Virginia. Many of you have been praying for Luke who had his 31st brainsurgery. This is now over 40-some surgeries as a result of the brain leakage offluids that's having to be taken care of off his brain. We are so thankful foryour prayer. Luke had the surgery late Sunday afternoon. It was a 4-hoursurgery. Edith spent the whole day at the hospital, and I was also able tospend the afternoon with Kimberly and Chris. Luke came back to the room in lotsof pain but was finally given medication which gave him some relief and calmedhim down. Monday morning, he was doing much better and was able to go home inthe afternoon. We had a FaceTime with him as he was leaving the hospital and aswe were driving back here to NC. He was laughing and chuckling. Wow!!!! What amiracle. God is so good. And it looks like what needed to be taken care of wastaken care of. We thank God for the doctors, the surgeons, and all the hospitalhelp that took care of that for him. But most of all, for God's grace and helpand all your prayers. Thank you.  OnSaturday, I participated in the Global Partners Peace and Development GolfTournament to benefit the work in Haiti with Amber Hassen. Over 100 golfersparticipated there in Daleville at Ashley Plantation Golf Course and over$10,000 was raised. We're so thankful for your prayers for that. And Isurvived. I don't know if I played golf. I hit the golf balls. But did the bestI could. And I set a record for myself. I finished with the same golf ball thatI started with. That's the first time that's ever happened in any time I playedgolf or hit around on the golf course.  OnSunday morning I preached at Thomas Terrace Baptist Church in Lynchburg. It wasan awesome service, and a great crowd. There was awesome excitement and for themission's conference there and after the message over 46 people signed up topray for a pastor in India. If you're still interested or God is speaking toyour heart about joining the pastor's prayer team for the India pastors, pleaseemail me, text me, call me, let me know, and I'll be glad to line you up with apastor there in India. You can specifically pray for an India pastor on aregular basis.  Ihad a board meeting with Treasure Path Soulwinning on Monday morning. And itwas a wonderful meeting with our board and just preparing for this next yearwith encouraging people to memorize scripture, to pray, and to be a part ofwinning a world to Jesus Christ. Well, it's been a great time these past coupleweeks. Sorry I've been away from our pastor chats.  Rememberhere in Ephesians 2, we find out how sin is against us, how sin works againstus. We are born into this world dead in trespasses and sins. And because we'redead in trespasses and sins, we're also disobedient, sons of disobedience. Welive disobedient lives. Then we go on to depravity. The lust of the fleshdrives us. And then we also see we're doomed because we're children of wrath.We're under the condemnation of the law.   ButGod, (In verse four where we basically left off), But God who is rich in Hismercy and because of the great love with which He has loved us, He hasquickened us. He has made us alive, He has given us a new life. And not onlythat, we find in verse six, and has raised us up together to sit together inthe heavenly places in Christ Jesus. We weren't just made alive and left in thegrave. Because we are united to Christ, we have been exalted with Him and weare sharing His throne in the heavenlies. Our physical position may be onearth, but our spiritual position is "in heavenly places in ChristJesus." Like Lazarus, we have been called from the grave to sit withChrist and enjoy His fellowship (John 12:1-2). Myfriend, that's what God does for us. Godbless!

First,let me thank you for your many, many prayers as we traveled this past week anda half to Egypt, to Jordan, and to Slovakia. And because of your prayers, wefelt like we had a prosperous journey. That's what Paul would ask the churchesto pray for him. He often asks prayer for safety, for deliverance from evilpeople, and also for the opportunity to share the gospel. Read the epistleswith Paul asking for prayers. My friend, prayers are answered when we believeGod for wonderful things that are according to His will. And so, I thank you somuch. It was a wonderful trip.  Someof you might remember I started a story, and I said, "You'll get the restof the story when I get back." So today, let me just finish the story ofJanet, the Egyptian lady that sat next to us in the airport at Istanbul on a three-hourlayover there. It appeared to us that just randomly, she sits next to us.  She didn't speak any English. We didn't speakany Arabic. And she sat for a while, and as we said, she asked for help withgetting a connection to her iPhone that was dead. We were able to help her withthat. Then a little later we noticed she was reading an Arabic Bible.  Sowe struck up a conversation and immediately the first thing she did was show usthe passage of scripture that she was reading and that was Colossians 1:15-18where she was reading: “He is the image of the invisible God, speaking ofJesus the firstborn over all creation for by Him all things were created thatare in heaven and that are on earth visible and invisible whether thrones ordominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him andfor Him. And He is before all things. And in Him all things consist. And He isthe head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from thedead, that in all things He may have the preeminence”. And she just keptsaying, "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus." Like Jesus is everything.  Itwas difficult to understand exactly what she was saying, but my nephew Jasonbegan using his iPhone app translator with AI and we were able to then recordwhat she was saying, and it would translate it to us. And the first thing she mentioned,and was translated was: “The first time I saw him, God told me to go sit besidehim safely.” So that just amazed us that she's sharing with us is that she satthere because God told her to. And then when we asked about whether she was afollower of Jesus Christ, she replied with these words.  “Myname is Janet. I married this man when I was miles from God. Didn't even know him.(She was apparently speaking of her husband that she had married). He wouldhurt me. He was harsh, cruel stuff. Slap me, drag me by my hair, once even useda knife. And me, I wasn't blameless: cursing, lying, living rotten through andthrough. His cruelty isn't an excuse. But God helped me find a pastor, put himin my path, and I poured out everything to him, everything. And today, I thankChrist because He picked up someone like me anyway.”  Aswe began to go back and forth with her with a translator and she shared more ofher story, she said, "I need you to pray for me, my sons Tamous and Daniel,that they would know Christ." Tamius, he's been all alone since his daddied three years now. Haven't seen him. He's down with a wrong crowd. Hash anddrugs and always wanting cash. I don't live anymore without him coming back. Ijust want him to repent and turn to Jesus.” Itrust you'll put this young man Tamous in your prayers and also her son Daniel.Janet actually lives in the States in Richmond, Virginia and works in a Walmartthere. And I'm still just amazed that without any knowledge of the Englishlanguage, but thank God she's a born-again follower of Jesus Christ. What awonderful story. In Cairo we had another amazing experience at the Monastery ofSt. Simon. Our guide there told us of a miracle that took place where an entiremountain was moved by prayer alone!!!!

Welcometo Pastor's Chat today. Well, this morning I have a special prayer request foryou. Today I am leaving along with my son Jonathan and a nephew Jason Rigginsfor Egypt, Jordan, and Slovakia. I'll be driving this morning to Raleigh tocatch my first flight up to Dulles. And there we'll meet with Jonathan andJason. And then from there, this evening, we'll be flying to Egypt where we'llland on Sunday evening. We will have a couple days in Egypt to tour with someEgyptian ministry friends. We will also be preparing for our tour that we're doingOctober the 14th with a wonderful group of people, who are very excited aboutthe upcoming trip. I'msaying all that to tell you that I might not be able to do a pastor's chat eachday as we'll be spending many hours in flight and also in foreign countries andmight not always have good internet connections. I'll do what I can to keep youupdated on our trip and if possible, post some Pastor Chats. On Tuesdayafternoon, we'll be leaving Egypt to go to Jordan where we'll spend at least a coupledays and there visit with some of our ministry partners. We hope to spend sometime encouraging some of the leaders there that we work with in the refugeeministry in Amman, Jordan.  FromAmman we'll be flying to Slovakia to spend a few days with my sister Janet and herhusband Charles Baldis. They have been faithful missionaries for over 30 years.The occasion that really prompted this whole trip is a wedding I have been askedto speak at by my niece Tina Baldis. She has also served faithfully with herparents over all these years. We are very excited that on Saturday, Tina isgetting married to a wonderful young man named Jozef Ličko. Iam looking forward to this trip with my nephew and my son. And we're excitedabout the divine appointments that we're going to have along the way. We askfor your special prayers for traveling mercies and for these divineappointments. Pray that God gives us open doors of opportunities to share withthe people that we will providentially meet along the way. We always have thatgreat privilege and see miraculous things that the Lord does and we're lookingforward to that. We need your prayers. Your prayers will help us have thoseopen doors. They will give us boldness to speak and give us wisdom to know whatto say, how to say it and when to say it.  Itis a volatile world in the Middle East. And we are there to help bring thepeace of God into those different locations and places in people's lives byshowing them the way through Jesus Christ. Just the fact that we're there,there will be more light in the spiritual darkness there because Christ livesin us.  Andthat's what we're talking about today in Ephesians 2:5. We talked yesterday inverse 4 about how “God because of His great love with which He loved us”,has provided mercy and grace that saves us through the blood of the cross ofJesus Christ. Now we find here in verse 5, even when we were dead in our trespassesand sins, God made us alive together with Christ. Not only did the Lord JesusChrist love us, He has made us alive. The King James version says that “Hequickened us”, which means the same thing. He made us alive.  Theway He makes us alive is through the gospel, through the Word of God. In the Gospels,it's recorded that Jesus raised at least three people from the dead. Rememberthe widow's son in Luke 7:11-17, Jairus's daughter in Luke 8:49-56, and Lazarusin John 11. In each case, Jesus spoke the Word and His Word brought forth life.The Bible tells us in Hebrews 4:12 that “the Word of God is quick” which meansit is alive. It's living and it's powerful.  Whata glorious truth!!!! “God made us alive together with Christ”!!!  We are so grateful and excited about all that God is doing here inAmerica and around the world. Keep on praying!!!!

Todaywe're looking at Ephesians 2:4-9. In the first three verses, we saw the realityof sin. The reality of sin and how sin works against us. We learned how we areborn dead in trespasses and sin. Because of that, we are sons of disobedience.We are disobedient people. We are depraved people going our own way, fulfillingthe lust of our flesh. And then we also saw that we're children of wrath. We'redoomed. We have no hope at all except the grace of God and the mercy of God inChrist Jesus.  Inverses 4-9, we see at least activities that are performed on behalf of sinnersto save them from the consequences of their sins. And that's why verse fourstarts out with a “But God”.  Despitesin's work against us, despite our state of condemnation, we are told, “But Godloves us with a great love”. And that's what Paul tells us about first. Thework of God in His love. “But God, who is rich in mercy because of His greatlove with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, He made usalive with Christ (by grace you have been saved).”  Theseawesome and wonderful verses bring us hope and salvation through Jesus Christ.Now, one of the things we really need to understand, by nature, God is love (1John 4:8). But God would love us even if there was no sin and there were nosinners. God would still love because He is love. Because love is a part of Hisvery being.  Theologianscall love one of God's attributes. But God has two kinds of attributes: thosethat He possesses of Himself. These are intrinsic attributes such as life andlove and holiness. And then those attributes by which He relates to Hiscreation, especially to man. These are called relative attributes. For example,by nature, God is truth; but when He relates to man, God's truth becomesfaithfulness. God is by nature holy; and when He relates that holiness to man,it becomes justice.  Myfriend, love is one of God's intrinsic attributes. When this love relates tosinners though, it becomes grace and mercy. And that's what we see in theseverses. God is rich in mercy (v.4). But also, in verse 7 we find God is rich inHis grace toward us. Oh, how wonderful is that? Here we also discover we arenot saved because God loves us. We all know John 3:16; “For God so loved theworld that He gave His only begotten Son…”. But this doesn't mean that weare saved because God loves us.  Weare not redeemed and forgiven of our sins because God loves us. Now, thatshocks a lot of people today. We're saved by God's mercy and His grace. In Hismercy, He does not give us what we do deserve. And in His mercy, He gives uswhat we do not deserve. And all of this is made possible because of redemption,because of the blood of Jesus Christ that was shed on the cross of Calvary2,000 years ago. “In Him we have redemption through His blood, theforgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Ephesians 1:7). Itwas at Calvary that God displayed His hatred for sin and His love for thesinners (Romans 5:8; John 3:16). It was at Calvary that: “Mercy and truthhave met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed” (Psalm 85:10). Thiswas the God's ministry of reconciliation that took place that day on the crosswhen His Son, Jesus Christ, suffered, bled, and died in our place for our sins.God's holiness demanded justice and punishment for our sin and at the same timeGod's love for us would not let us go. His answer was reconciliation throughthe “blood of the cross”.  Remember2 Corinthians 5:18-21: “Nowthen, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: weimplore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knewno sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Yes,God is a God that is rich in mercy and rich in grace. And His grace and His mercyis what brings us the salvation of Jesus Christ. Thank the Lord for that today.

