July 30, 2024 Show with David C. Hale on “Our Identity in Christ: As Individuals & As the Church”

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Proverbs, chapter 27, verse 17, tells us iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.

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This is Chris Arnzen, your host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, wishing you all a happy Tuesday this 30th day of July 2024, and I'm thrilled to have a first -time guest today, and I'll introduce him to you momentarily, but first,

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Well, as I was mentioning, I'm thrilled to have a first -time guest today that came with the highest recommendations from my very dear friend, my very dear longtime friend,

Pastor Bill Sasser of Grace Church at Franklin in Franklin, Tennessee, who is a sponsor of this program.

He told me that you should get David Hale on the program, he is one of my favorite preachers, and I would love to get

David involved in a Bible conference this September at Grace Church at Franklin, and he has also invited my former pastor of Grace Reformed Baptist Church of Long Island in Merrick, Mark Rimaldi, who is currently pastoring

Sovereign Grace Church in Greenbrier, Tennessee, and he is among three conference speakers, and they may even add a fourth, coming up this

September 12th, 13th, and 14th. But my guest today is

David Hale, pastor of Christ Community Church of Lewisburg, Tennessee, and we're going to be addressing our identity in Christ as individuals and as the

Church. It's my honor and privilege to welcome you for the very first time ever to Iron Trip and Zion Radio, Pastor David C.

Hale. Thank you, Chris. It's an honor and privilege to be with you on this radio program, and I really appreciate what you do in spreading sound

Bible teaching and addressing the diverse issues that come our way in this world, and I've enjoyed listening to your show and even going back to the podcast, so it's a privilege for me to be with you.

Thank you. Well, great. Well, tell us something about Christ Community Church of Lewisburg, Tennessee.

Well, Lewisburg is actually kind of in between Nashville, Tennessee, and Huntsville, Alabama.

We're about an hour south of Nashville. We are about an hour and 15, 20 minutes north of Huntsville.

And Lewisburg, it's about 12 ,000 people there in that area.

And Christ Community Church, at first, when the Lord brought me there, it was actually more of a free will

Baptist church. Wow. Right when I first came, they actually dropped the free will name title on the front of the church.

I'm glad they did that. Well, they still had a free will

Baptist teaching in that. So by God's providence, he dropped me in that area at that church, and I was not looking for a church.

I was not looking to pastor a church. I was actually doing some type of more creation evangelism and lo and behold, the

Lord actually had me stop in that church and to share the information that I have as far as it's called reasons for believing.

We would get four reasons for believing God's word to be true and faithful. But what we would do is do a

PowerPoint presentation. Well, I actually stopped at this little church called New Life Community Church at that time and to share the information and I gave information to the pastor.

And the pastor said, well, I will give this information to the men of the church. And I asked him,

I said, well, if you don't mind me asking, I heard the brother praying as you was closing the service about your transition.

What was your transition? If you don't mind me asking. And he says, well, I've actually gave my resignation this morning.

Wow. And I showed up that evening. So but I had no intentions of, like I said, pastoring or anything of that nature.

But I did talk to one of the men of the church and I did say, you know, if you want some help,

I will be glad to fill in the pulpit until you find someone. And so they had me come and then

I would gave my testimony the first time and they said, well, we had someone lined up, but that fell through.

Can you come back again for the next two Sundays? And I prayed about it and I thought, well,

Lord, the church needs to know what they're looking for in a pastor and what a pastor is looking for in a church.

And there needs to be a type of marriage there. And so I taught on what the church should look for in the pastor.

Well, long story short, each time they invited someone else to come and fill the pulpit, it kept falling through and they kept asking me to come back until the point came that they asked me if I would be interested.

And I said yes before I even thought about it. And I had like I said,

I had no intention. So by God's providence, he actually pulled me up out of one church, a good sovereign grace church there,

Grace Church at Franklin, where my wife and I were attending and dropped me in the pulpit there in Lewisburg.

And some changes were made. We're now called Christ Community Church.

And we're an independent, autonomous body of believers.

We're striving to glorify God, being faithful to the holy scriptures. And we hold to the conviction that all of the

Old Testament scriptures and all of the New Testament scriptures and the original manuscripts are the inspired word of God.

And our canon of scriptures that we have today is fully and completely reliable as our only rule of faith.

And therefore, we go through the scriptures and we preach and teach the free and sovereign grace of God found in his son, the

Lord Jesus Christ. And we strive to live out that very same grace that has saved us.

We try to put it into practice as well. Praise God. Well, if anybody is traveling through that area in Tennessee, in Lewisburg, Tennessee, or perhaps you already live in or near there, or you have family, friends and loved ones who live in or near there, write down this website so you can take advantage of visiting this congregation or recommending it.

Reasonsforbelieving .com, reasonsforbelieving .com. And up in the left corner, you will see a tab for Christ Community Church, and you can click on that and get all the details that you need.

Well, we have a tradition here on Iron Trip and Zion Radio, Pastor Dave.

Whenever we have a first -time guest such as yourself, we have that guest provide for our listeners a summary of your salvation testimony that would include any kind of religious atmosphere in which you were raised, and the kinds of providential circumstances our

Sovereign Lord raised up in your life that drew you to Himself and saved you. So let's hear your story. Well, it's very—in a way,

I'd kind of start back in the sense that when

I was born that far back, providentially, I was actually born with some physical disabilities that people can't see internally.

And when my mom was carrying me when she was pregnant, she did go through some depression in her life.

And at that time, while she was pregnant, the doctors prescribed her some medication to try to calm her nerves.

Well, she noticed one day that inside, I quit moving as a baby.

And scared and concerned, she didn't know what to do, but she sat on the edge of the bed and prayed and just asked the

Lord, if there's any complications with my baby, if there's anything, please give me the grace to take care of my baby if there's something wrong.

Well, when I was born, I was born with an undeveloped rectum and urinary tract infections.

And lo and behold, I was only born with one kidney. And the doctors told my parents at that time that I had 18 hours to live and that the only possible chance was for me to go to a children's hospital in Louisville, Kentucky for an emergency surgery.

And what happened was my father took me with my aunt and drove me by the house for my two brothers and two sisters to see me and then immediately drove to Louisville, Kentucky, the children's hospital where they were waiting on me.

And I had a sigmoid colostomy at the age of 15 hours. Wow.

And really, the surgeons didn't expect me to even live through that surgery because the odds were that I was so small that my body would not accept a colostomy.

