WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.040 We're going to read together from the New Testament, from Paul's letter to the Ephesians, 00:00:07.040 --> 00:00:12.759 chapter one, the first seventeen verses. 00:00:12.759 --> 00:00:14.560 And this is God's word. 00:00:14.560 --> 00:00:20.839 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God to the saints who are in Ephesus and 00:00:20.839 --> 00:00:23.640 are faithful in Christ Jesus. 00:00:23.640 --> 00:00:30.280 Christ to you in peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:00:30.280 --> 00:00:34.439 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in Christ 00:00:34.439 --> 00:00:40.519 with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as He chose us in Him before 00:00:40.519 --> 00:00:45.880 the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. 00:00:45.880 --> 00:00:52.079 In love He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ according to the 00:00:52.079 --> 00:00:58.079 purpose of His will to the praise of His glorious grace with which He has blessed us in the 00:00:58.079 --> 00:00:59.679 beloved. 00:00:59.679 --> 00:01:04.239 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according 00:01:04.239 --> 00:01:09.799 to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making 00:01:09.799 --> 00:01:16.159 known to us the mystery of His will according to His purpose, which He set forth in Christ 00:01:16.159 --> 00:01:23.159 as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in Him, things in heaven, and things 00:01:23.159 --> 00:01:24.640 on earth. 00:01:24.640 --> 00:01:29.879 In Him we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to the purpose 00:01:29.879 --> 00:01:35.599 of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, so that we who were the 00:01:35.599 --> 00:01:40.199 first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of His glory. 00:01:40.199 --> 00:01:45.199 In Him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation and believed 00:01:45.200 --> 00:01:50.600 in Him were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance 00:01:50.600 --> 00:01:56.120 until we acquire possession of it to the praise of His glory. 00:01:56.120 --> 00:02:00.400 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love towards 00:02:00.400 --> 00:02:06.879 all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that 00:02:06.879 --> 00:02:14.120 the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom 00:02:14.120 --> 00:02:17.240 and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. 00:02:17.240 --> 00:02:21.520 This is God's word, Tom. 00:02:21.520 --> 00:02:23.840 Thank you, Corey. 00:02:23.840 --> 00:02:28.360 Let's spend a little while thinking about this passage that Corey just read. 00:02:28.360 --> 00:02:34.080 So this is a short sermon at the end of our service tonight. 00:02:34.080 --> 00:02:43.240 With what resources do you live as a Christian, and with what resources do we plant churches 00:02:43.240 --> 00:02:48.439 or maintain existing churches? 00:02:48.439 --> 00:02:55.520 If you get a bunch of church planters in a room and you listen in on their conversations, 00:02:55.520 --> 00:03:03.719 one of the things that you'll probably hear the most is chat about resources. 00:03:03.719 --> 00:03:06.680 How are we going to do what we're going to do? 00:03:06.680 --> 00:03:09.320 Where are we going to get the money from? 00:03:09.320 --> 00:03:12.040 Have you managed to get a building yet? 00:03:12.039 --> 00:03:15.959 And these are the kind of things that are very real, and we keep talking about them 00:03:15.959 --> 00:03:19.159 because they matter. 00:03:19.159 --> 00:03:24.639 But if you think about yourself as a Christian, a human being, or somebody who's thinking 00:03:24.639 --> 00:03:31.060 of becoming a Christian, what is it that will help you follow Jesus? 