SPEAKER_00: All right, Harbor City, welcome.
SPEAKER_00: Happy Labor Day weekend.
SPEAKER_00: Excited?
SPEAKER_00: All right, somebody's excited.
SPEAKER_00: We got one.
SPEAKER_00: There we go.
SPEAKER_00: No school tomorrow.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm gonna read our passage for today, Ephesians 2, 10.
SPEAKER_00: For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
SPEAKER_00: That is the word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: I can already hear what you're thinking.
SPEAKER_00: We spent a year in Matthew, and you're gonna come up and preach on one verse, and that's the one you're gonna choose to read.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00: I'm treat preaching on one verse, not a whole chapter today, but this verse is anchored in this chapter.
SPEAKER_00: But before I begin into the sermon, I actually want to say the the good works that he's prepared.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, Harbor City, there has been some good works going on in the church, and we are excited about that.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, we had over 100 people come to equip classes this week.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's amen.
SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
SPEAKER_00: Um, we had uh 25 college students at our large group this uh this past Monday, which is awesome.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and we have many more going to Black Mountain weekend.
SPEAKER_00: There's gonna be a cue for you guys at the end of the service to sign up.
SPEAKER_00: And we are excited because God's just continuing to work, He's continuing to do uh things that are uh uh above and more what we're asking for.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I'm gonna ask a question.
SPEAKER_00: What on earth are you saved for?
SPEAKER_00: You know, sometimes when I deal with my salvation and I think about it, I have to be honest, sometimes I think it's just I'm just biting my time until I can be with God in eternity.
SPEAKER_00: And you kind of lose what you're actually here to do now.
SPEAKER_00: But yet, John 17, 3, this is eternal life, that they would know you, the one true God and your son who you have sent.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, eternity touches now, which means that there is a purpose into our salvation in which we are actually here.
SPEAKER_00: We're not just biding time into eternity, right?
SPEAKER_00: The king has come and he has come.
SPEAKER_00: We're in Matthew, and we we learned that God has come, and so, and then he gave us a commission, the great commission that we talked about this past week.
SPEAKER_00: But I want to answer the question what on earth are we here for?
SPEAKER_00: Because how you answer that question matters.
SPEAKER_00: Because the reality is you can spend your entire life following success and being successful at the wrong thing.
SPEAKER_00: It's not your opinion, it's not your boss's opinion, it's not even your spouse's opinion, it's God's opinion about what He has prepared and what we're on earth uh here while we're waiting for heaven, what we're what we're supposed to be doing.
SPEAKER_00: See, what I think sometimes is like, okay, I'm gonna have a different box.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna have this box for my Christianity, I'm this box for my work, I'm gonna have this box for my school, I'm gonna have this box for my recruit recreation.
SPEAKER_00: Some of the women in the room are like, there's no boxes, it's all woven together.
SPEAKER_00: I understand that.
SPEAKER_00: But listen, there's there's there's there's these boxes, and I just you can kind of like coast, right, into eternity, just kind of waiting until, okay, we can experience what we need experience.
SPEAKER_00: But the reality is God has actually prepared us for works now.
SPEAKER_00: But instead, what we do is we actually take the the the prevailing thought of our day and we think, okay, so now that I've carried taken care of this in my Christian box, now I need to like do something for myself.
SPEAKER_00: There's a sculpture I want you to see.
SPEAKER_00: There's a picture up here.
SPEAKER_00: You guys see that.
SPEAKER_00: That that picture is the self-made man by Bobby Carlisle.
SPEAKER_00: And it depicts a man literally carving himself out of stone.
SPEAKER_00: And it and it goes in with we make ourselves out to who we we want to be.
SPEAKER_00: And, you know, in some sense, it's kind of noble that they're gonna take ownership and they're gonna take responsibility for who they're making themselves.
SPEAKER_00: They're not gonna let anybody else get in the way.
SPEAKER_00: They're gonna take ownership for what they have, but also it's an indictment of our culture in the sense that we're we make ourselves into what we want to be and what we think we need to be, that we become the ultimate authority of who we are.
SPEAKER_00: So we are our own workmanship in that sense.
SPEAKER_00: And let me tell you, that ideology competes with the very heart of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: See, what we're gonna do is what we see and what we realize is a lot of times we're picking up a hammer and a chisel, and we think, okay, I've gotten saved.
