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[0:00] Well, you can have a seat. We're going to dive right into Sunday school this morning. My wife is not here again. She didn't feel well Wednesday, and then Thursday seemed to recover and feel great and thought it was just a little thing to pass, and then Friday she kind of took a dive and caught a fever again and just not well, so she was even trying to get into an urgent care this morning just to try to, if she needs to, get something.

[0:27] We've got companies showing up, Lord willing, Thursday, and so she's trying to fast-track a recovery so she doesn't have to deal with stuff and get the house clean and all of that. So anyway, if you don't mind considering her and keep her in prayer, she would be here, as you well know.

[0:44] Let's have a word of prayer, and then we'll get into the scriptures. I don't think I have my mic on. All right. Father, thank you for this morning, and thank you for giving us healthy bodies and the opportunity to gather together yet again.

[1:01] And Lord, probably some of us take it for granted. It's something we do every Sunday. But Lord, may this morning be real. May we glorify our Savior for who He is and for what He's accomplished for us and for what we have in Him.

[1:16] We thank you for this Bible. God, as we open it up, please guard my mind and mouth and give each one ears to hear, to receive the words of God. Thank you for Jesus Christ, our Savior, and it's in His name I ask.

[1:30] Amen. All right. This morning, we're going to start a new book of the Bible. We're going to go to Ephesians. And I want to teach through the book of Ephesians for Sunday school for however long it takes.

[1:41] I certainly don't anticipate it taking as long as it did when we went through the book of Matthew. But you never know. This thing is loaded. It's a balanced diet, the book of Ephesians.

[1:55] It truly is. It's got milk for the new believer. It's got meat. And I'm going to take my time, as I see fit at times, to expound on some things and to park on a word and to make sure that we all understand the Word of God.

[2:12] You may say, oh, this is elementary or why this is boring in some cases. I don't want you to feel that way, but rather I care about everybody here and I want to make sure that everybody understands these particular things.

[2:25] Some are easy. Some are not. And there's some things in here that I will promise you I'm going to kind of breeze over or at least just touch on but admit that I don't fully understand the depth of certain passages in this book.

[2:42] This is the holy words of God, so sorry. But I'm not God, and you well know that. All right, Ephesians. I'm not going to waste a lot of time with introductory items here.

[2:55] There's outlines and different ways to do that, but I will just say this. This is one of seven churches that the Apostle Paul writes to. I say seven churches.

[3:06] Technically, that's not accurate. The book of Galatians. Galatia is a region, and that one's written, as you can see in the very beginning, to the churches in Galatia. So there's several churches there that Paul went through through his missionary journeys.

[3:20] But this one, Ephesians, is written to a church at Ephesus. You see that right away in verse 1, to the saints which are at Ephesus. And so there are seven epistles that Paul writes to a local church or churches, and then there's a few more that he writes to individuals like Timothy, Titus, Philemon, 13 in total.

[3:41] And what's interesting somewhat is, I don't know what the correlation is, if any, but the Apostle John also writes seven letters or messages that are sent out to seven churches in the book of Revelation, chapter 2 and 3.

[3:56] And the only one that is connected there is the book of Ephesians or the church of Ephesus, which is the first one that John writes to in Revelation 2. So being that as it is, I don't know what to make of that, or maybe there's something there in a bigger sense.

[4:13] But at any rate, this church at Ephesus gets some mention in the scripture. And I want to give you a little background before we dive into the words of it. And so really, I should have taken you to Acts chapter 18.

[4:25] Let's run there first. And we'll get a little bit of a background of what we would have learned about the place if we were coming through the scriptures the way God gave them.

[4:37] And before the Apostle Paul ever wrote an epistle back to this church, there's a little bit of groundwork that we could understand about the church and about the town. So Paul writes this epistle to the church probably a few years after he had passed through this region on multiple occasions on his missionary journeys.

[4:59] His second and third missionary trip go through Ephesus. And there's mention of that here in Acts chapter 18. And I'll just, I'll try to hide, just briefly rush through these next three chapters.

