The Grand Doxology

Well, I invite you to open your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 1, verses 3 through 14.

Ephesians 1:3–14

So let's do what we just sang.

Let's listen to God's Word.

If you have a pew Bible in front of you, I think that's 1159 is the page number.

Ephesians chapter 1.

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

But Paul writes this letter from being chained to a Roman soldier in a rented house in Rome.

And he writes this.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Him with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,

even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him.

In love He predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will,

to the praise of His glorious grace with which He has blessed us in the Beloved.

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of His grace,

which He lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of His will according to His purpose,

which He set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth.

In Him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him,

who works all things according to the counsel of His will,

so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of His glory.

In Him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation,

and believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,

who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of His glory.

Let's pray.

Father, thank you for this passage, and thank you for the reminder and the call for us to bring you praise.

Oh, we have so many reasons, so many opportunities, so many things in our minds and hearts

as we reflect on what it means to be a believer in Jesus Christ,

how much we have to praise you for.

I would pray that as we work our way through this passage,

that you would begin to press on our hearts the glory and wonder of who you are.

We would think about you.

We would think about what you've done.

In eternity past, now and for eternity future,

what all this means.

And may our lives be changed so that we go here in the rest of the day,

the rest of the week might be to the praise of your glory.

We pray that you'll help us, that you'll work in us,

and that you'll change us for your glory alone.

In your name we pray. Amen.

Most of us know the doxology.

We sing it here.

In fact, we're going to sing it today at the end of the service.

You know the words.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Praise Him all creatures here below.

Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts.

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

My first pastorate, I inherited the tradition of singing the doxology after receiving the offering.

So every Sunday, receive the offering, we would all sing the doxology.

We didn't have words in front of us.

We all knew the song.

It was very easy to sing.

We would all remember it.

But I was always bothered by that because I thought, we're just singing this rote.

We're not really thinking about it.

We really ought to do something with that.

So I decided that we would sing the doxology but to an alternate tune.

The tune was the hymn, Jesus Shall Rain.

It works perfectly in the hymn.

But this would be a great thing for us.

So we'll concentrate more on what we're singing than just singing this rote idea.

Well, suddenly, as we began to sing that song to the tune of Jesus Shall Rain, it sounded more like a foreign language.

And we were all fumbling over the words.

And finally, most people quit singing before the brief little song was completed.

And I was told after that, don't ever try that again.

Often in Scripture, the Bible writers break into doxology, an expression of praise to God.

One example of that is in Romans chapter 11.

Romans 11 · chapter mention

Paul was arguing for the sovereign purposes of God in chapters 9 through 11 of that great book.

By the time he reached the end of that section, it seems as if he could really hold back no longer in his praise to our great God.

And so he writes this,

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!

How unsearchable are His judgments and how inscrutable His ways!

For who has known the mind of the Lord?

Or who has been His counselor?

Or who has given the gift to Him that He might be repaid?

For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.

To Him be glory forever. Amen.

Well, in this letter to the Ephesians, Paul is going to write about Christ's unsearchable riches.

And I suspect that as he began to contemplate the vastness of God's greatness and the wonder of God's grace,

he breaks into a doxological discourse involving the triune God, even before writing the rest of the letter.

You may have sort of picked it up in the English version of Ephesians 1,

but did you know that in verses 3 to 14 are actually one long sentence in the Greek text?

Paul would not have made it in an English class for run-on sentences,

but an incredible truth of what God has done and the reason for this great doxology.

So, verses 3 through 6, he tells us this.

All spiritual blessings come from the Father.

So think about that for a minute.

As you read through this, it's a little bit hard.

There's a lot of hymns in there.

Blessed be the God and Father.

Even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world.

He and Him.

And it's hard to try to figure all that out.

But I think the emphasis is on the Father.

But He's telling us that in the Father, from the Father, all spiritual blessings come.

Well, what are some of those blessings?

Well, for one, is He chose us.

Verse 4.

He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world.

Before anything was created, that we should be holy and blameless before Him.

He didn't just choose us to save us.

He chose us to make us into something that would be presented to Him.

Holy and blameless.

Left to ourselves, we would never have chosen Him.

The Bible tells us that we are dead in our sin.

We would never seek after God.

There's no one who seeks after God.

No one has ever sought after Him.

We are unable and unwilling to respond to a holy God.

