Reading
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
And Ephesians chapter one, then on my heart a lot.
And there's somebody else that has another portion. Well, I'll be glad to submit to that too. But this is what I wonder if the Lord may have guided him.
Ephesians chapter One.
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God to the Saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus.
Grace be to you, and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.
Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself.
According to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.
Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom, and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ.
Both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will, that we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
And whom ye also trusted after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that ye believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of his glory.
Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and loved unto all the Saints, cease not to give thanks for you making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory.
May give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him the eyes of your understanding, being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints, And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us Word, who believe according to the working of His mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places.
Far above all principality, and power, and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come, and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church.
Which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth All in all.
We live in a world, brethren, that is materialistic.
What is come home to my own soul.
So powerfully is that we are very aware.
Of things that are material and we are taught to value them. Things that are not seen, we tend to not think that they are important.
But in this chapter we have probably one of the greatest Panoramas of spiritual blessing in Scripture. But everything mentioned is spiritual. In other words, it's in contrast with that which is material.
In verse three it says he has blessed us with all or every spiritual blessing.
In heavenly places in Christ.
And I find that sometimes we just kind of don't know exactly what that means and we.
We revert back to the appreciation of material things.
00:05:00
Brethren, it's the current of the culture that we are passing through.
And we need to be reminded of the reality of spiritual things.
Says in Second Corinthians chapter 4.
That which is seen is temporal means connected with time. That which is not seen is eternal. So what we're dealing with here in this chapter.
Are things that will last for all eternity.
Things that are material, how long are they going to last? I guess it depends what you're talking about. A car lasts maybe 1020 years.
But everything that's related to time is going to be set aside one day. But what we have in Christ is eternal, and we need to focus and live more in the enjoyment of it. If you look at the end of the chapter, just a brief moment.
In the Apostles prayer to for the Ephesians he prayed that they would be given verse 17, the spirit of wisdom and revelation, the knowledge of him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened.
That you may know. And then he asked that they might know three things. Number one, what is the hope of his calling?
That is the spiritual blessings that are ours in Christ right now. Perhaps we could say from verse 3 to verse 9.
Approximately the second thing is.
What the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints?
And you have that in verses 1011 and 12.
And then the third thing is, what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us? We're to believe according to the working of His mighty power.
And that, of course, is what we have in verse 13 and 14, the Spirit of God Who.
Dwells in US, and it's through that same Holy Spirit that he raised Christ from the dead, and set him in his present position of honor and exaltation, and in that position as.
United to his people, the church, his body. And so it's a little outline, perhaps, in that prayer of what we have in the first part of the chapter. But my burden, I suppose, in suggesting this, is that we might have our eyes turned away.
From What is Material?
To contemplate that which is ours forever. We're living in a world that is shaky.
I mean in every way, not only earthquakes, but the financial institutions of this country are shaky bad.