[5:11] But in verse 18, Acts 18, 18, Paul after this tarried there yet a good while, and then took his leave of the brethren and sailed thence into Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila, having shorn his head in Centria, for he had a vow.

[5:26] And he came to Ephesus and left them there, but he himself entered into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. When they desired him to tarry longer time with them, he consented not, but bade them farewell.

[5:37] And so he takes off, and it says in verse 21 at the end, he sailed from Ephesus. Now he promised he'd return, and he did return. A little bit later in chapter 19, verse 1, he comes back.

[5:49] But he leaves Aquila and Priscilla in Ephesus. And while they're there, we see a guy named Apollos showing up in verse 24. And what's interesting, I just don't want to take the time to read through this when it's not really even getting into the scriptures of Ephesus, or Ephesians.

[6:05] But Apollos shows up, and he's an eloquent man, mighty in the scriptures. He comes to Ephesus in verse 24. Verse 25 says he's instructed in the way of the Lord. He's fervent in the spirit. I mean, this guy is a solid, a sharp, a very bright man.

[6:20] He gathers a following. He has disciples, we'll see in the next chapter. And he speaks boldly in the synagogue, and he is preaching up a storm. The trouble is, he's not preaching accurate doctrine, at least relevant to date.

[6:35] Why? Well, he's taught, it says in verse 25 toward the end, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John. Now, that's pretty outdated. That's 20 years old, at least.

[6:47] Things have changed. This is a transitional time period from the ministry of John, which is coming out of kind of basically the dark ages of Israel, where there was just nothing, the silent years.

[7:00] And then John shows up preaching a baptism of repentance and of the kingdom of heaven, how it's at hand. And then Jesus Christ shows up preaching the same thing. And then the ministry of Christ, as we've studied in Matthew in detail, offering this kingdom that God had promised to the Jew, offering it to them, and then rejecting him and killing him.

[7:19] And now all of that has transpired and passed, and Christ has been ascended back. And things have really changed. And we're into the book of Acts, heavy into the book of Acts, to where the Apostle Paul is now on a scene, preaching a different gospel message to Gentiles, which is unheard of to the Jews.

[7:38] So things have really transitioned. But this fellow, Apollos, just doesn't have that light yet. And so he shows up from Africa, comes up here into Asia Minor, and is preaching outdated doctrine.

[7:52] And so Aquila and Priscilla, they take him by the side, they expound on him the way that God more perfectly, they teach him some things, and he gets it.

[8:03] Now in chapter 19, it came to pass that after a while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coast, came to Ephesus, and finding certain disciples. Now you might think these are Christians, because earlier the disciples were called Christians, but that's going on over in Antioch of Syria.

[8:19] This is Ephesus. They're disciples, but of what and of who? Well, if you read the context, these guys were baptized unto John's baptism in verse 3, and they didn't even understand whether there was even a Holy Ghost at all.

[8:31] That was all brand new to them. So they're not disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. They're disciples, followers, of a man, and of a ministry or a teaching, but of the apostle John, verse 3, he said unto them, what then were you baptized?

[8:45] They said unto John's baptism. So these are Apollos' disciples, and they would have been spreading that same message, false doctrine, really, but they just didn't have an understanding.

[8:57] And Paul doesn't rebuke them in the name of Jesus, and kick them, and break fellowship with their false, no, he just teaches them some things, and he told them what it was, and told them that they were supposed to, that John was just preparing the way for Christ Jesus.

[9:12] By the end of chapter 4, he says, that is, on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Ghost came on them. Now this is taking place in Ephesus.

[9:24] And so there is a small, the number of them was 12, by the way, in verse 7. There is a small something started there. But where it started, it seems, when Paul showed up, he goes to the synagogues, and he doesn't stick around.

[9:36] They want to hear more. He takes off. He leaves the Quill and Priscilla. This other guy shows up teaching some things. He's got some disciples following him. Some kind of confusion, for sure. And not a big revival, or outpouring of the Holy Ghost, and some major thing going on.