SPEAKER_00: Now I need to make something of myself.
SPEAKER_00: So my work has to look like this, so I can get that corner office and that boat and everything that I need to purchase.
SPEAKER_00: And my kids, they need to make sure that they look a certain way so they can show that I'm a good parent.
SPEAKER_00: And all the things that I need to do over here, I need to earn.
SPEAKER_00: I need to uh I have goals that I need to meet, and so I'm gonna chisel away so I can show people that I'm a self-made man.
SPEAKER_00: I can stand up on my own two feet and I can earn everything that I want to do.
SPEAKER_00: In reality, what that does is that actually terri that terrifies me because it can be something that we can let into our Christianity and we actually miss the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: See what the verse is gonna do today, the verse Ephesians uh 2.10, it's gonna ask this question what on earth are we here for?
SPEAKER_00: And it's gonna show us that God has actually brought us here for a work.
SPEAKER_00: And it's not in a way that we define it, it's actually in a way that he defines it.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the main point today: God saves us by his work so that we can walk in his work.
SPEAKER_00: And my goal for you today is by the end of today, I want you to be able to answer two questions.
SPEAKER_00: What has God saved me for?
SPEAKER_00: And what's my faithful next step?
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna read it again, Ephesians 2.10.
SPEAKER_00: For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before him, that we should walk in them.
SPEAKER_00: Point number one is this you are God's work.
SPEAKER_00: Look, guys, this is not a pickup line.
SPEAKER_00: This is point number one, okay?
SPEAKER_00: I I can see pastor told me that you are God's work.
SPEAKER_00: So uh if I hear that line coming from CSU, I'm gonna make a phone call, okay, guys?
SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_00: For we are his workmanship.
SPEAKER_00: Jeron took a pen.
SPEAKER_00: No, I'm just kidding.
SPEAKER_00: We are his workmanship.
SPEAKER_00: That means, or that four right there, that actually is connecting to the idea that we just came from.
SPEAKER_00: And that idea is from verses eight and nine.
SPEAKER_00: For you before you have been saved through faith.
SPEAKER_00: And this is not of your own doing, it is the gift of God, not a result of work, so that no one may boast.
SPEAKER_00: What this is doing is it's it's declaring what he just stated, that we are God's work.
SPEAKER_00: You are God's work.
SPEAKER_00: Everything you have, you've you've been saved by grace through faith.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if you've been with Christianity for a while, you've you've heard that phrase quite a bit.
SPEAKER_00: If you're new to Christianity, this is basically what it means.
SPEAKER_00: It means that we needed God to rescue us, that we could not work from ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: The reason that we couldn't work from ourselves, because at the very beginning of the chapter, it describes that we're dead in our trespasses and sins, which we which means that we needed God to act.
SPEAKER_00: Now, more on that a little bit later.
SPEAKER_00: But then what he did is he rescues us from sin and death, and that is a gift of God.
SPEAKER_00: There's a few kids in the room, they are gift experts.
SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you, kids, do you have to do anything to earn a gift?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: All you do is accept it.
SPEAKER_00: Your job is to open it, your job is to enjoy, your job is to receive, your job is then to play with that gift.
SPEAKER_00: It comes at birthdays, Christmases, sometimes Easter, and if you celebrate when the tooth fairy comes, right?
SPEAKER_00: That is what your job is, to be able to receive those things.
SPEAKER_00: And then it says, for we are his workmanship.
SPEAKER_00: That word workmanship, it comes from the word that we get poem from in Greek.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, it's a master class.
SPEAKER_00: It's it's it's it's like a potter who molds clay and he puts that work on display, that you're the very fingerprints of God all over you.
SPEAKER_00: The other word place in the New Testament where Paul uses that word is actually in Romans 1.20 when he connects it to creation.
SPEAKER_00: This means that actually when you see, when you get these pictures of the mountains and the streams and and you see this beauty and you're face to face with something that's much bigger than you, you're like, that's only God's handiwork.
SPEAKER_00: Or any day in Charleston when you drive over the bridges and you see this look over the water, and you're like, wow, that is so beautiful.
SPEAKER_00: Guess what?
SPEAKER_00: That same word is used for you.
SPEAKER_00: You are God's workmanship.
SPEAKER_00: And then it says, not your own workmanship, your his workmanship.
SPEAKER_00: Salvation is not your work, salvation is God's work.
