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Count Your Many Blessings (Ephesians 1:15-19)
43 Plays3 years ago
Count Your Many Blessings (Ephesians 1:15-19)
Ephesians: Growing in Christ
Sunday Message recorded 20 November 2022
by Pastor Victor Morrison
First Baptist Church
1700 Milam
Columbus, TX, USA 78934
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Transcript
Musical Talents and Sunday Gatherings
00:00:06
Speaker
Hey man, thank you all so much for that wonderful music. You know, that's one of the blessings I'm thanking the Lord for as I'm counting my many blessings is the way He's blessed our church with so many people that are so talented and gifted in singing and playing. And it's just such a blessing each Sunday to gather together and to lift up His praise together.
00:00:30
Speaker
And of course, we don't all have gifts in terms of music and that sort of thing, but there are other talents and abilities that each of you are using. I know when I was coming, I was coming out of the Family Life Center after Sunday school. I noticed the dessert tables.
00:00:47
Speaker
Yeah. And I thought, I'm not sure I've seen that many. And I thought it was interesting that out of my Sunday school class, there was the table that we're going to put our empty trays after the meal. So that's the kind of cleanup table. But then by the Berean class was all these desserts. And I thought, well, look at that. They know who they can trust with all that kind of thing.
00:01:10
Speaker
But I am so glad you're here today. Let me say happy Thanksgiving in advance.
Spiritual Identity in Christ
00:01:15
Speaker
We have so much in Christ that we can be thankful for.
00:01:20
Speaker
You know, Ephesians chapter one introduces us to the key. The key that unlocks the letter to Ephesians is that phrase in Christ, in Christ. Do you know who you are in Christ? Do you know your spiritual identity? Do you know all that's available to you in Christ?
00:01:43
Speaker
That was the first thing we looked at as we started our journey through the book of Ephesians. And Josh introduced us last week to spiritual blessings in Christ. Talk about counting your many blessings. There are so many and he covered them for us. I appreciated that message so much. I never noticed how the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, all three are involved in bringing these blessings to us.
00:02:11
Speaker
Today, I want us to look at Ephesians chapter one, beginning with verse 15 and going down through verse 19. I want to try with the Lord's help to bring a message, count your many blessings, looking at these verses. And I thought about verse 16. He says in verse 16, I do not cease to give thanks for you.
00:02:34
Speaker
He said, I do not cease to give thanks for you. So it's more than one time he's giving thanks over and over again. What do you think he was thankful for?
00:02:46
Speaker
Well, do you remember where the man who the Holy Spirit used to write this letter? Do you remember where he was? It says in Ephesians chapter three and verse one, for this reason I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles. You drop down to chapter four and verse one, I therefore a prisoner for the Lord urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.
00:03:14
Speaker
You look in chapter 6 and verse 20, and once again, we're confronted with the reality of where this man was riding from, for which I'm an ambassador in chains. That I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.
00:03:30
Speaker
So the fact of the matter is this man was not looking at his circumstances and saying, wow, I'm just so thankful for these circumstances. I think he was looking at all that he was unpacking for us all the way from chapter one, verse one, all the way down, going into verse 16. What was he thanking the Lord for on behalf of these disciples that were in Ephesus? I believe he was thanking the Lord over and over again.
00:04:00
Speaker
for all that they were given in Christ. And I want you to know that so badly.
Prayer and Enlightenment
00:04:06
Speaker
You know, it's interesting how if you look at verse 16, he goes from thanking the Lord into praying. He says, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers that, and then he begins to pray.
00:04:23
Speaker
Wouldn't you think that a man sitting in prison would say, Lord, protect me from some of the bad people that are around me? But you see no prayer for his protection. You see no prayer for him to have good health despite those circumstances there in that prison. He doesn't pray for freedom and he doesn't pray for finances. Don't you find it interesting that he doesn't pray for himself
00:04:48
Speaker
at all. He's praying for someone else. And what he's praying for someone else, he's praying that God will enlighten them, that he will illuminate their understanding so that they will understand who they are in Christ, so that they will be able to see all that they have available to them in Christ. And I just find that so amazing. It's almost like he's saying, I'm praying the things that you'll be able to see
00:05:18
Speaker
what you already have. I want you to be able to see who you already are.