[9:53] Now, Paul hangs around there, and it turns out he hangs around there for three years. And he's in the synagogue in verse 8. He's in another school of Tyrannus in verse 9. And he's teaching, and they're getting the word of God.

[10:07] He's going to take off and leave in chapter 19. I'm going to just skip way down to verse 22.

[10:19] He sent into Macedonia two of them that ministered unto him, Timotheus and Erastus. But he himself stayed in Asia for a season. And that turns out to be a few years, because we see that in chapter 20, where before he leaves for the final time, he said, I was here three years teaching you all.

[10:35] Now, here's the chapter I want to get to, is chapter 19, to give you a little idea of what kind of place this was. Remember, this is not a Christian nation. These are lost.

[10:46] These are heathenistic, just Gentiles, idol worshipers. And they're strong in their worship of idols. Verse, I'll tell you what, I'll back up a little bit into chapter 19.

[11:00] And notice verse 19. Many of them also, which used curious arts, brought their books together and burned them before all men. So that's something that's going on in Ephesus, is this kind of, I might say, witchcraft or black magic or curious arts.

[11:17] And they've got books, but they're turning from that because of the preaching that's going on. There's, anyway, verse 23, about that time there arose no small spur about that way.

[11:29] So things are starting to pick up as Paul's there. And in verse 24, a certain man named Demetrius silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana. Who's this Diana?

[11:40] That's the first word introduced to her. Well, they've got a silversmith making silver shrines. And he brought no small gain unto the craftsmen. He realized that their craft is in trouble because of this turning away from idolatry.

[11:56] In verse 26, Moreover ye see and hear that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they be no gods which are made with hands.

[12:07] And they're worried about their craft. So that not only this, our craft is in danger to be set at naught, but also that the temple, that's in Ephesus, the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be destroyed.

[12:23] Notice this phrase, from all, or whom all Asia and the world worshipeth. So people came from all around Asia to Ephesus, to this temple, this pristine place, to worship this particular goddess Diana.

[12:39] There's more to that than just that there. Let me back down to verse 35. Here's a little more insight to their worship. It says, That's the mindset, the mentality of the entire city, that this is authentic, this is real stuff here, that we're worshiping this goddess, and this, whatever that image is, that would have fallen down, as they said, from Jupiter.

[13:19] So they're superstitious. They're idol worshipers. And they are the center of this. This is their claim to fame, you might say, because people come and pilgrimage to their town, to their temple, to worship this goddess.

[13:33] Now in verse 28, this is the way they talk. When they heard these sayings, they were full of wrath, and cried out, saying, Great is the God of the Ephesians. Great is Diana of the Ephesians. The whole city was filled with confusion.

[13:47] And when they get together, they get, I know you read this, so I'm kind of picking and choosing spots here, just assimilating it. When they get a little bit of a kickback about their beliefs here, the whole place erupts in verse 34.

[14:02] When they knew that he was a Jew, all with one voice, about the space of two hours, cried out, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.

[14:13] And then the guy settles them down. Two hours, they're chanting this? Now if you don't understand, that's some devil stuff. To get an entire mob, a massive amount of people, to erupt in this chant, for two hours, to a false god, an idol.

[14:33] Great is, when they found out he was a Jew, is what kicked this thing on. It was like, it was trying, it was like putting a, closing the door, to getting anything in, to this town, that was related to the Lord Jesus Christ, or to God's dealings, through the nation of Israel, and so forth.

[14:51] When that comes up, boom, they just, the devil shows up, and tries to push it back out. And for two hours, they're chanting. So get an idea in your mind, that this is the town, this is the city, this is the idolatry, it's deep rooted.

[15:06] And then, into chapter 20, there's a little bit more, of Paul, kind of, saying his goodbyes, at Ephesus, and describing his ministry there.

