WEBVTT
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And sins in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
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All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts.
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Like the rest, we were nature.
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We were by nature deserving of wrath.
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Some of you have heard my story before, some of you haven't.
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But I was raised in a Christian home, and uh basically a Christian home, roughly, loosely.
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And uh we went to church every Sunday morning, that was one thing for sure.
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And uh the the love of Jesus Christ was instilled in me in a young age.
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By the time I was 12, I made the decision to follow Jesus and to become a believer, and uh the Holy Spirit got a hold of me, and I walked down the long aisle at our Baptist church and uh knelt down at the altar and uh had a deacon led me to the Lord.
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I was 12 years old.
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I was baptized not too long after that.
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And you know, it was amazing for somebody 12 years old, and as I got 13 or whatever, and I started really developing this uh this love for the Lord, this relationship for God, and I wanted to grow in my faith.
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And between the summers of seventh and eighth grade, I asked my mom and dad if they would send me to Christian school.
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And they did.
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They just let me go to Christian, they sent me to Christian school for eighth grade, and it was the best uh school year that I ever had out of all my school years.
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And uh I I it was at that time, around that time, that I really felt the call of the Lord at a young age that I was going to be a pastor someday.
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I was probably 13 or 14 when I strongly felt the call that I was gonna be a pastor.
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And uh I was involved in all the youth stuff at my church.
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I went to church camp and I hung around with all my Christian friends, and it was just uh it was a good time in my life.
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I played the piano in a little eighth-grade gospel group with some of my friends, and we'd play at school and stuff like that.
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And it was just fun and it was a great thing, and I really felt the Lord's hand on me.
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Between the summer of eighth grade and ninth grade, though, I wasn't around those my Christian friends as much, and I was around all the friends in my neighborhood that I grew up with.
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We all lived on the same street forever since we were born.
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Great kids, good friends of mine, right?
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And uh, but none of them went to church, none of them had Christianity in their background or in their families or anything like that.
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So I was hanging around with them between the summer of eighth grade and ninth grade, which are formidable years for sure.
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And uh little by little I decided just started kind of dropping out of the church stuff and the youth group stuff, and I didn't want to go anymore on Wednesday night, so I wouldn't go to church on Wednesday night with the youth group, but I'd be hanging out with my friends on my street, and we would be messing around doing whatever it is that we did.
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And uh I got farther and farther away from my love for the church and and uh my love for the Lord, and I got more involved in my friends and what they were doing, and I I wanted to be uh I wanted to fit in and be with them uh more than I wanted this Jesus stuff anymore.
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So I had a uh I was at a crossroads.
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It's like I either can follow Jesus, I need to make a decision, I need to either uh get my faith in order and follow Jesus.
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You know, I'm I'm going into uh ninth grade here, I need to follow Jesus and keep doing what I've been doing, or I need to have fun with my friends.
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And I was it's like Jesus here, friends here, Jesus here, friends here, and I went that way.
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And I just walked away from the church and I didn't go back to church for over 15 years, 16 years, something like that.
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Totally disowned my faith, totally didn't go to church, had nothing to do with anything Christian-wise, and my dad's asking me, you know, what happened to you?
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Why aren't you interested in church anymore?
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I was too old for them to make me go, I guess, so they didn't make me go to church anymore.
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But I walked away, and uh I lived that way for a very long time where I had no Jesus in my life.
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A theologian Walter Liefeld said this: there's no greater contrast in human experience than that between life and death.
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Physical death means that personal relationships and personal experiences on earth stop.
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Spiritual death means separation of all things spiritual.
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The person who is dead in sins, as Paul just said here, has neither a spiritual relationship with God and believers nor a personal experience of spiritual things.
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Understand the difference between life and death.
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Paul goes on in Ephesians verse 4, he says, but but remember he said all of us were dead in our sins, all of us follow the cravings of the sinful nature.
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Verse 4 says, But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ, even when we were dead in our sins and transgressions.
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And then he says, It is by grace you have been saved.
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Say that with me.
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It is by grace you have been saved.
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Say it again.
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It is by grace you have been saved.
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What is grace?
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Grace in the Bible is defined as unearned favor, somebody doing something for you that you didn't earn, receiving God's love, forgiveness, and blessings, even though we did nothing to earn them or deserve them.
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It is by grace you have been saved.
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So we start week two of our series, the book of Ephesians.
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Last week we looked at Ephesians chapter one, with the bottom line being this our identity is not something we have to create, make up, or wrestling.
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Get this.
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Our identity is not something we have to create, make up, or wrestle with.
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It's something God has given us in Christ.
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Amen.
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Paul said over and over in chapter one, in Christ, in Christ.
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It means we have a spiritual union with him because of our salvation by grace through faith.
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And today we're going to dig deeper into the topic of grace and what it means for believers as we look at chapters two and three in the book of Ephesians, if you want to turn there.
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And in chapters two and three of Ephesians, Paul is addressing the Gentiles especially, because this whole Christianity thing is new to them, obviously.
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And he's also talking to the Christian Jews in the audience who don't believe that uh these Gentiles deserve the love of God.
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So they're really struggling with that.
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So, what's Paul talking about in those first five verses that I read to you?
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As for you, you were dead in your transgressions, right?
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All that, what's he talking about?
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He's talking about our life before Jesus and our life after Jesus becomes our Savior.
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We are spiritually dead before Jesus.
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We might be physically alive, right?
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With relationships and experiences on this earth, as uh Walter Liefeld said, but our physical life, listen, is only part of the picture.
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The Bible tells us that physical life is nothing more than a breath.
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It's this long in the grand scheme of eternity.
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And Paul says, God, who is rich in mercy, what's mercy?
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Churchy word, right?
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Mercy, showing compassion and forgiveness to someone who doesn't deserve it.
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So we got grace so far, and now we've got mercy, showing compassion and forgiveness to someone who doesn't deserve it.
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But God, Paul says, but God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love for us, made us alive with Christ, even in the midst of our sinfulness.
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Even in the midst of our sinfulness.
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You see, to be alive with Christ means you have been spiritually raised from a state of sin and death and to a new eternal relationship with God through Jesus.
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Go from death to life.
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Scoot down to verse 8.
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Paul says this.
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Here it is again, for it is by grace you have been saved through faith.
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And this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast.
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For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
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I love that passage of scripture right there.
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For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, right?
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There it is again.
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Why do you suppose he says it twice?
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He says it twice because we need to get it into our skulls.
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It is by grace we have been saved through faith.
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He takes it a step further.
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It is by grace you have been saved, through faith.
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And he says, This is not of yourselves, it is gift.
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It's the gift of God.
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The salvation is God's work entirely, as one author said, and the bestowal of his infinite love.
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The human part in receiving God's grace can be described simply by the words by faith, through faith.
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Faith is defined as turning to God with a sense of need and a weakness and emptiness and a willingness to receive what he offers.
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Salvation by grace through faith.
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Faith is defined in the Bible, another word for us today, as the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
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And Paul makes it clear to his readers and to us today that it's not because of works, right?
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It's not earned.
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We can't do anything to earn salvation.
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It's about it's not about good deeds.
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It's not about trying to live up to God's expectations.
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Why?
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We'll never get there.
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We'll never live up to God's expectations.
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Paul says, Listen, I want you to get this.
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You in here, you at home.
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We are God's custom-made masterpiece.
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You get that?
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Custom-made masterpiece.
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I like what my friend Jesse says.
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He says, God one day stood up in heaven and looked down and said, Hey, I think the world needs a Dan Fonzo.
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I'm gonna make one.
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I'm gonna make one.
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I'm gonna make it's gonna be perfect.
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I'm gonna make one right now.
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The world needs Dan in it, and he created Dan.
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I love that.
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That's what God does, right?
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Paul says, We are God's custom-made masterpiece.
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I want you to get that.
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No matter what you bring into this room or what you're feeling at home, whether you feel like you are deserving of anything, you're God's masterpiece.
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Created through Jesus to live out the good deeds He planned for us since who knows when.
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You're not saved by good works.
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But you were created for good works.
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One morning, far away from the Lord, I was married by now.
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Donna and I had two toddlers, and Donna's son, Brian, from her previous marriage, my stepson.
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He was about 12, and one morning he comes out and he says, I want to start going to church.
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And so we're like, um, okay, we didn't go to church.
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I haven't been to church in 15 years, 16 years.
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He said, I want to go to church, and I want to go to the same one that uh you grew up in, that I grew up in, because my dad went there, and my sister and everybody went there.
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He said, The bus will come and pick me up.
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Is that okay?
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Can I do that?
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And we're like, sure, if you want to go to church, we're not gonna stop you.
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So Brian sets it all up himself, right?
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At 12 years old, and he's walking out to this to the sidewalk in below zero weather in the snow, waiting for the church bus to pick him up.
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And one day I looked out the window and I saw him out there, and it literally was 10 degrees, and he was freezing and all bundled up, waiting for the church bus to come and get him.
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And I looked at my wife and I said, That's it.
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The Holy Spirit got a hold of me right then and said, That's it.
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We're gonna start taking our kids to church from now on.
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That's all there is to it.
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This is ridiculous.
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I haven't been to church in 15 years and whatever it was.
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We're gonna start taking our kids to church next week.
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We're gonna do it.
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Sure enough, Sunday rolls around the following week.
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We got our two little toddlers ready.
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We got Brian loaded up and we got the car and we went to church back to the church that I was raised in as a kid.
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And I walked through that door, knew a lot of people, and that church didn't even burn down.
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I I couldn't believe that it didn't even burn down, you know.
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There, but everybody was like, There's John Othernries.
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Oh my gosh, John Othernith is in church.
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There is a Jesus, you know.
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It's like, so there I was, and it was good to be back, and there's my aunt and my uncles and my dad and my sister and every all these people that I knew, and we just fit right in, and the Holy Spirit just worked in us, and we never looked back.
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I went from here back to here because of the grace of God.
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Grace doesn't just give you forgive what you once were, it gives you a new identity and a new purpose.
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And the next thing you know, I'm working there at the church that I grew up in as a television person.
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Number one, grace changes who I am.
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Grace changes who I am.
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What's grace?
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God's unmerited favor, receiving God's love, forgiveness, and blessings, even though we did not earn them or deserve them.
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Keep that in your mind today as we go on.
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We're gonna keep talking about that.
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Romans 3, 23 and 24 says this.
