Adding To Your Faith
Adding to Your Faith is all about helping you understand biblical principals and workshop biblical practices in a way that shapes and forms us into the image of Jesus Christ.
Adding To Your Faith
Sealed For An Inheritance ("Their Home" Day 2)
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What if your salvation isn't actually about you? Because of God's grace, we are the matchless beneficiaries of salvation. But the purpose of our salvation is all about the Glory of God. In this episode, Rachael and Matt use this week's study method to explore Ephesians, unlocking a life of gratitude, surrender, and a posture of worship that brings eternal fulfillment and reward.
Click Here for week three homework sheet
BEFORE this episode: Complete DAY TWO homework (Ephesians 1:11-14)
AFTER this episode: Complete DAY THREE homework (Ephesians 1:15-23)
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
While it is important to know that you have everything you need to engage with God's Word if you simply have a Bible and the indwelling Holy Spirit, a few additional resources could be helpful in providing you clearer understanding of the spiritual and cultural context of the book of Ephesians. Click the links below if you'd like to explore these additional tools:
Promise Of A Fruitful Life
SPEAKER_01Do you ever feel like your life just isn't as productive or effective as it should be? As followers of Jesus, we want our short time on earth to have eternal impact. But often we feel like we're falling short. The good news is that Scripture gives us a promise. A life that's never ineffective or unproductive in knowing Jesus Christ. In 2 Peter 1, we're told to build on our faith, adding goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, mutual affection, and love. As these qualities grow, they keep us fruitful and effective for God's kingdom.
About The Hosts And Mission
SPEAKER_01I'm Matt Morrow, and my wife Rachel and I have spent nearly 20 years teaching God's Word and walking with people in every stage of faith. Our passion is to see lives permanently and radically transformed by Scripture applied. Adding to your faith is here to help you understand biblical truth, practice it daily, and grow to look more like Jesus. We're glad you're here. Let's walk this journey together.
A Working Podcast And Homework
SPEAKER_00Welcome back. I'm Rachel, and this is Matt, and we are here for day two of the homework in the method from their home to our home. And so this is the second method that we are looking at, and we are in day two of our homework. And I will remind you once again that this is a working podcast. So if you have not spent time in day two of the homework, just pause this because you will get a lot more from the Lord out of your day if you spend some time with him in his word. And so do that first. And then if you find it helpful, come back and listen to us. But otherwise, do do your homework. And we're working through the method from their home to our home, which we had mentioned is a method, but that's based on David Platt's secret church of how to study your Bible. And the thing that we really like about this method is it really helps to anchor us to the text so that we're not asking what does this mean to me, or what does this mean for my situation? But what we're really asking is what does this mean? So we go and we try to observe what's happening in the text. We ask what it meant to the original readers, how they understood it, what it would mean in their context. And then from there, we can
The “Their Home To Our Home” Method
SPEAKER_00start to draw those eternal principles. So we can ask, how does it relate then? So what are those timeless truths that are true about God, that are true about his glory, that are true about what he says about man or what he says about me, what he says about his church. And so that's where we find those timeless truths. And then from there, we can prayerfully ask the Lord, what do I do with this? Because without application, there is no change. And so we want to learn how to how to connect those dots from what the scripture says to how we're living our lives and ask how then does this change us? How does it shape us? And so this method gives us some really great questions to ask at the end to help us to do that. So I hope that as you are getting more used to this, you've been through it a now two times, that it's getting a little bit easier.
Prayer For Illumination
SPEAKER_00So we are in Ephesians 1, 11 through 14 today. That will be our scripture passage. And so before we dive into that, Matt, would you maybe like to open us in prayer?
