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
Alive By Grace - Saved With Purpose ("Their Home" Day 4)
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The Bible says we were "dead" in our trespasses and sins... so what should we do now that we've been made alive in Christ? In this episode, Rachael and Matt use the "From Their Home to Our Home" Bible study method to unpack Ephesians 2:1-10 to learn what it means to be God's "workmanship." A glorious plan of good works awaits us, as we walk humbly and thankfully in Christ's grace.
Click Here for week three homework sheet
BEFORE this episode: Complete DAY FOUR homework (Ephesians 2:1-10)
AFTER this episode: Complete DAY FIVE homework (Ephesians 2:11-18)
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:
Framing A Life Of Lasting Impact
SPEAKER_00Do 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.
Meet Matt And Rachel’s Mission
SPEAKER_00I'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.
Study Method And Homework Setup
SPEAKER_03And we are on day four of our homework in the process of studying the Bible called From Their Home to Our Home. So today we will be looking at Ephesians 2, verses 1 through 10. And I will remind you this is a working podcast. So if you have not spent time in the Word on your own in Ephesians 2, 1 through 10, then hit pause now. Don't shortcut it. Go spend some time in the Word with you and the Holy Spirit. And then if you want to, you can come back. But do that. That is the most important piece of this puzzle. And so we are working through the process of observing their home, asking what we see when we read the scripture. Then we're asking to understand it. So we're asking what it means. Then we are bringing it back to our home and saying, asking, how does it relate? What are those timeless truths? What are the things that we learn are true about God and his glory and about his gospel and what he says is true about us? And then we apply that in our home or to our lives
Read Ephesians 2:1–10 Aloud
SPEAKER_03and ask, what then do we do? How do we respond to these truths? So, Matt, before we dive into Ephesians 2, verses 1 through 10, would you like to pray and ask the Lord to do these things that we cannot do?
SPEAKER_00Of course. Be glad to do that. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Lord, thank you so much for your word and thank you for your grace and your goodness to us that we will we will be exposed to in your word today, and that that we, I pray, Lord, will experience as we as we walk through your word, led by your spirit. Lord, I pray that you'll open the eyes of our heart, that you will help us to be ready to receive the truth that you have for us and to apply it in a way that is life-changing and ultimately shapes us into your image. Lord, we love you, and in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. So we are in Ephesians 2, 1 through 10 today, and I think we'll just start by reading the text. One of the things, before we dive into the text, I will say, you know, last week we were in the book of Jonah, which is telling a story. And this week we're in one of the one of the New Testament letters, the epistles. And and that the nature of the literature is very different. I think these techniques or these methods that we're using can be used in all different types of literature, but the application and and you know what feels the most comfortable for you may vary a little bit depending on the kind of book of the Bible that you're in right now.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_00But I'm already starting to feel more comfortable with this as we work through it. I I hope that you are as well as you listen.
SPEAKER_03I think this is a really great process for Paul in particular. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I mean, these are hard, these are very difficult texts if you don't have some way that you're tackling it. Yes. You know, I mean that that's to me the the kind of the takeaway. So let's go into the difficult text. Okay. We'll we'll go to Ephesians 2, verses 1 through 10.
Observing The Text’s Core Claim
SPEAKER_00And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following a prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ, by grace you have been saved, and raised 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. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not of your own doing, it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. So I'm already looking at this text and seeing it differently because of how we have tackled the first chapter of Ephesians using this method. And I I mean I want to hear from you on this, and I don't want to get ahead of ourselves in terms of applying it, but I make that observation because there are there are things in this text and in the second chapter of Ephesians here. Some of this is a very familiar passage. I've heard before many times and seen it before, but there are aspects of this that are much clearer to me now because of the way we have carefully divided out the word in the first chapter of Ephesians. And so I guess I'd I guess I'd start by just Rachel asking you to talk a little bit about what you observe in this in this text. Again, we start with observe their home. What do you see?
SPEAKER_03Well, and I would I would echo that, Matt. You know, I think that when you start thinking about observing, then you're thinking about context. Right. You're thinking
Dead In Sin And Spiritual Warfare
SPEAKER_03about like what what is this kind of like what do I note about this? And so especially as you get into kind of understanding what it means, next step, yeah, right. You can't take it out of out of the context in which Ephesians 2 is written, which is Ephesians 1. Right. And so walking through that and just seeing, like Paul all through Ephesians 1 is just making a case for who we are in Christ. Yeah, what is available to us, and then he goes into this glorious prayer for this Gentile church. Right, right. When he heard about this church, he's like, I cannot stop giving thanks.