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Paul says this in Romans.
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Look at this.
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God saved you by his grace when you believed.
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And you can't take credit for this.
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It is a gift from God.
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Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.
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For we are God's masterpiece.
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There it is.
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He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
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There it is.
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What are we talking about?
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That's it right there.
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Do the good things he planned for us long ago.
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Paul goes on in chapter two.
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If you look at like verse 11 and following, he goes on and he's telling the Gentiles in his audience that they're no longer alienated.
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Right?
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Jews and Gentiles did not hang out with each other.
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Gentiles were unclean.
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The Jewish people would not go near them, they did not hang out with them at all.
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They had no no relationship.
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And Paul's telling the Gentiles who have become Christians that they're no longer alienated like they used to be from the love of God.
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He said, Jesus came for them too.
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He tells them that.
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And the Jews, like I said, haven't necessarily been happy about this.
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And Paul reminds them, we are fellow citizens, members of God's family together.
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And he continues along those lines when we get to chapter 3.
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So chapter from uh chapter 2, 11, and following, he's talking to the Jew, Gentiles there.
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Then we get to chapter 3, he continues along those lines, talking about himself a little bit.
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Then when we get to chapter 3, verse 7, that's where we're going to be now.
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He gets personal, it gets a little personal here.
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Look at this.
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Chapter 3, verse 7.
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Paul's talking.
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He says, I became a servant of this gospel.
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Gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of his power.
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Okay, there's the gift of grace again.
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Although I am less than the least of all the Lord's people.
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Okay, this grace was given me to preach to the Gentiles.
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This is the grace that was given to him, to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God who created all things.
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Okay, what's he talking about here?
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Are you getting this?
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Paul, the great apostle.
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This is fascinating.
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Says he's the least of the less.
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He's worthless, he's basically saying.
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He said he's the least of God's people.
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Remember, he was if you know the story, he was visited by Jesus himself on the road.
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And here he says, you know, I'm the least of the least.
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And here he is, he's given the charge by God's grace to preach the boundless riches of Christ.
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And I love how he calls God's grace a gift.
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Did you see that in verse 7?
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He says, I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace.
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That's awesome.
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A servant of the gospel by the gift of God's grace.
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Grace, what is grace?
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Unearned favor.
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Now, what's the mystery?
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He's talking about the mystery that has been kept hidden.
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The mystery is the revelation of Jesus Christ when he's born and raised and lives on this earth.
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That's the mystery.
00:17:55.650 --> 00:17:57.170
That's no longer a mystery.
00:17:57.330 --> 00:17:59.010
That was kept hidden for David.
00:17:59.090 --> 00:18:00.130
That's what he's referring to.
00:18:00.290 --> 00:18:03.570
The plan of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.
00:18:03.890 --> 00:18:09.330
Because the Old Testament way of having a relationship with God is no longer in place.
00:18:10.290 --> 00:18:12.290
That's what Paul's talking about here.
00:18:13.170 --> 00:18:20.850
Now, now it's Jews and Gentiles together united as co-equal heirs, which has been revealed.
00:18:21.090 --> 00:18:23.090
That's the mystery that has been revealed.
00:18:23.650 --> 00:18:34.130
And again, Paul says, by God's grace, he has been chosen to preach the gospel plainly, not only to the Gentiles, but to everyone.
00:18:34.850 --> 00:18:35.730
Everyone.
00:18:55.890 --> 00:18:58.770
And I was thinking back to the first time I preached.
00:18:59.330 --> 00:19:05.010
I was a worship pastor over in Ohio, and uh my senior pastor had used to be a worship pastor.
00:19:05.170 --> 00:19:09.330
So we had a Thanksgiving Eve service coming up, which was they were short little services.
00:19:09.490 --> 00:19:11.490
And uh I said, Hey, let's switch roles.
00:19:11.570 --> 00:19:14.690
How about if I preach and you lead worship?
00:19:15.010 --> 00:19:21.090
And see, the preaching part would have only been about 15 minutes, so that's a great place for me to start for my first sermon, right?
00:19:21.330 --> 00:19:23.090
So he says, sure, go ahead.
00:19:23.250 --> 00:19:24.370
Yeah, let's do that.
00:19:24.530 --> 00:19:28.610
So I prepared and prepared and prepared my first sermon, 15 minutes long.
00:19:28.770 --> 00:19:32.210
Thanksgiving Eve, you know, there probably won't be anybody there, which is good.
00:19:32.370 --> 00:19:38.290
And uh so uh then it's my turn to get up and I'm like freaking out, panicking, my glasses are fogging up, you know.
00:19:38.370 --> 00:19:41.570
It's like I was so nervous and freaking out.
00:19:41.730 --> 00:19:47.650
And I get up there and I start my sermon, my my first sermon ever, my 15 minutes of fame.
00:19:47.810 --> 00:19:49.970
I started with a uh a story.
00:19:50.130 --> 00:19:53.810
How many of you know that I start my sermons with stories quite often, right?
00:19:53.970 --> 00:19:56.210
So this started a long time ago, apparently.
00:19:56.370 --> 00:20:00.930
So I started with a story, but the story was about a little boy.
00:20:01.570 --> 00:20:06.130
I laugh, it's not funny, it's just the the the circumstances was funny.
00:20:06.290 --> 00:20:07.970
The story was about a little boy.
00:20:08.130 --> 00:20:14.050
This is how I started my sermon on Thanksgiving Eve, about a little boy who died tragically.
00:20:14.290 --> 00:20:18.050
And I talk about his death and how tragic it was, his death.
00:20:18.210 --> 00:20:26.370
And then I realized when I was preparing my sermon that Thanksgiving Eve was the 10th year anniversary of this little boy's death, because it was a true story.
00:20:26.530 --> 00:20:31.490
So I said, and tonight, ladies and gentlemen, it's the 10th anniversary of this poor child's death.
00:20:31.650 --> 00:20:36.370
And everybody's like weeping and their eyes are all, you know, everybody, it was a horrible thing.
00:20:36.530 --> 00:20:44.050
And when I was done with my 15 minutes, I walk off the platform and I say to my pastor, I said, Well, well, what did you think of my first sermon?
00:20:44.210 --> 00:20:46.370
He said, I didn't hear any of your sermon.
00:20:46.450 --> 00:20:49.010
I was just freaked out about the little boy the whole time you talked.
00:20:49.090 --> 00:20:51.810
He said, It didn't mean anything, so like I blew it, right?
00:20:52.050 --> 00:20:54.050
That's all I that's all he remembered.
00:20:54.290 --> 00:20:57.810
And uh uh that led to another opportunity, fortunately.
00:20:57.890 --> 00:21:07.810
You know, maybe I need to change up the story a little bit, which led to another opportunity and another opportunity, and it's what I've been called to do, and the journey began, right?
00:21:08.050 --> 00:21:09.170
What does Paul say?
00:21:09.250 --> 00:21:12.530
You know, by grace you've been called to preach the gospel plainly.
00:21:12.690 --> 00:21:17.570
Number two, grace gives me a purpose beyond myself.
00:21:19.410 --> 00:21:25.730
When I was that kid in between eighth and ninth grade, you know, being a preacher never caught, I would never have thought.
00:21:26.050 --> 00:21:31.890
As a matter of fact, all those friends, all those old friends, which are which are actually still friends of mine, some of them are were like, What?
00:21:32.050 --> 00:21:32.930
What happened to John?
00:21:33.010 --> 00:21:33.810
He's a what?
00:21:34.450 --> 00:21:35.410
John's a what?
00:21:35.490 --> 00:21:36.690
He's a preacher?
00:21:37.090 --> 00:21:37.890
He's what?
00:21:38.210 --> 00:21:40.290
He's a pastor at a church.
00:21:41.170 --> 00:21:42.290
I know, right?
00:21:43.490 --> 00:21:50.610
You see, God has given each of us opportunities, abilities, relationships, and experiences that can be used for his purposes.
00:21:50.770 --> 00:21:54.130
Don't ask only, what do I want to do with my life, right?
00:21:54.210 --> 00:21:55.250
Isn't that what we always say?
00:21:55.410 --> 00:21:56.530
What do I want to do with my life?
00:21:56.690 --> 00:21:58.050
No, how about asking this?
00:21:58.290 --> 00:22:01.330
How can God use my life?
00:22:02.050 --> 00:22:03.330
I dare you.
00:22:04.210 --> 00:22:06.290
How can God use my life?
00:22:06.370 --> 00:22:08.210
That's a scary question, isn't it?
00:22:08.450 --> 00:22:09.490
Look at verse 10.
00:22:09.650 --> 00:22:10.530
Verse 10.
00:22:10.930 --> 00:22:12.050
Paul goes on.
00:22:12.370 --> 00:22:26.770
God's intent, look at the word intent, was that now, through the church, okay, the church's people, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms.
00:22:27.010 --> 00:22:27.490
What?
00:22:27.730 --> 00:22:33.170
According to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.
00:22:33.410 --> 00:22:40.530
In him, Jesus, and through faith in Jesus, we may approach God with freedom and confidence.
00:22:40.770 --> 00:22:45.730
And Paul says, I ask you therefore not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you.
00:22:46.610 --> 00:22:48.130
Which are your glory.
00:22:48.290 --> 00:22:50.370
Paul's in prison when he writes this.
00:22:51.170 --> 00:22:52.450
Look how positive he is.
00:22:52.530 --> 00:22:53.730
He's in prison.
00:22:54.930 --> 00:23:00.850
He's saying that now that the mystery of the saving grace of Jesus, that's the mystery he was talking about that has been revealed.
00:23:01.010 --> 00:23:03.650
The saving grace of Jesus has been made known.
00:23:03.810 --> 00:23:07.250
It will also be made known to the spiritual powers.
00:23:07.410 --> 00:23:07.730
Right?
00:23:07.810 --> 00:23:11.090
There's spiritual powers, there's the good and the bad.
00:23:11.490 --> 00:23:12.690
And the good and the bad.
00:23:12.770 --> 00:23:21.730
And Satan and his cronies, for instance, can cower at the truth of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus.
00:23:22.130 --> 00:23:23.650
They cower at that.
00:23:23.890 --> 00:23:36.050
And Paul says explicitly that God's intent, I read the word intent there, God's intent is that through the church, which is people, it's me and you, it's not the building, it's believers.