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. Let's pray and ask for the Lord's help in this text. Lord, thank you so much for the word that you've given us and thank you for your spirit that you allow to dwell within us so that we can comprehend and understand your word. Ultimately, Lord, our desire is to be changed by it. I pray that you will work through the power of your spirit and the and the strength of your word to be able to show us how we are how we are falling short and how we can how we can ultimately be shaped in your image so that we're no longer looking like our old selves, but looking more and more like you. As we go into the text today, I ask you to go ahead of us in the book of Ephesians. And I pray that as we do that, that we will be led by your Spirit through it every step of the way. Lord, we love you, and we ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
SPEAKER_00Amen. All right. So, Matt, would you like to begin by maybe reading
Reading Ephesians 1:11–14
SPEAKER_00the passage? And we are in this beautiful chapter in Ephesians 1 that is all about who we are in Christ. And so, would you like to read the passage that we're studying today?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, be glad to. We and this one's gonna be easier than yesterday's because yesterday's had 10 verses and two sentences. Like the 10 verses, the first, the first, I think it was eight verses or six verses, something like that, with one sentence. That's a lot. That's a mouthful. It's always a lot to diagram. A lot of diagram. So a little bit easier today. We're going we're going to use a smaller number of verses and maybe the same number of sentences. So let's try. In him, so just for context, we're talking about the Son, we're talking about Jesus in this case, in him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory.
First Observations And Key Words
SPEAKER_01So we're going to begin with looking at the first step in this process, which is just to observe their home. What do I see? And if you've already done the homework, which you hopefully have done before you're listening to this podcast, you've made some notes about just those those basic facts that you observe in the text. This is where we are essentially investigative journalists or uh forensic detectives, and we're just we're just collecting facts. So, what are some of the things, Rachel, that stood out to you in this in this portion where it's talking about in verses 11 to 14?
SPEAKER_00I think one of the things that stood out to me as I read through that were like words like predestined, plan, in conformity, purpose of his will, included in Christ. So there's a lot of this intentional language. Yeah right, that this is God's plan, God's purpose, God's God's conforming everything to his purpose, to his will. And so that was, I think, one of the things that stood out to me as I read it.
SPEAKER_01So I I also picked up on that. Also, the language around inheritance was was noticeable and obviously holds some significance here. I also notice that he distinguishes between we and between you. So he starts talking. I mean, it's obviously it's a letter to the church in Ephesus, but when he talks about we, he describes that as the first to believe in Christ,
Trinity And The Language Of Inheritance
SPEAKER_01and then you who share in this inheritance. But there's a distinction made between we and you, even though ultimately we have the same inheritance. So that's something that I that I kind of picked up on there. And then when we go to the next step of understanding their home, there were some things that kind of led me to try to unpack and better understand.
SPEAKER_00Mm-hmm. I also love the language of the Holy Spirit, that you know, having believed, you were marked with a seal, that you received the promised Holy Spirit, the deposit guaranteeing your inheritance. That there, that there's this idea that that what makes you the possession of God and to the praise of his glory is the seal of the Holy Spirit.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01You notice in the text here, you actually see the whole Godhead referenced. Yeah. Because there now sometimes it's pronouns, so it's a little bit tricky to know which pronoun is referring to which part of the Godhead, but it's but if you read it in context, and particularly with what we had yesterday, you know that the Son is referenced at the beginning where it says, in him we have obtained an inheritance. And then later in that same sentence, predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, it's referencing the Father in the Godhead. And then later we have the Holy Spirit specifically called out and referenced here too. So in this short text, the whole Godhead, each person of the Trinity is referenced with distinct roles, all within within the Godhead.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, absolutely. And that's an important thing, I think, to observe in this is that you you do see the Godhead, right? And then and then you see the three and one because it's all to the possession of those who are God's possession, all right, which is singular.
SPEAKER_01So our next step then is to take what we've
Context: Acts 19 And Ephesus
SPEAKER_01observed. So we have a collection of facts or a collection of observations about their their home, and next we want to move to understand their home, which is where we take these facts and we try to identify what they what they mean. What does all of this mean? What's going on in the text? We're looking for context, we're looking for uh information that can be helpful here. Were the things that jumped out to you, Rachel?
