Well, I invite you to open your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 1, verses 3 through 14.
So let's do what we just sang.
Let's listen to God's Word.
If you have a pew Bible in front of you, I think that's 1159 is the page number.
Ephesians chapter 1.
But Paul writes this letter from being chained to a Roman soldier in a rented house in Rome.
And he writes this.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Him with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,
even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him.
In love He predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will,
to the praise of His glorious grace with which He has blessed us in the Beloved.
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of His grace,
which He lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of His will according to His purpose,
which He set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth.
In Him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him,
who works all things according to the counsel of His will,
so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of His glory.
In Him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation,
and believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,
who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of His glory.
Let's pray.
Father, thank you for this passage, and thank you for the reminder and the call for us to bring you praise.
Oh, we have so many reasons, so many opportunities, so many things in our minds and hearts
as we reflect on what it means to be a believer in Jesus Christ,
how much we have to praise you for.
I would pray that as we work our way through this passage,
that you would begin to press on our hearts the glory and wonder of who you are.
We would think about you.
We would think about what you've done.
In eternity past, now and for eternity future,
what all this means.
And may our lives be changed so that we go here in the rest of the day,
the rest of the week might be to the praise of your glory.
We pray that you'll help us, that you'll work in us,
and that you'll change us for your glory alone.
In your name we pray. Amen.
Most of us know the doxology.
We sing it here.
In fact, we're going to sing it today at the end of the service.
You know the words.
Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
Praise Him all creatures here below.
Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts.
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
My first pastorate, I inherited the tradition of singing the doxology after receiving the offering.
So every Sunday, receive the offering, we would all sing the doxology.
We didn't have words in front of us.
We all knew the song.
It was very easy to sing.
We would all remember it.
But I was always bothered by that because I thought, we're just singing this rote.
We're not really thinking about it.
We really ought to do something with that.
So I decided that we would sing the doxology but to an alternate tune.
The tune was the hymn, Jesus Shall Rain.
It works perfectly in the hymn.
But this would be a great thing for us.
So we'll concentrate more on what we're singing than just singing this rote idea.
Well, suddenly, as we began to sing that song to the tune of Jesus Shall Rain, it sounded more like a foreign language.
And we were all fumbling over the words.
And finally, most people quit singing before the brief little song was completed.
And I was told after that, don't ever try that again.
Often in Scripture, the Bible writers break into doxology, an expression of praise to God.
One example of that is in Romans chapter 11.
Paul was arguing for the sovereign purposes of God in chapters 9 through 11 of that great book.
By the time he reached the end of that section, it seems as if he could really hold back no longer in his praise to our great God.
And so he writes this,
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable are His judgments and how inscrutable His ways!
For who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been His counselor?
Or who has given the gift to Him that He might be repaid?
For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.
To Him be glory forever. Amen.
Well, in this letter to the Ephesians, Paul is going to write about Christ's unsearchable riches.
And I suspect that as he began to contemplate the vastness of God's greatness and the wonder of God's grace,
he breaks into a doxological discourse involving the triune God, even before writing the rest of the letter.
You may have sort of picked it up in the English version of Ephesians 1,
but did you know that in verses 3 to 14 are actually one long sentence in the Greek text?
Paul would not have made it in an English class for run-on sentences,
but an incredible truth of what God has done and the reason for this great doxology.
So, verses 3 through 6, he tells us this.
All spiritual blessings come from the Father.
So think about that for a minute.
As you read through this, it's a little bit hard.
There's a lot of hymns in there.
Blessed be the God and Father.
Even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world.
He and Him.
And it's hard to try to figure all that out.
But I think the emphasis is on the Father.
But He's telling us that in the Father, from the Father, all spiritual blessings come.
Well, what are some of those blessings?
Well, for one, is He chose us.
Verse 4.
He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world.
Before anything was created, that we should be holy and blameless before Him.
He didn't just choose us to save us.
He chose us to make us into something that would be presented to Him.
Holy and blameless.
Left to ourselves, we would never have chosen Him.
The Bible tells us that we are dead in our sin.
We would never seek after God.
There's no one who seeks after God.
No one has ever sought after Him.
We are unable and unwilling to respond to a holy God.
In fact, the Bible says that we are enemies of God.
