From Death To Life | Pastor Paul McGee

He's all I need. Jesus is all I need.

He's all I need, always all I need.

Jesus is all I need. He's coming again.

He's come, coming again. Oh Jesus, he's coming again.

He's coming again.

Oh, he's coming mean again. Yes, my Jesus, yes, come mean

again one more time. He's all I need.

Yes, he's all all I need. He's all I need.

Jesus is all I need. Well is all I need.

He's all I need. My Jesus is all I need to love

you together. Hallelujah.

He's what I need, all that I need, Amen.

You understand with me this morning, Amen.

Thankful for Brother Fred coming over here, cleaning off our

sidewalk. Brother Reese got here before

8:00, sweeping the floors or something, I don't know.

He's here for some reason, I know, Amen.

So it's good to be in the House of the Lord for each one of you

that braved the code and the wind and the ice on your car and

such. Amen.

To be here today, going to do a little bit.

Maybe this is the reason why the Lord directed me this direction,

because of just the aspects of everything that happened.

I want to do a little investigative.

Bible study here this morning. To investigative Bible study

today, you know. Paul.

Told Timothy in first Timothy, he said that he was to give his

attention to reading and the he was inferring that the reading

of the word Scriptures and things of that matter.

But then in second Timothy, Paul told Timothy, which was his son

in the gospel wasn't like a literal son, but son in the

gospel, someone that being saved and kind of took under his wing.

He told him to study, to shoot thyself approved, studied to

shoot yourself approved. And so to the same person, on

one hand he says, give attention to the reading.

On the other hand, study. And so sometimes in our everyday

lives, and I know we preach it from this pulpit, we're like

rah, rah, rah. Don't forget your daily Bible

reading and so on and so forth. And that's a task even within

itself. There's another aspect of that

too, that sometimes we need to give ourselves to the study of

God's Word, the study of God's Word, right?

Because I don't know if you ever just kind of just read through

stuff because it's there on the page.

You just read it. How many times you really

thought about what you was reading, right?

Really process what was taking place.

So I want to do just a little investigative Bible study today,

all right? Not it's not going to be too

heavy on you. All right, but I'm going to look

at Ephesians chapter #2 Ephesians chapter #2 I'm going

to read the first 3 verses because this is some I don't, I

don't know what your, your Bible reading is like.

Maybe you have a Bible reading program that started you in the

1st chapter of a book and then took you through.

Or maybe your Bible reading program is the.

Right. Maybe that's your Bible reading

program, you know, flip over, hit on a a verse, or maybe if

your hand hits within a chapter, it's like, OK, that's the

chapter I'm reading to get day, right.

And so this may just very well be like part of our Bible

reading program. You opened up like, OK,

Ephesians chapter 2. That's what I'll do.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

OK, you know, And so, but whenever we always, if we do do

that, we're landing right in the middle of something, right?

Something's being towed, something's being spoken about

or landing just right, probably in it, unless we get real lucky

and we're right like at the beginning of the story or

something that we're just kind of like right in it.

So Ephesians 2 verses one through 3, the Bible says, and

you hath he quickened. There's something interesting

about when we read or you read. Some of us have been alive long

enough that our brain starts starts filling in blanks and

starts doing things that we don't even realize it's doing

right. Our mind starts asking questions

about stuff that we're reading that we don't even know there's

already. I'm wondering, who's you?

Well, right, so. And you have he who?

Who's quicken? Who's quickening?

Who hath he quickened? Who we're dead in trespasses and

sins. Wherein in times past he walked

according to the course of this world, according to the Prince

of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the

children of disobedience, Among whom also we had, we all had our

conversation in times past, and the lust of our flesh fulfilling

the desires of the flesh and of the mind.

And we're by nature. The.

Children of Wrath, even as others so.

I'm going to try to do a little. Investigative Bible study, all

right, today, this is something you can do all right, And I'm

not going through all of the everything this morning.

Just kind of just giving you a little, you know, if it was like

starting a relationship with someone, I'm not laying a big

one on your lips. I'm just giving you a kiss on

the cheeks today. OK.

Does that make sense? We're just kind of just a little

kiss on the cheek here this morning in this relationship of

investigating Bible study. Amen.

Father, we love you today. We're so thankful Lord, for your

goodness and your mercy. God, I thank you, Lord, your

word is alive. It's real, it's applicable and

relevant. God for us this morning.

God help us the Lord today, God, as we investigate the word of

the Lord that we bring the Lord Jesus direction and guidance,

the Lord to our very own lives. The name of Jesus Christ that I

pray Hallelujah, Amen of the church say Amen.

I will though title this already.

I'm going to title it from death to life.

All right, and you may be seated this morning in Jesus name for

our purposes this morning. I have a lot of words here

within the first 3 verses and maybe a few more that found the

definitions of not from Webster's dictionary, but from

this is the New Testament Greek, from a Greek dictionary.

And you know, you don't have to be a Bible scholar to have

access to those type of things. We, we live in a world where

information is right here at your fingertips, right?