00:23:36.610 --> 00:23:38.130
Not a building that's us.
00:23:38.290 --> 00:23:40.050
This is how this happens.
00:23:41.010 --> 00:23:46.690
Through people is how the good news of Jesus spreads through God's people.
00:23:47.650 --> 00:23:48.450
You getting that?
00:23:50.050 --> 00:23:56.050
In 2 Corinthians, Paul says that God has given believers the ministry of reconciliation.
00:23:56.210 --> 00:24:00.610
It's up to us to help people be reconciled to Jesus Christ.
00:24:01.570 --> 00:24:03.410
Believers are given that charge.
00:24:03.570 --> 00:24:16.690
And then Paul says, Paul says in Ephesians again that encouraging news that in Jesus and through our faith in him, we can approach God with all this stuff with freedom and confidence.
00:24:17.250 --> 00:24:19.650
There's no more middleman necessary.
00:24:19.730 --> 00:24:23.250
Remember, he's talking to the Gentiles here, he's talking to the Jews.
00:24:23.970 --> 00:24:29.250
There's no more going to the temple, no more sacrificing animals, none of that.
00:24:30.050 --> 00:24:32.930
There's no going to confession, there's none of that.
00:24:33.250 --> 00:24:36.050
It's all about direct access.
00:24:36.290 --> 00:24:44.450
It's an open invitation through the church, then, through believers, God's wisdom is now being made known.
00:24:45.010 --> 00:24:48.370
Demonstrating his eternal purpose through Christ.
00:24:49.490 --> 00:25:04.850
Now, the the what happened on the cross has provided salvation which cleanses us of sin, forgives us, makes us holy, and enables us to enter the presence of God with confidence and make him known to others.
00:25:08.770 --> 00:25:10.130
Think of where they were, right?
00:25:10.450 --> 00:25:12.050
They're in Ephesus.
00:25:13.090 --> 00:25:17.730
They had a big temple to the Greek, the goddess Artemis here.
00:25:18.450 --> 00:25:19.730
It was a pagan society.
00:25:19.810 --> 00:25:21.730
There's a little band of Jews there.
00:25:22.370 --> 00:25:30.690
And Paul converts some Jews to Christianity, and some Gentiles hear the good news, and they too turn to Jesus as their savior.
00:25:32.770 --> 00:25:41.650
It's fascinating when you think of the context of how all this happens and who's Paul, Paul, who's who Paul's audience is when he's talking about all of this stuff.
00:25:41.970 --> 00:25:43.650
Paul says that that, right?
00:25:43.970 --> 00:25:53.010
That salvation cleanses us of sin, forgives us, makes us holy, enables us to enter the presence of God with confidence and make him known to others.
00:25:53.250 --> 00:25:59.330
Finally, Paul shares another prayer he did in chapter one, too, with the believers there, like he did in chapter one.
00:25:59.490 --> 00:26:01.330
It says this, verse 14.
00:26:01.650 --> 00:26:18.290
For this reason, all that stuff I just talked about, about a confidence, about Jesus, about the mystery being revealed, about all that, for this reason, I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.
00:26:18.530 --> 00:26:31.490
I pray, he's praying for them, that out of his glorious riches, he may strengthen you with power through his spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.
00:26:31.650 --> 00:26:48.850
And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the Lord's holy people to grasp, don't miss this right here, how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.
00:26:49.330 --> 00:26:58.610
And to know this love that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
00:26:59.970 --> 00:27:15.410
Now, to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.
00:27:16.210 --> 00:27:16.850
Amen.
00:27:18.370 --> 00:27:20.850
Paul's response to everything he has written.
00:27:21.010 --> 00:27:21.810
He says, right?
00:27:21.890 --> 00:27:22.530
What's he say?
00:27:22.690 --> 00:27:26.770
For this reason, response to everything that he has risen, written is prayer.
00:27:27.570 --> 00:27:30.450
He asked God to strengthen believers inwardly.
00:27:30.610 --> 00:27:36.610
He asked God to root them in Christ's love and enable them to grasp the magnitude of his love.
00:27:36.770 --> 00:27:41.970
And we can't fulfill God's purposes through our own strength.
00:27:42.850 --> 00:27:43.170
Right?
00:27:43.250 --> 00:27:48.770
If we're talking about uh finding out what our purpose is in God, we don't do it on our own.
00:27:49.170 --> 00:27:51.970
We need God's power working within us.
00:27:52.930 --> 00:28:02.130
And when the assignment feels bigger than our ability, our response, as Paul shows here, must be prayer rather than retreat.
00:28:03.970 --> 00:28:08.450
Anybody in here have like an ongoing dialogue in your head with the Lord in prayer?
00:28:08.690 --> 00:28:08.930
Right?
00:28:09.090 --> 00:28:11.730
Like constantly kind of kind of praying all the time.
00:28:12.450 --> 00:28:13.890
Anybody at home, right?
00:28:15.010 --> 00:28:17.570
When things go south, what's your first line of defense?
00:28:17.650 --> 00:28:19.810
Is your first line of defense prayer when things go south?
00:28:19.970 --> 00:28:20.690
Come on, don't lie.
00:28:20.770 --> 00:28:21.730
You know you don't have to lie, right?
00:28:21.810 --> 00:28:23.490
So some of you raise your hand.
00:28:24.050 --> 00:28:25.810
That happens, doesn't it?
00:28:26.770 --> 00:28:29.250
Because we believe prayer works, don't we?
00:28:29.570 --> 00:28:32.850
I was on the Ohio Turnpike and it was pouring down rain.
00:28:33.490 --> 00:28:34.610
And we're cruising along.
00:28:34.850 --> 00:28:37.170
It was so raining so hard that people had their flashers on.
00:28:37.330 --> 00:28:38.290
Have you ever seen that before?
00:28:38.450 --> 00:28:39.250
That's always scary.
00:28:39.330 --> 00:28:39.890
You can't see nothing.
00:28:39.970 --> 00:28:41.490
It's like, I can't see anything, I don't care.
00:28:41.570 --> 00:28:42.370
I'm just going.
00:28:42.930 --> 00:28:44.370
I can't even see nothing.
00:28:44.450 --> 00:28:48.850
I like my wife wasn't with me, but I would tell her, I can't see, I'm just pointing the car, you know.
00:28:49.010 --> 00:28:57.890
So I'm cruising along on the Ohio Turnpike, and behind me, I see this car come five coming really, really, really fast behind me, and I'm starting to freak out.
00:28:58.050 --> 00:29:00.050
And he starts spinning out of control.
00:29:00.210 --> 00:29:03.090
And I was saying, Please don't hit me, please don't hit me.
00:29:03.170 --> 00:29:03.890
Ah, he hit me.
00:29:03.970 --> 00:29:07.330
And when he hit the back of my car, my car started spinning.
00:29:07.410 --> 00:29:12.850
And so I'm going, please don't let me die, please don't let me die, please don't let me die, please don't let me die.
00:29:12.930 --> 00:29:14.450
I'll never have a turnpike, right?
00:29:14.530 --> 00:29:15.490
So there's my prayer.
00:29:15.570 --> 00:29:16.370
I'm freaking out.
00:29:16.530 --> 00:29:17.730
My first defense is prayer.
00:29:17.890 --> 00:29:19.170
Please don't let me die, Lord.
00:29:19.250 --> 00:29:26.450
And I came to rest against the concrete abutment between the uh eastbound and westbound traffic, facing the wrong way.
00:29:27.330 --> 00:29:29.330
And the Lord let me live.
00:29:29.810 --> 00:29:31.490
And here I am to tell you about it.
00:29:31.570 --> 00:29:33.010
A state trooper pulls up.
00:29:33.170 --> 00:29:34.290
It's pouring down rain.
00:29:34.370 --> 00:29:37.010
He's facing me, he's going the right way, I'm facing the wrong way.
00:29:37.250 --> 00:29:40.850
State trooper pulls up and it's raining so hard he doesn't even get out of his car.
00:29:40.930 --> 00:29:46.290
You know, there's car going, cars going, so I get out of my car and it's pouring down rain.
00:29:46.370 --> 00:29:49.730
And I go up to his window and he rolls it down and he says, You okay?
00:29:49.890 --> 00:29:51.250
It's like, yeah, I'm fine.
00:29:51.330 --> 00:29:54.930
And I explained him what happened, and uh he said, I'll help you get out of here.
00:29:55.010 --> 00:30:00.530
You know, so he there wasn't the guy that hit me, we had already exchanged insurance information and all that stuff.
00:30:00.610 --> 00:30:01.490
He was gone, of course.
00:30:01.570 --> 00:30:02.690
I'm there by myself.
00:30:02.850 --> 00:30:06.690
But the state trooper uh helped me get my car out and get going in the other direction.
00:30:06.770 --> 00:30:09.890
And I called Donna, you know, you hear me talking, I'm okay right now.
00:30:10.050 --> 00:30:10.530
I'm okay.
00:30:10.690 --> 00:30:12.050
Just want you to know I'm okay.
00:30:12.690 --> 00:30:12.930
What?
00:30:13.010 --> 00:30:13.570
What happened?
00:30:13.650 --> 00:30:14.130
What happened?
00:30:14.210 --> 00:30:15.010
Why are you saying that?
00:30:15.090 --> 00:30:17.330
You know, well, I was in an accident, but I'm okay.
00:30:17.490 --> 00:30:18.850
But my first defense, right?
00:30:19.010 --> 00:30:22.290
Please don't let me die, please don't let me die, was prayer.
00:30:22.530 --> 00:30:33.250
Because, as Paul said, God is able to do immeasurably more than we could ask or imagine, including saving your life on uh Ohio turnpike according to his power that is at work.
00:30:33.490 --> 00:30:35.010
What within us?
00:30:35.410 --> 00:30:36.450
Don't miss that.
00:30:36.610 --> 00:30:40.210
The power of God that it's is at work within us.
00:30:41.330 --> 00:30:42.210
Don't miss it.
00:30:42.370 --> 00:30:45.170
Do you understand who you are if you are a believer?
00:30:45.410 --> 00:30:51.090
Number three, grace gives me strength for what God has called me to do.
00:30:52.770 --> 00:30:53.410
Wow.
00:30:53.810 --> 00:30:55.890
You heard my testimony, you look back, right?
00:30:55.970 --> 00:30:58.690
You see who I was and what I was and where I am.