Todaywe move on to Ephesians 2:4-9. When we looked at verse 1-3, we see ourselves assinners. Paul points out what our sin nature is, what our sin condition is.What is the tragic consequence of sin in our hearts and lives. We are dead intrespasses and sin. Paul teaches us we're disobedient because of that and weare the sons and children of disobedience. We're depraved. We fulfill the lustof the flesh. We do what comes naturally. And then we also are doomed. We'rechildren of wrath. The wrath of God already abides upon us outside of JesusChrist. That's the condition that we're in. That's the work of sin in our life. Thenthere is God's judgment on sin. God's decree on sin is death “Then when lusthath conceived, it bringeth forth sin. And sin when it is finished, it alwaysbrings forth death” (James 1:15). “The wages of sin is death…”(Romans 6:23). God told Adam, “The day you eat of the fruit of the tree, youshall surely die”. That's the result of sin. It's death. That's what'shappening in the world today. When sin runs rampant and when people aren'tcoming to Christ and being saved. Only the life that we can have in Christ andthe life that gives us a new nature, the nature of God Himself, the Holy Spiritliving within us, can change that. We don't need reformation, we needtransformation! (2 Corinthians 5:17).  Ilove the very two words of verse 4! “But God”. First, we see our sincondition (vv. 1-3), but thank God we immediately have a “But God”. Readverses 4-9 again: “But God who is rich in mercy..."“ButGod”. Didyou know that over 46 times you read in the Scriptures that phrase, “But God”.Things are bad, sin abounds, evil is everywhere, “But God”. Joseph wassold into Egypt as a slave by his brothers. But he told them, “It was notyou who sent me here, but God…” (Genesis 45:8).  In Genesis 50:20 he went on to tell them, "Youmeant it for evil, but God meant it for good." My friend, when youbring in God, everything changes. You see, sin seems to rule, “But God”. Ilove the many “But God” verses you find in the Bible. After describingthe future judgment of the wicked, the Psalmist declares: “But God willredeem my soul from the power of the grave, For He shall receive me” (Psalm49:15). Psalm 73:26, "My flesh and my heart fail, but God is thestrength of my life."  In 2Chronicles 20, King Jehoshaphat was facing an army that you couldn't evennumber. He was fearful, but he called a fast, fell on his knees, and prayed.And in 2 Chronicles 20:15, the prophet told him, "The battle is notyours, but God's."  Ilove the “But God” in these verses: “For scarcely for a righteous man will onedie; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But Goddemonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners,Christ died for us” (Romans 5:7-8). Yes, “The wages of sin is death butthe gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans6:23).  Aren'tyou thankful for the “Buts” in the Bible? They make all the difference,especially when you focus on God. Paul first focuses on us as sinners in thefirst verses, but now he focuses on God. And with God, I tell you, we havehope. Tomorrow we're going to talk about how God is rich in His mercy. He'srich in His grace. He's full of love because He is love. But today, I trustthat you will look to Jesus and know that He is your only hope of salvation ifyou're without Christ.  Today,I'm convinced that we are seeing God doing some great things across thiscountry. The message of the Gospel is being preached from places we would neverhave imagined a few years ago. And the Gospel tells us, “But God”! God lovesus. He cares for us. He's provided a way of salvation. And I tell you today, Hewill save you and anyone who comes to Him by faith and humility. 

Todaywe're looking at Ephesians 1:1-3. When I read these verses, one of the thingsthat comes to my mind is a series of messages that Dr. Ron Hawkins from LibertyUniversity preached for us years ago on Sunday nights at Rainbow Forest BaptistChurch. We had asked him if he would preach through the book of Ecclesiastes.Every evening he made this statement: " We are profoundly fallen creatureswho live in a profoundly fallen world."  My friend, this still no doubt is still the currentcondition of the world today.  Peoplewonder why all the violence, why all the discord, why all the division? Why allthe hatred? My friend, it's because they don't have Jesus Christ in their heartsand lives. Everyone by birth is born with a fallen nature, and as we pointedout yesterday, are controlled by the flesh, the world system, and the devil andhis forces. And the answer to these issues is not getting a better education orto quit listening to the public and social media and all those things. Thatmight help a little, but the real answer is getting a new heart and a new mindby coming alive in Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says: “Therefore, ifanyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold,all things have become new.”  Paulbegins Ephesians 1 with this truth: “And you He made alive, who were dead intrespasses and sins”. God has made us alive through the blood and power andresurrection of Jesus Christ. And then Paul goes on to describe the conditionof the sinner: “In which you once walked according to the course of thisworld, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that nowworks in the sons of disobedience.” This is the way the Ephesians live.This is the way we lived as sinners before salvation. Verse 3 continues: “Amongwhom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lust of our flesh, fulfillingthe desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath,just as others.”  Aswe read these verses, we have found that the sinner is dead. He's dead in histrespasses and sin. He is by nature disobedient to God and His Word. He is “ason of disobedience”. Now we find he's also depraved. And what we mean bydepraved is that he's living to please the desires of the flesh and the wishesof the mind. His actions are sinful because his appetites are sinful. When youapply the word depraved to the unsaved person, you're not saying that he onlydoes evil or that he is incapable of doing good. You're simply saying he'sincapable of doing anything to merit salvation or meet the high standards ofGod's holiness. Jesus said that sinners, lost sinners, can be good to eachother (Luke 6:33). They can be good to their children (Luke 11:13). But theycannot do anything good to spiritually please God. My friend, that's theproblem.  Beforesalvation we are living according to the desires of the flesh. Romans chapter 1goes through the steps of this depraved heart and mind and what it leads to. InRomans 8:5-8, Paul describes it clearly. Youcan't say it any more plainly than that. But the sinner is not only depraved,the lost sinner is doomed. In verse 3c, Paul adds: “And were by naturechildren of wrath, just as the others”. Children of disobedience, childrenof wrath. We're condemned already. We read this in John 3:16-21. For everyone practicing evilhates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should beexposed. This is what is happening in America today.They are haters of the light. Not so much haters of people as much as they arehaters of God. Haters of the light only because they have never come to thelight through Jesus Christ.  Let'spray for the God of mercy to open their hearts to this great truth! Man cannotsave himself, but God in His grace steps in to make salvation possible. Verse 4begins with “But God!” —what a difference those two words make! Godbless!

In Ephesians 2, Paul goes on totalk about why we are sinners, why we're dead in our trespasses and sins. Andhe describes the characteristics, the terrible condition of a person withoutJesus Christ.  Whatis our condition and problem before salvation? One, we're dead. We “weredead in trespasses and sins” (v. 1). Secondly, in verse two, Paul pointsout: “In which you once walked according to the course of this world,according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works inthe sons of disobedience” This was the beginning of man's spiritual death—hisdisobedience to the will of God. God said, "Do not eat of the tree ofthe knowledge of good and evil. In the day that you eat of it you shall surelydie" (Genesis 2:17). Satan said, "Ye shall not surely die"(Gen. 3:4), and because they believed this lie, the first man and woman sinnedand experienced immediate spiritual death and ultimate physical death. Sincethat time, mankind has lived in disobedience to God. We are born into thisworld as “sons of Adam” (Romans 5:12-19). Today we need to realize that thereare three forces that encourage man in his disobedience: the world, the devil,and the flesh. Theworld, or world-system, puts pressure on each person to try to get him toconform (Romans 12:2). The fashions of Madison Avenue, money, education, fame,all drive us to conform. Jesus Christ proclaimed that He was not "of thisworld" and neither are His people (John 8:23; 17:14). But the unsavedperson, either consciously or unconsciously, is controlled by the values andattitudes of this world. Thedevil is "the spirit that now worketh in the children ofdisobedience." This does not mean that Satan is personally at work inthe life of each unbeliever, since Satan as a created being is limited inspace. Unlike God, who is omnipresent, Satan cannot be in all places at onetime. But because of his demonic associates (Eph. 6:11-12), and his power overthe world system (John 12:31), Satan influences the lives of all unbelievers,and also seeks to influence believers. He wants to make people "childrenof disobedience" (Ephesians 2:2; 5:6). He himself was disobedient toGod, so he wants others to disobey Him too. Oneof Satan's chief tools for getting people to disobey God is lies. He is a liar(John 8:44), and it was his lie at the beginning of human history, "Youshall not surely die," that plunged the human race into sin. Theunsaved multitudes in today's world system disobey God because they believe thelies of Satan. When a person believes and practices a lie, he becomes a child, “ason of disobedience”. Theflesh is the third force that encourages the unbeliever to disobey God. By theflesh Paul does not mean the body, because of itself, the body is not sinful.The flesh refers to that fallen nature that we were born with, that wants tocontrol the body and the mind and make us disobey God. Why does a dog bark? Whydoes he behave like a dog? It's because he has a dog's nature." If somehowyou could transplant into the dog the nature of the cat, his behavior wouldchange radically. Why does a sinner behave like a sinner? Because he is bornwith and has the nature of a sinner (Psalms 51:5; 58:3). This sinful nature theBible calls "the flesh." We are not sinners because we sin. We sin becausewe are sinners. Sometimes we get this backward. Isit any wonder that the unsaved person is disobedient to God? He is controlledby the world, the flesh, and the devil, the three great enemies of God! And hecannot change his own nature and of himself overcome the world and the devil.He needs outside help, and that help can come only from God through His grace,through the ministry and work of the Holy Spirit, and through the death and resurrectionof His Son Jesus Christ. Today,thank the Lord for His wonderful grace and power that can set us free and deliverus from this terrible condition of disobedience!

The verses in this chapter talkabout living Jesus Christ. Remember we said in chapter one we talk about knowingJesus Christ. Before we can live for Christ, we need to have our eyes of ourunderstanding open to the knowledge of God. After we begin to know and understand our position in Christ then we can beginto live Jesus Christ. Inchapter one, Paul has described our spiritual possessions in Christ. Now hespeaks in chapter two about our spiritual position in Christ. First, heexplains what God has done for all sinners in general; then he explains whatGod did for the Gentiles in particular. The sinner who trusts Christ has beenraised and seated on the throne (Ephesian 2:1-10), and believing Jews andGentiles have been reconciled and set into the temple (Ephesians 2:11-22). Whata miracle of God's grace! We are taken out of the great graveyard of sin andplaced into the throne room of glory. Todaywe will begin to look at these first three verse of Ephesians 2: “And you Hemade alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walkedaccording to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power ofthe air, the spirit that now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom alsowe all once conducted ourselves in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling thedesires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath justas the others.” Here Paul gives us a full-length picture of the terriblespiritual condition of the unsaved person. Note his characteristics: Firstthing Paul wants us to understand is sin's work against us! Paul gives thespiritual condition of the unsaved person. First, he notes that we are dead intrespasses and sin. Of course this means we're spiritually dead. We're unableto understand and appreciate spiritual things. We have no spiritual lifewhatsoever. We can talk about God. We can talk about the Bible. We can evenhave it memorized. But the truth is there is no spiritual life in us aside fromthe fact that when we get saved the Holy Spirit, the life of God Himself comesto live within us. But before then, we are dead in trespasses and sins. We cando nothing to please God. We'relike a dead man. Just as a person physically dead does not respond to physicalstimuli, so a person spiritually dead is unable to respond to spiritual things.A corpse does not hear the conversation going on in the funeral parlor. He hasno appetite for food or drink; he feels no pain; he is dead. Just so with theinner man of the unsaved person. His spiritual faculties are not functioning,and they cannot function until God gives him life. The cause of this spiritualdeath is "trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1). "Thewages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). In the Bible, death basicallymeans "separation," not only physically, as the spirit separated fromthe body (James 2:26), but also spiritually, as the spirit separated from God(Isaiah 59:2). Myfriend, the unbeliever is not sick. He is dead. He doesn't need resuscitation.He needs a resurrection. All lost sinners are dead, and the only differencebetween one sinner and another is the state of decay. The lost derelict on skidrow may be more decayed outwardly than the unsaved society leader, but both aredead in sin—and one corpse cannot be more dead than another! This means thatour world is one vast graveyard, filled with people who are dead while theylive (1 Tim. 5:6). We need to understand that's our position before oursalvation. And sin works against us and we're dead in these trespasses andsins.  Oh,how we ought to rejoice in the fact that one day we met Jesus Christ if you'rea believer. And if you do not understand spiritual things, there's a reason forit. We never really appreciate our health until we have experienced a terriblesickness. And we will never appreciate and be grateful for our life in Jesus Christuntil we realize how dead we were in our trespasses and sins! 