You can get it on your phone, you can get it on the Internet.

You can look up some of these words, what they meant in the

Greek language and what would apply there would apply leave

and looking up to a word in a regular Webster dictionary,

there are several different definitions for the word run, so

to speak, right? It can be a noun or a verb, and

you got to decide by according how it's used which definition

applies. You know, you go nowadays and

there can be 1010 different definitions for a word.

Well, how do you know as an individual which one it's

talking about? By how it's being used.

And so you applied that very same principle then if you were

looking up the meanings of a Greek word, how is it being used

in order? To do this.

And so whenever I start my investigative Bible study, I

don't get very, very many words in before I'm already asking

myself a question. For instance, I'm stumped at

verse #1 and word #1. And isn't that powerful?

Don't you feel the gravity of that?

Anne, I'm telling you just some of the things that we should be

entertaining when we read the word and study the word.

And because when we look at the word, and I mean, what does Anne

do in our everyday language? And you think about lists and

stuff you have. I'm going to tell Jen I want you

to go to the grocery store and pick up some peanut butter and

some toilet bowl cleaner and some fruit.

Right, and so my and they're just kind of in this series of

things that it can joins and connects all these different

things together. Or I could tell you this

morning, I'm going to leave church today and I'm going to

go. Home and take a nap right and so

the if I just started though with and take a nap, you're

going to ask well, I wonder what else I wonder I mean it's a

series of something there's something that's taking place

that's connected. And so that first and in the

very first verse and 1st chapter should tell me I need to go

backwards and see what this and is connecting with right What is

this and connecting with because again, I've told you before in

your Bibles. I know we have, you know, book

and chapter and verse and what that that was not always there.

That was put there for our convenience, so that when

preachers got up and said, I want everybody to turn to the

Book of John chapter #316 imagine me trying to tell you.

Where I was getting ready to read if there wasn't chapter and

verse divisions. Wouldn't that be fun?

We would really hear the. Pages and there was no screen,

you know, and I just started, you know, for God so love.

Well, that's the easy 1, you know, But we'd have to go a

little harder, you know, if I just started reading somewhere

and I couldn't give you the address of where I was reading.

And so the, the chapters and the verses kind of help us with

that, but they were not there to begin with.

So what that means is it's quite, it's, it's about, you

know, whenever we read chapter 2, verse one that the last

chapter and the last verse, all of that really just kind of just

flowed and paired with each other and one another.

And so whenever I do my investigative Bible study and

I'm stumped at the end, I go back to the previous chapter and

I'm looking at what's happening there in the previous chapter.

And I learned that that chapter's closing out and it's

talking about how God's mighty power has wrought, which means

that he's worked. There's some type of operative

thing to taking place. He's wrought in Christ Jesus, a

man. He did some work.

He did some operative work in Christ Jesus.

And when he did this work, and I again, I'm just a kiss on the

cheek this morning when he did this work, that God raised Jesus

from the dead. And so I'm learning about this.

And then he begins to talk about how God placed Jesus in heavenly

places in verse 20 of chapter #1 And that place that he placed

him was far above all principality and power and all

these other things in this world or in the world to come in verse

21. And that he placed all things

under Jesus's feet and made him head over all things that was

applicable to the church and even the church himself in verse

#22 that God has done all of this.

And you. So he's talking about all these

things that God is doing for Christ, but in the switches,

he's doing all this and he's connecting it here.

And you have he quickened. We're dead in trespasses and in

sins. And so then the very next thing

I'm stumped upon, Sister Sheila is the you, right?

Well, who's the you? Who is you?

Who are you, Brother Trav? Who is you?

I mean, I, I don't, I don't know who he's talking.

To right here in this moment. I know as a reader, as I'm just

reading through, maybe I'm just feeling like it's talking to me.

And I know the word does speak to us, but for, for, for Paul

writing to the church at Ephesus, this is the the epistle

to the Ephesians. Who, who all is he writing to?

So again, I go backwards. I go backwards among the verses

and I'm trying to find. Out who he's talking to and I

see this pronoun popping up a lot even in the 1st chapter.

So I keep going back and I go all the way back then to

Ephesians chapter #1 and verse one to find out who the you is.

And so in Ephesians chapter #1 and verse #1 the Bible says

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God to

the Saints which are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ

Jesus. And so now I'm understanding who

Paul is addressing here in the the Epistle of Ephesians.

He's addressing the Saints that were at Ephesus, but he's also

just addressing the faithful, the faithful in Christ Jesus.

Now, let's break this down a little bit more.

So whenever he said in you, he's talking to the Saints at

Ephesus, When he said in you, he's talking to the faithful in

Christ Jesus. Number one, that could apply to

any age and any period of time. That then for sure applies to

us. I guess that applies to us if

you meet the definition of what faithful is to the Saints.

The word Saints there in Ephesians 11 means most holy

thing. It means get this, Saints means

sacred, physically pure, morally blameless, and ceremonially

consecrated. That's heavy.