Contentment and Realization of Blessings
00:05:24
Speaker
I don't know if you remember this man. I don't necessarily think this man was a godly man, a Christian man, a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, but there was a man named William Randolph Hearst who made his living in the newspaper business. He died in 1951, and when he died, his net worth was around $30 billion. That was a lot, 1951.
00:05:49
Speaker
But in addition to being in the newspaper business and an entrepreneur and all these different things, he was also an art collector. He collected art, pieces of art, antiquities and treasures from around the world. As a matter of fact, they say that in the 1920s and 1930s that William Randolph Hearst
00:06:10
Speaker
personally, personally owned 25% of all the world's art all around the world. But somehow there was one piece of art that he didn't have. So he says to his agent, I want you to go around the world and I want you to track down where that piece of art is. I want that masterpiece in my collection.
00:06:31
Speaker
So the agent was gone for months, searching and searching, and finally he discovers it. He comes back and he tells the man, you know what, Mr. Hearst? You send me on a search for something you already have. It's already in your warehouse, in one of the warehouses. And so this guy's been looking and looking and looking for something that he already had.
00:06:54
Speaker
You know what I'm thinking? I'm thinking that it's possible for us, those of us who are born again, who know Christ, those of us in God's family, to go out there and to look in the world for things that we already have in Christ, much better things than this world could ever offer. We're looking to them for importance or purpose or acceptance. We're looking to them for a new start.
00:07:20
Speaker
And the Lord is like, I've already given all of that to you in Christ. And so I want you to see this. We need to go back and check the biblical inventory list in Ephesians chapter 1, verses 15 through 19. And if you don't have anything else to give thanks for this Sunday, I guarantee you, I guarantee you when you look at these verses, God's gonna say, you can thank me for these things that are available to you in Christ.
00:07:49
Speaker
So I want to read through these verses. If you would, find your copy of God's word. If you don't have a copy, we have some new Pew Bibles that were donated. They're in the same translation that I'll be reading from. If you have a different translation, that's fine. That may be even a good thing if you have another translation. But I'm reading from the ESV, but let's stand in honor of God's word. His word is different than other books.
00:08:15
Speaker
His word is inerrant, it's infallible, it's inspired. His word is living and active. It'll speak to our hearts. And maybe something you weren't counting on today, God's gonna reveal it to you through His word. So let's read together. Look with me at Ephesians 1, verse 15. I'll read it and you can follow along. For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints,
00:08:46
Speaker
I do not cease to give thanks for you. Remembering you in my prayers that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory may give you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him. Having the eyes of your hearts enlightened that you may know
00:09:10
Speaker
What is the hope to which He has called you? What are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints? And what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe according to the working of His great might? Let's go to the Father in prayer. Lord,
00:09:32
Speaker
This Sunday, we gather in the name of Jesus to give you thanks. We have so much for which we could give thanks. So help us do it today. Help us as we gather around tables later. Help us just to share with one another what we are truly so grateful for. Lord, you have been so good and gracious to us in Christ. Thank you for salvation. Thank you for the blood that we sang about earlier that was shed.
00:10:00
Speaker
for the forgiveness of our sins, so that we could enter into your family, so that we could someday go to heaven to be with you for eternity.
00:10:10
Speaker
Thank you for the precious Holy Spirit. Thank you for a copy of the Word of God, the timeless Word of God. Thank you, Lord, for all these blessings and more. Thank you for a church family that we can celebrate together. So bless us, O Lord, as we look at this passage.
Faithfulness and Spiritual Growth
00:10:27
Speaker
And I pray that you would truly help us to count our many blessings. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Thank you, you may be seated.
00:10:37
Speaker
Once again, he says, I did not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. So I want us to look through this spiritual treasure chest and see what we can thank the Lord for. There are riches that we have in Christ.
00:10:53
Speaker
You know, if you were living back then, and you lived in Ephesus, where these people that he's writing to, where they lived, or if you lived, let's say, in Colossae, which was not that far from Ephesus, then either Ephesians, Colossians, you can put either one of those together, and you would find out that there were false teachers back then who were saying, Jesus is not enough.
00:11:16
Speaker
Are you kidding? You've got to add to Christ's philosophy and traditions. You can look at that in Colossians 2, 8 sometime. They were saying you've got to keep all of these rules and regulations. So they were adding legalism, Colossians 2, 16, and 17.
