SPEAKER_01: At the road.
SPEAKER_01: Our vision is to raise up wholehearted disciples of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: For more information on the road, visit theroad.org.
SPEAKER_01: We hope you are encouraged by today's message.
SPEAKER_00: Tonight I'm not speaking, but I've asked Marcus to speak.
SPEAKER_00: Marcus, our worship pastor.
SPEAKER_00: He's also, he's also a I would call you a prayer intercession missionary with Axe School, which is out of the Jericho Center, every home for Christ, just down the road, and he's been our worship pastor, I think, all fall, so about three months and four months, and it's been a delight.
SPEAKER_00: So if you're taking notes, because he didn't get it to the app, he he's he's just so anointed that he doesn't even work from notes.
SPEAKER_00: It's just all he needs is the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: So he'll come up with just the word of God, no notes.
SPEAKER_00: That piece of paper that he has with him has nothing on it, but pictures that he drew just before the service.
SPEAKER_00: But it's can my my title last night was Contending for the Focus Life Vision.
SPEAKER_00: And tonight it's Contending for a Focused Life Intimacy.
SPEAKER_00: So Marcus is going to be speaking on his head.
SPEAKER_00: Come on up, bro.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks.
SPEAKER_02: Good evening.
SPEAKER_02: Wasn't last night wonderful?
SPEAKER_02: It was awesome.
SPEAKER_02: I really enjoyed praying with you guys.
SPEAKER_02: I enjoyed seeking the Lord and worshiping and hearing Steve's message on just provoking us to live focused lives.
SPEAKER_02: I have to be provoked to live a focused life about every three weeks.
SPEAKER_02: And it normally comes from my wife, right?
SPEAKER_02: You're like, oh, I'm not, I don't really want to keep that commitment.
SPEAKER_02: And she's like, that's not what Christ would do.
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, oh, honey, you're right.
unknown: Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_02: I need to be a man of my word.
SPEAKER_02: Let my yes be, yes, but let my no be no.
SPEAKER_02: Amen?
SPEAKER_02: No, I do.
SPEAKER_02: I feel like I sign up about every three weeks.
SPEAKER_02: How many of you guys know there's not a super Christian?
SPEAKER_02: There's just people who decide every day that Jesus is worthy.
SPEAKER_02: He wants us to have relationship with him, and he's filled us with his Holy Spirit to do it.
SPEAKER_02: And then we take out the Word of God and we put it on our lips, like David said.
SPEAKER_02: David said, All of the precepts of the law shall be on my lips.
SPEAKER_02: He said that the law of the Lord will be on his lips continually.
SPEAKER_02: And I think David found a secret.
SPEAKER_02: I think he found a secret to fellowshipping with God.
SPEAKER_02: It's through the Word of God.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm just going to give us a little, hopefully, uh, to spur us on in our walk tonight, of having a vision to have intimacy with Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus wants to draw near to his people.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, the whole Christmas incarnation narrative.
SPEAKER_02: It screams of this.
SPEAKER_02: The holy God, who is worshipped by angels and saints around his throne, looks at us and says, I'm going to get closer to them.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, he's already set apart a people Israel.
SPEAKER_02: He's already filled their tabernacle with his spirit.
SPEAKER_02: He was already worshipped by David night and day, by Solomon, and as the priests were ministering, the fire fell and the presence of the Lord filled the temple.
SPEAKER_02: And God is saying, I will be their God, they will be my people, I will dwell in their midst.
SPEAKER_02: And then Jesus comes and draws near to us.
SPEAKER_02: That same Shekinah glory that you would fall down dead before if there was a sin in your life.
SPEAKER_02: Now came, and a prostitute is worshiping at his feet.
SPEAKER_02: And he's saying, I'm being worshipped.
SPEAKER_02: I'm being, she's repenting, she's coming to me.
SPEAKER_02: This is what I desire.
SPEAKER_02: Not only that, he dies for our sins.
SPEAKER_02: He rises from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: And what does he do?
SPEAKER_02: He sends us the helper.
SPEAKER_02: And the church is filled by the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: And the Holy Spirit has come to help us, to remind us of the word of Jesus, to help us in fellowship with the Godhead.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, the power that created the cosmos lives inside of us.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, the power of a billion exploding stars right now actually lives inside of us.
SPEAKER_02: Do you know what his passion is?
SPEAKER_02: To reveal Jesus to us.
SPEAKER_02: The Holy Spirit's passion is to reveal Jesus to us.
SPEAKER_02: But not only that, it gets better and better and better.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus is going to return.
SPEAKER_02: And you're going to get a resurrected body that's filled with the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: Even more.
SPEAKER_02: And you're going to get to rule and reign with Jesus for a thousand years.
SPEAKER_02: And not only that, he's going to make a new heaven and a new earth.
SPEAKER_02: And the new Jerusalem is going to come down, and God is going to have his dream to dwell with his people.
SPEAKER_02: Well, this is not the introduction that I had planned.
SPEAKER_02: So I have to segue back to my notes here, okay?
SPEAKER_02: I'm just kind of like speaking and oh.
SPEAKER_02: But isn't he good?
SPEAKER_02: And he wants to be with us.
SPEAKER_02: He wants to share it with the family.
SPEAKER_02: I like to think of have you guys ever read the dimensions of the New Jerusalem?
SPEAKER_02: Have you ever read that in Revelation 21?
SPEAKER_02: And it says it's 1,400 miles wide.
SPEAKER_02: It uses cubits, but if we convert it, it's 1,400 miles wide, 1,400 miles in length, and 1,400 miles high.
SPEAKER_02: That's a big city.
SPEAKER_02: That's a city that fills like Florida to Texas and up to like New York and stuff like that.
SPEAKER_02: You know why?
SPEAKER_02: He wants a big family.