But in His infinite mercy and grace, He determined to call us out of the bondage of sin and grant to us eternal life.
And so we praise Him.
For those of us who belong to Christ, why did God choose us?
Have you ever thought about that?
Why did God choose me?
I don't know.
But I know that He did.
And I hope I never get over the wonder and the shock that He chose me.
If you're sort of patting yourself on the back for believing in Jesus, I'm sure glad I came to that conclusion.
You've missed Paul's point.
And you're not really entering into this grand doxology.
See, God the Father chose some out of the whole of already condemned mankind.
And He gave them the gift of His Son.
A gift that on the one hand was given to the Son, and on the other hand, purchased by the Son.
The Father took the initiative and chose some.
That is an incredible spiritual blessing.
He not only chose us, but He predestined us.
Verse 5.
The Father predestined us.
That's a word that we sometimes trip over a bit.
But just think of it this way.
God set His love upon us a long time ago.
The emphasis is in the past.
He did this a long time ago.
According to the purpose of His will.
And His infinite wisdom and sovereign authority, before He ever made the universe,
He determined to set His love upon those who would believe in Him,
that we might be able one day to stand before Him face to face,
wholly and without blame.
He had to choose us, and He had to set His love upon us,
if that was ever to become a reality.
So He chose us, He predestined us.
These are all blessings from the Father through the Son.
He chose us, He predestined us, He adopted us.
Verse 5.
We who were aliens from God, enemies of God.
He adopted us into His family.
And He granted us all the rights and privileges as children of His.
Again, according to the purpose of His will.
Verse 7 reminds us that He redeemed us.
What's redemption mean?
Well, the idea is to purchase and set free by the payment of a price.
In Paul's day, one would go to the marketplace, the agora, to purchase merchandise,
and then take it home, take home what was purchased.
It now belonged to the one who made the purchase.
So what was bought was set free from the marketplace.
That's redemption.
We're not merely bought and brought out of the marketplace of sin, never to be returned,
but we are set free from our condition as a slave to sin.
He bought us and set us free from the penalty of sin.
Charles Wesley understood this when he wrote the song, And Can It Be?
One of those verses in that song says,
Long my imprisoned spirit lay fast bound in sin in nature's night.
But he speaks of God.
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray.
I woke the dungeon flame with light.
My chains fell off.
My heart was free.
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.
That's the way it was.
God redeemed us.
What an amazing spiritual blessing.
When I start to think of God and start to praise Him,
what's the first thing that comes to our mind?
It seems to me it ought to start with,
What did He do for me?
He chose me.
He predestined me.
He adopted me.
He redeemed me.
All those things are great spiritual blessings that come from the Father.
And then He applied His design and purpose for us, to us and for us.
That's sort of verses 8 to 12 and sort of wrapping that up kind of quickly.
But this may be the answer to why we must praise Him.
Everything God has done and will do is for the praise of His glory.
For the praise of His glorious grace.
In other words, God's design of salvation, that is, rescuing us from sin and death and granting to us eternal life.
And God's, not only His design for salvation, but His design of sanctification, that is, making us holy and conforming us into His image.
And His design for glorification, that is, presenting us holy and blameless before Him.
All of that was to praise Him.
In fact, in the final analysis, my salvation is not ultimately about me.
Your salvation is not ultimately about you.
It's about Him.
He, not we, will be the focal point of all eternity.
It's not, look at all those people who have been redeemed.
In heaven, it will be, look at this great God who redeemed all those people from every tribe and tongue and nation.
You see the difference?
The focus is on Him, not on us.
So, why would God choose us and set His love upon us?
Well, unaided, we never would have responded to Him.
If we could have, we would have taken the credit.
And that would go contrary to the very intention of God's plan.
This rescue was to magnify the greatness and glory and grace of the Rescuer.
He purposed to do this because for all eternity, He will be the focus of all praise.
All that we are now and all that we will be in His presence is because of Him.
John Calvin, during the time of the Reformation, wrote,
Whatever happens to us, let us always assure ourselves that we have good cause to praise our God.
And that even if we are poor and miserable in this world,
the happiness of heaven is enough to appease us,
to sweeten all of our afflictions and sorrows,
and to give us such contentment that we may nevertheless have our mouths open to bless God
for showing Himself so kind-hearted and liberal towards us,
as even to adopt us as His children,
and to show us that the heritage which has been purchased for us
by the blood of His only Son is ready for us,
and that we cannot miss it,
seeing that we go to it with true and invincible constancy of faith.
