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*Hello From Heaven*
*10-15-06*
Ephesians 1:1-2
Several years ago the /Los Angeles Times/ reported the story of an elderly man and wife who were found dead in their apartment.
Autopsies revealed that both had died of severe malnutrition, although investigators found a total of $40,000 stored in paper bags in a closet.
For many years Hetty Green was called America's greatest miser.
When she died in 1916, she left an estate valued at $100 million, an especially vast fortune for that day.
When her son had a severe leg injury, she took so long trying to find a free clinic to treat him that his leg had to be amputated because of advanced infection.
Hetty lived in meager circumstances.
The little apartment where she lived was extremely tiny.
She had just the bare necessities in it.
In fact, Hetty ate her oatmeal cold because it would cost money to heat it.
Hetty Green died of malnutrition.
She was incredibly rich, yet she lived like a pauper.
Did you know there are a lot of Christians that way?
They are incredibly rich in spiritual matters.
Yet they live like they are paupers.
That's really what this book of Ephesians is all about.
*The purpose of the book of Ephesians is written to show believers who might be prone to treat their spiritual resources much like that miserly couple and Hetty Green treated their financial resources.
*Such believers are in danger of suffering from spiritual malnutrition, because they do not take advantage of the great storehouse of spiritual nourishment and resources that is at their disposal.*
*
* *
The tragedy today is: a lot of Christians don't know how wealthy they are.
They don't understand their spiritual wealth.
So in our study of Ephesians we're going to study how blessed we, as believers, really are.
Tonight, I want us to learn from these verses, three very important realities.
*2*
*I.
We learn about our heavenly purpose* (v.
1)
When we open the pages of this letter, you have the introduction in verse 1.
In the introduction he tells you who the writer is and who the readers are.
The writer here is Paul.
Those who have been Christians for a while know who the Apostle Paul was.
However, a new believer may not know who Paul is.
The Apostle Paul is the writer of this particular book.
In fact, he wrote about half of the New Testament.
But he tells us here, of our heavenly purpose in these verses because he says, *"Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God."*
*A.
He tells us about his conversion.*
He says *"Paul."*
You see his name wasn't always Paul.
When we pick up the account of the life of this man Paul in our New Testament he is not Paul, he starts off a Saul of Tarsus.
He was a Jewish man, but he was trained evidently at the University of Tarsus.
He was a brilliant, well-educated man.
But he was a man who had a hatred for the Christian faith.
He was Saul of Tarsus, until one day, while one the Damascus road, the Lord Jesus Christ intercepted him.
He said to him, *"Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" *Do you know what happened on that Damascus Road?
The miracle of salvation happen in his life.
Salvation is a miracle, isn't it?
Really if you are a saved person you can put your name right here.
Greg.
Sue.
Tom.
Bill.
When you and I are willing to acknowledge that we are sinners and that we need Jesus Christ in our hearts and in our lives, we are candidates for the miracle of the work of Jesus Christ in and through our lives.
* B.*
*He tells us about his call.*
* *
The scripture says, *"Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ."*
That's his call.
He was called to be an apostle.
Paul was an apostle in a sense which you and I will never be.
There was an original group of apostles who met certain specific requirements.
*3*
Among those requirements was that you had to be an eyewitness of the resurrection of Jesus.
When Paul met the resurrected Lord Jesus on the Damascus Road, that qualified him to be one of these New Testament apostles.
The apostles of the New Testament day were a specific office of individuals whose responsibility it was to do the foundational work of the church of the Lord.
The office of the apostle passed away when the New Testament canon was completed.
So, Paul was an apostle in the sense in which you and I are not.
But the word *"apostle"* literally means *"To send forth."*
In that sense, God has called all of us to be apostles.
After Jesus was resurrected He said, *"As the Father hath sent me, so send I you."
*Every saved person is a *"sent one."*
God has a mission, a purpose for you.
*C.
He tells us about his confidence.*
*Verse 1c.
says, "By the will of God."*
Some render it *"under God's plan."
*Paul recognizes that God had a plan for his life and God has a plan for you.
God has a purpose for your life.
It is a heavenly purpose.
God Himself, your Heavenly Father is interested in your life.
He has a will, He has a desire, He has a plan, and He has a purpose for your life.
Wouldn't you like to know God's will for your life?
What does God want you to do?
All of us want to know God's will for our lives.
The will of God, as I have come to understand it, is not so much where you are… as who you are.
The will of God touches not so much on one's career as it does on one's character.
Wherever you are and whatever career you are in, it is an opportunity for you to ultimately fulfill His will because the ultimate will of God for your life is that you be like the Lord Jesus Christ.
*"Well, Preacher, how do I go about finding God's plan and God's purpose for my life?"*
The first thing I want to say is to start with the things you already know are God's will.
There are some things you don't have to pray about.
You just know they are God's will.
*4*
I Thessalonians 4:3
I Thessalonians 5:18
Do you see what I'm saying?
Start with the things you know are God's will.
The next thing to do is surrender yourself to the Lord and say to the Lord, *"Lord, here I am.
I am willing to do your will whatever it is."
*
In John 7:17, Jesus said, *"If anyone wills to do his will, he shall know..."* Notice the order.
Which comes first--being willing to do or knowing?
Before we know the will of God we have to be willing to do the will of God.
A lot of people have the idea that the will of God is like going through a cafeteria line where you pick and choose.
No, that's not how it works.
You have to be willing to say, *"Lord, I am surrendering to you.
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