Today,we need to remember as believers, we are at war. We're not at war with people.We're not at war with ideas and philosophies. My friend, we are at war withspiritual forces in the heavenly places. And Paul reminds us of that inEphesians 6:10-18. “We do not wrestle with flesh and blood, but withprincipalities and powers, and spiritual wickedness in the heavenly places”.This spiritual wickedness in the heavenly places, the devil and his forces, areout to rob you. Jesus said, the thief, who is the devil, has come to steal, tokill, and to destroy you.  Thedevil wants you to be robbed of your wealth in Jesus Christ. Now, he can't takethat wealth from you, but he can make you think you do not have access to thatwealth, and for you to feel like you're weak. Even like the people of Israelwhen they were in Egypt, they were stronger and mightier than the Egyptians.But the Pharaoh dealt shrewdly with them, deceived them, and thinking that theywere weaker than the Egyptians, and put them in slavery. And that's what'shappening to believers today. We have lost the sense and the knowledge of ourwealth, our power and strength that we have in Jesus Christ. Inthe Old Testament the people measured God's power by His acts of creation. Pleaseread Isaiah 40. Almost the entire chapter is devoted to God's creative powerand strength. “Who made these things”? God would answer His ownquestion.  "I made these things.I'm the God who created the heavens and the earth, and you need to know who Iam." And the nation of Israel measured His power by His acts ofcreation. They also measured God's power by His acts of power and His miraclesat the Exodus when He delivered the people of Israel out of Egypt. The 10plagues, the parting of the Red Sea, and even the defeat of the enemies in thepromised land. And the people would look back and say, "What a mighty andpowerful God we have."  Buttoday, we can also measure God's power by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Thepower of His resurrection was not only the fact that Jesus died on the cross,was buried, and that He rose again the third day. And also in the truth thatGod has highly exalted Him when He raised Him from the dead and set Him at Hisheavenly places (vv. 21-22). Jesus is not only our Savior, He is also our Sovereign(Acts 2:25-36). He is the sovereign God. There is no authority, power, human orin the spirit world that's greater than that of Jesus Christ, the exalted Sonof God. He is “far above all” and no future enemy can overcome Himbecause He's been exalted “far above all” powers. Oh, how important itis for us to know this.  Buthow does this apply to you and me today? In Ephesians 1:22-23, Paul explainsthe practical application. Because we are believers, we are in the church,which is Christ's body—and He is the Head. This means that there is a livingconnection between you and Christ. Physically speaking, the head controls thebody and keeps the body functioning properly. Injure certain parts of the brainand you handicap or paralyze corresponding parts of the body. Christ is ourspiritual Head. Through the Spirit, we are united to Him as the members of Hisbody. This means that we share His resurrection, ascension, and exaltation.Apart from this power, we cannot draw on our great wealth inChrist. Yes, today our war is not with people all these crazy things going onin America today. Our war is a spiritual war. It can only be fought through thepower of the Holy Spirit and the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christclaiming and knowing that we stand strong in Jesus Christ. We don't reallyfight the battle. He fights the battle. He is our Joshua. We believe thisbecause of His resurrection and the fact we're connected to Him and we are Hisbody. He is the one who does the warfare, and He binds the strong man. He setsthe captive free. He gives us liberty in Himself.  Maythe Lord help us believe and apply this to our lives.  

I'mso amazed how God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things. I heard thatquote yesterday and how true it is when we look at the situation going on inAmerica today. God can use ordinary people like a Charlie Kirk to doextraordinary things that can impact a generation of young people for the gloryof God. And my friend, God can use you. I remember one of the clips of CharlieKirk when someone asked him who could take his place, he responded, "Youare the answer. Todayas believers, we have access to the great wealth of God that's in Christ Jesus.If we only knew how to tap into it and live in that power of His resurrectionevery day as weak vessels, ordinary people depending on a mighty awesome,extraordinary God to do great and awesome things for His glory. That's whatthese verses in Ephesians chapter 1 are about.  Ordinarypeople like you and me can face an evil generation. We can face it with hope.We can face it with faith. We can face it with grace to do the will of God inthe power of God. Paul begins this letter to the believers by telling them,"I'm praying for you. I'm praying for you to know God." My friend,when you have an intimate relationship, not just a religion, but relationshipwith Jesus Christ, it makes all the difference in the world. This relationshipand knowledge of God lead to knowing the hope in our inheritance in Christ. Wehave been chosen for His glory both for today and for eternity.  Bymaking us His inheritance, God has shown His love. By promising us a wonderfulfuture, He has encouraged our hope. Paul now offers us something to challengeour faith: "the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward whobelieve" (Eph. 1:19). Themoment you trusted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, you wereplaced into the body of Christ, you are His body. You are the church. We arethe called-out ones, as we mentioned yesterday, that we might know the hope ofour calling. We have a calling as a church to stand up for Jesus to tell theworld the gospel of Jesus Christ. Wesee this great example in Charlie Kirk in both his life and death. And Aso in hiswife Erika, how even now in a time of tragedy she has proclaimed the gospel ofJesus Christ to anyone that would listen. The grace and strength to do this isavailable only through the “exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe.”This is available to every believer and can make a powerful difference ineveryone's life because it's not our reasoning and our logic that changespeople. It's the power of the gospel through the ministry of the Holy Spiritthat opens people's eyes to the truth. Today,let us go on to know the Lord. Let us pursue Him and let us pursue the wealththat He's given us in Christ and the power to live a life that's different. Thespirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. But it is when we realize how weak wereally are, that's when we depend on the power of God. Paul tells us that thisis his experience in  2 Corinthians12:9-10: “And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for Mystrength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will ratherboast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore Itake pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, indistresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” Weare at a major crossroads in America. We are at the tipping point. You are theanswer! Because God delights in using ordinary people to do extraordinary thingsthrough His strength and resurrection power! This is available to those whowill “believe”. “What is the exceeding greatness of His power towardus who believe, according to the working of His mighty power”. Will youbelieve and trust Him today? Godbless!

Paulnot only prayed that they would know God, he prayed that they “may know whatis the hope of His calling”. What is the hope of His calling? It isthe hope that we have because of the calling that we have in Christ Jesus.We're called to salvation. We're called to sanctification. We're called toservice for the Lord Jesus Christ. We are called to live holy lives for Hisglory. With that calling comes hope. When you live for that which is eternalrather than that which is temporal, you are reminding yourself every day, that youhave a hope that's steadfast and sure. You have something to look forward to.  Thishope that belongs to our calling is a dynamic force in our lives. It encouragesus to be pure. 1 John 2:28–3:3; "Because when we see Him, we shall belike Him. And every man that has this hope in Him purifies himself even as Heis pure." It calls us to live pure, holy lives. “Be ye holy for Iam holy”, God says to us (1 Peter 1:16). It calls us to be obedient.Obedient to the Lord, obedient to our leaders, obedient to the truths andleadings of the Holy Spirit in our lives every day. It causes us to befaithful. “Moreover, it's required in a steward that he be found faithful”. InLuke 12, the faithful steward was rewarded. God wants us to be faithful.  Thishope, this living for that which is eternal rather than that which is temporal,gives us something to live for and to be glorified in Christ for. Which leadsus to the third thing that Paul is praying for: “What are the riches ofthe glory of His inheritance in the saints.” Now this is interesting. InEphesians 1:7 we are told that we  havean inheritance in Christ. But now this phrase here in verse 18, does not referto the inheritance that we have in Christ, but to the inheritance that Christhas in us. What an amazing truth that God should look upon us as part of Hisgreat wealth.  Justas a man's wealth brings glory to his name, so God will get glory from thechurch because of what He has invested in us. And when Christ returns for us,we shall be to the praise of the glory of His grace. God deals with us on thebasis of our future, not our past. He said to cowardly Gideon, hiding from theMidianites as he was threshing his wheat, "The Lord is with thee, thoumighty man of valor" (Judges 6:12). I can imagine that Gideon lookedaround and said, "Who are you talking to? I'm scared to death." Jesusalso said to Simon, Andrew's brother, "Thou art Simon, you'll be calledCephas”, which means a stone (John 1:42). And as you know, Gideon didbecome a mighty man of valor. And Simon did become Peter, a rock.  Myfriend, we live in the future tense even now. And our lives should becontrolled by what we are already in Christ Jesus. Jesus, who for the joy thatwas set before Him, He endured the cross (Hebrews 12:2). He looked forward tothat day, that wonderful day when He would receive His church, His Bride toHimself. “…just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, thatHe might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, thatHe might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkleor any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians5:25-27). Onthat great and grand day Jesus Christ will be greatly glorified as He receivesHis inheritance. What a encouragement and blessing to know today that you and Iare a part of His inheritance. But even today, as we live for the future, weshould glorify His name!  Todaywe should desire to be more like Jesus, and can be by looking unto Jesus, theauthor and the finisher of our faith. Jesus lived for the glory of God and soshould we.  Godbless!

Today we're continuing to look at the Apostle Paul's prayerfor the church, the believers in the church in Ephesus. In this prayer, we findseveral things that Paul prayed for. The first thing we see is that He prayedthat the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you thespirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. He prayed that theywould know God.  Thenwe find in verse 18, Paul also prayed, “the eyes of your understanding beingenlightened”. The eyes of your heart, your emotions, your thoughts, yoursoul, your will, in a sense everything about you, would be enlightened, wouldbe open, would have an understanding and know what is the hope of His calling. So,the second thing that Paul is praying for is that we might know God's callingon our lives. This word “called” is an important word in the Christianvocabulary. The Scripture teaches us that the church, the body of Christ, thebelievers, in the Greek is the “ecclesia”. That word is two words which togethermeans the “called-out assembly”.  Thebelievers who are the church, the body of Christ are called out. Now,interesting. We're not just called out of the world, we are called intosomething that is glorious. And that's what Paul's speaking of here. Not onlyare you called out of the world, but you are called out to be a peculiar, aroyal priesthood, a different person from the rest of the world around you. Petersays it this way in 1 Peter 2:9. “But you are a chosen generation, a royalpriesthood, a holy nation, a special people that you may proclaim the praisesof Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” Paultold Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:9 that He had a holy calling. Yes, we've beencalled out of darkness into marvelous light and we've also been called toglory. I love this verse in 1 Peter 5:10. “But may the God of all grace whocalled us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus after you suffered a whileperfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. To Him be glory and thedominion forever and ever. Amen.” We have been called to glory!  And because of this calling, we can now have ahope that's steadfast and sure, an anchor of our souls (Hebrews 6:19). Theword hope doesn't mean wishful thinking about something. But the word hope inthe scripture means we have a delightful future in Jesus Christ. We have theassurance of that future because of what Jesus Christ did for us on the crossand His resurrection. The believer's hope is tied into the return of JesusChrist as we read in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 and 1 John 3:1-3. Our hope isbased on the fact that Jesus promised that one day He will come again for Hisbride the Church.  Beforewe were saved, we were without hope in this world. But now in Christ, accordingto 1 Peter 1:3, we have a living hope. “Blessed be the God and Father of ourLord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again toa living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead”. Howglorious is that? So, we have a hope that's steadfast and sure. It's a livinghope which means it gives us purpose and direction, and encouragement forwhatever we face every day. We have a better tomorrow coming. Oh, that is thehope that we have.  Paulprayed that you would know your calling from God. And this calling from Godgives you hope. I trust you'll take these words into your heart and you'llremember you have something to live for and something to look forward to. Agood verse to close with today is Romans 15:13: “Now may the God of hopefill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope bythe power of the Holy Spirit.”  KnowingGod, you have hope. No God, there is no hope.  Godbless!

Today we're talking about one of the most importantsubjects in the entire Bible, and that is that we might know God. Paul'svery first prayer for the church in Ephesus, and the first of his four prisonprayers, is found here in verses 15-23. He begins by saying, "I do notcease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers." Now,it's amazing how to most of churches that he wrote to, or that he was part offounding, and that he was encouraging, that he talks about praying for them “withoutceasing”. Paul must have had an awesome continuous prayer life as he prayedfor the different saints in the different churches in the different places ofthe world. He was a man of prayer.  Whatdid Paul pray? His prayers were not for their material needs, that they wouldhave money, not that they could pay their bills, not that they could buildbetter and bigger buildings or churches. Those things could have been importantand maybe were important at times, but his prayer was that “the God of ourLord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to them the spirit of wisdomand revelation in the knowledge of Him”.  Icouldn't help but think of Hosea chapters 4 and 6. God said, "My peopleare destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6). That is what happens whenwe fail to know who God is. Then Hosea gives this invitation from God in chapter6: "Come, let us return to the Lord" (v. 1). In verse 3, "Letus know, let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord." And then God speaksin verse 6, “For I desire mercy and not sacrifice and the knowledge of Godmore than burnt offerings”. God wants us to “know Him”.  Thoughthe knowledge of God is the highest knowledge possible, the atheist claimsthere is no God for us to know. The agnostic states that if there is a God, youcannot know Him. But Paul met God in the person of Jesus Christ. And he knowsthat a man really can't understand much of anything else without a knowledge ofGod. The knowledge of God is the beginning of wisdom. The “fear of the Lordis the beginning of wisdom”. Romans1 tells us that this willful ignorance of God led mankind into corruption andcondemnation. Paul describes the beginning of this progression with thesewords: “Who suppress the truth in unrighteousness” (v. 18). “Because,although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, butbecame futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened”(v. 21).  And then Paul goes on to showthe development of how willful ignorance leads to idolatry, substituting a liefor the truth, exchanging God the creator for a worship of the man who wascreated. It then develops into immorality and indecency. And it all begins withan unwillingness to know God as Creator, as Sustainer, as Governor, as Savior,and as the Judge of our lives. There is tremendous danger and consequences whenthe believer does not grow in the knowledge of God.  InPhilippians 3:10, Paul said, "That I might know Him and the power ofHis resurrection," meaning to be intimately acquainted with God. Toknow God personally is salvation. Jesus prayed in John 17:3; “And this iseternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whomYou have sent”. To know God is to increase in sanctification (Philippians3:10). And to know God leads to ultimate glorification (1 Corinthians 13:9-12). Myfriend, we are made in the image of God. And the better we know God, the moresatisfied we are in Him, and the more satisfied we are even in ourselves. And thatis how we bring the greatest glory to Him. That's what God desires. That iswhat Paul prayed for the believers at Ephesus. We should pray this for ourselves.We can pray this for others.  “ThatI might know Him”—God,the true, the only God. May the Lord help us today to love and live for Himwith all of our hearts.  Godbless!