To the physically pure at Ephesus, the morally blameless

at Ephesus, the ceremonially consecrated at Ephesus, and the

faithful in Christ Jesus. The word faithful means this.

Those that can be relied upon. Further definition says this.

Of persons who show themselves faithful in the transaction of

business, the execution of commands and or the discharge of

official duties. Whenever you take that and

understand then that our faithfulness is in Christ, then

we're talking about being faithful in business commands

and the discharging of Christ like duties, Christ like

business, Christ like commands, faithful or faithful.

Who are the people then who who are being executing the commands

of Christ? Well, that takes a whole.

Nother thing there, doesn't it? He's talking then to those that

execute the commands of Christ or discharging, if you will, the

offices that are Christ like or the business of Christ.

All of that takes in place whenever he's talking to.

You in second, second, the 2nd chapter of Ephesians chapter #1

and again that faithfulness then could incorporate us, if we're

faithful, I guess, to the mode of the business and the duties

and the commands of Christ. Jesus in our day and you.

Hath he quickened? Well, I'm going to take Hathy

quicken. I'm going to lay that aside

right now because probably in your Bibles hath he quickened is

in italics. And your Bible probably tells

you, since that's in italics, that's something that the

translators has added, hoping that it will help our

understanding. And so I'm just going to lay

that aside right now because it's not there in the original

language. And I'm going to just set it

aside and get back to it maybe a little later in the verse.

And so when we look at then I set that aside.

And you who were dead in trespasses and sins, The Who

again, of course, refers back to the you, which are the Saints at

Ephesus and the faithful in Christ Jesus.

He says we're dead. Everybody say were.

That means you're not still word tells me that's past word dead.

The word dead means a corpse, whether literally or

figuratively, it's a corpse. It's the same word dead that was

used of Christ in Ephesians 120 when it talks about that Christ

was dead when the Bible says and when God or when he which was

God raised him, which was Jesus from the dead, it's the same

word dead there. It's just that in the case of

Jesus, it's used literally. Christ was dead, a literal

corpse, but whenever he's talking about us as humanity,

we're dead, a corpse not in the literal sense, but in the

figurative sense. You were dead spiritually, huh.

So we have a literal dead body be in Christ and we have a dead,

we were once dead as well, dead in our spirits.

All right. For the Bible says this in

Romans 5 and 12. And again, my brain does a lot

of cross referencing because I've been doing this a long

time. But in Romans 512 the Bible

says, Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, who

was that man whereby sin? Entered into the world.

Adam right in enter into the world and death by sin so that

death passed upon all men for that all have sin and so because

of Adam and what took place in the garden.

The Adamic nature, if you will, the sin nature Amen.

As a result of that that sin nature then was transferred to

here in the future through the apostle Paul to the Saints that

were at Ephesus to the faithful in Christ Jesus to you and I

here's here's an omission today I was.

Born dead. That's the omission this

morning. I was born dead.

I wasn't. I wasn't literally dead, Sister

Trout, but I was born spiritually dead.

I was born dead. That is the start of all of us.

And he says then, who were dead in trespasses and sins.

In trespasses and sins we have a lot in scripture, a lot of

preparation, prepositional phrases, the end, the upon the

above, the under the all those things.

But in trespasses and sins, so in in denotes this location.

They were dead in these things. We're speaking about, again, a

figurative dead. I'm spiritually dead, but my

deadness is associated with actions and surroundings of

trespasses and sins. You'll remember Romans 623 a

verse, that's all. Times quoted for the wages of

sin is what death. So it makes sense that if you

are in sins and you're in trespasses, you'll have a

spiritual state of being dead because that's the payout, or if

the wage, if you will, of sin, it's death.

Amen. Even that Jesus said in John 824

He said, If you believe not that I am, he and the he's in italics

what they would have heard. And if you believe not that I

am, ye shall die in your sins. So looking though at terms, the

word trespasses means a side slip, a lapse, a deviation,

whether intentionally or unintentionally.

I was dead in a side slip, a deviation, a lapse and sins

means to miss the. Mark, we've said that for years.

To find it, to miss the mark further, it means to wander from

the path or law of God. It means an aggregate.

You know, you got concrete and you got sand and you got rocks

and you got, it's an aggregate. So it says an aggregate of sins

committed either by a single person or many.

Because I realized that the sins that I am in, I have my own

sins, but I live in a world, aggregate if you will, of sins,

and the sin is to miss the mark. I've learned sometimes that we

hit targets just not the right. 1 To miss the mark was from the

concept of archery. A guy would pull back a bow and

release the arrow to somehow, you know, meet his mark or his

target when he missed it. That's where they come up.

Then with this term of sin, several years ago, back in 2004,

there was an Olympian by the name of Matthew Emmons and he

was in the sporting event that was the the three position rifle

shooting a rifle and he was doing so well.

He was trailing far above all the others.

It looked like he was for sure going to be the Goad winner.

All he had to do was get that. Bullet through the little little

ring there of the target and it would seal his goal, his gold

medal. And so he's sitting there, you

know, he's relaxing, he's breathing, you know, to take his

shot. And he takes his shot.