SPEAKER_02: He wants that whole house, the New Jerusalem, that whole city to be filled.
SPEAKER_02: That's why he's being patient with us right now.
SPEAKER_02: He's patient with humankind.
SPEAKER_02: Because he wants the gospel to go forth into every tribe, every tongue, every people, every nation.
SPEAKER_02: And praise God, he's been patient.
SPEAKER_02: Praise God, he's waited 2,000 years to come back, right?
SPEAKER_02: Or you and I wouldn't be here.
SPEAKER_02: We wouldn't get to take part in the promises of God.
SPEAKER_02: Well, I'm getting ahead of myself, way ahead of myself, way, way ahead of myself.
SPEAKER_02: So, our subject tonight: contending for a focused life of intimacy with God or intimacy with Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: I'm going to speak from Ephesians chapter 1.
SPEAKER_02: So if you have your Bible, turn in your Bible to Ephesians chapter 1.
SPEAKER_02: I heard a preacher say the other day, and I promised that I would never say this joke, and it's coming to me right now, and I'm going to say it, and I know I'm going to regret it.
SPEAKER_02: He's like, if you have your Bible, turn in your Bible, or if you have your phone and you're a phony Christian.
SPEAKER_02: I said it.
SPEAKER_02: I whispered to my wife when I heard that joke, I was like, I'm never going to say that joke.
SPEAKER_02: And it came out.
SPEAKER_02: You know.
SPEAKER_02: You're a dad of seven, you get used to dad jokes, right?
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
SPEAKER_02: My wife apologizes.
SPEAKER_02: She couldn't join us tonight.
SPEAKER_02: She has a part-time job and she's working tonight.
SPEAKER_02: So uh, or I would introduce her.
SPEAKER_02: But Ephesians chapter one.
SPEAKER_02: This, well, really the book of Ephesians, it's it's a wonderful book of the New Testament.
SPEAKER_02: It's uh it's a diamond of the New Testament.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's so clearly laid out.
SPEAKER_02: Um kind of like what Steve was saying of Philippians chapter three.
SPEAKER_02: If you want to know the mind of Paul, I do believe Philippians chapter three is one of the clearest pictures of what we have as to how Paul thought about his life and how he was pursuing believers to pursue and reach for the heights of what God has.
SPEAKER_02: But uh but the book of Ephesians is very clearly laid out in theology and then in practical application.
SPEAKER_02: Chapters one through three, it's who, what is God like, and how does he relate to us?
SPEAKER_02: And then chapters four, five, and six, it's okay, in that relationship, how do we walk out our Christian walk?
SPEAKER_02: It's very practical.
SPEAKER_02: Chapter four, five, and six, it deals with slaves, it deals with marriage, it deals with fighting the battle that we're actually in.
SPEAKER_02: But I think chapters one through three, Paul was giving them here's the fuel for the fight.
SPEAKER_02: Here's the strength, the revelation of who God is, fueling the believer to have intimacy with him in the place of prayer and through the word of God.
SPEAKER_02: And that intimacy produces Christians that are looking, acting, thinking like God, and then revealing him in the earth through the power of messaging and the spoken word and the power of their lives being lived as holy before him.
SPEAKER_02: So we're gonna get into a little bit of the fuel, chapters one through three, okay?
SPEAKER_02: We're just gonna focus on chapter one, a little of the background of the book of Ephesians.
SPEAKER_02: Just like Philippians, Paul is chained to a guard as he writes this book.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, he has very little personal freedom, and actually, all of his possessions had been taken away.
SPEAKER_02: I like to live my life.
SPEAKER_02: You know what?
SPEAKER_02: I want to live my life as if I'm gonna end up in prison and all of my possessions are gonna be taken away.
SPEAKER_02: I actually want to live like that.
SPEAKER_02: I want to live as a pilgrim on this earth, and I'm looking to the heavenly city, I'm looking to my inheritance.
SPEAKER_02: Now, don't get me wrong, I want to make as much money as I can to do as much good as I can.
SPEAKER_02: I want my good works to shine forth the knowledge of God.
SPEAKER_02: But I want in my heart the word of God and the revelation of God to be sown so that if everything else is taken away, you know what?
SPEAKER_02: I know that I still have an inheritance.
SPEAKER_02: And that's what Paul is doing here.
SPEAKER_02: Everything has been taken away from him, but you would never know it if you read the book of Ephesians.
SPEAKER_02: He speaks as though he's a millionaire.
SPEAKER_02: He speaks as he's a billionaire.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, just listen to some of these descriptions.
SPEAKER_02: He says that he's blessed with every spiritual blessing.
SPEAKER_02: He's blessed with every blessing that heaven and Jesus could think of.
SPEAKER_02: It's been given to him.
SPEAKER_02: He says he's been chosen by God the Father, and he's a son, and he has an inheritance.
SPEAKER_02: He said he's been filled with the very Spirit of the living God, and he has hope, he has treasure set apart for him in another age.
SPEAKER_02: And the hope of Christ is alive in his heart.
SPEAKER_02: That does not sound like a prisoner to me.
SPEAKER_02: That doesn't sound like one who is wallowing in his suffering.
SPEAKER_02: That sounds like one who is looking to where he is going and meditating on the glories of who Jesus is and his relationship with him.
SPEAKER_02: We need that, right, guys?
SPEAKER_02: I love the quote that uh that uh uh Pastor Steve brought us last night from Victor Franco, the famous psychologist who was a concentration camp survivor in the Holocaust.
SPEAKER_02: And Steve reminded us last night that he said that no one, Victor Franco said that no one in that setting could steal his attitude.
SPEAKER_02: No one could steal what he was thinking, no one could steal what was alive in his heart, this hope of a future day where he would be released and where he would still have a future.
SPEAKER_02: And that's what Paul's doing here.
SPEAKER_02: No one is stealing the revelation of who Jesus is to him.