But anyway, two months later after that, the Lord just kept me going.

After about two, at the age of two, a team of surgeons presented to my parents that they wanted to attend what's called a post -abdominable pull to correct my condition.

And at this time, this procedure was never performed upon a young child before in this region of the country.

In fact, it only really was performed upon adults. But that information wasn't shared with my parents.

Nevertheless, my mother did ask one of the leading chief surgeons, if this was your son, what would you do?

And he said, oh, I would definitely have this surgery right now. I would definitely have. Well, the day of the surgery came and while my parents were waiting for hours to hear the results from the doctor, well, to my parents' surprise, one of the leading surgeons came out and told them that the surgery was now over and you need to go and pray because nine out of 10 children do not live through this surgery.

And that was after the fact. So the extreme danger of the surgery was never really explained to my parents.

And the Lord brought me through the surgery. It was unsuccessful, actually. The surgeons actually caused more damage to my body, damage to my nerves, to my muscles, actually to the point where I am actually incontinent.

And so that has been kind of one of my struggles through my whole life of that.

But in that also, there was a huge blessing because there was one doctor, urologist, who was an observer of all my procedures, and he was definitely a blessing to us.

And in a subtle and professional way, he kind of let my parents know that the whole time the surgeons never expected me to live.

They were basically using me as a guinea pig. They used me as an experiment to be the first so they could be the first surgeons to successfully perform this surgery on a child this young in this region of the country.

And so it was very shocking to my parents that this was even happening.

This is in the early 70s. This wasn't the time of where there was medical malpractice ensuing and things of that nature.

That just wasn't even the mindset during that time. But long story short, the

Lord has really blessed me. I was raised in a

Christian household, a Christian home with God fearing parents who trained their children up in the word of God.

And for most of my life, I have sat under the doctrines of grace, sovereign grace.

And now throughout my life, I can just be more thankful for that.

But however, growing up, even though I was under the sovereign grace of God and good sound teaching.

And that was one thing my father always said. He said that even though he may have failed as a father in so many areas, one thing that he has done was he made sure that every one of his children sat under the gospel truth.

He says that I have done. And I just really appreciate that what he that he did that and being faithful to the

Lord in that. But anyway, growing up under the gospel, you know, I was outwardly a good person, you know, top loyalty, morality, you know, be polite, courteous, all that kind of stuff.

And in every instance in the eyes of the world, you know, I was a good moral person. However, when the

Lord reveals the darkness of your heart, you can see that your heart is and is was had sin in it as black as could be.

Right. As the hymn writer puts, I was no exception. But, you know, you hear so many testimonies of like Skid Row, sinners strung out on drugs that God cleaned up and praise the

Lord for that, you know, thief who was stealing from family and friends to support addictions and somehow made miraculous turned around or an ex -con who came to know

Christ in a prison cell or anything like that. I mean, praise the Lord for that. The Lord is finding his sheep.

He's bringing his people into his kingdom. But, Chris, let me tell you,

I was the worst sinner possible. I was an undetected lost sinner that quietly and politely was headed down the path of hell.

And the worst possible sinner is an outwardly good, moral, polite churchgoer who didn't know

Christ. That was me. Wow.

Now, like I said, I said under the word, I knew I was a sinner, you know,

I knew I was not as good as people were telling me, you know, he's a good man, he's a good boy and all of that.

But I knew one thing that I fall short of the glory of God. And I knew about Jesus Christ being the only way to heaven.

I knew the Bible stories. My father took time out and taught me how to read.

I could read a fifth grade level by the time I was three years old. My father spent time to teach me and I would read the

Bible to him at night when I was really young. And I encourage you fathers out there who are listening.

Take your child, boy or girl, take your child and spend time with them. Teach them how to read.

You teach them. You take the word of God and put it into their hearts and to their minds.

And that's what my father did for me. And I thank the Lord for that, you know, and I knew Ephesians two, eight, nine about salvation by grace and not of words.

I knew all of this about Christ, but I didn't know Christ. All of it was in my head, but I didn't have any of it in my heart,

Chris. And so the Lord brought me to the point where I knew life wasn't working for me,

I knew I needed him. And so what did I do? Well, I started on the path of the do betters.

I made the decision to try to do better and live better. And then then I would be baptized.

I'd make a profession of faith. Well, what was I doing? I was deceiving my heart again, right?

The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? Jeremiah 17.

So the harder I tried to be better in order to be baptized, the worse

I became. And I started to see more and more of my sin that I that was in me and I couldn't clean myself up so that I could be baptized.

I was understanding things. I tried harder to clean myself up, but I saw how much more dirtier

I was. And then, praise God, one day in my parents' driveway,

I was stepping out of my dad's truck, I was driving his truck and God revealed the gospel to my heart.

And it came to me clear as a bell. No, I can't do better.

That's why Jesus came. That's why salvation is by grace.

Hallelujah. Right. Then I said, I surrendered right there. I was made free.

I quit trying and I started trusting, trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ.

And then and then because of my faith in Christ, I was baptized as a believer.

So that's basically my my testimony in short, you know, that, like I said,

I was one of the self -righteous person and my story is really how

God saved what society called a good boy from going to hell. And so it's just I've gone from self -righteous goodness to saving grace.

Hallelujah. Reminded me a lot of Martin Luther's testimony. Other than the believers baptism part.

Well, we are going to our first commercial break, and if anybody would like to join us on the air with their own question, our email address is

Chris Arnzen at Gmail dot com. Chris Arnzen at Gmail dot com. Give us your first name, at least your city and state of residence in your country of residence.

If you live outside the USA, only remain anonymous if your question involves a personal and private matter.

And we are going to be discussing our primary theme, which I announced at the in Christ, both as individuals and as the church.

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Iron Sharpens Iron Radio. We're now back with my guest, David Hale, pastor of Christ Community Church in Lewisburg, Tennessee, and our theme today is our identity in Christ, both as individuals and as a church.

Well, let's start the ball rolling, Pastor David, with first of all, let us know what you mean specifically by our identity in Christ.

Well, I really believe it kind of comes back to really struggling with the different kinds of fears.

We do know that there is one good, healthy fear, and that is the fear of the

Lord. In Proverbs chapter one, verse seven, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. And Proverbs 9, 10, the fear of the

Lord is the beginning of wisdom. However, among many professing believers,

I just seem like I have come across and seen where so many live an unsatisfied life, unsure about God's love and grace for them.

