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
Fellow Citizens = A Holy Dwelling Place ("Their Home" Day 6)
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With all our divisions demolished by the Gospel, it's time to start a grand new building project: A holy temple. But this temple isn't made of stone and mortar. Its materials are the redeemed. Its foundation is the apostles and prophets. And its cornerstone is Christ. In this episode, Rachael and Matt walk alongside you in this sixth and final day of workshopping the "From Their Home to Our Home" Bible study method. Together, marvel with them at the "weird" way God uses diverse communities of believers to build His dwelling place.
Click Here for week three homework sheet
BEFORE this episode: Complete DAY SIX homework (Ephesians 2:19-22)
CONGRATULATIONS! You've completed the six-day workshop to put our second Bible study method (From Their Home to Our Home) in action. Add this method to your Bible study toolbox and take a day off from homework. Then join us tomorrow, as we introduce method #3: Gospel Threads.
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.
Meet Matt And Rachel
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.
SPEAKER_00Welcome
Study Method And Today’s Text
SPEAKER_00friends. I'm Rachel and I'm here with Matt, and we are on day six of our homework. So our final day in this method of studying the Bible, which is called From Their Home to Our Home. And so today we are in Ephesians 2, verses 19 through 22, and I will say it once and I'll say it a hundred times. If you have not spent time in Ephesians 2, 19 through 22 on your own, hit pause now and go spend some time in the Word, wrestling through it for yourself. If this has been a hard study for you and you still are feeling like you didn't get it, still hit pause and go and wrestle through it with the Lord. I promise you will get more out of trying to apply these techniques and asking the Lord to help you with them than you will from listening to us tell you what the Lord showed us as we worked through it. So this is a working podcast. Hopefully, we can kind of come alongside and help sharpen each other. That's our desire by doing this. It is not to replace your time in the word. So go spend some time in the word. But if you have done that, then Matt and I will kind of walk through alongside you on Ephesians, Ephesians 2, verses 19 through 22, which finishes out the second chapter of Ephesians.
Opening Prayer
SPEAKER_00And so, Matt, before we dive into that, would you please just open open us in a word of prayer and just ask the Lord to guide and direct and fill this time?
SPEAKER_01We'll do. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, thank you so much for your word. Thank you for this for this week that you've given us of really practicing new methods and new ways to just connect more closely with you, to more readily recognize your Holy Spirit as you move through your word and lead us through your word. Lord, this is the final day of this second method. This is day six for us. And so I want to thank you for how you have taught me and I think taught others here as well to recognize your spirit as you move through the word by applying some consistent methods and consistent techniques over the course of the last six days. As we enter this text, Lord, it's kind of the it's kind of the climax of a whole series of just beautiful, beautiful truth in your word, Lord. And so I pray that as we as we experience this together, uh that we will see your goodness and your grace and your mercy just pouring through this word, and in it that we will draw into deeper, more personal relationship with you, and that we will be changed from our old selves into your image and your likeness. Lord, we love you, and in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
SPEAKER_00Amen.
Reading Ephesians 2:19–22
SPEAKER_01So I'm excited about this last passage of Scripture because it feels like we've just been building to this the whole time. And a lot of, I mean, honestly, a lot of Paul's letters are that way. They, you know, they you talked yesterday, or maybe it was the day before, about how, about how Paul will make a statement and then just sort of build things around it, either, either in the text that follows or sometimes in that very sentence, you know. And and the other thing that he does is he really, he really constructs his style is to construct the argument, construct the the case bit by bit, starting with the foundation and coming to this place where you just sort of just sort of cry out with the with the the climax of the whole thing. And I and I will say, even though there are other chapters awaiting in Ephesians, and there's a lot of richness there, and I would encourage you, if you are learning this method and getting a comfort level with it, and you'd like to continue in Ephesians, do it. Keep going. But I I like that we got at least this far for this passage because I love this one here. I'm just going to read it for us and then we'll and then we'll pick up from there. So then, you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
From Strangers To Citizens
SPEAKER_01So, for context here, just to remind you of where we've been, this whole the whole theme of what we've seen, these first couple of chapters, is Paul really drawing a contrast with where we were before Christ and where we are after he redeems us, and specifically about the old divisions between the circumcised and the uncircumcised, the Jews and the Gentiles, the hostility that existed between these groups has been, the the Bible says, killed by the blood of Christ. It's been killed. It doesn't exist anymore. That there's in fact, instead of that hostility, there's this great peace that exists. And so when I say that this, that this passage is sort of culminating in all of this, he's speaking again to these to these Gentile believers who it wouldn't have been that long before this that Paul wouldn't have been caught dead saying anything to a group of Gentile people, period. And now he is pouring out this love for them and describing this them to in these ways that he probably couldn't have imagined himself doing. So the first thing we do is we observe their home. We take a look, we start looking at, well, what do we see happening in this text? What do you notice? You're gathering facts, you're a forensic detective or a an investigative journalist. What facts are you gathering, Rachel, as you look at this text?