SPEAKER_02: No one is stealing his inheritance in the age to come.
SPEAKER_02: And so Paul is overflowing.
SPEAKER_02: And actually, it's interesting, I'm a little bit of a Bible nerd.
SPEAKER_02: Any Bible nerds in here?
SPEAKER_02: I love Bible nerds, okay?
SPEAKER_02: That just, you're not actually a nerd, but I love some of the ins and outs, some of the underlying things that these words are flowing from.
SPEAKER_02: Verses 3 through 14 actually in the Greek is one sentence.
SPEAKER_02: Now look in that if you have in your Bible.
SPEAKER_02: It's one sentence in the Greek, and there's actually very little punctuation.
SPEAKER_02: Okay?
SPEAKER_02: And it's driven Bible scholars like mad for years.
SPEAKER_02: Like, Paul, could you just put a comma in a period and just help us?
SPEAKER_02: But it's almost as Paul can't write fast enough.
SPEAKER_02: He's like overflowing in his heart, describing his sonship, describing his redemption, describing the grace and love of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_02: There's a psalm, Psalm 45, and it and it begins, and the psalmist says, My tongue is as of a pen of a ready rider.
SPEAKER_02: Any writers in the room?
SPEAKER_02: Any writers?
SPEAKER_02: You guys like to blog, you guys like to write books.
SPEAKER_02: You know when you are writing and you don't have writer's block and it's just flowing from your heart?
SPEAKER_02: That's what the psalmist is describing.
SPEAKER_02: His tongue was a pen of a ready rider, and he had a good theme, and his good theme was the king, the majestic Messiah that was to be sent.
SPEAKER_02: And Paul, I think, is in that same vein.
SPEAKER_02: He's just overflowing of who Jesus is and who the Father is.
SPEAKER_02: So let's get into this a little bit, okay?
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna pray one more time.
SPEAKER_02: We're gonna get into Ephesians 1, and we're gonna end with the prayer of Ephesians 1, and we're gonna end just with some practical instruction just on your prayer life before the Lord, contending for that intimacy with Jesus in the Word.
SPEAKER_02: Lord, we thank you for these five days.
SPEAKER_02: And Lord, we thank you that you love the gathering of your people.
SPEAKER_02: You've actually instructed us to gather and to think on you and to worship you and to exhort one another in following you.
SPEAKER_02: So, Holy Spirit, right now we ask you to help us.
SPEAKER_02: We ask you to come in our midst and reveal Jesus where human words fail.
SPEAKER_02: Open up our hearts, Holy Spirit, to who Jesus is.
SPEAKER_02: Right now, we ask you for a living revelation to be given to us.
SPEAKER_02: In Jesus' name, amen.
SPEAKER_02: So we're gonna begin with verse three.
SPEAKER_02: So Paul says this blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_02: Now, if you when you read that in Paul's language, it's almost as like you're looking at an exclamation point before the sentence, okay?
SPEAKER_02: So blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_02: It was a praise and a blessing, and there was anticipation, if you were to hear that in the Greek, of what's to come.
SPEAKER_02: He's gonna he's gonna unfold the blessings.
SPEAKER_02: Some exciting things are gonna come.
SPEAKER_02: And then Paul says this, and he has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places.
SPEAKER_02: Now, guys, those are blessings we can walk in now and blessings that will be given to us then.
SPEAKER_02: Did you know you can walk in the favor of God if you actually cry out for the favor of God in the place of prayer?
SPEAKER_02: Did you know you can walk in a greater empowerment for holiness if you actually open your mouth and say, Holy Spirit, empower me to live holy before the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: But did you know there are also wonderful gifts awaiting for us if we overcome, says Jesus in Revelation chapter 2 and chapter 3.
SPEAKER_02: Those who overcome, it says, they are gonna be given what's called the crown of life.
SPEAKER_02: Paul talks about this.
SPEAKER_02: He's I've fought the good fight, I've ran the rape, I've pressed on so that I could attain the prize and this crown of life that was going to be given to him.
SPEAKER_02: We're gonna want that crown of life, I guarantee you.
SPEAKER_02: It's gonna be special, it's gonna be significant, it's gonna have to do with the Lord and his gaze upon our life as we live before him.
SPEAKER_02: And he says, Well done, enter into the joy of your master.
SPEAKER_02: Some of the other rewards we're gonna be given.
SPEAKER_02: Did you know you're actually gonna eat from the tree of life again?
SPEAKER_02: It says it in Revelation chapter 2.
SPEAKER_02: It says, Those who ever come, they're gonna eat from the tree of life again.
SPEAKER_02: That tree of life, I think it's gonna fuel our resurrected bodies.
SPEAKER_02: I don't know how it's all gonna work, but I think we're gonna want access to that tree of life.
SPEAKER_02: It says that there's gonna be hidden manna for us to feast on, and he's gonna give us a new name.
SPEAKER_02: And this name is gonna have special relationship between us and him.
SPEAKER_02: How many of you have ever tainted your name in your life?
SPEAKER_02: You've done some things that you're not proud of.
SPEAKER_02: Anyone?
SPEAKER_02: My hands up.
SPEAKER_02: I've I've I've I've stumbled in sin, or or I've or I've been careless with my speech, or I've made that wrong decision and and that wrong financial decision, and you there's some shame involved in it.
SPEAKER_02: Or many of you, or maybe some of you, you've done way worse things.
SPEAKER_02: You've tainted your name.
SPEAKER_02: Guess what?
SPEAKER_02: There's redemption in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_02: He's actually gonna give you a new name when you stand before him.
SPEAKER_02: If you continue to overcome, if you continue in this pursuit of a focused life in him.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, the word of God goes on and on.
SPEAKER_02: He's it says, to him who overcomes and does my will to the end, I'm gonna give authority over the nations.