So they really don't know who they are in Christ. It's kind of like they're torn between the

God that they read and hear about in the Bible and their experience of fear and anxiety in life.

And so I really believe there's a identity crisis among the Christian community as both individual and also corporate.

And believers, you know, just really don't know who they are in Christ and remind themselves of that.

And the church really doesn't know who she is in a lot of areas and the glory of God and what he has done for her.

So that's kind of what the Lord has kind of put on my mind. I don't know if that answers your question, what you were asking about.

Yes. But also, go ahead. I was just going to say, well, let's start with our identity in Christ as individuals.

Right. I'd like to give just a little bit of background before I really get into that to kind of explain where I come from and what has happened in the life of my wife.

And as I was saying, I was raised basically under the doctrines of grace.

The Lord saved me. He revealed himself to me in my early 20s, mid 20s, late 20s.

I would go to a lot of Bible conferences across the eastern part of the

United States. And I actually met my wife at a Bible conference in Pennsylvania.

And it was definitely a blessing. What conference was that?

What conference was that? It was a Sovereign Grace Baptist conference in Milton, Pennsylvania.

The pastor there has now passed away. It was Pastor David King. And he's gone to be with the

Lord. And let me let me let me quickly announce to my listeners that it is not the same pastor who is a very close friend of mine,

David T. King, who is one of the pastors in Katy, Texas, at the

Presbyterian Church in Katy, Texas, down there. I just don't want to alarm people who know of my close friendship with David T.

King. Different guy. But anyway, thank you for saying that. I want to make sure nothing, no rumors go out in the wrong direction.

Right. But anyway, my wife, Martina, and I, we met at a Bible conference and we were definitely blessed by the

Lord. And and so just coming together, you know, we've been married and that we just really need to understand that in a lot of areas in life, we can have trials and troubles and tribulations that just kind of rock our world.

And just like I said, as a short background, my wife was bitten by a tick in 2014, right beside her belly button.

Wow. Well, she seemed fine and she was fine. However, in 2015, she was bitten again by a tick and oddly, or I should say providentially, once again was bitten right beside her belly button in the exact same place as the previous summer.

Now, this caused some problems this time. So I took her to the doctor.

You know, there was no signs of any tick borne illnesses such as Lyme disease or Rocky Mountain spotted fever.

You know, she did have a false positive for what is called Babesia. But nevertheless, the doctors, they wanted to go ahead and just be aggressive, treat her across the board.

We really don't know. It may have been too late. We really don't know. But anyway, she did in a blood test reveal that she developed alpha -gal, which is syndrome, which is an allergic reaction to beef and sometimes pork.

So she can no longer really eat beef or pork. However, it went much deeper than a meat allergy.

By trial and over the years, it came evident that she was also allergic to rice products, everything with rice.

And even the smallest amount of rice powder is often used in fillers and medicinal capsules, as well as in vitamins and supplement capsules.

If she took that, she would have a reaction. Not only that, we also found out that she was allergic to latex.

Now, when we think of latex, we think of latex gloves, balloons and things of that nature. Well, we didn't know at this time.

We finally found out that there were actually latex proteins in most of our fruits and vegetables.

And so her food list kept dwindling down. No, no fruits, very few vegetables and small amounts of maybe turkey and chicken.

That was basically her diet. Now, if my wife consumed or came into contact with any of those newly developed allergens, she didn't break out into a rash like most people think of allergy.

You know, just take a cold shower, pop a few Benadryls, take this, you know, go to bed a couple of days, you'll be

OK. Now, that was not her allergic reaction. Her allergic reaction was severe panic attacks.

So severe that many times she would just be uncontrollable and unreasonable and all because of the physical pain in her stomach.

Now, in that eight and a half year period, we went through this for eight and a half years.

There were many emergency room visits and when the medical staff ran all their tests and everything comes back normal, you know, but my wife, she's still in panic mode.

Well, the doctors, they look at her and think there's something wrong mentally. So they ship her off to a mental institute.

And what was really interesting is at the beginning of all this, we didn't quite know what was causing her fear and her anxiety.

Nevertheless, because of her severe anxiety, being in the moment of fear when she would try to explain to the doctors what she was feeling, the doctors immediately diagnosed her from anything from bipolar to schizophrenia, every other kind of mental illness in between.

They didn't know, but they labeled her. So within that eight and a half year period, we were in and out of different hospitals, and I can't even describe all the different kinds of medications that was thrown at her over and over, just trying to calm her down.

She would be up all night walking the floor in panic, in panic, and some of the hardcore psych medications would not even touch her as far as relaxing her.

It was just a constant fear of everything and especially afraid of eating something because of the stomach pain.

It got to the point where she got down to about ninety five pounds and because of some other related issues,

I almost lost her three different times. Wow. You know, and I can't even imagine nor would

I even try to attempt to say that I understood what she was going through. I mean, there's just no way

I could know what really what was going on in her mind, what reality looked like to her in her mind.

And in this continual state of panic and fear, she was a believer and believed in the sovereign grace of God.

And I can't imagine what she went through because she was not herself at all, not at all.

She was in this continual rage of panic. And brother, I'm sharing this with you for the very first time.

We've never shared this publicly. I talked to her and I asked her if I could share this openly.

And she said yes. And by the way, by the way, I just want to let you know that your story is remarkably close to my own late wife's.

She was she was told by her doctors somewhere in the neighborhood of 1996 or so that she had

Lyme disease, even though she did not have the classic bullseye tick bite.

In fact, we don't even we didn't even know that she had a tick bite. They just concluded that's what their beliefs were about her condition.

And there were some remarkable similarities to my my wife not eating properly because she was constantly having stomach problems through eating.

And tragically, tragically, she lost so much weight. She passed from a heart attack and went home to be with the

Lord. But I just wanted to let you know that that when you're telling your story there, it was very, very reminiscent of what

I witnessed my wife, my own wife going through. My heart goes out to you, brother, and I say that by some some element of experience from that, you know, and like in those eight and a half years,

I was her caregiver. I mean, we no longer had a husband wife relationship. And my job was to take care of her the best way

I knew how, as I'm sure that you knew. And so, you know, basically

I lost my wife and it was like instantly with no warning. I now had an adult daughter

I was taking care of and she just wasn't even in her right mind at that time. And, you know, and at night,

I look forward to where she would eventually tire out and go to bed. You know, it was a time of quiet and calmness for me at that time, you know, because it was just constant rage, you know.