SPEAKER_00: That means that the Christian life begins with receiving an identity before achieving one.
SPEAKER_00: Receiving an identity before achieving one.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, if you mix this up, it's like you're gonna put on a button-up shirt and you get the first button wrong.
SPEAKER_00: You get the first button wrong, you cannot put any other buttons in the right hole.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: It's impossible.
SPEAKER_00: I tried, maybe from experience this morning.
SPEAKER_00: You just cannot do it, okay?
SPEAKER_00: You have to get that first right, and that means that your identity is gonna come from God, not from yourself.
SPEAKER_00: So, what you got to do is you got to recognize that you need to lay down the hammer and the chisel of what you're trying to make yourself into and realize that you have a better author who wants to actually chisel something better, a work in you that you need to be prepared for.
SPEAKER_00: Our default is to earn it.
SPEAKER_00: Our default says, I have to make myself.
SPEAKER_00: If you're in college, you you're saying I've got to choose the right major so I can get the right job, so I can have the right career, so I can save enough for retirement.
SPEAKER_00: If you're raising kids, you're my kids have to reflect a version of me so that people know that we actually have it together.
SPEAKER_00: Um, or if you're in retirement, you're like, I no longer have any kind of a job title.
SPEAKER_00: What's the value that I bring now that I can't tell you this what I do?
SPEAKER_00: And what we have is we have different seasons, but we have the same hammer and chisel, and we continue to just try to make ourselves into whatever we're supposed to be.
SPEAKER_00: And we're comparing ourselves to the left or to the right, and we actually aren't looking at the author who says, You are his workmanship.
SPEAKER_00: This is why this matters.
SPEAKER_00: I have a wonderful piece of art that I'm gonna display and look at it.
SPEAKER_00: It's wonderful.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, it's her art.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, my daughter Evie made this, and I don't know about you guys, but many of you may have this on your counter and it probably would last a week and you'd be really thoughtful that someone gave you this art.
SPEAKER_00: For us, it's gonna last for a while, right?
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because of the author.
SPEAKER_00: Because of the person who made it, it gives it its value, okay?
SPEAKER_00: What if I told you that this was Van Gogh's fingerprint, his finger art?
SPEAKER_00: All of a sudden, you kind of wouldn't mind having this art in your art room gallery, because everybody has one of those.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: I know I keep mine fresh every day.
SPEAKER_00: But you have that, all of a sudden, you have something of value because you know why?
SPEAKER_00: The author brings the value.
SPEAKER_00: If you are God's workmanship, the value is not based on what you do, it's based on who he is.
SPEAKER_00: And then the fact that you are his workmanship, you get that button right, all of a sudden you can see how your life can begin to come into place.
SPEAKER_00: But you have to understand that you are his workmanship.
SPEAKER_00: Point number two, God made you new.
SPEAKER_00: The next part of this verse says, Created in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Now, how are we created in Christ Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Look, when we're here, it's almost like we're watching a movie and we're kind of at the middle part.
SPEAKER_00: We actually need to go to the beginning and actually understand where we came from in this and how we're created in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: So Ephesians 2, 1 through 3, and you were dead in your trespasses and sins.
SPEAKER_00: What does that say?
SPEAKER_00: And you were dead.
SPEAKER_00: Say dead.
SPEAKER_00: Dead in your trespasses and sin in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work, and the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind, we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
SPEAKER_00: Paul says that we were dead.
SPEAKER_00: He's very intentional about that word dead.
SPEAKER_00: See, sometimes we can think of without salvation like Jesus did 99%, and all I had to do was just reach up with that last breath, and I could just reach up and he pulled me up.
SPEAKER_00: He pulled me up, and then I was saved.
SPEAKER_00: And I I'm glad that I was able to respond.
SPEAKER_00: I'm glad I was able to do something.
SPEAKER_00: So I've actually brought something to my Christianity.
SPEAKER_00: No, that that's that's not what it is.
SPEAKER_00: Guys, let me ask you this.
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever played Simon says with a dead person?
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna win every time.
SPEAKER_00: You know why?
SPEAKER_00: They can't move, okay?
SPEAKER_00: They're dead.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, high five.
SPEAKER_00: Nope, not gonna happen.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because he's dead.
SPEAKER_00: It's not like Mighty Python dead.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not dead yet, or bringing out your dead, dead.
