Ephesians: Fully Devoted - 10-18-26 - Pastor John Authenreith

See you here in person and glad to have you watching at home or online, wherever you may happen to be.

Uh, it's a great day to celebrate the Lord together as we uh just learn from his word.

If you have your Bible with you or a device, whatever you got, uh take it out, turn it to Ephesians chapter one.

Ephesians chapter one.

As we wrap up our series, this is the sixth uh uh week of our series on Ephesians.

I think it's been really uh really great.

Lots of challenging stuff, really encouraging stuff.

And I hope you've learned a lot.

Many of you are in small groups or in life groups, and uh you're learning and hanging out together and doing all this together and learning this stuff.

So glad to hear that as well.

I'm glad to hear that as well.

So uh thank you for being here.

I have a question for you.

Have you ever worked?

Have you ever worked hard to like think about this?

Create something or grow something or acquire something, or have you ever spent money on something or built something?

You put a lot of work into it, is what I'm trying to get at.

Maybe a lot of money, and then you gave it to someone else.

You handed it off to them, whatever it was, it meant a lot to you, maybe, and you handed it off to someone else, and maybe you had a reason for doing that, I don't know.

But for whatever reason, they let it fall apart and didn't take care of it.

Have you ever had that happen to you?

You had uh, you know, I spent a lot of money on that, I spent a lot of time on that, and you just you really don't care.

You're like, what the heck?

I put a lot of time and effort into that and it's toasted.

Why did that that happens, doesn't it?

It just happens.

And I know um uh I was working somewhere once and I worked hard to build some teams and we had um you know some systems in place and things like that.

And it was time for me to move to a different area uh of service there.

And uh they hired a young guy to come in and take my place, and uh when he came in, he I moved on and he came in and he just let the whole thing fall apart.

And uh I remember just being heartbroken.

It's like, oh my gosh, we worked so hard to get that together, or oh my gosh, that was so expensive, and he just trashes it, he doesn't take care of anything, and and I and I worked hard and just and just to see it all fall apart, and all I could say was, not my monkeys anymore, right?

It's not, I don't have, I can't do anything about it.

This happens sometimes, doesn't it?

It does like you sell your house here's one, you sell your house and you drive by and you think, what did they do to my house?

Have you ever been there, right?

What did they do to my house?

It worked so hard to get it to where it is.

There's those kind of things that just happen.

It made me think of the Apostle Paul.

Work with me here, work with me here.

We're not exactly sure how many churches Paul planted, but it's estimated between 14 and 20.

That's a large gap there, isn't it?

And what we do know is that some of these churches struggled big time after Paul left.

I assume he left them in what he thought was decent shape, and then he hears it differently, right?

Sometimes he would go to a town for months, preach the gospel, teach them about living as a believer, what it all means, and eventually win enough people to Christ that he could start a church, get them situated, and then move on to the next location, right?

But what he heard a lot of times, we know that after he left, even though maybe it was in decent shape when he left, we know that some of these churches struggled big time with such things as leadership, worship practices, false teaching, infighting, bad doctrine, jealousy, bullying from outsiders.

I mean, the list goes on and on.

And this just breaks Paul's heart.

In 2 Corinthians, he says that even with all his own personal hardships, which were many, by the way, had many personal hardships, he says he has the daily burden of concern for all the churches that he started.

So he's burdened with their health, with the church health, how they're doing, how things are going.

And that's generally why he has to write them letters.

Right, Colossians, Ephesians, Philippians, Galatians.

It's generally why he has to write them these letters to fix problems.

But when you get to our study of this letter of the church in Ephesus, the letter, the book of Ephesians, which we're wrapping up today, by the way, uh, this doesn't seem to be the case.

And I'd love to hear that, because most scholars believe that Paul wrote this letter simply to teach his readers, uh, Jews and Gentiles, by the way, we learned that in here, about important aspects of their new faith.

Not because it had big issues.

So he wrote this letter to teach them, not to solve anything, but to teach them.

And of course, we re-reap the benefits of his writing 2,000 years later, as we've seen over the last five weeks.

And we're going to close this out today by briefly revisiting some main points from this letter.

Uh, from each chapter, we're going to look at a main point from each chapter, because we've just gone through all six of them, and uh, so that we don't forget.

So we can remember what Paul has been teaching us, and we can get it in our skull, right?

Because the Bible says that uh, you know, you don't want to be the person that hears the word of God and lets it go in one ear and out the other.