SPEAKER_00Well, the first thing that stood out to me is that it begins with a so then.
SPEAKER_01Which is another transition.
SPEAKER_00Right? It's a it's a transition. Some translations say consequently, right? So he's saying he's drawing a conclusion, right? He's drawing a purpose from whatever he said before. Yeah. And so to really get in your mind what he said before is going to be vital to understand this conclusion, a so then, right? Right. Because of this, so then that, right? And so he you've got to kind of go back. Whenever I I see those kinds of transitions, I always try to go back and summarize for myself what the so then is, so that I can read it in
Family, Building, And Temple Imagery
SPEAKER_00light of that. And in this case, the so then is that we were right, we were once divided, or they were once far away. Right. The the Gentiles.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00The Gentiles were once far away, but now in Christ, Jesus has made peace and has made the two or one man in him. Right? So that's what he's coming into. You were once far away, but now in Christ, all of this division has gone away, and Christ has made us one man with him as the head, one body. So those those hostilities have have gone away, that we're this one man, that Christ has given us peace. And then he says, so then you are no longer strangers or aliens, but citizens, right? Members, members of God's household or members of God's family.
SPEAKER_01And so the I mean, the household of God, what does that what does that phrase mean? I mean, traditionally, I guess it had meant God's God's people, the Jewish people, right? Is what uh I mean they were the only ones in the household of God before in the in the old covenant. And so he's actually using language, and he does it later with the temple. He's using language that very intentionally invites the new into the old. Like into the like this, remember, Paul was a Pharisee. He of all the people who protected the hostility, who like really guarded the hostility, he'd have been right at the top, and he's using language that is that has been reserved for the Israelites, reserved for the Jewish people, to describe now what these uncircumcised Gentiles are sharing in.
SPEAKER_00And so I noted that just the contrast, right? Yeah. Foreigners, aliens, now citizens, members.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Right? Like you just start to really see sharp contrasts in in this passage.
SPEAKER_01And then we notice that it shifts so it starts with that contrast of the people that that were different and now are together. And then it goes to this imagery around construction or building, where it starts with foundation and cornerstone and those pieces that that go into building a you know a s a structure of some kind, and using that as a parallel. So you've got you've got these people who were formerly hostile toward one another, are now actually necessary and dependent
Cornerstone And Foundation Explained
SPEAKER_01on one another to be a part of this structure.
SPEAKER_00Right? Now they're they're one. The two kind of metaphors that he uses are citizens and family members. Right. Right? Those those are kind of the two. So now you're one, like one community citizen, like in one nation, or you're one family, you're in one household. So it and I think those are instructive to kind of give a sense to think about what does it mean to be like one in community or one in a household. For us right now, it's probably easier for us to think about unity in a family, right? And you know, under our roof than it is to think about nationhood.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00We don't think about nationhood in the same way that that this in this context, they would think about nationhood.
SPEAKER_01Right, culturally different, different view there, but but the but the family is a good relatable piece for us too to if to help us put that into its right context. And again, to me, it goes from family to building to temple. So so not just so it goes from family, then the dependence, the dependent parts of a structure, and then not just any structure, but let's talk about the temple. The the temple. That's a big deal for a former Pharisee to start invoking the temple in this in this context, in this way, because what he says, if I'm read I'm reading it here, he says, as we are joined together, Jews and Gentiles, we are growing into together a holy temple in the Lord, taking the place of the holy temple. We are growing into a holy temple in the world. So I notice language that we've heard in the past here, next, which is in him. So everything that's being described here, we're reminded frequently that it's in him or in Christ that this that this happens. And it says you are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit, the temple, being built into a temple, a dwelling place for God. Okay. Anything else to observe?