In fact, the Bible says that we are enemies of God.

But in His infinite mercy and grace, He determined to call us out of the bondage of sin and grant to us eternal life.

And so we praise Him.

For those of us who belong to Christ, why did God choose us?

Have you ever thought about that?

Why did God choose me?

I don't know.

But I know that He did.

And I hope I never get over the wonder and the shock that He chose me.

If you're sort of patting yourself on the back for believing in Jesus, I'm sure glad I came to that conclusion.

You've missed Paul's point.

And you're not really entering into this grand doxology.

See, God the Father chose some out of the whole of already condemned mankind.

And He gave them the gift of His Son.

A gift that on the one hand was given to the Son, and on the other hand, purchased by the Son.

The Father took the initiative and chose some.

That is an incredible spiritual blessing.

He not only chose us, but He predestined us.

Verse 5.

The Father predestined us.

That's a word that we sometimes trip over a bit.

But just think of it this way.

God set His love upon us a long time ago.

The emphasis is in the past.

He did this a long time ago.

According to the purpose of His will.

And His infinite wisdom and sovereign authority, before He ever made the universe,

He determined to set His love upon those who would believe in Him,

that we might be able one day to stand before Him face to face,

wholly and without blame.

He had to choose us, and He had to set His love upon us,

if that was ever to become a reality.

So He chose us, He predestined us.

These are all blessings from the Father through the Son.

He chose us, He predestined us, He adopted us.

Verse 5.

We who were aliens from God, enemies of God.

He adopted us into His family.

And He granted us all the rights and privileges as children of His.

Again, according to the purpose of His will.

Verse 7 reminds us that He redeemed us.

What's redemption mean?

Well, the idea is to purchase and set free by the payment of a price.

In Paul's day, one would go to the marketplace, the agora, to purchase merchandise,

and then take it home, take home what was purchased.

It now belonged to the one who made the purchase.

So what was bought was set free from the marketplace.

That's redemption.

We're not merely bought and brought out of the marketplace of sin, never to be returned,

but we are set free from our condition as a slave to sin.

He bought us and set us free from the penalty of sin.

Charles Wesley understood this when he wrote the song, And Can It Be?

One of those verses in that song says,

Long my imprisoned spirit lay fast bound in sin in nature's night.

But he speaks of God.

Thine eye diffused a quickening ray.

I woke the dungeon flame with light.

My chains fell off.

My heart was free.

I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.

That's the way it was.

God redeemed us.

What an amazing spiritual blessing.

When I start to think of God and start to praise Him,

what's the first thing that comes to our mind?

It seems to me it ought to start with,

What did He do for me?

He chose me.

He predestined me.

He adopted me.

He redeemed me.

All those things are great spiritual blessings that come from the Father.

And then He applied His design and purpose for us, to us and for us.

That's sort of verses 8 to 12 and sort of wrapping that up kind of quickly.

But this may be the answer to why we must praise Him.

Everything God has done and will do is for the praise of His glory.

For the praise of His glorious grace.

In other words, God's design of salvation, that is, rescuing us from sin and death and granting to us eternal life.

And God's, not only His design for salvation, but His design of sanctification, that is, making us holy and conforming us into His image.

And His design for glorification, that is, presenting us holy and blameless before Him.

All of that was to praise Him.

In fact, in the final analysis, my salvation is not ultimately about me.

Your salvation is not ultimately about you.

It's about Him.

He, not we, will be the focal point of all eternity.

It's not, look at all those people who have been redeemed.

In heaven, it will be, look at this great God who redeemed all those people from every tribe and tongue and nation.

You see the difference?

The focus is on Him, not on us.

So, why would God choose us and set His love upon us?

Well, unaided, we never would have responded to Him.

If we could have, we would have taken the credit.

And that would go contrary to the very intention of God's plan.

This rescue was to magnify the greatness and glory and grace of the Rescuer.

He purposed to do this because for all eternity, He will be the focus of all praise.

All that we are now and all that we will be in His presence is because of Him.

John Calvin, during the time of the Reformation, wrote,

Whatever happens to us, let us always assure ourselves that we have good cause to praise our God.