You're like a person that looks in the mirror and forgets what you look like.

So it's important for us to remember what we're learning.

And I don't want the last five weeks to go in one ear and out the other.

That's all about uh becoming a fully devoted follower of Jesus.

So turn with me to Ephesians chapter 1.

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

Let me pray for the word of God, and we'll get started.

Dear Lord, this is your word.

Your word is truth, your word is active and alive.

Father, your word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path, and we lift this up to you today as we get into it.

Lord, illuminate your words and our hearts.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

So let's start here.

Go to Ephesians chapter 1, and let's just look at one verse from chapter 1.

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

And I picked this as like kind of the theme, what stood out to me as like the theme of this chapter, and it's Ephesians chapter 1, verse 3.

Ephesians 1:3

And it says this.

There's how Paul, first of all, he says, hello, good to see you guys, you know, good, glad to write to you guys, people in Ephesus, grace and peace to you.

Then he says this praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Praise be to him who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

Why do you why do I pick that one?

He says, God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

And this is a key verse here because it encapsulates just about everything else that Paul covers as he moves on.

He talks about in this chapter.

Chapter.

Let me pause for a second.

I wanted to explain something, and that's the in Christ thing, okay?

Because you know that Paul says in Christ over a hundred times in his letters?

What's that mean?

What does he mean, in Christ?

Let's talk about that first, all right?

The New Testament commentary said that in Christ means that Christians not only have faith in him, their life is in him, as the root in the soil, the branch in the vine.

So the place of the Christian's life is in Christ.

It's this.

You take your hands, I want you to do this.

Take your hands, put them up, put them up.

Here's you, here's Christ.

Now do this.

Pull on it, pull on it, make it tight, pull on it, don't become apart.

There it is.

They're intertwined.

You get that?

This is what in Christ Christ means, totally intertwined.

And Paul explains then, when he says, you know, in Christ, before that, though, he says, Blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

What is what are the spiritual blessings?

Why does he start this letter this way?

Right?

So we know what in Christ means.

He explains that those blessings are.

He says later on in this in this chapter, he says, we're adopted as God's children.

That's a spiritual blessing.

Redeemed and forgiven.

We learn God's revealed plan.

We have an inheritance.

Listen to this.

Get this.

We're holy and blameless.

We're sealed with the Holy Spirit.

Those are the spiritual blessings he's talking about.

That's crazy.

Those are amazing attributes.

And what does that do?

That speaks of our identity, doesn't it?

I told you in week one when we were looking at this chapter about walking into my fourth grade class, and my 150-year-old teacher, Mrs.

Clater, looks at me and says, Another authen wreath.

You know, she she had had my brother nine years earlier, and she identified me, his terrible behavior, she identified with me.

And she didn't even know me or hadn't even had me in her class yet.

And that was not fair, right?

But that she that's how she identified me as an authen wreath because of my brother.

And so, where does your identity come from?

You ever think of that?

Where does your identity come from?

Your job?

When I'm a pastor, right?

People say Pastor John.

Identify as a pastor.

Does your identity come from your job?

Your status?

Being a mom or a dad?

Being a nana?

Or a papa?

Whatever it is for you.

You're one of them?

A student?

Maybe your identity comes from being a student.

Paul just talked about our identity, right?

The spiritual blessings in Christ that I just shared with you are about identity.

I said that.

Look, here's what I want us to get, because it impacts every single one of these.

Number one, my identity, I want you to say this to yourself, must come from who God says I am, not Mrs.

Clater.

She's not even with us anymore.

Her opinion doesn't matter.

First and foremost, my identity must come from who God says I am.

She might have been Miss Clater.

I doubt if she was ever married.

I don't know.

Now that I think about it, I don't know why my brain went there all of a sudden.

Anyway, my identity must come from who God says I am.

First and foremost.

Not your classmate, not your teacher, nobody.

Who does the Bible say I am?

Loved, worthy, adopted, a new creation, forgiven, fearfully and wonderfully made.

A masterpiece, made in God's image, right?

Don't miss this.

This is your identity.

From the creator of the universe, for crying out loud.

Think of this.

Loved, worthy, adopted, new creation, forgiven, fearfully and wonderfully made.

Masterpiece.

God's masterpiece, made in God's image.

Don't miss this.

Spiritual blessings, right?

Just spiritual blessings.

And Paul goes on to talk about in chapter two, he talks about who we used to be.

So he talks about who we are.

Number in chapter one.