00:11:34
Speaker
They were saying you also need to have some mystical experiences and some visions. You need to see some angels and so forth. So Colossians 2, 18 and 19 addresses that. You need to deny yourself of some things, asceticism and extreme self-denial. You need to read that in Colossians 2, 21 and 23.
00:11:56
Speaker
But the message, the message of Ephesians and the message of Hebrews and the message of Colossians, the message of the whole New Testament is Jesus Christ is sufficient. It's the supremacy of what He did when He shed His blood on the cross. What happened whenever the Father said, my son doesn't deserve death, my son deserves life, and He raised him from the dead.
00:12:21
Speaker
And each one of us can experience life, I mean abundant life, if we will just go to Him, surrender to Him, repent of sins and say, I put my faith and trust only in what He did for me. Let me tell you, there's so much waiting. So what I want us to do is to look at this carefully and to say, okay, Lord,
00:12:42
Speaker
What can I give thanks for that I have in Christ this Sunday? What can I give thanks for this week on Thursday when I gather with my family? Let me give you some ideas. Let's look at verses 15 and 16. I think you could be thankful for growth in the Lord. Thankful for growth in the Lord. You know, he says he's not ceasing to give thanks for them.
00:13:07
Speaker
As a matter of fact, the apostle Paul, he was such a grateful person, he never really seemed to stop thanking the Lord no matter who he was writing. Do you know that in the New Testament, 26 times he says, give thanks? Give thanks, he's giving thanks constantly. And what he's giving thanks for them is mentioned right here for us in verse 15. Let's read verse 15 going into that Thanksgiving statement in verse 16.
00:13:37
Speaker
For this reason, because I've heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you." So let's look at that together and consider what are the things that he's thanking the Lord that they had been growing in.
00:13:56
Speaker
Do you know that actually they're 10 years down the road from whenever the Apostle Paul won them to Christ. 10 years before he wrote this, he led them to Christ. He discipled them. He grounded them. He helped them to assemble together in a church so that they would not be trying to live the Christian life on their own. That would have been 10 years ago.
00:14:17
Speaker
And you know, He's still thanking the Lord for them. He's thanking the Lord for them, and what He's thanking the Lord for is for their faith in the Lord Jesus and for their love toward all the saints. So I got to thinking about, is this the only place He said that? It's not. If you were to go to Colossians 1.4,
00:14:37
Speaker
1 Thessalonians 1.3, 2 Thessalonians 1.3, Philemon verse 5, you would see that Paul's constantly thanking the Lord for this kind of growth. When he sees this kind of growth in people's lives, he says, you know, I thank the Lord. I thank the Lord for your faith in the Lord, and I thank the Lord for your love for one another. He constantly is saying that. It makes me think that two essentials,
00:15:03
Speaker
For spiritual growth, if you want to grow up in the Lord Jesus Christ, don't overlook these two. To say, Lord, help me grow in faith, help me also grow in loving other people.
00:15:15
Speaker
You know, a lot of the Bible scholars that I read this week were saying that He's thanking the Lord not just for their salvation faith. He knew that they had placed their faith in the Lord 10 years ago. But what's really important to Him is they still have that faith now. That's why some Bible scholars are saying it's not so much just faith by itself, but it's faithfulness.
00:15:37
Speaker
These people for 10 years had lived for Jesus Christ with everything. They were faithful. They were obedient. They were surrendered. They were trusting the Lord 10 years down the road. I want to ask you a serious question.
00:15:54
Speaker
Where will you be in your faith journey, in your growth 10 years from now? Think about how old you are right now. 10 years from now, will you be at the same place where your faith be static and stale, stationary, or are you gonna be moving forward and say, Lord, help me grow in being faithful to my Lord and my Savior, Jesus Christ? I think it's interesting he uses the word Lord. Is Jesus boss? Is he Lord in your life?
00:16:24
Speaker
You know, I think that that's one of the areas that the Lord's saying, I want you to grow in your consistency, in your consistency. Your consistency will give validity to your Christian witness out there in this community. Whenever you're at work, whenever you're at school, whenever you're at home, when you're in front of your kids, when you're gathering around the table with relatives on Thursday, the consistency of your life, your faithfulness, if you're growing in that area,
00:16:52
Speaker
That's something to be thankful for because that's going to tell the people around you. It's real. It's genuine. They're not just saying something. They're living something. The other thing I noticed is love. He's talking about love. And how how broad was their love?