SPEAKER_00I mean, I think one of the things that really stood out to me is in verse 11 where it says, in him, which is in Christ, we were chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will. And those are those are a lot of big concepts to to dive into. So you have that we were chosen and predestined in Christ, that that was done according to the will of the father. And so I think one of the things that kind of stands out to me in that is just thinking about like what does that mean that we're chosen, that we're predestined, and and that that is all done in accordance with the plan of the father. And so, you know, I think kind of just when you think about theological context, there's a lot of theological context there that puts salvation squarely on the will of God.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. And so the sovereignty of God really is a is a huge theme here. It's a it's a big, big part of the meaning of the text. And then the other thing, we're just so people remember, this is the part, this is the step in this four-step process where if you wanted to pursue other context for what's going on here, this would be the time to do it. And that's that's what kind of came out to me. So one of the things as I was reading this, and I'm like, I know this is a letter from Paul to the Ephesian church, and and that these are these are not people of Jewish heritage, right? These Ephesians. So maybe maybe back up a little bit and try to look at the history of Paul and his relationship with the church at Ephesus. And so I went back to Acts 19 and opened up Acts 19, which is where the church
Jews And Gentiles: We And You
SPEAKER_01in Ephesus was founded. And I thought it might be helpful just to maybe read that as some some helpful background here. And then from that, that really led me into this distinction I was noticing earlier between the the first uh we then you, okay, on the this inheritance. So I'm just gonna go to Acts 19, 1 through 7. I'm just gonna read part of that, kind of give us a background of how this church even came to be and Paul's role in it. So it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, so Apollos is in Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples. And he said to them, Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? And they said, No, we have not even heard there is a Holy Spirit. And he said, Into what then were you baptized? They said, Into John's baptism. And Paul said, Well, John baptized with the baptism of repentance. We're talking about John the Baptist here, baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is Jesus. On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, and when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. There were about twelve men in all. Now, actually, if you read further into Acts, you you see a whole lot of dramatic stuff that happens in Ephesus, including a near riot breaking out between the new believers in Ephesus. Ultimately, they didn't start it, of course, but what happened is this growing gospel taking hold in Ephesus was a threat to a lot of the craftsmen in that place because the craftsmen made their living by making these idols and selling them for Artemis of the Ephesians and these other false gods. Anyway, that's really not the main point here. The main point is this verses one through seven, where we hear the description of these disciples, these people who clearly were familiar with the
Timeless Truths: God’s Sovereignty
SPEAKER_01story of Jesus. They were familiar with the way. And Paul's question for them was Have you received the Holy Spirit? They don't know what that is. And they were familiar with the teaching of John the Baptist, but of course the teaching of John the Baptist pointed ahead to Jesus, the full completion of the gospel. Paul brought them up to speed on that. Ultimately, they were baptized, received the Holy Spirit, had evidence of the Holy Spirit. All of that happened. And by the way, these are not Jews, right? These are people who are not Jews. And so when Paul writes in this letter, this distinction that keeps coming up of where he says, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory, he's talking about we, those who were the Jews who came to know Christ first. They were the first to come to him. So, and then it says, In him, you also, so no longer that first group of Jewish people. In him, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. He's describing exactly what happens in Acts 19, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory. So so what we understand here as we look at it is that Paul is reminding them that they have that they have a seal that is a promise for an inheritance. So the Holy Spirit that came upon them, that they he was there when it happened. He was there to witness this, that the receiving of the Holy Spirit is not just the power to know truth, the power to follow the will of the Lord. It's not just the power to heal and and call bring miracles and all those things that were there. It's also the seal, the promise of what's to come, this inheritance that is referred to over and over again. That's that's key to this whole passage.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's great. And I think it is clearly teaching that the mark of true belief is the Holy Spirit. Yeah. Yeah. Right? So if you do not have the Holy Spirit,
The Spirit As Seal And Guarantee
SPEAKER_00you are not part of the inheritance of Christ. You're not in Christ.