SPEAKER_02: Have you ever read about those elders that surround the throne of God?
SPEAKER_02: And it says they're on a throne, it says they're robed in white robes, it says there's a crown upon their heads.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's kind of like the hierarchy of heaven.
SPEAKER_02: Like, who were these guys in life that they are that close to the throne of God?
SPEAKER_02: But we know from Scripture that He can give us that authority as well.
SPEAKER_02: He's gonna cause us to sit on thrones with Him.
SPEAKER_02: And we're gonna be so grateful for the crown, for the robe that closes us in righteousness, for the authority he's given us, that we're gonna fall on our knees and we're gonna give it all back to him.
SPEAKER_02: And you know what?
SPEAKER_02: He's gonna walk up to us.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe.
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
SPEAKER_02: This isn't scripture.
SPEAKER_02: This is me theorizing from scripture.
SPEAKER_02: He's probably gonna walk up to us because he's the servant of servants, and he's probably gonna put it back on our heads.
SPEAKER_02: I love you.
SPEAKER_02: I wanted you to have this.
SPEAKER_02: I've been thinking of you since before the foundations of the world.
SPEAKER_02: I've had a plan that you would live with me in glory forever.
SPEAKER_02: And guys, we are gonna be exhilarated in God.
SPEAKER_02: Exhilarated, fascinated in God.
SPEAKER_02: Paul says, meditate on that now.
SPEAKER_02: Know that you have been given every spiritual blessing.
SPEAKER_02: When you come across a spiritual blessing in the Word of God, take time.
SPEAKER_02: Like actually stop and say, Lord, I actually want that spiritual blessing.
SPEAKER_02: Would you help me to continue to overcome till the end?
SPEAKER_02: So Paul says, we are blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places.
SPEAKER_02: The analogy I like to use with this, I have a small child, her name's Harvest, and she's just a firecracker.
SPEAKER_02: Does anyone know Harvest in here?
SPEAKER_02: Have you guys ever seen Harvest?
SPEAKER_02: She is just hilarious.
SPEAKER_02: There's not one thought that goes through her head that doesn't come out of her mouth.
SPEAKER_02: Okay?
SPEAKER_02: She's like a girl's girl verbal processor.
SPEAKER_02: All I have to do is just go on a drive with her.
SPEAKER_02: I don't have to talk.
SPEAKER_02: And she's just like the squirrel on the tree in the mountains, and da-da-da-da-da-da.
SPEAKER_02: And my friend the preschool day.
SPEAKER_02: Anyway, she's so cute.
SPEAKER_02: I think of her, and I think if I took her into a toy store and she said, Dad, can I get a toy?
SPEAKER_02: And I said to her, Harvest, I've already bought them all, and they're for you.
SPEAKER_02: Think of now, everyone smiles right there.
SPEAKER_02: Think of the smile that would come.
SPEAKER_02: The for harvest, it would be like a blood-curdling scream.
SPEAKER_01: You know, it'd be like, You're so wonderful!
SPEAKER_02: You know, it's like that type of like overwhelming sense of joy.
SPEAKER_02: The Holy Spirit actually wants to give that to us for the spiritual blessings that will be ours in the age to come.
SPEAKER_02: He can actually fill us with that type of fascination.
SPEAKER_02: It takes some time, it takes some meditation, and we're gonna get into that.
SPEAKER_02: But he can fill us with fascination for the hope that is ours and the inheritance we've been given.
SPEAKER_02: Let's move on.
SPEAKER_02: It says this verse four even as he chose us in him before.
SPEAKER_02: The foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before Him.
SPEAKER_02: I love to confess this over my life.
SPEAKER_02: I look to the Lord, I close my eyes, and I say, I'm chosen.
SPEAKER_02: Thank you that you chose me.
SPEAKER_02: God has thoughts for us.
SPEAKER_02: He's been thinking of us before the foundation of the earth.
SPEAKER_02: Did you know that?
SPEAKER_02: Steve said last night, everyone has a mission, has a plan from the Lord over their life.
SPEAKER_02: This is scriptural.
SPEAKER_02: This is true.
SPEAKER_02: Psalm 139, Jeremiah chapter 1, that he knows us from our wombs, and he's actually been, not from our wombs, from our mother's womb, and he's actually been thinking of us before that day, before the foundations of the world.
SPEAKER_02: God has a lot of mental capacity.
SPEAKER_02: And you have his attention.
SPEAKER_02: Did you know that?
SPEAKER_02: And he's just waiting for us in the place of prayer to go, what are your thoughts toward me?
SPEAKER_02: What are your plans toward me for 2017?
SPEAKER_02: Steve and I were talking the other day, and we were so grateful that God is the God of the second chance, the third chance, the fourth chance, the fifth chance, the sixth chance, the seventh chance.
SPEAKER_02: Now, sometimes we have some earthly repercussions for our decisions, but God is the God of every day.
SPEAKER_02: Look to him.
SPEAKER_02: Lord, what are your thoughts toward me?
SPEAKER_02: Did you know actually if you say that, Lord, what are your thoughts toward me?
SPEAKER_02: You'll be reading the Bible, and the Holy Spirit, a verse will jump off the page.
SPEAKER_02: It really will.
SPEAKER_02: This really works.
SPEAKER_02: If you ask God, what are you thinking toward me?
SPEAKER_02: What are your plans toward me?
SPEAKER_02: He will begin to communicate them through the power of his Holy Spirit through Scripture.
SPEAKER_02: So he's saying, We're chosen, we've been thought of before the foundation of the world for what?
SPEAKER_02: That we should be holy and blameless.
SPEAKER_02: When I stumble, when my mind is meditating on the wrong thing, I confess this over my life.
SPEAKER_02: No, this is not who I am.
SPEAKER_02: You know who I am?