Now, I didn't even want to go to sleep when it got quiet and calm, because as soon as I would close my eyes, the alarm would go off and I'd have to go through the same horrible day again, over and over and over for eight and a half years.

And during those times, I prayed and I cried out to my sovereign. I knew where to go.

And but I got to the point where I had no more tears. And I mean, I prayed and in this trial that we were going through, darkness seemed to keep smothering me.

And every time I prayed for my wife, looking expectantly to God, my savior, every time the exact opposite would happen every time.

And it was like every time I turned the corner, I would get kicked in the gut. Something else came up, fighting the misdiagnosis of the doctors, taking the implications of possible abuse from social workers, you know, not having a say in my wife's health care.

At that time, this is when the Obamacare kicked in and we didn't have insurance. People really don't know that if you didn't have insurance with your spouse or you didn't have medical say, they took rights away from me, from saying how to treat my wife.

And not only that, I had one of my wife's family members questioned me, was I hurting her? Was I poisoning her?

You know, all of these different types of allegations and in the midst of all this, my dad died and everything that was going on, what really tore me up, it just seemed like my prayers were not being answered.

You know, it was to the point that, you know, the enemy would put into my mind, there's no reason to pray.

I mean, look, every time you pray, the exact opposite happens. Why pray? You know, you're fighting that spiritual battle.

And all I knew was that the Lord Jesus alone had the words of eternal life and who else could

I go to? You know, and I even got to the point that, like I said,

I had no more tears. My prayers were empty. You know, I was frustrated with everything and and even with God.

Yeah. You know, and I came to the point where I just was numb to the whole thing, almost like just existing, you know.

And but all I knew was that God is sovereign. God is good and that the

Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. And and I would tell

Martina, my wife, I would tell her in the times of her calmness where she was reasonable,

I would tell her and I'm telling myself at the same time that God designed this trial for us, which means he's in it with us.

And I was going to stick to that. So I got to the point that all I could do is just quietly sit before God, knowing that he's

God. And that's all I could do, Chris. That's all I could do. And, you know, going through this with my wife,

I started to see how fear and anxiety can manifest itself in many different ways.

And there can be physiological reasons as to why a person is acting in fear or can just, you know, it could just be the weight of the world, the life circumstances that causes fear.

So it's not always a psychological mental illness that's always so labeled on people so quick.

You know, God has created us to be spirit, soul and body. First Thessalonians five, twenty three. So our whole being is intertwined together as one person.

And we all, to some degree, interact with society and react within ourselves and outside of ourselves.

Chris, I can't give you a turning point or an aha moment where just everything turned around.

It took years. And by God's grace, Martina slowly was taking off some of the hard psych medications to the point where she was more reasonable.

And, you know, however, she still had great amounts of fear, fear of eating, fear of pain, fear of dying.

And so she was required by the state, you know, to have a professional counsel.

Well, once again, I'm starting to see God answer some prayers by God's good providence.

I'm a friend with a pastor who was recognized by the state as a mental health counselor and who worked in many of the institutions around Nashville.

And as God would have it, the church he pastors was just down the road from where we live. Wow. So Martina could go to him twice a week.

And what I really appreciate is his approach to Christian counseling was just renewing the spirit of your mind from the scriptures.

Amen. For over for over two years, her counseling that the state required.

Well, actually, it was really Bible study with the brother. And it was good because the word of God that he continually put before her wasn't coming from me.

It was coming from someone outside of me, a different voice. Right. Because that's all

I'm doing. All I'm trying to do throughout the household is put the word of God before putting it on the everywhere she turns.

I've got it written on papers, written everything, trying to put the word of God before her. And, you know, so it was a blessing to have someone outside doing this and he would pray over her.

And at the same time, through different resources, the holy identity of the believer and the church jumped out at me in the

New Testament, especially in the book of Ephesians. So Martina and I would read scriptures together every morning once once she started to be calm and reasonable.

And we would go through who we are in Christ together and pray together.

And we still meet every morning before we go off to work or whatever and pray together and read scripture together.

And I suggest that to husbands and wives to do that, make time out to present yourselves before God as a couple as well.

But thankfully, the Lord slowly answered my prayers and according to his will and his timing, you know,

I just thank the Lord for it. And and I used to have to pay for homesitters to stay with Martina during the day until I got home from work.

I have a secular job as well. But now Martina is able to be at home.

She's a productive as a homemaker. She takes care of the basics around the household. And that's just amazing to me.

And then I never thought she would ever drive again. Well, she's able to drive.

The Lord provided a little car for her. And all of that is amazing. And even what's even more mind blowing is that Martina now holds down a part time job in the public as a cashier at a store.

And before she starts her day every morning, she looks up a portion of scriptures and sends scripture text to a list of friends.

Wow. Could you pick up? Could you pick up? All I can say is praise the Lord. Amen. Yeah. Pick up where you left off there, because we have to go to our midway break.

And please be patient with us, folks. The midway break is always a little longer than the other breaks. But if you have a question for David Hale, send it to Chris Ornsen at gmail .com.

We'll be right back. Puritan Reformed is a Bible believing, kingdom building, devil fighting church.

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Here's Joe Riley, a listener in Ireland who wants you to know about a guest on the show he really loves hearing interviewed,

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Before I return to my guest, Pastor David Hale, and our theme, which is our identity in Christ, both as individuals and as the church,

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So send me an email to chrisorensen at gmail .com and put I need a church in the subject line.

I also want to let you know that the church where I was formerly a member before moving to Pennsylvania, Grace Reform Baptist Church of Long Island, which is located in Merrick, New York, is hosting the

Courageous Marriage Conference featuring best -selling author Dr.

Joe Rigney, who is on the faculty now, a recent addition to the faculty at New St.

Andrews College in Moscow, Idaho. This event will be held Friday, August 23rd through Saturday, August 24th, and that's once again at Grace Reform Baptist Church of Long Island, located in Merrick, New York.

If you'd like to register for this event, go to gracereformbaptistchurch .org,

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Courageous Marriage Conference will be listed there with all the details.

That's gracereformbaptistchurch .org, and if you have a question for my guest,

David C. Hale, pastor of Christ Community Church of Lewisburg, Tennessee, send me an email to chrisarnson at gmail .com,

chrisarnson at gmail .com, give his first name at least, city and state and country of residence, and Pastor David, right before the break, you were giving us all the wonderful news that your wife, after battling this very serious illness, was finally able to even go back to work, and if you want to pick up where you left off.

