Calling Out The Called - The Church — A Living Display of What God Wants - 5 October 2025

Each other sharing your stories. If I could produce for you an

All Access Pass for anywhere you wanted to go, any group you

wanted to see, any music concert that you wanted to go through

that also included AVIP Pass, plus breakfast the next morning

with the band or with the speaker at that conference, who

would you want to see? Who would you want to go to and

have an All Access Pass? Tell somebody next to you All

Access Pass. For who?

OK, I heard up front this person said I really want an all access

pass to my own bed. I need more sleep.

You've already got one of those. You just need to arrange your

life to make the use of it. It's sort of like having an All

Access pass to the gym. You know, your friend says

you're like, oh, I wish I would go work out.

And you know, why don't I go work out?

And they're like, well, you have an all Access pass.

When's the last time you used it?

And you're like, oh, last year. I guess I'm still paying for

that. You know, it's so hard to get

out of those. Once you sign up, you're in it

for life. You have to give blood to get

out. It's so hard.

Do you know the apostle Paul is riding in Ephesians trying to

call out the called and remind them they have an all access

pass? It cost a lot.

It comes with privileges. It will rearrange your life if

you will get in there in front of the one who paid the price.

It will rearrange how you think about the troubles and problems

of your life. It will rearrange the way you

interact with others who are having trouble and problems in

their life. It will rearrange how you think

about the church if you will make use of your All Access pass

to God. The book of Ephesians is a

prayer. It's Paul's prayer meeting.

It's interspersed with teaching. He interrupts himself over and

over to remind them, I'm really praying.

I'm really praying because Jesus has paid for your All Access

Pass so that you can sit, walk and stand in this life with God.

It is a message for a group of churches that had engaged both

Jew and Gentile in the life of Christ.

People who were not family had become family.

People who were not friends had become friends.

People who were not used to hearing from others minister to

them. We're having others minister to

them in the power and authority of God, and he's just

interrupting himself over and over trying to remind them.

You've got an All Access pass. Why don't you use it?

Why don't you sit with Jesus? Why don't you walk with Jesus?

Why don't you take a stand in this world with Jesus?

Let's join him in the middle of the prayer in Ephesians chapter

Ephesians 3 · chapter mention

3, beginning in verse one. For this reason, he says, I,

Paul the prisoner of Christ Jesus, for the sake of you

Gentiles, surely you have heard about the administration of

God's grace that was given me for you.

That is the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have

already written briefly in reading this.

Then you will be able to understand by insight into the

mystery of Christ, which was not made known to people in other

generations, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God's

holy apostles and prophets. This mystery.

In other words, he says, I'm going to tell you about the

past, this mystery. When Paul uses the word mystery,

he's not talking about something that is unknown.

For Paul, all the mysteries have been made known.

And so all the mysteries he was interested in talking about was

the mystery that had been made known.

This mystery is that through the gospel, the Gentiles are heirs

together with Israel, members together of one body, and

sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.

I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's

grace given me through the working of His power.

Although I am less than the least of all the Lord's people,

this grace was given to me to preach to the Gentiles the

boundless riches of Christ and to make plain to everyone the

administration of this mystery. Your All Access Pass.

Look, it's coming. He's he's getting there, this

mystery which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created

all things. His intent was that now through

the Church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to

the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms according to

His eternal purpose that He accomplished in Christ Jesus our

Lord. In him and through Him, through

faith in Him, we may approach God with freedom and confidence.

I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my

sufferings for you, which are your glory access.

This is God's eternal purpose. Access your all access pass to

God. Let's read it together, verses

10 through 12. His intent was that now through

the Church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to

the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms according to

His eternal purpose that He accomplished in Christ Jesus our

Lord. In Him and through faith in Him,

we may approach God with freedom and confidence.

It's been His eternal purpose to give you an All Access Pass to

God. Did anybody in this whole group

today say that they would really love to have an all access pass

to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, whatever they were

doing? 1 Howard Oh, I'm so glad. 122

These are our desperate friends, something you know in the heart,

in life that says that's where I really want to be.

I know I set you up for it. You didn't know you.

You could have had that option of an All access pass.

But here's the thing. Sometimes we really do live our

lives as if we're functionally atheist, functionally agnostic.

We can go about our day and life without ever really calling out

to God and embodying in our lives the very presence of God.

That's why in the beginning of the book of Ephesians, you can

organize it around the idea of sit with Christ.