[15:18] He's actually not in Ephesus, but he calls the elders, in verse 17, from Miletus, he sent, this is chapter 20, verse 17, from Miletus, he sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church, and when they would come to him, he said to them, you know, for the first day I came, and so forth, he lays out, his ministry, and backs up, this is what I did, this is what I taught, I was with you, I was diligent, and testified the gospel, the grace of God to you, and he warned them, though, I'll show you this, he warned them, let's start in verse 27, this is, this is his exiting remarks, to these men, these elders, of the church that was started, he says, for I have not shunned, to declare unto you, all the counsel of God, take heed therefore, unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which, the Holy Ghost, hath made you over, your seers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased, with his own blood, for I know this, that after my departing, shall grievous wolves, enter in among you, not sparing a flock, also of your own selves, shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples, after them, therefore watch, and remember that, by the space of three years,

[16:24] I cease not to warn everyone, night and day, and so forth, so then he does take off, by ship, and he's out of there, that's his last time, through Ephesus, so there's a little bit, of light about the town, a little bit of an understanding, of it, and now let's get back, to the book itself, we'll try to get started, into the book of Ephesians, so a few years pass, and the apostle Paul, is going to write, a letter back to the church, the church has been established, at one point, and I'm not sure, which point this is, he left Timothy behind, you read that, in first Timothy, I'll just read that verse, if I can, pages stick together here, he says this, and I besought thee, to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some, that they teach no other doctrine, and so at some point, Paul leaves Timothy behind, to teach and preach, in that local church, and often he's declared, to be the pastor, of that church, but he didn't start it,

[17:29] Timothy wasn't there, the entire time, I don't know, for how long, Timothy was there, but at some point, he was there preaching, and teaching, anyway, so the author, of this book, obviously is the apostle Paul, he wrote it, while he was in prison, you can see that, in chapter 3, in verse 1, for this cause I Paul, the prisoner, of Jesus Christ, for you Gentiles, he says it again, in chapter 4, in verse 1, Paul's imprisoned, writing back, to this church, and giving them truth, and giving them, the word of God, for them, and it's an interesting thing, in my mind, to consider, a group of believers, they're saved, by the blood, of Jesus Christ, they know this, they've gotten that, and they come together, to worship the Lord, and what do they have, in their hands, to walk in the door with, they don't have this thing, tucked under their arm, right, what do they have, does, I mean, even the scrolls, even the Old Testament scriptures, that's not everywhere, and maybe somebody, has a copy of something, or some, or maybe they do try to do, like they do, in the synagogues, but not every synagogue, in that day, all through this region, in particular, had all the books of Moses, or David, or Samuel, like they weren't compiled, like that, so what did they do, but they got together, to worship the Lord, they needed men, to proclaim the truth, to them, now this is going back, into the time, look at chapter four, just to understand this, a little better, look at chapter four, and verse 11, the Bible says, he gave some, apostles, and some, prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors, and teachers, and understand, that there were offices, within the, the young, body of Christ, that, had revelation, or had messages, to preach, or had something, whether, you'll see it, throughout the book of Acts, that there was a prophet, abiding at such and such, those offices, existed early on, and they had somebody, that would proclaim to them, the word of God, the apostle Paul, would write back, he would write, and encourage, and help, and teach, and train, these churches, individually, and in this case, imagine, that somebody, at some Sunday, if you want to call it,

[19:50] Sunday morning, they get together, and somebody's like, I got a letter from Paul, I mean, they would have been, just hungry, they would have been, just ears open, just salivating, to hear, what he said, read it again, they'd read, probably read the six, as we have chapters, read it again, can I get a copy of that, can I see that, I mean, who wouldn't want that, to take it home, just, if you could let your mind, wander back into that age, they didn't have, a King James Bible, they didn't have, the entire revelation, of God, and compiled, into one, bound copy, now, this church is meeting, and the apostle Paul, writes back to them, I'm trying to get into, the first verse here, verse one, Paul, we know who that is, there's 13 books, that start, just like that, starting with Romans, all the way to Philemon, 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, grace be to you, and peace, from God our father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, now, the apostle Paul, we call him the apostle Paul, because he calls himself, an apostle, of Jesus Christ, and, to come back to Galatians,