SPEAKER_00And ultimately just pouring out in praise to the Lord.
SPEAKER_03Yes, right. So he's talking about who we are in Christ, what we have, what salvation means. And then he's like, and I hear about this gentile church in Ephesus. And when I hear about their love and their faith, I cannot stop praising the Lord for that. And Ephesians 2 is gonna, I think, shed some light on why Paul cannot stop praising the Lord for this Gentile church that he has heard such good things about.
SPEAKER_00Okay. That I think you're absolutely right. Let's start at the beginning. What do you observe? What are just if you're just that investigative reporter or that forensic um scientist or whatever, you're trying to uncover what's there, what what would you see?
SPEAKER_03The thing that that I do, and I do this a lot when Paul writes, because Paul just like he'll make a statement and then he'll flush that out, or he'll he'll give an idea and then he describes that idea. And so it's always really helpful to me to figure out which pieces of his sentences go together.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_03Because he writes really long sentences.
SPEAKER_00So what do you what did you pick up on here?
SPEAKER_03So in its simplest form, yeah, Ephesians 2, 1 through 10 says, You were dead, yeah, but God
But God: Mercy, Love, And Purpose
SPEAKER_03made us alive in Christ to walk in the good the good works he prepared.
SPEAKER_00Okay, yeah. So if you that's a great way to do this. So if you take, especially as you said in Paul's letters, if you take not not that all of the other parts are not really important, they are, they have they add texture and richness to all of it, but if you're just trying to get down to the essence of the statement, say it again. The statement is You were dead, you were dead, but God, but God made us alive in Christ.
SPEAKER_03Made us alive in Christ to walk in the good works he prepared beforehand for us to do.
SPEAKER_00Right. So that's so that's the that's the essence of the message. And the rest of what's there essentially, as you described earlier, expounds on that.
SPEAKER_03Right. So if I mean if you take you were dead, yeah, right, that kind of that nugget there, he talks about dread like dead in trespass and sin, right? So that's what that means. That you were walking according to the course of this world, that you were following the prince of the power of the air.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_03So I'm like, what in the world does that mean? Yeah.
SPEAKER_00We're just gonna hold that for a minute, but that's it.
SPEAKER_03But then he says the spirit, so it's almost like he's telling you what it means. He's like, I know you're I know you may have questions. So it's the spirit at work and the sons of disobedience, and then you're like, so who are the sons of disobedience?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and before before we even get there, I mean, Paul is teasing out epic spiritual warfare. Absolutely, right? He's he's teasing out there's no neutral in the world. You are either rescued by the grace of God, or you are a child of wrath, which what's is described here, following the enemy of God. Whether you know it or not, whether you meant to or not, whether you do that's those are the those are the directions. So and we and we all started there, every single one of us started in that place.
SPEAKER_03And then he says, like, right, like like the rest of mankind. Right, everybody. So the the sons of disobedience is everybody. It's everybody who's following the ways of mankind.
SPEAKER_00The there are only two kinds it's the sons of disobedience and the former sons of disobedience. That's it. Everybody started there, right?
SPEAKER_03Okay, so it's the sons of disobedience or those that are as he described in Ephesians one in Christ.
SPEAKER_00Right. And he and he does
Unity Of Jew And Gentile In Christ
SPEAKER_00again here as he describes it even in this when he talk when he talks later about raising us up with him and seating us with him in the heavenly places, he says it again in Christ Jesus, just like we we discussed yesterday.
SPEAKER_03And that phrase harkens back to Ephesians one.
SPEAKER_00Right, exactly. This is I mean, we talked about this earlier this week. And then I I also love that he transitions directly into purpose. Okay, so you notice, and again, I'm not gonna, we won't go too far because we're just observing for now, but but in this long sentence that Paul is known for, God, as you said, but God, that's the pivot, that's the nexus of the whole thing. God's rich in mercy. And then he tells us a little bit about God. Yeah, he's rich in mercy, great love that he loved us with. Even though we were, as he mentioned, dead in our trespasses, God did something special. He made us alive, and he didn't just make us alive, he made us alive together. That's that's one of those pieces that has rich depth in the context of Ephesians 1.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_00But he made us alive together with Christ, and then he reminds us how we're saved. By grace, you've been saved.