And that even if we are poor and miserable in this world,

the happiness of heaven is enough to appease us,

to sweeten all of our afflictions and sorrows,

and to give us such contentment that we may nevertheless have our mouths open to bless God

for showing Himself so kind-hearted and liberal towards us,

as even to adopt us as His children,

and to show us that the heritage which has been purchased for us

by the blood of His only Son is ready for us,

and that we cannot miss it,

seeing that we go to it with true and invincible constancy of faith.

We have been blessed.

Blessed beyond measure by the Father.

And those blessings from the Father come to us through the Son.

So the second idea here in this passage

is that all spiritual blessings which come from the Father

are found in Christ Jesus.

That's where we find them.

That's where these blessings come to us,

and through Him, through Christ,

these are the blessings that we have.

So in Him, whether that means in God, the Father,

or in Christ, you could make an argument either way,

but in Him, in God, we have redemption.

We have been chosen by the Father to be holy and blameless,

but before we arrive at that promised position,

something had to be done in regard to our sin.

And so we need to talk a little bit about redemption's price here.

Sin was a serious problem, an affront to a holy God.

It could not merely be overlooked or ignored.

A price was required,

and the seriousness of the offense required an astronomical price.

Before sin became a reality,

God had established the price that had to be paid to deal with sin.

Remember what it was in the garden?

In the day you eat of this forbidden fruit,

what happens?

You will die.

And so death,

a couple different ideas about death,

death would come physically,

but before that,

death came spiritually in that man was now separated from God.

So that happened,

they were excommunicated from the garden.

No longer was there a face-to-face relationship with God.

Everything had changed.

And years later,

Adam and Eve would die physically.

Death is separation.

It starts with separation from God,

and then ends with separation from our body and our spirit.

That was what God had designed.

The sacrificial system throughout the Old Testament

introduced the idea of a substitute to pay the penalty for sin,

which included the payment of a blood sacrifice.

The problem with that was that this system was never-ending.

How many animals do you suppose were slaughtered

during the Old Testament time?

Reading some of the passages in the Old Testament,

just amazing,

you know,

the thousands and thousands and tens of thousands

and millions probably of animals,

sacrificed.

It never ended.

Sacrifice,

and another sacrifice,

and another sacrifice,

continued on.

But the problem was that

that debt

for sin was never satisfied.

The debt was too big.

It was sort of like

having a loan

and paying only the interest.

How long will that take you to pay the loan?

See,

there was an appeasement,

as it were,

for the sacrifices in the Old Testament

so that life could continue

without major interruption,

but the debt never got any smaller,

much less satisfied.

The full payment

would still one day be required.

So what was that payment?

Well, we know.

Jesus,

the only one who could pay that enormous price,

came

and paid the price in full

through His blood.

So the Father's blessing

of redemption

is found

in Jesus.

In Him,

we have redemption.

For seven tells us,

in Him,

we have forgiveness.

So what is forgiveness?

Well,

forgiveness means to carry away.

The truth was prefigured

in Leviticus chapter 16,

Leviticus 16 · chapter mention

where a priest would bring two goats.

One would be sacrificed.

The other,

he would lay his hands on the goat

as a symbol

of passing the sins of the people

onto that animal.

And then the animal

would be led off

into the wilderness

and that animal would,

that goat would never be,

make its way back.

It would be lost forever.

We call it the scapegoat.

All right?

That's where that came from.

The goat was left there

never to return.

And that same truth is,

we see that arrive several times

throughout the Old Testament

about how God carries our sins away.

If John Tippmann would have continued reading

in Psalm 103,

he would have come to this verse,

as far as the east is from the west,

so far as he carried our trespasses,

our sins from us.

He removed,

he removes our sin from his very presence.

Jeremiah 31 verse 34 says,

Jeremiah 31:34

their sin I will remember no more.

Not only is sin removed from his presence,

it's also removed from his mind,

his memory,

as it were.

Isaiah 43 verse 25,

Isaiah 43:25

Isaiah writes about,

quoting God,

I,

I am he who blots out

your transgressions

for my own sake.

Sin,

gone from his presence,

gone from his mind,

gone from his ledger.

Micah chapter 7 verse 19,

Micah 7:19

he casts all their sins

into the depths of the sea.

Gone from sight,

gone,

gone.

We used to sing as a kid,

gone,

gone,

gone,

gone,

yes,

my sins are gone.

Now my soul is free

and in my heart's a song,

buried in the deepest sea,

yes,

that's good enough for me.

