Unto the Praise of His Glory

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All right, so I dug around in here Wednesday night, came across one of Mike's maps here, so remember when I was saying that Ephesus, if you were in Corinth And you took ship Came straight across 200 miles across the Aegean You'd end up right there in Ephesus.
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Mike said they're about a mile right off the coast and We were stationed right up in here Little 26-man communication site on top of a mountain in the Ionian Sea All right, so we're in Ephesians chapter 1 and We're just gonna kind of pick up right where we were at I'm going to For time purposes, I'm going to pick right up at Right where we're talking about people Misunderstanding the Father's part in salvation Jesus didn't have to somehow Persuade or twist God the Father's arm for these blessings to be so And as if it was contrary to his will Paul's been unfolding this plan of the Father From the start of the letter, and I know that the he's Can get confusing sometimes but in this case, it doesn't seem to take too much to be able to follow along With him.
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So let's take a quick look back and forward and so go back to verse 2 and it says Who is this? Who is this grace and peace from it says grace be to you and peace from God our Father from the Lord Jesus Christ And I'm not sure what what you what Version that you're using but I'm reading from the King James verse 3 who has blessed us Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Who has chosen us? According as he that would be God the Father hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world That we should be holy and without blame before him See seeing the pattern here verse 5 in love who predestinated us unto adoption of children Says in love having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ who himself According to the good pleasure of his will and it just goes on and on we are accepted verse 6 redeemed and forgiven verse 7 And 8 he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and insight verse 9 having Made known unto us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which yet purposed in himself.
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So do you see? The perfect harmony of the Father and the Son in these passages.
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It was an ever about Jesus having to convince the Father to somehow give us a break But rather it was the mystery of his will according to his pleasure Which he purposed in himself so verses 7 or verses 9 and 10 having made known unto us the mystery of his will according to the good pleasure Which he purposed in himself that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in all things In Christ which are in heaven and which are in earth So this is that he would make known unto us the mystery of his will the mystery that he speaks of is not It's not a puzzle That still needs solving but it's more of a secret that only God knows and it can only be revealed as he brings it about so from from the Old Testament times God's Word is traced out this pattern Of his single minded purpose it was hidden in his heart and mind and yet there were glimpses of it all along the way such that You could say that the Old Testament was similar to That scaffolding on a job site And I don't know if you've ever taken notice of scaffolding before 36 years ago I was working for an electrical contractor and we were wiring commercial buildings and one of those buildings is now the destination church over in the Arlington area of Jacksonville, and I remember Watching an older man At least I was 25 at the time so it was an old an older man and his I'd say his late 30s So he was older to me and then his even older dad Which I'm older than even his dad his dad was then as they they laid out Scaffolding all around the footing of this building and then they brought it up however, many levels of scaffold all the way up and Then they blocked this entire building and then they stuccoed this entire building and It was to get to the point where it wasn't till all the scaffolding came down though That we could see a clear picture of what laid behind it In the Old Testament similar to that Scaffolding that it bore the shape of what God had been planning throughout eternity such that when it when it came down It was Christ that was there all along it was shaped like him and it was Paul Paul loved to use this this picture of a mystery and he uses this seven times and this one little short letter a Mystery revealed in the person of Christ and and what was that mystery? It was God's plan on uniting and gathering together all things both in heaven and earth And that gathering or uniting has its meaning to sum up It's the same word used by Paul in Romans 13 9 when he says for this thou shalt not commit adultery Thou shalt not kill thou shalt not steal thou shalt not bear false witness Thou shalt not covet and if there be any other commandment it is and Here's our word briefly comprehended or summed up in the ESV reads in this saying namely Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself to the last six commandments are are these practical applications of just one driving principle Love the God who's redeemed you and love the neighbor that he's placed alongside of you And and hasn't he done that for us hasn't our father? Shed his love abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit and given us Ample opportunity to love those who are around us both with all the Known as well as I'm sure unknown Needs that around us needs within the church needs with outside the church such that we have we're without excuse not seizing hold of One or more of these and and loving them God's Word says they they that would be the lost will know us by our love one for another and so the question is Do they I Pray they do but but but why why is is this that we are to love? A of course out of obedience but B Because we want to emulate God's love for us and this uniting or gathering Paul speaks of also refers to the end of the world's history the time when God Will gather believers together at the completion of time and in those words fullness of means the dispensation or the ESV reads administration of in this context and it's the administration of the fullness or the completion of time and God as he cannot change will continue to according to his divine purpose see as well done as Has been his manner always So verse 11 in whom also We have obtained an inheritance being predestinated According to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will So in whom or in him we have and an obtained an inheritance in Christ Christ is the source of the believers inheritance and it's an inheritance Which is so sure that it's you see there spoken of as if it had already been received having obtained having been predestined Before the the earth was formed God sovereignly determined that every elect center no matter how vile no matter how apparently useless and Deserving of death by trusting in Christ would be made righteous The verse ends who worketh all things according to the counsel of his own will that word worketh is the same one we get where we get energy or energized from and When God created the world He gave it sufficient energy to begin and not only begin but immediately operate just as he had planned it It wasn't just ready to function, but he created it and it was functioning God spoke it and it was functioning and so God works out his plan according to the counsel of his will And he energizes every believer with the power that we need for our spiritual completion Paul believed the day would come and it will when every knee would bow and every tongue would confess that Jesus Christ is Lord But the truth is though as we as Christians look around and we see so many obstacles in the way of this grand design and so We Paul intends to show us that that Christ How in Christ God has already dealt with all these obstacles and for us as Christians rather than Than looking around at these obstacles with eyes of flesh All these difficulties that are associated with this life and there are certainly plenty of them We're encouraged here to consider our inheritance It says we have been adopted into the family of God such that we have become heirs We have become joint heirs with Christ And do you see how Paul states this? now and not in some Future tense but here and now we have obtained an inheritance and and it seems it seems too good to be true Because in our own reasoning it would seem more likely that by following Christ and dying to ourselves.