SPEAKER_00: No, dead dead, meaning you can't get up, they can't move.
SPEAKER_00: They needed someone to revive them.
SPEAKER_00: If we are dead in our trespasses and sins, we can't even pick up the hammer and chisel and make anything out of ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: That's the situation that we're in.
SPEAKER_00: And so what we need is someone outside of that to come into it and bring life.
SPEAKER_00: And so, Jesus, he lived a life that we could not live, died a death that we were supposed to die, and then rose, making a way for life to enter into us.
SPEAKER_00: And how do you do this?
SPEAKER_00: Paul describes it right here in verse 4.
SPEAKER_00: But God.
SPEAKER_00: This is the wonderful conjunction right here.
SPEAKER_00: But God, do you see who acts?
SPEAKER_00: God is the one that acts.
SPEAKER_00: We were dead, but God.
SPEAKER_00: We couldn't give ourselves lives or ourselves life, but God.
SPEAKER_00: We couldn't save ourselves, but God.
SPEAKER_00: We were vessels of wrath, doomed for destruction, far off, but God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love which he loved us, even we were dead in our trespasses and sins, made us alive together with Christ.
SPEAKER_00: By grace, you have been saved.
SPEAKER_00: There it is again, something that you do not deserve has been given to you, and raises us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: That brings us back to verse 10.
SPEAKER_00: How we were created in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: So, what does a person need?
SPEAKER_00: A dead person needs life.
SPEAKER_00: And not just like I build you down, I'm gonna remain renovate you, I'm gonna tear you down to the studs, and then I'm gonna build you back up.
SPEAKER_00: That's not what it does.
SPEAKER_00: No, Jesus, what he does is he gives us a new build, right?
SPEAKER_00: He gives us a brand new life.
SPEAKER_00: If anyone's in Christ, he is a new creation.
SPEAKER_00: The old is gone and the old and the new, the old is gone, and the new is come together.
SPEAKER_00: I can't read right now.
SPEAKER_00: The old has passed away, behold, the new has come.
SPEAKER_00: What does Paul call the person who is in Christ?
SPEAKER_00: He calls them new.
SPEAKER_00: Think about this in John 3 in the scene with Jesus and Nicodemus.
SPEAKER_00: Nicodemus says, What must I do to earn eternal life?
SPEAKER_00: And what does Jesus say?
SPEAKER_00: You must be born again, meaning that the first life that you were born into is actually death.
SPEAKER_00: So you must be born again, you must be given a new life.
SPEAKER_00: And what is this life?
SPEAKER_00: This life is in and with Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, worship with me.
SPEAKER_00: This life is in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Meaning that he lived a life that you could not live and then died a death that you were supposed to die so he could be with you forever.
SPEAKER_00: And why did he do that?
SPEAKER_00: Because he saw you separated from him for eternity, and he said, I want you and my family because of the great love that he has for you.
SPEAKER_00: You are his workmanship and you are a new work, and it is something that he is doing right now, and it reflects the glories so much so that you get the inheritance of Jesus that you're sitting with him, with the right hand of the Father, that you're in him, you're with him, that when God looks at you, he sees his very son.
SPEAKER_00: That is the new life that you have been given.
SPEAKER_00: And so, what that means is that there comes a point where you stop trying to pick this up and you hand it over to God and say, You do the work because you've already done it.
SPEAKER_00: You said it is finished, you were raised from the dead, it's yours, I am yours now, God.
SPEAKER_00: Please will you take me?
SPEAKER_00: That's what He's come to do.
SPEAKER_00: Grace comes first.
SPEAKER_00: Identity comes first from God.
SPEAKER_00: You know what I find fascinating?
SPEAKER_00: We just spent the last two weeks looking at Matthew chapter 28.
SPEAKER_00: The first part of Matthew 28 is the resurrection.
SPEAKER_00: And then the second part of Matthew 28 is the assignment.
SPEAKER_00: But the resurrection precedes the assignment.
SPEAKER_00: Our identity precedes what we're supposed to do.
SPEAKER_00: God's work precedes what he calls us to do.
SPEAKER_00: So let's not make a mistake of the order of the gospel, grace before works, identity before activity, and resurrection before assignment.
SPEAKER_00: God made you new and he's already done it.
SPEAKER_00: Make sure that button is buttoned up right.
SPEAKER_00: So then what did he make you new for?