SPEAKER_00No, I mean, but you don't want to lose how remarkable that is. And and you you said that, but just to think about that again, that Paul is saying that Jews and Gentiles in Christ are now together the dwelling place of God's spirit.
SPEAKER_01I mean, an unimaginable claim in that day and age. Absolutely unimaginable claim. I mean, there are people who would have heard that claim in the in the physical temple and who would have picked up stones.
SPEAKER_00Right. I mean, when you talk about the dividing wall of hostility that he talks about earlier, it that's a reference to the dividing wall in the temple. The Gentiles were not even,
Unity Of Jews And Gentiles
SPEAKER_00they were allowed in the Gentile court, which was the outer court. Completely outside.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00They weren't even allowed inside the temple.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, out there with the animals, basically.
SPEAKER_00And the women.
SPEAKER_01And the women. Don't forget the women. Right. Couldn't help yourself, could you?
SPEAKER_00I couldn't. Right.
SPEAKER_01But actually, I think there is a court of women, but I think the court of gentiles is further.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think it may be. But right? But they weren't even allowed in the temple. I mean, it you have to kind of right. I mean, if you get into what does it mean, you've got to put yourself in their culture and their context. The Gentiles weren't allowed in the temple.
SPEAKER_01So that's where we're going. Let's just go ahead and go there because we're moving into what does it mean? And that's an really important observation to give context to what's being said here.
SPEAKER_00Right. And they weren't allowed in the temple. And now Paul is saying, but in him you are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. Like you are becoming the temple. Like not only are you allowed inside, you're it. And I mean, it just to marvel at that, that that foreigners are becoming family. And and now they are together becoming the place where God's presence exists on earth.
SPEAKER_01So what do you what do you make of in as it kind of comes into this imagery of describing the different parts of the of the of the building that's being described here? Of jointly, of course, we're talking about Jews and Gentiles together, but he also specifically says built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, and the cornerstone being Christ Himself. What do you make of that? What's what does that mean?
SPEAKER_00And that was something certainly that I observed about it that the building materials are listed.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00But yeah, absolutely. So as you start thinking about what that means, what is the foundation of the apostles and the prophets? Like in that culture, what would they have recognized the apostles and the prophets to be?
SPEAKER_01I mean, in the Ephesian culture, it's hard for me to even really know because they won't they didn't have all that background in history.
SPEAKER_00They are, but he they're also Jews here. Well, okay in this church, right? Because he's talking about the dividing walls being brought down. And so so there are, but he is reference like referencing back in this church to the foundation of the apostles and the prophets.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Which is the old testament.
SPEAKER_01Well, the prophets are the old testament. Of course, the apostles are the new. But
Timeless Truths Identified
SPEAKER_01they're all Jews, right? All of the apostles and the prophets are all part of the nation of Israel.
SPEAKER_00Right. They're all part of the nation of Israel.
SPEAKER_01And so they're a foundation, but they're not the whole building.
SPEAKER_00Right. But all of that foundation doesn't go like it doesn't go away. It is the foundation that all of this is being built on.
SPEAKER_01And even a foundation needs its own foundation. And that's a cornerstone. So structurally, we know that you can't build a good house on a bad foundation. You also can't build a good foundation on a bad cornerstone. So the cornerstone is the is the starting point. It's the it's the root of all of it. And what he's saying is that even the even the prophets, even the old testament prophets, are even though they're part of the foundation, they are also built on the cornerstone of Christ.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_01Which is a little, I mean, you know, just kind of wrapping your head around that, we think in a pretty linear historical kind of way, they preceded Christ, but they also are completely dependent on him. Anything else you draw draw from from understand their home, what and what does it mean here?
SPEAKER_00I mean, one of the things uh that I was just thinking about when we went to we got an opportunity to to spend some time in Rome.
Applications For Church Life
SPEAKER_00And a lot of those buildings still have cornerstones.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00And they would point them out when you would when you would kind of go through some of these, especially like the Coliseum.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, even if the building itself isn't all still there.
