THE GIFT OF GOD'S GRACE (Eph 3:7-8)

Well, good morning family Welcome, welcome to church if you want to make your way from the back.

Come on in here We've got we've got a few announcements to make before we jump into our service

I want to I want to tell you about and I think we have it up on the screen if you can flip to We have the membership class coming up.

We try and do a new member class once a quarter and For those of you that have been through the membership class

You can see up here that there are a few extra steps. There's not extra steps we're just taking what you've had to go through in a long period like one setting and Spreading it out over four weeks.

And so as you can see step one, two, three and four I'll be teaching a couple pastor

Jeremiah will be leading one of them and and brother Keith will be leading another These Wednesday nights and it will start on August 9th and be every

Wednesday night Consecutively through August. So if you know someone that is interested

What does it mean to be a part of this particular covenant body of believers? What is this church about?

What do they believe about the God the Word of God? Church structure, how are they structured?

What does it look like and then the membership covenants anybody that is interested? This is the first step in pursuing being a part of this covenant body of believers and And so I encourage you if you want to set through that and and by the way any any of you

Existing members if you want to refresh or you want to go through just to hear a few things you are absolutely welcome

So on Wednesday nights, we will continue our Wednesday night study through systematic theology in here and This class will be over at the house in the dining room and the youth meet in the living room

We'll be meeting in the dining room there. So August 9th, don't forget about that And then secondly, we have a group that's leaving here in a couple of weeks

I'm part of it and we're going down to River Bend Community Church in Ormond Beach, Florida which has been a church that has come alongside us and support and and And been really kind of a mother church of sorts to this church plant

And so there is a group Keith about 18 of us, I believe 17 something like that People are flying down and we're gonna be spending the weekend

Walking through and learning from them Learning how some maybe some some little particular nuanced ministry

How things are run things like that and and just fellowshipping with the brothers and sisters there

Support, so please keep us in prayer. We're leaving We'll be gone the last weekend of this month

And so both me and pastor Jeremiah and brother Keith are going to be gone

But we will still have service on the 30th and our very own Adam Carmichael Is going to be preaching a sermon his very first sermon that Sunday.

I've looked over the notes. It's gonna be awesome So you do not want to miss that So, please plan on being here, even though there's a group of us that are gone

Worshiping the Lord together Another thing is is we've we've spent a week of prayer this week.

We've been praying very intentionally for God's Will to be done in the life of this church.

We've been looking for a location and I'm Hesitant but glad to announce that he may have opened a door

He may have answered our prayers and in a tremendous way like far beyond our expectations, which is which is

Unbelievable, so we need to continue to pray We need to pray that we find favor in the city The eyes of the city so that we can get approval to be able to meet in this new location but we will have and I'm announcing now officially a

Family meeting next Sunday. If you're a member you want to be at this family meeting.

It will be after coining a feast when we usually do sermon discussion and we will meet to present this option to you and To vote on whether or not we want to pursue this

So if you're a member of this church and you want to have a voice in the new location You want to be here next week our bylaws require us to give a seven -day

Heads up so here's your seven -day heads up if you want to be here be here next Sunday And I think it's gonna be an awesome time last time.

We had a family meeting like that. Everybody was so unified It was just everything was unanimous. We're like, why do we even meet anymore?

So I Expect probably this will be the same because this is a great option. So praise the

Lord and please continue to pray Please continue to pray that that all of these

These pieces fall into place for that Well before we start our service again, we like to pray for a another local church and this morning

I would like for us to pray for Christ Redeemer here in Jonesboro. It's a PCA Church That is they planted a few years before we did but they have just in the past I think week or two officially

Gotten a new pastor and so praise the Lord for that I do not know the gentleman, but I've heard him preach a couple of times and and I'm very excited for him being there

I'm excited for this There are these brothers and sisters to to finally be moving forward with a pastor

And so let let's go to the Lord in prayer and pray that they That God would work in their myths this morning as a people and and and be with their leadership dear

Heavenly Father We thank you. We thank you for allowing us to gather. But but we also thank you for our brothers and sisters all over the community

God we we are not alone here There there are so many saints in the area and they are all gathering this morning to worship you

And father, I know that we worship you and slightly different forms and slightly different ways

But I pray that you're honored in it and God I ask right now specifically for Christ Redeemer I know they have had a hard road over the past couple of years father, but it looks as though you are you are continuing to be faithful to them and Allowing them to maintain and move forward as a church by bringing them a new pastor

So father I pray for him right now. I pray for his family. I pray that you Grant him tremendous grace during this time of transition

Lord, I pray that you give him discernment and wisdom give him great boldness Give him clarity of your word.