SPEAKER_02: I've been chosen before the foundation of the world, and he's chosen me to be holy, and he's chosen me to be blameless.
SPEAKER_02: Did you know the Lord would never choose you to do something that he wouldn't empower you to fulfill?
SPEAKER_02: Love the Lord with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your mind, with all of your strength.
SPEAKER_02: The fact that he commands it is a promise that he will undergird us by his Holy Spirit to fulfill it.
SPEAKER_02: Did you know that?
SPEAKER_02: He's kind, he's gracious.
SPEAKER_02: He's not going to call you to do something that you can't do.
SPEAKER_02: And you are chosen to be holy and blameless.
SPEAKER_02: Yes, before him in your resurrected body when you stand before him in eternity.
SPEAKER_02: But pursuing that now, Lord help us to be holy as you are holy.
SPEAKER_02: That's how he says it in Matthew chapter 5, 6, and 7, that we should be holy as he is holy.
SPEAKER_02: And that's actually attainable.
SPEAKER_02: Not to the fullness, but we can grow in holiness as we mature as believers.
SPEAKER_02: So Paul's saying we have every spiritual blessing in heavenly places.
SPEAKER_02: He's saying we're chosen.
SPEAKER_02: We're saying God has thoughts toward us from the foundations of the world.
SPEAKER_02: He's saying that we're called to be holy and blameless.
SPEAKER_02: And then he goes on, he just keeps overflowing.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 5, we are chosen in love, he says at the end of verse 4, and he predestines us for adoptions, for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, or I like to say the purpose of his desire.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 6, to the praise of his glorious grace with which he has blessed us in the beloved.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's just such rich language to the praise of not just his grace, but his glorious grace.
SPEAKER_02: And Paul's praising that we've been brought in to the family of God, that we are sons and daughters of God.
SPEAKER_02: He's testifying to the Ephesians church, you were once the ungodly nations that had no inheritance in the promises of God.
SPEAKER_02: But now through this man called Jesus Christ, and he's going to get into his redemption, he's going to get into his blood, but through this man, you have been brought in as a full heir of the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, just the description of the New Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_02: I can't get off the New Jerusalem today.
SPEAKER_02: Just the description of the New Jerusalem, it says its foundations are precious stones.
SPEAKER_02: The foundations of a city, they're precious stones.
SPEAKER_02: It says its streets are laid with gold.
SPEAKER_02: It says the gates are formed from a pearl.
SPEAKER_02: Have you ever gone into, I know that like doesn't like do much for us, but have you ever experienced going into like a really nice house or a really, really nice hotel?
SPEAKER_02: And there's no like there's no other response other than wow.
SPEAKER_02: You know?
SPEAKER_02: And automatically, you know, whoever owns this is a pretty powerful, important person.
SPEAKER_02: Can you imagine if you walked into the Broadmoor hotel?
SPEAKER_02: This is gonna happen to you one day on a much greater scale.
SPEAKER_02: But you walk into the Broadmoor hotel and the owner comes down and says, Hey, I've prepared this for you.
SPEAKER_02: It's yours, it's all yours.
SPEAKER_02: The wealth that comes from it, everything, it's yours.
SPEAKER_02: You'd feel pretty good, wouldn't you?
SPEAKER_02: Think of that the next time you think of the New Jerusalem, you read Revelation 21, your internal inheritance, your eternal dwelling place.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus said, I go to prepare a place for you in my father's house.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus is being a carpenter in the New Jerusalem with all of his power, and he's preparing a place for you.
SPEAKER_02: He's telling angels to prepare a place for you.
SPEAKER_02: And you're gonna walk in, he's like, and you're gonna go, this is too much.
SPEAKER_02: I don't deserve this.
SPEAKER_02: And he goes, Oh, you have no idea.
SPEAKER_02: The blood of my son has covered everything.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, you have no idea what I think for you.
SPEAKER_02: The way I feel toward Jesus, I feel toward you.
SPEAKER_02: What I'm gonna give him in the age to come, I wanna give it to you.
SPEAKER_02: I want to share it with you.
SPEAKER_02: And so does Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: And I don't know how the Holy Spirit gets involved in there, but he's just going, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02: You know, he's like confirming with fire and wind.
SPEAKER_02: I don't know how he does it, but we're sons.
SPEAKER_02: We're accepted and we've been brought in.
SPEAKER_02: We're daughters.
SPEAKER_02: Now I've experienced this with my two adopted daughters, Minnie and B.
SPEAKER_02: I love my biological children, I love my adopted children, but I got to experience this progression of the Lord putting in our heart this adoption.
SPEAKER_02: And then the Lord putting in our heart Ethiopia.
SPEAKER_02: And then the Lord putting on our heart these two twins who were sitting in our in an orphanage who had never seen us, who had never known us.
SPEAKER_02: And then pictures started to come.
SPEAKER_02: And my heart as a father started to be captured by these beautiful little girls.
SPEAKER_02: And I remember thinking, they have no idea that all that is mine is gonna be theirs.
SPEAKER_02: They have no idea.
SPEAKER_02: They have no idea that everything that I work for, that I attain for, that I attain, I will give to them freely.
SPEAKER_02: And they're kind of sitting right now in the muck and in the mire, and they're in fear, and they're and they don't know what's gonna happen to their life, and they lost their parents, and they have no idea that I'm thinking of taking care of them in all things and in every way.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm here to give them peace.
SPEAKER_02: I think some of the time we forget of our full adoption in the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: We forget of our full acceptance before his throne.
SPEAKER_02: And I think sometimes we let that fear creep in.
SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_02: And that holds us back from filling our destiny in God.
SPEAKER_02: Now I'm just kind of unfolding this and going into this.
SPEAKER_02: It does have a point.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not just describing fun things for a reason.
SPEAKER_02: It actually has a reason.
SPEAKER_02: But we're adopted.