SPEAKER_00Sometimes it is, sometimes it, but the cornerstone Right, because it set the you know, it sets the dimensions and the angle and everything for for the entire building. To just think about these have these have stood for thousands of years, because this was in the Coliseum, and if that cornerstone goes, the whole thing goes.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. Which is always the case, and that's what's being described here. So the so that's what it means.
SPEAKER_00And this is what and in this culture, they would be very familiar with cornerstones.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00You know, that the the significance of them, how important they are, their their role in setting the the framework and and the shape of the whole building, that it's the usually it's the biggest and the sturdiest stone and the whole, you know, in in kind of the whole thing. And that's what what he's saying is that the the prophets and the apostles are the foundation, but all of that was put together, it's held together, it's pointing to in the New Testament, they describe it in different ways, but all of that is Christ. Everything about it is held together by Christ.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so that's observing what we see, and then understand their home, tell us what it means. So that's what we've been doing so far. Now we want to turn our attention to bring it back home, which is how does it relate? And we're looking for timeless truths here. You may have written down some timeless truths, hopefully you did, for this section of your own study. Uh so as you look at those, we're gonna take a look at some that we have. I I will tell you what jumped out to me on this is that that a diverse community of believers is a holy dwelling place for God. That there's something about people who don't have anything else in common except except Christ and Him crucified, being a being a diverse community of believers that makes it a
Commitment To Diverse Community
SPEAKER_01holy dwelling place for God. There's something about that here that's described. And then the other thing that I that I jotted down was was this this uh significance of our citizenship and our purpose being what unites us. So the this is part of what's described here and in the in the passage even before it, but that but it it's our citizenship and our purpose that unite us in Christ. What did you have for timeless truths in this section?
SPEAKER_00I went to the churches built on and in Christ, and is his dwelling place on earth.
SPEAKER_01So based on these timeless truths, these things that are eternally true, and you may have different ones, and that's okay. That's good, in fact. Uh the Holy Spirit doesn't always give us the same ones, but you can test your timeless truths, because even if they're not the same ones we found, they should be just as true for us and for you as they are anybody else in this, because they are universally true. That's the that's the test for timeless truths. Once you have those established, the next step is to apply it in your home, and that's what do I do? How do I change? How do I respond as a result of these truths? So, what did you have by way of application here, Rachel?
SPEAKER_00The applications that I had were probably extensions of yesterday. Just thinking about thinking about like challenging my thoughts on the church. Like, do I Love and long for the church
From Reading To Prayer
SPEAKER_00as God's dwelling place, right? On the being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. And uh just how that elevates the church of God.
SPEAKER_01And there is something about what we're reading today, I like how you said that, that it elevates the church of God. The bride of Christ is is elevated through this imagery and through these truths.
SPEAKER_00And you know, we come from a very individualistic culture. And and so our individualism tends to to color and shape how how we think about things, how we read things, how we see things. And and so I think a lot about how Christ indwells me or how Christ indwells you. I don't know that I think much about that collectively.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. That the church we just aren't as hardwired to think that way, but that is the truth here. That's what the truth that's being expressed.
SPEAKER_00This big, beautiful, global church that is being that that God's spirit fills.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And I was I need to elevate the thinking of the church in my thinking.
SPEAKER_01So I had a similar application, and I I I actually had maybe a series of two or three applications that kind of build on each other. So I'm gonna start with with just just could because part of application is how should I think? So I'm gonna marvel at God's handiwork to build community among these who are so different from each other otherwise, right? There I mean, we we talked yesterday about how there are no distinctions anymore because you're in Christ.