Todaywe're continuing in Ephesians 1:15-18. Paul desired the Ephesian Christians tounderstand what great wealth they had in Christ. Paul knew of their faith andlove, and in this he rejoiced. The Christian life has two dimensions: faithtoward God and love toward men, and you cannot separate the two. Now theChristian life always begins with faith. Salvation is experienced by faith inthe Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 10:8-13; Ephesians 2:8-9). But then the realproof of our faith is our love toward other believers and toward the people inthe world around us. We are to love them as Christ loved them. He loved them somuch that while they were yet sinners, He died for them on a cross. We are tolove others even as we want others to love us. TheScripture teaches us that when we walk with God, live in His Word, when we arefill with His Word, that we will be like a tree planted by the rivers ofwaters, bringing forth fruit in its season. Our leaves will not wither, andwhatsoever we do will prosper (Psalms 1:2-3). Now, when you have the Word ofGod, abiding in your heart, living by the river of waters, the water of God's Word,and filling your life with it, your root of your faith will go down deep intothe heart of God. Then my friend, you will be like a tree that is glorious, alife that reflects and shines forth the fruit of the love of God.  Yes,faith is the root and love is the fruit. Don't ever forget that faith is theroot of our Christian life and love is the fruit of our Christian life, andalso the outward evidence that we truly have been born again. But Paul knewthat faith and love were just the beginning. The Ephesians needed to know muchmore. This is why he prayed for them, and for us. Inthe four prison prayers of Paul found in Ephesians 1:15-23; 3:14-21; Philippians1:9-11; and Colossians 1:9-12, we discover the blessings he wanted his convertsto enjoy. In none of these prayers does Paul request material things. Hisemphasis is on spiritual perception and real Christian character. He does notask God to give them what they do not have, but rather prays that God willreveal to them what they already have. Beforewe study Paul's four requests in this "prayer for enlightenment"in Ephesians 1, we must notice two facts. First, enlightenment comes from theHoly Spirit. He is the "Spirit of wisdom and revelation" (Isaiah11:2; John 14:25-26; 16:12-14). With his natural mind, man cannot understandthe things of God. He needs the Spirit to enlighten him (1 Corinthians 2:9-16).The Holy Spirit reveals truth to us from the Word, and then gives us the wisdomto understand and apply it. He also gives us the power—the enablement—topractice the truth (Ephesians 3:14-21). Second,this enlightenment comes to the heart of the believer (Ephesians 1:18).Literally this verse reads, "The eyes of your heart beingenlightened." We think of the heart as the emotional part of man, butin the Bible, the heart means the inner man, and includes the emotions, themind, and the will. The inner man, the heart, has spiritual faculties thatparallel the physical senses. Theinner man can see (Ps. 119:18; John 3:3).Theinner man can hear (Matt. 13:9; Heb. 5:11).Theinner man can taste (Ps. 34:8; 1 Peter 2:3).Theinner man can smell (Phil. 4:18; 2 Cor. 2:14)Andthe inner man can touch (Acts 17:27). Thisis what Jesus meant when He said of the people: "They seeing see not, andhearing they hear not" (Matt. 13:13). The inability to see and understandspiritual things is not the fault of the intelligence but of the heart. Theeyes of the heart must be opened by the Spirit of God. Thisis why Paul prayed this prayer for the believers at Ephesus. This is a wonderfulprayer that we can also pray for family and friends on regular basis! May God'sHoly Spirit open the eyes of our heart today! Godbless!

Let'sjust review these verses before we move on.  First,we need to understand that true riches come from God. What a source ofencouragement to know that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are allworking together on our behalf to make us rich in Christ Jesus. God not onlygives us "richly all things to enjoy" (1 Timothy 6:17), but Hegives us eternal riches without which all other wealth is valueless. In Jesus'first recorded message on the Mount of Beatitudes He taught us, “Blessed arethe poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God…. Blessed are the meek,for they shall inherit the earth”. When we yield our lives in poverty toJesus Christ, He gives us have an inheritance in heaven. Then when we literallyyield our daily lives to Him, (that's what it means to be meek, yielded to thecontrol of God and His Holy Spirit), then we enjoy everything on earth. In a veryreal sense we have all things richly to enjoy. Butnot only does God give us richly things to enjoy on earth, He gives us eternalriches in Christ Jesus that last for eternity. Not just forever and ever.That's timewise, but for eternity and you can't measure that. Wow, we are sorich. Over the years so many couples have come to us for counseling that are havingfinancial issues. They've spent their lives buying things. They have a nicehouse, they have expensive cars, they have all these expensive things, but thenthey lost what they really wanted and had in the early days of their marriage.They lost their love. What good is it to have an expensive house if there is nohome? Or an expensive ring if there is no love?  Myfriend, in Christ, you and I have what money can't buy. All these spiritualriches open up to us. All the wealth of God's vast creation. We enjoy the giftsbecause we know and love the Giver. Don't give up what you have in Christ forthat which you will lose. Remember the famous quote by Jim Elliot: "Heis no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannotlose".  Secondly,we learn that all these riches come from God's grace and for God's glory. Didyou notice that after each of the main sections in Ephesians 1:4-14, Paul hasadded the purpose behind these gifts? Why has God the Father chosen us, adoptedus, and accepted us? "To the praise of the glory of His grace" (Eph.1:6). Why has the Son redeemed us, forgiven us, revealed God's will to us, andmade us part of God's inheritance? "That we should be to the praise of Hisglory" (Eph. 1:12). Why has God the Spirit sealed us and become theguarantee of our future blessing? "Unto the praise of His glory"(Eph. 1:14). Weoften have the idea that God saves sinners mainly because He pities them, orwants to rescue them from eternal judgment, but God's main purpose is that Hemight be glorified. His creation reveals His wisdom and power, but His churchreveals His love and grace. You cannot deserve or earn these spiritual riches;you can only receive them by grace, through faith. Thirdly,these riches are only the beginning! There is always more spiritual wealth toclaim from the Lord as we walk with Him. The Bible is our guidebook; the HolySpirit is our Teacher. As we search the Word of God, we discover more and moreof the riches we have in Christ. These riches were planned by the Father,purchased by the Son, and presented by the Spirit. There is really no need forus to live in poverty when all of God's wealth is at our disposal! Ilove the little devotional book by Charles Haddon Spurgeon called “Faith CheckBook”. A promise from the Bible is given for each day of the year, along with ashort devotional message. The author described each promise as being as good asmoney in the bank to anyone who would claim it by faith, as a person wouldwrite a check against his bank account. By faith we can claim God's promisesand draw on His limitless wealth to meet every need we may face.  

Herein verses 13 and 14, Paul tells us that we were sealed by the Holy Spirit.Already we've talked about what God the Father has given us. We talked aboutJesus Christ and what He has given us. Now we're talking about the Holy Spiritand what He gives us even today. He says we also, who have believed and trustedin Christ, were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. He seals us. That wasour lesson yesterday. Today,in verse 14, we learn about the guarantee we have by the Holy Spirit. Anotherword used for guarantee in the old King James is the word “earnest”. It reads, “Whichis the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchasedpossession, unto the praise of his glory”.  This word earnest is a very fascinatingword. In Paul's day, it meant the down payment to guarantee the final purchaseof some commodity or a piece of property. Even today, when you buy a piece ofproperty or you might hear the real estate agent mention the word earnest, thedown payment, the guarantee that you're going to pay the final price on thisproperty when you go to settlement in the lawyer's office. TheHoly Spirit is God's first installment to guarantee to you and me, Hischildren, that He will finish the work He begun in us and that He will eventuallybring us to glory. This “earnest” is for “the redemption of the purchasedpossession”. This refers to the redemption of the body at the return ofChrist for His Church. Romans 8:18-23 and 1 John 3:1-3 both speak of thisexperience! Redemption,as we know it in Scripture, is experienced in three different stages: Wehave been redeemed through faith in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:7).Weare being redeemed as the Spirit works in our lives to make us more like Christ(Romans 8:1-4). Weshall be redeemed one day when Christ returns, and we become His for eternity.  Butthe word “earnest” can also means “engagement ring”. Matter offact, in Greece today, you might find this word still being used that way.Isn't that what an engagement ring is? It's an assurance. It's a guarantee thatthe promise that you make to each other to be wed one day will be kept. Myfriend, our relationship to Jesus Christ and to God is not a commercial one. It'sa personal one. It's a personal experience of love. He is the bridegroom. Thechurch is His bride. Jesus is making the guarantee with the presence of theHoly Spirit in your life that one day He will come for His bride. He is goingto keep His promise. Maybe that is why He is called the Holy Spirit of promise. Whatgreater assurance do we need to have? I'm often asked, “Can I lose mysalvation? They say, “I don't feel saved. I don't have the assurance that Ikeep my salvation because I still sin. I still do things I shouldn't do”. ReadRomans 6 and 8. These two chapters should give you great assurance of your positionin Christ, and reminds you that you will never be separated from the love ofGod that's in Christ Jesus. Absolutely nothing can separate you. Why? The “Earnest”,the Guarantee has been given. You have the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit isthere right now in your life, never to be taken away. Yes,can grieve the Holy Spirit, and you can quench Him, but you will never loseHim. Why? Because Jesus said, "He that comes to Me, I will by no meanscast out” (John 6:37). And Jesus promised in John 14:16, “And I will praythe Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with youforever”. My friend, “forever” means “forever”! Mayyou be especially blessed today as you relish the guarantee that you are His,and He is yours, and you're forever experiencing and enjoying His love.  Godbless!

Welcometo Pastor's Chat. Today we're continuing to look at the ministry and work ofthe Holy Spirit as we are reading about Him in Ephesians 1:13-14. Jesuspromised in John 14 that He would give and send the Holy Spirit. John 14 beginswith Jesus assuring His disciples with these words and making several promisesto them: “Let not your heart be troubled…”. We live in a world full oftroubled and fearful hearts. Even believers today face tremendous fearconcerning so many different things in their lives, in their families, theirpersonal lives, and in a world today that is so confused, mixed up, and filledwith violence. But Jesus says, "Let not your heart be troubled. Youbelieve in God, believe also in Me."  Thenin verses 16-20, Jesus promises them: “And I will pray the Father, and Hewill give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever--theSpirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Himnor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will bein you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. "Alittle while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me.Because I live, you will live also. At that day you will know that I amin My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.”   Howwill He come to them? He will come in the person and ministry and work of theHoly Spirit. Paul would later write, “Christ in you, the hope of glory”.“At that day…”, is speaking of what happened on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2,when the Holy Spirit came down on them as promised. Today the baptism andindwelling for the Holy Spirit begins the moment we trust Christ as ourpersonal Savior. At that very moment, the Holy Spirit, according to Romans 6:3,“baptizes us into the body of Christ”. Also in 1 Corinthians 12:13 weread: “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--whether Jews orGreeks, whether slaves or free--and have all been made to drink into oneSpirit.” Ephesians1:13 also tell us that we are also sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. Whatis the significance of this sealing of the Holy Spirit? For one thing, it speaksof a finished transaction. Even today, when important legaldocuments are processed, they are stamped with the official seal to signify thecompletion of the transaction.  Thissealing also implies ownership: God has put his seal on us because Hehas purchased us to be His own. Read 1 Corinthians 6:19-20: “Or do you notknow that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom youhave from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price;therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.” Thissealing also means security and protection. The Roman seal on the tombof Jesus carried this meaning (Matt. 27:62-66). So, the believer belongs toGod, and is safe and protected because he is a part of a finished transaction. Andaccording to John 14:16-17, the Holy Spirit abides with the believer forever.It is possible for us to grieve the Spirit and thereby lose the blessings ofHis ministry (Eph. 4:30). But He doesn't leave us. Anotheruse for the seal is as a mark of authenticity. Just as a signature on aletter attests to the genuineness of the document, so the presence of theSpirit proves the believer is genuine. "If any man have not the Spiritof Christ, he is none of His" (Romans. 8:9). It is not simply our lipprofession, our religious activity, or our good works, but the witness of theSpirit that makes our profession authentic.  ThankGod for the ministry and work of the Holy Spirit in our lives today. Indeed,what a rich blessing from God the Holy Spirit. Godbless!