We have been blessed.
Blessed beyond measure by the Father.
And those blessings from the Father come to us through the Son.
So the second idea here in this passage
is that all spiritual blessings which come from the Father
are found in Christ Jesus.
That's where we find them.
That's where these blessings come to us,
and through Him, through Christ,
these are the blessings that we have.
So in Him, whether that means in God, the Father,
or in Christ, you could make an argument either way,
but in Him, in God, we have redemption.
We have been chosen by the Father to be holy and blameless,
but before we arrive at that promised position,
something had to be done in regard to our sin.
And so we need to talk a little bit about redemption's price here.
Sin was a serious problem, an affront to a holy God.
It could not merely be overlooked or ignored.
A price was required,
and the seriousness of the offense required an astronomical price.
Before sin became a reality,
God had established the price that had to be paid to deal with sin.
Remember what it was in the garden?
In the day you eat of this forbidden fruit,
what happens?
You will die.
And so death,
a couple different ideas about death,
death would come physically,
but before that,
death came spiritually in that man was now separated from God.
So that happened,
they were excommunicated from the garden.
No longer was there a face-to-face relationship with God.
Everything had changed.
And years later,
Adam and Eve would die physically.
Death is separation.
It starts with separation from God,
and then ends with separation from our body and our spirit.
That was what God had designed.
The sacrificial system throughout the Old Testament
introduced the idea of a substitute to pay the penalty for sin,
which included the payment of a blood sacrifice.
The problem with that was that this system was never-ending.
How many animals do you suppose were slaughtered
during the Old Testament time?
Reading some of the passages in the Old Testament,
just amazing,
you know,
the thousands and thousands and tens of thousands
and millions probably of animals,
sacrificed.
It never ended.
Sacrifice,
and another sacrifice,
continued on.
But the problem was that
that debt
for sin was never satisfied.
The debt was too big.
It was sort of like
having a loan
and paying only the interest.
How long will that take you to pay the loan?
See,
there was an appeasement,
as it were,
for the sacrifices in the Old Testament
so that life could continue
without major interruption,
but the debt never got any smaller,
much less satisfied.
The full payment
would still one day be required.
So what was that payment?
Well, we know.
Jesus,
the only one who could pay that enormous price,
came
and paid the price in full
through His blood.
So the Father's blessing
of redemption
is found
in Jesus.
In Him,
we have redemption.
For seven tells us,
in Him,
we have forgiveness.
So what is forgiveness?
Well,
forgiveness means to carry away.
The truth was prefigured
in Leviticus chapter 16,
where a priest would bring two goats.
One would be sacrificed.
The other,
he would lay his hands on the goat
as a symbol
of passing the sins of the people
onto that animal.
And then the animal
would be led off
into the wilderness
and that animal would,
that goat would never be,
make its way back.
It would be lost forever.
We call it the scapegoat.
All right?
That's where that came from.
The goat was left there
never to return.
And that same truth is,
we see that arrive several times
throughout the Old Testament
about how God carries our sins away.
If John Tippmann would have continued reading
in Psalm 103,
he would have come to this verse,
as far as the east is from the west,
so far as he carried our trespasses,
our sins from us.
He removed,
he removes our sin from his very presence.
Jeremiah 31 verse 34 says,
their sin I will remember no more.
Not only is sin removed from his presence,
it's also removed from his mind,
his memory,
as it were.
Isaiah 43 verse 25,
Isaiah writes about,
quoting God,
I,
I am he who blots out
your transgressions
for my own sake.
Sin,
gone from his presence,
gone from his mind,
gone from his ledger.
Micah chapter 7 verse 19,
he casts all their sins
into the depths of the sea.
Gone from sight,
gone,
gone.
We used to sing as a kid,
gone,
yes,
my sins are gone.
Now my soul is free
and in my heart's a song,
buried in the deepest sea,
yes,
that's good enough for me.
I forget the rest of it,
but it ended with G-O-N-E,
gone,
whatever,
you know.
But it was so good
that that's gone,
my sins are gone,
they're carried away,
they're gone,
in Christ Jesus.