00:31:00.450 --> 00:31:04.210
Oh boy, not by my might might, not by my strength.
00:31:04.850 --> 00:31:08.050
Grace gives me strength for what God has called me to do.
00:31:08.210 --> 00:31:08.930
Write that down.
00:31:09.090 --> 00:31:11.810
Have you ever thought about that for yourself?
00:31:13.010 --> 00:31:13.970
Here's the question.
00:31:14.130 --> 00:31:16.610
Here's a question for you to wrestle with this week.
00:31:17.730 --> 00:31:21.970
What is God asking me to do with the life He has given me?
00:31:23.730 --> 00:31:24.050
Right?
00:31:24.210 --> 00:31:28.130
I mean, generally we just kind of plod along and go to work every day, you know, do whatever.
00:31:28.290 --> 00:31:29.890
Go to school, go to work.
00:31:30.850 --> 00:31:34.370
Maybe God's calling us to love someone who's difficult to love.
00:31:34.530 --> 00:31:36.850
Maybe it's serving someone who needs help.
00:31:37.010 --> 00:31:46.930
Maybe it's sharing your faith with someone who's far from the Lord, using a gift you've been given, or simply being available when God opens a door.
00:31:48.770 --> 00:31:51.650
Remember, you weren't saved by good works.
00:31:51.810 --> 00:31:55.090
You were saved by grace for good works.
00:31:55.890 --> 00:32:02.290
And you don't accomplish, you don't have to, and you don't have to accomplish God's purposes in your own strength.
00:32:02.450 --> 00:32:03.810
That's the best part.
00:32:04.450 --> 00:32:08.130
Can't even imagine what God has in store for those who love Him.
00:32:09.410 --> 00:32:12.850
The same grace that saved you is the grace that equips you.
00:32:13.330 --> 00:32:17.650
And I know the Lord is speaking to somebody in here or somebody at home.
00:32:17.810 --> 00:32:18.450
I know.
00:32:19.650 --> 00:32:31.090
Bottom line today, grace changes who I am, gives me a purpose beyond myself, and gives me the strength to live out that purpose.
00:32:32.130 --> 00:32:34.210
This is amazing grace.
00:32:35.650 --> 00:32:37.650
So this week, okay, here you go.
00:32:37.730 --> 00:32:38.530
This week.
00:32:38.770 --> 00:32:40.530
Look for the opportunity.
00:32:41.490 --> 00:32:42.130
Alright?
00:32:42.530 --> 00:32:44.050
Now that you've heard me, it's too late.
00:32:44.130 --> 00:32:45.330
You can't do anything about it.
00:32:45.410 --> 00:32:46.610
Look for the opportunity.
00:32:46.930 --> 00:32:48.370
Step through the door.
00:32:49.170 --> 00:32:57.090
And trust God by His grace to give you the strength to do what He has called you to do.
00:32:57.330 --> 00:32:58.770
What is that for you?
00:32:59.330 --> 00:33:00.290
What is that for you?
00:33:00.450 --> 00:33:02.850
I pray that your eyes are open this week.
00:33:03.250 --> 00:33:06.930
Step through the door that God has called you to step through.
00:33:07.250 --> 00:33:08.450
Pray with me.
00:33:09.410 --> 00:33:11.650
Lord, thank you, as always, for your word.
00:33:11.810 --> 00:33:12.770
Your word is truth.
00:33:12.850 --> 00:33:14.370
Your word is active and alive.
00:33:14.530 --> 00:33:15.170
And here we are.
00:33:15.330 --> 00:33:16.130
We get to pray.
00:33:16.210 --> 00:33:18.130
We get to uh get into your word.
00:33:18.290 --> 00:33:23.330
We get to read the words of Paul together and learn together and be encouraged together.
00:33:23.570 --> 00:33:24.450
Thank you.
00:33:24.690 --> 00:33:25.570
Thank you, Lord.
00:33:26.050 --> 00:33:31.650
I love what Paul says is we can't even imagine what the Lord has in store for those who love him.
00:33:31.970 --> 00:33:34.450
Oh Lord, I pray that we could own that.
00:33:35.170 --> 00:33:39.890
Paul says we can't even imagine how deep and wide your love is for us.
00:33:40.210 --> 00:33:43.410
Man, maybe we get a sense of that in some way, Lord.
00:33:44.210 --> 00:33:54.370
Father, I pray that you lead and you guide and you speak and you open our hearts and our minds to listen, to be attentive to your leading and to your calling.
00:33:54.530 --> 00:34:01.410
I pray that you put opportunities in front of us to be the hands and feet of Jesus, to this dying world.
00:34:01.650 --> 00:34:10.050
Lord, to the the ninth graders that are making the decision to walk away from the Lord or anybody else in our life that has walked away.
00:34:10.769 --> 00:34:11.889
Lord, use us.
00:34:12.530 --> 00:34:13.969
There is no plan B.
00:34:14.929 --> 00:34:20.289
And Father, I I pray for those who are not sure about their relationship with you.
00:34:20.849 --> 00:34:24.769
That today is the day they understand their need for a savior.
00:34:26.050 --> 00:34:36.369
And that they they they open their hearts, Lord, and receive salvation by grace, through faith, the forgiveness of sins, because of what Jesus Christ has done.
00:34:36.530 --> 00:34:41.570
When we acknowledge our need for a savior, Lord, you make yourself known.
00:34:42.449 --> 00:34:52.289
So I pray for anybody in here or watching at home that's not sure about their faith, their salvation, that today is the day that that changes for eternity.
00:34:53.730 --> 00:34:54.450
Thank you for it.
00:34:54.530 --> 00:34:55.809
In Jesus' name I pray.
00:34:56.530 --> 00:34:57.170
Amen.
00:00:46.530 --> 00:00:56.850
And sins in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
00:00:57.329 --> 00:01:06.129
All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts.
00:01:06.370 --> 00:01:08.689
Like the rest, we were nature.
00:01:09.010 --> 00:01:13.170
We were by nature deserving of wrath.
00:01:14.770 --> 00:01:18.770
Some of you have heard my story before, some of you haven't.
00:01:19.090 --> 00:01:25.170
But I was raised in a Christian home, and uh basically a Christian home, roughly, loosely.
00:01:25.490 --> 00:01:28.849
And uh we went to church every Sunday morning, that was one thing for sure.
00:01:29.010 --> 00:01:33.330
And uh the the love of Jesus Christ was instilled in me in a young age.
00:01:33.569 --> 00:01:49.409
By the time I was 12, I made the decision to follow Jesus and to become a believer, and uh the Holy Spirit got a hold of me, and I walked down the long aisle at our Baptist church and uh knelt down at the altar and uh had a deacon led me to the Lord.
00:01:49.569 --> 00:01:50.610
I was 12 years old.
00:01:50.689 --> 00:01:52.849
I was baptized not too long after that.
00:01:53.090 --> 00:02:04.370
And you know, it was amazing for somebody 12 years old, and as I got 13 or whatever, and I started really developing this uh this love for the Lord, this relationship for God, and I wanted to grow in my faith.
00:02:04.610 --> 00:02:10.050
And between the summers of seventh and eighth grade, I asked my mom and dad if they would send me to Christian school.
00:02:10.289 --> 00:02:11.009
And they did.
00:02:11.170 --> 00:02:19.170
They just let me go to Christian, they sent me to Christian school for eighth grade, and it was the best uh school year that I ever had out of all my school years.
00:02:19.330 --> 00:02:27.009
And uh I I it was at that time, around that time, that I really felt the call of the Lord at a young age that I was going to be a pastor someday.
00:02:27.090 --> 00:02:32.530
I was probably 13 or 14 when I strongly felt the call that I was gonna be a pastor.
00:02:32.770 --> 00:02:35.729
And uh I was involved in all the youth stuff at my church.
00:02:35.890 --> 00:02:41.569
I went to church camp and I hung around with all my Christian friends, and it was just uh it was a good time in my life.
00:02:41.650 --> 00:02:50.289
I played the piano in a little eighth-grade gospel group with some of my friends, and we'd play at school and stuff like that.
00:02:50.370 --> 00:02:54.849
And it was just fun and it was a great thing, and I really felt the Lord's hand on me.
00:02:55.090 --> 00:03:03.569
Between the summer of eighth grade and ninth grade, though, I wasn't around those my Christian friends as much, and I was around all the friends in my neighborhood that I grew up with.
00:03:03.650 --> 00:03:06.609
We all lived on the same street forever since we were born.
00:03:06.930 --> 00:03:08.769
Great kids, good friends of mine, right?
00:03:08.849 --> 00:03:14.769
And uh, but none of them went to church, none of them had Christianity in their background or in their families or anything like that.
00:03:14.930 --> 00:03:20.689
So I was hanging around with them between the summer of eighth grade and ninth grade, which are formidable years for sure.
00:03:20.930 --> 00:03:37.729
And uh little by little I decided just started kind of dropping out of the church stuff and the youth group stuff, and I didn't want to go anymore on Wednesday night, so I wouldn't go to church on Wednesday night with the youth group, but I'd be hanging out with my friends on my street, and we would be messing around doing whatever it is that we did.
00:03:37.889 --> 00:03:53.169
And uh I got farther and farther away from my love for the church and and uh my love for the Lord, and I got more involved in my friends and what they were doing, and I I wanted to be uh I wanted to fit in and be with them uh more than I wanted this Jesus stuff anymore.
00:03:53.329 --> 00:03:55.569
So I had a uh I was at a crossroads.
00:03:55.729 --> 00:04:02.449
It's like I either can follow Jesus, I need to make a decision, I need to either uh get my faith in order and follow Jesus.
00:04:02.609 --> 00:04:09.490
You know, I'm I'm going into uh ninth grade here, I need to follow Jesus and keep doing what I've been doing, or I need to have fun with my friends.
00:04:09.569 --> 00:04:15.250
And I was it's like Jesus here, friends here, Jesus here, friends here, and I went that way.
00:04:15.329 --> 00:04:22.370
And I just walked away from the church and I didn't go back to church for over 15 years, 16 years, something like that.
00:04:22.530 --> 00:04:31.329
Totally disowned my faith, totally didn't go to church, had nothing to do with anything Christian-wise, and my dad's asking me, you know, what happened to you?
00:04:31.410 --> 00:04:33.569
Why aren't you interested in church anymore?