Then he goes on to talk about who we used to be, BC, before Christ.

Here's who you are, right?

You're loved, worthy, adopted, new creation, forgiveness.

Here's who you were.

Following the ways of the world.

That was me.

Disobedient.

That was me.

Deserving the wrath of God.

And he says, but God.

It's always important when he says that.

But God, because of his great love for you, for me, made us alive in Christ.

In Christ.

Even though we were dead in our sins.

Anybody else attest to that?

We once were, look at this, verse verse 8, chapter 2, verse 8.

It says.

So Paul talks about us being dead in our sins.

Then he says, This, for it is by grace you have been saved from all of that, through faith.

And this is not from yourselves.

It is a gift, a gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast.

For we are, here's another one, God's handiwork.

There's your identity, God's handiwork created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

If you get nothing else today, get this.

For you were once in darkness, he says.

Right?

Ephesians 2, 8 through 10.

If you get nothing else, get that.

Salvation is by grace.

Get grace is what?

Getting something you don't deserve.

You didn't earn.

Through faith.

Believing in something you haven't seen.

You see, grace is God's undeserved favor.

That's why Christians talk about it all the time and throw that out there all the time.

And God's undeserved favor changes who I am, changes my identity.

We just talked about that.

Gives me a purpose beyond myself.

And gives me the strength, listen, to live out that purpose.

What is that purpose?

Look at verse 10.

Verse 10 says, For we are God's handiwork.

There you go.

That's one of those uh uh spiritual blessings.

God's handiwork created in Christ Jesus to do good works.

Don't forget, back up.

Doesn't say you do good works to earn your salvation.

Doesn't say that.

No, your salvation is by grace through faith.

It's free, it's a gift.

You don't work, you don't earn it.

But he says we were created to do stuff, to do good works, right?

To do good stuff for God.

My grace, God's grace doesn't just forgive what you once were, it gives you a new identity and a purpose.

So number one was my identity comes from God, and number two, my salvation is the uh gift of grace that gives me a new purpose.

That which pleases God gives me a new purpose.

What is that?

To do good stuff.

Someone said this, I love this phrase.

Service that flows out of me, service that flows out of me as a result of what God has done in me.

Does that make sense?

Service that flows out of me as a result of what God has done in me.

This is good.

This is so this is so good.

You see, this letter, then, as you look at what we've already talked about so far, has a logical progression and it all ties together.

He continues this theme then when we get to chapter three, when he talks about how salvation has been revealed to the Gentiles, right?

Remember, the Jews were God's chosen people, and the long-awaited Messiah came for Gentiles too.

What's that all about?

This was a hard pill for the Jews to swallow.

But Paul made it clear that this was God's plan from the beginning.

And my favorite verses from chapter 3, there's a lot in chapter 3, but my favorite verses in chapter 3 are verses 20 and 21.

So go to chapter 3.

We're scooting through these pretty quickly today.

Chapter 3, verses 20 and 21 says this.

Now to him, talking about God there, Jesus, who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.

To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.

Amen.

There's a lot packed into just two verses right there.

But I love that.

To him who's able to do more than we can ask or even imagine.

Do you think of God that way?

I mean, most of us believe that God can do anything, right?

He can do anything he wants, but we don't always believe that he'll do it for us.

God can do anything, but he can do that for me.

God does what's in his will to do, and he'll do it.

God can accomplish far more through our lives than we could ever imagine.

I can attest to that.

Can anybody else attest to that?

God can do more through your life than you ever thought possible?

Have you ever thought of that?

I can personally attest to that truth.

And it has his how his power how his power is at work within us.

What's that mean?

His power is at work within us.

What's that mean?

Somebody put it this way.

Look at this.

God is not a distant observer.

Get that right there.

God is not a distant observer, but an active internal force operating inside believers through the Holy Spirit to accomplish spiritual transformation and deeds beyond human capability.

There used to be a song out by Bet Midler.

The line was, From a distance, God is watching.

God is watching us from a distance.

Does anybody remember that song?

It was a big hit.

It's not true.

God is not a distant observer, an active internal force inside believers, through the Holy Spirit, to accomplish spiritual transformation.

Have you ever said to yourself, I don't know how I ever did that.

It had to be God.

You ever say that?

I don't know how I ever did that.

That's a God thing.

You ever said that?

See?

There you go.

I could have never done that on my own strength.

It had to be God.

I know that, right?

So we got we have my identity must come from who God says I am.