SPEAKER_03And the purpose of our salvation, right? To show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness to us.
SPEAKER_00Once again, the purpose of our salvation is not us, the purpose of the salvation is God. We are the extreme beneficiaries, right?
SPEAKER_03Which harkens back to what he already told us in Ephesians 1.
SPEAKER_00And then he reminds us, just in case it's lost on us, God did this, you didn't do this, you can't do this.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_00And why? So that no one can boast. I mean, if if if the whole purpose of salvation is the glory of God, then if we had any role in it at all and were inclined to boast, we would be robbing God of the glory that He's due.
unknownRight?
SPEAKER_00That's what's being described here. I know I'm slipping into the second step a little bit.
SPEAKER_03Well, let's go on to the second step. So So what does it mean?
SPEAKER_00What does it mean? So there's rich theology here, of course, but there's also there's also some really we're setting up some some tremendous pictures of the of the diverse church redeemed in Christ that's coming later in Ephesians.
Grace Through Faith, No Boasting
SPEAKER_00But for right now, what's being set up is we were all hopeless. God intervened with all of us, and he brought us together, which is so important here because again, you remember Paul was talking about how we who were first in Christ, that's the Jewish people, and now joined with you who came after the Gentiles, in this case in Ephesus. And just to understand what a what a radical cultural statement that is, they were hostile toward each other. There was extreme hostility toward each other. And and now they are united, they're united in Christ. And and they're united because of the way that they were saved and the purpose for which they were saved. Because that's the same in both cases. We were saved in the same way by grace through faith, and we were saved for the same purpose to participate in those good works that God ordained for us before before we were even created.
SPEAKER_03All right. And I I know I'm kind of kind of go back to observation a little bit, but I do think it's really helpful to observe the pronouns in this in this passage, right? When he starts in in and even as we work through the rest of the chapter, he says, You were dead, right? So he's talking to the Ephesians and he's like, You were dead, but then he counts everybody in that, right? So Yeah, not just you, right, not just you, like everybody in man, like the rest of mankind, and then he moves to we language.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, right.
SPEAKER_03So, but God, and then it's made us alive.
SPEAKER_01Wow.
SPEAKER_03And so
God’s Workmanship And Good Works
SPEAKER_03I think as you work through that, it's really helpful to pay attention to the pronouns because they do provide meaning and context in terms of what he's communicating.
SPEAKER_00And there's no accident in that, and we'll see that even more actually in the days ahead as we go through the next several verses of chapter two. But but that's very intentional. There was division and now there's unity. Okay, so as we as we look at what do we see and then what does it mean, I I I mean, I'm just gonna mention a couple more things on what does it mean that stood out to me that I jotted down. The gospel is on full display in this text. So everything about the gospel, everything that you need to know to be saved is being described here to people who have been saved, right? So the gospel is on full display. You were dead, you were children of wrath, but God, as you said, is good, he's gracious, he loves us, and and all of that is because of him and his nature and who he is. None of it is because of anything to do with us.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_00And so once we get that that context, that that foundation in place, we want to turn to bring it back home. How does it relate? What are those timeless truths? What what do you pick up on a if the gospel's on full display? There's nothing more timeless than the gospel. So, what what is it that we can pull from this text that is eternally true for everyone?
SPEAKER_03I think uh uh there's the obvious, right? Salvation
Modern Individualism Versus Collective Church
SPEAKER_03is by grace alone. It is God's gift that demonstrates his glory and love and kindness and the riches of his grace.
SPEAKER_00Salvation by grace through faith for his glory. Right. Right.
SPEAKER_03But I also think one of the timeless truths is that there was division between Jews and Gentiles, and in the gospel, God is bringing that together. Yeah, like under the headship of Christ, he's bringing that into one kind of one body, and he's gonna continue to build out this argument as we get in like through chapter two and then finish in chapter three. But he's laying the foundation that there was division between Jew and Gentile, and the Gentiles were dead in their sin, but now together with us, God has made made us alive in him.