[21:11] I think it's Galatians, yeah, look at Galatians chapter one, look how he words it here, as he, introduces himself, as Paul, an apostle, but, in Ephesians, he says, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, proclaiming that God, has put me into this office, notice it in Galatians chapter one, Paul, an apostle, parentheses, not of men, neither by man, nobody voted for me, but by Jesus Christ, and God the father, who raised him from the dead, so he declares his authority, as the apostle, or an apostle, and it was by God, God put me into this office, and I don't care what you think about it, God told me to do it, God called me to this, and that's what I am, he doesn't care, if he has men, to lift him up, or to back him up, as a matter of fact, you can read through Galatians, where, he withstood some pretty, prominent men, to their face, because they were teaching something else, and Paul had light, from Jesus Christ, that what they were teaching, was wrong, and that they were being hypocritical, so Paul's not a, he's not a scared man, he's, as a matter of fact, if you know his life, and you studied his history, he's a go-getter, that man had zeal, he went and persecuted the church, when he believed that they were wrong, all right, so Paul's an apostle of Jesus Christ, now I want you to understand, that that word, or that office, it holds weight, and we're not going to get far today, but we're going to learn a little bit, about an apostle, come to Luke chapter 6,

[22:41] Luke chapter 6, there's people today, that throw this title around loosely, and they put it on top of their churches, the apostolic church, and that's a lie, they claim that they're apostles, some guys, some ministers, put that title in front of their name, and you look on their church website, or go to their church, and on their bulletin, it'll say, apostle such and such, no they're not, and I'll show you some things, about an apostle, all right, Luke chapter 6, and look at verse number 12, and 13, this is Jesus Christ, and he's calling his men, that are going to follow him, it says, and it came to pass, in those days, that he went out into a mountain, to pray, and continued all night, in prayer to God, and when it was day, he called unto him, his disciples, and of them, he chose 12, whom also he named, apostles, now we always use that term, the 12 disciples, the 12 disciples, no, it was a lot more than 12, and sometimes in the Bible, they're called his disciples, which are referring to the 12, but of all of his disciples, that followed him, that left, and came, and followed him, believing him to be the Messiah, and walked where he walked, there was a lot of them, and of them, sometimes it was multitudes of them, and then some of them left, but of those, disciples that came, there was 12, that he chose, and the names are given, right here in Luke, and in Mark, and in Matthew, the names are given, and there's 12, that he says, he named them, apostles, now come back a few pages, to your left, to the gospel of Mark, look at Mark 3, this is, the similar, context here, in verse 14, well, starting 13, he goeth up into a mountain, calleth unto him, whom he would, and they came unto him, and he ordained 12, that they should be with him, he ordained 12, that's special, that he might send them forth, to preach, number one, and verse 15, to have power, to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils, that's the 12 apostles, what did they have, that was set them apart, from the others, they had a commission, an ordination, and a commission, from Jesus Christ, to preach,

[25:13] Matthew says, the kingdom of heaven, and to have power, that is, that is, that is supernatural, what they had power to do, I can't go do these things, I can claim to you, I'm an ordained preacher, and I've been called of God, to preach, but I don't have power, I can't heal you, or cast devils out, or do things, that are supernatural, I'm not an apostle, and I never will be, to my knowledge, I don't think ever, all right, look at chapter 16, of Mark, so the apostles, had powers, it was a special, office, and ordination, Mark 16, after the cross, let's see, in verse 14, it says that, afterward he appeared, unto the eleven, so that's the twelve apostles, minus Judas Iscariot, and as he speaks to them, of course it goes into, his ascension, fast forward to the end, of the chapter, verse 19, so then after the Lord, had spoken unto the cross, them, he was received up, into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God, they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord, working with them, and confirming the word, with signs, following, amen, after Jesus Christ, ascended, these men had power, matter of fact, they got it, in Acts chapter 1, when he said, ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost, has come upon you, and what happened, they went out, and they started again, with the signs, with the, the office of an apostle, and so that was, the eleven, in Acts chapter 1, the man named Matthias, replaces Judas, and if you read, in Acts chapter 1, the term apostleship, shows up, that is he was replacing, that office, that Judas held, as an apostle, his apostleship, it says, now the apostle Paul,