Method Reflections And Next Steps
SPEAKER_01But we st we still we still know how how different we at least used to think of all these things, all these people. And so marveling at God's handiwork to build community among these people who we would otherwise see as so different from each other. I'm struck by, I mean, you you and I are are part of a of a small group in our church, uh, we call them adult Bible fellowships, but when we were just in the beginning stages of that group, we prayed that God would bring together a group of people who weren't all alike. I mean, one of the things that happens a lot in our churches, and and I totally understand why I'm not criticizing this at all, but we do tend to kind of subgroup in very, very like groups, right? That it's if you're married and you are in your 30s, you're in this group. If you are single and you are in your forties, or if you are divorced, or if you are a widow, or if you, you know, if you're if you have kids, you don't have kids, and they're this age, you I mean, you just basically put people together in ways that are just really, really similar to each other. And again, we tend to gravitate that way anyway, I think. But there's something really beautiful in God's church about the distinctions, the the diversity in, I mean, I don't know, that's all kind of a loaded term nowadays, but I just it's just a very diverse church, and that's the beauty, is because it's in Christ that we're united. It's in Christ that we find our unity. And so we prayed that the Lord would do that. And he did. He did it over time, and he did it in some unexpected ways, but we have this group of people who we just love so dearly and who love each other so dearly, and and they're and they're in all different life stages. I mean, I think I think our ranges from in the 30s, in your 30s, all the way up to into your 70s, and and there are people who are married, there are people who are single, there are people who are widowed, there are people who are divorced, there are people who have kids, there are people who don't have kids, there are people who have grandkids who don't have grandkids, I mean, every every
Closing Prayer And Sendoff
SPEAKER_01combination you can think of, and it's a group that just loves each other like crazy. And and we have this this uh missionary that we support and who would come back and give reports to us, and he he marvels at it too. And he said, You guys are just kind of weird. You know, it's just not that you're I mean, it's just it's unusual to see that, and it shouldn't be unusual. We should see more of it, but that's what this looked like. And so anyway, I say marvel at God's handiwork to build community among those who are so different from each other on the surface, that might look different on the surface, and then these are the big, the big applications, commit, this is for me, commit to the fellowship of believers. As you said, the bride of Christ, the church is elevated in this in this context. And so I need to commit to the fellowship of believers, and I need to serve the bride of Christ with awe and wonder at what God has done to just to bring this body together.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I love that.
SPEAKER_01Any applic other applications you're seeing or taking from this?
SPEAKER_00No, I love that, and I would just as you were were speaking, I was just thinking about especially just post-COVID, there are so many people that fell out of church and have not come back.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00And and there are people, you know, we've we've got them in our lives that that claim Christ and are not part of a church family. Right. And just as you were talking, I was thinking about that, that that that misses so much that that the spirit of Christ indwells his body collectively too. Yeah.
unknownRight?
SPEAKER_00And it makes sense each individual person, like he does indwell each person each individual person, and he does do that, but he also indwells the body collectively. And if you are not collectively gathering, you're missing it. You're missing out on seeing part of the glory of God.
SPEAKER_01The temple. What's called the temple here, yeah, right? I mean, that's glorious. The whole the temple is by design glorious and you're missing it.
SPEAKER_00And it's God's dwelling place. It's it's how God dwells with his people, and he is he has transferred that from a physical place to a collection, to a collection of people that he calls the church, that he calls his body his bride.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And in that bride, in that body, he dwells with his people. And and just to just value that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I I think about, of course, we the part the next step in this in this method is that we move from from reading to prayer. And it feels like your application and my application both really lean pretty heavily into our prayer life, right? I mean, part of what, I mean, I'll just for me, the obvious one is if part of my application is to change my thinking, so I marvel at God's handiwork to build community among those who are so different from each other. And the question is, well, what from what you have seen showed should you praise God for or take before him in need? I need to praise God for what he's done, for doing what we would we would on the surface, in our in our finite human minds, look at as being too different to ever be united, right? And marvel at what he has done and praise him. Just give him glory for what he alone can do and has done. And then in doing that, I want to come to him and just ask him to help me to just commit fully to the fellowship of believers and serve that bride of Christ with just this sense of awe and wonder at what he has done. I mean, that that has to affect your prayer life. What what what do you take from from reading to prayer in this, Rachel?
SPEAKER_00I think that my prayer was to help me live as a citizen and household member of the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Just to help me like understand what it means to be a citizen of the kingdom of God and to be a member of a household of a family and and just praying about that, you know. The I think in some ways it's that there are some things, especially in like small groups and those types of things, that it's easier to think about that if you're engaged in a small group to think about that as a family. But if you don't have that, it's hard to think about church being a family, right? That you are part of that household.
SPEAKER_01Especially probably a pretty big church, which a lot of people are part of in in the US.
