God's Attributes Displayed in His Church Eph 3;7-13

Faith Bible Church

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Well good morning everyone. It's a beautiful morning in Sacramento. The leaves are turning and this is probably one of my favorite times of the year.

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It's the fall right now, the temperature is moderate. It's just beautiful out there. I was thinking this morning,

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God could have made the world just black and white. Kind of dull all the way across, but he made color and made things really beautiful for us to enjoy.

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This side of heaven, of course. We have some special visitors all the way from New Zealand. Now how about that?

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Who can top that one? Well, I don't know. We'll hear more about them.

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Jack and Bev McMahon, they were here this morning and they shared their ministry with us. It's pretty fascinating to see what our missionaries do.

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If you weren't there this morning and you want to ask them some questions afterwards, please look them up.

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Bev is kind enough to be on the piano with us today, so thank you Bev.

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Jack's going to be giving the message this morning. By way of announcement, the next

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Bible study is going to be Wednesday the 8th at 5 .30. The pastor is doing that and there's an online version.

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I was doing some prep a couple days ago, looking at some things, looking at different...

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Some YouTubes came up on my phone, and then you popped up. I mean, it was random.

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It was between MacArthur and somebody else, and then there was pastor. But it's online if you're interested, if you can't make it, or you can watch it.

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They can watch live? Okay, YouTube live. Okay. So you can watch that live, and they're going through the book of Ruth.

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There will be no biblical counseling for this month, but here's the twist. It's Saturday, December 9th.

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The biblical counseling is going to be at 9 o 'clock. Excuse me, the ladies' gathering is at 10.

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And it says that the meeting time for the biblical counseling is going to change. We're going from 11, for those of you that are used to coming.

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It's not going to be 11 anymore. It's going to be at 9 .30, going beyond. But the 9th is a special day because of the ladies' tea.

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So it's at 9 o 'clock that day, okay? And our Missionary of the Month this month, starting now, is

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Stephen Joyce -Louis. I'm sure the McMahons know them fairly well. They serve at BMW back in Atlanta.

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They coin themselves as the missionaries to the missionaries. They're kind of the support end of things, my understanding, and ministering to the missionaries.

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And so pray for them. Ladies' Bible study, this Saturday, okay. This Saturday, ladies, at 10 o 'clock, okay?

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All right, sounds good. All right, well, let's go to the Lord in prayer. Our gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you,

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Lord, that you have given us this church, Faith Bible Church, to gather in, to worship you corporately together,

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Father. This is a gift, and this isn't—we should not take this for granted,

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Father, because there's many corners of this globe that aren't able to gather as we do. So we thank you for that,

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Father. God, we pray for the Hahns and their family, Father, as they grieve the passing of Brother Jimmy.

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God, we thank you that he is with you now. He is free of all the misery and agony that was carrying along with him here on this earth,

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Father. But, Lord, that is our hope for each one of us, Lord, that when we're with you one day, that we can be free of all the pain that comes with the curse that is on this world,

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Father. But, God, we thank you now that we have you to hold on to, that we can trust you, that we can have faith in you,

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Father, that you will carry us through, Lord. As things around the globe seem to be coming unhinged,

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Father, we know that you are Lord over all, and we pray for peace. We pray for the work of your saints out there that are in the trenches, literally,

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Father, being light and salt, Father, to a grieving world. So, God, give them strength.

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God, we thank you this morning that we can open your word. We pray for Brother Jack as he brings a message to us,

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Father, of what you laid upon his heart. Lord, bless him and his message. Father, we pray that you would bless each one today, that we allow the

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Holy Spirit to guide us, to minister to us, and, Father, for those that are grieving, be a comforter to us,

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Lord. God, we thank you again for all that you have done and continue to do, and may we honor you and bring you glory in all that we do,

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Father, in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, this morning, as we continue to worship our

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Lord together, please stand with me as we lift our voices and we're going to sing, Behold Our God.

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The scripture reading for today is from Matthew, chapter 28, verses 16 through 20.

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That's Matthew, chapter 28, verses 16 through 20.

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Amen. May the

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Lord add his blessing to the reading of his word. Before we continue, I wanted to ask you a question.

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Have you put your faith in Christ? Do you trust the Savior of the world, the giver of eternal life?

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It can happen today. It can happen in the quietness of your heart. It's always the right time. So seek after the

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Lord, and he will deliver you. Please stand with me as we sing, Trust and Obey. Good morning.