SPEAKER_00: And that the whole question that we're trying to answer here?
SPEAKER_00: Point number three is this God made you for good works.
SPEAKER_00: The next part of this verse, for good works which God prepared beforehand.
SPEAKER_00: Again, notice in verse 9, he says, not from works, but in verse 10 created for good works.
SPEAKER_00: So not from works, but for good works.
SPEAKER_00: So are good works important to God?
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00: Do those good works save us?
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely not.
SPEAKER_00: We aren't saved by good works, but we are saved for good works.
SPEAKER_00: And that's the whole point of the sermon.
SPEAKER_00: God saves us by his works so we can walk in his work.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus changed what your life is for.
SPEAKER_00: And so now we're wondering, what are these good works?
SPEAKER_00: And I think this is where we can get stuck.
SPEAKER_00: The reason we can get stuck is because there's these fancy phrases where it says, which God prepared beforehand.
SPEAKER_00: You know, sometimes we hear that and we think, okay, we're about to start talking about predestination and plans that were made before, and this is some kind of map that I gotta uncover.
SPEAKER_00: So, you know, when I start thinking about this, I start thinking, okay, do I have a soulmate?
SPEAKER_00: Did I marry the right person?
SPEAKER_00: Should I marry the right person?
SPEAKER_00: Am I gonna be able to find the right job?
SPEAKER_00: What am I supposed to be doing another job?
SPEAKER_00: Is my major gonna be this or is my major gonna be that?
SPEAKER_00: All of a sudden there's this meme with all these numbers and all these strings, and you're sitting there and you're just like, I'm just gonna sit down.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody ever feel like that?
SPEAKER_00: Let's breathe.
SPEAKER_00: Because I'm gonna tell you today that it's God hasn't hidden the kind of life he wants you to live.
SPEAKER_00: Actually, throughout the rest of Ephesians, what Paul is talking about is he wants you to have truthful speech with those that you talk with.
SPEAKER_00: He wants you to have honest work with those that you work with.
SPEAKER_00: He wants you to be generous towards others.
SPEAKER_00: He wants you to walk in integrity, that let your yes be yes and your no be no.
SPEAKER_00: He says he wants you to have sexual integrity, that he wants you to live under God's design.
SPEAKER_00: He wants you to give thanksgiving for the things that you have been given.
SPEAKER_00: He wants your marriage to reflect the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: He wants your parenting to be such that you don't provoke your kids to anger, but you discipline consistently in the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: He wants you to have a commitment to prayer.
SPEAKER_00: The good works of the Christian life basically show up everywhere the Christian life is lived.
SPEAKER_00: We don't have to overcomplicate it to where it's got to be this magic formula that we have to figure it out.
SPEAKER_00: Let me say it as simple as this The good works that he wants you to do can be in knowing God and making God known.
SPEAKER_00: Know God.
SPEAKER_00: That if you're in Christ, if you're with Christ, that means when you walk with him, you talk with him, that he is the presence in every single part of your day.
SPEAKER_00: That you are conscious, God conscious every single day, that the Holy Spirit is walking with you and you are asking, what are these next steps that I'm going to make?
SPEAKER_00: That you come and you commit yourself to both corporate and private worship of God so that you can get to know him and know what he has for your life.
SPEAKER_00: We can't continue to ask the question, what does God want from me if we don't actually ask it to God?
SPEAKER_00: We have to come to him.
SPEAKER_00: And then make God known.
SPEAKER_00: One way to ask that is where has God placed me?
SPEAKER_00: And where he's placed you, there's context.
SPEAKER_00: And in order to make him known what you're doing when you're asking God and evolving into it, you're actually handing these over and say, God, you make me into your image instead of me making myself into mine.
SPEAKER_00: Conform me, mold me, shake me.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe he's placed you in the workplace that you're in.
SPEAKER_00: Because he wants you to do excellent work.
SPEAKER_00: And hear me, we need more laborers for the gospel, but we also need more Christians who are doctors and Christians who are artists and Christians who are teachers and Christians who are even professional athletes.
SPEAKER_00: We need influence all over wherever it is.
SPEAKER_00: And that is the work of worship that we offer to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: That's the great works that He's called us to walk in.
SPEAKER_00: And if He's putting you in that area, I guarantee you what He's saying to you is you need to be faithful to that on Tuesday when you go in, that you walk in integrity so that you, the best witness that you can have to your coworkers is really good work.