And the, the, the, the, the bullet, the shot goes right

through the bullseye. But he was a little confused

because the little Ding, it didn't happen, indicated that he

hit his bullseye. Come to find out, he was right

on. He hit the bullseye, but not the

one in his lane, in another one's lane.

So he hit his target, but it wasn't his target.

In today's classification, that would have been sin.

It's not just hitting a target, it's hitting the target that's

intended for your life. Yes, yes, yes, yes.

Amen. There's a lot of people good at

hitting targets, they're just not hitting the target that's

intended for them. I'm.

Almost feeling a little bit of the Holy Ghost.

Come on here right now. Because God has a purpose for

your life. God has an intention for your

life. You can hit other people's

targets, maybe all day long. But he wants you to be honing in

on with your crosshairs on the target he has for you.

Amen. And so let's go on to verse 2

because we we're already 17 minutes in recording.

I don't want. I thought I had That was a hanky

and that's really for my glasses.

The Bible says then in verse 2 we're in.

So I stop again. I'm not going to get none of my

Bible. Reading done, sister Samantha.

I stopped writing, wherein again, wherein is referring back

to those things that I used to be in trespasses and sins.

Wherein those trespasses and sins that that I was in that

location, that place. Can I even further define it

like that? That place that the Saints

Ephesus used to be, That place that those that are now faithful

in Christ used to be, We were all there, Amen.

He and I, it's important. He says we're in end time pass.

It's important to note the time stamps in Scripture again,

because he's talking about something that once was for the

Saints, once was for the faith. This is important.

The time stamp is important. We need to understand then it's

not proper for the Saints and for the faithful in Christ to

remain in their sins and remain in their deviations and lapses.

Trespasses, You understand here, you see, we're milking the cow

now. It's important that that we're

not still in them, that that's something that is in our past.

That's something that was there in then, right?

I was dead in trespasses. I was dead in sins.

That's what he's saying here. That's not your current

condition, but that had been your condition.

And then he says ye there it is wherein in times past ye again

making reference to who he's speaking to the Saints at

Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus.

He said in times past ye walked. Oh, pay attention to the verbs

you come across to in the word of God.

You walked again, it's past tense.

It it's not your walking now, huh?

You walked and it's stated as a fact.

You walked. The word walked here.

This is simple definition from the Greek, but the word walked

here means to tread all around. That is to walk at large or be

occupied with. Let's see what it's tied to.

You walk. You, you, you walk.

You tread all around in sin. You walked.

You, you you meandered at large among trespasses.

You allowed yourself and your life to be occupied.

Do you understand? See, that's just a little bit

more meaning to me, Sister Samantha, when I understand.

Yeah, that was me. I used to do everything I could

do. Was fully involved in all of

that. I walked, shredded, if you will.

I beat down a path among trespasses and sins.

That just brings a little bit more flavor.

Amen to what I'm looking at here.

So I walked according, which is another preposition here.

I walked according to the course.

I'll tell you what I did when I I.

Read through this the other day and I just read, OK, the course

they're talking about, they're talking about a path they're

talking about, but that's not what the word course here is in

Scripture. This course is not a path.

It just, it's defined as an age or a period of time.

See, there's where I can mess up in my, in my interpretation of

Scripture imposing what I think upon it.

The I would just have read that and think that was just a path,

the path of the world, the course of the world.

But that's no, it is the age or the period of time of this

world, a note of this world against preposition,

prepositional phrase of this world.

But when we define the word world in the Greek, and you can

do this right online, you could do it right now, right as I'm

talking number 2889. If you want to know what it's

associated with, it means the world, the inhabitants of the

earth, men, the human family is fairly defined as the ungodly

multitude, the whole mass of men that's alienated from God and

therefore hostile to the cause of Christ.

These aren't my words. This is the definition world

affairs, the aggregate of things earthly.

He says you walked according to the age and the period of time

of the world of this ungodly multitude.

To kind of grasp the idea of this, it would be kind of like

saying this, you walked to the spirit of your age, the period

of time of when you were living in, you walked according to

whatever was going on at that time.

And that brings interest to you and I, because Paul is talking,

of course, again to the Saints at Ephesus.

And this is an epistle to the Ephesians.

And so to investigate that a little bit, I got to ask what

were the world of the Ephesians like at that time?

And the world of the Ephesians was like this.

We can even read of it in the book of Acts because we read

about Ephesus, Amen. Of the book of Acts.

We read that the residents of Ephesus worshipped a God is

called Diana and and that they offered sacrifices to her there.

They even had the practice of temple prostitution that took

place there. In their world, Ephesus was a

city that was loyal to the Roman Empire, which meant also the

residents of Ephesus. They also worshipped the emperor

of Rome as a God. They in the Bible, you remember,

you'll see that they did curious arts in the book of Acts 19 and

they brought their books, their magic books.

Paul did and had them burnt. So they're involved in all of

this type of stuff in the city of Ephesus.