He'll allow him to teach it And in its fullness God I pray that you allow him to care for the flock there at Christ Redeemer and I pray for those people

I pray that even this morning as as they prepare to gather and worship as we are that you would be in their midst

That you would work in their midst that you would mold their hearts guide their uh, their affections towards you

Father, I pray that they could be a people that is um that obeys what they believe your word to be saying

God, I pray that you would use them mightily that you'd bring about A tremendous awakening and revival in their midst that would spread um throughout the city and and over to us and to other churches and and to the the darkness of uh, of a community like this father, we we thank you for them lord bless them and grow them mature them and And and be with them and we thank you in christ's name.

Amen Amen. Well, let's let's stand for a call to worship i'm going to Read a portion here of of our psalm of the day as we've again

Consecutively walked through the psalms as a church. We thought we would use this particular psalm Psalm 74 as our call to worship

Where the psalmist says oh god, why do you cast us off forever? Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture?

Remember your congregation which you have purchased of old which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your heritage

Remember mount zion where you have dwelt direct your steps to the perpetual ruins

The enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary your foes have roared in the midst of your meeting place they set

They set up their own signs for signs They were like those who swing axes in a forest of trees and all its carved wood

They broke down with hatchets and hammers. They set your sanctuary on fire They profaned the dwelling place of your name bringing it down to the ground

They said to themselves we will utterly subdue them They burned all the meeting places of god in the land

We do not see our signs There is no longer any prophet and there is none among us who knows how long

How long oh god is the foe to scoff? Is the enemy to revile your name forever?

Why do you hold back your hand your right hand? Take it from the fold of your garment and destroy them

Yet god my king is from of old You divide the sea by your might

How you crush the heads of leviathan? You split open springs and brooks

Yours is the day yours also the night You have fixed all the boundaries of the earth

Remember this oh lord How the enemy scoffs and a foolish people reviles your name

Do not deliver the soul of your dove to the wild beast. Do not forget the life of your poor forever

Have regard for the covenant for the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence

Let not the downtrodden turn back in shame. Let the poor and needy praise your name arise.

Oh god defend your cause Remember how the foolish scoff at you all the day do not forget the clamor of your foes

The uproar of those who rise against you which goes up continually Amen, let's pray together this morning

Father we thank you God for bringing us here to sing praise to you to study your word to draw close to you god

Lord, you are worthy of all praise and honor we could ever give so much

Um Father so many times we think that we actually bring something that's worth something to you father and scripture tells us that our righteousness

Are as filthy rags and father. We just ask god Humble hearts this morning that you would accept this offering of praise

That it would be a sweet smelling offering to you father God, you are worthy of so so much father

Lord, I just pray that our lives reflect that Uh that thanksgiving god back to you for what you've done for us

We just praise you god in jesus name. Amen We will walk by We have found a refuge

Is You can stand against us

Even when I fall even when I turn I got it

No love is greater Can separate

One more time Is I got his for us the father's love is a strong and mighty fortress

Is And my heart grows

The darkness I will trust in you

Oh My soul

Is I know

My short Undeserved Now the

My soul

Creation rises forever.

You will reign forever. You will reign forever.

You will reign forever. Seated in my arms.

Be all is to me. Save that thou art now my best thought.

By day or by night. King or sleeping, thy presence in me dwells.

Be our vision forever.

Praise you, God, for this time of worship. Lord, as we continue this worship and offering, I just ask that you prepare our hearts for the message,

God, that you have prepared by the Holy Spirit for us this morning, that you would give us ears to hear what the

Spirit speaks to the church. We thank you, Father, for this time. To you be all glory and honor forever and ever.

In Jesus' name. Amen. You already studied

God's Word? I'm ready. We'll go ahead and open up your copy of God's Word to Ephesians. Surprise, surprise, right?

Ephesians chapter 3. We're going to be looking at verses 7 and 8 today as we continue the study of this immensely rich letter from the

Apostle Paul to the church and the believers, the Gentile believers, mind you, there in Ephesus.

And as we see Paul's writing here, starting in verse 7 of Ephesians chapter 3, he says,

Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace which was given me by the working of His power.

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

Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. This is the reading of God's Holy Word.

Let's stop now. Let's pray. Let's go to Him and ask that the Holy Spirit would illuminate our hearts and minds with this truth.

Amen? Amen? Alright, let's do it. Dear Heavenly Father, we come to You humbly, acknowledging our frailty and understanding what is clear in Your Word.

Oh Father, I see these words that You inspired the

Apostle Paul to write, and I know that there is tremendous richness here.

There's so much beauty, so much gospel all mixed in here, and I feel inadequate to even address it, much less comprehend it.

And so I desperately need Your help this morning, and I know these saints here need Your help. Lord, we need the

Holy Spirit that is within each of us to illuminate our minds and hearts. Let us see it.

Let us see it with clarity. And Father, guard my lips from error. Lord, I'm fallible, but Your Word is infallible.

Help us to be true to it, in Christ's name. Amen. Well, as I mentioned earlier on in the service, we as a church have just gotten through a week of prayer.