00:17:11
Speaker
Well, let's see what he says. Your love toward all the saints. Your love toward all the saints. Are there any people in our church, are there any people in God's kingdom that you say, I can love this group, but I can't love that group? That's not right.
00:17:28
Speaker
This is what he's saying. Your love has been toward all the saints, toward all the believers, toward all the disciples. So our love needs to be that broad that we would say, Lord, I'm not going to cut my love off. That's really your love flowing through me from anyone. The other thing I noticed was how deep is their love.
00:17:49
Speaker
Well, that word love there is not the Hollywood version of love. It's not a love that we're familiar with. Back then it was called agape. There was phileo, that was a Greek word for friendship type love, but it's even deeper than friendship type love. It's called agape. Agape love was unconditional. Agape love says, you may only love me 20%, but I'm gonna love you 100%. It's a God kind of love.
00:18:17
Speaker
So what I thought was interesting is that's how they were loving one another 10 years from now, 10 years from when he was riding that.
00:18:27
Speaker
But the other thing I got to think about was I thought, where have I heard about the church in Ephesus other than the letter to the Ephesians? And then it hit me this morning, the church in Ephesus was one of the seven addressed in the book of Revelation in chapters two and three. And so I got to thinking, what did he say to the church in Ephesus, not just the 10 years down the road, but 33 years down the road?
00:18:57
Speaker
In AD 95, when the book of Revelation was written through the apostle John, what did he say? He said, you know what, church? You're doing a lot of stuff. You got a lot of things going. You're hitting on a lot of the cylinders. But he said, there's one thing that's missing. He said, you've left your first love. You've left your first love. So even though 10 years down the road, they were still loving.
00:19:25
Speaker
But 35 years down the road, something had stopped up that fountain of love going toward God. Do you love the Lord? Do you know that God has loved you all your life? Do you know that God gave you your life as a great gift? And so you should say, Lord, help me to love others the way that you love me. Because let's think about this for a second.
00:19:49
Speaker
What did you do in order to earn your birth? In order for you to earn your birth, earn a life, what was it you had done that God owed you? Not one thing, not me either. None of us, out of grace and mercy and kindness and love, He gave you the life that you have right now.
00:20:11
Speaker
thankful for the growth in the Lord. That's how he starts, but he doesn't stop there. He goes on to say, I'm also thankful for something else.
Spiritual Knowledge and Hope in Christ
00:20:20
Speaker
Let me read from verse 16, going into verse 17. I wanna make sure you get something and don't miss it. I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory may give you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him.
00:20:41
Speaker
in the knowledge of him. So in other words, he's saying, I pray that your eyes will be opened just to who he is. If you know who God is, you should say, Lord, I'm so thankful for the knowledge that came from the scriptures of who you are. Do you know that in Titus chapter three, verses four through seven, it says that the day that we repented a sin, trusted Christ, surrendered to him. That day, someone came to live in our lives.
00:21:11
Speaker
the Spirit of God. It says He was poured out. He was poured out upon us is what Titus chapter 3 verses 4 through 7 says, when we were saved, the Spirit of the Lord came to live within us. And Jesus said in John 16, 13 and 14,
00:21:29
Speaker
that the Holy Spirit is going to guide you into all truth. I think it's a reference to the Bible, how the Holy Spirit inspired all of those early apostles whenever they were writing what we have now as the New Testament. He was writing it down, and so he was guiding them into all truth. But I want you to listen carefully to what else the Holy Spirit does. He doesn't just inspire. Get this, he illuminates
00:21:56
Speaker
what he has already inspired in the Word. So as we're studying the Bible this morning, perhaps you went to Sunday School earlier, if you're not in a Sunday School class, I encourage you to go there, because it's a dynamic that's not involved here, where I'm just the only one talking, but in the Sunday School class, there's comments and everyone's looking at the same passage together. I encourage you to look into God's Word. But what I found interesting is, in John 16, 14,
00:22:25
Speaker
Jesus is talking about the Holy Spirit and he says, he will glorify me. So the Holy Spirit is gonna always put the spotlight on Jesus and then get this, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
00:22:41
Speaker
So the Holy Spirit wants you to understand what he's inspired in his word about Jesus. He's going to put the emphasis on Christ. So he's going to use the word of God to help each of us understand who is God better. I want to know him better. Are you at the same place that you were, let's say they're 10 years down the road. What about 10 years ago?