00:04:33.650 --> 00:04:38.050
I was too old for them to make me go, I guess, so they didn't make me go to church anymore.
00:04:38.210 --> 00:04:46.050
But I walked away, and uh I lived that way for a very long time where I had no Jesus in my life.
00:04:46.290 --> 00:04:54.850
A theologian Walter Liefeld said this: there's no greater contrast in human experience than that between life and death.
00:04:55.810 --> 00:05:02.129
Physical death means that personal relationships and personal experiences on earth stop.
00:05:03.089 --> 00:05:07.969
Spiritual death means separation of all things spiritual.
00:05:08.290 --> 00:05:19.409
The person who is dead in sins, as Paul just said here, has neither a spiritual relationship with God and believers nor a personal experience of spiritual things.
00:05:20.610 --> 00:05:24.050
Understand the difference between life and death.
00:05:24.930 --> 00:05:35.730
Paul goes on in Ephesians verse 4, he says, but but remember he said all of us were dead in our sins, all of us follow the cravings of the sinful nature.
00:05:35.969 --> 00:05:50.930
Verse 4 says, But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ, even when we were dead in our sins and transgressions.
00:05:51.170 --> 00:05:55.490
And then he says, It is by grace you have been saved.
00:05:56.050 --> 00:05:57.250
Say that with me.
00:05:57.569 --> 00:06:00.769
It is by grace you have been saved.
00:06:00.930 --> 00:06:01.730
Say it again.
00:06:01.969 --> 00:06:05.009
It is by grace you have been saved.
00:06:05.170 --> 00:06:05.969
What is grace?
00:06:06.129 --> 00:06:20.370
Grace in the Bible is defined as unearned favor, somebody doing something for you that you didn't earn, receiving God's love, forgiveness, and blessings, even though we did nothing to earn them or deserve them.
00:06:20.769 --> 00:06:24.529
It is by grace you have been saved.
00:06:26.050 --> 00:06:29.649
So we start week two of our series, the book of Ephesians.
00:06:29.810 --> 00:06:40.290
Last week we looked at Ephesians chapter one, with the bottom line being this our identity is not something we have to create, make up, or wrestling.
00:06:40.449 --> 00:06:41.009
Get this.
00:06:41.250 --> 00:06:47.250
Our identity is not something we have to create, make up, or wrestle with.
00:06:47.409 --> 00:06:50.129
It's something God has given us in Christ.
00:06:50.370 --> 00:06:51.009
Amen.
00:06:52.529 --> 00:06:56.449
Paul said over and over in chapter one, in Christ, in Christ.
00:06:56.610 --> 00:07:02.370
It means we have a spiritual union with him because of our salvation by grace through faith.
00:07:02.769 --> 00:07:12.610
And today we're going to dig deeper into the topic of grace and what it means for believers as we look at chapters two and three in the book of Ephesians, if you want to turn there.
00:07:13.009 --> 00:07:21.969
And in chapters two and three of Ephesians, Paul is addressing the Gentiles especially, because this whole Christianity thing is new to them, obviously.
00:07:22.129 --> 00:07:29.250
And he's also talking to the Christian Jews in the audience who don't believe that uh these Gentiles deserve the love of God.
00:07:29.409 --> 00:07:31.089
So they're really struggling with that.
00:07:31.329 --> 00:07:35.490
So, what's Paul talking about in those first five verses that I read to you?
00:07:35.649 --> 00:07:38.050
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions, right?
00:07:38.129 --> 00:07:39.730
All that, what's he talking about?
00:07:39.969 --> 00:07:45.810
He's talking about our life before Jesus and our life after Jesus becomes our Savior.
00:07:46.449 --> 00:07:49.730
We are spiritually dead before Jesus.
00:07:50.290 --> 00:07:53.730
We might be physically alive, right?
00:07:54.129 --> 00:08:02.769
With relationships and experiences on this earth, as uh Walter Liefeld said, but our physical life, listen, is only part of the picture.
00:08:03.329 --> 00:08:07.009
The Bible tells us that physical life is nothing more than a breath.
00:08:07.089 --> 00:08:11.170
It's this long in the grand scheme of eternity.
00:08:11.810 --> 00:08:15.730
And Paul says, God, who is rich in mercy, what's mercy?
00:08:15.969 --> 00:08:16.850
Churchy word, right?
00:08:17.009 --> 00:08:20.769
Mercy, showing compassion and forgiveness to someone who doesn't deserve it.
00:08:20.930 --> 00:08:27.490
So we got grace so far, and now we've got mercy, showing compassion and forgiveness to someone who doesn't deserve it.
00:08:27.730 --> 00:08:43.170
But God, Paul says, but God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love for us, made us alive with Christ, even in the midst of our sinfulness.
00:08:44.290 --> 00:08:46.610
Even in the midst of our sinfulness.
00:08:47.649 --> 00:08:59.250
You see, to be alive with Christ means you have been spiritually raised from a state of sin and death and to a new eternal relationship with God through Jesus.
00:09:00.690 --> 00:09:04.050
Go from death to life.
00:09:05.009 --> 00:09:06.370
Scoot down to verse 8.
00:09:07.970 --> 00:09:08.930
Paul says this.
00:09:09.250 --> 00:09:13.490
Here it is again, for it is by grace you have been saved through faith.
00:09:13.970 --> 00:09:20.210
And this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast.
00:09:20.769 --> 00:09:29.250
For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
00:09:30.049 --> 00:09:32.689
I love that passage of scripture right there.
00:09:33.649 --> 00:09:36.289
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, right?
00:09:36.370 --> 00:09:37.330
There it is again.
00:09:37.649 --> 00:09:39.169
Why do you suppose he says it twice?
00:09:39.250 --> 00:09:42.610
He says it twice because we need to get it into our skulls.
00:09:43.090 --> 00:09:47.250
It is by grace we have been saved through faith.
00:09:48.370 --> 00:09:49.730
He takes it a step further.
00:09:49.889 --> 00:09:52.289
It is by grace you have been saved, through faith.
00:09:52.370 --> 00:09:55.730
And he says, This is not of yourselves, it is gift.
00:09:56.450 --> 00:09:57.970
It's the gift of God.
00:09:58.289 --> 00:10:04.210
The salvation is God's work entirely, as one author said, and the bestowal of his infinite love.
00:10:05.009 --> 00:10:12.049
The human part in receiving God's grace can be described simply by the words by faith, through faith.
00:10:12.850 --> 00:10:21.490
Faith is defined as turning to God with a sense of need and a weakness and emptiness and a willingness to receive what he offers.
00:10:21.970 --> 00:10:24.769
Salvation by grace through faith.
00:10:25.970 --> 00:10:33.730
Faith is defined in the Bible, another word for us today, as the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
00:10:33.970 --> 00:10:40.289
And Paul makes it clear to his readers and to us today that it's not because of works, right?
00:10:40.370 --> 00:10:41.490
It's not earned.
00:10:41.809 --> 00:10:44.850
We can't do anything to earn salvation.
00:10:46.289 --> 00:10:48.289
It's about it's not about good deeds.
00:10:48.370 --> 00:10:51.409
It's not about trying to live up to God's expectations.
00:10:51.649 --> 00:10:52.129
Why?
00:10:52.289 --> 00:10:53.570
We'll never get there.
00:10:54.370 --> 00:10:56.850
We'll never live up to God's expectations.
00:10:58.049 --> 00:11:00.610
Paul says, Listen, I want you to get this.
00:11:00.850 --> 00:11:02.289
You in here, you at home.
00:11:02.529 --> 00:11:07.169
We are God's custom-made masterpiece.
00:11:08.929 --> 00:11:09.889
You get that?
00:11:10.529 --> 00:11:13.090
Custom-made masterpiece.
00:11:13.330 --> 00:11:15.169
I like what my friend Jesse says.
00:11:15.409 --> 00:11:20.769
He says, God one day stood up in heaven and looked down and said, Hey, I think the world needs a Dan Fonzo.
00:11:20.850 --> 00:11:21.570
I'm gonna make one.
00:11:21.649 --> 00:11:22.129
I'm gonna make one.
00:11:22.370 --> 00:11:23.889
I'm gonna make it's gonna be perfect.
00:11:24.049 --> 00:11:25.250
I'm gonna make one right now.
00:11:25.409 --> 00:11:28.529
The world needs Dan in it, and he created Dan.
00:11:30.370 --> 00:11:31.090
I love that.
00:11:31.169 --> 00:11:32.689
That's what God does, right?
00:11:33.809 --> 00:11:36.610
Paul says, We are God's custom-made masterpiece.
00:11:36.689 --> 00:11:37.649
I want you to get that.
00:11:37.809 --> 00:11:47.330
No matter what you bring into this room or what you're feeling at home, whether you feel like you are deserving of anything, you're God's masterpiece.
00:11:47.649 --> 00:11:54.049
Created through Jesus to live out the good deeds He planned for us since who knows when.
00:11:54.769 --> 00:11:56.929
You're not saved by good works.
00:11:57.889 --> 00:12:00.769
But you were created for good works.
00:12:03.250 --> 00:12:07.889
One morning, far away from the Lord, I was married by now.
00:12:08.210 --> 00:12:15.490
Donna and I had two toddlers, and Donna's son, Brian, from her previous marriage, my stepson.
00:12:15.730 --> 00:12:19.970
He was about 12, and one morning he comes out and he says, I want to start going to church.
00:12:20.129 --> 00:12:23.090
And so we're like, um, okay, we didn't go to church.
00:12:23.169 --> 00:12:25.889
I haven't been to church in 15 years, 16 years.
00:12:26.049 --> 00:12:33.570
He said, I want to go to church, and I want to go to the same one that uh you grew up in, that I grew up in, because my dad went there, and my sister and everybody went there.
00:12:33.809 --> 00:12:35.730
He said, The bus will come and pick me up.
00:12:36.049 --> 00:12:36.689
Is that okay?
00:12:36.769 --> 00:12:37.330
Can I do that?
00:12:37.409 --> 00:12:40.769
And we're like, sure, if you want to go to church, we're not gonna stop you.
00:12:41.250 --> 00:12:43.409
So Brian sets it all up himself, right?
00:12:43.570 --> 00:12:51.409
At 12 years old, and he's walking out to this to the sidewalk in below zero weather in the snow, waiting for the church bus to pick him up.