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We would what? To me it would you think if you're thinking fleshly you lose everything but that's not the case is it and It's as if Paul senses that this may be The mindset of these young Christians in Ephesus in the surrounding areas and the same with us today but They were in a pagan city We're in a pagan city.
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They they know that there was work dark arts being worked in the city Practice there.
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There's a great number of those whose hearts are hardened toward the gospel of Christ.
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So it sounds pretty much like Jacksonville, you know Yeah 21st century City of destruction and So fear and doubt are playing on their minds and and thinking that would not be able to stand in the in the day of evil And so it is that Paul encourages them in the final chapter of the letter to put on the whole armor of God that they'd be Able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
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He says and having done all to stand And I encourage you I mean Thankfully each one of us got up this morning and we didn't have to think twice about putting on clothes Thankfully everybody on that We need to put on a spiritual clothes too we need to get up each morning and be ready for the battle that is certain to come and I Would teach our kids To If you had a hard time figuring out how it laid out in Ephesians 6 just start at the top and start working your way down to the helmet of salvation the breastplate of righteousness the girdle or the belt of truth Having their feet shod with preparation of the gospel of peace that they'd be ready In and out of season to share the good news that Jesus saves Taking up the shield of faith to quench all the fiery darts of the devil of lust and greed and envy and hatred You go on and on and on Taking up the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God that we would read it Memorize it meditate on it hide it in our hearts that we wouldn't sin against them.
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And then a lot of people skip over this and and I Guess it wasn't until we started reading Pilgrim's Progress and Bunyan the way he He laid it out there as pilgrim is going through I want to say it was the valley of the shadow of death That he puts on the armor of all prayer and Paul says and with all prayer and supplication Making your requests be made known to God.
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He adds that as an armor there and then Paul also speaks in chapter 13 of putting on the armor of a light that would be clothed in the holiness of His Son our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ, so Pray that on and I I guess just in the last couple years being convicted not just to be so Selfish and praying for myself, but I pray that for my wife and my children my grandchildren That they would pray on that the whole armor to That they would be ready as they step out their door into a battlefield that wants to devour them and and I know we can't lose our salvation and yet our testimony can be dirtied and Even even worse than that we can bring reproach on the name of the Lord and we don't want to do that Paul doesn't paint a Fluff and roses picture for them that would lead him to believe this is an easy path to trot on and in fact It even warns the elders in Acts 20 that fierce wolves would come in among them and not spare the flock So you can see there that it was a real difficulty in feeling secure And so it confirms with them that just as our salvation is found in Christ So their security is found in him as well And why is that? It's because we have an obtained and inheritance having been predestinated Predestined according to the purpose of his work of him who works all things according to the counsel of his own will so If if this is God's work and it is then on our part there can't be there's no place for fear in it Peter gives us such a clear and beautiful picture of this in the opening verses of first Peter where you Where you read in verse 3 blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a Lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved or kept in Heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation Ready to be revealed in the last time CDC.
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You see what he's saying there God God keeps our final inheritance secure for us And he keeps us Secure for our inheritance so that he covers both sides of it which is Which is a blessing for us because if it was left up to us We would surely fail Beginning back to our text verse verse 10 verse 11 It's probably been considered possibly the the strongest most comprehensive Statement about God's absolute sovereignty in the whole Bible and he is the one who is working all things after the counsel of his own will such that no matter what the Inclinations of the people or things may be around us.