SPEAKER_00And so just to challenge, I think challenge my thinking, challenge my practice. Like, are there ways that that I need to change how I think to treat my church as a family, that I am a member of that household? And then what responsibilities and obligations does that bring to me to be a member of a household or to be a citizen is the other language that's used there. And so to really think about how does that translate into church life?
SPEAKER_01Is that then what you would commit to meditation, memory? I mean, it sounds like that, that's really what you're zeroing in on for meditation and memory.
SPEAKER_00And to ask the Lord, like, what does that look like for me as I as I serve? Do I have the heart to do that? Is that how, like, is that my desire and my heart? And then if so, what is that, what does that look like for me?
SPEAKER_01Very good. Very good. Well, I just want to thank you for for walking through this with us. And for many of you, trying this their home to your home method is new. And so as we wrap up day six of the the final day of the week of this method, we'll start a new method tomorrow. But but I just want to thank you for really committing to that and and working through it. And I hope that the Lord has blessed you as you've walked through these texts in in Ephesians, the way that He has blessed Rachel and has has blessed me as well. Rachel, any any impressions or thoughts that you would share as you reflect on a week of using this method?
SPEAKER_00Definitely, I would say if you want to keep going in Ephesians, please, please do it. This is a, I think, a great method to to use as as you're working through Ephesians. I would say kind of just spoiler alert, chapter three starts with another therefore. So gather your thoughts, keep them together. And so when you start chapter three, you can go back and review the truths that you have pulled out from chapter one and chapter two, because he's going to use those to culminate into kind of the end of his argument. And he's building it out. So in chapter three, you get another therefore. And so keep your papers handy if you want to keep going, because you're you're gonna need them again to refresh what he was talking about.
SPEAKER_01So stay at it. I hope you will. I hope you'll use this new tool in your toolbox for for studying the Bible frequently when it when it works well for you. And as it works well for you, I hope you'll do that. Tomorrow will be the we'll we'll be starting our third of four methods. We'll be overviewing that. So tomorrow is the one day of the week where you don't have homework. Uh you don't come back here having already already looked at it. We're we're gonna walk you through some instruction on how to use uh this gospel threads framework uh for Bible study. And that's, I think, just a beautiful, beautiful picture that God's work in bringing the core elements of the of the gospel to us has always been the plan. You see these elements, we'll talk more about it tomorrow, but you see these elements of the gospel. There are about five core essential elements of the gospel, and you'll see it all throughout the Old and New Testament once you learn to look for it. And as you learn to look for it, you're gonna see them everywhere. And that's this really just you talk about a way to draw nearer to the Lord, that's a great, great way to do it. And we're gonna learn more about that one tomorrow. So, Rachel, any parting thoughts you'd you'd give before you close us in prayer today?
SPEAKER_00No, I think we've got lots, kind of lots to think about and lots to challenge ourselves with and to pray through and and wrestle through with the Lord.
SPEAKER_01And so Well, let's go to him then.
SPEAKER_00All right, let's pray. Our most gracious Heavenly Father, we praise you that we are no longer foreigners or aliens, but that we are citizens with God's people, that we are members of God's household. And Father, I pray that you will just help those truths to wash over us, that people who did not belong now belong, that the those who are far away or are now near, that in Christ there is no other division between us, that we are one body, and we are a body that is your bride. And in your word, you say that you are working to make your bride spotless and presentable. And Father, we just praise you for that, that you are working all things together to sanctify your bride. And so, Father, I pray that you will just give us a heart to join in your work, that we will be people that love your people, that we will be people who work to make your bride splot spotless and blameless before you. And so, Father, I pray that you'll show that, show us what that looks like in our life, what that looks like in how we live together. And Father, that you will just help us to marvel at your handiwork, that people who are so different, people who have different thoughts and different ideas and different talents and different abilities and different approaches in you can be made one. And then your spirit dwells there to give us a more full picture of who you are and and your glory. So, Father, just help us to marvel at what you have done, to love what you have done, and to love your church. And we ask that in Jesus' name. Amen.
SPEAKER_01Amen. Well, we hope that you have been blessed by this time together using this method, the method two of the four that we will review. Tomorrow we will provide instruction on method three of the four, and that's gospel threads. So join us back here tomorrow for gospel threads.