SPEAKER_01And that was really what they were before then. They were still, they still agreed with the teaching of John the Baptist. They still understood, they knew who Jesus was. They even they even were called disciples, but they hadn't received the Holy Spirit yet. They hadn't been sealed.
SPEAKER_00Right. And that is the guarantee of the redemption, right? That's the guarantee that Christ will receive you unto himself when he returns.
SPEAKER_01So for this letter, after that history and that experience, Paul is now imprisoned in Rome, and he's writing this letter to this church in Ephesus, who holds a dear place in his heart because of what he's experienced with them. And and he's, and I think we're reminded here when we look at Acts 19, when we look at this part of the letter that he's writing to the church at Ephesus, that all history comes to its ultimate climax with the gospel. And later that reality should start to shape our lives, right? And ultimately, the gospel is the climax of all of history, all of human history, all of our personal history, all of everything else.
SPEAKER_00And, you know, in Acts 19, it becomes very clear that the that this Holy Spirit, that being in Christ, is not just for Jews, it is also for the Gentiles. And so now a new demarcation line in mankind has now been laid. So there are those who are in Christ, which are sealed with the Holy Spirit, and those who are not in Christ, which are not sealed with the Holy Spirit. And so that line is now the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01Right. And so anyway, that that's as we kind of try to get through these first couple of steps, observe their home, what do I see? Understand their home, what does it mean? We're starting to get a sense of what's
Application: God-Centered Salvation
SPEAKER_01going on here, right? In that time and place, what the purpose and sense was, what you know, why it matters, what we're building toward in terms of the importance of the Ephesian believers ultimately in bringing the gospel and the Holy Spirit to all for salvation. They're going to have an important role going forward in that. And so we have all of that in place, which brings us to the third step in this process, which is bring it back home, and that's how does it relate? This is where we start to take some of that observation and understanding and move it into timeless truths, eternal truth that is just as true then as it as it is today and always will be, just as true for you as it is for me or for anybody else. It's the same consistent truth. What are some of those, some of those things that really stand out to you, Rachel, in terms of how it relates?
SPEAKER_00I think the first one is having believed, right? So Paul is writing this as an encouragement to them. So he's saying you were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of salvation, and then having believed that, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit. So now you have a guarantee of your inheritance. And so he's, I think, calling them to stand on what is true about them, that they have the Holy Spirit. The second thing that stood out to me about that, uh, you know, just kind of is that salvation of sinners is to the praise and glory of God, not man.
SPEAKER_01Right. It's a God-centered gospel in the world. Right.
SPEAKER_00It is a God-centered gospel, and so it is to the praise of his glory when sinners are sealed by the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, there were some things that really came came through to me that were similar to those themes as well. I mean, it's it's clear that God has a pattern here that he repeats, and he's actually repeating a pattern that is consistent with the character he showed
Testing Faith And True Growth
SPEAKER_01even in the Old Testament, that he always blesses some in an orderly fashion through which to bless others. So in this case, we're talking about first the Jews and then to the rest of the world, but that's always been God's pattern. He he blesses some to bless all. Think about Abraham and what he promised to Abraham, that all the world would be blessed through him. And that, and that now, of course, we're talking about from Jews to Gentiles and eventually the eternity, the eternal salvation that awaits those, all those who will believe. And so that is a is a really significant timeless truth. And then I also note here that the inheritance, this is similar to what you were saying, Rachel, the inheritance that we have waiting for us is marked ahead of time, not by our ethnicity or our lineage or or our race or any of those things. It's marked by the presence of the Holy Spirit, the one and only evidence of salvation. And that comes through loud and clear in this text.
SPEAKER_00Right. And this was God's predetermined plan to work all things out to conform to his purposes.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah. So his sovereignty is is is front and center in this text. Absolutely. And these are all timeless truths. And so once we've established timeless truths, once we've identified those things that are just as true today as they were then and always will be, we move to the fourth step, which is apply it in your home. What do I do? How will I live differently as a result of the truths that are that are coming forth out of this text? What is it about that text that I should respond to and how should I respond so that my character will be formed, will be changed from what it has been to the likeness of Christ? So, what are some of the things that that you think of when you look at application here?