You remember Paul began to preach about how these idols and

stuff were really not anything. And Demetrius, he, he raised his

voice. He was a silversmith in that

town and he made little idols of Diana.

So people get to take to their homes.

He said, they're they're hurting our business because of what

they're saying because we make little idols of them in order to

take home. And you'll remember in Acts 19,

the Bible says there was such an uproar in the city over what

Paul was doing that they for two hours solid were crying out

great as Diana, great as Diana, great that was, was their world.

That was the age and the period of their time of their

inhabitants. Here they are giving themselves

to Diana who they thought had had fertility.

Power over fertility. This is interesting.

Power over nature and that she had life giving power.

See, this is important because God is talking to these people

how he brought them from a state of deadness.

He just talked about how he had raised Christ from the dead, but

this is to, he's speaking to a group of people in Ephesus that

believed in the Goddess that had life giving power, but he's

speaking about the God who is demonstrating his life giving

power. So he says you, you walked

according to that. Those were the practices.

Those are the things that you tread around in.

Those were the things that you walked at large in those that

was the course of that age of your time period of what was

going on in your world at that time.

And folks, it is absolutely hands down, it's what happens.

We sin and trespass according to the spirit of our age.

Someone 50 years ago are going to be involved in things that

were then. There's new things that arrive

now that people can get them self involved in.

You're always going to walk in trespass and sin, according, if

you will, to the age and time period of your world.

Amen. And he says, so we did this

according to the course of this world.

And he said, according to everybody doing all right, just

a little investigative Bible study here, according to the

Prince. So I looked at that word Prince.

The word Prince means first in rank or power to the Prince of

the power looked up the word power.

It means delegated influence. That's that's important because

this power isn't just like particular to who the Prince is.

It's a power that's. Been given to the Prince.

It's not something that he has of his own.

It's been delegated to him. What that means is he's under

authority. Someone say Amen, Power of the

air or the word air means the atmosphere, region.

So, so, so you walked according to the Prince of the power of

the air, and it specifies the spirit.

The word spirit means the disposition or influence which

feels and governs the soul of anyone.

It refers them back to the Prince of the power of the air.

The spirit that now everybody say now that now worketh.

Hold on, now what that now worketh.

We talked a lot about the stuff in the past.

But now Paul is describing to us that wasn't just something that

great Saints and stuff dealt with the past.

There's some dealing with this thing still today, right?

The Spirit. Now worketh and continues to

work, not just as it once did in Paul and the Saints and the

faithful, but the children the Bible says, the children of

disobedience. The scripture that came to mind

was first John chapter 4 and verse 3.

1 John 4 · chapter mention

The Bible says in every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus

Christ has come in the flesh is not of God.

And this is the. Spirit of Antichrist or

opposition or against Christ, where have you have heard that

it should come and even now already is in the world.

I know when we look at the dynamic of prophecy, it's like

everybody's waiting for the Antichrist to be revealed true,

right? Who?

The man, that Antichrist, that individual be.

But the spirit of the Antichrist is already at the word in work

in the world right now. Uh huh.

That spirit that is Antichrist against or opposing to Christ is

at work right now. The Bible says it now worketh in

the children, the Spirit in the children of disobedience.

Again, in the children it's used the word children used to

describe one who depends on another or is in his.

Follower as a follower. A pupil A pupil of disobedience.

The word disobedience means obstinate opposition to the

divine will. So we have we were once that we

were once dealing with these things.

We were once according to the the the, the, the, the the

course of the world and once according to the Prince of the

power of the air. But even now there are some

that's under that guise that's walking the corner of those

things. I know some of you maybe you're

bored today, but this is important for Bible study.

Amen Nonetheless, if you. If you're like I read scripture

all the time, I'm just not getting it you.

Got to stop. And ask the questions verse 3

says among whom? That's referring back to the

children of disobedience, among whom he just talked.

About the spirit that now worketh in the children of

disobedience, among whom so referring back to the children

of disobedience. Also we, we who Paul's included

himself, Paul, the Saints at Ephesus.

I know I'm I'm going to be redundant.

You're going to hate me. And those are faithful in Christ

Jesus. We all had our conversation in

times past, he says. What they are involved in now,

we were all once involved in what they are succumbing to

right now. We all at one time had succumbed

to. So he places him in there.

Paul places himself in there. We were pupils, if you will, of

things that oppose God. We were pupils and followers of

things that were Antichrist against Christ.

All right, we were. And again, he specifies again,

Please note there in verse three, we all had our

conversation in times past. No, the word conversation means

this. It means conduct or behavior.

It's not, it's not about what we're talking.

It's about how we're living. We all had our conduct and

behavior like that. That's how we behaved.

That's how we conducted ourselves in time past.

It's important to say that again.

He's trying to tell him that's what we used to be.

That's what we used to be. He says in times past, in the

lusts of our flesh, lust means a longing, usually for the

forbidden. The lust of our flesh, the word

flesh means sensuous nature or human nature apart from divine

influence. So we conducted our behavior in

time past with a longing that mirrored that of our sensuous

nature and our human nature that was apart from God, apart from

any type of divine influence. And notice what the Bible says.