Itis always a great feeling to be back home and in my office for our pastor'schat. We want to give you an update on Brandy Manning that we asked you to prayfor who had brain surgery on a cancerous tumor Wednesday morning at DukeUniversity. Your prayers have been answered in a wonderful way. The surgerywent very well. Yesterday afternoon she was sent to a local hotel there inDurham where she will be a couple days as she recovers. It looks like they gotmost of the tumor and they will deal with what is there still there later. Wow,what a miracle. Thank you for your prayers. AlsoI received a good report from my cardiologist. He told me to come back in ayear and have another echo stress test and see him again. So as far as I'mconcerned, I'm doing fine and was told be careful and continue to take my medications.Thank you for your prayers.  Weare continuing to look at Ephesians 1:13-14. Today we are talking about theHoly Spirit of promise. First notice what Paul says back in verse 12, that “wewho first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory”. In otherwords, those who have already been born again, who have been saved, who've beenwashed in the blood, who've been redeemed, who've been forgiven, Paul says, “weshould be to the praise of His glory”. Now in verse 13, he points out that thisis who the Ephesian believers also trusted. And after you heard the word oftruth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also having believed, you weresealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.  “TheHoly Spirit of promise”. Oh, my friend, Jesus promised that the HolySpirit would come. He would come into the believers. He would abide in us. Jesusgave this promise in John 14 and also John 16, in His last message to Hisdisciples in the upper room. John 16:13 says: "However, when He theSpirit of truth has come, He will guide you into all truth. He will not speakon His own authority, but whatever He hears, He will speak and He will tell youthings to come." Then verse 14 He goes on to say: “He will glorifyMe for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you”. In Acts 1:4 justbefore Jesus ascended into heaven we read: “And being assembled togetherwith them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for thePromise of the Father, "which," He said, "you have heard from Me”.The Holy Spirit is the “promise” of both Jesus and the Father! NowEphesians 1:14 goes on to say, not only are we sealed with the Holy Spirit ofpromise, it says He is the Holy Spirit “who is the guarantee of ourinheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession”. Then youread this phrase again, “to the praise of His glory”. I love puttingthis together with what Jesus said. He says the Holy Spirit of promise is goingto come. He's going to abide with you forever. Now He says you'll be sealedwith this Holy Spirit of promise. And all of this is “to the praise of Hisglory”.  Paul'ssaying it's to the praise of the glory of Jesus Christ. Remember back in John 16:14,Jesus said, “He (the Holy Spirit) will glorify me”. My friend, when theHoly Spirit is at work in your life, when the Holy Spirit has taken control ofyou, you will be filled with Him. As a result, He will control your mouth.He'll control your actions, He will control your attitudes as you yield to Hisauthority. He will reveal Jesus to you and preform His work in your life. Theministry of the Holy Spirit cannot be underestimated.  Tomorrowwe are going to talk about what it means to be sealed with the Holy Spirit andhow that is so awesomely powerful in our lives. But today, let's remember He is“the Holy Spirit of promise” of Jesus and the Father. God always keepsHis promises. If you've been born again, you have the Holy Spirit, and this is allfor, “to the praise of His glory”.  Today,is your life glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ in everything you say and do? Itrust that it is. Godbless!

Thursday September04Todaywe will continue to look at Ephesians 1:13-14. We are talking about the God theHoly Spirit and the blessings that He gives us. We've talked about God theFather and His blessings from eternity past in the first verses (vs. 2-6). Inverses 7-12, we see the past history of Jesus Christ, His death, burial,resurrection, and the blessings that we have in Christ. Now, in verse 13-14, wenot only find out about the blessings of the Holy Spirit we have in “thepresent”, but we find out exactly how we can be saved. We hear “the word oftruth”, which is “the gospel of our salvation”, then we “believe”and put our “trust” totally in Jesus Christ, and we then experience thesealing of the Holy Spirit. Romans10:13-15 makes this really clear: “For "whoever calls on the name ofthe LORD shall be saved." How then shall they call on Him in whom theyhave not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have notheard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preachunless they are sent? As it is written: "How beautiful are the feet ofthose who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of goodthings!". These are powerful verses.  Paulpoints out here in Ephesians 1:13, “in whom you also trusted”. Ofcourse, the “whom” is Jesus Christ that you trusted. You not only needto hear about Christ and have an intellectual understanding that He is the Sonof God, and believe that He is who He said He is, and that He is not just ahistorical figure, but you believe that He came to save us and set us free fromour sins. And you believe not just with your head, but with your heart. Thisdoesn't mean you just actually intellectually ascent to the fact He died andwas buried and rose again the third day. But that you trusted in Him for youreternal salvation. You realized there was no other way of salvation. There wasno hope for you, no future for you, no eternity for you. And you believed and trustedin Him, just like Paul on the road to Damascus trusted in Him and his lifetotally and completely changed.  Myfriend, when you sincerely, honestly, and genuinely trust in Christ, you know itbecause something takes place in your life, a miracle takes place. You become anew creation. “Old things pass away, and all things become new” (2Corinthians 5:17). Only the gospel makes this possible as Paul points out herein this verse. “After you heard the word of truth, the gospel of salvation,in whom also having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise”. Now,that's powerful because the very moment, and I mean, the very moment that youtrusted in Christ and you called on His name, as Romans 10:13 says here, thatvery moment you experienced eternal salvation, not only did Christ came to livein you, but you were baptized into the body of Christ (Romans 6:3), and yourbody also became the temple of the Holy Spirit. Read this in 1 Corinthians6:19-20: “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spiritwho is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you werebought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, whichare God's.” Whenthe Holy Spirit came in you, Ephesians 1:13 tells us something else takes place:"Having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit ofpromise." Tomorrow, we are going to be talking about what that means, “beingsealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.” The Holy Spirit guarantees our eternalsalvation. He's the guarantee. And we'll look at what that means tomorrow.  Myfriend, our salvation is such a fantastic, powerful, miraculous, mysteriousexperience. And it's for anyone and everyone who calls on His name. God wantsyou to be saved because He is “not willing that any should perish, but thatall should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).  Today,have you ever really believed and put your trust in Jesus alone? Godbless!

Today,as we go through Ephesians chapter 1, we're looking especially at verses 13 and14. But remember back in verse 12, the Apostle Paul as he's writing to thechurch at Ephesus, he spoke to the fact that we who first trusted in Christshould be to the praise of His glory and then he continues in verse 13 to speakhow the Ephesians also trusted in Him. Notice how Paul first trusted in Christ,found salvation, his life was transformed and then he became that greatmissionary out of the church at Antioch that we know about in the book of Acts. Paulis clearly making the point that only by trusting in Christ is the only way ofsalvation. And when did they trust? When did you trust in Christ for your salvation?  It was, “after you heard the word of truth,the gospel of your salvation in whom also having believed you were sealed withthe Holy Spirit of promise who is the guarantee of our inheritance until theredemption of the purchased possession to the praise of His glory”.  Rememberin the first verses of this chapter we read about the blessings from God theFather (vs. 4-6). He blessed us in eternity past before the foundation of theworld, He chose us. He adopted us. He accepted us. And in Him we havesalvation. And He chose us to be what? “To be holy and without blame beforeHim in love”. And that's eternity past.  Inverses 7-12, we have the blessings from God the Son, Jesus Christ. And that'sin history past. Jesus came, as incarnate God to planet earth, died on thecross in our place for our sins, and gave us the salvation that we have. Andthat was the experience of the Ephesian believers there in Ephesus. Now we'relooking at present tense because it is now that the Holy Spirit is the Oneworking in our lives. If you read Acts 19, you definitely will see thatwonderful story there.  Again,looking at the first part of this verse, we find the way of salvation is bytrusting in Christ. Now I don't understand all about predestination, electionand all those things. But I know this, that God also created us with a freewill. And because of that, whosoever will may be saved. And the Lord is notwilling that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And howdo you get saved? After you hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, the death, burial,and resurrection. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Then, it is the work and ministryof the Holy Spirit to open our hearts and minds and change our lives as the Wordof God comes into our heart that we trust in Christ. That's how we experienceHis great salvation.  Continueto pray today for us as we travel and for our dear friends and their families. Again,thank you for your prayers! Godbless!

Today, we are looking at Ephesians 1, and we're talking about the riches, the richesthat we have in Christ Jesus. I made the statement the other day that Isaac wasborn to wealth. Remember his father Abraham was called by God to leave Ur ofthe Chaldees and go to a land that God would show him. And God promised that Hewould bless him. He would make him a great nation. And in him all the nationsof the earth would be blessed (Genesis 12:1-3). And then God promised him a sonthrough whom this seed, this great nation would come. But it took a long time.And finally, Isaac was born. But by the time Isaac was born, Abraham, becauseof the blessings of God, was a wealthy, wealthy man. Isaac didn't do anything.If you read about him in the Old Testament, he was born to wealth.  Andmy friend, we've been born again to great riches in Christ Jesus. That's whatthe book of Ephesians is about. We see that especially in verses 2-6, becauseGod the Father, God the Father has chosen us. He has adopted us. He hasaccepted us in Christ. All these rich blessings are made possible with theFather in heaven. Before we were alienated from Him, but now we're reconciledto Him through Christ.  InEphesians 1:7-12, we see our riches we have from God the Son. In Him we havethe redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. And again, it'saccording to the “riches of His grace”. He has revealed to us His will.The mystery that's been hidden in the past ages but now revealed to us throughJesus Christ. And that is that He will bring everything together. That “inthe dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in oneall things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth--in Him”(v. 10). Wehave something to look forward to. The world has nothing to look forward toexcept another day possibly. And they don't even know that they are guaranteedthat. They have no future. They're without hope. We'll read in Ephesians 2:12.But we have hope. Hope in Christ. A future that's bright. A future that's sure,secure, anchored to Jesus Christ. What a rich blessing.  Todaywe see in verse 11, "In whom also we have obtained an inheritance,being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all thingsaccording to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christshould be to the praise of His glory." What is the will of God? Whathas God predestined us for? That we should be to the praise of His glory. Everyborn-again believer, every saint of God has been called to glorify God, toglorify the Lord Jesus Christ, be to the praise of His glory. And this willtake place one day. But even now, we are to live for His glory.  Notonly have we “obtained an inheritance”, but as some translations read, "inwhom also we were made an inheritance", we are His, Christ, inheritance!Both are true and the one includes the other. In Christ we have a wonderfulinheritance (read 1 Peter 1:1-4), and in Christ we are an inheritance. We arevaluable to Him. Think of the price God paid to purchase us and make us part ofHis inheritance! God the Son is the Father's love gift to us; and we are theFather's love gift to His Son. Read John 17 and note how many times Christcalls us "those whom Thou hast given Me." The church is Christ's body(Eph. 1:22-23), building (Eph. 2:19-22), and bride (Eph. 5:22-23); Christ'sfuture inheritance is wrapped up in His church.  Weare "joint-heirs with Christ", which means that He cannotclaim His inheritance apart from us! Romans 8:17 says: "And ifchildren, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if indeed wesuffer with Him that we may also be glorified together with Him."  What a rich blessing that we have aninheritance and at the same time we are His inheritance.  Today,are you enjoying the inheritance you have in Christ? Godbless!

Today,we want to continue in Ephesians 1. Now remember the chapter starts with twolong sentences. The first long sentence begins in verse 2 through verse 6, andtells us how God our Father has given us a great spiritual blessing in the factthat He has chosen us, He has adopted us, and He has accepted us in Christ. Allbecause of what His Son Jesus Christ has done for us. We are a blessed people.We're rich in Christ. That's the theme of the book.  Thenin verses 7-10, we have another long sentence. And this is what Jesus Christthe Son is continuing to do for us even today. We have redemption through Hisblood. We have forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace. Yesterdaywe talked about how through His grace He made to abound toward us in all wisdomand prudence. We have the wisdom of God and the discernment of God to do what'sright to please Him.  Todaywe are looking specifically at verses 9-10: ”Having made known to us themystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed inHimself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, He might gathertogether in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are inearth in Him”. And that's the last part of this big sentence. What we findout here is that not only has He redeemed and forgiven us, He has also madeknown to us “the mystery of His will”.  Thisletter has much to say about God's plan for His people. A plan that was noteven fully known even in Paul's day. The word mystery that we read here, and isused several times in the book, has nothing to do with something eerie. Itactually means in the Scripture a “sacred secret” once hidden but now revealedto God's people. We believers are part of God's inner circle. We are able toshare in the secret that God one day will unite everything in Christ. Eversince sin came into the world, things have been falling apart, as you well know.First man was separated from God (Genesis 3). Then man was separated from manas Cain killed Abel (Genesis 4). People tried to maintain some kind of unity bybuilding the tower of Babel in Genesis 11. But God judged them and scatteredthem across the world.  Godcalled Abraham and put a difference between the Jew and the Gentile. Adifference that was maintained until Christ's death on the cross. Sin istearing everything apart. But in Christ, God will gather everything together inthe accumulation of the ages. We are a part as His church, even as Gentiles ofHis eternal program. He unites all things in Christ. What a blessing that themystery of God's will, bringing everything back together in Christ will befulfilled one day when Jesus Christ comes back again and sets up His kingdom.  That'sGod's plan for the ages. Oneness in Jesus Christ. No matter who we are, rich orpoor, educated, uneducated, no matter our language, our culture, we are allrich in Christ. And one day we will experience that final unity. But even now,we can have that unity because we're in Christ. It doesn't matter whether we'refrom India or China or America or Africa or South America. It doesn't matter. AsI go to different places in the world, there is this oneness despite ourlanguage barriers in Christ.  Thisis the will of God that we can have this unity in Christ. This is the will ofGod that we can be saved from the sin that separates us. God is not willingthat any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).  Myfriend, what a great blessing we have in Christ today. And we ought to enjoythis blessing of unity, knowing the will and plan of God for the ages. Amystery that was hidden but now is made known to us in Christ.  Godbless!