Thank you, brother. Yeah, compared to where we were, you know, I'm just praising the

Lord. I mean, I'm shouting on the housetop and giving Him all the glory from where we've come. Now, we're still not out of the woods.

We still have things that we deal with, but everybody has things they deal with in life, but I shared all that with you and your listeners to let them, you know, let everyone know that I'm not coming from a clinical point of view or not even from a systematic theological point of view when

I'm talking about the holy identity of the believer and of the church, and, you know, it's, and I wish

I could say I was faithful. I mean, I was not always faithful, but I failed, but in this dark time,

God brought me to the point of my weakness, showing me that my testimony is that God is faithful.

He is faithful. He is faithful to Himself, and where does He dwell? He dwells within the believer, so He will be faithful to Himself in and through us.

Hebrews 10, 23, for He is faithful that promised, 1 Corinthians 1, 9, God is faithful.

So He's faithful to us in our trials, our troubles, in our darkness, so I really want to encourage people and let the body of Christ know that they are not alone and that believers at times find themselves in long seasons of depression and darkness, but God is faithful, and even the apostle

Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians chapter 1 about their troubles and afflictions that came upon them in Asia, where he wrote, you know, quote,

We were pressed out of measure, above stream, insomuch that we despaired even of life.

And Paul shared that with this church, that they were so burdened down, pressed down in depression and despair that they was ready to die, and you wouldn't think that.

The apostle Paul, well, that's what he went through, and he's declaring that God is the deliverer because he would not trust in themselves, but God who raised the dead.

So I'm sharing all this to let people know that fear raises its ugly head, and where did fear start?

Well, it started in the garden, right? I mean, we know the Genesis account, after Adam and Eve sinned, after Adam ate of the forbidden fruit, they saw their nakedness and hid themselves, and in Genesis 3, 9, and 10, the

Lord called unto Adam and said unto him, Where art thou? Now, you have a good, educated audience, and they understand, but I just want to make it clear also to those who may not understand that every time

God asks a question, it's not for information. He already knows. He is omniscient.

He's omnipresent. So when he calls unto Adam, where art thou? The point is,

Adam didn't know where Adam was, and he was, it said in verse 10, when he heard the voice in the garden, he was afraid.

That fear is the first emotion that sin produced, fear.

Now, I kind of apologize for taking so much time, but my desire is for the people of God not to be ashamed of fear, the depression and the anxiety that first comes upon us.

You know, when things pop up in life, you know, it startles us. We become instantly afraid. However, we are called not to stay in that state of fear.

Once again, you know, we read 2 Timothy 1 -7, for God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and a sound mind.

And that sound mind is the mind of Christ, according to 1 Corinthians 2 -16.

So our heavenly father loves us, and he cares for us so much that he's given us his son, he's given us his word, he's given us his spirit.

And so we are to, according to Ephesians 4 -23, renew the spirit of our mind.

And that's something I would like to do out of the book of Ephesians. And if your listeners have your

Bible handy, go ahead and turn to Ephesians chapter one. And I'd like to just give a quick running commentary highlighting out of Ephesians the holy identity that the apostle brings forth.

There's a lot of topics you can bring out of the book of Ephesians. We can look at the father's person and purpose.

We can teach on the Lord Jesus Christ and his redemptive work and the Holy Spirit making the dead sinner alive and being that seal that preserves us, that keeps us, and lessons about marriage, family structure, social interaction, spiritual battles, and so on.

But however, I want to pull out of this rich letter how the apostle

Paul over and over throughout this letter is describing the new holy identity of those whom

God has saved by his sovereign grace. And that we are not just to know about it and receive it as doctrinal truth, which we should, but the point

Paul is making in his many descriptive terms is we are to embrace this as this is who we really are in Christ Jesus our

Lord. So I'd like to start at the very first verse, Ephesians 1 .1. It says,

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God to the saints. Now I'd highlight, circle, underline the word saints right there.

To the saints which are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. According to Strong's Concordance, that word saint here in verse one is the

Greek word hagios, which means sacred, pure, or holy. So the apostle

Paul is writing to the saints, to the holy ones, so to speak. And Paul is describing these holy ones at the end of verse one as the faithful, okay, the trustworthy, the trustful ones, the faithful ones.

So right at the beginning, we know who the apostle Paul is addressing his epistle, his letter to, and it's to the saints, to the holy ones in Christ Jesus.

Verse two, grace be to you. To who? To the saints, to the holy ones. Grace be to you and peace from God our

Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul is letting these saints, these holy ones know that they are graced with peace.

Paul is developing the identity of the holy ones, ascribing to their spiritual identity that God, the creator of all things, is our

Father in the Lord Jesus Christ. And he has graced you with peace, his peace.

Goes on to verse three. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us.

I'd circle and highlight blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.

In verse three, the holy ones who are graced with peace are also blessed with all or every spiritual blessing in the highest of realms in heavenly places in Christ.

Now, that word blessed is connected to the Greek word where we get our English word eulogy, which means to speak well of or to say a good word about.

We use the term usually at funerals, right? But God uses it when his spirit makes us alive in Christ, according to chapter two.

So God, our father and the father of our Lord Jesus Christ has eulogized, has said a good word about or blessed his holy ones with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places.

Now, verse four, according as he, that's God, our father, has chosen us in him,

Christ, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.

In verse four, the saints, the holy ones who are graced with peace, who are blessed with all spiritual blessings, are also chosen to be holy and without blame before God in love.

That is really beyond our human comprehension sometimes, Chris, to think that for God to make us and consider us holy as he is holy.

That's mind blowing. And this is very important also is let me bring your attention to the word holy here in verse four.

It is the exact same Greek word translated as saints back in verse one, where I'm taking the biblical idea of the saints being the holy ones.

So Paul is reiterating the fact that we are holy ones without blame before God in love.

Now, before we go on to verse four, five, grab that last word in verse four.

See the word love? This is the first mention of the word love in Paul's letter. Now read verse five with God's love in mind.

Verse five, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.

So the holy ones who are graced with peace, who are blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, who are holy without blame before God in love, they are predestinated as adopted children by the good pleasure of the father's will.

Chris, you know, as well as your informed listeners, that when the word predestinated or predestination, election or chosen is mentioned, you know, there's a red warning sign and many people back up from that.