SPEAKER_00I mean, I think especially sometimes working with with young people that and and I can see this in my own life as well, that getting settled the basis of my salvation is so important that I have to know what saved me and why I'm saved. And this is really clear that I am saved because I am sealed and marked with the Holy Spirit. That is God's mark of salvation in me, and it is to his praise and glory. Yeah. Right? This is a very God centered gospel.
SPEAKER_01So a huge part of applying truth is understanding how should I think. That's really where everything else starts. So that point that it is a God centered, I mean, think about this all salvation, Jews and Gentiles.
From Reading To Prayer And Practice
SPEAKER_01Is a God centered act. He predestines it. It is his purpose to do it for his own glory. And so it is a profoundly God-centered act. And our thinking has to be shaped by the text before our before our lives and our actions can be changed.
SPEAKER_00Right. And you know, one of the things that I think about is that like Paul uses language when he describes Christians as people who are in Christ.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Right? That's the word that that is the that the Bible uses for Christians is in Christ. So are you in Christ? Test yourself to see if you're in the faith, right? Are you in Christ? That is the language of the Bible. The word Christian was actually used by outsiders.
SPEAKER_01It was a pejorative.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Well, it was, but it was also used by outsiders who were who were looking at this group of people and saying, oh, look, they behave like little Christ. They did not call themselves Christ-like, right? Others did. Others did. And you know, one of the things that kind of struck me about that is the difference between those two words. Right? If I think of my salvation, right? If I say I'm a Christian, where's the focus?
SPEAKER_01It's on me.
SPEAKER_00It's on me. What am I doing?
SPEAKER_01That's a man-centered gospel.
SPEAKER_00That's a man-centered gospel, right? If I say I'm in Christ, where's the focus?
SPEAKER_01It's on Christ. It's a Christ-centered gospel.
SPEAKER_00It's a Christ-centered gospel. So I think sometimes even the way that we think about our salvation in these little ways kind of shifts to how I'm behaving and what I'm doing, as opposed to what Christ has already done. And we have to test that because the enemy gets a field day in our hearts and minds to discourage us, to get us off track, to puff us up, to make us look down on other people, right? Both of those, like either feeling completely defeated or feeling completely puffed up, so that you're looking at other people saying, Well, at least I'm not like them. You know, both of those are symptoms of the same problem, which is that your eyes are now on you as opposed to on Christ. Because if you're in Christ,
Prayers Of Gratitude And Assurance
SPEAKER_00you're not defeated or puffed up because all of this is what Christ has done for you, not what you're doing for him.
SPEAKER_01So I'm smiling here because as we mentioned earlier on this podcast in earlier episodes, Rachel and I live together as husband and wife, but we don't we don't compare our notes on this really until we sit down to do this. We we we do this independently and then we compare notes. And I'm smiling because I have a lot of the same notes. You and I have have have approached this in much the same way. But I I wrote down for in terms of just a way that I need to think differently based on everything you've just described, all of it, is this one simple statement, which is I am the beneficiary of my salvation, but the purpose of my salvation is for the glory of God. Right? I am not the purpose of my salvation. I'm the beneficiary, but the purpose of my salvation is the glory of God. And that truth, if we want to talk about application, that truth has to change how I live out my salvation, I think. Right? To your point, we have an enemy who wants us to believe a subtly different gospel, just very subtle difference there, that fundamentally alters how I would live out my salvation. But but from an application perspective, a God-centered gospel and knowing that I'm the beneficiary of my salvation, but not the purpose, leaves me in a place of gratitude, of surrender, a posture, a permanent posture of worship toward the Almighty God. And if I if I see my myself or my own life, even the love that the Lord has for me as the primary purpose of my salvation, I will be led to a very different, a very different way to live that salvation out. I'll have less gratitude, I'll have less surrender, I'll be less likely to have a posture of worship all the time than if I rightly understand this truth.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And you see that I think all through scripture, right? Even in like Romans 1, when Paul's talking about people who who don't believe, he's talking about about the Romans, he was like, they didn't glorify God as God or give him thanks.