Today,we want to continue in Ephesians chapter 1. And we're kind of camping out hereon verses 7 and 8. We've talked about the blessings that we have from God theFather in the first six verses. Now verse 7-10 we see the blessings we havethrough God the Son. They both work in harmony together, each of them in theirown ministry and work giving us special spiritual blessings that we can enjoyeven today and have heaven on earth. In verse seven, we have redemption throughHis blood and the forgiveness of sins. Then in verse eight, these blessings aremade to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence.  Wetalked a little bit about this yesterday, but I want to go back to that phrase,“in all wisdom and prudence”. What is wisdom? The wise man Solomon in Proverbs4, said it this way, "Get wisdom and understanding. Do not forget norturn away from the words of my mouth. Do not forsake her and she will preserveyou. Love her and she will keep you." Wisdom is the principle thing.Therefore, get wisdom, and with all you're getting, get understanding. And thenhe gives a blessing along with it. Exalt her, and she'll promote you. She'llbring you to honor when you embrace her. She'll place on your head an ornamentof grace and a crown of glory. She will deliver to you.  Ilove that, “an ornament of grace”. You'd wonder if Paul might have hadthese verses in mind when he wrote this verse that this redemption andforgiveness of sins is according to the riches of His grace that abounds towardus in all wisdom and prudence. So what is the wisdom of God? Jesus is themanifest wisdom of God. What is God's wisdom as far as you and I are concernedas we look at Scripture, as we look at life? I believe wisdom is being able tosee life from God's viewpoint, from God's perspective. And the only way we cando that is see it through the eyes of Jesus Christ.  Youwant to know how He saw it? Study Jesus in the Gospels. Study all the Scripture.The Scripture reveals to us the mind, the heart, the thoughts of God. And whenwe study the Scripture, we get wisdom. We hear people say, "Don'tcriticize a person till you walk a mile in their shoes." And you shouldn'tbe critical of anyone, anyway. But my friend, the best way to understand aperson, and understand what's going on in their lives, is look at their lifethrough the perspective that God has in His word.  Seethem through the eyes of God in His Word. See them through Christ. “Getwisdom. But with all that getting, get understanding”. And that brings usto the word prudence. “Toward us in all wisdom and prudence”. RememberJames said, “If you lack wisdom, ask God. He will give it to you liberally."He doesn't hold back. Ask God and He will give it to you. Why? Because He's theGod of wisdom. He knows everything. He knows about everything. He knows thepast, the present, the future, all at the same time. Unreal.  Hesays, "Ask Him. He'll give you that wisdom." But you must be in His Word.You must have His Holy Spirit working in your heart. But then with that wisdom,get understanding or get prudence. The Greek word prudence is about practicalwisdom. Basically it means understanding, thoughtful. It means to berightminded, living out God's will. (We'll talk about that in the next verse). Thisleads to spiritual maturity, discerning, and living a life in harmony withGod's purpose. Andso with that wisdom, get understanding. Know how to apply it to thecircumstances and the situation that you're in. And my friend, when you dothat, you're on the road to living in harmony with God. And you'll wear a ornamentof grace on your countenance as crown of glory. You'll be exalting andglorifying Christ in everything you say and do. What a wonderful way to live.And it's available to you because it abounds through Jesus Christ today for youand me.  Godbless!

Thisis what we are talking about today as we look at Ephesians 1:7-10: "Inwhom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according tothe riches of His grace." In the first six verses, we found the blessingswe have from God the Father. In God the Father, we have been chosen. We havebeen adopted into His family. We have been accepted in Christ. Now in theseverses we see the blessings that we have from the Person and the work andministry of Jesus Christ because of His blood. We have been redeemed and wehave been forgiven. We talked about that yesterday.  Onething I want to go back to: I mentioned that evidence of our forgiveness is wehave the ability and power to forgive others. And I made the statement that ifwe cannot forgive others, maybe we haven't been forgiven. Now, that doesn'tmean that we are not a believer. It doesn't mean that we're not saved, but itmight mean we have not accepted the forgiveness that we have already in ChristJesus. Some people are forgiven but don't know they're forgiven. They've beenset free, but they don't know they've been set free. How sad.  ReadRomans chapters 6, 7, and 8. There we read about the law of sin and deaththat's always pulling us down. But then there's the law of life in Christ Jesusthat we must also understand and accept, and that we believe in and that wewalk in. And when we do that, we're free. And we walk in that law of life inChrist Jesus through a life of humility. That's why so much is made abouthumility in Christ. The humility of Christ. He humbled Himself. We humbleourselves under the mighty hand of God. It is then that we receive the grace ofGod (James 4:6), “God resists the proud, but He gives grace to the humble”. Whenwe receive God's grace, we don't get bitter when people hurt us and they causeus pain. When they offend us. No, we're able to forgive because of humility. Weswallow our pride. We admit our sins, our guilt. Forgiveness is a daily thingfor us. And that is because every day we get our feet dirty in this world.We're human. We don't always respond correctly to the situations and problemsand hurts and challenges that we face and we misstep, and we must come to theLord every day.  1John 1 reminds us that if we say we've not sinned, we are a liar. The truth isnot in us. 1 John 1 is about the assurance in knowing that I'm a child of God andnow that “I can walk in the light as He is in the light, and the blood ofChrist is daily cleansing me from all sin”. And that means I'm forgivingothers also at the same time because of God's wonderful grace.  InChrist, we are redeemed and because of that we have been forgiven. And then Paulgoes on in verse 7, to say, "Which He has made to abound toward us inall wisdom and prudence." We have everything we need to live that lifeof abundant life. Jesus said, "The thief came to steal, to kill, and todestroy” (John 10:10). That thief is the devil, and he wants to steal yourjoy. He wants to steal your peace. He wants to steal your walk with God. He's athief. He wants you to be miserable. He wants you to walk in darkness, myfriend. But Jesus came to set you free. And if the “Son sets you free, youwill be free indeed” (John 8:32-26).  Youare free to love the Lord, free to love others, free to forgive others becauseyou've been forgiven. This again is a great blessing that we have. And Godgives us this grace. How does He give it? “In all wisdom and prudence”. Thismeans that we know how to respond to the problems in life. And we do itprudently. We do it the right way by the grace of God.Today,be encouraged!!! Deal with bitterness, deal with guilt, ask forgiveness, giveforgiveness, and walk with the Lord today. And what a wonderful life of freedomyou will have and enjoy in Christ today.  Godbless!

How do you know you've been forgiven? Do you have assurance thatyou've been forgiven for every sin that you've ever committed?  Well,the evidence and the proof is in the fact that you now have the ability toforgive others. You have the desire to forgive others instead of being a bitterperson, speaking evil against others, being full of malice and envy and wantingto get even and all those sorts of things and carrying a grudge on your shoulder.I'm telling you, my friend, the proof, the evidence that you have experiencedthe forgiveness of God through Christ Jesus is that you are willing and areable and have the power and ability to forgive others who have offended andhurt you, and who have caused you great pain and maybe loss.  RememberPeter ask Jesus in Matthew 18:21-22, "How often should I forgive mybrother? Seven times?” Jesus answers and says no, forgive him seventy times seven.That's how often you forgive the brother that sins against you and offends youand hurts you. Seventy time seven—that's limitless. That means you forget tocount after a while and you continue to forgive no matter what. Why and how? BecauseGod forgave you in Christ Jesus! And instead of talking evil against the personand being bitter.  Overthe years, the hardest and most difficult thing for me to deal with is bitterpeople. People who are full of bitterness because they feel like they've beenoffended. They have become a victim. It's everyone else's fault, and always blamingothers for their problems and attitudes. But my friend, the greatest blessingis to meet and know someone who has been hurt and been offended, yet likeCorrie ten Boom who forgave that guard who abused her and caused death to herfamily, they have forgiven the person who deeply hurt them.  Ohmy friend, through the grace of God we can forgive others, and we need to dothat. I love the story of Joseph in the last chapters of Genesis and how histen brothers threw him in a pit. They thought to kill him, but instead theysold him into slavery and they thought it was over. Then they lied to theirfather and said a beast must have killed him. You know the story how laterafter they were reconciled to their brother and after their father died inGenesis 50, they go to Joseph and they say, "Our father told us to cometo you again and ask for your forgiveness." And Joseph replied, "AmI in the place of God?" He went on to say, "Listen, you mighthave meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. And I'm not only going toforgive you. You don't need to be afraid. I'm going to provide for you." Bythe way, that's another evidence that you have been forgiven. You are willingto do good and “provide” to others who have deeply hurt and offended you. Why?Because God has been good to you through your forgiveness. My friend, I sure hopeand pray that we take this lesson to heart. It's one of the biggest, greatest,most powerful lessons in the Bible. There are over thirteen passages in the NewTestament encouraging us to forgive one another. In Matthew 6:14-15 Jesus said,"For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father willalso forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither willyour Father forgive your trespasses.” HasGod spoken to your heart today? Is there someone you need to forgive because ofthe pain, the hurt, the bitterness in your heart that wells up inside of youwhen you think of them? You can because of the grace of God you haveexperienced! You need to see them in Christ. Remember God loves them. Christdied for them, and God wants them to have the salvation you have.  Yes,my friend, you have the ability and power to forgive when you have experienced,and you know God's forgiveness for your sins. And if you can't forgive others,maybe you need to check out whether you have truly been forgiven or notyourself. Please think about these things today! Godbless!

I am thankful that I have been forgiven for all my sins. That God now is my Father in heaven. That He loves me. Hecares for me. He meets all our needs according to His riches and glory inChrist Jesus. I have been so blessed with His forgiveness. Now that's what weread about in Ephesians 1:7. “In whom we have redemption through His blood.Yes, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace”.  Wedon't deserve this kind of forgiveness, but God gives it to us. He forgives usbecause Christ died on the cross for our sins. Now, a couple more things aboutforgiveness we want to continue to talk about. In John 1:29, when John theBaptist introduced Jesus Christ to his public ministry, and he saw Jesus comingto be baptized, he said, "Behold the lamb of God, which takes away thesin of the world." It is possible that John was thinking about and referringto Leviticus 16. You remember in Leviticus16, the great atonement chapter ofthe Old Testament, that on the Day of Atonement, one day a year, the High Priestof Israel would take the blood of a goat into the Most Holy Place, dipped hisfingers in that blood, and then he would sprinkle it on the Mercy Seat in the MostHoly Place before a holy God.  Rememberthat the Mercy Seat was setting over the Ark of the Covenant, which includedthe law of God, the law of Moses, the law that condemns us, the law that tellsus we're sinners, which reminds us that none of us are perfect. We've allsinned and come short of the glory of God that's revealed in His moral law. Andthere the mercy seat was sitting above and over it reminding us that with Godthere is abundant mercy and kindness and grace if we'll turn to His way ofsalvation which is through the blood. (Read Dr. Towns Devotional that is postedon my website at: https://www.pmiministries.org/post/365-ways-to-know-god-by-elmer-towns-august-24 Therewas another goat called the scapegoat. And that scapegoat would be outside thetabernacle doors. The priest laid his hands on the head of that goat and confessedall the sins of the people of Israel. Symbolically he would put the sins of thepeople on the head of that goat. Then that goat then would be taken by a manthat was appointed by the priest and led out into the wilderness, and maybethere was another man further out already waiting, and he would take it furtherand further and further into the wilderness. And so finally, there is no waythat that goat could find its way back to the people of God. And my friend, thisscapegoat symbolized that their sins were not only covered there in thetabernacle, atoned for, but they were also removed.  Thatreminds me of Psalms 103:10-12 where it says: “He has not dealt with usaccording to our sins, Nor punished us according to our iniquities. For as theheavens are high above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fearHim; As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed ourtransgressions from us.” My friend, God's not only saved us and forgiven us,and no longer holds our sins against us, they are also no longer on ouraccount. They were put on Christ account. And on Christ account, they were paidin full.  Godhas now removed our sins from us. The removal of our sins is as far as the eastis from the west. It doesn't matter how far east you go, you can't get to thewest. And no matter how far west you go, you won't get to the east, so tospeak. They're removed from each other, never to come together.  Yoursins will never come together upon you again because you're forgiven in ChristJesus. I love what it says in Hebrews 8:11 where God says, “For I will bemerciful toward their iniquities. And I will remember their sin no more."God not only forgives us, He forgets our sins. We might not forget them, butGod does.  Forgivenand Forgotten!!!!!  Oh, how blessed weare. Today you can experience and enjoy forgiveness of sins through Christ! Godbless!