00:03:31.060 --> 00:03:36.879 Is it something that you have, something that you're able to do? 00:03:36.879 --> 00:03:42.000 Corey was already speaking to the young ones about the fact that the difference which is 00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:48.159 all the difference in the world is not that we get some kind of counsel to just lift our 00:03:48.159 --> 00:03:54.159 levels a little bit to make us better in the eyes of other people in the church, or in 00:03:54.159 --> 00:04:04.439 terms of how God sees us, but that we believe in and proclaim, tell what He has done. 00:04:04.439 --> 00:04:07.960 So that's the foundation of what it means to be a Christian is to recognize it not by 00:04:07.960 --> 00:04:14.400 myself, but by the Lord Jesus Christ, can I be saved? 00:04:14.400 --> 00:04:19.199 But I want to say that what we see in Ephesians 1 here is that the resources, the strength, 00:04:19.199 --> 00:04:26.840 the capacity that we need to go on and be a church that proclaims that gospel is still 00:04:26.840 --> 00:04:28.400 the gospel. 00:04:28.400 --> 00:04:33.639 The gospel is the thing that makes the difference in the first instance, the moment you see 00:04:33.639 --> 00:04:39.839 Jesus for who He is and come to believe in Him, but it continues to be and never stops 00:04:39.839 --> 00:04:47.159 being the resource that the church has, because the gospel bottom line is that we have Jesus 00:04:47.159 --> 00:04:49.500 Himself. 00:04:49.500 --> 00:04:54.199 So when you become a Christian, it's not like God just ticks you off and says, okay, sin's 00:04:54.199 --> 00:04:55.199 forgiven. 00:04:55.199 --> 00:05:03.120 That's incredible that He does that, that He forgives our sins and washes clean our 00:05:03.120 --> 00:05:06.480 account as it were. 00:05:06.480 --> 00:05:14.560 But not only that, He draws you to Himself with incredible love to the extent that as 00:05:14.560 --> 00:05:21.040 we see in this passage, He calls you an inheritor in His kingdom. 00:05:21.040 --> 00:05:25.840 That's the kind of truth that is life-changing that stays with you all your days and gives 00:05:25.839 --> 00:05:34.359 you all you need in spiritual terms, which feeds into practical terms to resource us 00:05:34.359 --> 00:05:40.479 as we go about the business of living for Jesus and maintaining established churches 00:05:40.479 --> 00:05:42.159 and planting new churches. 00:05:42.159 --> 00:05:46.599 So a few things from the passage that we can see specifically. 00:05:46.599 --> 00:05:50.199 There's a whole bunch of well-known verses in this passage that Corey just read, but 00:05:50.199 --> 00:05:54.679 let me just pick out one in particular as the sort of hinge that I want to base what 00:05:54.680 --> 00:05:56.000 I'm going to say around. 00:05:56.000 --> 00:06:02.480 Verse 3, bless be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in Christ 00:06:02.480 --> 00:06:05.879 with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. 00:06:05.879 --> 00:06:09.920 I think that kind of encapsulates what I want to say, and I think it ties as well with what 00:06:09.920 --> 00:06:11.040 Corey was saying. 00:06:11.040 --> 00:06:13.720 He has done it. 00:06:13.720 --> 00:06:19.160 So we're not still waiting for God to do something which will make all this worthwhile. 00:06:19.160 --> 00:06:26.960 His Son Jesus laid down his life on the cross and took it up again and is now exalted at 00:06:26.960 --> 00:06:32.880 the right hand of the Father, watching over his world and orchestrating his gospel, the 00:06:32.880 --> 00:06:35.240 expansion of his kingdom. 00:06:35.240 --> 00:06:39.640 So however you feel about that right now, it's encouraging, isn't it, coming together. 00:06:39.640 --> 00:06:45.280 It's a delight for me to be here tonight, to see, as was said earlier, old friends, 00:06:45.280 --> 00:06:48.200 old faces, or maybe to make new acquaintances tonight. 