They're afraid of right now. I wanted us to read verse five about having predestinated us unto the adoption of children in the light of the last word in verse four, love.

Now, Chris, you interview and have interviewed many wonderful Bible minds and some great theologians who can explain election and predestination in ways that I can't understand or I could ever comprehend.

You know, I respect them. I learn from them. I listen. I try to learn. I highly regard them and appreciate and I study what they say.

However, I need to take a doctrine like election and predestination and explain it in a way that the 10 -year -old boy and the 10 -year -old girl sitting in the pew listening to me can get a hold of it and not be afraid of it.

Now, before I explain election and predestination in my elementary way, OK, I usually ask the people, is there anyone here who does not believe in the love of God?

You know, be honest. Raise your hand if you don't believe in the love of God. Nobody's going to throw a rock at you. So everyone here believes in the love of God and everybody agrees.

Next, I ask the people now, when did God decide to love you? From there,

I bring the biblical word love like we had here at the end of verse four, and I bring it into my definition of predestinated in verse five, explaining that election and predestination is nothing more than love before time.

Genesis 1 -1, in the beginning, God created. So if the beginning of time is a creation of God, and we know that God is love, 1

John 4 -16, and that God is eternal, Deuteronomy 33 -27 and 1 Timothy 1 -17, then the question is, when did

God choose to love us? It obviously was not in time or even looking down into time.

God is eternal and he chose to love us in eternity. He loved us before time.

Now, we experience that to a small degree. The pregnant mama and expectant daddy already loves that baby inside, inside the womb before their child has ever experienced time before their birth.

So it is with our heavenly father. In eternity, we were inside, inside the heart of our heavenly father before we ever experienced time before our new birth.

And according to Ephesians 1 -5, this is a purposeful, redemptive love whereby the father chose to adopt us.

And God the father did so by no instigation or no beauty or worth on our behalf, but it was according to his good pleasure of his will.

And this is another phrase that sticks out in the letter of Ephesians. So from there, let's move on to verse 6.

It says, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he made us accepted in the beloved. Next, these holy ones are graced with peace, are blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, who are holy and without blame before God and love, who are adopted children of the good pleasure of the father are accepted in the beloved.

And according to Strong's Concordance, the word accepted means to grace with special honor.

So once again, the holy ones are graced. But in this verse, we are graced in the beloved and the beloved refers back to Jesus Christ in verse 5.

Verse 7 in whom in the beloved Jesus Christ, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.

We see that the saints, the holy ones are graced with peace, who are blessed with all spiritual blessings, who are holy and without blame before God and love, who are adopted children by the good pleasure of God, who are accepted in the beloved are redeemed and forgiven in verse 7.

I want everyone to understand I'm not just throwing out scriptures. Paul is starting to develop your identity.

This is who you are in whom we have redemption in his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.

Also take notice of that word riches. This is the first time that the word riches is used here and the apostle

Paul will play off the riches of God later on in chapters 2 and chapter 3.

Verse 8 and 9. It says wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to the good pleasure which he had purposed in himself.

In verse 9, we have the first mention of the mystery, the mystery of his will in which

Paul will once again develop later on when he starts to explain the the identity of the church, okay, and bringing together

Jew and Gentile into one body, according to God's good pleasure. Verse 10, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, which both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him.

Notice that this is the first time the English word one is used.

This Greek word is used only used one time in Ephesians and this word one here means to sum up all things in Christ and Paul then plays off of this summary, summing up all things in Christ, teaching a oneness within the church's identity later on in chapters 2 and chapter 3 where he brings

Jew and Gentile together as one in Christ. Verse 11, chapter 1, verse 11, in whom in Christ also we obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him who work of all things after the counsel of his own will.

In verse 11, we see that the holy ones are heirs. We have obtained an inheritance being predestinated.

We're no longer afraid of that word predestinated, being predestinated, being loved before time according to the purpose of him who works all things after the counsel of his own will.

So the holy ones are inheritors. Verse 12, that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ.

Next, we see that the saints, the holy ones are to the praise of God's glory. Verse 13, in whom in Christ at the end of verse 12, in whom you also trusted after they heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that you believe you were sealed with that Holy Spirit, a promise.

Notice that the salvation of the saints, the holy ones, their salvation is dependent upon hearing the word of truth.

And Paul calls the word of truth, the gospel, the good news of your salvation. And notice the progression in whom you also after what?

After what? After you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. After that, you believe and after you believe you were sealed with the

Holy Spirit, which was promised by Jesus in John chapters 15 and 16. The point is that within God's eternal decree, he has determined that all of his saints, all of his holy ones, as they are regenerated and made alive spiritually by the

Holy Spirit, they will hear the word of truth and believe the gospel and then be sealed or preserved by that same spirit.

Therefore, within God's eternal decree, he has predestinated the hearing of the gospel so that sinners would freely come to Christ and become his saints, his holy ones, to the praise of his glory and grace sealed by his spirit.

Verse 14, which is the earnest, the spirit is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchase possession unto the praise of his glory.

The Holy Spirit of God is the earnest or the down payment. He is the security for the holy ones until the time of redemption, you know, whereby our mortal bodies will receive the redemption as immortal.

OK, and just like our resurrected Lord Jesus Christ. However, right now we groan in ourselves with the creation waiting for that total complete final redemption that we desire in Romans chapter eight, verse twenty three.

And this includes what the redemption of our spirit, soul and body together. And so at this present time, the

Holy Spirit is given to the saints indwelling us being with us. John 14, 17, until we the saints, the holy ones are personally and eternally in the very possession of Christ, our redeemer as one as one body, as one church.

In short, this is our individual holy identity. Quickly, the saints, the holy ones are graced with peace, are blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, are holy without blame before God and love are adopted.

Children, by the good pleasure of God, are accepted in the beloved, redeemed, forgiven inheritors to the praise of God's glory, sealed with the spirit of promise as Christ purchased possession.

Dearly beloved, that's who you are. That is who you are. Amen. And this is the personal holy identity of everyone redeemed in Christ.

And as church leaders and believers, we need to edify ourselves with this truth so that we can edify the body of Christ, because you and I, we can't give someone something that we don't have.

So let's encourage and edify ourselves first so that our cup would be full so that we may give spiritual water to another thirsty brother or sister who's needing help.