This was kind of our first real intentional, like, let's pray together for a specific, one specific thing.

And what we did is we opened up these doors every evening all throughout the week, even up until last night.

And many of you have taken time out of your week and come together with the saints and pray.

You would come in and make supplication and prayer to God on behalf of this church.

And not to mention, I know many of you would text me and say, hey, my schedule at work isn't allowing me to be here.

I get that, and I know that all of you have been praying specifically throughout the week, whether you were at home, whether you were with your family or at work.

Specifically, we pray for God to provide a location for us to meet, right?

That's what we've been doing. We've been praying that God will provide somewhere for us as people to gather and worship

Him every week. Because most of you already know that this space right here was always meant to be very temporary.

And we are quickly coming to an end here in this space. And so we've been trusting that God is going to provide, haven't we?

And we go to Him and we pray, and we trust that He's going to answer these prayers according to His will, and align our hearts to that will.

Because if God has truly called us to this, if God has called this particular covenant body of believers, us gathered here to this mission,

He will certainly provide the means to do so, won't He? And we have no lack of faith that that is going to happen.

Now, the how, the what, and the when He provides is solely up to Him. That we don't know.

And the how, the what, and the when He wants to use us, and how He wants to use us, we don't know.

Is God planning on putting us in the dead center of Jonesboro, and the masses flock to hear the truth of God's word, and to grow in the context of what we're trying to build as a healthy church?

Is that what God has in store for us? Or does God have in store for us to find a building out in the middle of a rice field, and dwindle down to five or six families that gather diligently to worship the

Lord on the Lord's Day, and serve Him, or anything in between, right? Those aren't the only two options, thankfully.

We don't know what God has in store. If this is the plan that He wants for us, we don't know.

We do not know the decreative will of God, do we? We do not know, we're not privy to His perfect counsel.

Yet, we do know. We do know some things. We know what He's called us to. We know what

He's told us in His word, as to how we are to be, how we're to be structured, what we're to look like as a church, that we should have a plurality of elders, that we should have servant deacons, that we should have a covenant membership, and all that goes in with that.

We can see that in God's word by the power of the Holy Spirit showing us to it. We can see the goal and the purpose of what a church is to be, can't we?

We know that a church is called to be a Great Commission Church, which doesn't mean just go and make disciples.

It also means teaching them to observe all that Christ commanded, to disciple disciples. So the church is called, we see in Scriptures, go make disciples, teach them, and then they can go make disciples and teach them, and they can make disciples and teach them.

We see all of this, and we can align ourselves to it by the power of the Holy Spirit within us. We can seek to obey

His commands from Scripture and trust in His providential hand the whole way through, as to where and when and how

He's going to use us. Now, I have to say this.

That is so easy for us to say and not as easy for us to practice, isn't it?

We can say, oh, God can use us, right? We say, yes,

God is sovereign. He's in control, and He can use me. He can use us any way He wants to, whenever He wants to.

Here we are, God uses, but then when God doesn't use us in the way that we want Him to use us, our theology and our practice begin to part ways, if we're being honest, right?

I've seen it go both ways, actually, with this. You have a young, seemingly thriving church that, for some reason, never seems to take off.

Never seems to really take off like some of the other, maybe seemingly thriving congregations in the community or around the world that you see.

They have all the masses and have all the money and have all the resources and have everything. And you begin to look, and you go, it's not doing what those things are doing.

And so families begin to leave. People begin to leave because it looks as though God must be working over there, and He's not here.

Otherwise, we'd be booming like they're booming. I want God to use me like that.

And what do they do? They abandon their covenant with these people because it's not the ministry, it's not what's happening at the church that they think

God should be using them as. On the other hand, let's look at the other extreme, right?

You know me, I like extreme examples. Bear with me on this, and everything in between. On the other hand,

I've seen young, thriving churches start to burst at the seams and grow exponentially and people are flocking to the truth and people are coming in, and it is growing and growing, leading to the core original members to jump ship because they don't like the crowds or they don't like the direction that the church was going.

It's not as intimate as it once was. And they, too, abandon their covenant with these people.

You know, they tell us in church planting statistics, and honestly, I have friends that are farther down the road in church planting than me that affirm these statistics.

80 to 90 % of the people that joined in your first two years will no longer be with you at year five. And that's because what they expected

God to do wasn't what God had planned. So what causes us as God's people to be so fickle?

Well, the short answer is, of course, sin, right? Sin causes us to be fickle.

Sin causes us not to trust in the providence of God, which leads us to not have the mind of Christ.

That's ultimately what's happening here, is Christ is the head of the churches, and he does with the church as he pleases, and how he wants, when he wants, and where he wants.

And we go, nah, I want to be the head because I know what the kingdom needs. This leads us to this, but here in our text today, these two verses, we see the

Apostle Paul's perspective, and that's one that is in line with the mind of Christ. It is right in line.