00:06:48.199 --> 00:06:54.560 However we feel about being a Christian or working for Jesus, maybe doing the same things 00:06:54.560 --> 00:06:59.599 you've been doing for five or 20 years, or planting churches and doing something quite 00:06:59.599 --> 00:07:08.480 new, we have the astonishing commitment of Jesus and what He has already done and continues 00:07:08.480 --> 00:07:14.319 to do and will not stop overseeing and doing until the day when He comes again. 00:07:14.319 --> 00:07:17.199 Here are a few specifics in the passage. 00:07:17.199 --> 00:07:22.120 You just illustrate these spiritual blessings and I'm just going to touch on them, as I 00:07:22.120 --> 00:07:24.279 said in this short time. 00:07:24.279 --> 00:07:29.759 Just now, first thing is in verse one, God gives spiritual leaders to His church, Paul 00:07:29.759 --> 00:07:34.319 an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God. 00:07:34.319 --> 00:07:39.399 Paul didn't do what he did in the days that he did it and he didn't write what he's written 00:07:39.399 --> 00:07:47.919 here for us because he had a bright idea, or because he's a super guy with loads of capacity. 00:07:47.919 --> 00:07:52.759 I mean, he must have had loads of capacity because he dealt with an awful lot of things, 00:07:52.759 --> 00:07:58.439 but he never lost sight, I don't think, certainly not in the way his writings come across to 00:07:58.439 --> 00:08:04.519 us of the fact that he's been put exactly where he is by God. 00:08:04.519 --> 00:08:09.839 Now if that's true for an apostle, do you think it's true for you as well? 00:08:09.839 --> 00:08:15.199 I think it has to be because I think although, and we've just come this afternoon in Est 00:08:15.199 --> 00:08:20.279 Valley from our afternoon service looking at the call of Samuel, again a particular person 00:08:20.279 --> 00:08:25.799 in a particular place called by God for a particular role, but we were making the point 00:08:25.799 --> 00:08:33.519 and I think it's true of Paul and of us also that God oversees the lives and the situations 00:08:33.519 --> 00:08:39.879 of all of his people, and that includes you and I as well. 00:08:39.879 --> 00:08:47.159 But Paul is a leader and he's there by the will of God under Jesus. 00:08:47.159 --> 00:08:56.279 So Paul's remit was to lead the early church to see Jesus for who he was is to be convinced 00:08:56.279 --> 00:09:02.439 of his worthiness so that more and more people will put their faith in him and follow him 00:09:02.440 --> 00:09:09.600 and that churches will be planted, that's what Paul was about, in the character of Jesus 00:09:09.600 --> 00:09:12.080 and to see him for who he was. 00:09:12.080 --> 00:09:17.760 Healthy, healthy churches which still happens to be, if you like, the mission statement 00:09:17.760 --> 00:09:19.880 of the free church, the denomination to which we belong. 00:09:19.880 --> 00:09:24.560 We want to plant healthy churches and see healthy churches grow in communities all across 00:09:24.560 --> 00:09:26.640 the world. 00:09:26.640 --> 00:09:28.520 Now that's a good thing. 00:09:28.519 --> 00:09:34.480 It's good for the church that God puts leaders in place to look after his church and to shepherd 00:09:34.480 --> 00:09:38.159 them under Jesus. 00:09:38.159 --> 00:09:42.000 That's what's true here, that was Paul's remit and he wasn't astray for that, that's 00:09:42.000 --> 00:09:44.799 to be true of leaders in the church now. 00:09:44.799 --> 00:09:50.519 And just by way of a kind of immediate application, can I ask you to pray for those who are in 00:09:50.519 --> 00:09:55.960 particular leadership, others who are planting, maybe right at the start of the process, pray 00:09:55.960 --> 00:09:59.320 for your leaders here. 00:09:59.320 --> 00:10:05.280 Also pray because the free church needs you to pray for more workers in God's harvest 00:10:05.280 --> 00:10:07.920 field, that's a prayer that we were given, isn't it? 00:10:07.920 --> 00:10:13.560 Pray for workers to go out into the harvest field because the free church needs more ministers, 00:10:13.560 --> 00:10:18.160 people who will faithfully hear God's word and pass it on. 00:10:18.160 --> 00:10:22.600 That's a prayer that you can make, that's a part you can play in this big picture that 00:10:22.600 --> 00:10:28.000 we're all engaged in seeking to serve God. 00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:33.040 But also think about the call that you've been given. 