00:23:06
Speaker
Do you know any more about God from his word? Are you growing in knowing who the Lord is? If you are, and I believe many of you are, I think that's something to be thankful for. To say to God, thank you, God, that you have given me spiritual illumination through the word, which is inspired, it's true. So God's spoken his word, but as we read it, the Holy Spirit is right there to give us understanding.
00:23:35
Speaker
And you should say, thank you, God, for showing me who you are. Some people think that God's boring. Some people think that God's not even there. If you know that God is here, if you know that God is not boring, he is so exciting and joyful and whatever, that's something you should say. Thank you, God, for showing me that.
00:23:56
Speaker
Do you know that God is holy? Some people think, oh, God's loving, but he's not holy. No, he's holy and he's loving. He's truthful, he's wise, he's gracious, he's merciful, he's forgiven, he's mighty, he's sovereign, he's patient, he's faithful. Man, it just goes on and on and on. Are you growing in knowing who the Lord is? Well, I wanna move to a third thing.
00:24:26
Speaker
I think we can be thankful for the growth in the Lord. I think that we can be thankful for the knowledge of the Lord. But I think that a lot of people these days, especially, are looking for hope. And so I think that we have hope that the world doesn't have.
00:24:43
Speaker
You know, hope is so important. So verse 18 begins to tell us about hope. Let's look at it together. Having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you. What is the hope? Wow.
00:25:03
Speaker
You know, I got to thinking about hope and I thought, what did Paul say about these people before they prayed and gave their life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Would you look with me at Ephesians chapter two? We didn't look at this. Ephesians chapter two and verse 12.
00:25:22
Speaker
I want you to see the world that these people were living in was not a world characterized by hope. You ever feel despair? You ever feel discouragement or depression? Maybe you can understand on a deeper level. Look at verse 12,
00:25:41
Speaker
that you were at that time separated from Christ. So we're talking about before they became Christians, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
00:26:01
Speaker
There are still people without God in this world. There are still people that have no hope in this world. You know, I read something that's not a verse from the Bible, but it's from that time period. And so it's really sad when you hear what one of their main writers back then was saying. He said, not to be born at all.
00:26:24
Speaker
This is by far the best fortune. The second best is to die as soon as one is born. You know what that describes? That describes hopelessness. But there's hope. If you came to the service today and you're looking, you're starving for hope, I want you to know there's all the hope you want found in the Lord Jesus Christ. The hope of heaven, for example.
00:26:51
Speaker
You know, Colossians 1.5 says that there's this place, and it's objective. It's like an objective hope. Our hope, according to Colossians 1.5, is stored up for us beyond the grave, beyond this life. We will go to a place where there's no sorrow, there's no sadness, there's no pain, there's no sin, there's no separation. There's not even death.
00:27:17
Speaker
Listen, there really is hope that is found in heaven, but there's also hope in the heart. I want you to hold your place if you're quick on the draw and go to Romans 5. I want to show you how there's also this, it's like God downloads hope.
00:27:35
Speaker
into our hearts, and suddenly it's like no matter what I'm going through, it's like nothing can take away the hope. As a matter of fact, he even brings out some suffering in here, and you're gonna see that he's gonna say, really, suffering is gonna produce this, and that's gonna produce character, and character is gonna lead me right back to hope. Listen to what he says about being reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, Romans 5-1,
00:28:05
Speaker
We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him, we have also obtained access by faith into this grace into which we stand.
00:28:19
Speaker
And we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. This is not a hope later. This is a hope right now. He said, we rejoice in hope right now. I've got expectation and anticipation of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance.
00:28:41
Speaker
Endurance produces character, character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Isn't that amazing?
00:28:58
Speaker
You know, it's like all of the hope is available, but you know what the problem is? It's seeing it. It's even believers sometimes. Sometimes we're having trouble seeing it because the Holy Spirit has to illuminate. He has to enlighten our spiritual eyes so that we can see it. Let me go back and read verse 17 again. Let's watch it again. Ephesians 1, verse 17.