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It's so good to worship with you. This is a very special church to us.

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As I said in the earlier service this morning when we gave our presentation, but there's a lot of folks here that weren't a part of that.

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So just a brief update, we, Jack and Bev, my wife,

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Bev, McMahon, we're serving the Lord in New Zealand since 1985.

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And this church has been a very important church in our lives because in 1985 we came out to Sacramento.

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Our mission organization was located in Sacramento in those days. And this was where I did my internship.

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So I came and I worked with Pastor Lauren Peters for a few months and was able to get to know the congregation here.

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And then we left from here and went straight to New Zealand. So we count it a privilege to be back here.

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And after all these years, to still be part of your mission family is a great joy. We're serving in the country of New Zealand, in the northern island of New Zealand, the northern part of the northern island.

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And the Lord has transitioned us now as of last year to a place called

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Whangarei, New Zealand, where we are serving now in a church -strengthening kind of a role.

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So we have a son and his wife and two granddaughters that live in Whangarei.

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We have three daughters and their families, two of them in West Virginia, one in Jacksonville, Florida.

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And so we've been making the rounds since August the 1st, supporting churches and individuals that support us and visiting families.

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So we're kind of coming to the end of that now. So we return to New Zealand on December the 1st, and things are coming to a conclusion.

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So this is a great blessing to kind of have our final meeting here in California, here at Faith Bible.

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This morning, I'd like to open the Word with you from Ephesians chapter 3.

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Ephesians was written by the Apostle Paul from Rome. He was in house arrest at that time.

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And he's writing back to the church in Ephesus, where he had spent several years for a time he taught at the school of Tyrannus.

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And he had previously been in the synagogues there and disputing with the

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Jewish people about the Messiah. He moved out from there and met in the school during the days.

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And he was teaching the Word of God there for a long period of time. So he's very acquainted with these

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Ephesian believers. He's writing back to them now from prison, house arrest.

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And he doesn't have anything to correct them on as far as heresies, like some of the churches he wrote to.

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He had difficulties that he had to expose and to deal with. But the church in Ephesus, he's just writing because he wants to expand their horizons of those in Ephesus about the work of God.

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He wants them to understand more of the scope of God's eternal purpose.

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It's an amazing epistle because Paul is presenting a mystery that he talks about, which is the bringing together of the

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Jews and the Gentiles to form a new entity called the church. And he's giving a lot of background on that in this epistle.

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The letter opens with spiritual blessings from God the

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Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. How appropriate, we're just saying holy, holy, holy, the threefold holy

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God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And he's writing to show the many blessings that we have in him.

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Blessings from the Father, blessings from the Son, blessings from the Holy Spirit.

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And each one is kind of signed off with to the praise of his glory, to the praise of his glory, to the praise of his glory.

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So, showing that the Father is very instrumental in choosing us, in predestinating us, how the

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Son is very involved in redeeming us and giving us forgiveness of sins and an inheritance.

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And how the Holy Spirit seals us to the day of redemption so that we might be able to make it.

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So, what a wonderful introduction to this book. And in chapter 2, he continues on.

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But before I go there, chapter 1, verse 10, maybe I'll just read that verse because it's kind of like the key verse,

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I think, of the whole epistle. Chapter 1, verse 10, Paul says,

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I better go back to verse 9. He made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his kind intention which he purposed in him, with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in heavens and things on the earth, in him.

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And so, everything is coming to a conclusion as the

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Lord brings the ages together and everything is summed up in Jesus Christ.

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And so, we see that in chapter 2, how the church begins to unfold as God's amazing plan and how in chapter 2, verses 1 to 10,

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God calls out a people for himself. He redeems us in that wonderful passage, Ephesians 2, verse 8, for by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God.

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Not of works, that's the iman shavosh. So, we have his workmanship created in Christ Jesus. And later on in chapter 2, it develops this theme of how

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God brings the Jews and the Gentiles together. The Gentiles who had no hope, who were a part of it, away from the covenants that God made with Israel.

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Separated, alienated from God, and how God brings these two groups together and forming them in a reconciliated manner.

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And then, in chapter 3, he talks about in the early part of how

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God brings together the Jews and the Gentiles into one body called the church.

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And so, the glorious church, I hope that we can appreciate more and more as Paul talks about this in the book of Ephesians.