Ibelieve what we're talking about today is one of the most important things wecan talk about in the Bible and especially in the New Testament, and that is theforgiveness of sins. The forgiveness of sins, and knowing that we'reforgiven. Yesterday we started looking at Ephesians 1:7, and there it tells usthat “in Him we have redemption through His blood”. We explained thatyesterday. Redemption through the blood. How His blood has redeemed us, has setus free from our sin, has paid the ransom price to a holy God so that we do nothave to stand guilty before Him. And then next He says, "And theforgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace."  Oneof the greatest feelings I have ever had emotionally, mentally, spiritually, inany way, humanly speaking, was the day that I knew I was forgiven for my sins.February 21st, 1971. God didn't hold my sins against me any longer. The guiltwas gone. The darkness was gone, and the burden was lifted. In the NewTestament, the forgiveness of sins is the central theme of the gospel message. Itemphasizes God's mercy and His grace through Jesus Christ. It addresses thefact that man is a sinner. That man is a fallen creature. Man is separated fromGod. Man is alienated from God. We're separated from God by our sin. And “thewages of sin is death”. The payment for sin is death. But my friend, “thegift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23).  Goddoesn't forgive us because He loves us. Many people have that mistaken idea,but that's not true. God forgives us because He sent His Son to die in ourplace for our sin. Jesus took the penalty for our sin. He took the guilt. Hetook the shame. He took all of it, the death of our sin upon Himself and diedin our place in a substitutionary way. Our sin was imputed to Him and Hisrighteousness has been imputed to us, and therefore being justified by faith wehave peace with God (Romans 5:1). The word justified means now we have a rightstanding before a holy God. We're no longer guilty before a holy God.  Theonly way to be forgiven is to first recognize that you need to be forgiven.That you find yourself under the weight and guilt of your sin and you have noway to deal with that. Going to church, living a good life, doing good deeds,doing anything you're trying to do to remove your sin. The sacraments,religion, nothing can remove your sin. No priest, no man on earth can removeyour sin, my friend. Only one person can, and that is Jesus Christ through thedeath, His death on the cross of Calvary. And when we acknowledge that, then wecan cry out to God for forgiveness in repentance of our sins. Atthat point, we express our faith and trust in what Jesus did for us on thecross. And that's when the moment of salvation takes place and we are forgiven becausewe have a Savior, Jesus Christ. There is no other way (Acts 4:12). Oh, nogreater experience than to be forgiven. And that's the love God has for us(John 3:16). He sent His Son to die for us. Love is expressed in the fact thatHe does forgive us through His mercy and the grace of Jesus Christ on the cross. That'swhy when we forgive those who trespass against us those who hurt us we areexpressing not our love because our love is pretty faulty at best, but we'reexpressing God's love because God is love and God only can forgive sin and myfriend you have experienced that, it's then for Christ's sake that you canforgive others, not that they deserve it any more than we deserved it.  Well,this is a great truth. We have the forgiveness of sin according to the richesof His grace. Have you been forgiven? I trust you have.  Godbless!

Remember,the theme of Ephesians is about the riches that we have in Christ Jesus. We arein Christ the moment we trust Him to be our Lord and Savior. The Holy Spiritbaptizes us into the body of Christ (Romans 6:3). In the first long sentence,verse 2-6, we have seen how God the Father has given us at least threewonderful rich blessings. The first blessing was we are “chosen”. We are“chosen… to be holy and without blame before Him in love” (v. 4). Secondly,we are “adopted” into His family as His children (v. 5). We appreciatethe fact that we can go to Him as our Father in heaven.  Next,we are blessed with being “accepted in the beloved” (v. 6). No matterwhat happens in our life, or what goes on around us, God has accepted us notbecause of our goodness, our good deeds, or our perfection. No. He's acceptedus in Christ Jesus forever. And we have an advocate in heaven, Jesus Christ therighteous, who is always there interceding on our behalf. We are accepted, myfriend. What great blessings from God the Father.  Now,in verses 7-12, we see where we have blessings from God the Son. Now, we mustalso remember that each Person of the Godhead does not work independently ofthe other. No, my friend, they all work together to make possible everythingthat pertains to our salvation. But each Person of the Trinity, God the Father,God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, are still one. And each person has a specialministry to perform and a special deposit to make into our lives. Through theministry and finished work of Jesus the Son we are blessed with being redeemed. Theword redeem basically means to “purchase to set free by paying the price”.During the time of Christ and the apostles there were 60 million slaves in theRoman Empire and they were bought and sold like pieces of furniture. But a man couldpurchase a slave and set him free. And this is what Jesus did for us. In theNew Testament there are three words that are in the Greek that highlight thedifferent aspects of this redemption.  Thefirst Greek word is agorazō which means “to buy” or “to purchase” andespecially typically in a marketplace setting. It describes the aspect ofredemption as the initial acquisition of buying of humanity from the slavemarket of sin where Christ pays the price by His blood to claim believers asHis own (1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Revelation 5:9). Colossians 1:13-14 also tellsus: “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into thekingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood,the forgiveness of sins.” Thenext Greek word is exagorazō, a compound form meaning “to buy out of” or “toredeem from”. This emphasizes the aspect of permanently removing the purchasedindividual from the market or the bondage of sin. The individual is no longersubject to resale or the curse of the law, delivering them from ongoingenslavement to sin.  Thenthe last Greek word is lutroō, which means “to ransom”, “to loose” or “to setfree” because the ransom price has been paid. And it focuses on the aspect ofcomplete liberation, emancipation from captivity, your release from the powerand the guilt and the shame of sin. You are set free.  Thatis what it means when it says in the scripture, we are redeemed by His blood. “InHim we have redemption through His blood”. Redemption is only possible throughHis blood. Jesus paid the price. He satisfied God's wrath for sin. Now myfriend, we are set free to love Him, to live for Him, to be free to serve Him,to serve others, to love God, and to love others like we should.  Ilove the old hymn by Fanny Crosby: “Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it! Redeemedby the blood of the Lamb! Redeemed through His infinite mercy—His child, andforever, I am.” Whata wonderful, wonderful blessing we have from Jesus Christ. Have you everexperienced this redemption? Godbless!

Thethird great blessing we learn from verse 6, is that we are “accepted in theBeloved”. The first time the word “accepted” was used is in Genesis 4:7,where God accepted Abel's sacrifice, but He rejected Cain's sacrifice. Cain wasvery angry and God told him: Genesis 4:7 “If you do well, will you not beaccepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire isfor you, but you should rule over it."  God was saying that if Cain would do the rightthing by bringing the right sacrifice that God could accept that he would beaccepted, otherwise sin would control him when he could have “ruled” orconquered it by the acceptable sacrifice.  Wehave been “chosen” and we have been “adopted”. And we also been “acceptedin the Beloved to the praise of the glory of His grace”. One of the worst emotionsto have in our life is the feeling that we are being rejected. We might feelrejected by our parents. Sometimes we get rejected or feel rejected by ourpeers, by our friends, and rejected by our co-workers. There's this terrible sensethat you have when you walk into the room, people don't want you in there.You're not wanted. You're not a part of the group.  I'veheard that young people will do anything to be accepted by their peers. They'llchange their looks. They'll change the color of their hair. They'll doeverything to look like those who accept them. My friend, oh my friend, you andI have the great spiritual blessing of being accepted by God. Before we becamea believer we were alienated from God. We were enemies from God. We were at warwith God. But Jesus Christ came, and He took the rejection of men. He wasdespised and rejected of men. He was a man of sorrows (Isaiah 53:3).  Jesustook our sin. He took our place. He is the sin offering that God accepted. Theonly offering for sin that God could accept. He was the perfect sacrifice, the Lambof God, the One without spot and without blemish. He was stainless. He wasperfect before God. He was the only sacrifice that would satisfy the wrath ofGod. God had to turn His back to His Son when He was on the cross and in asense reject His Son, as His Son, so that His Son could become our sin on thatcross and die in our place.  Nowbecause Jesus paid the full price. The offering for sin has been accepted. Whenyou read about the sacrifices and offering in the Old Testament you can't helpbut notice how many times it says that God could not accept certain sacrificesor offering because they didn't meet His standard. But thank God, now the onesacrifice of Jesus Christ has been accepted.  “Tothe praise of the glory of His grace…” It is all by the grace of God and not what wedo. It's not by our works of righteousness. There's nothing we could do. If wecould bring peace to the whole world and settle all the wars and conflicts andby doing so got the Nobel Peace Prize, that will not give you one merit to enterheaven one day. It is only by the grace of God through the blood of JesusChrist and the fact that God has accepted His sacrifice. Now,you and I are accepted in the beloved. And my friend, if you know you'reaccepted by God, what does it matter if men reject you, if friends or anyoneelse rejects you? You know that your greatest need is to be accepted by God,and you are accepted in His Beloved Son Jesus Christ. How should we respond tothis great fact and truth? We should live acceptable lives before Him as weread in Romans 12:1-2. We make acceptable offerings by giving ourselves whollyand completely to Him and please Him because we have been accepted.  Don'tever forget that you're accepted by God. You're accepted in His family. You'reone of His children. What a great, awesome, and wonderful spiritual blessing! Godbless!

Whenwe look at the words “election” or being “chosen” in theScriptures, we're speaking of the fact that God has a special people set apartfor a specific purpose. Just like He chose Abraham and chose the people ofIsrael to be His people. It didn't mean that they were all saved. It means thatthey were called to as a special people to special purpose. As believers, weare born into the family of God. But as His sons and daughters we are chosen byHim to be holy, to be a “chosen” people, an “elect” people, a people that has thepurpose of reflecting His glory as His church to the world around us.  Inverse five, it says, "Having predestined us to adoption as sons byJesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will."  Here we meet this word called predestination. Themeaning of this word has caused many divisions amongst believers. This shouldnot be the case, especially when you look at the context in which it is used inthe New Testament. We should not misunderstand this word. This word as it isused in the Bible refers primarily to what God does for saved people. Nowherein the Bible are we taught that people are predestined to hell or even toheaven, because this word is already referring to those who are saved who havebeen born into the family of God.  Theword simply means to ordain beforehand to predetermine. As we said electionseems to refer to people while predestination refers to purposes. And when youlook at scripture, you find that the events connected with the crucifixion ofJesus Christ were predestined. Read Acts 4:25-28. Jesus was slain from thefoundation of the world as the Lamb of God. God has predestined us to adoption(Ephesians 1:5). God has predestined us to conformity to Christ (Romans 8:29-30).“For whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image ofHis Son”.  Goddidn't predestine us to be saved or to be lost, to go to heaven or go to hell.He predestined us to be like His Son. And my friend, one day we ultimately willbe just like Him. God also predestined our future inheritance. This is foundhere in Ephesians 1:11, “In Him also we've obtained an inheritance beingpredestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according tothe council of His will”. This has to do with our future inheritance thatwe have when we see Jesus Christ at His coming.  Adoption,when you look at it in scripture, has a dual meaning, both present and future.You do not get into God's family by adoption. You get into God's family byregeneration, the new birth. John 3:1-18. You see this also in 1 Peter 1, we'reborn again by the Word of God through the Holy Spirit of God into the family ofGod. Adoption in scripture is the act of God by which He gives His “born ones”an adult standing in the family. Why does He do this? That's because we mightimmediately begin to claim our inheritance and enjoy our spiritual wealth rightnow. A baby cannot legally use his inheritance. Galatians 4:1-7. But an adultson can and should. It means that you do not have to wait till you become anold saint before you can claim your riches in Christ Jesus. You can claim themnow as a brand-new believer.  Thefuture aspect of adoption is found in Romans 8:22-23. Again this is speaking ofthe glorified body that we will have when Jesus Christ returns and we meet Himface to face and we're like Him even in our glorified bodies. We already havean adult standing before God. But the world can't see that. When Christreturns, this private adoption will be made public for everyone to see. As Paulsays in Romans 8, we look forward to that day! My friend. I believe Jesus'coming is just around the corner. Today,are you claiming and enjoying the riches of the glory of your inheritance in ChristJesus? (Ephesians 1:15) Godbless!

Ephesians1:3-6 is one long sentence. Today we are looking at the blessings that we havefrom God the Father. “Blessed be God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,who has blessed us…” (v.3). Verses 3-6 are speaking of our blessings thatwe have from God the Father. When Jesus Christ wrote His last will andtestament for His church, He made it possible for us to share in His spiritualriches. Instead of spending it all for Him, (as some do when they receive aninheritance), Jesus Christ paid for it all. His death on the cross and Hisresurrection made it possible for our salvation.  Myfriend, Jesus wrote us into His will and then He died so that the will would beenforced. That's what the book of Hebrews is about. Then He rose again that Hemight become the heavenly advocate, our lawyer, to make sure that the terms ofthe will were correctly followed.  Inthis long sentence Paul begins to name just a few of the blessings that we havethat make up our spiritual wealth. First, we find in verse four here that Godhas “chosen us in Him”. This is the speaking of the marvelous doctrineof election, a doctrine that has confused some and confounded others. Aseminary professor once remarked, "You try to explain election and you'lllose your mind. But try to explain it away and you may lose your soul."  TheScriptures teach that salvation begins with God and not with man. AllChristians must agree upon this. "You have not chosen me," Jesussaid, "but I have chosen you." (John 15:16). The lost sinnerleft to his own ways does not seek God. He hides from God. Remember Adam andEve after they sinned (Genesis 3:8). God in His love seeks the sinner (Luke19:10).  Notethat God chose us even before He created the universe, so that our salvation iswholly of His grace and not on the basis of anything we ourselves have done. Hechose us in Christ, not in ourselves. And He chose us for a purpose: “to beholy and without blame”. In the Bible, election is always unto something.It is a privilege that carries a great responsibility. We are not elected intothe family of God, we are born into the family of God (John 3:1-7). We are electedto a position of sanctification and service as we participate in the body lifein the family of God!  Doesthe sinner respond to God's grace against his own will? No, he responds becauseGod's grace makes him willing to respond (Ephesians 2:8-9). God only gives usthis grace when we humble ourselves under the condemnation of the Law and we acknowledgeand confess that we can only be saved by the death and resurrection of JesusChrist (Romans 10:10-13)! At the same time there is the mystery of divinesovereignty and human responsibility will never be solved in this life. Bothare taught in the Bible (John 6:37). Both are true, and both are essential.Spurgeon said they are friends, and they walk hand in hand. I personally believestrongly in both! Ilove how someone shared how that all three Persons in the Godhead are involvedin our salvation (see also 1 Peter 1:3-5). As far as God the Father isconcerned, you were saved when He chose you in Christ in eternity past. Butthat alone did not save you. As far as God the Son is concerned, you were savedwhen He died for you on the cross. As far as God the Spirit is concerned, youwere saved when you yielded to His conviction and received Christ as your Savior.What began in eternity past was fulfilled in time present, and will continuefor all eternity!  Oh,my friend, how wonderful it is to know that we have been chosen in Christbefore the foundation of the world, not to be saved, but “to be holyand without blame before Him in love”.  We are a special people. We have a greatblessing. We are “chosen in Him”.  Godbless!