00:10:33.040 --> 00:10:36.639 Leadership is influence, is something I've been thinking about recently, so you may have 00:10:36.639 --> 00:10:41.759 a particular role formally in leadership in the church. 00:10:41.759 --> 00:10:49.600 But if leadership has to do with influence, then a class in a shop in Del Quith with a 00:10:49.600 --> 00:10:53.200 bunch of mums who've never met each other before and a bunch of Christians who just 00:10:53.200 --> 00:11:01.399 want to get to know them and lead them to Jesus, God may, we pray, do great things. 00:11:01.399 --> 00:11:06.920 And the same may also be true in all the places that you find yourselves, the ordinary places 00:11:06.920 --> 00:11:07.920 of life, if you like. 00:11:07.920 --> 00:11:13.200 So pray for leaders in the church and pray that God would help you with whatever capacity 00:11:13.200 --> 00:11:17.279 or responsibility you have to lead others to Jesus. 00:11:17.279 --> 00:11:22.319 Okay, so spiritual leaders. 00:11:22.319 --> 00:11:27.319 But he doesn't just designate people or delegate people to go off while he looks the other 00:11:27.319 --> 00:11:28.319 way. 00:11:28.319 --> 00:11:29.720 Some people have an idea of God, but he's a bit like that. 00:11:29.720 --> 00:11:34.120 I wonder if maybe you do tonight or you know somebody who does. 00:11:34.120 --> 00:11:35.799 What's the argument against that? 00:11:35.799 --> 00:11:41.079 Like God made the world, he kind of said it in motion, and now he's not really that interested. 00:11:41.079 --> 00:11:46.539 Well, Paul's already said that Paul is an apostle by the will of God. 00:11:46.539 --> 00:11:52.439 He then goes on to say that what we have from God, and you see that in verse two in particular, 00:11:52.439 --> 00:11:59.480 grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:11:59.480 --> 00:12:03.439 When you hear words like that, sometimes they're so familiar because they're just part of the 00:12:03.439 --> 00:12:08.519 familiar introductions that somebody like Paul writes in his letters that we skip over 00:12:08.519 --> 00:12:09.519 them. 00:12:09.519 --> 00:12:13.559 But if you just stop for a minute to think about what Paul is saying there, he's saying 00:12:13.559 --> 00:12:18.239 that through the apostleship that he has because of the will of God, in other words, the authority 00:12:18.239 --> 00:12:24.519 that he has under the Lord Jesus to speak to the church, what God would have him say, 00:12:24.519 --> 00:12:31.399 what he will say to them is that in Christ as they put their faith in Jesus, hanging 00:12:31.399 --> 00:12:37.359 on to God's coattails, as Derek said, because it can feel like that in life sometimes, can't 00:12:37.359 --> 00:12:38.439 it? 00:12:38.439 --> 00:12:43.239 You have grace and peace. 00:12:43.240 --> 00:12:49.919 The undeserved favor of God, before you did anything for yourself to make yourself worthy, 00:12:49.919 --> 00:12:55.879 God acted in abundant grace to redeem you and to save you. 00:12:55.879 --> 00:13:01.240 And what that means is that you can stand in His presence with whatever baggage you feel 00:13:01.240 --> 00:13:07.960 you carry and maybe the sins that you're conscious of that are maybe quite fresh, brutally fresh 00:13:07.960 --> 00:13:15.400 in your mind from the week just passed, and you can receive grace and mercy and peace 00:13:15.400 --> 00:13:17.879 because you're forgiven. 