00:12:51.570 --> 00:13:00.529
And one day I looked out the window and I saw him out there, and it literally was 10 degrees, and he was freezing and all bundled up, waiting for the church bus to come and get him.
00:13:00.689 --> 00:13:02.850
And I looked at my wife and I said, That's it.
00:13:03.090 --> 00:13:05.649
The Holy Spirit got a hold of me right then and said, That's it.
00:13:05.809 --> 00:13:08.049
We're gonna start taking our kids to church from now on.
00:13:08.129 --> 00:13:09.169
That's all there is to it.
00:13:09.250 --> 00:13:10.129
This is ridiculous.
00:13:10.289 --> 00:13:13.570
I haven't been to church in 15 years and whatever it was.
00:13:13.730 --> 00:13:16.210
We're gonna start taking our kids to church next week.
00:13:16.289 --> 00:13:17.169
We're gonna do it.
00:13:17.409 --> 00:13:20.210
Sure enough, Sunday rolls around the following week.
00:13:20.450 --> 00:13:22.529
We got our two little toddlers ready.
00:13:22.610 --> 00:13:28.370
We got Brian loaded up and we got the car and we went to church back to the church that I was raised in as a kid.
00:13:28.610 --> 00:13:32.929
And I walked through that door, knew a lot of people, and that church didn't even burn down.
00:13:33.009 --> 00:13:35.809
I I couldn't believe that it didn't even burn down, you know.
00:13:35.889 --> 00:13:38.129
There, but everybody was like, There's John Othernries.
00:13:38.289 --> 00:13:40.210
Oh my gosh, John Othernith is in church.
00:13:40.370 --> 00:13:41.490
There is a Jesus, you know.
00:13:41.570 --> 00:13:54.850
It's like, so there I was, and it was good to be back, and there's my aunt and my uncles and my dad and my sister and every all these people that I knew, and we just fit right in, and the Holy Spirit just worked in us, and we never looked back.
00:13:55.490 --> 00:13:59.490
I went from here back to here because of the grace of God.
00:14:00.370 --> 00:14:07.250
Grace doesn't just give you forgive what you once were, it gives you a new identity and a new purpose.
00:14:07.409 --> 00:14:13.809
And the next thing you know, I'm working there at the church that I grew up in as a television person.
00:14:14.129 --> 00:14:16.929
Number one, grace changes who I am.
00:14:18.769 --> 00:14:20.129
Grace changes who I am.
00:14:20.210 --> 00:14:21.330
What's grace?
00:14:21.809 --> 00:14:29.649
God's unmerited favor, receiving God's love, forgiveness, and blessings, even though we did not earn them or deserve them.
00:14:29.809 --> 00:14:31.570
Keep that in your mind today as we go on.
00:14:31.649 --> 00:14:33.570
We're gonna keep talking about that.
00:14:33.970 --> 00:14:36.689
Romans 3, 23 and 24 says this.
00:14:36.850 --> 00:14:38.210
Paul says this in Romans.
00:14:38.289 --> 00:14:38.689
Look at this.
00:14:39.090 --> 00:14:41.809
God saved you by his grace when you believed.
00:14:42.129 --> 00:14:44.049
And you can't take credit for this.
00:14:44.289 --> 00:14:45.970
It is a gift from God.
00:14:46.450 --> 00:14:52.689
Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.
00:14:53.009 --> 00:14:55.090
For we are God's masterpiece.
00:14:55.169 --> 00:14:56.129
There it is.
00:14:56.529 --> 00:15:04.210
He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
00:15:04.370 --> 00:15:05.009
There it is.
00:15:05.250 --> 00:15:06.210
What are we talking about?
00:15:06.370 --> 00:15:07.570
That's it right there.
00:15:08.529 --> 00:15:11.409
Do the good things he planned for us long ago.
00:15:11.809 --> 00:15:13.409
Paul goes on in chapter two.
00:15:13.730 --> 00:15:21.169
If you look at like verse 11 and following, he goes on and he's telling the Gentiles in his audience that they're no longer alienated.
00:15:21.250 --> 00:15:21.409
Right?
00:15:21.570 --> 00:15:24.689
Jews and Gentiles did not hang out with each other.
00:15:25.330 --> 00:15:26.850
Gentiles were unclean.
00:15:26.929 --> 00:15:30.529
The Jewish people would not go near them, they did not hang out with them at all.
00:15:30.689 --> 00:15:33.169
They had no no relationship.
00:15:33.409 --> 00:15:40.929
And Paul's telling the Gentiles who have become Christians that they're no longer alienated like they used to be from the love of God.
00:15:41.009 --> 00:15:42.610
He said, Jesus came for them too.
00:15:42.769 --> 00:15:44.049
He tells them that.
00:15:44.370 --> 00:15:48.450
And the Jews, like I said, haven't necessarily been happy about this.
00:15:48.929 --> 00:15:56.210
And Paul reminds them, we are fellow citizens, members of God's family together.
00:15:56.850 --> 00:16:00.210
And he continues along those lines when we get to chapter 3.
00:16:00.450 --> 00:16:05.409
So chapter from uh chapter 2, 11, and following, he's talking to the Jew, Gentiles there.
00:16:05.570 --> 00:16:10.129
Then we get to chapter 3, he continues along those lines, talking about himself a little bit.
00:16:10.289 --> 00:16:13.649
Then when we get to chapter 3, verse 7, that's where we're going to be now.
00:16:13.889 --> 00:16:15.970
He gets personal, it gets a little personal here.
00:16:16.049 --> 00:16:16.529
Look at this.
00:16:16.769 --> 00:16:18.529
Chapter 3, verse 7.
00:16:18.850 --> 00:16:19.649
Paul's talking.
00:16:19.809 --> 00:16:22.289
He says, I became a servant of this gospel.
00:16:22.610 --> 00:16:29.809
Gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of his power.
00:16:30.049 --> 00:16:32.689
Okay, there's the gift of grace again.
00:16:32.929 --> 00:16:36.929
Although I am less than the least of all the Lord's people.
00:16:38.210 --> 00:16:42.450
Okay, this grace was given me to preach to the Gentiles.
00:16:42.610 --> 00:16:58.850
This is the grace that was given to him, to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God who created all things.
00:16:59.090 --> 00:17:00.450
Okay, what's he talking about here?
00:17:00.529 --> 00:17:01.330
Are you getting this?
00:17:01.490 --> 00:17:03.409
Paul, the great apostle.
00:17:03.889 --> 00:17:04.930
This is fascinating.
00:17:05.090 --> 00:17:07.330
Says he's the least of the less.
00:17:07.410 --> 00:17:09.330
He's worthless, he's basically saying.
00:17:09.410 --> 00:17:11.809
He said he's the least of God's people.
00:17:12.049 --> 00:17:16.850
Remember, he was if you know the story, he was visited by Jesus himself on the road.
00:17:17.410 --> 00:17:20.690
And here he says, you know, I'm the least of the least.
00:17:21.250 --> 00:17:27.890
And here he is, he's given the charge by God's grace to preach the boundless riches of Christ.
00:17:28.370 --> 00:17:31.009
And I love how he calls God's grace a gift.
00:17:31.170 --> 00:17:32.690
Did you see that in verse 7?
00:17:33.490 --> 00:17:37.250
He says, I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace.
00:17:37.490 --> 00:17:38.210
That's awesome.
00:17:38.450 --> 00:17:41.809
A servant of the gospel by the gift of God's grace.
00:17:42.850 --> 00:17:43.970
Grace, what is grace?
00:17:44.210 --> 00:17:45.090
Unearned favor.
00:17:45.410 --> 00:17:46.450
Now, what's the mystery?
00:17:46.529 --> 00:17:48.850
He's talking about the mystery that has been kept hidden.
00:17:49.009 --> 00:17:54.530
The mystery is the revelation of Jesus Christ when he's born and raised and lives on this earth.
00:17:54.690 --> 00:17:55.570
That's the mystery.
00:17:55.650 --> 00:17:57.170
That's no longer a mystery.
00:17:57.330 --> 00:17:59.010
That was kept hidden for David.
00:17:59.090 --> 00:18:00.130
That's what he's referring to.
00:18:00.290 --> 00:18:03.570
The plan of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.
00:18:03.890 --> 00:18:09.330
Because the Old Testament way of having a relationship with God is no longer in place.
00:18:10.290 --> 00:18:12.290
That's what Paul's talking about here.
00:18:13.170 --> 00:18:20.850
Now, now it's Jews and Gentiles together united as co-equal heirs, which has been revealed.
00:18:21.090 --> 00:18:23.090
That's the mystery that has been revealed.
00:18:23.650 --> 00:18:34.130
And again, Paul says, by God's grace, he has been chosen to preach the gospel plainly, not only to the Gentiles, but to everyone.
00:18:34.850 --> 00:18:35.730
Everyone.
00:18:55.890 --> 00:18:58.770
And I was thinking back to the first time I preached.
00:18:59.330 --> 00:19:05.010
I was a worship pastor over in Ohio, and uh my senior pastor had used to be a worship pastor.
00:19:05.170 --> 00:19:09.330
So we had a Thanksgiving Eve service coming up, which was they were short little services.
00:19:09.490 --> 00:19:11.490
And uh I said, Hey, let's switch roles.
00:19:11.570 --> 00:19:14.690
How about if I preach and you lead worship?
00:19:15.010 --> 00:19:21.090
And see, the preaching part would have only been about 15 minutes, so that's a great place for me to start for my first sermon, right?
00:19:21.330 --> 00:19:23.090
So he says, sure, go ahead.
00:19:23.250 --> 00:19:24.370
Yeah, let's do that.
00:19:24.530 --> 00:19:28.610
So I prepared and prepared and prepared my first sermon, 15 minutes long.
00:19:28.770 --> 00:19:32.210
Thanksgiving Eve, you know, there probably won't be anybody there, which is good.
00:19:32.370 --> 00:19:38.290
And uh so uh then it's my turn to get up and I'm like freaking out, panicking, my glasses are fogging up, you know.
00:19:38.370 --> 00:19:41.570
It's like I was so nervous and freaking out.
00:19:41.730 --> 00:19:47.650
And I get up there and I start my sermon, my my first sermon ever, my 15 minutes of fame.
00:19:47.810 --> 00:19:49.970
I started with a uh a story.
00:19:50.130 --> 00:19:53.810
How many of you know that I start my sermons with stories quite often, right?