He's given me forgiveness.
Is that not something
for which to give him praise?
That's what the psalm,
that's what Paul is writing about.
Why do we need forgiveness?
We're transgressors.
We've deviated from the truth,
we've broken the law of God,
we've missed the mark of God,
that God's standard,
that God's perfect standard,
there's nothing that we can do
to satisfy the offense.
The requirement is death.
Without forgiveness,
we stand condemned to die.
And not just physical death,
but separation from God forever.
But some of the sweetest words
in all the Bible are found here.
In Him,
we have redemption
through His blood,
the forgiveness
of our trespasses.
On what is forgiveness based?
Verses 7 and 8,
it's based on the riches
of God's grace
found in Jesus.
I appreciate it so much,
Zach,
picking out the music today
because it really was,
it was,
much of that was coming
right from this text.
Most of the words
of those songs
reminding us of
the grace of God,
how God lavished
His grace.
Don't you love that word?
Lavished.
Lavished upon us.
When God forgives us,
He keeps nothing back.
There are no conditions
to be fulfilled by us.
He forgives according
to the riches
of His grace.
When we are saved
from our sin,
God saves us
from the penalty of sin.
Again,
what's the penalty of sin?
Death.
He saves us
from the penalty of sin.
What does He give us?
We don't,
we don't die
for our sins now.
We live for what?
We live forever.
We have eternal life.
So,
He exchanges death
for eternal life.
And then,
in Him,
we have wisdom
and insight.
Verses 8-12.
Because God has lavished
His grace upon us
in Christ,
we have been given
understanding
of the mystery
of who God is.
At least something of that.
And what He's doing
and where all this is going.
We can at least know this.
It is according
to God's will.
He planned it all
without any help
from anyone.
It's according
to God's own good pleasure.
That is,
He did it by Himself,
for Himself,
to please Himself.
It is the revelation
of God's plan
for the management
of the universe.
In God's perfect plan
and time,
God will restore
all things
to and for Himself.
And this restoration
will be better
than the original condition
where there will be
no possibility
of becoming tainted,
damaged,
or destroyed.
As Paul praises God,
he does so knowing
that all these blessings,
all of this lavished grace
from the Father
comes through Jesus.
Now there's one more
piece of this,
and that's in verses
13-14.
All spiritual blessings
from the Father
found in Christ Jesus
are guaranteed
in the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit
is the Holy Spirit
of promise.
Jesus had told
His disciples
that He was going
back to heaven,
and He was going
to send another
comforter.
The word comforter,
I don't know
if it's the best
translation or not,
because usually
when we think
of comforter,
what do we think of?
Think of somebody,
you know,
a shoulder to cry on,
or somebody to console us.
But really the idea
of the comforter here
is really an advocate.
It's somebody
who comes alongside us
to strengthen us.
That's really the idea
behind it.
So Jesus,
as the one who brings,
we find our strength
in Him,
He then ascends to heaven
and sends His Spirit
who continues
to strengthen us.
And so,
what happens
when Jesus told
the disciples,
I'm going back to heaven,
and I'm going to send
another comforter,
and you're to wait,
and what do you get
on the day of Pentecost?
He's going to come
with power,
strength.
And so there will be
strength from the Spirit
to give you what you need
to continue to live.
The indwelling presence
of the Spirit
in the believer
is, at least in one sense,
an undeniable mark
of God's work in us
and for us.
So I can be assured
that if the Holy Spirit
is in me,
then I belong to God.
I'm one of His very own.
So God gives His Spirit.
He's the Spirit of promise.
It's a promise that says
that I belong to Him.
But He's also the earnest
or down payment
of our inheritance.
That means a couple of things.
If you were to go buy a home,
there's a probability
that you have to put up
some money.
It's not the whole amount
for the house.
It's just some money
that guarantees
that there's going to be
more to come, right?
And it's saying that
we're sort of holding this.
This is a guarantee
that you'll get the rest.
Earnest money.
Well, in a strange sort of way,
that word is used
for the Spirit.
He becomes the earnest
or the promise
or the down payment
on our ultimate glorification.
That word was used
in secular Greek
to speak of a down payment
on an animal
or down payment on a wife.
In this case,
the Holy Spirit
is a down payment,
something very important,
very valuable,
but it was the promise
of a future completed transaction.