So we need to edify ourselves so we can help others. You know, Chris, there's some very good words like in the old hymn written by the late

James Gray, which was entitled Only a Sinner, written,

I think, in around 1905 or something there. But I wholeheartedly agree with the brother where he wrote,

Boasting excluded, pride I base. I agree with the point that the hymn writer was emphasizing, that we are only saved by God's grace.

Only, only saved by God's grace. However, in a loving way, I might take a little issue with the thought that I am only, only, only a sinner saved by grace.

Now, please don't misunderstand me. You're not going to find anyone else who believes more in the absolute sovereign grace of God to save a hell deserving sinner like myself.

In fact, like I said, my testimony is how God saved a good boy from going to hell. The world saw me as a good boy, but there was no good in me.

Sin permeated my thoughts, my desires, my emotions, my will. Theologically, we can call that total depravity if you want to.

I do not disagree. But God's word calls me carnal, saying my carnal mind is enmity against God.

Romans 8, 7. In so much that by nature, I'm called an enemy of God by nature.

And that while I was God's enemy, he reconciled me by the death of his son.

So like I said, there's many testimonies of terrible, wicked people who've come to Christ.

But mine is the worst of all. A good boy going to hell. God brought me out of my goodness and brought me into the free and sovereign grace of God.

Now, by nature, I am a saved sinner. But I am not called in the scriptures to live by the natural man, the old man, knowing that our old man is crucified with Christ, Romans 6, 6.

So we should no longer live in servitude to sin, which means we shouldn't even entertain that in our minds.

We have the mind of Christ now. Now, therefore, if the theological belief that a saved sinner by God's grace is only, only a sinner saved by grace, then

I suggest to you and to your listeners that we are devaluing the precious blood of our dear

Redeemer, Jesus Christ, and what he has purchased for his elect upon the cross. All believers agree that the blood of Jesus Christ, God's son, cleanses us, keeps on cleansing us from all sin, according to 1

John chapter 1. And to imagine that our sins, past, present, and future have been paid for by the sacrificial blood of Jesus and that we're clean, that you are clean, is beyond our imagination.

And God's word is true that we are clean and we just praise him for it.

And if that was all that Christ ever did for his people, we praise him, eternally praise him, and keep on praising him for such a great sacrifice forever and ever.

However, Christ, our King, our Redeemer King, did—I'm saying this reverently—did so much more than just pay for our sins.

Amen. In fact, I'm assuming then you would disagree, at least in part, with the famous bumper sticker,

I'm not perfect, I'm just forgiven. That's really half of the story because that's almost saying, don't mind me behaving like a wicked individual or a buffoon, but, you know,

I'm just got my slate wiped clean and I got a one -way ticket to heaven or something.

That's not the message of the gospel. That's a very good example there,

Chris. I appreciate that. Yes, most definitely. And we have to understand that we're not only something.

We're made—our identity is so great and so rich. And if I'm only a sinner saved by grace, and if that is the only theological view, then someone should have told the

Apostle Paul, because he started the book of Ephesus, to the saints, which are to Ephesus.

If they were just only sinners, he should have written to the sinners, which are to Ephesus. And so the

Apostle Paul, he's writing to the saints, the holy ones. And our natural -born sinnerhood has been transformed into a spiritual sainthood.

And it's not anything that we've done. It's all by his grace.

It's all through the blood of his son, Jesus Christ. And we are recipients of this.

We do not deserve it. We are recipients of it. And we should also accept this, the theological metamorphosis that are, you know, we talk about worm theology, that our sin -filled, natural -born, wormy, caterpillar theology really has been transformed by God's sovereign grace into a beautiful, saintly, butterfly theology.

And we need to embrace that as well. So, yes, I mean, in total depravity,

I mean, we're the bottom side of a maggot, okay? If you want to put it that way.

But that wormy caterpillar, the metamorphosis it takes through the blood of Jesus Christ, we're a butterfly now.

Amen. We're beautiful. Well, we have a question for you from Della Mae in—it's either

La Verne or La Verne, Tennessee. And Della Mae says,

I have heard a growing number of Calvinists teach something that is true, but partially true.

They will say that not enough Christians and pastors are teaching the importance of our identity in the corporate body of Christ and dwelling too much on our personal relationship with Christ.

While that may be true, I think that they overreact and undermine the significance and beauty of our personal relationship with Christ.

Have you noticed this, and what are your comments? Well, I definitely see that we need to—like

I said, what I'm doing now is trying to emphasize the beauty of the individual, what

God has done for the individual. However, we're not called to be lone wolf

Christians. There is a beauty within the body of Christ.

And in the body of Christ, in chapters one and two of Ephesians, he starts to go in and starts to describe the beautiful body of Christ and the identity of Christ.

In fact, in chapter two, we know that great passages of how we were saved by grace through faith and that, but also in chapter two, in verse 12, he starts to talk about the identity of the church.

And then in chapter two, verse 12, it talks about that at that time you were without Christ being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

Now, what we're seeing here is in chapter two, chapter three,

Paul is going to start giving the identity of the church. And right here, one of the first identities, identifications he gives to the church is the commonwealth of Israel.

Now, I mentioned the word riches just a moment ago as we were going through Ephesians chapter one.

And the reason I was doing that is because many times it talks about the riches of God, the riches of his glory.

But God, who is rich in mercy, chapter two, verse four, for his great love wherewith he has loved us.

This riches is, I believe, is connected to that word commonwealth of Israel.

Now, some will have that translated as citizens of Israel, which is fine. It is true.

But I like the word commonwealth because you're having a wealth, a wealth of what?

A wealth of the riches of God's grace, the wealth of the riches of God's glory. That's common, common among who?

The church. And he calls the church here Israel. Now, we're not saved by grace through faith.

And he brings us into the physical nation of Israel. That wouldn't make sense. Now, he's talking about a spiritual entity, this remnant that is mentioned all throughout the

Old Testament. And the apostle Paul also mentions that remnant in Romans as well.

But this commonwealth is riches that are common among Jew and Gentile who has come together as one.

I don't know if that really is going to answer her question as much, but I just see it as that we need to understand that we are not just redeemed people and God leaves us out there and we are looking at ourselves in the way that Christ sees us.

And we don't use our gifts, our talents, edification within the church.

If we are lone wolf Christians, what are we doing? We're robbing one another of Christ in us, our hope of glory.

So as I brought a message out not too long ago that our lives, what are we doing?