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Because there's two prayers, two rather lengthy prayers in chapter 1 and in chapter 3, where Paul prays that the eyes of your understanding would be enlightened.

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So that you can understand the depth, the whole dimension of God's eternal plan.

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And what he's doing, and how he's working it together, and how you and I as believers in Christ are very much a part of that.

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It's very exciting, it's very satisfying to see this amazing revelation of God.

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So having explained God's great goal for the church, he shows steps toward how this can be fulfilled.

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As we just talked about with the reconciliation of individuals to himself, of reconciling the

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Jews and the Gentiles, and of reconciling us both into one body. And now in chapter 3, where I want to pick up today, is in verse 7 down to verse 13.

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And I want to bring out 8 of God's glorious attributes that are at work in the church.

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I think it's exciting to see God revealing himself through the church in his various attributes.

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So let's look at that in verse 7, and I'll just read the whole passage here, and I might go back to verse 1 just to get the context, and then go through to verse 13.

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I'm reading in the New American Standard Bible, so if your translation is a little different, you'll understand.

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For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus, for the sake of you Gentiles, if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace which was given to me for you, that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief.

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By referring to this, when you read, you may understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets in the

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Spirit. To be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel, of which

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I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given to me according to the working of his power.

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To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the

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Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to bring to light what is in the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things, so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be known through the church to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

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This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which he carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in him.

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Therefore I ask you not to lose heart at my tribulations on your behalf, for they are for your glory.

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The first thing I'd like to point out in verse 7 is that God's grace turns sinners into ministers.

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Paul is writing, and he's so amazed, at the grace of God. As the grace of God captured your heart, grace just means unmerited favor.

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It means God bestows upon us something we do not deserve. We didn't earn it.

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We can't expect it or demand it.

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But God is a kind and gracious God, as revealed in Scripture, and he has poured out his grace upon us.

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The fact that you're here in this church which preaches the word of God is a very good indicator that you are part of that family.

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You appreciate the grace of God, and Paul certainly did. In fact, in verse 8, he's overwhelmed, and he says,

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To me who's less than the least of the saints. I find that hard to believe, but that's what he said, you know, as a humble man.

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And he says, I don't deserve any of this, but God has given me the opportunity to reveal this mystery to the church.

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And that is the mystery of the Jews and the Gentiles being reconciled into one body.

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You see, there's all kinds of grace that God pours out upon us. This is talking about ministry grace.

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Paul says he was made a minister. A minister is where we get the word deacon.

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And from the Greek, diakonos, it's an official servant of the king. And Paul recognized that he was greatly privileged of the

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Lord to be able to be a servant of the king, to be able to bring this message to the people.

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And he's really excited about the grace of God for the ministry that God's given him.

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I like the little acronym, G -R -A -C -E,

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God's Riches at Christ's Expense. It's kind of another way of looking at grace.

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We have been poured out blessing because of what Jesus has accomplished on the cross.

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That's where it all unfolds from. Also, there is not only ministry for service, but, of course, there's ministry to be a

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Christian to begin with. There's the grace of God, for by grace are you saved, as we talked about in Ephesians 2, verse 8.

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We're saved by grace. We serve by grace. We're gifted by grace. Everything is from God's hand.

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And so, this is all to the glory of God. I think it was

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Jonathan Edwards that said, infinite upon infinite, my sin is infinite. Grace upon grace, his grace is infinite.

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And to understand the grace of God, you have to also appreciate the slimy pit that I was dug out of.

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How much I needed that grace. How much I didn't want justice.

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I wanted grace. I needed his gift. And so, Paul talks about the attribute of God, and you see that so prominent in the church today.

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The grace of God in saving us and in giving us gifts and abilities to serve him.

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Next, we see God's power, which enables the weak to succeed.

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Chapter 3, verse 7, the second part says about this grace, which was given to me according to the working of his power.

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And so, God is all powerful. God is infinite. There's nothing that he can't do.

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With God, all things are possible. No one can stay his hand.

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No one can limit him. And God's power enables us to accomplish, as it did

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Paul, the ministry God has called him to. He talks about two words that relate to this power.

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The first is according to the working. The working. And the word working is where we get our word energy.

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This is the ability to do something. God gives us the ability to get the job done.

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I like the verse in Philippians 1, 6. Faithful is he who began a good work in you, who also will accomplish it.