Todaywe are talking about the riches that we have in Christ Jesus. Sometimeswe think of the wealthiest people on earth such as Elon Musk being worth over$430 billion and Jeff Bezos, the owner and founder of Amazon, over 200-plusbillion dollars, and other wealthy people. The top five billionaires in theworld altogether—their wealth is over a trillion dollars—and we go, wow,wouldn't we like to have that? Well, my friend, I am telling you, you havesomething better than that. You have eternal riches.  Thefact that Paul is writing about wealth would be significant to his readers,because Ephesus was considered the bank of Asia. One of the seven wonders ofthe world, the great temple of Diana, was in Ephesus, and was not only a centerfor idolatrous worship, but also a depository for wealth. Some of the greatestart treasures of the ancient world were housed in this magnificent building. Inthis letter, Paul will compare the church of Jesus Christ to a temple and willexplain the great wealth that Christ has in His church. Paul is saying to us, "BE RICH!" Thatis what Paul says in verse three: “Blessed be the God and Father of our LordJesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlyplaces in Christ.” Our riches are not in a passing world, a temporaryworld, the temporary wealth of this world. Our riches are found in the eternalperson of Jesus Christ Himself. We have His riches. We are co-inheritors withHim of all the riches of God. Our Father in heaven owns it all.  TheHoly Spirit is mentioned many times in this letter, because He is the one whochannels our riches to us from the Father, through the Son. Not to know anddepend on the Holy Spirit's provision is to live a life of spiritual poverty.No wonder Paul began his Ephesian ministry asking some professed Christians ifthey really knew the Holy Spirit (Acts 19:1-7). We might ask professedChristians today, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? Ifthe answer is no, then you are not saved." "Now if any man havenot the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His" (Romans 8:9). Unless youhave the witness of the Spirit (Romans 8:15-16), you cannot draw on the wealthof the Spirit. Inthese first verses of this chapter one of the guarantees that we're going tosee of our salvation and our eternal inheritance in Christ is based on the factthat we have been given the Holy Spirit (vv.11-14). In the Old Testament,promises were made to Israel that they would be blessed with prosperity, withwealth, with land, with material things. But my friend, the blessings that arepromised to the believer are eternal blessings. We're not called to be blessedwith riches physically. The prosperity gospel preachers are deceitfullymisleading many today to believe that God has promised us material wealth now.Actually Jesus promised us poverty and suffering now if we truly follow Him.  Ourriches In Christ are not in the sweet by and by. We are rich and blessed inChrist spiritually speaking right now! In Philippians 3, Paul said, "Icount all things but loss for the glory and the riches that I have in ChristJesus… that I might know Him and the power of His resurrection." Ourriches are found in the fact that we have the promise that “our God willsupply all our needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians4:19). “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians4:13).  Myfriend, today we have the power, the ability, and the desire to please God forheavenly riches, heavenly things, and heavenly results. You can't take yourmoney to heaven with you, but you can take people to heaven with you that youinfluence and impact with the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Today,you are rich in Christ. You've been born into tremendous wealth in Christ. Youare seated with Him in the heavenlies even right now. GodBless!

We have talked about God's graceand how important it is that we experience God's grace before we can experienceHis peace—peace with God. The Bible definitely teaches that we'reat enmity with God before our salvation. We're enemies of God. We're alienatedin our minds by wicked works away from God (Colossians 1:21), and we needreconciliation.  Justnow the world is looking for peace in the Ukraine in the Middle East. But there will be no peace without the Man of peace.That's Jesus Christ. And I can tell you one day He will bring peace to thisworld. Jesus said to His disciples, "Let not your heart be troubled.You believe in God, believe also in Me" (John 14:1).   Ourhearts are yearning for peace. Your heart yearns for peace. There's somethingmissing inside because you literally are not at one with the Father in heavenwho created you, your Creator God. You've been alienated from Him by sin thatyou were born with in your heart. And there's only one way to make peace, andthat's through the blood of His cross. That's why Romans 5:1 says, "Therefore,being justified by faith," remember we talked about grace and faith.  Paulwrote to the “faithful in Christ” at Ephesus, those who have a savingfaith. And when you have a saving faith in the blood of Christ on the cross ofCalvary, you can then enjoy His peace. You're at peace with God only throughthe sacrifice and the blood of His Son Jesus Christ. Paul wrote, “Therefore,being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our LordJesus Christ" (Romans 5:1).  Peacewith Godis what we need and what we are longing for. No more war, no more enmity, nomore separation. We're reconciled to God. And it says He reconciles all thingsto Himself in Colossians 1:20, “And having reconciled all things to Himself,having made peace by the blood of His cross”. It's only through the bloodof His cross that you can experience by faith this wonderful peace with God.Have you ever come to the cross? Have you ever come to Christ through Hisblood?  InEphesians 2:13-17 Paul wrote, "But now in Christ Jesus, you who oncewere far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himselfis our peace, who has made both one and broken down the middle wall ofseparation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is the law ofcommandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new manfrom the two, thus making peace, that He might reconcile them both toGod in one body through the cross, therefore putting to death the enmity. AndHe came and preached peace to you who were far off, those who are nownear”. Myfriend, Paul was saying that the Jews were near, (they had the law of Moses),but the Gentiles, we were far off, but we are all separated from Christ. But inChrist, we are brought together, and we have peace. Oh, today this is peacewith God. But then there is also the peace of God that passes allunderstanding. Read Philippians 4:4-9. Those first verses there that talk aboutbeing at peace with God because we yield everything in our lives to Him. Wesurrender our will. We surrender our possessions. We surrender everything toHim. And we can then enjoy the peace of God that passes allunderstanding. And then think on these things that are pure and holy and lovelyand kind and good and gracious.  Youcan live a life of peace. That's why John 14:27 means so much to me when Jesussaid, "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you, (The verypeace He had with His Father), not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Letnot your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." Troubledhearts, fearful hearts can come to reconciliation with God through Christ inHis blood on the cross and find that peace that passes all understanding andthat peace that takes away the enmity with God.  Godbless you today as you experience and enjoy grace and peace throughfaith in Christ Jesus.

Paul writes, "Grace to you and peace from God ourFather and the Lord Jesus Christ." We could spend several weeks juston this one small verse, that starts with the word grace. The word graceis used 12 times in the book of Ephesians. It refers to the kindness of Godtoward undeserving people. Some people abbreviate that by saying that grace is God'sunmerited favor. That's what grace is.  Overthe years I have also expanded the description of Biblical grace to say thatgrace is God giving us everything we need to be able to fulfill and do the willof God and to find fulfillment in Christ Jesus. Peter said it this way: “Graceand peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, asHis divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness,through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which havebeen given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through theseyou may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption thatis in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:2-4). Whenyou read through Paul's epistles you will notice that he begins every letterwith the greeting, “grace to you and peace from God our Father and the LordJesus Christ”. Paul is really big on God's grace. Paul finishes everyletter speaking of God's grace; “Grace be unto you from our Lord JesusChrist”. Next time you read through Paul's epistles be sure to notice this.Grace is a big thing with the Apostle Paul because it's a big thing with God.  TheBible tells us in John chapter 1 that the law was given by Moses, but grace andtruth came by Jesus Christ. You want to know what God's grace is? Look full inthe face of Jesus Christ and there you'll see God's grace because what you needis found in Christ. That's why Paul mentions grace and peace together so often.Now tomorrow we're going to talk about peace with God and the peace of God. Buttoday we are looking at God's grace. As I said, we desperately need God's graceto be all that we should be for the glory of God.  Graceis God giving us the desire to be saved. One of the most famous verses in theNew Testament is Ephesians 2:8- 9. “For by grace are you saved through faithand that not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of works, lest any manshould boast.” A person does not get saved without God giving you thegrace, giving you the desire to be saved. And when does God give you the desireto be saved? We find the answer to that in James 4:6, and also 1 Peter 5:5-6. Andthey both quote the same thing out of the Old Testament book of Proverbs 3:34. Thisis where Solomon wrote that God gives grace to the humble.  Jamesand Peter in their verses make it clear that “God resists the proud, but Hegives grace to the humble”. When we humble ourselves, when we have contritehearts. When we are broken. When we become desperate for God and the peace ofGod recognizing our great need of God's forgiveness for our sin, it is thenthat God looks down upon our humble heart and He gives us grace. First, Hegives us the desire to get saved and then He gives us the willingness to getsaved and then He actually saves us by His grace.  Oneof my favorite verses about grace is found in 1 Corinthians 15:10, where theApostle Paul proclaims, "But by the grace of God, I am what I am. AndHis grace toward me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than theyall. Yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me."  Paul acknowledges that, "EverythingI am and everything I hope to be and everything I have accomplished for thepurposes of God is only by His grace”. Yes,my friend it is God's grace that gives us the desire, the power, the ability todo what God wants us to do. That's why Paul would write in all his letters and say,"Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord JesusChrist." Everything we really need today comes from Him.

Iremember when I was a child growing up in a family that was very poor. I tell you what, my friend. The moment I found Jesus Christ as a 19-year-oldteenager, I became the richest person in the universe in Christ. And that'swhat Ephesians is about: knowing and understanding the riches of the glory theHis inheritance that I have in Jesus Christ. And that's why these three versesare so powerful to help us begin to understand what we need to learn and knowfrom this book.  Verse1 tells us that Paul is an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and thathe is writing this epistle “to the saints who are in Ephesus andfaithful in Christ Jesus.” The word saints there is a very importantword. It's a word that's used at least nine times in the book of Ephesians. Theword saint actually means “one who has been set apart”. Somebody that's beensanctified. Somebody that's been made holy. The moment you received JesusChrist, you were set apart for by the Holy Spirit for Christ and for His glory(Romans 6:3).  Imean all the riches in Christ were set apart for you in Christ at that moment.And so when we trust Christ in a sense we're taken out of this world and we'replaced in Christ in a heavenly world, we can enjoy heaven on earth. We do nothave to wait for the sweet by and by. And you were set apart to go to heavenone day. It's so sad that many of us do not understand or recognize the richeswe have in Christ.  Itkind of reminds me of the story I read recently of Hetty Green who lived from1834 to 1916. When she died she was worth over $100 million. In our moneytoday, that would be $2.5 billion. She was called the witch of Wall Street. Inthe Guinness Book of World Records, she's called America's greatest miser. It'sreported that she ate cold oatmeal because it cost to heat it. She ate mostlypies that cost 15 cents. She was said never to turn on the heat or use hotwater. She wore one old black dress and undergarments that she changed onlyafter they had been worn out. She did not wash her hands and she rode in an oldcarriage. One tale claims that Green spent half a night searching her carriagefor a lost stamp worth two cents. Another asserts that she instructed herlaundress to wash only the dirtiest part of her dresses, the hems, to savemoney on soap. The sad thing is she had a son that had to suffer a legamputation because she delayed in taking so long looking for a free clinic thathis case became incurable.  Howsad. But a sadder fact is the fact that there are so many Christians that areliving miserable lives because they do not know about and understand the richesthey have in Christ. I've often said the most miserable people in the world arenot lost people. They're enjoying the pleasures of sin for the few moments theymight have with it. It's the Christian who can't enjoy those pleasures of sinany longer because of the convicting power of the Holy Spirit in their lives,but they have never begun to comprehend the great riches they have in Christ.  That'swhat we're going to be talking about these next few days in Christ. In Christ.Matter of fact, the phrase “in Christ” is used, some 15 times in the book ofEphesians. We are “in Christ”. Oh, if we could only begin to understand that. Peterput it this way in 1 Peter 1:3-5: “Blessed be the God and Father of our LordJesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to aliving hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to aninheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reservedin heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvationready to be revealed in the last time.” Itrust today you will begin to recognize and know the riches of His glory of theinheritance that you have in Christ.  Godbless you, and may you have a wonderful, wonderful day!