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It is God who works with and through all that happens All all the events of history Even our individual lives all of these are without exception They're never outside of his will in his purpose and for for many Christians, that's a bitter It's a bitter pill to swallow and it leaves a bad taste in their mouths And the reason is in swallowing this divine sovereignty pill.
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We've got to swallow something else, too We've got to swallow our pride that that says, you know, it's crying out saying we're the masters of of our own lives It's only After our prides been dissolved by a sovereign Lord who can be completely trusted Can we enjoy the healing effects that from the sin we've inherited from Adam in the garden? recognizing God as God and trusting that even in the painful moments of life and there have been So many painful moments in the life just of our church within you know, just recently He is working all things together for our good To them that love God who are called according to his purpose And he is he is working them all for our good and then we're in the midst of these storms that we go through We still have to trust that The God that was sovereign and loving us the day before when everything seemed bright and cheery is loving us Today in the midst of sorrow and and sadness by means of a of a broken illustration prior to a Retinal detachment on Christmas Day about seven years ago And prior to a series of seven heart attacks and a stroke three years ago My wife and I Deborah for differing health reasons Changed Our our diet and not so much for the purpose of losing weight but for increased health and increased strength as As both had begun to decline with At least the onset of age for me because she still looks like she did whenever we got married Prayer yeah But she had a couple gray hairs and she was 17 when we got married, so she had a couple gray hairs there And she let me know before we got married that just so you know, I'm never gonna color my hair Yeah true to her word 44 years later so Yeah, but to be honest the whole program At least starting off it was horrible If it not that our diets were pristine Before well hers might have been more pristine, but no, but during that time and since I mean I began to cry out for the leaks and the flesh pots of yesterfood and you know Give me give me a brownie and a burger And what made it worse is that rather than feeling amazingly good better More more times than not it did not feel good but in the midst of this suffering and and that's That's what it was.
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That's you know We we don't go anywhere without She's you know trying to figure out what what are we taking you know what we go there can is there anything that we can eat Do they have sticks and and acorns on the dot on the menu in it? It's it's in the midst of suffering we we began to see Areas that were improving such that we knew that it was helpful And yet our flesh what we felt cried out against it, so we Don't you know as much as you want to rely on what you feel rely on what you know to be true Which is basically how it is it can be in this walk that we call the Christian life.
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We we know God is good We know God is good all the time We know that he loves us even more than our narcissistic hearts love ourselves We know that his promises are true We know that his mercies are new each morning and still too often we look around and we feel like we're missing out on the good stuff When in fact all the good that we need is found in who we are in Christ I Mean Why is it that all these riches are even put into our plus column in our ledger It's because he loves us and he's true to his word verse 12 That we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ God does all this All that we've talked about there so far to the praise of his glory for our part.
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We simply need to trust that His glory is not The enemy of our good.
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Let me say that again.
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His glory is not the enemy of our good and That as he purposes His glory he does it in such a way as he brings the greatest blessings to his people Remember back in verse 4 we read according as he has chosen us in him Before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love We saw that all the spiritual blessings We enjoy in Christ are rooted in our election and that before the foundation of the earth Before time and now that decision made about us before time is confirmed by God's actions in time in us look at verses 13 and 14 In whom he also trusted after that you heard the word of truth The gospel of your salvation in whom also after that you believed you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise Which is the earnest of our inheritance? Until the redemption of the purchase possession until unto the praise of his glory.
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So there's a lot that's that's contained there mainly that of their hearing and Believing the gospel and then there's that matter of our sealing not this ceiling, but Stamps a seal was used to provide security in Times past even times he's speaking of in time even in times now a Lot of it's a lot of things now though.
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It's just Decorations on the back of a wedding invitation or something like that.
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I work for the post office for 26 years And the post office still uses Stamps or seals and they change out the dates and they change things out on that stamp every day And and it's for a purpose It's a unique design and it's difficult to forge Yes, and such as it's it mean it's a means of confirming approving something's authentic And there's a there's an ownership there.
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So in reference to being sealed with the Spirit Paul is is showing that there's both security of our forgiveness and It's accompanied with an insurer assurance of belonging to God given to us in Christ As well as realized by the gift of the Holy Spirit.
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So later in later in in the letter Paul is going to revisit this theme In chapter 4 verse 30 where he'll say and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby ye were sealed You are sealed unto the day of redemption So this sealing is not just something that the Spirit does but he says he is God's seal Since Paul goes on to say that the Spirit himself is the earnest.