SPEAKER_01Right, right. Those two things go together. More of a man-centered gospel that leads you to not glorifying God because the purpose is his glory, not mine.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_01And it leads you to be less grateful.
SPEAKER_00Right. And then you start worshiping the created things as opposed to the creator.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah. So there's deep application going on in this text.
SPEAKER_00The
Memorization Focus: Ephesians 1:13
SPEAKER_00other application that I took out of this is, you know, a lot of times, and e every now and then you'll come across somebody that's really struggling with this question of am I saved? Am I a Christian? And I think sometimes our instinct is to go to works.
SPEAKER_01To sort of comfort ourselves with works.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, or to answer them, right? Like, are you, you know, are you reading your Bible? Or, you know, do you want to go to church? Do you, you know, I mean Sounds like a Christian to me. Yeah. Or we evaluate if we think somebody is a Christian based on what they're doing.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Right?
SPEAKER_01Like, you know, you wouldn't be doing all these things if you weren't if you weren't devoted to to Christ, right?
SPEAKER_00And in a sense, that is true, because our works are a fruit of our transformation. So I mean, in a sense that's biblical. Right, that's biblical that that they are a a product. But what like in, you know, even in this is an adding to podcast. And if you go to 2 Peter 1, when he talks about adding to your faith, he says, like, therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election. For if you practice these things, you will never fail, right? Or you'll never fall. So he's talking about if you are growing, if you're adding to, right? If you're growing in the things of the spirit, then you're making, you're confirming your calling and your election.
SPEAKER_01Because what's happening? You're being changed. You're being, you're being you're being formed into the likeness of Christ.
SPEAKER_00And and that is a work of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01Right. It's a God-centered work.
SPEAKER_00Right. You know, but things like, you know, how much do we know? Do we pray every day? Do we, you know, are we disciplined? Are we going on mission trips? Like all of those types of things are things that we can produce.
Encouragement And Next Homework
SPEAKER_00We cannot produce a life that is growing in Christ-likeness.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And a life that is growing in Christlikeness is a mark of the seal of the Holy Spirit. And that is something that Paul says, test yourself and see if you're in the faith. Peter says, add these things and confirm the election of your calling, right? Like confirm that because that is how you know that you have the Holy Spirit, is that you are becoming an ever-increasing glory, more and more like Christ.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so we're what we hope is that as you've gone through gone through this same text, that you've been able to identify these, maybe other applications in your own in your own life. There are certain foundational truths, timeless truths that emerge as you work through this process. So we've observed their home. What do I see? We've we've sought to understand their home. What does it mean? We've sought to bring it back home where we're starting to relate it to broader, timeless truths along the way. And then ultimately we come to this place of applying it at home. What do I do? How should I think? Who should I be? What should I do? All of those things. And that's really where we've been hitting it in these last few minutes. And and that, of course, leads us or should lead us to our knees, right? Where we start moving from from the text from reading to prayer.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_01So what are some things that you would be praying after after this text, Rachel? How how would this text shape your prayer life?
SPEAKER_00Well, the prayer that I wrote after I after I spent some time in these passages was just a prayer thanking the Lord for the Holy Spirit that guarantees that I will be made a son, right? And a son is an heir for the possession and that I am his possession while I am waiting for my redemption. And that this is the that it is wholly the work of the Lord. That I am, I I cannot boast except in Christ. And so the prayer that I wrote was just a prayer of thanksgiving, that that while I am waiting for redemption, I rest in the completed work of Christ and that he has sealed me and made me his own.