Spiritual Inheritance and Gratitude
00:29:24
Speaker
that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he's called you.
00:29:43
Speaker
You know, when I was a teenager, we had something called LP albums that we'd listen to music on. And you know, it's been so long now, it's called Vintage and it's popular again. So I'm like, yes, I think I still got a few, you know. I frisbeeed most of mine away when I became a believer because they had bad words. So I would frisbee them away and stuff. But it's just amazing how, you know, back then you get a little dust on the needle.
00:30:11
Speaker
And maybe sometimes you're thinking, man, I got to get rid of this CD player because it's got dust on the needle. Now, I got news for you. CD players don't have a needle. So you're in my generation if you think they still got needles. No, they got lasers. But you know what happens? The laser gets covered up.
00:30:29
Speaker
and the laser can't read the embedded music that is recorded on that CD. And so what I think is amazing is, as believers, sometimes the beam, the light that God wants to show you, all that belongs to you in Christ, you need your eyes enlightened. You need the illumination of the Holy Spirit. You need to be back in the word of God so that God will take the dust off.
00:30:57
Speaker
of that laser, the biblical laser, so that God can say, no, you've got all the hope that you want. And what I think is really cool is this, the invitation, the invitation to hope. You ever been invited to a party and so forth? Well, he says, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which
00:31:22
Speaker
He's called you. You know, that call there is like an invitation. God's calling you. He doesn't wish for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance. He wants you to come to Him. Would you say to God, Lord, I need hope. I want hope. I thank you for the invitation to hope.
00:31:43
Speaker
Well, that's definitely the third thing we can give thanks for, but we're not finished. We have two more. How about this one? Thankful for the inheritance of the Lord. Thankful for the inheritance of the Lord. Well, verse 18 goes on to say,
00:31:59
Speaker
What are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints? So if you go back, we're still talking about what He's thankful for, we're still talking about what He's praying for, but you know what's amazing on this whole deal?
00:32:14
Speaker
is like Dr. John MacArthur said, it's amazing that all of this has already happened. So all of these things have, it's already ours. It's just that we don't know all that is ours in Christ Jesus. And so that's why he's saying, man, just open your eyes. You have been blessed with so much in Christ. And I just wanted to point out there's a little bit of two different camps.
00:32:42
Speaker
Whichever camp you want to be in is biblical, okay? Even Dr. MacArthur said, either way you interpret it is fine. But let me tell you the two camps. One camp says what he's referring to is God's inheritance in us. So you know what he's saying? How valuable
00:33:01
Speaker
Are you to God right now, our Heavenly Father, how much are you worth to Him? That's what it's talking about in verse 18 when it says, what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints?
00:33:19
Speaker
Do you know he's invested a lot? His son shed his blood for you, and so you are priceless to God the Father. If you're having a low self-esteem, you need to go back and recalibrate your whole esteem and say, look at how important God says I am, how valuable God says I am. So it could be how we are so valuable to him, right? But then it also could be the other way around.
00:33:49
Speaker
It could be our inheritance that's found in Christ. And so it could be how His valuables are so important to us and what they're worth. You know, these riches that Mark talks about in this verse, that word means abundance.
00:34:06
Speaker
If you were to follow riches, that's why some people call this like a treasury, because all through the letter to the Ephesians, Paul keeps on talking about riches. If you look at chapter one in verse seven, in him, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches.
00:34:26
Speaker
of His grace." Wow, I thought that's amazing. But now here we are about the glorious inheritance. And he says, he's called you, what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints? The riches of His glorious inheritance.
00:34:43
Speaker
That's amazing. You can keep going. Chapter two, verse seven, chapter three, verse eight, and chapter three, verse 16. It's like this one letter is trying to show you all that's yours. So we are to say, God, thank you for the inheritance that I have in Christ.
00:35:02
Speaker
You know, a long time ago, there was a lady named Hedy Green. Hedy Green, there was a book written about her called, A Woman Who Loved Money. She loved money so much, she didn't wanna spend money. So it was too much for her to have her oatmeal heated in the morning. She didn't wanna use that electricity. So what she said was, I'll eat cold oatmeal. I'm just gonna pour the cold water over it. Her son gets a bad infection in his leg. He wound up having to get his leg amputated.