That is the beginning, that we must sit with Christ in the

heavenly realms, that God would raise you up and give you access

to sit with him. Jesus said it this way in

Revelation. Behold, I stand at the door and

knock, and whoever opens the door, I will come in and sit

with Him and eat with him. Sup, I'm going to have dinner.

This old King James Version is what I memorized first as a kid.

I will Sup with him. I'm going to have supper.

This is where the root of that word is.

I'm going to have supper with this person.

Jesus says I want to have supper with you, and that table is in

your heart and in your life. I want to come and meet you

there. Jesus.

Put it this way. Let's go to the number one.

Keep going back. Did we lose #1 This could be

gone. Yes, there we are #1 God really

does want to be with you. God wants to be with you.

Can you say it to yourself? God wants to be with me.

Can you say it to yourself? Make it personal.

God wants to be with me. Yeah.

This is a very, very simple serving.

We have to be reminded of the basics, that God wants to be

with us, that that's his intention.

It says that Jesus went and called his disciples so that

they might be with him. That's what he wants.

God wants to be with you. There are moments in our lives

where that seems unlikely. I've had moments in my life

where I thought I am an unlikely candidate for a supper with God,

for VIP access with God. God knows the truth about my

heart. God knows the truth about my

mind. God knows the truth about my

body. And why would God really want to

be with me? But when we understand this as

truth by the power of the Spirit in our life as a grace gift of

God, that God wants to be with me and that God has gone to

extraordinary means and ends to make that true, it begins to

change our lives. It begins to change the way we

think about ourselves. We're not just in awe thinking,

oh, I'm so glad to be here. It's sort of like Jesus took

three disciples up on a mountain so that they could be with him

as he met with his heavenly Father.

It was called the Mount of Transfiguration.

And there on the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus turned

into this bright light. They could see his glory and the

energy of his presence and his. They struggled, I think, with

words because it's like the whitest of white light, just

shining light. Peter was so taken in that

moment that that he's like, we should stay here a long time,

Jesus, you know, because look who else has joined you?

There's Elijah and there's Moses and there's you.

So we should build 3 tabernacles, 3 tents and stay

here a while. Peter was on the right track.

He wasn't just so glad to be there.

He wanted to do something in that moment to be there.

And the fog came over that space and the voice from heaven

basically said be quiet, listen to Jesus.

He's my son. He's the beloved 1.

In other words, sit still Peter and listen to Jesus.

This is your all access pass to be in His presence.

God wants to be with you. Sometimes I have found it

helpful at the front end of praying to just remind myself,

Craig, God wants to be with you. And then I began praying and

maybe I sit in stillness in that moment.

God wants to be with you. In fact, he's running to get

you. He's like the father in the

story of the prodigal son who runs to get to the his son.

He's he's like Jesus saying I came to seek that which was lost

to me, that which was lost I came to seek and to save that

word seek. So only two times used of divine

activity specifically in the New Testament, and this is one of

them where Jesus says I came to seek because I want to be with

you. The second time is where Jesus

speaks with the Samaritan woman at the well and says, you know

the Father is seeking true worshippers.

Why? Because he wants to be with

them. They must worship in spirit and

truth. Part of our struggle in being

with Jesus is that we are not used to truth and it scares us.

But you've got an All Access Pass to an audience with God who

created you, who knows you, who loves you and wants to be with

you. The second thing about this All

Access Pass is that God is created this access to you

through Jesus Christ our Lord, that God creates the access.

You don't have to earn it. Now my my father-in-law is 81

years old and he is 1,000,000 Miller.

Anybody here know what a million Miller is?

Yeah, it was before my time. 1,000,000 Miller is someone who

flew 1,000,000 miles on Delta flights.

That's a lot of trouble, travel. Throughout Ellen's childhood,

her father travelled a lot to encourage and help churches

across the United States and around the world.

And so he, his company that he worked for would fly all of

their people on Delta. And every time you flew on

Delta, you got to collect your miles.

He became 1,000,000 Miller. He is a lifetime million Miller.

And do you know what he gets access to?

Not free flights, reduced flights, free lounge.

Hey, there's a person who flies. Have you walked through the

airport lately? And you've been in a really

crowded area and there's this door off to the side and it

says, you know, members only. Anybody been in there?

Hope a few of you. I've not been in there.

Do you know Rodney got access to that by earning it.

He earned that access to the Delta Club Lounge.

And you know, sometimes he can even take a friend with him or

his wife with him. She gets access because she's

along with him. But he earned it.