So the Father has given to us
all these wonderful blessings
and promises
and so that we know
that the certainty
of the fulfillment
of these promises,
He has left the Holy Spirit
as a down payment.
If He would leave
His Holy Spirit with me,
don't you think
that certainly
He will complete
what He started
and bring me
all the way home?
people want assurances
because human words
are often not reliable.
We seek oaths,
guarantees,
warranties.
We want to make sure
someone's backing up
what has been promised.
Certainly,
God's Word is good
and that should be enough
for us,
but God has graciously
provided us
with His own guarantee,
the promised Holy Spirit.
When we first trust Christ,
we do not directly
or immediately
receive all the promises
of God.
Peter reminded us
in his writings
that many of those promises
are, quote,
reserved in heaven for you.
But we do have
the promised Holy Spirit.
Surely that's enough
for us to give Him praise.
The Spirit
is the down payment
with the promise
of more to come.
The second idea here
is that of a seal.
The seal is a mark
of ownership.
It's a mark
of a finished transaction.
To have the Holy Spirit
is to be able
to declare,
I'm saved.
That was Paul's message
in Romans chapter 8.
We have the Spirit of God,
we belong to Him.
There are several stories
in the Bible
that illustrate
the truth
of a signet ring
when the king
or some other
high-ranking official
sealed something
with the king's seal.
That was a mark
of authenticity.
That's the Holy Spirit
to us.
Close to that idea
is the idea
of security.
If you want
to secure something,
you would seal it.
Younger people
have to understand this,
but just before
the earth crossed
hardened when I was
in junior high school,
we didn't have
social media platforms,
we didn't have
cell phones,
we didn't have
any of that.
We did this
very strange thing.
We used paper
and a pencil
and an envelope
and we wrote letters.
Now,
in junior high,
some of you need
to think back
a little ways
at that point,
but junior high kids
say lots of stuff
and a lot of things
they want to keep secret,
they want people
to know about it,
so these notes
would get passed
and be put in an envelope
and you could lick
the envelope
if you want to
and seal it,
but it's easy
to steam those open
or whatever
and kind of people
would know
they've been tampered with.
So kids came up
with this idea
of this wax seal
and so you'd put
a wax seal
on that envelope
and then you would
put your initial
in the seal
and it would harden
and then if you tried
to open the envelope,
you would break
that seal
and people,
this messy thing
on the envelope,
you'd know
somebody tampered with it.
We were pretty sharp
back then.
Well,
the idea
of the Holy Spirit
is the seal
that God has placed
on us
and may I remind you
that there is no
higher power
that could break
that seal.
That's security.
The seal means
that we're in process.
We're still down here.
We still sin.
All of that's going
to be,
all of that is going
to be someday.
All these things
will be true.
Sin will be gone.
All that's gone
someday.
But it's not here yet.
The good news is
that God has left
this Holy Spirit
who in spite
of all of our sins
and all of our failures
and all of our shortcomings
and all of our inconsistencies
is a source
of encouragement
concerning His
gracious work
in us
and the incredible
promise of more
to come.
So the seal means
that we're in process
but it also guarantees
completion.
Paul told the Romans
in the Roman folks
in his letter
in chapter 8
that creation
is waiting eagerly
for the completion
of our redemption.
That sounds
a little strange.
But when we're complete
all of creation
will be made new.
Though creation
is groaning now
it is anticipating
with confidence
that this promised
day will arrive.
The seal
the Holy Spirit
is the promise
the guarantee
that all of this
will happen.
I have the down payment
that God will not default.
What He has planned
before the foundation
of the world
He will complete.
You know
Philippians chapter 1
verse 6
that
He who began
a good work in you
what's He going to do?
He's going to finish it.
He's left His Spirit here
to guarantee that
to us
that He'll finish
His work.
There may be
many reasons
why this is so
but Paul reminds us
at least of this.
The seal
is
to the praise
of the Father's glory.
See God planned
all of this
and invested
in His Son
to carry out
redemption's plan.
He brought
that good news
of salvation
to us
and when we believed
He gave us
the Holy Spirit
as a promise
of completion
and all of that
to the praise
of His glory.
For this to end
in some tragic default
or failure
or unfinished work
that would not bring
glory to God.