00:13:17.879 --> 00:13:25.759 And being forgiven, you're welcome into His presence, into His heart. 00:13:25.759 --> 00:13:28.720 So that's what you need to hear from your leaders. 00:13:28.720 --> 00:13:33.680 Pray that the gospel would be clear in those who speak the gospel. 00:13:33.679 --> 00:13:40.879 May it be clear in your mind and in your heart, pray that it would be fresh in your vision 00:13:40.879 --> 00:13:48.079 on a Monday morning, on a Wednesday when you're exhausted, and whatever else is going on. 00:13:48.079 --> 00:13:50.279 Grace and peace is yours. 00:13:50.279 --> 00:13:52.519 How will you make it through as a Christian? 00:13:52.519 --> 00:13:57.319 With what resources will you go on day by day when you're the only Christian in the 00:13:57.319 --> 00:14:02.599 office or in your street or whatever it is? 00:14:02.600 --> 00:14:05.879 Well hear His voice. 00:14:05.879 --> 00:14:10.240 I was speaking about hearing the voice of Jesus earlier, so it's fresh in my mind. 00:14:10.240 --> 00:14:12.360 He says, grace and peace to you. 00:14:12.360 --> 00:14:20.240 You need to take hold of that and believe it and live in it as well. 00:14:20.240 --> 00:14:26.800 So Paul has this wonderful message and already we've seen something of the abundant resources, 00:14:26.799 --> 00:14:35.199 the life that we have in the gospel, that is the most life-giving foundation, the basis 00:14:35.199 --> 00:14:38.479 for why we do anything. 00:14:38.479 --> 00:14:42.199 So God gives spiritual leaders, God gives us Himself. 00:14:42.199 --> 00:14:46.919 The final thing I want to say about the fact that God gives us Himself is He gives us leaders, 00:14:46.919 --> 00:14:50.039 He gives us Himself. 00:14:50.039 --> 00:14:55.279 And that means that when you follow Jesus, because He gives you grace and peace, because 00:14:55.279 --> 00:15:00.919 He sees you with all that you've done and all of the debt that you owe and He in His 00:15:00.919 --> 00:15:06.799 grace pardons you, He is safe to follow. 00:15:06.799 --> 00:15:14.399 I think we have, I think we struggle, don't we, with those we follow in society nowadays. 00:15:14.399 --> 00:15:21.360 Political leaders, business leaders, people in positions of authority, not just because 00:15:21.360 --> 00:15:26.879 we're anti-institutions, which is a bit of a theme of today, but maybe because we see 00:15:26.879 --> 00:15:30.800 people struggling to live up to the positions that they've been given, because after all, 00:15:30.800 --> 00:15:32.440 they're like us, only human. 00:15:32.440 --> 00:15:35.919 Well, we don't excuse them, we struggle to follow. 00:15:35.919 --> 00:15:41.360 We wonder what will happen to us if we sit under their leadership, if we go where they 00:15:41.360 --> 00:15:43.519 go. 00:15:43.519 --> 00:15:55.079 But Jesus, He is a good leader, His mission, His purpose, His character and His provision 00:15:55.079 --> 00:15:57.960 is all good for you. 00:15:57.960 --> 00:16:03.759 So it is safe to follow Jesus, though it feel like it may cost you quite a lot, because 00:16:03.759 --> 00:16:08.159 after all the business of following Jesus, the business of looking after an established 00:16:08.159 --> 00:16:12.960 church, the business of planting churches is difficult and costly. 00:16:12.960 --> 00:16:14.680 Paul knew that. 00:16:14.680 --> 00:16:16.800 He spoke about it quite often in fact. 00:16:16.800 --> 00:16:22.400 He spoke about the fact that we are hard pressed on every side. 00:16:22.400 --> 00:16:26.960 He spoke about the fact that the gospel that we have, we have as it were in jars of clay, 00:16:26.960 --> 00:16:31.560 because we feel like so fragile sometimes. 00:16:31.560 --> 00:16:33.320 But Jesus has gone before us. 00:16:33.320 --> 00:16:34.759 He gave us His life. 00:16:34.759 --> 00:16:36.759 You know, He held nothing back. 00:16:36.759 --> 00:16:40.639 There's nothing good that Jesus could have given that He held back from you. 00:16:40.639 --> 00:16:46.240 He gave everything and we follow Him and that's a privilege. 