SPEAKER_01So good. I I wrote that in in as I'm moving from reading to prayer, I'm gonna ask God to grow in me my gr my own gratitude for my own salvation, right? For what he has done. Just grow my gratitude for that. And then I want to ask him to give me a constant, acute awareness of his purpose for my salvation. So not just being thankful for it because of what it does for me, but give me a constant awareness of his purpose for my salvation, which is his glory, right? And then help me, Lord, help me to live my redeemed life for that purpose. Right. For your purpose. You've given me this redeemed life. I am the beneficiary of it. You have a reason that you've given it to me, and you've given it to me for your glory. So help me, Lord, to live this redeemed life you've given me for that purpose. That's my prayer. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And that is a prayer God will delight to answer.
SPEAKER_01Right, right. That's a powerful, it's a powerful prayer. When you're praying what you know is aligned with his heart, then you can pray boldly before the throne.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So we also want to move from reading to meditation and memorization. And we talked about this in the class that we're teaching, and we'll just reference it here too. If you're doing this this type of a study method every day, you may not have scripture memorization from every single day's reading. But there may be one or two over the course of the week that you do want to single out for memorization, and you can meditate on. We can meditate on parts of the text in a lot of ways, in addition to memorization. So what are what are your uh what is your attention called to here, Rachel?
SPEAKER_00I thought Ephesians 1 for like verse 13 was one that that is helpful to to have in your memory. And it just says, having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00I and it's I marked the same. It's the definition of who is in Christ. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I marked the same one. I just fill I just basically built out the whole sentence for it, which is in him, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory. Gives us purpose, gives it all the all the pieces of it in that one sentence. Okay. All right. Wow, that's a that's a full, full boat today, right? And just uh just a handful of verses in Ephesians one. And and I hope that as you've listened to this, that you've found, you know, some encouragement in our own study in this. But more importantly, we hope that you are drawing nearer to the Lord in your own study of this, using this method. This was just day two of six days of applying this method. So if you hung with us through the first one, which was the two questions in a statement, you know that that over time, day by day, you get an increased comfort level with it. And with that comfort level comes the promptings of the Holy Spirit that will help you to see things in the text and identify those things and respond to those things in ways that you maybe couldn't at the beginning quite as easily. So I want to encourage you to stay with it, to keep at it. If if we're sharing things that didn't come to you in your own study, that's fine. Doesn't matter. Honestly, you're probably finding things that we didn't find, and that's important, that's good too. Yeah. But ultimately, I just want to encourage you to stay with it and keep at it. Absolutely. So, Rachel, would you like to like to pray for those who are listening and those who are participating in this study with us, and then we'll we'll wrap up and prepare for tomorrow.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, absolutely. Let me pray. Our most gracious Heavenly Father, we we do just come to you and we praise you. We praise you because you have predestined us by your grace and by your glory, that you, in conformity with your purpose and your will, have included us in Christ. And Father, your word says that you have made us heirs, that you have made us sons in your family, that you have given us an inheritance that comes from you. And we know that because you have deposited in us your own spirit, your own presence. And Father, we do pray that you will one, help us to just rest in that, that we will rest in the completed work of Christ, that our salvation does not depend on us, that it depends on you. And that we will just be reminded that we benefit from it, but we are not the purpose of it, that the purpose of saved sinners is to bring glory to Christ. And Father, we also will just be incredibly thankful. Father, I pray that you will just grow our gratitude of what you have done, that you have saved sinners, that you have adopted them, that you have chosen them, that you have brought them into your family, that you call them sons, and then you give them your very self. And Father, we just praise you for that. We thank you for that. And I pray, Father, that we will rest in that as believers. I pray for all of those who are who are in your word, that those truths will just wash over them and just remind them of just the confidence that they have because they are in you, that there is nothing that can move them or remove them from your hand. And so, Father, we we just ask these things in your name and for your glory. Amen.
SPEAKER_01Amen. Amen and amen. We are going to pick that up right where we left off here tomorrow. So I want to uh encourage you to jump right in there. That'll be day three of the homework, Ephesians 1 15 to 23. Uh, again, Ephesians 1 15 to 23, and we'll be back with you tomorrow with another look at from their home to our home.