SPEAKER_00: If God's given you children, mom and dad, there may be no more important work than watching the gospel go from one generation to the next.
SPEAKER_00: Because watching the gospel go from one generation to the next is a gospel renewal movement that has staying power.
SPEAKER_00: Much more, all of us would agree that what we want for our kids is for them to desperately know Jesus and understand their purpose and value.
SPEAKER_00: Pray with them, open God's word with them, and let them watch you following Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: If God has placed you in marriage, love your spouse in a way that Jesus loves them.
SPEAKER_00: Serve them, forgive quickly.
SPEAKER_00: Your marriage is one of the places that God has prepared for you to do good.
SPEAKER_00: If God has placed you in a season of singleness, your life is not on hold waiting for marriage.
SPEAKER_00: And let me tell you, I'm sorry if anybody ever told you that or made you think it was different.
SPEAKER_00: Whether this season is one that you've embraced or one that you wouldn't have chosen, God still meets you here.
SPEAKER_00: And there are meaningful relationships that he provides inside of the family of God, and he has good works for you to walk in in this season.
SPEAKER_00: You can know God and be deeply known by his people and flourish.
SPEAKER_00: If God's placed you in the school, it's not about chasing GPA, it's not just about making the school team or what about the person who has been overlooked and then they need someone to befriend them.
SPEAKER_00: What about living with integrity and honoring God with your grades so that you do this and and you can show it's an act of worship of how you give that?
SPEAKER_00: Let people see Jesus in the way you live.
SPEAKER_00: What if you're retired?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're asking, what does faithful look like now?
SPEAKER_00: Your usefulness to the kingdom did not retire when you did.
SPEAKER_00: And so God has a plan in these days.
SPEAKER_00: And there are still good works that God has put in front of you.
SPEAKER_00: If you're in the neighborhood that you're in, you're there for a reason.
SPEAKER_00: If you're in the church that you're in, you're there for a reason.
SPEAKER_00: God has placed you there so you can walk in the good works of the arena that He's put around you.
SPEAKER_00: And you don't have to decipher some kind of mathematic formula.
SPEAKER_00: What He's done is He's put you in these places so you can see the opportunities right in front of you.
SPEAKER_00: And someone needs your forgiveness.
SPEAKER_00: Someone needs your encouragement.
SPEAKER_00: Someone needs your thankfulness and someone needs your support today.
SPEAKER_00: These are the good works in which he's prepared beforehand.
SPEAKER_00: Prepared beforehand shouldn't get should give us comfort because it means that God actually knew the situation that you were going to be in.
SPEAKER_00: And if he knew the situation that you were going to be in, he's not surprised or overwhelmed by the question that you have about your situation.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, he's prepared it so that he can mold you into his image day in and day out.
SPEAKER_00: And you get to trust him as opposed to thinking that you're just making it up all on your own.
SPEAKER_00: Don't overlook ordinary obedience while waiting for an extraordinary assignment.
SPEAKER_00: The gospel shapes what you do on your Tuesday because of what God is calling you to say yes to.
SPEAKER_00: And that brings us to this last phrase, that we should walk in them.
SPEAKER_00: This final phrase that we should walk in them, this actually bookends this chapter because in verse 2 it says, in which you once walked following the course of this world.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, we once walked in our own way.
SPEAKER_00: The path of death, were we vessels of wrath, all of that.
SPEAKER_00: We were walking in that.
SPEAKER_00: And then when he's made us alive from sin, he made us alive from death for good works.
SPEAKER_00: So we begin to walk.
SPEAKER_00: And as we begin to walk, what he says, I love how Paul describes it.
SPEAKER_00: He describes it a walk.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, we're not leaping single bounds of buildings, we're not supermen here.
SPEAKER_00: We're to take one faithful step after another, that we are to walk in them.
SPEAKER_00: His encouragement is that you do something, that you begin one step at a time.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe you're here and you just feel stuck.
SPEAKER_00: Like I understand, Tyler, that God made me for good works.
SPEAKER_00: I understand that wherever God's placed me, that's where his workmanship is on display.
SPEAKER_00: But what specifically does God have me to do?
SPEAKER_00: Listen, I can't give you the end result of what God is going to call you to in your life.
SPEAKER_00: I can't tell you whether you need to go overseas in 10 years.