Every day should be worship. We should worship the Lord every day. It doesn't matter if you're taking out the garbage or washing the dishes or whether you're driving to work, what you do at work, everything we do, we do as unto the

Lord and not unto men. We give him glory and everything. That is a form of worship. So we take that worship through the week and we bring it into the fellowship, the fellowship of the saints.

Okay. In fact, in chapter two, in verse 19, it talks about the fellow citizens, the saints, the household of God.

That's another term for the church. In fact, let me have you pick up right there at the household of faith when we return from our final break.

Don't go away, folks. We'll be right back. to sing their praises sufficiently, but I'll give it a shot.

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John Sampson, pastor of King's Church in Peoria, Arizona, taking a moment of your day to talk about Chris Arnson and the

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Christian faith. I've always been happy to point people to this podcast, knowing it's one of the very few safe places on the

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This is a day of great spiritual compromise, and yet God has raised Chris up for just such a time.

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It's such a joy to witness and experience fellowship with people of God like the dear saints at Hope Reform Baptist Church in Corham, who have an intensely passionate desire to continue digging deeper and deeper into the unfathomable riches of Christ in His Holy Word, and to enthusiastically proclaim

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I hope you also have the privilege of discovering this precious congregation and receive the blessing of being showered by their love as I have.

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But today, I want to introduce you to my senior pastor, Doug McMasters of New High Park Baptist Church on Long Island.

Doug McMasters here, former director of pastoral correspondence at Grace to You, the radio ministry of John MacArthur.

In the film, Chariots of Fire, Olympic gold medalist runner Eric Liddell remarked that he felt

God's pleasure when he ran. He knew his efforts sprang from the gifts and calling of God.

I sense that same God -given pleasure when ministering the word and helping others gain a deeper knowledge and love for God.

That love starts with the wonderful news that the Lord Jesus Christ is a savior who died for sinners and that God forgives all who come to him in repentance, trusting solely in Christ to deliver them.

I would be delighted to have the honor and privilege of ministering to you if you live in the Long Island area or Queens or Brooklyn or the

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That's 516 -352 -9672. That's New High Park Baptist Church, a congregation in love with each other, passionate for Christ, committed to learning and being shaped by God's word and delighting in the gospel of God's sovereign grace.

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Now shipping worldwide. Welcome back.

And folks, don't forget that this program is paid for in part by the law firm of Buttafuoco and Associates Attorneys at Law.

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I also want to remind you about the conference that we are promoting today, which is going to be held,

God willing, September 12th, 13th, and 14th at Grace Church at Franklin in Franklin, Tennessee.

And that conference is featuring guest speakers such as David Hale, my guest today, and also

Mark Grimaldi, my former pastor when I was living on Long Island. Today, Mark is the pastor of Sovereign Grace Church in Greenbrier, Tennessee.

And also, Tom Gabbard, who is the pastor of Graced Baptist Fellowship in Lewisburg, Tennessee.

There may be a fourth man added to this roster, and if that is the case, the conference will start a day earlier.

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Well, if you want to pick up where you left off, where you were mentioning the household of faith is another way to recognize from the

Scriptures, Christ's Church. And then you'll have about four minutes to summarize what you want most etched in the hearts and minds of our listeners today.

Well, yes, just the identity of who we are individually and as a church, you know, just to go through,

I think time to read chapter two and chapter three of Ephesians and notice the identity of what

Paul calls the church. Once again, in chapter two, verse 19, he calls them the household of faith.

Chapter 21, the holy temple, the habitation. Also in chapter three, he talks about the

Gentiles being fellow heirs of the same body, same body, what? Jew and Gentile coming together in that commonwealth of Israel and also talks about the fellowship in chapter three, verse nine, and it specifically mentions the church again in chapter three, verse 10.

Then he also says in verse 15, he calls the church the whole family in heaven and earth. And then towards the end of chapter three, once again, he says unto him, the glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end.

Amen. So I encourage you to look at the identity of who we are as a church as well and share that with one another, encourage one another.

We're of the whole family. We're fellow citizens. You know, we're the holy temple. This is who we are in Christ.

And what's also interesting is in chapters four and five, he talks about walking in this identity.

We just don't know about it. We live it out. Chapter four, verse one, he talks about walking worthy of the calling, the vocation with which you're called.

Chapter five, verse two, he says, walk in love. So we know who we are and we are to live it out.

We are to practically live it out as the church, as the called out ones, the ecclesia.

Technically, you cannot join the church. You're called out of this world and placed into the church.

It's the called out one. You're called out of this world and you've called out into what? Into a relationship with Christ and his body.

Therefore, there's no such thing as a lone wolf Christian. You are brought into the family of God.

So, you know, Chris, that is just something that the Lord has just put on my heart.

And I hope it's an encouragement to others that we all go through sufferings in this world.

We all go through things in this thing, this world. And most of you have gone through probably a whole lot more than I have gone through.

Sounds like you've gone through a lot of hurt in your life as well, Chris. And just the feelings of helplessness and hopelessness, you know, life hurts.

But my point is on the identity is you're not alone. Not only you're not alone.

Christ is with you. He's dwelling in you. He's your hope of glory. And then also, you're not alone within the body of Christ.

We all suffer. We all go through seasons of darkness and depression and things of that nature.

But we have peace with God, the peace of God and the peace with God.

He has blessed us tremendously. The Lord Jesus Christ said in John 14, 27, peace,

I leave with you. My peace, I give unto you, not as the world gives, give I to you.

Let not your heart be troubled. Neither let it be afraid. So this peace that passes all understanding in Philippians 4, 7 is

I pray that it will be encouragement to those of you who are struggling, those who find yourself in the moment of panic and fear to renew the spirit of your mind while you're calm.

So when the time that moment comes, you are already having your mind. The mind of Christ is already being fed so that you can overcome that panic and that fear and that anxiety so much better than just getting into it.

And there you are. So I just really encourage and to impress upon the spirit of your mind who you are in Christ and renew the spirit of your mind continually.

And I'm just thankful to what the Lord has done and my wife's life and mine and what we've gone through and in and out of different kind of hospitals.

And I'm not ashamed of her. I'm thankful to God for her. Amen. And by his sovereign hand,

God chose her to go through what she has gone through. Amen. And we're calling for her. And we're out of time, brother.

And I want to make sure our listeners have your website again, ReasonsTheNumber4Believing .com.

ReasonsTheNumber4Believing .com. I want to thank you so much for being such an excellent guest. And I want you all to always remember for the rest of your lives,