My salvation is a gift of grace that gives me a new purpose.

So chapters one through three, then, which we kind of looked at briefly there, explain who we are as Christ's followers.

Do you get that so far?

Get that?

But by the time we get to chapter four, though, Paul switches gears a little bit.

And in chapters four through six, he talks about what all this means.

Right?

He explains who we are as Christ followers.

For what?

So what?

What does that mean?

In chapters four through six, then, he talks about what all of this means.

And that is encapsulated in the first verse of chapter four.

Look at chapter four, then, verse one.

Another good one.

One single verse.

Full of stuff.

Look at this.

As a prisoner for the Lord, then Paul's in jail when he writes this.

I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.

Worthy of the calling you have received.

So calling, when we think of calling, don't we think of pastors and right?

Preachers and missionaries were called.

Well, is Paul's audience pastors and preachers and missionaries, or is Paul's audience just normal people?

Jews and Gentiles, right?

Paul's audience is just the church.

It's you, it's us.

Right?

But he still says we're all called.

What's our calling?

I said this a few weeks ago, right?

God has called us to know his grace through Christ.

First and foremost.

Called us to know salvation by grace through faith, right?

To live as his children and to serve him by sharing the good news of the gospel.

That's our calling.

That calling should change every part of our lives.

Because we belong to Jesus, we're called to live in a way, listen to this, that honors his name.

Living worthy of his name.

Reflecting the savior we profess to follow.

And how often we miss this.

How often we miss we are believers, I'm speaking to believers here, are called to be different.

Called to be different.

Reflecting the savior we profess to follow.

And we miss this so much.

We miss this.

I said a few weeks back that if every believer followed Paul's instructions in Ephesians, there'd be a whole lot more Christians because when our lives reflect Christ, people see the difference.

When our lives reflect Christ, people see the difference he makes.

Number three.

My life must represent my Savior.

You know, that's one of my burdens right there.

To see all of us become fully devoted followers.

All of us.

Why do I stand up here week after week after week preaching the Word of God?

I'm coming up on finishing nine years here, getting ready to start my tenth year.

I've preached hundreds of sermons.

Because I have a burden to see us all become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.

And our life begins to represent our Savior after we get saved.

And when we intentionally seek to grow in our faith, it's intentional.

Spiritual growth is intentional.

It doesn't happen on its own.

Salvation is free.

You don't do anything to earn salvation.

But to become more like Jesus takes a little bit of effort on our part.

So we have the world pulling at us on one side, right?

We have to intentionally seek to grow in our faith, to grow in spiritual maturity, to become fully devoted followers.

Ask yourself that.

Am I becoming a fully devoted follower of Jesus?

It's a process.

It's a process of spiritual maturity.

One author said this spiritual maturity is a continuous, lifelong process of inner growth, where a person's beliefs, values, and relationships with Jesus deeply shape their character, daily actions, and mindset.

That's a great quote.

It's continuous.

I remember sharing with you some years ago, we'll talk about spiritual maturity.

Does anyone get a little nervous when they have to pray out loud?

Raise your hand if you get just a little nervous.

Go ahead, be honest, be vulnerable here.

If we've got to pray out loud to get just a little nervous, yeah, no, right?

I remember I shared this with you some years ago, but uh when I first started working at a church, first got back into being a believer and the whole Christianity thing, and I started working at this church, my church over in Akron, and the pastor there was larger than life.

His name is Dr.

Charles Billington, and he was wrote books and he was on TV and all this stuff, and the church was huge.

And we were at a staff meeting, and they said, okay, we're all gonna split up into little groups and we're gonna go off and pray.

John, you go with uh Dr.

Charles and his son Dallas, who was also a pastor there, you go with them and you three go off and pray.

I'm like, oh no, no, I don't want to do this.

So we're in this little huddle.

Me, this, this guy, this, this, this larger-than-life guy and his son, right?

And we're in this little huddle, and uh Dr.

Charles says, All right, we're gonna pray.

John, you start.

And I blacked out right then.

You know, I blacked out.

I think I said, God is great, God is good, let us thank him for our food.

Amen.

That's about that's all I remember.

I don't even remember what I said.

Probably something really stupid.

That's all I can think of.

I was I was nervous, I was sweating, my glasses were fogging up.

I mean, all that, right?

You see, spiritual maturity doesn't mean everything becomes easy, for one thing, but it means that we increasingly trust God and step out in obedience.

You see, the results of spiritual maturity must be seen in the daily life of the Christ follower.