00:16:46.240 --> 00:16:51.159 So let that fill you up. 00:16:51.159 --> 00:16:55.480 And I want to say thirdly that He makes you rich. 00:16:55.480 --> 00:16:59.399 Church planters talking about resources. 00:16:59.399 --> 00:17:01.519 We need resources. 00:17:01.519 --> 00:17:03.120 We need money. 00:17:03.120 --> 00:17:04.200 We need buildings. 00:17:04.200 --> 00:17:05.200 We need people. 00:17:05.200 --> 00:17:06.720 All of that's real. 00:17:06.720 --> 00:17:08.639 You need resources for life. 00:17:08.640 --> 00:17:12.560 And these are the practical things of life that we take to God and we ask for His help 00:17:12.560 --> 00:17:13.560 with. 00:17:13.560 --> 00:17:14.880 We ask for them in measure. 00:17:14.880 --> 00:17:17.520 We say give us today our daily bread. 00:17:17.520 --> 00:17:26.280 But you know, underneath the resources and before we get to thinking about the resources 00:17:26.280 --> 00:17:31.200 has to be the way in which He blesses our hearts and our souls with the provision that He gives 00:17:31.200 --> 00:17:34.640 us, which brings us to the verse 3 that I read earlier. 00:17:34.640 --> 00:17:40.320 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, because He has blessed us in 00:17:40.320 --> 00:17:47.360 Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms. 00:17:47.360 --> 00:17:50.080 It's an interesting way of thinking about it, isn't it? 00:17:50.080 --> 00:17:54.560 He's already given you every spiritual blessing that He could. 00:17:54.560 --> 00:17:59.480 And part of that has to do with the surety of the deposit, you know, the hope for the 00:17:59.480 --> 00:18:01.880 future that we have in Christ. 00:18:01.880 --> 00:18:04.800 We prayed earlier, Corey prayed, come Lord Jesus. 00:18:04.800 --> 00:18:06.040 We believe that. 00:18:06.040 --> 00:18:07.760 We believe that He's coming again. 00:18:07.760 --> 00:18:11.560 And when you see Him when He comes again, because your hope is in Jesus and because 00:18:11.560 --> 00:18:17.240 you know His declaration of grace and peace, you will see Him and you will rejoice. 00:18:17.240 --> 00:18:22.960 Do we have the surety of that hope, live in that hope, remembering that He is coming again? 00:18:22.960 --> 00:18:27.320 But there are also some other things, and these things could be talked about for a long 00:18:27.320 --> 00:18:28.320 time. 00:18:28.319 --> 00:18:33.019 I'll mention some of the other things in this passage. 00:18:33.019 --> 00:18:34.019 He knows you personally. 00:18:34.019 --> 00:18:36.200 I'll put it the other way around. 00:18:36.200 --> 00:18:39.159 You are personally known. 00:18:39.159 --> 00:18:44.359 So this isn't some kind of philosophy that's thrown out there that has adherents who drop 00:18:44.359 --> 00:18:45.720 in and out. 00:18:45.720 --> 00:18:54.839 This is about God calling to His heart His people who He knows by name. 00:18:54.839 --> 00:18:58.759 He's blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as He 00:18:58.759 --> 00:19:03.579 chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. 00:19:03.579 --> 00:19:11.319 This is a long-term, totally comprehensive God project, sounds too trite, doesn't it? 00:19:11.319 --> 00:19:19.399 But it's the mission of God to call His people and to save them and care for them for all 00:19:19.399 --> 00:19:22.799 of their lives. 00:19:22.799 --> 00:19:27.000 He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be wholly and blameless 00:19:27.000 --> 00:19:29.039 before Him. 00:19:29.039 --> 00:19:36.799 You have an identity and a standing that transcends any other identity you could either wish for 00:19:36.799 --> 00:19:39.279 or be given in this world. 00:19:39.279 --> 00:19:47.480 It means that in the highest core of the universe, you have full approval because you're loved 00:19:47.480 --> 00:19:48.960 when you follow Jesus. 