SPEAKER_00So one of the things that that really stands out to me here is that, and this this probably wouldn't have been such a strange concept to the to the original readers as it might be to us, because we think in our in our modern Western culture, we think so much in individual terms. So we think of, you know, I think of God saving me, and I think about my own lostness, my my own that I was dead in my trespasses, and that he rescued me and redeemed me and restored me by his grace through faith. And all that's true, but Paul doesn't really distinguish between the individual and the body. When he's describing here and using the word you, it's just as often as we would say, as we used to say in the South, y'all, right? It's it's just it's you plural, that that the Ephesians, the Ephesian church he's speaking to, was was also dead. The the people there, not not just the individual people, but the collective people was were
Rethinking Sin And The Flesh’s Desires
SPEAKER_00broken. They were broken. Right. They were divided against each other, they were hostile toward each other, and just like God rescues and restores and redeems me and you individually, he does it to his peoples as well.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_00And that's I mean, there's and again I think in that in that culture there was probably no particular distinction between individual and and collective. It was a very different different approach.
SPEAKER_03Right. But the collective, especially in Israel, was Israel.
SPEAKER_00That's right.
SPEAKER_03And so I think you know, I think that's something that we don't we don't understand the full import of because we've we we grew up on this side of the cross and and don't think of of people in terms of Jews and Gentiles. But in this culture, this idea that that the covenant of Abraham is available to Gentiles is is mind-boggling.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03And and seems counterintuitive, right? Because a huge stumbling block for the right, because so much of what God commanded them to do was to to separate from the gentiles, to not intermarry, because then they would they would get pulled away from the gent by the gentiles. Right. You know, so so much of it was this is the sign of the covenant of God. And if you are outside of the covenant of God, if you are the uncircumcised, then God is not not for you.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_03He he is for his people, his like the Israelites are his people. He's intentionally separated his people, intentionally separated them, and
Application: Humility, Gratitude, Watchfulness
SPEAKER_03so we, you know, as Israel are his flock, and you are not, you know, you are other. And so radical, this is so radical, and we I don't think in our culture often understand how radical what Paul is saying is. And you see Paul go into this like he's amazed by it still. Sure. I mean, he would be. I mean, he would be right. I think you see that in his prayer at the end of chapter one.
SPEAKER_00It's why he it's why he bursts into just this outpouring of praise and glorifying God when he's in the process of thanking him for the Ephesian people. He's like, what is happening here? I actually found myself, I actually find myself pray praying to God and thanking him for my brothers who are the uncircumcised Gentiles, which just the thought of that was so mind boggling for him. Yeah, he couldn't help it. Just pour out in praise to God.
SPEAKER_03Right. I mean, you think about Jonah, you know, as a group we studied, studied Jonah, right? Jonah could not bring himself to go and share the gospel with the Nineveh because of just their oppression and and their paganism. They were so far away from God and they were so vile and so violent and they had done so much damage that that Jonah as a prophet could not bring himself to go and proclaim the word of God there. I mean, that's how deep this division runs.
SPEAKER_00So there's another timeless truth or two in this text as well, and probably maybe more, but but that stood out to me. You mentioned just the core of the gospel that salvation is by grace through faith and it's to the glory of God. A part of that obviously is that we can't save ourselves. Dead, dead people don't breathe life into themselves. But the other one that can get overlooked in some of the deep theological statements of this, of this text is that is this idea of workmanship, that we are God's workmanship and that we were saved for his purposes, that he has stuff for us to do, and that's what he
Prayer, Meditation, And Memorization
SPEAKER_00saved us to. Like it's not it's not just that he saved us for ultimately for his glory, which it is, and that it's not just that we are tremendous beneficiaries of that salvation, which we are, but it's that there is also purpose in that salvation for us to get to work. There's there's stuff that he has for us to do. He's he saved us to invite us into his work. And that's a timeless truth as well for us.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, absolutely it is that and what an invitation that is, right?
SPEAKER_00Which leads us, of course, to application, which is which is apply it in your home. What do I do in light of these truths, these eternal timeless truths, how will I respond? How will I be different as a result? And you know, I have a few notes written down here, they're pretty simple, honestly. There's they're easy to understand, they're harder to do, but I I zeroed in on the language that says, so that none can boast. And and just think, you know, if if this is God's work by his grace and not even primarily about me, although I'm a huge beneficiary of it, then I I should walk very humbly. But in no way should there be any haughtiness or any kind of of ego about me as a Christ follower at all. That should be the last thing that exudes from any Christian ever. Humility should be front and center just because of what we've experienced by grace, which of course leads to thankfulness too. So
Closing Prayer And Next Passage Preview
SPEAKER_00I'm gonna, you know, I as an application is to walk humbly and to and to be thankful, to give thanks.