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That's You just bought a place you had to put it down an earnest down or a good faith money down right a guarantee that you were going to follow through you're going to back out and And if you do do you lose that right? So it's a guarantee or a pledge And what he's saying here is that God's Holy Spirit he is the guarantee and It is his presence in our lives that Is God's assurance that every spiritual blessing will be ours The verse concluding unto the praise of his glory and again, this is the third time in Nine verses we have seen this similar thought of God's glory And Where was that I need bigger print now it was a verse To The praise of the glory of his grace verse 6 and then 12 that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in him and Then looking at verse 14 there it ends unto the praise of his glory So in this line of thought what we see is that There's a Trinitarian nature to all the blessings that we receive First they have their their roots in the plan of the father He says who hath blessed us.
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That was verse 3 Second we see them accomplished by the work of the Son verse 7 in him.
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We have redemption and Then lastly three they're applied to us by the work of the Spirit you were sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise So so what does that tell us? It speaks to the fact that the entire Godhead all three persons of the Trinity are Needed in order that we would be redeemed All three to bring us the blessings of grace.
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It's interesting to note that in this whole long Single run-on sentence slash in paragraph you know, I Used to get in trouble in English class for run-on sentences and in here's Paul.
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He's got He's got, you know half a half a chapter there.
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Nobody says anything to him about it But anyway on this whole long run-on sentence Paul has been speaking of these Christians in the first person plural In other words, he's been using words like we are us or our our not our Our and he has done it in every verse from verse 3 through verse 12 Except for verse 12 and I went listen, we got a few minutes.
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Let's let's look quickly with it.
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So Verse 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who had blessed us With all spiritual blessings and heavenly places in Christ.
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So there's two Verse four according as he hath chosen us There we go in him before the foundation of the world that we Should be holy and without blame before him in love Verse 5 having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by the by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will Verse 6 to the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved Verse 7 in whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sin according to the riches of his grace Wherein verse 8 wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence Verse 9 having made known unto us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself Now again, you know we move over to verse 11 in whom also we have obtained an inheritance Being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will So but it's only when we get here to verse 12 That we see what he's talking about that he qualifies the we as those who were the first to hope in Christ and in contrast What is it we see here in verse 13? In whom ye also trusted after that ye heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation Whom also after that ye believed ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise You see that you see the difference the shift there and at first glance It could be seen as just speaking chronologically, you know in order we we trusted first now you also trusted But as we continue Into the letter he distinguishes more and more between the you and the us So that we see the distinction is between the two is it's what? It's ethnic for one thing Paul it Paul is part of the us we the Jews Whereas the Ephesians are more broadly the Gentiles Are the you look across your page probably across your page or just one page over in chapter 2 verse 11 You get a clearer picture Chapter 2 11 Wherefore remember that ye being in time past what? Gentiles in the flesh who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands.
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So the good news for us though Would be that just in the mentioning the distinction between the two in verse 13 We also see the difference has been overcome in Christ it says ye also trusted That's us ye the unconverted Gentiles After that ye heard the word of the truth The gospel of your salvation so that now in Christ What do we have both the Jewish and the Gentile believers all of us share the same privileges? And although I suppose as I thought this through You could say based on Romans 1 16 That the we and the you or also have a chronological as well as ethnic Twist in there at the same time because Romans reads for I am NOT ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ For it's the power of God into salvation to everyone that believe us to the Jew first and also to the Greek so He's not just saying that as Christians we enjoy these privileges These great blessings in the form of inheritance and all that it that is true Instead he wants us to see that the privileges Gentile Christians receive are as a result or as you could say as the fulfillment of Covenant blessings God had promised throughout the Old Testament You remember the covenant that with Abraham that had? He had promised that the nation's That's the heathen.
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That's the Gentiles.