SPEAKER_00: I can't tell you if he's going to call you to stay here.
SPEAKER_00: But what I know is God didn't save you to sit you, he saved you to send you.
SPEAKER_00: And if he did that, then we need to begin asking the question: well, what is that next faithful step?
SPEAKER_00: So here's a way that we can think about it.
SPEAKER_00: Look back, look around, look within.
SPEAKER_00: I can't do four that way, so I'm gonna switch and look ahead.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: Look back.
SPEAKER_00: What has God already done in your life?
SPEAKER_00: Where has he already been at work?
SPEAKER_00: What has he taught you?
SPEAKER_00: What have you seen him use?
SPEAKER_00: Look around.
SPEAKER_00: Who has God put in front of you?
SPEAKER_00: What opportunities are right in front of you?
SPEAKER_00: Look within.
SPEAKER_00: How has God shaped you?
SPEAKER_00: What is he gifted?
SPEAKER_00: What do mature believers say that you're really good at in the kingdom of God that you should be spending your time on?
SPEAKER_00: And then look ahead.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't mean 20 years ahead.
SPEAKER_00: I mean look ahead to the next step and take that step.
SPEAKER_00: And church, some of those steps, if you don't know where to go, God has given us the gift of the church to help us with our discipleship.
SPEAKER_00: It may be uncomfortable, it may be the first time in a long time, but maybe that step today is stepping into community.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe that step is stepping into a serving time, and you're gonna have to increase the time that you give to others.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe that step is baptism.
SPEAKER_00: It's that first step of obedience.
SPEAKER_00: And you've been saying no, or I'm I don't have to do it, or or anything like that.
SPEAKER_00: But really, what it is is God's calling you to be obedient.
SPEAKER_00: He's asking you to take a step of trust and put the gospel on display and get baptized.
SPEAKER_00: See, God has given us these rhythms in the church to prepare us for the rhythms of life.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm not sitting here and saying, hey, step into these things because we want people involved in all the things that we're doing.
SPEAKER_00: I'm saying stepping these things because they're opportunities that God has put right in front of you so that you can be known and that you can know God and have people encourage you along the way.
SPEAKER_00: Because when you get in a regular rhythm of putting yourself in a position where you're serving others, all of a sudden, when something's going on at home between in your marriage, you now know what it means to serve others because you've put yourself in regular rhythm to do that.
SPEAKER_00: You now know what it means to uh serve people in your community in your uh neighborhood because people in your community groups have stepped in and helped serve you, and now you can do that for someone.
SPEAKER_00: And as you consistently walk in the rhythms of God, people's the rhythms of God's people, the character of God forms in you.
SPEAKER_00: And there begins, it shapes everywhere you walk and everything that you do.
SPEAKER_00: The way you walk with God's people shapes the way you walk everywhere else.
SPEAKER_00: And God's gonna begin to transform you in everything that he's doing.
SPEAKER_00: I love Paul uses this image of walk because it's not a giant leap in front of you.
SPEAKER_00: He actually uses this consistently throughout his writing when he's talking about what it means to walk and and take steps as a Christian and to be obedient.
SPEAKER_00: He says in Romans, walk in the newness of life.
SPEAKER_00: In Corinthians, walk by faith, not by sight.
SPEAKER_00: In Galatians, walk by the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And if in Ephesians, walk worthy of your calling, walk in love, walk as children of light, walk in wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: In Philippians, walk according to the example you have given us.
SPEAKER_00: In Colossians, walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: In Thessalonians, walk in a manner worthy of life.
SPEAKER_00: Do you hear Paul?
SPEAKER_00: He's saying, walk.
SPEAKER_00: Take a step.
SPEAKER_00: Be ready.
SPEAKER_00: Because the Christian life is not one moment where you finally discover God's purpose.
SPEAKER_00: It's an entire way of life where you take a step and you're able to see.
SPEAKER_00: Purpose isn't merely something you discover, it's a life that you walk.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to know where every step leads.
SPEAKER_00: You just have to take the next one.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 3, 5 and 6, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on to your own understanding.
SPEAKER_00: And all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
SPEAKER_00: Which means that as you walk in the ways that Paul has described, you don't even have to worry whether you take a step to the left or to the right, because he's going to make your path straight because he is walking with you.
SPEAKER_00: Because in walking with him, you have given him over the hammer and the chisel so that he can shape you for good works.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to ask the worship team to come forward.