Then the next verse or next word fulfilling, which is a verb

fulfilling. In other words, it means we were

making or doing to be the author of a thing.

We caused it to come about. We fulfilled the desires.

We were the author of that. We had a hand, and causing it to

come about to take place to bring it about right, we talked

about. I was tempted by this, I was

tempted by this or tempted by that.

Remember what James said in James chapter #1 and verse 14.

He said that every man is tempted when he is drawn away of

his own lust. The initial temptation may come

from somewhere, but the actor offering of acting upon that is

ours. For that matter, certain things

have no sway of temptation on us if it isn't a desire in US

already. Like there's certain thing.

I think, man, you know, someone can tempt me with a particular

thing right now. I'd be like, who cares because I

just don't have no but if they hit on the right thing, it might

have a pull on my life. If I have a tendency toward that

already a desire or want or loaning that's simmering there

already. She says so here are these lusts

along. That's according to the sensuous

nature, the human nature, and then I make it.

I do it. I'm the author of it.

I fulfill those desires. I fulfill those desires of the

flesh, what I wish to do, what I've determined to do.

The word desires even can mean choice, that which I.

Choose to do what you choose becomes what you're the author

of. That's the reason why Brother

Mason for years, he's not here right now telling all the young

people your choices matter and you're the author of that.

You own that choice. Of the flesh again reverts back

same word of the sensuous nature, human nature, apart from

divine influence, but not just desires of the flesh and of the

mind. The word mind meaning thoughts

and it can even mean imaginations fulfilling the

desires even of your mind. No wonder, the Apostle Paul in

2nd Corinthians 10 said, casting down imaginations and every high

thing that exalteth. Itself against the knowledge of

God, right? Because that's anti God

Antichrist and bringing the captivity every thought to the

obedience of Christ. He says This Is Us that that

that that that's what they were. That's what we were.

We're not now we fulfilled all these things verse 3 and were by

nature, by say, by nature, were again past tense by nature, by

your birth or by your physical origin by nature.

The Bible says the children of wrath we were, we were pupils,

we depended upon this violent passion or the excitement of our

minds, which can again feedback into the imaginations and the

thoughts that the sensuous human nature man has by nature.

That's who we are. We say no time you bring a kid

into the world, I don't have to take them aside and say this is

how this is how you act in order to be ornery and hateful and and

and I'm going to teach you how to do this.

Wouldn't life be big time difference, Sister Jen, if

that's the way it was that the children just came out, the

women, they were all good and proper and mannerly and we had

to teach them how to be bad. That's not how it works, though,

is it? It's like the bad thing is like

the nature. But we're instructing them how

to be polite and say please and thank you and.

So on and so. Forth by nature why again back

to the old Adam thing right we go all the way back then This is

something that because of one man and and the transgression

that came sin upon us all and we're in our sins and we're

walking around trading around in the trespasses of it all.

So I I'm I I come into the world with this disposition I'm

disposed like this. Can I say that's one reason why

we need born again? Because by nature I got XYZ.

I'm I'm in trespasses and sins. I'm like doing the backstroke

and in deviations in the backstroke and the lapses and

things that are against God and not like God.

I need a born again experience, right?

To be born of the water and the spirit for a nature alteration.

I want to say Amen. We thought I was done because I

was at verse #3. But there's still a little thing

on there that says even as others, we were in times past

like all that, just like everybody else.

So we painting with A we painting with A brush.

Here, it's not. Well, Mike Trout, he, he, he was

the one that was like that. No, it was Mike Trout and it was

Reese and it was Pastor and it was no one's left out.

No one's left out. And a good thing to remember

where we were is not to get too sanctimonious about where we

are. Well, I'm holy now.

I'm. I'm holy now.

I'm morally, morally pure. And I, I, I got all of you.

Well, yeah, but in times. Past.

You weren't born with the spiritual silver spoons in your

mouth. Hey man, everybody doing OK?

Verse four, I didn't read this in the opening because I didn't.

Verse 4, I'm doing my investigative Bible study and

then I'm going to start to read my Bible, but I can't even go

on. I'm just like stop.

But I mean it's. Going to be a.

It's going to. Be a long morning with the Lord.

You know, reading a few verses. But.

Hold on. That conjunction is a contrast

is tell me what I'm about ready to hear is different than what

I've heard what that there. This conjunction here is then

everything that's been previously discussed right here.

There's about ready to come a change.

There's about ready to come a turn around.

But it'd be like, you know, you're a pretty nice person, but

I don't like your attitude. I love your outfit, but those

shoes are ugly. You're my best friend, but not

my very best friend, huh? It all sounds good right up to

that moment. And then the butt comes in, like

someone said. I'm really sorry, you know, for

screaming at you the other day. But you raised your voice with

me too, right? It changes the apology, don't

it? That butt causes that change.

And so we come to this butt. What's going on here?

Because Paul's going to begin to talk again.

Notice he's been talking to the Saints at Ephesus.