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That's does anybody last name in in Stein or something everybody is a Gentile in here any Jewish folks in here Okay, so he's talking he's talking to us, right? Covenant that the nation's the heathen the earth would be blessed through his seed That's his offspring Now Christ that seed had come in him and the promises is fulfilled and we see that addressed in Galatians 3 16 and where it reads Now to Abraham and his seed Were the promises made he saith not into seeds as of many but as of one and to thy seed which is Christ and So it was that the blessings promised to Abraham were being poured out through the Holy Spirit on all nations to the circumcised Jews as was Saul or Paul as he is called now and to us to the uncircumcised Gentiles who believed on Christ both groups inheriting the same fulfilled promises Remember how I said Looking around us as Christians At apparent obstacles That only through eyes of faith could we see God's plan and purpose fulfilled You want to talk about a parent major obstacle that's been removed God's plan has overcome this matter of Jews and Gentiles The those who have an inheritance and those who don't have an inheritance those who are circumcised and those who are not circumcised now we have we have these things overcome through the personal work of Christ, but Now Jew and Gentile alike each of us bow before the same Lord and Savior and so we Both of us received the same blessings of grace from him and it's no wonder Paul keeps going on and on about this grace I mean, it's been some 20 years or so since Paul first experienced this grace and it turned him into a man of prayer Where do we find him right now? Verse 15 wherefore I also after I heard of your faith and the Lord Jesus Christ And the Lord Jesus and had in love unto all the Saints was he say Cease not to give thanks for you making mention of you in my prayers So we see here Paul Praying with Thanksgiving for the Ephesians as well as probably for the other churches in the area And he says he has heard two main things of them that of their faith and the Lord Jesus Christ as well as their love toward the Saints and In reading through the Pauline letters, it's as if these two features are always His marks of authenticity that he's looking for his litmus test if you You could say that of a true conversion and of a healthy church Galatians 5 6 reads for in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision but faith which worketh by love First Thessalonians 1 3 Remembering without ceasing your work of faith and love and labor of love and Patience of hope and our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of God and our Father in the second Timothy 1 13 hold fast the form of Sound words which thou hast heard of me in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus You got these three and there's we could just keep reading on and on there's more than double that In examples in this matter of faith Manifesting itself in love and why is that? Because if our Christianity is genuine There's going to be a change there will be a change both between us and God as well as those around us reading through Paul's letters to the churches, it seems as though he He gets his batteries charged by the news of his fellow Christians And there's so many of his letters.
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He goes on about this person.
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He goes on about that person addressing all types of matters both good matters and Not so good matters even with some churches.
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He had never even visited before And he was continually involved in their lives If in if in no other way But then it through his prayers for them and that should be an example For us today to emulate I mean our members just our members of sovereign grace family church We're in two states for possibly five counties and so It's hard to be physically involved in the lives of everybody in the church But we have no excuse for not being spiritually involved in the lives of everybody in this church by lifting them up in prayer So I hope that you other than just using the The bulletin that they hand out to you as you walk in That you use it not just for doodling down some notes or scribbling thinking about what's for lunch but Prayer requests and just you keep that in your Bible you pray for them each day And then when you get a new one next week, you can swap that out and keep praying I know I could always use prayer And so and we'll close here.
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Like I said Paul's knowledge of these These Other churches here It lends itself.
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He said he in most of his letters.
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He's talking He's speaking of this one or that one the other one in this letter He does not say he doesn't do that which again leads it lends it to itself That what we talked about it last week about the letter being sent not only to the church at Ephesus for the people at Ephesus, but the church at Ephesus in order that they along with those who they Copy out and send out to the surrounding churches that they would Use this For their own spiritual growth and be circulated throughout all this region of Turkey, so And we're going to close in verse 16.
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You've been patient.
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We're almost out of time Repulses, I I cease not to give thanks for you making mention of you in my prayers so a former pastor of ours Made mention of this matter of thankfulness in a sermon that he And he said something to the effect that if prayer is a true evidence of our love Then thankfulness and our prayers will always be a mark of God's grace in our lives And the reason being grace will always bring forth gratitude from our mouths so much so that gratitude Will be as a Christian weapon Because our thankfulness and everything will help us to overcome Grumbling both in ourselves and in others if however, we're we as Christians are known as grumblers or known as complainers It will no doubt be an evidence of our own prayerlessness So we we all know that ungratefulness is not something we have to teach You've been around kids You have to teach them all the good stuff and and try and unteach all all the bad stuff Our flesh things just tag along there But we're just naturally unthankful But what you want to do is We want to be in this this spiritual age that we find ourselves in that Where we are apt to pick up the dirt of this world and drag it around with us and wallow in it If we would spirit if we would Spiritually be lifting up our eyes Regularly and with our mouths praising God and Thanking God for all his grace and mercy and blessings in our lives these these blessings that we've read of all these blessings Reminding ourselves Through our prayers as David did in the Psalms.
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He reminds himself in prayer We'll find ourself at a place where we we have no right to murmur and we'll have no desire to murmur The blessings should cause our hearts to overflow with gratitude to a gracious God and Should I grow in us a faith that is permeated with love for those? He has placed around us in this perfect and sovereign will and if we can allow this package Of these passages to find their place in our hearts and believe that he has from the beginning To the end worked all these things according to his own sovereign and goodwill Then we'll begin to see clearly that he's planned it all He's done it all and and finally he has blessed us all We are out of time.
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I apologize for running over a couple minutes.
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Let's pray Holy Father we love you.