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And we're going to be able to finish the race because of the energy, because of God's power that is at work in our lives.

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We need that power. Without God's power, we could accomplish nothing. Jesus put it pretty succinctly in John chapter 15.

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He said, I'm the vine. You are the branches. Abide in me. For without me, you can do 90%, 10%, 1%, and nothing.

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You can do nothing without my ability. Paul says in Philippians 4, verse 13,

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I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. So if there's something that needs to be done, it has to be done in the power of God.

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And so we are just clay vessels. All of us are just common people. But we have the

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Holy Spirit within us that Jesus gave as a gift to his church. And that Holy Spirit energizes us, gives us fruit, the fruit of the

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Spirit, to be able to perform and the gifts of the Spirit to perform the work that he has for us.

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That's the power of God. The second word that relates to power is the word power. And that's where we get the word dynamite from the

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Greek. And it means inherent power. It's strength within. It's the nature of God.

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He is inherently powerful. God has all power.

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And so that is the source from which the energy comes out and enables us to be able to accomplish what he's called us to do.

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God's power is exhibited in the church mainly through using very weak instruments.

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You know, the scriptures humble us real quickly as we read them. 1 Corinthians says not many noble are called, not many wise are called.

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But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the things that are wise. And so we have really just people that are not usually anything extraordinary, just ordinary people that are empowered by God to accomplish a great purpose.

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I think it was Queen Elizabeth, not Queen Elizabeth, Queen Victoria way back in a previous century.

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She said I thank God for the letter M because the

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Bible says not many noble are called. It doesn't say not any noble are called.

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She said because I've been called by God and so even though I'm from nobility, I thank

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God for the letter M. Don't you thank God for the fact that he called us out of a life of futility.

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You know, a life that had no purpose really except to eat, drink, and be married. For tomorrow we die.

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And to give us a life that is actually working alongside of the

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God of the universe to accomplish what he wants to accomplish. So that's the power of God.

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The third attribute of God that is highlighted here I believe is the love of God. And we see it in verse 8.

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The love of God. To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given to proclaim to the

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Gentiles the good news of the unfathomable riches of Christ.

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Now it doesn't mention the word love here, but it's all through this passage. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.

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God loves people. And God wants people to hear the message of the gospel.

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God desires people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of his son Jesus Christ. And so God's love is in the proclamation of the message that we see here.

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Paul says that this grace was given to proclaim to the

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Gentiles, those who are still without Christ, the unfathomable riches of Christ.

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Paul knew his mission. It was to proclaim this wonderful news of the gospel.

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Where else do you get good news? You know, you turn on the television, turn on the internet, and you hear the news reports.

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I have not heard very much good news. I hear a lot of bad news about deaths and catastrophes and all kinds of terrible things going on.

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But here we have the best news, the good news, and that's what the word gospel means, good news.

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God wants people to know him. He wants people to be saved. And that's the message that Paul proclaimed.

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And this is also God's love for mankind.

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The Christmas message in Luke chapter 2. It says, the angels say, do not be afraid, for behold,

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I bring you good tidings of great joy, which will be for all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior who is called

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Christ the Lord. People need to hear about that savior. That's the message. That's what we're all about.

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Jesus, when he left, he said, all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me.

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Go and make disciples of all nations. You shall be witnesses unto me to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the world.

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So the love of Christ constrains us, Paul says, to tell others about this wonderful message.

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It's our calling. It's our vocation. It's really why we're here, is to get that message out.

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God's love and God's light reveals truth to the blind.

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It says in verse 9, chapter 3 of Ephesians, and to bring to light for all what is the administration of the mystery, which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things.

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So Paul wants to bring to light this administration of the mystery so that we might know.

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He wants the church to know what God's up to and how we're a part of that.

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He doesn't want to leave us in the dark. I like doing what's going on.

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How about you? I don't like it when you don't know what's happening and you don't know what the next step is.

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In 2015, there was a Russian billionaire named Yuri Milner who donated $100 million to be split between two efforts.

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One was searching for alien life outside of our planet, and the other was creating digital messages to transmit beyond Earth.

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This was just eight years ago. $100 billion. Stephen Hawking was one of the key administrators of it all.

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It was all set in motion, and you know what? We haven't heard anything. We're still waiting.