After all, remember what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11, right? He said, hey, Christians, hey, you, the followers of Christ, be imitators of me.

Why can he say that? He says, as I am of Christ. Imitate me as I am of Christ, because he has the mind of Christ.

So let's look at our verse. Let's see what the Apostle Paul's perspective is here in these two verses. Look there again at Ephesians 3, verse 7.

Paul says, of this gospel. Let's stop there for a second. What gospel? What gospel is he referring to?

Well, let's jump back a verse. Look at verse 6 that we looked at last week. This mystery, now the gospel, remember, was previously a mystery, right?

It wasn't revealed in full throughout history, and so this mystery is that the

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

What Paul is talking about is this same gospel that now has unified Jewish Christians, Gentile Christians, male, female, black, white, whatever it may be across the board,

God has unified, and he's done so through this gospel. So what is this gospel?

Well, let's see in greater detail, just as a reminder. I know you know it, but let's look at it. Look back at chapter 2, where the

Apostle Paul starts in verse 13 there, where Paul says, but now in Christ Jesus, you

Gentiles, right, who once were far off, have been brought near.

How have they been brought near? By the blood of Christ, right? And he says, for he himself is our peace, both

Jew and Gentile, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace.

Making peace with who? This is the gospel, guys.

Who's he making peace with? Verse 16 gives us some insight into this, doesn't it?

And might reconcile us both to God. There's a reconciling.

Remember, we're enemies of God, and we need to be reconciled. Christ's blood has reconciled us with God.

It has paid the penalty for us, but not just us, all of us. Not just Gentile, not just Jew, all of us.

Because he says that. Look at it. Reconcile us both to God in one body, unified. Now we've been reconciled with God and reconciled with each other there at the cross, through the cross, thereby killing the hostility, the hostility that is between God and man, that is against man and man, against man and creation, against man and himself.

There's hostility, isn't there? And now God has reconciled that through the blood of Christ.

And so this is what Paul's talking about, of this gospel.

This is what we're about. This is what Paul's about, isn't it? The Apostle Paul never moves on from the gospel to deeper truths, does he?

Now he expresses deeper truths all in light of the gospel and all with the purpose of aiming towards the gospel.

And I think we see a little bit of what it means to be a people of God here. Look at what we're doing here at church, what

God is doing here at church. We are not about Calvinism or Arminianism here.

That's not what 12 .5 is about. I don't care which side of that camp you're on. That's not what we're about.

We're not about eschatology here, all about trying to figure out when Jesus is gonna return.

That's not what we're about, is it? We're not about debating and arguing with others that don't believe the way that we do.

That's not what we're about. That's not in the DNA of who 12 .5 Church is, this covenant body of believers.

We're not about building bigger buildings, are we? We're not about a proper ecclesiological structure and this is how the church should be run and this is how the church should be structured and set up.

That's not what we're about. We're not about discipleship. We're not about evangelism. We're not about any of that.

We are about what leads to all of these things, which is the gospel of Jesus Christ, amen?

And this is the apostle Paul laying this out for us. He says of this gospel, this is at the core of who he is and how he perceives every single thing and everything is through the lens of that gospel.

You can't move on from that gospel. You wanna understand eschatology, understand the gospel first and you'll see it through the lens of that.

Christ will return as the reigning king. You wanna see evangelism and discipleship, look at the gospel, understand the gospel, live it, rest in it.

That's the apostle Paul. Paul has his priorities straight. Paul says of this gospel and look at it again.

He says of this gospel, I was made. Notice he doesn't say I decided to become.

I was made a minister. Flip over with me to one of the pastoral epistles, 1

Timothy chapter one. 1 Timothy chapter one. I want us to look at a couple verses there, 12 and 14.

1 Timothy one, starting in verse 12, the apostle Paul is writing to one of his protégés,

Timothy here, right? And he says I thank him who has given me strength.

Christ Jesus our Lord. Because he judged me faithful. Now I think as Christians we like to look at just that part.

He judged me faithful, me, me, me. What did I do? How did I present? How did

I live? Did I live up to the law? All of that. But notice what he says next. He says appointing me to his service.

Forget. The only reason Paul's faithful is why? Because God is faithful.

And God's faithfulness has appointed him to this service. Look at verse 18, or no, verse 13, sorry. Though formerly

I was a blasphemer, persecutor, an insolent opponent.

And we're gonna talk about all of that here in a few minutes, about Paul's background. But look what he says.

But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief. Verse 14, and the grace of our

Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

The gospel. He was made a minister. God is the one that has set him apart, that has called him, that has brought him to this place.

He's the one that has saved him and made him. He's appointed him to this service, as he says to Timothy.

God made me this. God appointed me to this. Each of us,

Paul included, here's the thing, have been made something. You realize that, right?

And that something is to be used for the kingdom purposes. We've all been made something.

You didn't have a choice in it, did you? Paul says in Romans 12, in verse 6, he says, having gifts that differ.