He's been talking to the faithful in Christ Jesus.

He's been talking to them how they once lived.

And how there's still. Some people in that right now

living and treading around in the sin and the transgressions

and all that he's telling them that they don't have to live

like that. Amen.

But they did. And nonetheless, he says there's

even a segment of society that's still in those type of waters in

that land, the living according to the course and the spirit of

their age. And, and then the Prince and

piety they and they're fulfilling their lusts and their

desires and, and there's still some treading around like that.

And they're against God and hostile to God and not even

thinking about God. And their practices are

Antichrist type of practices and and the world and the Prince and

power of the air and the lust. All of these forces reckoned

together are upon them still, just like it used to be you.

And then the difference though he he is explaining to us the

difference though between the old you and the new you is but

God. This is the difference between

you being in your sin and no longer in your sin is but God.

The difference between you just flailing around and in

deviations and lapses of sin and things that are contrary in the

world is a but God moment folks, that's powerful that's powerful.

That means I thank the Lord for my but God moment and those that

are now children of disobedience, those that are now

in the clutches of all that you know what they need.

They need a but God moment. You know what that tells me

McGee didn't get there because of McGee.

McGee didn't get there because of another, if you will, human

in this world. McGee got there because God from

a strong in glory says I'm going to save humanity.

I'm going to step down. I'm going to walk among them.

I'm going to pull them out. I'm the real life giver.

Diana can't do it. They say she's the life giver.

I'm going to demonstrate who the life giver but God

not could have read right through.

That my morning thing just missed it all.

But God? Who is The Who referring back to

God? But God, who is rich in mercy.

Who? Rich here is a metaphorically

rich abounding, abundantly rich in mercy, mercy meaning goodwill

or rich in a desire to help. The old phrase we used to do we

used to have different phrases for the grace and the mercy of

of God. But mercy all times was, was

described and defined as is mercy is when you don't get what

you should have gotten. But God who is rich, abundantly

abounding rich, and providing to you something that you should

have got, but he withheld. Matter of fact, another places

in Ephesians, Ephesians chapter #3 and verse 8 again speaks of

this richest thing concerning God.

And you read a lot about his riches.

Actually in Ephesians you read about the riches of his glory.

You read about the riches of his power.

But in in Ephesians 3/8, it talks about his unsearchable

riches. God's so rich that you can't

even search them all out. God is so rich that you just

kind of meander. You can't comprehend his

richness of mercy. Listen, you want you want to go

through this life serving a God that's rich in mercy because

you're fallible humanity and there's a lot of things we

should have already gotten and we should deserve that.

He's withheld. So I want him, Jeremiah writing

lamentations and thinking of of the destruction of Jerusalem,

all that you, you understand, remember what his word said.

He said that the Lord's mercies, it's because of the Lord's

mercies that we are not consumed.

In other words, he's saying if it wasn't for God's mercy, we'd

already be anniated, snubbed out, consumed.

But because his rich for our purposes, his rich mercy, he

said we're still here. And he goes on to say and his

mercies are new every every morning.

That's the reason why I can stand here and say in the past I

used to do according to. The spirit of my world, because

of his rich mercy, I'm standing here because I used to be doing

those things that were against her, opposing to Christ.

So verse 6, I got to hurry. I really do.

But God, who is rich in mercy for everybody, say 4 three

letter word. I know, but it means.

The channel of an act. The channel of an act through

the ground or reason by which something is or is not done.

So we're about ready to be towed.

This God who is rich in mercy, Why and how this mercy, mercy

reaches us for His great love wherewith He loved us.

That sentence right there. Love is both a noun in one spot

and a verb in another spot. They both derived from what is

called the adoptee love of God or the unconditional love of

God. So what the Scriptures tell me

then, this, this, this, for God loved us, for his great love

wherewith he loved us, Mercy came through.

If there's this channel that mercy got to us, it's almost

like, you know, I'm piping, I'm piping plumbing.

Right here the water source is here and I need to get water to

the youth room. Well all the pipe that I put

together and channel around over here to the youth room, they are

able to get the water I have here because of the channel that

I'm working with that provides it that makes it accessible to

them. And so God saying, he's saying

my love channel, he said I have mercy, but my love made mercy

accessible to you. My, my love is the piping.

It's the 90° and 45° turns and the elbows that pipes, if you

will, to wear you out where you are.

So me being the merciful God, it gives you access to the mercy

that I have. And I'm rich in mercy.

If I say the little water supply over here isn't a trick.

I mean, it's a gusting thing, you know, I'm rich in mercy, but

my love makes that accessible to you.

Someone say Amen. Hey man, can I say them this

morning this that if you've received, if you've experienced

the mercy of God, let me even define it like this.

When you experience the mercy of God, you are benefiting from the

love of God, and God will not be merciful to you without loving

you, because His mercy reaches. You because of His love.

We don't have enough time. I do and we might have church

tonight, so we really do that. You don't have enough interest

in your interest meter. Stand with me today.