SPEAKER_00: I just want to describe you for you what this has looked like for me.
SPEAKER_00: When I was uh leaving high school and figuring out what college I wanted to go to, I knew I'd uh this is what I knew.
SPEAKER_00: I knew I wanted to work with people.
SPEAKER_00: So I decided to go to Appalachian and study sociology.
SPEAKER_00: That lasted about a year, okay.
SPEAKER_00: But during that year, I realized, okay, I actually wanted to be in ministry.
SPEAKER_00: And so I went to this place called Montreat College.
SPEAKER_00: It's a small school.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody knows your name.
SPEAKER_00: There's 400 people there.
SPEAKER_00: I guess normal schools, when you ask people about it, you know, um, you don't know them, but there I did.
SPEAKER_00: Well, there I was able to learn, and while I was there, I actually got this job at the Boys and Girls Club, and I learned that I love facilitating fun for kids.
SPEAKER_00: And so I then got a job when I went to Raleigh at the Boys and Girls Club.
SPEAKER_00: I started seminary and then I started serving in my church in the kids' ministry, and I served there for two to three years.
SPEAKER_00: This is before I ever had a job at the church.
SPEAKER_00: And then people around there just kind of noticed, hey, you seem to be really good at explaining elements of the gospel to kids.
SPEAKER_00: I think you should start teaching them.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, I think you maybe you should consider being a kids' pastor.
SPEAKER_00: And I was a kids' pastor for 12 and a half years.
SPEAKER_00: And through that time and journey, God actually put people around me to grow me in such a way that it it prepared me to be able to make a decision to leave everything that we've known and come and become a part of Harbor City.
SPEAKER_00: Now, don't hear what I'm not saying.
SPEAKER_00: I feel very secure here at Harbor City, but like to make a leap like that to change your whole life, like you kind of put something out and vulnerable.
SPEAKER_00: But because I saw God being faithful and all those things and how he's wired me, and then people confirm that this is a step that we should take, we're able to do that.
SPEAKER_00: And now I get to come in all these sermon illustrations that I spent years teaching the kids about, I'm able to bring it to you guys.
SPEAKER_00: Now there's tons of things that God's gonna work on me for.
SPEAKER_00: Tons of areas that I need to grow in.
SPEAKER_00: But the key is to let God have this and let him continue to mold and shape for whatever is next and to walk faithfulness where we are right now as a church.
SPEAKER_00: This is what he's called us to.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna prepare you for a time of response.
SPEAKER_00: When the lights are gonna come down, I want you to just listen.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you can hear a sermon like this, and you're like, okay, but I've been walking in a wrong way for 20 years.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just supposed to take a next step.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's that's what repentance is.
SPEAKER_00: It's not leaving yourself in the things that you've missed, it's stepping into the works that God has for you now.
SPEAKER_00: Don't let that despair rob you of obedience today.
SPEAKER_00: And here's the thing: this is scary.
SPEAKER_00: But the thing that God might want you to say yes to is the thing you just said no to.
SPEAKER_00: And when you get used to saying yes to Jesus day in and day out, you're handing him the hammer and the chisel in a way that he is then gonna mold you and shape you.
SPEAKER_00: And there's gonna be things that he's gonna chisel out that's very uncomfortable, but it's worth it because he's worthy, because he loves you, because he cares about you too much to leave you dead.
SPEAKER_00: So, what is that thing that he's calling you today?
SPEAKER_00: What is that next step?
SPEAKER_00: What is that faithful work?
SPEAKER_00: Is it offering forgiveness?
SPEAKER_00: Is it joining a church?
SPEAKER_00: Is it being hospitable to someone you haven't gotten to know yet?
SPEAKER_00: Is it beginning devotions at home with your children?
SPEAKER_00: Is it praying for the first time in five months?
SPEAKER_00: Whatever that is, that's what he's called you to, and these are the good works that he calls you to.
SPEAKER_00: Because your identity is wrapped not in yourself and what you have done, but in what God has said about you, and he's working in you, and he wants to mold you and shape you, and he loves you.
SPEAKER_00: He did for you something you could never do for yourself, he's worthy.
SPEAKER_00: So I want you to reflect what is the thing that God has called you to, and as you answer that question, and you reflect, we're then gonna sing.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna sing to a worthy God and let him hear your voice at that time.