Having gifts that differ according to, given by, based on the prerogative of God.

He says according to the grace given to us. Notice how he even points it to the gospel in that moment.

What's the grace he's always talking about? It's the grace of the gospel that he's been saved, right? And this is according to the grace of God that's given to us these gifts.

Let us use them. And then he goes off and lists some of them there in the New Testament church. If prophecy, in proportion to our faith.

If service, in our serving. The one who teaches in his teaching. The one who exhorts in his exhortation.

The one who contributes in generosity. The one who leads with zeal. The one who does acts of mercy with cheerfulness.

We don't decide what we are made for. Do we?

We don't make that decision. It's according to the grace given to us. I've known many young men that wanted to be pastors.

As a matter of fact, I wanted to be a pastor. After I was saved at 17, 18, 19 years old, I thought, well,

I'm going to the ministry. This is what God's calling me to. Praise the Lord I didn't go into the ministry.

That would have been devastating. And I was so arrogant and immature and annoying. I would have just completely harmed sheep left and right.

I would have been terrible in the ministry. God wasn't calling me to that. He didn't call me to that until I was 40.

Praise God. But in that moment he didn't. But I see young men come in and want to be pastors so bad. And you look at them and you're like, that's not what

God's gifted you for. That's not what God's made you. You have to work in the sphere of where God has called you.

The apostle Paul knows what he's been called to. And he's honoring the Lord in the service of what he's been designed for, what he's been made for.

And here Paul is affirming this in his life. Look back at our passage in Ephesians 3. Of this gospel,

I was made a minister. This word minister,

I think it's a little hard for us to really comprehend. We get a little confused here. This Greek word, diakonos.

You gentlemen that are going through the deacon training, y 'all are very familiar with that at the moment. It's where we get our word deacon.

It just means one who serves in the interest and for the benefit of others.

Diakonos is the word, deacon. Now, does this mean that Paul is saying that he is holding the office of deacon?

Well, of course not. We know that that's not the position of the apostle Paul. He's not in the office of deacon, even though we use this word.

This word is used in many different forms and not always used in reference to the actual office of deacon.

This isn't always referring to the office, the position. So if not a deacon, is

Paul referring to himself as a pastor? After all, when we hear the word minister, what do we think of?

When you hear the word minister, you think of a pastor, don't you? You think of someone that is pastoring a people.

Well, in a sense, he is. He's shepherding people in that he pastors them, he shepherds them, but Paul never holds the office of pastor either.

Remember, Paul is an apostle. He's unique. And mind you,

I've said this before, there are no more apostles. Those men had to be in the presence of the physical

Jesus and had to be affirmed by the other apostles. There are no more apostles. And I see a lot of people.

I actually had coffee with a gentleman the other day that he tries to run a ministry outside of the local church.

He's not even a member of a local church, and I'm trying to talk to him. He goes, well, the apostle Paul wasn't a member of a church, and he roamed around from church to church and did a parachurch ministry.

And I'm like, he's an apostle. That's the beginning of the church. That's the foundation that's built off the cornerstone that we've talked about recently.

Paul is an apostle. He may not hold the office of pastor. He may not hold the office of deacon.

I digress. But in this case, it's translated minister because Paul here is trying to express his service and interest that are aimed to and for the benefit of those he's writing to.

I'm going to say that again, okay, so you hear me. In this case, this translation of the diakonos, minister, is because Paul is trying to express his service, his interest that are aimed to and for the benefit of those he's writing to.

This is why he's using this particular word. And he says of this gospel, I was made a minister.

I'm serving. I've been called by the gospel of Jesus Christ, and I was made in the service of you.

And he goes on. He says, according to the gift of God's grace.

Now, Paul has actually mentioned this previously. This might be familiar to you because look back at verse 2 of chapter 3 where he starts this whole section off.

He kind of makes an interrupt and says, hey, assuming that you've heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you.

And he repeats this phrase here, this minister according to the gift of God's grace. What's Paul saying?

Paul is saying that God sovereignly made him a minister to us, the

Gentiles, and this was a gift of God's grace. Right?

It's a gift of God's grace. God's grace is a gift, isn't it?

Right? It's not deserved. It's not earned. It's a gift. We are not the ones that say, hey,

God, I want you to make me this, or I want you to give me this, or I want you to place me here, or I want you to do this in our midst.

I want you to do this. It's okay to make your petitions to God knowing that, hey, if it's your will and I want to be aligned to your will, hone me in on that will,

God, and help me pray for that. But sometimes we pray for those things, but we can't expect those things because grace is a gift, and the grace that we get is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Did any of us earn that? None of us, right? We're all unworthy, and this beautiful grace is a gift, and then the ongoing grace of God throughout all of it is continual gifting after gifting.