SPEAKER_02: And I just want to pause right here.
SPEAKER_02: So we have we have encountered right now in scripture, probably, let's see, we're blessed with every spiritual blessing, that's one.
SPEAKER_02: We are uh chosen, that's two.
SPEAKER_02: We have thoughts toward us from the foundation of the world, that's three.
SPEAKER_02: We're called to be holy and blameless, that's four.
SPEAKER_02: We're adopted as sons, that's five.
SPEAKER_02: That's five promises, just in four verses.
SPEAKER_02: Now, not all portions of scripture are this like compact with promises, you know.
SPEAKER_02: But that's why I kind of wanted to pick Ephesians.
SPEAKER_02: But I want to show you guys what I do practically when I come to a promise in Scripture.
SPEAKER_02: I like to put the word of God on my mouth, and I like to talk to him and respond to him with thankfulness for the way he's communicating to me.
SPEAKER_02: Now, I think Steve, tomorrow night is gonna take us on a journey of studying the Word of God, at least that unless the Lord like starts speaking to him in another direction.
SPEAKER_02: What's that?
unknown: So far we're still on that.
SPEAKER_02: So far we're still on that.
SPEAKER_02: Tomorrow night is the study and the romance of the Word of God.
SPEAKER_02: But I'm just gonna unfold this a little bit tonight.
SPEAKER_02: He's gonna use the scripture tomorrow night, but these promises, they actually are God breathed.
SPEAKER_02: They are God speaking to us.
SPEAKER_02: And when I encounter a promise in Scripture, this is what I like to do.
SPEAKER_02: I like to do two things.
SPEAKER_02: And you can write this down.
SPEAKER_02: This will help your prayer life, okay?
SPEAKER_02: When you're in a prayer Bible journal, and you encounter a promise in Scripture, that you're beloved, that you're a son, that you have an inheritance.
SPEAKER_02: I've done this for years, and it's really helped me in my dialogue and my relationship with the Holy Spirit in prayer.
SPEAKER_02: First thing I do when I encounter a promise is I thank God for that truth.
SPEAKER_02: I actually take time and I say, thank you, that I'm adopted as a son.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, thank you, I'm your son, Lord.
SPEAKER_02: I don't use a lot of words.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe in there, if if you uh uh if you're blessed or have a prayer language, maybe I just pray in the spirit just for a second.
SPEAKER_02: Oh Lord, thank you that I'm your son.
SPEAKER_02: And I just wait and I listen to the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: Gratitude fills my heart for that I'm a son.
SPEAKER_02: Paul mentions this often in a Philippians.
SPEAKER_02: He says, make intercession, but make it with thanksgiving as well.
SPEAKER_02: We need to thank God.
SPEAKER_02: How many of you as parents, your hearts are touched when your children look to you and they turn and they recognize the work that you're doing for them?
SPEAKER_02: My wife drives a hundred miles a day in this city with our seven children.
SPEAKER_02: When one of those children, now that we probably need to remedy that a little bit, get our schedule under control a little bit, but when one of those children turned to her and just say, Thank you for driving me, thank you for being my mom, thank you for loving me like this, what does that do to your heart, parents?
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, you're just like, whoa, like, is the rapture happening now?
SPEAKER_02: Like, what's going on?
SPEAKER_02: No.
SPEAKER_02: God has, did you know God is sustaining the very breath in your lungs right now?
SPEAKER_02: That's what scripture says.
SPEAKER_02: He's sustaining that's happening because Jesus is upholding the earth by the word of his power.
SPEAKER_02: When's the last time we thanked the Lord for the breath he gave us?
SPEAKER_02: I just thank you for my breath.
SPEAKER_02: And the graciousness of God to do that for the just and the unjust.
SPEAKER_02: I think of millions and billions of people in the earth cursing him right now.
SPEAKER_02: What does it speak of the generosity of our God to sustain the breath that they're cursing him with?
SPEAKER_02: He's like, oh, I'm patient.
SPEAKER_02: I'm slow to anger.
SPEAKER_02: I want a family.
SPEAKER_02: Take time when you encounter a promise in Scripture, just take time to simply stop and thank God for that truth.
SPEAKER_02: Lord, I simply thank you.
SPEAKER_02: Thank you that I'm your son.
SPEAKER_02: Thank you that I'm your daughter.
SPEAKER_02: The second thing I do, and this is important, this is important, the second thing I do is I ask for more revelation of that truth.
SPEAKER_02: So there's a truth, you're a son, you're fully accepted, you're fully adopted.
SPEAKER_02: All that the Lord has, both in this life and the next, is yours.
SPEAKER_02: You thank him for the truth, but then you say this, Lord, give me more revelation of this truth.
SPEAKER_02: And then you just take time and you listen to the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: You take catalog of the thoughts of your mind.
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes another scripture comes to mind.
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes just a sense of the pleasure of God is on your heart.
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes that cry for more revelation is given in the moment, but what I've found is that I've done this, that cry for more revelation that I'm a son of God comes four, five, ten days later.
SPEAKER_02: I'm reading another passage.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe I'm reading in Galatians now, and I'm reading about the way Paul describes adoption in Galatians.
SPEAKER_02: And I don't just glance over it like I stop and the words jump out on the page, and the Holy Spirit ministers to me again that I'm a son, but maybe from a different aspect of sonship.
SPEAKER_02: But it's because I took the time to actually say, give me more revelation of this truth.
SPEAKER_02: Did you know sometimes we have not?
SPEAKER_02: James says this, we have not because we're not asking it.
SPEAKER_02: What if you were to ask for more revelation, to live with an open, alive heart, you were to ask for more revelation of your inheritance.
SPEAKER_02: I guarantee you, the next time you read Revelation 21, the New Jerusalem, the Holy Spirit would be faithful to answer that request.