00:19:48.960 --> 00:19:53.279 I mean, you're His treasure. 00:19:53.279 --> 00:19:57.120 There's a passage in the Old Testament that speaks of the way in which God sings over 00:19:57.120 --> 00:19:59.799 in His delight, His people. 00:19:59.799 --> 00:20:07.519 And that's been the theme of His joy in His salvation from eternity past and will be the 00:20:07.519 --> 00:20:09.440 theme for all eternity. 00:20:09.440 --> 00:20:12.319 And it's one that we're brought into. 00:20:12.319 --> 00:20:16.680 Be caught up in that song of praise and of wonder. 00:20:16.680 --> 00:20:21.480 It's hard, isn't it, on Monday morning and on Wednesday afternoon when you're exhausted. 00:20:21.480 --> 00:20:24.000 But that's the resource. 00:20:24.000 --> 00:20:25.000 That's the key. 00:20:25.000 --> 00:20:28.400 The gospel is the thing that we believe which saves us. 00:20:28.400 --> 00:20:33.799 And the gospel is the thing where we see the way in which we get not only a status, but 00:20:33.799 --> 00:20:37.360 we get Jesus. 00:20:37.360 --> 00:20:41.120 And the status that He gives us is to be called sons. 00:20:41.120 --> 00:20:43.720 It becomes so amazing. 00:20:43.720 --> 00:20:47.440 We are to the praise of His glorious grace in verse 6, which He has blessed us in the 00:20:47.440 --> 00:20:48.440 beloved. 00:20:48.440 --> 00:20:53.600 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according 00:20:53.600 --> 00:20:58.200 to the riches of His grace which He lavished upon us. 00:20:58.200 --> 00:21:01.559 So again, God hasn't held anything back. 00:21:01.559 --> 00:21:07.519 Now, let me just say in particular, if you're struggling because you're struggling, because 00:21:07.519 --> 00:21:12.240 life is hard, or if you're struggling because of sin, let's say, or of distraction, or 00:21:12.240 --> 00:21:15.920 of something that makes your heart grow cold. 00:21:15.920 --> 00:21:22.000 And maybe you've got to the point where you're thinking, He won't want me around anymore. 00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:23.640 That can be a human way to think. 00:21:23.640 --> 00:21:26.039 It's maybe even understandable. 00:21:26.039 --> 00:21:31.359 But He lavished His grace and His love upon us. 00:21:31.359 --> 00:21:36.720 And Jesus told the story of a prodigal son, a son who had behaved quite disgracefully, 00:21:36.720 --> 00:21:44.360 who went away when he returned, the Father ran to him through his arms around him and 00:21:44.360 --> 00:21:46.519 embraced him. 00:21:46.519 --> 00:21:53.279 So remember His commitment to you, and return to Him and seek again the present knowledge 00:21:53.279 --> 00:21:55.700 of His love for you. 00:21:55.700 --> 00:21:59.720 So you're personally known, you are approved of, you have an identity or a standing, but 00:21:59.720 --> 00:22:03.160 you couldn't get anywhere else, and that actually transcends anything else that you could hope 00:22:03.160 --> 00:22:08.320 for, and also, and often, you have an inheritance. 00:22:08.320 --> 00:22:09.600 Now I mentioned this already. 00:22:09.600 --> 00:22:13.480 We have the hope of the Lord Jesus coming again. 00:22:13.480 --> 00:22:18.480 But it speaks in this remarkable passage of the way in which we are called inheritors, 00:22:18.480 --> 00:22:21.279 we are called sons. 00:22:21.279 --> 00:22:26.560 And as we look forward to that, we see at the end of just verse 10 there, it speaks of, 00:22:26.560 --> 00:22:30.920 this is a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in Him, things in heaven 00:22:30.920 --> 00:22:34.600 and on earth. 00:22:34.600 --> 00:22:41.400 Many of our plans, we can only half conceive of them, and even when we've made them, we'd 00:22:41.400 --> 00:22:44.279 don't know if they're going to work. 00:22:44.279 --> 00:22:50.720 But in God's plan, He holds the whole world in His hands, He holds you in His hands, and 00:22:50.720 --> 00:22:54.640 He knows exactly the day when the Lord Jesus will come again, and we will see if you like 00:22:54.640 --> 00:23:00.279 the realization of that reworking, that amazing promise of the new heavens and the new earth 00:23:00.279 --> 00:23:11.399 with His people gathered before Him, celebrating the reality of eternal perfection. 