Book of Ephesians - Ch. 1, Vs. 5-18 (07/01/2001)

Park Meadows Church

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Now we come to Ephesians that I tried to teach to you this morning backing up to the fourth verse.

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According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.

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That says it all but he adds more.

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Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will to the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us acceptable in the beloved.

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My what verses? Having predestinated God decreeing from eternity to foreordain a point beforehand unto the adoption the nature and condition of the true disciples in Christ who by receiving spirit of God into their souls become sons of God.

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It also includes the blessed state looked for in the future life after the visible return of Jesus Christ from heaven.

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Of children by Jesus. Jesus the

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Son of God the Savior of mankind. Christ. Christ meaning anointed was the

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Messiah the Son of God to himself according down from throughout to the good pleasure, will, choice, goodwill, kindly intent, benevolence, delight, pleasure, satisfaction, desire, or delight in any absent thing easily produces what one wishes or has determined shall be used of the purpose of God and to bless mankind through Christ of what

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God wishes to be done by us. Commands, precepts, will, choice, the inclination, desire, and pleasure longing for his will.

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Having predestinated us, this is a prepositional phrase, it cannot be changed.

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We have to be adopted by Jesus Christ according in agreement with himself which resulted in his own

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God's good pleasure. The verse should be read or could be read having predestinated us verse six to the praise of his glory of his grace.

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Not only for his glory and also but also for the praise of his glory.

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Verse six to the praise of his glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved by God the

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Father putting us into Jesus Christ he has made us acceptable to himself.

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We had no choice in this. The pleasure of his own will is the only motivating force of God.

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I would like for you to look up some scripture. We'll start with Joy Daniel 435

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B Revelation 411. June's got her hands full.

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Ophel Philippians 2 .13 Ephesians 1 .9

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Greg Ecclesiastes 8 .2

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Paul Ecclesiastes 8 .2

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Isaiah 46 .9 and 10 David and Charlotte Isaiah 55 9 through 11.

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Now by God the Father putting us into Jesus Christ he has made us acceptable to himself.

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The praise the glory of God. Let's start now with Daniel 435.

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According as he wills in heaven he counts the inhabitants of the earth as nothing.

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We cannot question him. We cannot say what is it you're doing. Now Revelation 411.

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He made it all. He uses it all. It's all for him.

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Ephesians 1 .9. Ecclesiastes 8 .2.

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Did I get Ecclesiastes 8 .2? That was it.

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Isaiah 46 .9 and 10. Did I ask for Ephesians 1 .9?

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Ophel what did I give you? It seems like it's all of God.

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Isaiah 55 .9 and 11. Anything he has said has happened.

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The same has happened with us. It has happened with him. Well we could quit right here.

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Having predestinated us. Let's look at verse 6.

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To praise of the glory. To praise.

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What does that mean? Approbation, commendation, praise.

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To the glory, majesty, a thing belonging to God, the king, kingly majesty.

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Which belongs to him as supreme ruler. Majesty in the sense of absolute perfection of the deity.

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A thing belonging to Christ. The kingly majesty of the Messiah is absolute.

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Perfect inward or personal excellence of Christ. The majesty of the angels is apparent in their exterior brightness.

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A most glorious condition, most exalted state of that condition which

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God the Father in heaven to which Christ was raised after he had achieved his work on earth.

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The glorious condition of the blessedness into which is appointed and promised the true

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Christians shall enter after their savior's return from heaven. Of his grace, good will, loving kindness, favor used of the merciful kindness by which

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God exerted his holy influence upon souls. Turns them to Christ, keeps, strengthens, increases them in Christian faith, knowledge, affection, and kindles them to the exercise of the

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Christian virtues. Wherein a primary preposition denoting fixed position in place or time or state and by implication instrumentality or constructive, a relation of rest termination in between.

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He has made graceful, charming, lovely, agreeable to pursue with grace, compass with favor to honor with blessings has made us accepted to make graceful and charming, lovely, agreeable to pursue for use with grace, compass with favor to honor with blessing in the beloved, to love, to approve of, to like, sanction, to retreat affectionately or kindly, to welcome, befriend, show signs of love, to be fond of doing, be want, used to do.