It's that grace upon grace upon grace that just keeps building and building, and we have nothing. We're like infants completely dependent upon our parents who are gifting us whatever it is that we have, but we have a parent who is the good father that only gives us good gifts, only gives us what we need.

Well, look at what Paul says next in verse 7 of this gospel.

I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given me by, now again, nothing of him, given him by, and how was it given?

How? By the working of his power. That's how it was given.

This grace was given to him by the working of his power. What does Paul mean by this?

What's Paul talking about by the working of his power? I think we see a hint in his previous writings. Let's go back, right?

Go back to chapter 2 again. Let's look at verse 4 and 5 where Paul says, But God, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead, right?

Does that mean partly dead? Does that mean somewhat dead? Does that mean just sick?

What's it mean? Dead. Dead. No life whatsoever. Even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive.

Breathe life into dead bones. Put flesh and blood on a dry land, on a dry skeleton of death in a spiritual sense.

But he made us alive together, right? That's key throughout this whole thing. We're in Christ together, together with Christ.

By grace you have been saved. The power of God, right?

Look back at chapter 1. Let's keep reading. Remember in chapter 1, Paul had prayed a prayer for these saints before he starts really breaking out some of that theological principle in chapter 2.

But back in chapter 1 in verses 18 and 19, he says, I'm praying for you that you would have the eyes of your hearts enlightened that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you.

What are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints? And he's praying, what is the power?

What is the power toward us who believe? This power is something that Paul has wanted these saints to understand.

He wants you to know. He wants you to understand what's going on. Paul understood this power, and he longed for these

Gentile Christians to comprehend it. It's that power that rose Jesus from the dead, right? The same power that rose

Jesus from the dead, that same power that awakened us from death to life, right? Spiritually dead, brought to spiritual life, in union with God is the same power that has given, called, and sustained

Paul's ministry at every level. This tremendous power of God.

And he wants us to know it, doesn't he? He wants us to see it. Remember, in this section of this passage right now,

Paul has interrupted his thought to talk through verses 2 through 13 as an encouragement to the believers, hasn't he?

This whole section, remember, this is an encouragement, and he's reminding them of where he is. That power that rose

Jesus from the dead, that's beautiful. We see that it's this same power that sustains him and works through him to accomplish this calling.

He says in Colossians 129, For this I toil, struggling. Now, he acknowledges,

I'm struggling. I'm toiling. I'm working. I'm moving forward. I'm not just setting back like some heretic hyper -Calvinist that says

God's going to do everything and I'm not going to do anything. That's not what he's doing. He says, I'm toiling. I'm struggling. I'm pushing with all.

And notice what he says. He doesn't say with all my strength. He says with all his energy.

That he powerfully works within me. I'm struggling.

I'm toiling with all his energy. I don't even have to tap into my resources because my resources got depleted a long time ago.

But all of his rich mercy, all of his power, the same power that brought

Christ from the dead, that brought me from death to life, same power that is working within me in every little element of my life, is giving

Paul this energy and the powerful working within him. 1

Corinthians 15 .10, Paul writes, But by the grace of God I am what I am. And his grace towards me was not in vain.

On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them. Again, he's working, isn't he? He's exerting himself to the point of utter exhaustion.

He says, On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them. Though it was not

I, but the grace of God that is with me. This is the power of God working in Paul to accomplish what

God has sovereignly called Paul to in that moment. Look back at our passage in Ephesians 3.

In verse 7, again, God has called him to be a minister, according to the gift of God's grace, which was given me by the working of his power.

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

Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. Again, if you recall,

Paul's trying to encourage these Gentile Christians. And he's doing so by telling them that they are not second -hand

Christians, right? They're not second -hand Christians. It's not as though the Jews who were originally

God's chosen people, and then there's them, the Gentiles, that have been brought into faith and are some sort of stepchild.

He's trying to remind them of this because the Jewish Christians of that day often looked down on these Gentile Christians.

You can imagine how they felt because they were aliens to the covenants for centuries. And now, all of a sudden, they're in, but the

Jews were looking at them, well, you were filthy. You were unclean and certainly unworthy of grace.

So you got in by the skin of your teeth. I don't know how God's working that out, but it's happening. We were clean.

You were filthy. And they felt the weight of it, didn't they? And Paul's trying to change this whole thing.

So far, Paul has crushed this concept. All through chapter 2, he has completely annihilated this entire concept.

And here, like a good minister, like a good servant, like one that wants to serve and benefit others, he puts himself even below them, doesn't he?

Look what he says. To me, and then he, instead of finishing his statement, he says, though I am the very least of all the saints, though I am the very least of even you

Gentile Christians. Notice how he emphasizes the all the saints, not just the

Jewish saints, but even you. He's saying no one is worthy, not

Jew, not Greek, and especially not me. These Gentile Christians, they knew

Paul's past. I'm sure that everyone did in that day. The apostle Paul had made quite a splash in the world of that time.