I just want to read verse 5 and I'll just make a few closing

comments. OK so first forces for his great

love wherewith he loved us 5 even when we were dead in sins.

There he goes, He brings it back home.

Even when we were dead in sins hath quickened us.

And the reason why the the interpreters put hath quickened

us in the first verse is really because of what's happening in

verse #5 They were just kind of already cluing this in early.

Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with

Christ. By grace are ye saved.

And it talks about how we were then made to sit in Christ in

heavenly places. And so whenever you start doing

the study and you go back to chapter #1 God raised Christ

from the dead, or quick in Christ from the dead, and made

him to sit in heavenly places, and then he was far above all

principality. Note the word power.

But God has also quickened us and made us to sit in Christ

Jesus in heavenly places. Get it now.

If God made. Christ to sit in heaven, places

where he was. Far above all principality and

power. But now you sit in Christ Jesus

in heavenly places. You're.

Above all, principality and power.

The reason why that's important because you used to give ear and

sway of your soul to the Prince and the power of the air, but

now you're seated in a place that's even above that power

that you used to tread around in and deviate and lapse in.

You walked according to, but now you're seated because of God in

a place that's far above all of that.

And what you're really experiencing now is the

expression. You can read of it there in

chapter #1 Ephesians chapter #1 and right now, off the tip of my

head, I can't find it verse #19 when it's speaking to God, what

is the exceeding greatness of His Speaking of God's power to

us who believe according to the working of His mighty power.

See, they traded all of this power.

Quote UN quote power of Princess Diana.

You know, Goddess life giving source seating, the place above

all that that used to affect them, but they're not still

without a power source. They have the power of God

underwritten by love, underwritten by mercy.

And the Scripture even tells us there, the little parentheses in

verse 5 by grace. Are you saved?

Underwritten by grace, folks. I could still say a whole lot

more, but I won't but notice. Both Christ and us were

quickened. Both Christ and us were made to

sit in heavenly places. Both Christ and us now have

things that used to be allure, especially for humanity.

Now what used to be over your head, so to speak, is now under

your feet. And we just derived that little

bit from a few little verses of reading in the morning and

looking at it and saying, I wonder what this means.

And I said all that today because that's how the Bible can

open up to you. A lot of things I read to you

were definitions I just got from a dictionary, choosing the

definition that was applicable to the context in which it was

set out of the dictionary. But it brought, and I understand

you're dealing with a 30 some odd year old ministry brain

here, but the Lord can speak to you.

Let me say it like this. He wants to speak to you through

His word. Amen.

Amen, but God, Amen. Amen.

Sister Masons, go come. You just be attentive right now.

I am the God of today, yesterday, and forever.

I am the God of the valley as I am on the mountaintop.

I am God. There is none like me or beside

me. I am the God of Abraham, Isaac

and Jacob, and I have chosen you.

I will guide your footsteps if you will only allow me.

I am yours. Thus saith the Lord.

Can we honor the Lord with our hands raised right now, this

morning? Father, we love you, Jesus.

God, we're appreciative that you are the great I am, God, what

you revealed yourself to Moses as God, you are Lord for every

generation, for every century, God, for every age.

I pray, O Lord, today, God, that you're able to help us.

God, I pray, Lord, in our walk and our talk and the way that we

conduct our lives, I pray, O Father, today we need you, but

for God, Hallelujah, Hallelujah. God, consecrate our souls, our

spirits, our minds, our lives. Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

Hallelujah Jesus, Hallelujah Jesus, we need Lord God you

today. God, we need you, Lord Jesus to

be the author and the finisher of our faith.

God, you who for the, the, the, the things.

Lord Jesus, that there we go, Lord of what was said before

you, knowing God the blood was going to be shed.

God for our purpose and plan. God, you endured all the shame.

You endured all the ridicule and the criticism.

God, I pray the Lord help us today, God, to mirror our lives

in a proper fashion, in a way will not.

Lord, don't forget to thank you and praise you for it in the

lovely name of Jesus Christ. We love you when we thank you.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah,

Hallelujah. Someone say Amen, Amen.

Again, we'll keep you posted here this afternoon.

Concerning tonight, our greatest fear for tonight is that it's

cold all day. Wind's blowing all day.

Everything's probably going to sure up as far as being ice

right where the slush and stuff. Even our parking lot, I don't

think we can scrape slush off our parking lot.

But it's just, it may just be at ice by the time 6:00 gets here.

So keep your eye on Facebook. We'll announce something there

for sure. OK, so right now it's this.

We're having church and I'll tell you differently through

Facebook, OK? And so just be aware of that.

If I don't say anything, then you don't have to call me.

We're just having it. But if you see something on

Facebook then that says otherwise, then you know that

we're not OK. Is that understandable?

Is that simple enough? Amen, Hallelujah.

Thank you for being here today, Amen.

At God's house, I know he'll bless you and honor you, Amen,

for being here and hopefully being here has been a blessing,

Amen, In some fashion to you as well, Amen.

God bless you this morning. Jesus name.

Be careful as you walk to your car, OK?

Just a little. Whatever you know.