I forget the rest of it,

but it ended with G-O-N-E,

gone,

whatever,

you know.

But it was so good

that that's gone,

my sins are gone,

they're carried away,

they're gone,

in Christ Jesus.

He's given me forgiveness.

Is that not something

for which to give him praise?

That's what the psalm,

that's what Paul is writing about.

Why do we need forgiveness?

We're transgressors.

We've deviated from the truth,

we've broken the law of God,

we've missed the mark of God,

that God's standard,

that God's perfect standard,

there's nothing that we can do

to satisfy the offense.

The requirement is death.

Without forgiveness,

we stand condemned to die.

And not just physical death,

but separation from God forever.

But some of the sweetest words

in all the Bible are found here.

In Him,

we have redemption

through His blood,

the forgiveness

of our trespasses.

On what is forgiveness based?

Verses 7 and 8,

it's based on the riches

of God's grace

found in Jesus.

I appreciate it so much,

Zach,

picking out the music today

because it really was,

it was,

it was,

much of that was coming

right from this text.

Most of the words

of those songs

reminding us of

the grace of God,

how God lavished

His grace.

Don't you love that word?

Lavished.

Lavished upon us.

When God forgives us,

He keeps nothing back.

There are no conditions

to be fulfilled by us.

He forgives according

to the riches

of His grace.

When we are saved

from our sin,

God saves us

from the penalty of sin.

Again,

what's the penalty of sin?

Death.

He saves us

from the penalty of sin.

What does He give us?

We don't,

we don't die

for our sins now.

We live for what?

We live forever.

We have eternal life.

So,

He exchanges death

for eternal life.

And then,

in Him,

we have wisdom

and insight.

Verses 8-12.

Because God has lavished

His grace upon us

in Christ,

we have been given

understanding

of the mystery

of who God is.

At least something of that.

And what He's doing

and where all this is going.

We can at least know this.

It is according

to God's will.

He planned it all

without any help

from anyone.

It's according

to God's own good pleasure.

That is,

He did it by Himself,

for Himself,

to please Himself.

It is the revelation

of God's plan

for the management

of the universe.

In God's perfect plan

and time,

God will restore

all things

to and for Himself.

And this restoration

will be better

than the original condition

where there will be

no possibility

of becoming tainted,

damaged,

or destroyed.

As Paul praises God,

he does so knowing

that all these blessings,

all of this lavished grace

from the Father

comes through Jesus.

Now there's one more

piece of this,

and that's in verses

13-14.

All spiritual blessings

from the Father

found in Christ Jesus

are guaranteed

in the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit

is the Holy Spirit

of promise.

Jesus had told

His disciples

that He was going

back to heaven,

and He was going

to send another

comforter.

The word comforter,

I don't know

if it's the best

translation or not,

because usually

when we think

of comforter,

what do we think of?

Think of somebody,

you know,

a shoulder to cry on,

or somebody to console us.

But really the idea

of the comforter here

is really an advocate.

It's somebody

who comes alongside us

to strengthen us.

That's really the idea

behind it.

So Jesus,

as the one who brings,

we find our strength

in Him,

He then ascends to heaven

and sends His Spirit

who continues

to strengthen us.

And so,

what happens

when Jesus told

the disciples,

I'm going back to heaven,

and I'm going to send

another comforter,

and you're to wait,

and what do you get

on the day of Pentecost?

He's going to come

with power,

strength.

And so there will be

strength from the Spirit

to give you what you need

to continue to live.

The indwelling presence

of the Spirit

in the believer

is, at least in one sense,

an undeniable mark

of God's work in us

and for us.

So I can be assured

that if the Holy Spirit

is in me,

then I belong to God.

I'm one of His very own.

So God gives His Spirit.

He's the Spirit of promise.

It's a promise that says

that I belong to Him.

But He's also the earnest

or down payment

of our inheritance.

That means a couple of things.

If you were to go buy a home,

there's a probability

that you have to put up

some money.

It's not the whole amount

for the house.

It's just some money

that guarantees

that there's going to be

more to come, right?

And it's saying that

we're sort of holding this.

This is a guarantee

that you'll get the rest.

Earnest money.

Well, in a strange sort of way,

that word is used

for the Spirit.

He becomes the earnest

or the promise

or the down payment

on our ultimate glorification.

That word was used

in secular Greek

to speak of a down payment

on an animal

or down payment on a wife.