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He has made us by that and to that, to the praise of his glory.

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Not only to his glory, but to the praise of his glory. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the richness, riches of his grace, wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence.

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In whom we have redemption through his blood. Is there any way,

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Greg, that you can get around through his blood?

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It has to be. He redeemed us through his blood.

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He blessed us through his blood. We're accepted in the Father through his blood.

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The word blood must be there. We tend to look upon blood as something not wanted.

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Not so with Christ, wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence.

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However weak, however frail or faulty or ungifted you may be, has nothing to do with God's sovereign choice of you.

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Do you realize that it has nothing to do with your appearance, your looks, what you do, what you don't do?

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It has nothing to do. It only has to do with what was his will.

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Did he find anything in you, Greg, that was to his liking? It's hard to understand that.

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Oh, we say the words and we think we understand, but we don't. I was thinking this morning during the message, that here's

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God. He has created us. We rise in intelligence, some more intelligent than others.

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We think that we have attained the highest in intelligence, but what did

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God do to communicate to us? He became a man. He became one of us.

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He lowered himself down to our level. He spoke to us on our level.

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Our level is far below his level, yet he decided to condescend to come down to us, come down to us, and we think we're so high.

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Not so. The result of such a thunderous truth from the

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Bible is this. In our works, in our place, we take our mind and eyes off ourself.

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We're looking to God. It is he who makes us adequate. He gives us strength.

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It is he who makes us equal to what he has assigned us to do. It is

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God's work. We are God's people. There is a divine pattern for every one of his sheep, and in the task,

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God makes us equal to it. There's nothing for us to do except do it.

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He makes us equal to the task that he has assigned to us. He makes us strong, mental, financial, everything according as it pleases him, having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself.

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Now, having made known unto us the mystery of his will.

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David, what is a mystery? All right.

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It is a mystery that is revealed. The Old Testament saints did not understand gospel.

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They did not understand grace. Made known.

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He has made it past perfect active. What is meant by an active verb,

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Greg? Past perfect means what?

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Perfect means what? All right.

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Sometime in the past, he has done all of this. Before you and I were born, before there was a world, before there was anything, there was

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God. Known to us his plan, and it is this.

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When it pleased him, he had planned before creation that at the right time and place, he would unify all things and head them up in Christ.

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He planned to do nothing without Christ. Mystery.

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What is a mystery in scripture? It is not something that Agatha Christie wrote, or like a

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Sherlock Holmes story. A mystery in scripture means that God is revealing something that up to this time he had not revealed.

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There are two elements which always enter into such a mystery. One, it cannot be discovered by man.

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Two, it is revealed at the proper time, and then only enough is revealed to us to establish the fact without all the details being disclosed.

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Has he revealed the mystery to us? Somebody say yes.

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No. We do not know. We do not understand all of the mystery.

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We understand the part that is needed for us. Later he will reveal more.

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Aren't you excited about going to heaven? Verse 10.

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Dispensation. This means a way of doing things. It does not mean a period of time.

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It means the way God runs things. Dispensation. Our beloved pastor touched on that this morning.

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Dispensation is not a given space of time.

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It is the way God operated in that time. Fullness of times.

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God is moving all things toward the time when Christ will rule over everything in heaven and earth.

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Someone turn to Hebrews 2 .8. If you have it,

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Greg, read it. He put all things under him, period.

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Under who? Jesus Christ. Jesus the

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Christ. All things are under him. In whom also we have obtained an inheritance.

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Now, to obtain an inheritance, Charlie, what must first happen? Well, Charlie, what has to happen first?

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What has to happen before you can collect an inheritance? Somebody has to die.

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Somebody did die. In whom we also have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.

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Now, Romans 8 .28 and Ephesians 1 .11

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go together. Who can quote Romans 8 .28? Paul.

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Somebody quote it all together.

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David. All right, now

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Romans, Ephesians 1 .11 on top of that. In whom also we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.

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That's why they all work together for good. There is no bad.

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All work for good. Now, when it comes to deciding which is good and which is bad, as far as we're concerned, we've got a big division.

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Not so with God. Everything is good from God's viewpoint.

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That we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ.