[27:20] I'm not going to turn, to all these scriptures, but how about, go to first Corinthians 9, the apostle Paul, was sent, by Jesus Christ, to be, an apostle, he didn't have, a group of, eleven brothers, he was sent, on his own, the lone apostle, to the Gentiles, first Corinthians chapter 9, and the beginning, of the chapter, verse 1, Paul says this, am I not an apostle, am I not free, have I not seen, Jesus Christ our Lord, are not ye my work, in the Lord, if I be not an apostle, unto others, yet doubtless, I am to you, now others, you might say, that's Jews, because he was called, not to the circumcision, but to the uncircumcision, in Galatians 2, and so maybe, he's not an apostle, or that his office, doesn't hold weight, over the nation of Israel, like it did for Peter,

[28:26] Peter, his apostleship, was to the circumcision, as was the rest, and by the way, understanding some of that, is going to help you understand, this, the divisions in your Bible, because coming past, the apostle Paul's epistles, and Titus, and Philemon, all of a sudden, you're turned back, into Hebrews, and what follows that, is the apostles, to the Hebrews, to the circumcision, with James, with John, with Peter, anyway, in verse, let's go to 2nd Corinthians, chapter 12, Paul says, I am an apostle, am I not, an apostle, oh, and I didn't read, the rest of that, he says, for the seal, of mine apostleship, are ye, in the Lord, in 1st Corinthians, chapter 9, they are the seal, of his apostleship, 2nd Corinthians, 12, and verse 12, notice the connection, again, to power, and to signs, when it comes to, this office of an apostle, 12, 12,

[29:33] Paul again, I'll back up, to verse 11, I am become a fool, and glorying, you have compelled me, for I ought to have been, compelled of you, for in nothing, am I behind, the very chiefest, apostles, the very chief, who could you name, that's above me, Paul says, in the ministry, Peter, James, John, in nothing, am I behind them, verse 12, truly the signs, of an apostle, were wrought among you, in all patience, in signs, in wonders, and mighty deeds, so Paul did some things, there's some healings, and some miracles, some supernatural things, that Paul had, early on at least, that he proved, and wrought among them, declaring, and emphasizing, and emphasizing, his office, of an apostle, now, let's go back, to Ephesians, enough about that, just need you, to understand, that title, has weight to it, and we don't plug that, on top of any, of our names, around here, and we never will, and anybody, who does today, they don't understand, their Bible, or they're trying, to be something, that they're not, they want to be something, more than God's, called them to, but the apostle Paul, was an apostle, and he, had that office, to be the apostle, to the uncircumcision, or to the Gentiles, so Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, to the saints, which are at Ephesus, these are born again,

[31:02] Christians, that are saved, by grace through faith, chapter two, verses eight and nine, and they're not saints, like the term, gets plugged into, somebody who lived, a good life, and now we call that, saint so and so, and say no, no, no, this biblical term, is for believers, at least in this age, some people, misapply that, they see that, well, they read into it, I guess, I read a guy, writing a book, and trying to say, he was taking the term, saints, out of revelation, several spots, and then showing it, to be here, in Paul's writings, and trying to make, every time the word, saint shows up, the same thing, and then, when he did that, he ended up taking, doctrine from here, and doctrine from here, and trying to merge them together, because the word, saint, was the same, and it was, it was sorry, we'll just allow it, to be born again, Christians, that are saved, by grace, through faith, that's who he's writing to, he's not writing, a, he's not preaching, the gospel, to Ephesians, he's writing, to the church, to the saved, in Ephesus, and so, his doctrine here, is going to lead them, in a particular direction, to the saints, which are at Ephesus, so this is Asia Minor, today it's Turkey, modern day Turkey, is that region, and it's a local church, it's an independent church, they're, they don't receive their orders, from headquarters, my wife was, where was she, who was she talking to, just somebody recently, who asked about, our church, and, and she said, or they said something like, well, how long are you going to be there, like, aren't you going to get moved on, after five years, or ten years, doesn't that, isn't that the way it works, and she said, no, that's, we're not part of some organization, like that, or some united church, of something, we just follow, what the Lord leads in our life, and he led us here, and they didn't understand that, well, this is a local church, as it should be, autonomous, independent, nobody tells them what to do, the word of God, they study the Bible, and preach, and teach the word of God, and that's what we are here, thank the Lord, now,