In this case,

the Holy Spirit

is a down payment,

something very important,

very valuable,

but it was the promise

of a future completed transaction.

So the Father has given to us

all these wonderful blessings

and promises

and so that we know

that the certainty

of the fulfillment

of these promises,

He has left the Holy Spirit

as a down payment.

If He would leave

His Holy Spirit with me,

don't you think

that certainly

He will complete

what He started

and bring me

all the way home?

people want assurances

because human words

are often not reliable.

We seek oaths,

guarantees,

warranties.

We want to make sure

someone's backing up

what has been promised.

Certainly,

God's Word is good

and that should be enough

for us,

but God has graciously

provided us

with His own guarantee,

the promised Holy Spirit.

When we first trust Christ,

we do not directly

or immediately

receive all the promises

of God.

Peter reminded us

in his writings

that many of those promises

are, quote,

reserved in heaven for you.

But we do have

the promised Holy Spirit.

Surely that's enough

for us to give Him praise.

The Spirit

is the down payment

with the promise

of more to come.

The second idea here

is that of a seal.

The seal is a mark

of ownership.

It's a mark

of a finished transaction.

To have the Holy Spirit

is to be able

to declare,

I'm saved.

That was Paul's message

in Romans chapter 8.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

We have the Spirit of God,

we belong to Him.

There are several stories

in the Bible

that illustrate

the truth

of a signet ring

when the king

or some other

high-ranking official

sealed something

with the king's seal.

That was a mark

of authenticity.

That's the Holy Spirit

to us.

Close to that idea

is the idea

of security.

If you want

to secure something,

you would seal it.

Younger people

have to understand this,

but just before

the earth crossed

hardened when I was

in junior high school,

we didn't have

social media platforms,

we didn't have

cell phones,

we didn't have

any of that.

We did this

very strange thing.

We used paper

and a pencil

and an envelope

and we wrote letters.

Now,

in junior high,

some of you need

to think back

a little ways

at that point,

but junior high kids

say lots of stuff

and a lot of things

they want to keep secret,

they want people

to know about it,

so these notes

would get passed

and be put in an envelope

and you could lick

the envelope

if you want to

and seal it,

but it's easy

to steam those open

or whatever

and kind of people

would know

they've been tampered with.

So kids came up

with this idea

of this wax seal

and so you'd put

a wax seal

on that envelope

and then you would

put your initial

in the seal

and it would harden

and then if you tried

to open the envelope,

you would break

that seal

and people,

this messy thing

on the envelope,

you'd know

somebody tampered with it.

We were pretty sharp

back then.

Well,

the idea

of the Holy Spirit

is the seal

that God has placed

on us

and may I remind you

that there is no

higher power

that could break

that seal.

That's security.

The seal means

that we're in process.

We're still down here.

We still sin.

All of that's going

to be,

all of that is going

to be someday.

All these things

will be true.

Sin will be gone.

All that's gone

someday.

But it's not here yet.

The good news is

that God has left

this Holy Spirit

who in spite

of all of our sins

and all of our failures

and all of our shortcomings

and all of our inconsistencies

is a source

of encouragement

concerning His

gracious work

in us

and the incredible

promise of more

to come.

So the seal means

that we're in process

but it also guarantees

completion.

Paul told the Romans

in the Roman folks

in his letter

in chapter 8

that creation

is waiting eagerly

for the completion

of our redemption.

That sounds

a little strange.

But when we're complete

all of creation

will be made new.

Though creation

is groaning now

it is anticipating

with confidence

that this promised

day will arrive.

The seal

the Holy Spirit

is the promise

the guarantee

that all of this

will happen.

I have the down payment

that God will not default.

What He has planned

before the foundation

of the world

He will complete.

You know

Philippians chapter 1

Philippians 1:6

verse 6

that

He who began

a good work in you

what's He going to do?

He's going to finish it.

He's left His Spirit here

to guarantee that

to us

that He'll finish

His work.

There may be

many reasons

why this is so

but Paul reminds us

at least of this.

The seal

is

to the praise

of the Father's glory.

See God planned

all of this

and invested

in His Son

to carry out

redemption's plan.

He brought

that good news

of salvation

to us

and when we believed

He gave us

the Holy Spirit

as a promise

of completion

and all of that

to the praise

of His glory.