Now some of us treat. God, that way we think God's

looking for us to earn the right to come to the God Lounge, the

God Cloud Club. God that you've got to earn your

way to that VIP pass, you've at least got to pay for it.

We think God is working on the same economy measures, but the

economy of the Kingdom is different.

The economy of the Kingdom is built on the life, death,

burial, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ.

And that's how you get in by putting your faith in Him.

He gets you in. He's the one who says, oh, hey,

hey, you walking back there? I see you.

Come on in, come on in to the lounge, come on in to the club

you're in now. It was shocking that both Jew

and Gentile were in now through Christ Jesus and no one had to

earn it. No one had to just go the hard

way of getting it right. They were in.

No one needed the right heritage.

No one needed the right birthright.

The only birthright you need is the new birthright through

Christ Jesus our Lord, and this is how you get in.

The freedom of access and approach is in Him and through

Him in what he has done. In chapter 2 in Ephesians, Paul

goes on and on about for grace you have been saved for grace by

faith in him, you have been saved.

He's just pounding away at it over and over and over as he

keeps interrupting his prayer. It's by grace.

You don't have to earn it, you don't have to pay for it.

It's been paid in full. You have an all access pass.

Just put your faith in Him. Jesus in fact says I am the way,

the truth and the life. He's done it, He was getting

ready to do it. And Thomas says, well, we don't

know the way. And he says, don't, Don't you

know I am the way, truth and the life to the Father.

So put your life and faith in him and he will bring you in.

Do you know Paul described it another way.

Let's pretend like this is you and this is Christ, and to be to

be in Christ is to have your life put in here.

And Christ himself has ascended to the heavens.

But before doing it, Christ died on the cross, and so now we die

with him. Christ was buried in the ground,

so now in baptism we are buried with him.

But God didn't let him stay in the grave.

He was raised from the dead. So where am I?

I'm in here. I'm raised with him and now he's

ascended to the heavens and is seated with the Father.

So where am I? Hey, you have an all access

pass. He's made the way.

You just need to hitch your life with Him and he will take you on

the way. That's good news, right?

Paul says. I have the incredible privilege

of preaching the boundless riches of Christ, inexhaustible,

he said. You could not exhaust the riches

of Christ. The third thing is that God

offers us freedom and confidence in your approach to Him.

God's not looking for fans who will fawn over him.

God is looking for people who will be able to sit, walk, and

stand with Him in honesty, in humility, in gratitude, but also

in the reality of who they are. You don't have to change

yourself to get in front of God. Getting in front of God will

change you. And this is a wonderful thing.

Jesus said it this way. You can come to me like a child.

You can come to the father like a child.

You enter the Kingdom like a child.

I've watched a child running by the Delta Sky Lounge and just

went in. The parents were embarrassed,

standing there at the edge, wondering, do they grab their

kid? What do they do?

Their kids run in. The kid knew no boundary.

There an open door, a pleasant space, and in I go.

The psalmist said it this way. Oh God, you have placed my feet

in a spacious place. And this is what God wants to

do. God wants you to carry around in

your life the spaciousness of the presence of God the Father,

the Son, and the Holy Spirit. He's inviting you into that

space so that you can come with freedom and confidence.

What's it like on the first day of school, kindergarten, Anybody

remember? Did you feel free and confident?

How about how about grade 8 freedom and confident on the

first day, Grade 12, it's my school.

You know, you get to take your turn.

First day at UBC, freedom and confident.

Some of you, maybe others of us were like, no, I wasn't.

I wasn't there, but in your life with God, there's meant to be

freedom and confidence to just come to him and ask.

He says Jesus says don't you know that the Father gives good

gifts? So ask so seek so knock.

He's talking here about a prayer life.

This is our all access pass. There's a wonderful story told

about a soldier during the war in the United States called the

Civil War. And I love this story because

it's told on the Alpha course. How many of you've been on the

Alpha course? A few of you, Yeah.

So you'll know this story. There was a Union soldier who

went to the White House because his brother had been killed in

battle. And the rule was if that if you

were the last remaining child of your family, you could appeal

and get release from soldiering to go home and take care of your

family, to work the farm. And so the soldier had stood at

the gates of the White House in order to go and ask President

Lincoln for help, but he didn't have a pass.

And all of the attendants at the gate said, no, you just sit

there, you go away. And so the soldier sat there

despondent, thinking of his mom trying to care for that farm and

what it was going to cost her if he died.