SPEAKER_03I think there's encouragement in that as well, that that Christ did all of this for us, right? We didn't earn it, we don't deserve it, and he did it while we were dead in our sins. And I think there's encouragement in that as we proclaim truth and try, you know, and try to reflect the light of Christ in in a dead world to not be discouraged because that's exactly the state you were in when Jesus came and shed light into your life. And I think there's rest and beauty in that, right? Because then we're not we're not going back into the old divisions, you know. We are being reminded that we are sinners saved by grace. And and when we meet other sinners, the disgrace is for them too.
SPEAKER_00Do you have other applications?
SPEAKER_03I had a couple of other so one of the the kind of one of the timeless truths that that I pulled out of this was a description of sin or a description of mankind, you know, the the sons of disobedience. And it's people who live in the passions of their flesh, carrying out the desires of their body and mind, and are therefore children of wrath. And just thinking about that, I don't know that when I think about disobedience and sin that those are the categories that I go to.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Right. I mean, this isn't like those who don't smoke and drink and play cards and dance and hang out with those who do. Right? I mean, I I think we're we are so prone to make a list of sins and then say that's what sinners look like. Right.
SPEAKER_00Usually other people's sins.
SPEAKER_03Right. But you know, we're like they're the people who do X, Y, and Z. But the Bible says that they are people who just live in the passion of their flesh and carry out the desires of their heart, body, and mind.
SPEAKER_00And the hard truth for believers is even after we are saved and redeemed, there's a lot of spiritual muscle memory that still wants to do that.
SPEAKER_03Absolutely, there is.
SPEAKER_00And we don't and and we are capable of doing it and ignoring it. We're we're capable of growing callous to the conviction that comes around that.
SPEAKER_03We are. We're cal I think we're callous to that as believers. We're also callous to that as unbelievers because we like right, we like to think that sinners are people who do something I don't do.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_03Right? They're the people who cheat on their wife, or they're the people who do drugs, or they're the people who steal, or they're the people who kill. And we look at our lives and say, Well, I'm I'm not I'm not a sinner. But when you look at the definition of a son of disobedience under wrath according to the Bible, it's people who carry out the desire of their body and mind. So are you living according to your own desires, your own thoughts, your own mind, your own passions? Are you following your own heart? Or are you walking in submission to and following Christ? And those are are very, very different standards.
SPEAKER_00So as I think through application as a as a Christ follower, as a believer, one of the other ones that comes to mind for me under this is because of this workmanship concept that he saved us for his purposes to engage in the work that he's prepared for us. I need to be watchful for the good works that he has already marked for me. Like there are there are things that he has prepared for me to do, and I don't want to miss it. So I I need to be I need to be watching for how to engage in the work in the works that he's prepared for me.
SPEAKER_03That's a good word. You know, if you talk about kind of verses that stand out for memory or memorization, verses eight through ten are verses that that I want to have in my heart. And for me right now, one of the applications of just that works are created by God. And to your point, they're then for me to discover, not to create. And in a season, I'm in a you know, we're in a little bit of a season of transition right now where our kids have emptied the nest and we are now date night every night, except when we're recording podcasts.
SPEAKER_00That's I guess this is our date night. You're listening to it. Okay.
SPEAKER_03But you know, just trying to to see in this new season, and a lot of us, and I I know a lot of us listening to this podcast are are in new seasons and are trying to ask the Lord, like, what is this this new season? What what work do you have for me? What what should I be doing in this new season? And this this is great comfort to me that I don't have to create my good works, that those are created by God. I need to to seek him and lean into him with with a watchful open hand and say, what what works have you created? Because I d I don't want to miss them, but I also don't have to I don't have to just push through and and try to make something happen.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_03Right. That's not the call on me either. And so it's just to seek and follow, which is always what Jesus says, follow me.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03But even in our good works, we're followers. We we come to him and ask him. And so that's been a real comfort to me is just to try to wait on him and wait to on what he's what what he's opening and what he's revealing, and not feel the pressure that because that maybe isn't moving as fast as I want it to move, that I need to make something happen.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, which of course to me leads us right into the next the next section of this method, which is how do you move from reading to prayer? And I think I'm hearing some of the things that you're praying about this, right? So so as we think about what what we will pray as a result of this, you know, what what from what we have seen should be should lead us to praise God or to take before him in need. And you know, I I mean I start with gratitude for salvation uh for making me for making me alive after I was dead, and just just really meditating on that for a little bit. And then that of course inevitably leads us to praising him for rescuing children of wrath, and and actually praying for the people who are still children of wrath. Like, Lord, please rescue them, rescue others. I mean, there are there are more out there who are hopelessly, hopelessly unable to save themselves, just like I was hopelessly unable to save myself. So, so pray to the Lord to rescue them. And and you know, since I know he has prepared good works for me ahead of time, show me, Lord, how you want to enlist me in that. Like I know that you've created good works for me. I know that you want them to not be children of wrath. So show me what show me my assignment. Put me to put me in the game, Lord. I want to be a part of what you're doing.