That's Paul's point.

Okay, you're following Jesus now.

Here's what you need to do, here's some steps to take.

That's Paul's point.

Then you get to chapter 5, he continues with this subject as he talks about our walk.

What's our walk?

Does anybody remember what the Greek word for walk was?

Parapateo.

Remember that?

What's that mean?

That's the word that's that's the word is translated as walk in the New Testament, and it means our conduct.

When somebody says, hey, how's your walk?

It's like, what's that mean?

How's my walk?

I think it's okay.

Walk okay.

You know, how's your walk?

Your walk talks about your conduct, your behavior, your manner of life.

You remember that from a few weeks back?

Parapateo.

Your walk must be in line with who Christ has called us to be.

Look at this.

Chapter 5.

Go to verse 8.

He talked about who we were, who, you know, he talks about our behavior in chapter 5.

He talks about how we need to behave as Christ has called us to behave.

Then he gets here, verse 8.

For you were once darkness.

But now, but now, get that.

Underline that.

You are light in the Lord.

Live as children of light.

Side note, for the fruit of the light consists of all goodness, righteousness, and truth.

And find out what pleases the Lord.

Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.

Man, this is good.

For you were once darkness.

I love it, I love the way he phrases that.

It doesn't say you were once in darkness.

No, you were darkness itself before Christ.

Right?

You were you were darkness.

The New Testament commentary said that Paul brings in one of the most common and most striking New Testament illustrations of the absoluteness of the difference between the old heathen life and the new life in Christ.

God is light, and you are light in the Lord when Jesus is your Savior.

Do you understand what that means?

Light, what's light?

What's that mean?

It's a metaphor for all things good, positive, holy.

It's a metaphor for Jesus, for God Himself.

And darkness, then, is the opposite.

And like I said, Paul switches from the first three chapters talking about who we are in Christ to three chapters four, five, and six about what this means.

You see, believers are no longer in darkness, separated from the light of Christ.

Jesus says in Matthew that because of him, we are the light of the world.

We are the light of the world.

Number four.

I am the light of Christ.

Say that.

Say that with me.

I am the light of Christ.

What does it mean?

What's light?

Love everything good, positive, holy.

Darkness is the opposite.

You see, chapter 5 then of Ephesians repeatedly calls believers to live differently.

We know this.

We know it.

Live differently because of Jesus in us.

Cody, one of our elders, got up last week and brought it home with chapter six.

We moved to chapter six.

Because so far, Paul said, know what you have in Christ.

Remember you are saved by grace.

Know God's power that is at work in you.

Live worthy of your calling.

And you see, if I'm going to live out my identity, my calling, and my purpose, then, if we're going to do all this stuff that he says, that's why he gets there in chapter six.

He tells you, if you're going to do all that, you need God's strength.

Because you have an enemy who doesn't want you to do any of it.

Do you understand that?

If you have an enemy who doesn't look at this, verse go to uh chapter six, verse 10.

Be strong in the Lord.

And then his mighty power.

Oh, how we miss this.

Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Here's another thing that we dismiss.

We don't really give a lot of thought to the spiritual forces that are working against us.

If you are a believer.

Why bother?

He leaves you alone.

Why bother?

But if you are a threat, if you are making a difference in the kingdom, if you are living your life in the light of Jesus in Christ, then Satan's gonna come after you.

We have to know our enemy, we have to identify it, we have to understand that it's not gonna be easy.

In this world, you will have trouble, right?

So far, Paul said that know what you have in Christ.

Remember, you are saved by grace, right?

And all of that.

And then he's that let me see.

I don't want to mess this up.

Finally, then he says, finally, in verse 10, finally, lastly, in conclusion, he said, knowing all of this stuff, chapters one through three, who you are, four, five, four, and five, what this means.

Six, here's how you defend it, right?

Here's how you defend it.

He says, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.

We can't win the battle in our own strength, and you can't win the battle if you can't identify the enemy.

I say this all the time.

Satan is not God.

He was an angel, he's not God, he's not omnipresent, he's not omniscient.

How he does not have the attributes of God.

How could he?

He's not God, so we have to stop giving him the attributes of God.

I don't know exactly how it all works, but I know he prowls around like a roaring lion looking for whom he can devour.

He is a real enemy, and his cronies are real as well.

And they're working to bring believers down in any way they possibly can.

And we need to be aware of the devil's schemes and make sure we stay prepared for his attacks.