In the divine purpose
of redemption
the primary reason
for our salvation
would be lost.
That's not going to happen
to anything
that God has planned.
That's not going to happen
to anything
that God is implementing.
As an encouragement
to us
concerning this
grand inheritance
we have been given
God's Holy Spirit.
How is that for reason
to give praise
and glory to God?
So you have the Father
who has given us
all these spiritual blessings
all spiritual blessings
in the heavenly places
all that through the Son
and all that guaranteed
by the Holy Spirit.
At the moment
we receive
our full inheritance
which will include
a glorious
resurrection body
the redemption
of God's own possession
will be complete.
We will be granted
the inheritance
as God's own possession
fully released
from all the effects
of sin.
We will then be
fully manifested
as His own
peculiar
special treasure
enjoying forever
all that He has planned
for us
from eternity past.
We are not our own
we are bought
with a price
we are to glorify
God in our bodies
whether we live
or die
we are the Lord's.
Some things
in the Bible
theological truths
sometimes they are
hard for us
to put together
some throughout
the ages
have made ways
for us
to remember
answers
to questions
and be able
to answer
articulately
about what
the scripture
teaches
those were called
catechisms
they were used
for both children
and adults
to teach
important truths
and here is a question
that maybe
I should ask
you
and ask myself
what is your
only comfort
in life and death?
Think about it
what is your
only comfort
in life and death?
in the Heidelberg
Catechism
in 1563
this was the answer
given to that question
that I
with body
and soul
both in life
and death
am not my own
but belong
to my faithful
Savior
Jesus Christ
who with
his precious
blood
has fully
satisfied
all my sin
and delivered
me
from all the
power of the devil
and so preserves
me
that without
the will
of my heavenly
Father
not a hair
can fall
from my head
that all
things must
be subservient
to my salvation
whether by
his Holy Spirit
wherefore
by his Holy Spirit
he also assures
me of eternal
life
and makes me
heartily willing
and ready
to live
unto him
my guess is
that you probably
wouldn't have
answered that
question quite like
that but that's
the answer
that's the answer
that certainly
was Paul's
perspective
ready to live
for him
ready to give
him praise
for all that
he is
and all that
he's done
that's all
a grand
warm up
for what awaits
us in his
very presence
so are we
able to respond
to God
with a heart
overflowing
with love
and gratitude
as did Paul
all that has
happened
from the
father's
blessings
found in the
son
sealed by the
spirit
all of that
was and is
and will be
to the praise
of his glory
so the question
for myself
and for you
is that where
our hearts
are today
if not
what do we
do
I would suggest
we go back
and reread
the text
what's it say
and then start
praising him
for what he's
done
and maybe
after we do
that a few
times
our hearts
will sound
something like
this
again from
a hymn
by Charles
Wesley
finish
then thy
new creation
pure
and spotless
let us be
let us see
thy great
salvation
perfectly
restored
in thee
change
from glory
into glory
till with
thee we
take our
place
till we
cast our
crowns
before thee
lost
in wonder
love
and praise
whatever the
tune
here's the
believer's
responsibility
and joy
praise God
from whom
all blessings
flow
praise him
all creatures
here below
praise him
above
ye heavenly
hosts
praise
father
son
and holy
ghost
amen
let's pray
father
thank you
for this
incredible
wonderful
mind
blowing
plan
redemption
of salvation
of
sanctification
of glorification
all the things
that you have
planned
and are doing
and will
accomplish
help us
to give you
praise for that
when we get
down and
overwhelmed
when the
pressures and
problems of
life
press in
on us
we feel
like
nobody
cares
and
life is
lost
oh may we
think about
who you
are
may we
remind
ourselves
that this
is all
about you
and you
are the
great God
who has
chosen
us
predestined
us
redeemed
us
may this
wonderful
plan
all of that
through your
son
all sealed
by the
spirit
all of
that
for your
glory
alone
as we
leave this
place in a
few moments
may our
hearts and
minds be
fixated on
that
blessed be
the God and
father of our
Lord Jesus
Christ who has
blessed us with
all spiritual
blessings in the
heavenly places
in Christ
Jesus
it's in
the name of
your son
our savior
Jesus Christ
that we pray
amen
meanings
on
for
to
hear
Jesus
an
verse
his
gaze