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$100 billion spent. I could have been put to a lot better use than that, because the

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Bible says that in the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth. If I just go to the first seven words of the

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Bible, and you have your answers, but God wants us to know the truth.

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In fact, Jesus says, I am the truth. God wants us to understand with clarity.

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That's what light is all about. God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. God wants us to come out of the darkness, not only spiritually, but also understanding the ways of the

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Lord. He's revealed these things to us. So Paul wants us to understand, to bring to light.

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It's an interesting word, light. We get the word photo from it.

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It has the idea of making things clear and exposing, so that we might understand the hidden plan of God.

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One of the first things in the scriptures, God says, let there be what? Light, and there was light.

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God, as I read the scriptures, and as you read the scriptures, isn't it wonderful when the light comes on, and you understand what you're reading.

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You go, wow, what an amazing God He is, and how amazing it is to be a part of what

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He's doing. So God gives light. The administration it talks about.

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That means the household affairs, household management, or stewardship.

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In other words, God is revealing to us family information.

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Stuff that He wants us as His family to understand, so that we can rejoice in it, and appreciate it, and live it out.

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The administration, and it's a mystery which for ages has been hidden in God.

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Paul explains that mystery being the Gentiles accepted into God's family through Jesus Christ.

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Just a couple of verses that kind of help us appreciate that. Look at Ephesians 2, verse 12.

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This is our past. This is what you and I were involved in, and our situation.

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Doesn't that sound bleak? Doesn't that sound like there's no promise, there's no future?

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It's exactly what it says. We were on a dead end. We had no hope. Going nowhere.

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But then if you compare that with Ephesians 3, verse 6.

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He says, to be specific, that the Gentiles are, now look at the contrast.

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Fellow heirs, and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

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We're now fellows. We're now a part of all that God is doing, and Jesus says,

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I will build my church. That is what Jesus is doing today. That is his passion, and that is his one goal.

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I am going to build my church, one living stone at a time. And I'm going to make a temple for my

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God. And I just praise the Lord for each of you that are here this morning. You are one of those living stones.

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God is using you to build his church and to be a part of it.

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We're fellow heirs, fellow members, and partakers. You know, that concept speaks to me of one word, and that is identity.

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I now have an identity. One time I was in a

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Sunday school class, and I was a seminary student. And the teachers asked a question, who are you?

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And I don't know. I wasn't thinking very well that day. And I just blurted out,

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I'm Jack McBad. And nobody said anything or did anything.

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I just kept looking at the teacher. And the teacher said again, who are you?

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And there was a lady in the back, probably about 80 years old. She's been through a lot of trials in her life.

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And she said, I'm a child of God. He said, that's the answer. And I was ready to, you know,

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I wish I could disappear right now. That's my identity. It's not

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Jack McMahon. That's not my identity. That's what I go by down here on the earth.

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My identity is I'm a child of God. That's what gives me attachment to the eternal.

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I'm related to God in that way, and so are you if you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. We're fellow heirs, fellow partakers.

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2 Corinthians 12 .10. And therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distress for Christ's sake.

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For when I am weak, then I am strong. And how God uses the weak things.

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And God gives his light. God's wisdom is displayed before angels.

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Chapter 3 and verse 10. So that the manifold wisdom of God might now be known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in heavenly places.

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Isn't this intriguing? In other words, you are on display. You are

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God's workmanship. You are God's showpiece. To who?

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To the rulers in heavenly places. We're talking here about angelic beings,

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I believe. Probably even evil angels and the righteous angels.

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There is some lessons going on for them. And you're the subject matter.

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The church is the subject that God has for them to learn. And as you read it, it says that these holy angels especially are watching.

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1 Peter chapter 1 and verses 10 to 12 puts it this way.

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Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully who prophesied the grace that would come to you.

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Searching what or what manner of time the spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating.

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When he testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.

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To them it was revealed that not to themselves but to us they were ministering.

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The things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the

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Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Things which angels desire to look into.

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And so the angelic beings are observing what

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God is doing in his church. And they're looking with great, great desire.

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It's interesting the word that is used there where it says they are watching.

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Which has the idea they're stooping down to look into something very carefully.

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It's the same word that's used when Peter and John race to the tomb after hearing that Christ had risen.

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And Peter goes in and he stoops down and he's beholding the linen garments that are there on their own.

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Imagine the scene. When Peter looks at it he's not just looking at it and just like glancing at it.