00:19:53.970 --> 00:19:56.210
So this started a long time ago, apparently.
00:19:56.370 --> 00:20:00.930
So I started with a story, but the story was about a little boy.
00:20:01.570 --> 00:20:06.130
I laugh, it's not funny, it's just the the the circumstances was funny.
00:20:06.290 --> 00:20:07.970
The story was about a little boy.
00:20:08.130 --> 00:20:14.050
This is how I started my sermon on Thanksgiving Eve, about a little boy who died tragically.
00:20:14.290 --> 00:20:18.050
And I talk about his death and how tragic it was, his death.
00:20:18.210 --> 00:20:26.370
And then I realized when I was preparing my sermon that Thanksgiving Eve was the 10th year anniversary of this little boy's death, because it was a true story.
00:20:26.530 --> 00:20:31.490
So I said, and tonight, ladies and gentlemen, it's the 10th anniversary of this poor child's death.
00:20:31.650 --> 00:20:36.370
And everybody's like weeping and their eyes are all, you know, everybody, it was a horrible thing.
00:20:36.530 --> 00:20:44.050
And when I was done with my 15 minutes, I walk off the platform and I say to my pastor, I said, Well, well, what did you think of my first sermon?
00:20:44.210 --> 00:20:46.370
He said, I didn't hear any of your sermon.
00:20:46.450 --> 00:20:49.010
I was just freaked out about the little boy the whole time you talked.
00:20:49.090 --> 00:20:51.810
He said, It didn't mean anything, so like I blew it, right?
00:20:52.050 --> 00:20:54.050
That's all I that's all he remembered.
00:20:54.290 --> 00:20:57.810
And uh uh that led to another opportunity, fortunately.
00:20:57.890 --> 00:21:07.810
You know, maybe I need to change up the story a little bit, which led to another opportunity and another opportunity, and it's what I've been called to do, and the journey began, right?
00:21:08.050 --> 00:21:09.170
What does Paul say?
00:21:09.250 --> 00:21:12.530
You know, by grace you've been called to preach the gospel plainly.
00:21:12.690 --> 00:21:17.570
Number two, grace gives me a purpose beyond myself.
00:21:19.410 --> 00:21:25.730
When I was that kid in between eighth and ninth grade, you know, being a preacher never caught, I would never have thought.
00:21:26.050 --> 00:21:31.890
As a matter of fact, all those friends, all those old friends, which are which are actually still friends of mine, some of them are were like, What?
00:21:32.050 --> 00:21:32.930
What happened to John?
00:21:33.010 --> 00:21:33.810
He's a what?
00:21:34.450 --> 00:21:35.410
John's a what?
00:21:35.490 --> 00:21:36.690
He's a preacher?
00:21:37.090 --> 00:21:37.890
He's what?
00:21:38.210 --> 00:21:40.290
He's a pastor at a church.
00:21:41.170 --> 00:21:42.290
I know, right?
00:21:43.490 --> 00:21:50.610
You see, God has given each of us opportunities, abilities, relationships, and experiences that can be used for his purposes.
00:21:50.770 --> 00:21:54.130
Don't ask only, what do I want to do with my life, right?
00:21:54.210 --> 00:21:55.250
Isn't that what we always say?
00:21:55.410 --> 00:21:56.530
What do I want to do with my life?
00:21:56.690 --> 00:21:58.050
No, how about asking this?
00:21:58.290 --> 00:22:01.330
How can God use my life?
00:22:02.050 --> 00:22:03.330
I dare you.
00:22:04.210 --> 00:22:06.290
How can God use my life?
00:22:06.370 --> 00:22:08.210
That's a scary question, isn't it?
00:22:08.450 --> 00:22:09.490
Look at verse 10.
00:22:09.650 --> 00:22:10.530
Verse 10.
00:22:10.930 --> 00:22:12.050
Paul goes on.
00:22:12.370 --> 00:22:26.770
God's intent, look at the word intent, was that now, through the church, okay, the church's people, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms.
00:22:27.010 --> 00:22:27.490
What?
00:22:27.730 --> 00:22:33.170
According to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.
00:22:33.410 --> 00:22:40.530
In him, Jesus, and through faith in Jesus, we may approach God with freedom and confidence.
00:22:40.770 --> 00:22:45.730
And Paul says, I ask you therefore not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you.
00:22:46.610 --> 00:22:48.130
Which are your glory.
00:22:48.290 --> 00:22:50.370
Paul's in prison when he writes this.
00:22:51.170 --> 00:22:52.450
Look how positive he is.
00:22:52.530 --> 00:22:53.730
He's in prison.
00:22:54.930 --> 00:23:00.850
He's saying that now that the mystery of the saving grace of Jesus, that's the mystery he was talking about that has been revealed.
00:23:01.010 --> 00:23:03.650
The saving grace of Jesus has been made known.
00:23:03.810 --> 00:23:07.250
It will also be made known to the spiritual powers.
00:23:07.410 --> 00:23:07.730
Right?
00:23:07.810 --> 00:23:11.090
There's spiritual powers, there's the good and the bad.
00:23:11.490 --> 00:23:12.690
And the good and the bad.
00:23:12.770 --> 00:23:21.730
And Satan and his cronies, for instance, can cower at the truth of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus.
00:23:22.130 --> 00:23:23.650
They cower at that.
00:23:23.890 --> 00:23:36.050
And Paul says explicitly that God's intent, I read the word intent there, God's intent is that through the church, which is people, it's me and you, it's not the building, it's believers.
00:23:36.610 --> 00:23:38.130
Not a building that's us.
00:23:38.290 --> 00:23:40.050
This is how this happens.
00:23:41.010 --> 00:23:46.690
Through people is how the good news of Jesus spreads through God's people.
00:23:47.650 --> 00:23:48.450
You getting that?
00:23:50.050 --> 00:23:56.050
In 2 Corinthians, Paul says that God has given believers the ministry of reconciliation.
00:23:56.210 --> 00:24:00.610
It's up to us to help people be reconciled to Jesus Christ.
00:24:01.570 --> 00:24:03.410
Believers are given that charge.
00:24:03.570 --> 00:24:16.690
And then Paul says, Paul says in Ephesians again that encouraging news that in Jesus and through our faith in him, we can approach God with all this stuff with freedom and confidence.
00:24:17.250 --> 00:24:19.650
There's no more middleman necessary.
00:24:19.730 --> 00:24:23.250
Remember, he's talking to the Gentiles here, he's talking to the Jews.
00:24:23.970 --> 00:24:29.250
There's no more going to the temple, no more sacrificing animals, none of that.
00:24:30.050 --> 00:24:32.930
There's no going to confession, there's none of that.
00:24:33.250 --> 00:24:36.050
It's all about direct access.
00:24:36.290 --> 00:24:44.450
It's an open invitation through the church, then, through believers, God's wisdom is now being made known.
00:24:45.010 --> 00:24:48.370
Demonstrating his eternal purpose through Christ.
00:24:49.490 --> 00:25:04.850
Now, the the what happened on the cross has provided salvation which cleanses us of sin, forgives us, makes us holy, and enables us to enter the presence of God with confidence and make him known to others.
00:25:08.770 --> 00:25:10.130
Think of where they were, right?
00:25:10.450 --> 00:25:12.050
They're in Ephesus.
00:25:13.090 --> 00:25:17.730
They had a big temple to the Greek, the goddess Artemis here.
00:25:18.450 --> 00:25:19.730
It was a pagan society.
00:25:19.810 --> 00:25:21.730
There's a little band of Jews there.
00:25:22.370 --> 00:25:30.690
And Paul converts some Jews to Christianity, and some Gentiles hear the good news, and they too turn to Jesus as their savior.
00:25:32.770 --> 00:25:41.650
It's fascinating when you think of the context of how all this happens and who's Paul, Paul, who's who Paul's audience is when he's talking about all of this stuff.
00:25:41.970 --> 00:25:43.650
Paul says that that, right?
00:25:43.970 --> 00:25:53.010
That salvation cleanses us of sin, forgives us, makes us holy, enables us to enter the presence of God with confidence and make him known to others.
00:25:53.250 --> 00:25:59.330
Finally, Paul shares another prayer he did in chapter one, too, with the believers there, like he did in chapter one.
00:25:59.490 --> 00:26:01.330
It says this, verse 14.
00:26:01.650 --> 00:26:18.290
For this reason, all that stuff I just talked about, about a confidence, about Jesus, about the mystery being revealed, about all that, for this reason, I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.
00:26:18.530 --> 00:26:31.490
I pray, he's praying for them, that out of his glorious riches, he may strengthen you with power through his spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.
00:26:31.650 --> 00:26:48.850
And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the Lord's holy people to grasp, don't miss this right here, how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.
00:26:49.330 --> 00:26:58.610
And to know this love that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
00:26:59.970 --> 00:27:15.410
Now, to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.
00:27:16.210 --> 00:27:16.850
Amen.
00:27:18.370 --> 00:27:20.850
Paul's response to everything he has written.
00:27:21.010 --> 00:27:21.810
He says, right?
00:27:21.890 --> 00:27:22.530
What's he say?
00:27:22.690 --> 00:27:26.770
For this reason, response to everything that he has risen, written is prayer.
00:27:27.570 --> 00:27:30.450
He asked God to strengthen believers inwardly.
00:27:30.610 --> 00:27:36.610
He asked God to root them in Christ's love and enable them to grasp the magnitude of his love.
00:27:36.770 --> 00:27:41.970
And we can't fulfill God's purposes through our own strength.
00:27:42.850 --> 00:27:43.170
Right?
00:27:43.250 --> 00:27:48.770
If we're talking about uh finding out what our purpose is in God, we don't do it on our own.
00:27:49.170 --> 00:27:51.970
We need God's power working within us.
00:27:52.930 --> 00:28:02.130
And when the assignment feels bigger than our ability, our response, as Paul shows here, must be prayer rather than retreat.
00:28:03.970 --> 00:28:08.450
Anybody in here have like an ongoing dialogue in your head with the Lord in prayer?
00:28:08.690 --> 00:28:08.930
Right?
00:28:09.090 --> 00:28:11.730
Like constantly kind of kind of praying all the time.
00:28:12.450 --> 00:28:13.890
Anybody at home, right?
00:28:15.010 --> 00:28:17.570
When things go south, what's your first line of defense?