00:35:32
Speaker
You know why? Because she didn't want to go to the doctor and pay to get his leg fixed. She died in 1916 with an estate worth $100 million. $100 million, and she doesn't want to take her son to the doctor. She doesn't want to use the electricity to heat up her oatmeal. That's heavy green. Now, I want you to contrast that with the pilgrims.
00:35:58
Speaker
I want you to think about those who brought the faith over to this land. The pilgrims lost half of their number. I think 104, 102, but 47 died due to cold and sickness. William Bradford, the leader, his wife drowned. The first harvest was a total wipeout. But then the second harvest is where we come in with the thanksgiving.
00:36:27
Speaker
They invited King Massoet and 90 different braves to come together and to feast with them, to give thanks to God for the blessings. So for three days, they enjoyed the meal. We know what happened at that event in 1621 because of two sources. These are sources you can check out.
00:36:49
Speaker
A letter to a friend was written by Edward Winslow on December the 11th, 1621. So this man who's there said, here's what happened. And he wrote about it. And then we can also read in another man's journal who kept a very copious thorough journal. His name was William Bradford, the leader. But what I thought was interesting is what Edward Winslow wrote to his friend. Listen to this one sentence. It kind of lets you know where those pilgrims were coming from.
00:37:20
Speaker
And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are far from want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty." Edward Winslow, 1621, December the 11th. You know, sometimes we compare with the wrong direction, right?
00:37:48
Speaker
We're always thinking of what we don't have, but what Edward Winslow and what the pilgrims were saying was, you know what? We don't have a lot, but we're far from want. We're far from being in need. And so this day, we gathered with these other Native Americans and we say, thank you, God, for your goodness to us.
00:38:10
Speaker
Now, regardless of what those who wanna revise history will tell you, that's the real story according to those that were there.
Divine Strength and Eternal Blessings
00:38:19
Speaker
I think a fifth and final thing would be to give thanks for the power of the Lord, the power of the Lord. Yeah, we can give thanks for the inheritance of the Lord and thank Him for hope, thank Him for the knowledge of the Lord and growth in the Lord, but to be thankful for the power of the Lord. So it's like they're gonna go from enlightenment
00:38:40
Speaker
to enablement, to where they're saying, I need strength, I need strength, Lord. Knowing that God, knowing all that God has done for you, that's enlightenment. But God actually giving you strength in your daily life so you can be a consistent witness for him, that's enablement. That's something only God can do. Do you know, he says here about it,
00:39:07
Speaker
that we might know what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe according to the working of his great might." You know what the word immeasurable back then, what they heard? They heard a Greek word, and that Greek word was hooperbalo, hooperbalo. Hooper meant beyond or above, but balo, balo meant to throw.
00:39:35
Speaker
So I couldn't help but think about Wednesday night, this past Wednesday night, Josh, Mick and I, we were in there trying to throw one of those dodge balls from half court and see, can we make a basket with a dodge ball at half court? And that Wednesday, we didn't do it. But the other Wednesday, I never did it, but Josh, he made a basket. I'm not gonna tell you Josh's age. It's not important to this discussion.
00:40:03
Speaker
I'm not gonna talk about strength and who's stronger. All I'm saying is, look, he made the basket. He threw beyond where I went, right? How about God? How far can God throw? I guarantee you, God can throw further than you can and further than I can.
00:40:20
Speaker
Think about all these words that he puts together here. He uses the word power, which at that time was the word dunamis. Dunamis, does that sound like dynamite? Does it sound like dynamic? It was potential power.
00:40:35
Speaker
When someone had that kind of power, you're saying that's the capacity, but it doesn't mean it's actually being used. But the actual power was mentioned later when he talks about the working. The working. You know what the working was in Greek? I know you would know this word. Energia. Energy. Energia. So he's actually saying God's got the capacity to help you and I resist temptation.
00:41:03
Speaker
help us resist the ways of the world. But then he says, according to the working, and now we're not talking about potential power, we're talking about actual power. We're talking about somebody who can be effective in your world, in your life, this week. And then,
00:41:20
Speaker
Iskus was like factual power. It's like whenever you see somebody and you're thinking, I think that his strength is greater than my strength, so I ain't gonna mess with him. That's the kind of thing when it's obvious what they have. It's like a fact, but they're not using it like for the one that we just looked at. And then there was kratos, which is that last one might, which means manifested power.