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He is intrigued by the whole thing. He is fascinated by it. He's looking at it very intently.

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Wondering what has happened. How can this be here without the body in it?

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And angels with the same kind of intensity are looking at God's program for the church.

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Using people like us. Which angels probably think wow you know

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God this is pretty inferior material you're working with. But God is using such weak things to accomplish such amazing things.

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I mean the salvation of a soul. No human being could ever do that. But God uses us as his instruments to bring the gospel.

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And we have this treasure in earthen vessels. I think that treasure could be the gospel itself.

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Or it could be the Holy Spirit. But we have this gospel contained in cracked pots literally.

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And we're bringing this message to others. And this is the power of God. This is the wisdom of God on display before the angels.

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And then we also see the sovereignty. Oops. Sorry. The sovereignty of God.

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Another one of his attributes is being exercised in God's plan. Notice in verse 11.

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This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which he carried out in Christ Jesus our

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Lord. God is sovereignly working his purpose.

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He's already announced his purpose. And no one can do anything about it.

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No one can change it. When God commands it's going to be done. And God is going to build his church.

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God is going to accomplish that. And so he announces his plans that he's going to work all things,

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Ephesians 1 .11. He's going to work all things together according to his will. And then there's opposition to his plan as we have seen in the life of Christ.

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Satan, for instance, tried to destroy Jesus through Herod and through an edict to destroy the babies.

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But God had a plan for his son. He escaped and nothing could thwart that.

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Satan, again, tried to tempt Jesus and tried to deflect him from accomplishing the mission that God had for him.

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Again, Jesus stood and showed himself to be our hero.

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He was the Adam that stood against sin instead of the Adam that fell. He was the last

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Adam. And also when Peter tried to dissuade

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Jesus from the cross. You know, after Peter had announced that he was the son of God and Jesus said,

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Blessed are you, Simon, or Jonah. Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my father. You know,

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Peter must have been thinking, wow, he must have said something really good. And then the next thing, Jesus says to him, get behind me,

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Satan. Because Peter is being used as a mouthpiece to keep

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Jesus from, or try to stop Jesus from going to the cross. Which could not be thwarted.

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And Judas, one of his own disciples, tried to betray him and did betray him.

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Turned him over. He was crucified. And the enemy must have thought, okay, now

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I have accomplished what I wanted to do. I've killed Messiah. I have ruined

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God's plans. And yet, he was falling right into God's own plan.

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Which we see in Acts chapter, written out in Acts chapter 2.

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Verse 23 and 24. This man delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God.

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You nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put him to death. But God raised him up again, putting an end to the agony of death.

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Since it was impossible for him to be held by his power. You can't thwart what

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God is doing. And God will accomplish sovereignly his plan. And we're a part of that.

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It's really great to know that God is in control. I remember a dear brother, one of the churches we were at in America, our ascending church.

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They had a baby that died in the womb. And he was doing the announcements and the scripture reading the very next

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Sunday morning after that event. And he stood up for the congregation. And we were wondering what he was going to say.

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But what he said was, our God is sovereign. I know he's in control. And I can rejoice even in the midst of the suffering and the trials that we go through.

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And so it's wonderful to know that our God is in control. And another attribute is

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God's accessibility that extends to us through prayer. Notice in verse 12.

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In whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in him. Our God is a

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God of approach. He's approachable. He's not like the

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God of Islam who you really can't get to know him.

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He's not personal. Only our God is a very personal God. And he wants us to approach him.

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He desires us to come to him in prayer and in fellowship and to enjoy him.

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In the Old Testament, it wasn't that way. Only the high priest could come into the Holy of Holies.

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And once a year with fear and trepidation. But now at the cross, Jesus died and the veil was split from top to bottom.

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That veil was about 45 feet high. And I think about, they say about four inches thick.

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No human being could rip that from top to bottom. But it was exposing the access, the way into the

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Holy of Holies now through the blood of Jesus Christ. And God is a,

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I like a new word I learned during Indoor Bowls actually in Wellington. There was a lady that made a, we were bowling.

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She says, I love coming here every week. The conviviality is so great. And I went, wow, that's a neat word.

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I don't know what it means. So I had to go look it up. And you know it just means, conviviality just means like the warmth of fellowship kind of thing.

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And so I like to use that word for God. He's a convivial God. He's so welcoming.