[33:15] I'm going to get into something here, that I don't have time to cover, or at least, I'll just, introduce it, this is for, everybody, look at the end of this verse, he says, to the saints, which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful, and notice the next three words, in Christ, Jesus, now, this is a term, it's not necessarily, exclusive to the apostle Paul, but he sure has made it popular, and he writes like, he says that more than anybody else, and really what it is, as applied to him, is he teaches a doctrine, that you need to know, and you need to get, and he just introduces, his epistle with this, to the faithful, in Christ Jesus, but you need to understand, what that means, and Paul says it so much, if you get saved, or you just start reading, through your Bible, you'll see that phrase, you'll see that phrase, you'll see that phrase, you may not really, get a hold of it, but that phrase, that is it, if you're not in Christ, none of this applies to you, none of what he's going to say, applies, and means much of anything to you, if you're not in Christ, now we make a big deal, and maybe, maybe we have a little bit, out of balance, often we make a big deal, about Christ being in you, or people say this, to the children all the time, will you ask Jesus, into your heart, and did you ask Jesus, into your heart, and I don't hate that phrase,

[34:39] I mean that even comes out, of Ephesians, as a matter of fact, look at chapter three, this is the only place, this not even thought, shows up in your Bible, is in chapter three, verse 17, it says that Christ, may dwell in your hearts, by faith, Christ dwelling in your heart, that's the only place, that I know of, that that phrase, or that thought comes, where Christ in your heart, and of course, you want Christ in you, that's a biblical phrase, Romans chapter eight, and Colossians chapter one, if Christ be in you, or Christ in you, the hope of glory, in Colossians, and the Holy Ghost in you, the spirit of Christ, Paul says in Romans, being in you, but that may have more, of a practical aspect, to your sanctification, and to your change, and to the new man, but the doctrine, the position, is that you are in Christ, and in Jesus Christ, you're going to get a lot, notice the end of, verse number three, it says, spiritual blessings, and heavenly places, in Christ, notice verse four, according as he hath chosen us, in him, you can skim the chapter, you're going to see, in verse seven, in whom we have redemption, through his blood, in verse 11, in whom also, we have obtained an inheritance, and it's in Jesus Christ, everything we have, is because we're in, the son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, we can say, in the body of Christ, that's a biblical term, but Paul doesn't, spell it out all the time, like that, he just says, in Christ, in Christ, all the time, and we're going to see it,

[36:11]  I want you to get it, I want you to park on it, and I think next week, we're going to have to, we're going to expound on, a little bit more, about how you get in Christ, and about the, the spiritual baptism, of first Corinthians 12, and how you're either, in Adam, or you're in Christ, because the Bible says, in Adam, all die, but in Christ, all shall be made alive, there's life, in the Lord Jesus Christ, you're either in one, or the other today, and if you're in Christ, you have some things, and we're going to study them, they're called spiritual blessings, and I don't know, too much about this, but it says in verse 3, they're in a locality, they're in heavenly places, in Christ, and so, I think we're going to stop there, our time's up, we didn't get, through the first verse, but, it'll start moving eventually, but I'm telling you, this book has it all, I said at the beginning, a balanced diet, it's got milk, and it's got meat, it's got stuff for the, the youngest of Christians, to start,