00:41:47
Speaker
And it's interesting how manifested power there, that word might means there was something holding you back. There was resistance. And you found the strength, the power to say, you know what? That's not going to hold me back anymore.
00:42:03
Speaker
I'm encouraging you to look at all you already have in Christ Jesus and to say, Lord, I want to grow, I want to move forward, I want to know who I truly am in Christ and I want to grow in the things that are provided for me. You know, remember, Paul wrote about the believer's blessings in Christ from the prison. But do you know where the guy, remember we sang that song, Count Your Many Blessings?
00:42:32
Speaker
I bet that guy was just sitting there drinking a latte, you know, writing it down, you know, accountability blessings. No, Johnson Oatman Jr. sang about blessings in Christ after growing up. Get this during the Civil War. From the time he was five until the time he was nine, it was nothing but war in this country.
00:42:54
Speaker
But you know what he heard? He heard his daddy. His daddy was a gospel singing man of God. And so he heard his dad often singing about the Lord and all that we have in Christ. He would sing these gospel songs whenever this guy, Johnson Oatman Jr. grows up. He said, you know what? I'm gonna start writing down some of those blessings and I'm gonna start encouraging people to count their many blessings and so forth.
00:43:24
Speaker
Wow. Are you counting the blessings that you have already in Christ Jesus? How many are there? I want to close with one last thing. Would you look at Ephesians 2 one more time? I just want to show you something that may blow you away. How long would it take you?
00:43:44
Speaker
Ephesians 2.7, how long is it gonna take you to count all that you have? You know, Josh and me, we both touched on Ephesians 1.3 that said you've been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, right? Well, let me just share with you how long it'll take in order to cover all those blessings. Ephesians 2.7 says, so that in the coming ages,
00:44:11
Speaker
He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Did you get that? In the coming ages. I'm wondering if even with God saying, you have that, and you have that, and you have that, and you have that, and you have that, and that, and that. He could go on through the ages, through all of eternity.
00:44:36
Speaker
We're going to be discovering more and more of the riches that we have in Christ. So why? Why would we be silent when we can sing about blessings that we have in the Lord? Why would we stay in a pew whenever we're not in that family yet? We're not going to receive that inheritance.
00:45:01
Speaker
Only through Christ do we receive that inheritance. So all I'm encouraging you to do is, hey, if it's yours, then sing about it. If it's yours, then share it. You know, if it's yours, then delight in it and give thanks for it. But if it's not yours, why would you wait? The best thing that's ever happened in my life.
00:45:25
Speaker
happened to me in 1979 when I turned from sin and I turned to Christ and I said, save me, Lord, just save me. And he saved me right there in a little prayer time before Sunday school. And since then, it's such a journey. I'm still learning more and more that the word of God says is available to me in Christ Jesus.
00:45:50
Speaker
What about you? Don't you want that? Let's stand together. I'm gonna stand down front. We're gonna have a closing song. I'm gonna pray and then I'll ask the musicians to come after the prayer. But I want to ask you, are you ready? Are you receiving the blessings that you've been given in Christ? Are they already yours in the Lord? Let's go to the Lord. I'll be here if you need help. I'd be glad to pray with you.
00:46:16
Speaker
Lord, thank you so much. Thank you so much for providing for us all that is needed to live a godly life. Thank you for providing all that's needed for our salvation. Thank you, Lord, for providing all that's needed for us for all eternity.
Assurance of Salvation and Relationship with God
00:46:34
Speaker
Lord, I cannot even begin to imagine what is it going to be like
00:46:39
Speaker
when it will take all of eternity, all these different ages in order to show us the immeasurable riches of your grace. I can't wait. And Lord, I want others that are here today that don't have that assurance of their salvation. They don't have a personal relationship with God through God.
00:47:01
Speaker
his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. They've never repented of sin. They've never trusted in Jesus Christ. Help them to know that you did it for us and you want to share it with us. And so I pray that your Holy Spirit would be free this morning to simply draw them into yourself. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
00:47:26
Speaker
This is a ministry of First Baptist Church, located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.