00:28:17.650 --> 00:28:19.810
Is your first line of defense prayer when things go south?
00:28:19.970 --> 00:28:20.690
Come on, don't lie.
00:28:20.770 --> 00:28:21.730
You know you don't have to lie, right?
00:28:21.810 --> 00:28:23.490
So some of you raise your hand.
00:28:24.050 --> 00:28:25.810
That happens, doesn't it?
00:28:26.770 --> 00:28:29.250
Because we believe prayer works, don't we?
00:28:29.570 --> 00:28:32.850
I was on the Ohio Turnpike and it was pouring down rain.
00:28:33.490 --> 00:28:34.610
And we're cruising along.
00:28:34.850 --> 00:28:37.170
It was so raining so hard that people had their flashers on.
00:28:37.330 --> 00:28:38.290
Have you ever seen that before?
00:28:38.450 --> 00:28:39.250
That's always scary.
00:28:39.330 --> 00:28:39.890
You can't see nothing.
00:28:39.970 --> 00:28:41.490
It's like, I can't see anything, I don't care.
00:28:41.570 --> 00:28:42.370
I'm just going.
00:28:42.930 --> 00:28:44.370
I can't even see nothing.
00:28:44.450 --> 00:28:48.850
I like my wife wasn't with me, but I would tell her, I can't see, I'm just pointing the car, you know.
00:28:49.010 --> 00:28:57.890
So I'm cruising along on the Ohio Turnpike, and behind me, I see this car come five coming really, really, really fast behind me, and I'm starting to freak out.
00:28:58.050 --> 00:29:00.050
And he starts spinning out of control.
00:29:00.210 --> 00:29:03.090
And I was saying, Please don't hit me, please don't hit me.
00:29:03.170 --> 00:29:03.890
Ah, he hit me.
00:29:03.970 --> 00:29:07.330
And when he hit the back of my car, my car started spinning.
00:29:07.410 --> 00:29:12.850
And so I'm going, please don't let me die, please don't let me die, please don't let me die, please don't let me die.
00:29:12.930 --> 00:29:14.450
I'll never have a turnpike, right?
00:29:14.530 --> 00:29:15.490
So there's my prayer.
00:29:15.570 --> 00:29:16.370
I'm freaking out.
00:29:16.530 --> 00:29:17.730
My first defense is prayer.
00:29:17.890 --> 00:29:19.170
Please don't let me die, Lord.
00:29:19.250 --> 00:29:26.450
And I came to rest against the concrete abutment between the uh eastbound and westbound traffic, facing the wrong way.
00:29:27.330 --> 00:29:29.330
And the Lord let me live.
00:29:29.810 --> 00:29:31.490
And here I am to tell you about it.
00:29:31.570 --> 00:29:33.010
A state trooper pulls up.
00:29:33.170 --> 00:29:34.290
It's pouring down rain.
00:29:34.370 --> 00:29:37.010
He's facing me, he's going the right way, I'm facing the wrong way.
00:29:37.250 --> 00:29:40.850
State trooper pulls up and it's raining so hard he doesn't even get out of his car.
00:29:40.930 --> 00:29:46.290
You know, there's car going, cars going, so I get out of my car and it's pouring down rain.
00:29:46.370 --> 00:29:49.730
And I go up to his window and he rolls it down and he says, You okay?
00:29:49.890 --> 00:29:51.250
It's like, yeah, I'm fine.
00:29:51.330 --> 00:29:54.930
And I explained him what happened, and uh he said, I'll help you get out of here.
00:29:55.010 --> 00:30:00.530
You know, so he there wasn't the guy that hit me, we had already exchanged insurance information and all that stuff.
00:30:00.610 --> 00:30:01.490
He was gone, of course.
00:30:01.570 --> 00:30:02.690
I'm there by myself.
00:30:02.850 --> 00:30:06.690
But the state trooper uh helped me get my car out and get going in the other direction.
00:30:06.770 --> 00:30:09.890
And I called Donna, you know, you hear me talking, I'm okay right now.
00:30:10.050 --> 00:30:10.530
I'm okay.
00:30:10.690 --> 00:30:12.050
Just want you to know I'm okay.
00:30:12.690 --> 00:30:12.930
What?
00:30:13.010 --> 00:30:13.570
What happened?
00:30:13.650 --> 00:30:14.130
What happened?
00:30:14.210 --> 00:30:15.010
Why are you saying that?
00:30:15.090 --> 00:30:17.330
You know, well, I was in an accident, but I'm okay.
00:30:17.490 --> 00:30:18.850
But my first defense, right?
00:30:19.010 --> 00:30:22.290
Please don't let me die, please don't let me die, was prayer.
00:30:22.530 --> 00:30:33.250
Because, as Paul said, God is able to do immeasurably more than we could ask or imagine, including saving your life on uh Ohio turnpike according to his power that is at work.
00:30:33.490 --> 00:30:35.010
What within us?
00:30:35.410 --> 00:30:36.450
Don't miss that.
00:30:36.610 --> 00:30:40.210
The power of God that it's is at work within us.
00:30:41.330 --> 00:30:42.210
Don't miss it.
00:30:42.370 --> 00:30:45.170
Do you understand who you are if you are a believer?
00:30:45.410 --> 00:30:51.090
Number three, grace gives me strength for what God has called me to do.
00:30:52.770 --> 00:30:53.410
Wow.
00:30:53.810 --> 00:30:55.890
You heard my testimony, you look back, right?
00:30:55.970 --> 00:30:58.690
You see who I was and what I was and where I am.
00:31:00.450 --> 00:31:04.210
Oh boy, not by my might might, not by my strength.
00:31:04.850 --> 00:31:08.050
Grace gives me strength for what God has called me to do.
00:31:08.210 --> 00:31:08.930
Write that down.
00:31:09.090 --> 00:31:11.810
Have you ever thought about that for yourself?
00:31:13.010 --> 00:31:13.970
Here's the question.
00:31:14.130 --> 00:31:16.610
Here's a question for you to wrestle with this week.
00:31:17.730 --> 00:31:21.970
What is God asking me to do with the life He has given me?
00:31:23.730 --> 00:31:24.050
Right?
00:31:24.210 --> 00:31:28.130
I mean, generally we just kind of plod along and go to work every day, you know, do whatever.
00:31:28.290 --> 00:31:29.890
Go to school, go to work.
00:31:30.850 --> 00:31:34.370
Maybe God's calling us to love someone who's difficult to love.
00:31:34.530 --> 00:31:36.850
Maybe it's serving someone who needs help.
00:31:37.010 --> 00:31:46.930
Maybe it's sharing your faith with someone who's far from the Lord, using a gift you've been given, or simply being available when God opens a door.
00:31:48.770 --> 00:31:51.650
Remember, you weren't saved by good works.
00:31:51.810 --> 00:31:55.090
You were saved by grace for good works.
00:31:55.890 --> 00:32:02.290
And you don't accomplish, you don't have to, and you don't have to accomplish God's purposes in your own strength.
00:32:02.450 --> 00:32:03.810
That's the best part.
00:32:04.450 --> 00:32:08.130
Can't even imagine what God has in store for those who love Him.
00:32:09.410 --> 00:32:12.850
The same grace that saved you is the grace that equips you.
00:32:13.330 --> 00:32:17.650
And I know the Lord is speaking to somebody in here or somebody at home.
00:32:17.810 --> 00:32:18.450
I know.
00:32:19.650 --> 00:32:31.090
Bottom line today, grace changes who I am, gives me a purpose beyond myself, and gives me the strength to live out that purpose.
00:32:32.130 --> 00:32:34.210
This is amazing grace.
00:32:35.650 --> 00:32:37.650
So this week, okay, here you go.
00:32:37.730 --> 00:32:38.530
This week.
00:32:38.770 --> 00:32:40.530
Look for the opportunity.
00:32:41.490 --> 00:32:42.130
Alright?
00:32:42.530 --> 00:32:44.050
Now that you've heard me, it's too late.
00:32:44.130 --> 00:32:45.330
You can't do anything about it.
00:32:45.410 --> 00:32:46.610
Look for the opportunity.
00:32:46.930 --> 00:32:48.370
Step through the door.
00:32:49.170 --> 00:32:57.090
And trust God by His grace to give you the strength to do what He has called you to do.
00:32:57.330 --> 00:32:58.770
What is that for you?
00:32:59.330 --> 00:33:00.290
What is that for you?
00:33:00.450 --> 00:33:02.850
I pray that your eyes are open this week.
00:33:03.250 --> 00:33:06.930
Step through the door that God has called you to step through.
00:33:07.250 --> 00:33:08.450
Pray with me.
00:33:09.410 --> 00:33:11.650
Lord, thank you, as always, for your word.
00:33:11.810 --> 00:33:12.770
Your word is truth.
00:33:12.850 --> 00:33:14.370
Your word is active and alive.
00:33:14.530 --> 00:33:15.170
And here we are.
00:33:15.330 --> 00:33:16.130
We get to pray.
00:33:16.210 --> 00:33:18.130
We get to uh get into your word.
00:33:18.290 --> 00:33:23.330
We get to read the words of Paul together and learn together and be encouraged together.
00:33:23.570 --> 00:33:24.450
Thank you.
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Thank you, Lord.
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I love what Paul says is we can't even imagine what the Lord has in store for those who love him.
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Oh Lord, I pray that we could own that.
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Paul says we can't even imagine how deep and wide your love is for us.
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Man, maybe we get a sense of that in some way, Lord.
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Father, I pray that you lead and you guide and you speak and you open our hearts and our minds to listen, to be attentive to your leading and to your calling.
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I pray that you put opportunities in front of us to be the hands and feet of Jesus, to this dying world.
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Lord, to the the ninth graders that are making the decision to walk away from the Lord or anybody else in our life that has walked away.
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Lord, use us.
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There is no plan B.
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And Father, I I pray for those who are not sure about their relationship with you.
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That today is the day they understand their need for a savior.
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And that they they they open their hearts, Lord, and receive salvation by grace, through faith, the forgiveness of sins, because of what Jesus Christ has done.
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When we acknowledge our need for a savior, Lord, you make yourself known.
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So I pray for anybody in here or watching at home that's not sure about their faith, their salvation, that today is the day that that changes for eternity.
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Thank you for it.
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In Jesus' name I pray.
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Amen.