For this to end

in some tragic default

or failure

or unfinished work

that would not bring

glory to God.

In the divine purpose

of redemption

the primary reason

for our salvation

would be lost.

That's not going to happen

to anything

that God has planned.

That's not going to happen

to anything

that God is implementing.

As an encouragement

to us

concerning this

grand inheritance

we have been given

God's Holy Spirit.

How is that for reason

to give praise

and glory to God?

So you have the Father

who has given us

all these spiritual blessings

all spiritual blessings

in the heavenly places

all that through the Son

and all that guaranteed

by the Holy Spirit.

At the moment

we receive

our full inheritance

which will include

a glorious

resurrection body

the redemption

of God's own possession

will be complete.

We will be granted

the inheritance

as God's own possession

fully released

from all the effects

of sin.

We will then be

fully manifested

as His own

peculiar

special treasure

enjoying forever

all that He has planned

for us

from eternity past.

We are not our own

we are bought

with a price

we are to glorify

God in our bodies

whether we live

or die

we are the Lord's.

Some things

in the Bible

theological truths

sometimes they are

hard for us

to put together

some throughout

the ages

have made ways

for us

to remember

answers

to questions

and be able

to answer

articulately

about what

the scripture

teaches

those were called

catechisms

they were used

for both children

and adults

to teach

important truths

and here is a question

that maybe

I should ask

you

and ask myself

what is your

only comfort

in life and death?

Think about it

what is your

only comfort

in life and death?

in the Heidelberg

Catechism

in 1563

this was the answer

given to that question

that I

with body

and soul

both in life

and death

am not my own

but belong

to my faithful

Savior

Jesus Christ

who with

his precious

blood

has fully

satisfied

all my sin

and delivered

me

from all the

power of the devil

and so preserves

me

that without

the will

of my heavenly

Father

not a hair

can fall

from my head

that all

things must

be subservient

to my salvation

whether by

his Holy Spirit

wherefore

by his Holy Spirit

he also assures

me of eternal

life

and makes me

heartily willing

and ready

to live

unto him

my guess is

that you probably

wouldn't have

answered that

question quite like

that but that's

the answer

that's the answer

that certainly

was Paul's

perspective

ready to live

for him

ready to give

him praise

for all that

he is

and all that

he's done

that's all

a grand

warm up

for what awaits

us in his

very presence

so are we

able to respond

to God

with a heart

overflowing

with love

and gratitude

as did Paul

all that has

happened

from the

father's

blessings

found in the

son

sealed by the

spirit

all of that

was and is

and will be

to the praise

of his glory

so the question

for myself

and for you

is that where

our hearts

are today

if not

what do we

do

I would suggest

we go back

and reread

the text

what's it say

and then start

praising him

for what he's

done

and maybe

after we do

that a few

times

our hearts

will sound

something like

this

again from

a hymn

by Charles

Wesley

finish

then thy

new creation

pure

and spotless

let us be

let us see

thy great

salvation

perfectly

restored

in thee

change

from glory

into glory

till with

thee we

take our

place

till we

cast our

crowns

before thee

lost

in wonder

love

and praise

whatever the

tune

here's the

believer's

responsibility

and joy

praise God

from whom

all blessings

flow

praise him

all creatures

here below

praise him

above

ye heavenly

hosts

praise

father

son

and holy

ghost

amen

let's pray

father

thank you

for this

incredible

wonderful

mind

blowing

plan

redemption

of salvation

of

sanctification

of glorification

all the things

that you have

planned

and are doing

and will

accomplish

help us

to give you

praise for that

when we get

down and

overwhelmed

when the

pressures and

problems of

life

press in

on us

we feel

like

nobody

cares

and

life is

lost

oh may we

think about

who you

are

may we

remind

ourselves

that this

is all

about you

and you

are the

great God

who has

chosen

us

predestined

us

redeemed

us

may this

wonderful

plan

all of that

through your

son

all sealed

by the

spirit

all of

that

for your

glory

alone

as we

leave this

place in a

few moments

may our

hearts and

minds be

fixated on

that

blessed be

the God and

father of our

Lord Jesus

Christ who has

blessed us with

all spiritual

blessings in the

heavenly places

in Christ

Jesus

it's in

the name of

your son

our savior

Jesus Christ

that we pray

amen

meanings

on

for

to

hear

Jesus

an

verse

his

gaze