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When we come to him through his son Jesus Christ. The door is wide open. And he invites us.

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In fact, one of the favorite words of God in the Bible is the word come. You know, down in Texas they say, y 'all come.

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God is a convivial God. He says, come. In fact, the last book of the

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Bible, Revelation, three times is one of the last verses. The spirit of the bride say, come.

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Let him who thirsts come. And third time he talks about come, come. Jesus says, all here, heavy laden and burdened, come unto me.

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Our God is an inviting, convivial God that is very accessible.

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We can come to him any time through prayer. And so God invites us. And that's the key to the church is prayer, isn't it?

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God wants us to move forward on our knees. He wants us to bring everything before him.

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We need his resources. We need his power. We need his encouragement and help at every time.

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And so we can come to him and access at any time. Last attribute here that is mentioned is patience.

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Our God is a patient God. Praise the Lord for that. One time there was a debate between an atheist and a

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Christian. And the atheist said, I can prove there's no God. And he says, okay, go for it.

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And so he throws, he gets out on stage and he starts cursing God and saying all kinds of blasphemous things.

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And he goes on for five minutes. And then he sits down and he says, see, God didn't strike me down.

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There is no God. And so the Christian got up and he said, all you did was show that God's patience can't be exhausted in five minutes.

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Our God is a patient God and he is bringing people to himself.

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I was telling Victor and Barbara about someone in New Zealand that came to know the

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Lord at 106 years old, a lady that God waited for her. He was patient with her for 106 years.

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And finally, on the last year of her life, she put her trust in Jesus Christ. What an awesome

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God he is. God is very patient. And so Paul writes, therefore, in verse 13, therefore,

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I ask you not to lose heart in my afflictions on your behalf, which is your glory.

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Paul was suffering. The Bible tells us that they who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.

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You will, to some extent, experience being cut off from family, being cut off from others because of your love and stand for Jesus Christ.

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But that suffering, that kind of separation is good for us. James says that when you go through these various trials, it strengthens your faith and helps you to mature.

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And so Paul is saying, the sufferings, don't lose heart at my sufferings or at the sufferings you're going to go through, which is on your behalf, which are for your glory.

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You see in the Bible, suffering and glory go together. Someone said that Christian life is a call to glory through a journey of suffering.

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Christian life is a call to glory through a journey of suffering. And God is very patient and he's teaching us to have patience.

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Because in the end, you can summarize the whole book of Revelation with two words,

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Jesus wins. That's the summation of all things that we saw in an earlier verse, chapter 110.

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The summation of all things, all ages in Christ. So God is a

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God of grace, which enables us to be saved, which enables us to serve.

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God's a God of power, which empowers us to run the race he's given us to succeed.

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He's a God of love to offer the good news of God's message, a message of love to a world of hate and a world of cruelty.

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God's a God of light and he wants us to know his will. He wants us to read the

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Bible and he'll give us understanding as we approach his Bible. He's a

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God that is sovereign and he's working all things according to his plan. We can rest confidently in that.

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No matter what seems to be contrary, keep your eyes on the Lord. We walk by faith, not by sight.

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And God is in control, even though it might not always seem like that to us. God is accessible.

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We can approach him in prayer at any time. There's never an engaged call.

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He's never off -duty. He's always responding. And he loves and invites us to just enjoy his fellowship.

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And you know, prayer is more than just asking for things. Prayer is just enjoying the

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Lord too, just telling him how wonderful he is and just appreciating what he's done.

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And then God is patient. And he brings us through our journey, even though there might be suffering.

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He's never promised there'd be an easy road, but he's promised that through it all he'll be with us even to the end of the age.

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So I just want to leave you with those thoughts from the scriptures of what a blessing it is to be a part of the church.

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And I pray that you'll more and more just throw in your love for the work that Jesus is doing to build his church and to be a part of it.

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Thank you for your attention and just the time that I've had to share with you this time.

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We want to thank Jack for bringing the message. Bev's helping him with the piano today. It's been a real blessing.

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And we've enjoyed knowing them and knowing of their ministry in New Zealand for many years.

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So stand together with me, if you will, and we will be singing. And as we think about even we sing a very familiar song to us, praise

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God from anything whom all blessings flow. I'm thankful that I have a

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Lord that I can put my trust in and realize that all that I have comes through him and from him.

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So join me as we sing together. Amen.