SPEAKER_02: Or you read in 1 Peter that you have a living hope, that something about that phrase would strengthen you, and you would gain more revelation by the power of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: And then the brilliance is you have a journal and you get to write that down.
SPEAKER_02: And you get to track this growing revelation, this relationship with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: Well, the other thing that I like to do when I pray, read the Word, now we don't see a lot of these in Ephesians chapter 1, so I'm gonna go to another verse here, and then we're gonna get back to the scripture.
SPEAKER_02: The other thing I like to do is when I come to a commandment or an exhortation to obey, I like to stop and I like to pray those as well.
SPEAKER_02: Okay?
SPEAKER_02: So a great verse that helps us here is John 15, 9.
SPEAKER_02: We find promise and commandment in one verse.
SPEAKER_02: You can write that down, John 15.9.
SPEAKER_02: You don't have to turn there.
SPEAKER_02: It says this it says, As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you.
SPEAKER_02: I just stop right there.
SPEAKER_02: Wait a second.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus, you gotta be kidding me.
SPEAKER_02: As the Holy Father on the throne has loved you perfectly, with passion, with zeal, the word of God says that this is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased.
SPEAKER_02: He's loved you, and with that same amount of love, you love me.
SPEAKER_02: I think it, those are that's the truth I thank him for.
SPEAKER_02: Thank you for this.
SPEAKER_02: Give me more revelation of your love.
SPEAKER_02: But then it goes on.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus says, Now abide in my love.
SPEAKER_02: So we have like a commandment from Scripture, an exhortation to obey.
SPEAKER_02: Abide in my love.
SPEAKER_02: When I come to exhortations of Scripture, you can write this down, I do three things.
SPEAKER_02: One, I just simply stop and I commit right there to obey that truth.
SPEAKER_02: So when I say, when I read Abide in my love, I stop and I say, Lord, I just simply stop and I say, Lord, help me to obey that truth.
SPEAKER_02: I commit to obey that truth.
SPEAKER_02: And then normally when I commit to obey the truth, first thing that comes to mind is the ways I have not obeyed that truth.
SPEAKER_02: How many of you are like me?
SPEAKER_02: You're like, oh man, I've really messed up at this, you know?
SPEAKER_02: You read in Matthew chapter 6, let the lamp of the body, or the lamp of the body is the eye.
SPEAKER_02: And if the eye is good, the whole body is full of light.
SPEAKER_02: And immediately you're convicted, you know?
SPEAKER_02: So I stop and I commit, I'm gonna obey this truth, Lord.
SPEAKER_02: And then when I'm convicted, I just repent.
SPEAKER_02: Forgive me for not abiding in your love.
SPEAKER_02: Forgive me for getting distracted.
SPEAKER_02: Forgive me for getting off this course.
SPEAKER_02: And then the third thing I do when I come to a command of Scripture is I ask for the help of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: Holy Spirit, help me to abide in his love.
SPEAKER_02: So that's just a practical thing we can apply when we come across these wonderful promises of Scripture.
SPEAKER_02: Now I'm gonna go really fast here.
SPEAKER_02: We're gonna go back to Ephesians chapter 1.
SPEAKER_02: And we don't have to finish all this tonight.
SPEAKER_02: We're gonna have round two of this on Thursday night.
SPEAKER_02: Ugh, so many wonderful promises here.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 7, it says, In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 9, he says, This, making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he has set forth in Christ.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 10, as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
SPEAKER_02: You and I are those in the earth who've been redeemed, we've been forgiven of our trespasses, and we have been given the secret to the universe.
SPEAKER_02: Did you know that?
SPEAKER_02: He has made known to us what was the mystery of his will to the prophets, the mystery of his will to the philosophers, the mystery of the secret of the universe to the scholars.
SPEAKER_02: What is this all about?
SPEAKER_02: Verse 9 and 10, Paul says, This is what the mystery of God's desire is about.
SPEAKER_02: Or that which was undisclosed to past generations, but has been disclosed or revealed to you.
SPEAKER_02: It's this.
SPEAKER_02: Guys, that's the only way this life makes sense.
SPEAKER_02: It really does.
SPEAKER_02: If you know Jesus has been given all things, Daniel chapter 7, the Son of Man, and to Him it's been given authority and power and dominion so that all people would worship him.
SPEAKER_02: And he's coming back to fulfill that promise.
SPEAKER_02: When you get that figured out, life goes so much better.
SPEAKER_02: You have hope, you have destiny, you have a future because you find your hope and destiny in his hope and destiny.
SPEAKER_02: Again, we stop and we just pray those truths.
SPEAKER_02: Lord, thank you that all things are gonna be given through Christ.
SPEAKER_02: Give me more revelation of that.
SPEAKER_02: When we go through the book of Revelation, if you would stop and pray that truth, give me more revelation that all things are gonna come together under your leadership.
SPEAKER_02: That book of Revelation is gonna be alive to you.
SPEAKER_02: Because it describes it all.
SPEAKER_02: And then Paul just keeps going, he keeps going.
SPEAKER_02: Let's go to verse 15.
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna spend five minutes on verse 15, then we're gonna go back to worship and to prayer.
SPEAKER_02: Or verse 15 through 17.
SPEAKER_02: Paul stops here, he breaks.
SPEAKER_02: There's many wonderful things through 11 and 14.
SPEAKER_02: I wish we had time to get them, to get there.
SPEAKER_02: But verse 15, Paul stops and he says, For this reason, because Ephesian church, I've heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, verse 16.
SPEAKER_02: He says, I do not cease to give thanks for you, and I remember you in my prayers.
SPEAKER_02: And now we get a secret, we get a description of how the apostle Paul, like Steve said, one of the most effective missionaries ever, how the apostle Paul prayed.
SPEAKER_02: Now, this is only second to the fact that we get revelation on how Jesus prayed as a man.