If God's grace was evident in anyone's life, it would have been Paul. If anyone would have been worthy of God's grace in their minds, according to their standard, coming from Jewish culture, it would have been

Paul, wouldn't it? But he tells them, I'm the least. So roughly six years after the birth of Christ, Jesus is born in obscurity.

And roughly, historically, six years, about 1 ,000 miles north of here, there's a baby born.

He's given the name of Saul. He's born in a city,

Tarshish, which is a Roman province, where Saul's parents, they own property there in this city.

So even though they are of Jewish descent, and mind you, from the tribe of Benjamin, and if you know anything about that, the tribe of Benjamin is a small tribe, but though small, they are a zealous warrior bunch, quite aggressive group tribe here that he's born of.

Yet because they own property in a Roman province, their children were given Roman citizenship.

So Paul is granted Roman citizenship as a Jew. And this was quite the place to grow up if you're pursuing academics.

If you are a bright young man, this would have been a great city to be.

The school there was second only to Athens. And so the education that the Apostle Paul received would have been tremendous.

And at the age of 14, Saul's father sends him to study under a Pharisee, a teacher, a top -ranking

Pharisee, Gamaliel. Say it for me, Adam.

Gamaliel, there it is. I don't know why I couldn't think of that. Gamaliel. And so this is a top -ranking

Pharisee, and there Saul would learn from him for eight years under this supposed man of God.

And because of this, Gamaliel elected Saul to sit on the highest council of Jewish law, the

Sanhedrin. You've probably heard that phrase when we think of the nativity story, and we think of the

Sanhedrin and the Pharisees. But Paul is elected to this. This council was the highest council there was.

They created all the laws for every Jew in every province, everywhere. Whatever they came to a decision for, that was binding on every

Jew no matter where they lived. So this is the highest position. Saul, he was zealous.

He was a zealous Jewish young man. And Saul, this young man, hated this new sect of people, despised them thoroughly.

They referred to themselves as the way. And here he is. He's been educated in Greek culture.

He's been educated as the highest level of religious Israelite.

He's from the tribe of Benjamin. He's a zealous warrior by heart. It's in his

DNA. It's in his blood. And he referred to this group of the way as the

Nazarenes in a derogatory way. And he was active.

He was active in the stoning of Stephen, if you remember that account in Acts. And he set out to rid the world of these people, and he thought he was doing the right thing, didn't he?

And then in Acts 9, we see Paul breathing threats of murder. And so much so, he wants to destroy, he wants to crush

God's people, this group, because he's convinced he's of God's people. He's an Israelite.

He's a Hebrew of Hebrews. And what does he do? He goes and he asks for approval to go to the other cities just to persecute these

Christians, just to chain them up and bring them back to Jerusalem, put them on trial, and murder and imprison them.

That's his purpose. And he wants to travel in order to go to the farthest reaching areas to find them and drag them back to do this.

Well, look at Acts 9. Actually, you don't have to if you don't want to, but you can turn to Acts 9.

I want you to see here a story you know very, very well, but a beautiful, beautiful testimony of God's good grace.

Acts 9, Paul's on his way to persecute these Christians, to gather them, to imprison them, to kill them.

And then in verse 3 of chapter 9, it says, Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him.

And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?

What did he say? I thought he was persecuting the way. The second person of the

Godhead reveals himself, comes to him, and says, you're persecuting me, because those ones you're persecuting, those are me.

I brought them into union with me, and you're persecuting me. The very God that he thinks he's worshiping as a

Pharisee and as a zealot. Verse 5, and he said,

Who are you, Lord? Oh, Paul knows good and well who this is, right? He knows he's the

Lord. And he said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting, but rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.

Again, what he's made to do, what he's called to do, what he's set out to do.

The apostle Paul is, if anybody, is of the people of God.

This is the guy, right? And Jesus himself says, you're persecuting me. You're coming after me.

Paul says in Philippians chapter 3, he's given a list of his credentials from the past.

He says, circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin, a

Hebrew of Hebrews, as to the law, a Pharisee, as to zeal, a persecutor of the church, as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

That's quite the resume, isn't it? And now here he is writing to the

Gentile Christians who are being convinced that if you aren't from Jewish heritage, you're kind of secondary.

And he's telling them, no, I was as deep down that rabbit hole as you can get.

And I'm the least of all the saints. Do you see all the providence in Saul's life building up to this point?

Do you see, born in a Roman province, given Roman citizenship and educated in Gentile culture, yet maintaining a strict

Jewish heritage and being acquainted with the Old Testament scriptures? Probably had it memorized?

Having the tribe of Benjamin blood in his veins, making him a zealous warrior, as you can actually tell, in his ministry after he's even saved?

This man has been prepared. These are all things that God used for his purposes in Saul's life, ultimately becoming

Paul. And even though God had blessed him tremendously, he, a Hebrew of Hebrews, was still God's enemy, dead in his sins, an enemy of Christ.