00:23:11.399 --> 00:23:14.759 What resources do we have to make our way forward in the Christian life? 00:23:14.759 --> 00:23:17.639 Well, the gospel, it's multifaceted. 00:23:17.639 --> 00:23:21.119 It speaks to us so much about who God is and what He's done. 00:23:21.119 --> 00:23:29.000 It bears, I think, tangibly on our lives in the niche moments where you feel sad or alone 00:23:29.000 --> 00:23:33.400 or poor, all the things that are very real to us. 00:23:33.400 --> 00:23:38.519 We need friends, and we need somebody to give us a loan sometimes, so we need practical 00:23:38.519 --> 00:23:45.079 help, and we should be good at that as those who have been loved in loving one another. 00:23:45.079 --> 00:23:52.720 But go quickly to a passage like this, and read again and hear God speaking to you and 00:23:52.720 --> 00:23:54.920 saying what He has done for you. 00:23:54.920 --> 00:24:02.200 It starts with the personal individual, so as to be able to inform and grow into the 00:24:02.200 --> 00:24:07.880 collective body of Christ gathered in the established church and in the different startups, 00:24:07.880 --> 00:24:14.880 core groups, church plants, wherever they meet, the resources that we have are remarkable. 00:24:14.880 --> 00:24:19.279 And they're the things, actually, that will help us with the practical resources when 00:24:19.279 --> 00:24:23.519 it feels like we need to give of ourselves again when you're tired, when you need to 00:24:23.519 --> 00:24:25.839 give you finances. 00:24:25.839 --> 00:24:32.000 And that means sacrifice, that means you can't buy something because you're called to give 00:24:32.000 --> 00:24:36.559 something that you can to the church, the resources that you need for that practical 00:24:36.559 --> 00:24:43.639 step, even for the call in the first instance to leave the safety of the mother church and 00:24:43.639 --> 00:24:47.639 travel into the outlands to plant a new church. 00:24:47.640 --> 00:24:53.960 That all comes from the gospel and from the love of God and from the momentum of the mission 00:24:53.960 --> 00:24:57.560 of God, because He's not done yet with His world. 00:24:57.560 --> 00:25:00.360 He can't be because Jesus doesn't come again. 00:25:00.360 --> 00:25:07.440 He will do, but until the day He comes again, we seek to show the love of Christ to the 00:25:07.440 --> 00:25:08.440 world. 00:25:08.440 --> 00:25:13.600 So remember first the love of Christ to you, and that will help you to take at least one 00:25:13.600 --> 00:25:14.840 step forward. 00:25:14.839 --> 00:25:22.759 We pray by God's grace tomorrow morning, whenever you get out of bed. 00:25:22.759 --> 00:25:30.919 I'm going to finish and pray, and then I think we'll come back up. 00:25:30.919 --> 00:25:40.000 We rejoice, Lord, in all that you have done for us, you are so kind and faithful. 00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:43.759 Please Lord, fill our minds and fill our hearts. 00:25:43.759 --> 00:25:49.000 Thank you for the words of Paul here, but Holy Spirit, would you take them and fill 00:25:49.000 --> 00:25:53.319 us with them and apply them to us during the week? 00:25:53.319 --> 00:25:58.519 When we struggle to believe them, would you, Spirit, be the advocate who counsels us and 00:25:58.519 --> 00:26:04.960 who presses on our minds and our understanding who we are in Jesus, so that we can do what 00:26:04.960 --> 00:26:11.480 we need to do, what you call us to do, taking steps forward, seeking the glory of God? 00:26:11.480 --> 00:26:14.640 We pray these things in Jesus' name. 00:26:14.640 --> 00:26:42.720 Amen.