SPEAKER_02: The Lord's prayer, our Father on earth as in his, and John 17.
SPEAKER_02: You have recorded scripture of God talking to God about you.
SPEAKER_02: And guess what the Bible says?
SPEAKER_02: Jesus is an intercessor forever.
SPEAKER_02: Did you know he's dialoguing right now at the right hand of his father?
SPEAKER_02: Forever.
SPEAKER_02: And I think Paul's probably dialoguing.
SPEAKER_02: Anyway, so we get Paul praying here, and he says, This is what I'm asking for you, Ephesian church.
SPEAKER_02: That the Father of glory, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, this is verse 17, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.
SPEAKER_02: Now again, verse 15, he says, for this reason, and then he goes, I'm praying for you.
SPEAKER_02: And the for this reason are all the things that he described.
SPEAKER_02: And the way we can interpret this, the way that we can think about this is Paul said, I know my spiritual blessings.
SPEAKER_02: I know my sonship.
SPEAKER_02: I know my redemption.
SPEAKER_02: I know my forgiveness from sin.
SPEAKER_02: I know that I'm sealed with the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: I know that he's the guarantee of the age to Kim.
SPEAKER_02: I know that Jesus is returning and all things are going to be given to him.
SPEAKER_02: And because I know this.
SPEAKER_02: For this reason, I'm praying for you that God would reveal, that He would reveal to you and give Him revelation of who He is to you.
SPEAKER_02: But not only that, Paul goes on.
SPEAKER_02: And he says this, verse 18 that the eyes of your heart, when you go to the scriptures, when you go to pray, that the eyes of your heart would be enlightened, that the light of God would shine on the eyes of your heart.
SPEAKER_02: And he says this that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you.
SPEAKER_02: I love the way the Bible prays.
SPEAKER_02: I try to pray these scriptures.
SPEAKER_02: Like the I try to pray the way Paul prayed most days of my life.
SPEAKER_02: And we're going to get into that a little bit more on Thursday.
SPEAKER_02: Some of these apostolic prayers are the prayers of Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: If our prayer lives would mimic them and mimic the things that they were asking for, I think we would be filled with a little more joy.
SPEAKER_02: I think we would be free from a little less distraction.
SPEAKER_02: Because look what Paul says.
SPEAKER_02: He says this, that you may know, the word know here means to experience, that you may experience what is the hope to which he has called you.
SPEAKER_02: Now, if I put you on this stage right now, could you describe, could you tell of the experience of the hope to which God has called you?
SPEAKER_02: Some of you could.
SPEAKER_02: Some of you couldn't.
SPEAKER_02: And it's not that we could describe it, but guys, we need to know this stuff.
SPEAKER_02: And Paul's praying, Ephesian church, I want you to experience the hope to which he has called you.
SPEAKER_02: Not only the one whom has called you, but what he has given you.
SPEAKER_02: And then the third thing Paul prays for is this.
SPEAKER_02: When's the last time you prayed?
SPEAKER_02: When's the last time I prayed?
SPEAKER_02: Lord, let me experience not just a little bit, but the riches of your inheritance in me.
SPEAKER_02: Did you know?
SPEAKER_02: And this is what Paul is referencing.
SPEAKER_02: It's the thoughts God has towards you.
SPEAKER_02: It's what he has received.
SPEAKER_02: Yes, we received a father, but God had joy in receiving a son.
SPEAKER_02: Did you know God is joyful about you?
SPEAKER_02: He's joyful when you come before his throne.
SPEAKER_02: Yes, in Jesus we exper we received a bridegroom, but did you know Jesus is receiving a bride?
SPEAKER_02: How many of you husbands weren't just a little giddy when you were waiting at that altar and that wife, or not a wife yet, but walk down that aisle.
SPEAKER_02: That's the way God feels towards you.
SPEAKER_02: And Paul says, I want them to experience that God has an inheritance in them.
SPEAKER_02: And then the fourth thing Paul prays is that they would experience the I love how he says this.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, again, it's just such rich language.
SPEAKER_02: Not just the greatness of his power, or not just his power, and not just the greatness of his power, but that he would experience what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe.
SPEAKER_02: And then he goes on to describe it's the power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand.
SPEAKER_02: That's the power that Paul wants us to experience in this life.
SPEAKER_02: That's kind of grandiose.
SPEAKER_02: And you say, Paul, you couldn't really mean that.
SPEAKER_02: He says, No, no, no, I mean that.
SPEAKER_02: Now again, chapters four, five, and six talk about how we practically, like what that power being released in us looks like.
SPEAKER_02: But that's the power that Paul wants us to experience.
SPEAKER_02: And that's the power that's available to us through the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: It is power to overcome addiction.
SPEAKER_02: It is power to overcome pornography.
SPEAKER_02: It is power to overcome drunkenness.
SPEAKER_02: It is power to overcome sexual immorality.
SPEAKER_02: It is power to overcome anger.
SPEAKER_02: It is power to overcome a murderous spirit.
SPEAKER_02: It is power to forgive.
SPEAKER_02: It is power to pray.
SPEAKER_02: It is power to heal the sick.
SPEAKER_02: It is power to raise the dead.
SPEAKER_02: It is power to live a life holy, set apart, and effective in your Christian walk.
SPEAKER_02: It's power.
SPEAKER_02: It's the same power that said, let there be light.
SPEAKER_02: Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3.
SPEAKER_02: That's the power that resides in us.
SPEAKER_02: But I believe, and that's been my experience, that I experience more of that power when I ask to experience it.
SPEAKER_02: Lord, let me experience that power.
SPEAKER_02: So Paul reveals who Jesus is to him.
SPEAKER_02: He's in prison, he goes through the whole thing, and then he prays that the Ephesians, that the Church of Ephesus, would experience what he knows of God as well.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
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