This is why Paul can say this, though I am the very least of all the saints. I had the very words of God in front of me and I still rebelled.

And he says this grace was given. This grace was given to preach to the

Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. Again, the gospel.

I know nothing among you but Christ and him crucified. That's what

God's called him to. When we see, as Paul saw, where we've come from and where God has brought us, through the glorious mercy and grace of the gospel of Jesus Christ, we can rest in where he's called us, can't we?

We can rest in wherever he's called us, whatever that gifting may be for you as an individual or us as a church as a whole, however small, however big, however short, however tall, whatever location, whatever crowd, whatever small portion of people, whatever financial position, whatever position that you are gifted by the providence of a sovereign

God who ordains everything according to his purposes, wherever that is,

God called, he called a zealous Hebrew to proclaim the mystery of the gospel of the Gentile world.

And he had prepared him from the moment of birth. He had placed him strategically in what he knew

Paul needed to be raised in so that he could redeem all of that and use it for his purposes.

And that's what he's doing with us, isn't it? That's what he does with each one of us. He's been preparing each one of us for exactly what he has planned.

And that's not just an individual thing, that's us as a whole too, isn't it? Every bit of it. And he will use you and I however he sees fit.

He's gonna place this church in whatever location he wants, at whatever time he wants, and it's all meant for him to receive the maximum glory.

And we, as his people, our response should be like the apostle Paul. Though I'm the least of all the saints,

I'm not worthy of this glorious grace. Sometimes we think, well, man, we've got more to offer than being out in the middle of a rice field with five or six families.

We've got more to offer, and God goes, yeah, no you don't. Because that's not my plan for you.

Whatever God calls us to. Oh, we can rest in it, can't we? Oh, we can trust in it, and we can be like the apostle

Paul and say, I was made for this. Where I'm at right now is exactly what

I was made for. Nothing more, nothing less. And God's providence is perfect.

It's encouraging, isn't it? It's funny, we walk through scripture as we just do an exposition, and we don't skip, and then this week we have the whole building situation, and then we land in this text.

Our God is sovereign, isn't he? He puts us where he wants us. He teaches us what he wants to, when he wants to.

And me and Pastor Jeremiah and Keith don't have to come up with all the plans of, oh, well, what are we gonna teach the church to make them do this?

And like, we can do this, and we can make all these plans, and then this church can thrive, and all of this stuff, because we come up with it because we're the head of the church.

No, Christ is the head of the church, and the Holy Spirit is working in us. So we can have peace, rest, right?

Rest while struggling. It's paradoxical, isn't it? We rest while struggling.

We're gonna keep pushing. We're gonna go. We're going, going, going, and whatever door God opens up, we're running through that door like a

SWAT team, right? And we're gonna move, and we're gonna be obedient to him at every turn.

And if he closes a door and locks it on us, then we're just gonna move to another door and go, is this one open,

God? Is this one open, God? And wherever he leads us, that's where we're going, amen? It's encouraging, right?

We rest in a sovereign God. Well, in light of that, what's this all about? The gospel, right?

This is all into the gospel, and we get to see the word by this ordinance of the Lord's Supper every single week.

I don't know about you, but this is one of my favorite times of the service. This is the time when we can be reminded of what our

Savior has done for us. He shed his blood for us to redeem us, to bring peace, to bring peace with God, to bring peace with each other, to bring peace amongst ourselves.

With all of creation, praise the Lord, and we get to come and partake, and then we see each other partaking.

And we go, oh, my brother, my sister, oh, they're in union with the head, with the source, and we're together in this.

And it's just a picture, isn't it? Praise God for it. It's a glorious time. Let it be a worshipful moment.

Don't let this be something that just becomes, well, we always do it at the end of the service. Let's go up and take the wine and the bread.

Don't do that. Oh, no. This is one of the most worshipful things we can do.

Let's be reminded of the gospel of Jesus Christ, that glorious gospel. Let's pray.

Dear Heavenly Father, God, we come to you now, and we know that we're unworthy. We know that we were brought from enmity with you.

Death, an inability to honor you, an inability to obey you, an inability to serve you, and then you adopt us as your children by the blood of Christ, our elder brother, our savior, is our propitiation.

He made a way for me. He made a way for these brothers and sisters, and his righteousness is now imputed onto us.

It's given to us, and we can stand without condemnation.

We can come before you righteous, and we long to be used by you, God. How do you want to use us?

Well, give us peace, and however that is, because we trust in you, and we don't deserve anything else. Help this to be a reminder of that.

Help us to look and worship our glorious Savior, Jesus Christ, for the blood that he spilt on our behalf, and the body that he gave over for us, that perfect body that was sinless, that was absolutely the way it should have been, and he gave it for us, because we could not.

Oh Lord, thank you for this. Be honored in our worship during this time, as we partake of this ordinance, in Christ's name, amen.