SPEAKER_03And those are prayers the Lord delights to answer.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, he's faithful to do that, right?
SPEAKER_03I mean, those are prayers right out of his word.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So that that should affect our prayer life when we do that. And then it also, there's I mean, for us to really internalize this and be continue to be changed and shaped by it, it makes sense that we would move from reading to meditation and memorization. You mentioned Ephesians 2, 8 to 10 is a is kind of a section that you would really zero in on for that meditation and and possibly memorization. I I was less ambitious than that. I just took verse 10, which which is that part at the end that just kind of stuck with me for for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. And there's risk in taking that one all by itself because you miss all the richness that came before it of grace, grace, grace, and more grace. But ultimately, he saves us by grace and he does it so that he can put us to work.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_00So anything, anything else that you that jumped out to you in terms of memorization or meditation?
SPEAKER_03No, I think there's there's enough there to meditate on uh for a long time.
SPEAKER_00So right. Well, let's do this then. We're gonna I hope that that this has been helpful to you. I hope also that as you have spent some time in Ephesians 2, 1 through 10, even before joining the podcast today, that the Lord got a hold of your heart in some of these areas as well. I mean, he he absolutely has has touched mine, has touched Rachel's heart as well. And and uh so so hopefully some of those, maybe some of the some of what he's shown us has been helpful to you or or has mirrored some of what he has shown you. And maybe he's showing you things that are completely different than what we have, but that are still absolutely have faithful and have great fidelity to the truth of his word, and and God bless you for that. I I'm just I'm just want to encourage you in your faithfulness in the word and continuing to apply these these methods that for many are new and a new practice. So, Rachel, would you would you close us in prayer? Pray for those who are listening, those who are part of a class that we're teaching on this as well, and and just that the Lord would continue to grow that that that seed in them that's that's starting to maybe take hold and take root.
SPEAKER_03Absolutely. Let's pray. Our most gracious heavenly father, we do praise you that that you have saved us by grace, that we didn't earn it, that we don't deserve it, that you just stepped out of heaven and you sought us and called us to be your own, that you let the light of life shine into our hearts and you open the eyes of our hearts so that we could see you. And Father, we just praise you for that and pray that that it will, that as we meditate on those truths, that it will just grow our thanksgiving and it'll grow our awe of you, that we will just see that that this is not our doing, that we we did not do anything to save ourselves. We were dead in our transgressions. And so, Father, out of that we will have thankful hearts first, but then we will have compassionate hearts for those around us who are still living in in darkness, because they're living according to their own hearts' passions and their own heart's desires and their own thoughts and their own nature. And Father, because they live according to their own nature, they are children of wrath. Father, your judgment will fall on them if they are not in you. And so, Father, we just pray for compassion and and for boldness to step out and rem and just comfort and encouragement in in the truth that this work is not our own, that you created it from the beginning of time, and that you created us for good works. You prepared them beforehand, and now you are calling us to walk in them. And so, Father, let that motivate us, let that comfort us, let that encourage us. I pray, Father, for for those who are are diving into your word. Father, we know that that it is difficult often to do, but I know, Father, that these are prayers that you want to answer. And so I pray, Father, that they will persevere and not give up, that they will continue to just see what you're showing them, that they are saved by grace, that they are your workmanship, that you are building them up and making them more like you. This is not their work, so don't let them get discouraged, but just lean in closer to you. And so, Father, we just ask that in Jesus' name and for his glory and for the spread of his gospel. Amen.
SPEAKER_00Amen. Well, we are looking forward to being with you again tomorrow. So uh it's been great being with you here today, and we're gonna send you right back into God's Word. So tomorrow we will be in Ephesians 2, 11 through 18. And the first word of that passage is one of the biggest, most important transition words you find anywhere in the Bible, and that's the word therefore. We'll unpack that one tomorrow when we come back together in Ephesians 2.