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What's it mean who first trusted in Christ? Greg? Roger?

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Well, do we all agree with that?

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What did he say? That we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ.

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Very simple. What is it? Who first trusted in Christ is who?

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God trusted in Christ. So that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ.

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You first trust in Christ.

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That we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ in whom he also trusted after that should be when he heard the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation, and whom also after that, not an original text, you believe you should be, and we're sealed with that should be the spirit of promise in whom you also trusted should be when he heard the true words of truth is when you trusted.

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You didn't trust before or after. It's right then once for all.

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God does not exist to satisfy the whim and flesh wish of the believer.

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The believer exists for the glory of God. When we live with the consciousness of God's will, purpose, and meaning come to life in our hearts.

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God does not exist to grant your every whim and wish. How many times have you prayed?

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I wish I had this Lord, the believer exists for the glory of God.

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Now that's the only reason you are on this earth is for the glory of God. It is the work of the

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Holy spirit to cause the calling called one to hear and to believe in his heart.

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The Holy spirit places us into Christ. Thereby we become born again person.

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If it were not for the Holy spirit's work, we would not be born again. The Holy spirit will turn to John three 23.

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Who has it? All right.

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Yes. No. John, John three 23.

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The Holy spirit is the seal.

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You're sure that's John three 23. God has put his implant upon the believer.

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This seal also denotes rightful ownership. Second Timothy two 19.

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All right. I don't remember now who has second

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Timothy two 19. He knows the ones that are his.

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All of you that are his are to depart from iniquity. Philippians one 29.

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Greg. All right.

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Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of his glory.

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Wherefore, I also after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and love to all saints, cease not to give thanks for you making mention of you in my prayers.

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We will be to the praise of his glory by praise, by good works, by fruit bearing, by spiritual unity.

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What does earnest mean, Charlie? All right.

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What does it mean here? That's one meaning.

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There's another. Roger. There's another.

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All right. The earnest money.

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Now, what is that? What? Well, it's more than that.

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It's part of the purchase price, isn't it? All right. Which is the earnest of our inheritance is part of the final goal you have right now, part of eternal life.

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You don't have it all. You can't get it in this world, but you have part of it until the redemption of the purchase possession.

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What is the purchase possession, Greg? That's us.

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Earnest money is the money that you put forth as a pledge on a piece of property. This money is actually a part of the full payment.

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The Holy Spirit is that pledge by God that you have eternal life. Now, can you have the earnest without eternal life?

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No, no way. It's impossible. Be very careful that your motivation for prayer is not always from trouble, sickness, or distress.

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From these verses, it appears that the Lord wanted Paul to pray for these people, which he did willingly, that the

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God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him.

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Spirit of wisdom. What is this or that?

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Roger? Spirit. All right.

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What else is it? Paul wanted the people to have more than knowledge, hypnosis.

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All right. He wanted them to have more than hypnosis about things spiritual and to have more of his wisdom.

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But please notice he did not ask for this. He asked that the God and Father of our

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Lord give to them the spirit that brings this result.

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He didn't ask for the wisdom. He asked for the spirit of wisdom.

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If he had asked for wisdom for these folks, they wouldn't have had to study. They wouldn't have to do anything.

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We then learned that no one can have knowledge of God and wisdom concerning the truth unless the

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Father gives the spirit to understand it. This is part of his working all things after the counsel of his own will.

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Verse eight, now comes the reason why Paul wants them to have this wisdom and knowledge. It is so that they can operate, so they can exercise their talent, their gifts, so that they will with enthusiasm function right where they are in his church body, so that they will be happy with their present position, knowing that it is but preparing them for some sure place at some time in the future here in this earth or in the new world when it comes.

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The eyes of your understanding being enlightened that you may know what is the hope of his

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Jesus calling and what the riches of his Jesus inheritance in the saints so that you can know.

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So he gives, he prays for the wisdom for knowledge, the wisdom for the spirit of knowledge, the spirit of wisdom, not for the wisdom or knowledge, but for the spirit of knowledge.

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And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us were to believe according to the working of his mighty power?

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Well, we're going to quit here. We'll start with verse 19 next time we meet.

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Anything from anybody? Roger, would you dismiss this please?