Do not discount spiritual warfare.

Do not discount spiritual warfare.

We need to do a series on it, just just on that.

Number five, I must be strong in the Lord.

Over a hundred times, Paul says, in the Lord.

Who knew?

What does it mean to be strong in the Lord?

It means recognizing our weaknesses, right?

Understanding that the power of God is in us, standing firm in our faith and beliefs, standing up against the schemes of the devil, and protecting ourselves with the full armor of God.

And Paul ends this letter by talking about prayer.

He goes through all of this, chapters one through five, and then in the six, he talks about how to guard against all this, and then he says, pray.

Pray.

I was thinking the other day, I was just at a conference where the main focus of the conference was prayer.

And one of the things that came to my mind was, how often do I go to the mat for the issue that's eating me alive?

How often do I really get on my face and on my knees and beg God to intervene?

Do I just throw up a little prayer?

Lord, heal June from her cancer.

Or do I get on my face?

Say, Lord, I need this.

I need this.

Cry out to God.

How often do we do that?

How often are we really seeking God's intervention in our life?

Seriously crying out to God.

And Paul ends with that.

Pray always.

The only way any of this works is by staying connected to the source.

And prayer is one of the main ways that we do that.

Think about it.

So we know, right?

Identity comes from who God says I am.

My salvation is a gift of grace.

My life must represent my Savior.

I am the light of Christ.

I must be strong in the Lord.

That's just this much of what all we learn in the book of Ephesians over the last five weeks.

And as we close our journey through this book, through this letter, Paul leaves us with a simple challenge, right?

Remember who you are.

Remember what Christ has done for you, and live like it.

Your identity comes from God.

Your salvation is a gift of grace.

Live like it.

Your life has a God-given purpose.

Live like it.

And God's power is available to you.

Live like it.

Don't just believe what Ephesians teaches, put it into practice.

Live worthy of your calling.

Walk in the light of Christ.

Look for opportunities to serve others, to encourage others.

Look for opportunities to share your faith.

And when you face temptation and discouragement or spiritual opposition, don't try to stand on your own strengths.

Stand strong in the Lord and pray.

And pray.

You are in Christ.

You belong to Christ.

Now go live like it.

So Paul's telling his church in Ephesus.

Live like it.

Of course, this is all contingent on whether Jesus is even your savior.

I go there every week, don't I?

If Jesus is not your savior, it's not going to apply.

It doesn't matter.

Jesus is calling each one of us to follow him.

And if you're not there yet, if you have not made the decision, not by anything you can do, it's a gift.

It's already been done.

Salvation is by grace.

It's a gift given to you.

Nothing you can earn by faith.

We have to understand our need for a savior, understand our sinfulness, understand the sin that we have in our life that we were born with, and understand that it separates us from God.

And the only way to get us connected is by accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior and understanding and believing that He paid for our sins with His death on the cross, His resurrection.

It's not that hard.

Don't go home here today or click off online wherever you are without making sure that if something were to happen to you today, you know for certain you're going to heaven.

And if you don't know that for certain, we want to talk to you about that.

Me, anybody up here, any of our church leadership, online, leave us a note.

Fill out a card in the back of your seat and we'll get a hold of you.

Something, do something.

It's a burden.

God wants everyone to be saved, to have a saving knowledge of His Son Jesus Christ.

Let me pray.

Lord, this letter to the church in Ephesus is eye-opening.

It's amazing.

Thank you for the contents of what we've been able to learn, the contents of this letter and all that we've been able to learn over the last six weeks now.

We give you praise.

Thank you for who you are.

Thank you for explaining it all and working it all out.

Thank you for the free gift of salvation by grace through faith.

Thank you for that.

Thank you for uh inspiring Paul to write these words down that we can look at all these years later.

Lord, I pray for each one of us to take an assessment of where we are in our walk with you.

Are we becoming fully devoted followers of Jesus?

Lord, are we being changed day by day by day by the gospel of Jesus Christ?

Is our life different?

Will I be a different person tomorrow than I am today because of what Jesus has done for me?

Lord, I pray all of us take an assessment.

I pray that people can see us in you.

See you in us, I should say.

See you in us and all things in our life.

Our words and our deeds and our actions, our behavior, all of those things, so that they would want what we have.

We believers are the light of Christ.

Lord, if anybody in here or watching at home is not sure of their relationship with you, may today be the day that that changes forever.

So in your son's name we pray.

Amen.

Why don't you stand and let's worship together?