A child running around the White House, going in and out through

that gate, noticed the soldier and came and talked to the

soldier. What are you doing?

What's your story? What's going on?

Oh, you need to come in. And so he grabbed the soldier by

the hand and brought him through the gates.

The guards at the gates waved them through.

They came to the front steps of the White House and they waved

him through. He made his way through the

White House to the very room where his father was standing,

President Lincoln of the United States of America.

Hey Dad, you need to hear from the soldier.

And the soldier in disbelief, told his story and young Tad

Lincoln stood there proudly as his father granted this soldier

his request. He was released from soldiering

and was able to go home. Tad that's, that's like a, you

know, in English we talk about a tadpole, a tad.

A little tad is just a, a little person.

I don't know what they were thinking when they named him

Tad. He's just a little thing.

But Abraham Lincoln loved his son.

And when his son came with the request, he listened and he

heard and he treated the one that he had brought.

Tad was the all access pass. He just brought him in because

he knew he, he was loved by his father.

He knew he had authority and rights and privileges.

And I want to tell you church, we need to be more like Tad.

We need to be more like Tad that we know our Heavenly Father now

through Christ we have an all access pass to bring other

people in their troubles before God.

This is what Operation 1516 is really about is how do we invite

others into the life of Christ that we have just a tad of faith

is all it takes. Jesus said small like a must,

mustard seed. It just takes a tad to bring

someone else into your life and pray for them, to listen to

them, to pray for them. And our heavenly Father may

answer their request and need, but we'll meet them.

They will have the experience of being heard and brought before

the throne of God, the God who loves them.

Be more like Tad. Tell your neighbor, be more like

Tad. You see, this is what we have

been given. This is God's eternal purpose.

This is His intent. Let's read it again.

His intent was that now through the Church, the manifold wisdom

of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in

the heavenly realms according to His eternal purpose that He

accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.

In him and through faith in Him, we approach God with faith or

freedom and confidence. This is His intent, that the

Church would now display the manifold wisdom of God, and it's

going to be displayed in three areas.

Just look at this real quick. That's our slide, our

invitations. Are you inviting others into

this life? Paul says.

This is what's changed my life in the way I view troubles.

One of the surprising things about this text is that Paul did

not view himself as a prisoner of the state.

Instead, he viewed himself as the prisoner of the Savior.

Well, that's a different view of my troubles.

I'm not a prisoner of the state. The state isn't in charge of my

life. The Savior is in charge of my

life. And so now Paul says, I'm a

prisoner of my Savior, Jesus Christ our Lord.

That's different. And so our invitations and our

struggles is that we invite others into the experiences

we've had of God, transforming our struggles and our

difficulties, our sufferings. Later, Paul would say, I don't

want you to be discouraged by my troubles, my tribulations, my

sufferings, because they're for your glory, and said you can be

proud about it. You can be proud that our

leaders in the church go through troubles and maintain faith.

It's not that somehow our leaders in the life of the

church have no troubles. It's that the leaders are on

display with the church that in our troubles we have met the one

who triumphs over troubles. And that is where our hope is.

And because we've had that experience, we can invite others

in your trouble. There's one who triumphs, it is

Christ Jesus. Second thing is that in our

fellowship, in our fellowship, we have been drawn into the very

fellowship of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in unity.

And the great divide that was there between Jew and Gentile

had been changed by Christ. And so there was an invitation.

Hey, come and join our fellowship.

Come and get in this fellowship too.

Come with me and experience our fellowship.

Jesus says you'll be known as my disciples because of your love

for one another. Your All Access Pass invites you

into the school of love and there you will learn.

And then our third thing is that you get invited to do our

rhythms of prayer. We're not going to hide our

prayer from you. We do have a secret prayer life,

but we also have a public prayer life.

Sometimes you might invite someone into your secret prayer

life and share something out of your journal and your life and

your experience with God and your prayer language that you

have with God. But you also get to share with

people the public life and experience of prayer, to invite

them into our rhythms of prayer. Quick to pray, slow to complain,

quick to pray. For many years in my life, even

as a Christian and as a follower of Jesus and being involved in

in ministry as a young adult in university, I resisted the quick

to pray. I was like, we need to get on

it. I got action.

I have things that need to be done and I'd be frustrated with

those in my fellowship who would say, hey, hold your horses.

We need to pray. I'll be like, we got to get

something done. We need to pray.

So there is tension there.