Sermon Tone Analysis

*Illustration:*

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*Overview - *

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                   Outline of Ephesians

Chapters 1-3                 Chapters 4-6

Doctrine…                   Duty

What You Believe…   Affects How You Behave

Privileges…                 Responsibility

Blessings…                  Conduct

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*In chapters 1 to 3 we are given blessings after blessings.

In chapter 4 through 6 we are given command after command.*

*Longest verse in the Bible Ephesians 1:3-14*

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*FIRST - THE BLESSED ONE - GOD*

 

*                                                                                Ephesians 1:3 \\ **Blessed **/be /**the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly /places /in Christ, *

 

Notice the word “*BLESSED *or *PRAISE*” in verse 3.  It is a very interesting and unique word.

Whenever it is used in the Bible, it is used only in relation to God.  Did you know that?

The word *“BLESSED” or “PRAISE” *is never used in Bible for you and I to receive praise.

So what does the word blessed or praise mean?

The Greek word is Εὐλογητὸς from which we get our English word eulogy.

A eulogy is where we speak well of someone.

So to praise or to bless God is to say something good about God.

 

*- HOW DO WE BLESS GOD?  *

 

Someone once asked me, Why would we want to bless God?

After all they said, “God is infinitely blessed already.”

Can the lesser bless the greater?

God said,

 

*                                                                                Psalm 50:12 \\ **“If I were hungry I would not tell you, For the world is Mine, and all it contains.

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So how can we bless God?

You do it the same way the writer of the book of Ephesians did it.

When the apostle Paul wrote this book he was in jail.

He was chained to a Roman solider for 5 years but notice in chapter 1, verse 3 what Paul says,

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*                                                                              Ephesians 1:3 \\ **Blessed **/be /**the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly /places /in Christ, *

 

 

 

*(1).

BY SIMPLY EXPRESSING OUR GRATITUDE.

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We need to be like Paul and say,

 

*                                                                                Ephesians 1:3 \\ **Blessed /be /the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly /places /in Christ, \\ \\ *

Or we need to be like David and say,

 

*                                                                                Psalm 103:1 \\ **Bless the Lord, O my soul, And all that is within me, /bless /His holy name.

\\ \\ *

We can bless God by praising Him, extolling Him, honoring Him, and magnifying His holy name.

We need to break our silence and speak of the glory of God.

Do you know how to actually minister to God in a very personal way?

Turn to *Isaiah 58:6-12*

 

 

*(2)  BY DOING GOOD TO OTHERS.*

When people are sick, visit them.

When folks are down cast, comfort them.

When people are poor, help them.

When they are hard pressed, stand by them.

When people are hungry, feed them.

*                                                                                Matthew 25:40 \\ **“The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, /even /the least /of them, /you did it to Me.’ *

 

Someone says, "Yes I understand all that, but, I just can not praise God.

I have sinned so terrible.

I am so full of shame."

I'll tell you what you can do.

You can confess that sin to God.  1 John 1:9    And God will cleanse and forgive you.

You will be as white as snow.

And Psalm 3:3 says:

 

*                                                                                Psalm 3:3 \\ **But You, O Lord, are a shield about me, My glory, and the One who lifts my head.

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John White is a well know Christian author.

He has just delivered a message at a Baptist Church in Dallas Texas.

During the invitation a woman came forward.

Her head was turned down and her hair covered her face.

She just gave the appearance that she was so full of shame.

As soon as she reached John White, she confessed some sin.

And as soon as she confessed her sin, John White reached down and lifted up her chin, and said, "Look up.

You don't have to do that anymore.

Your a child of the King."

You can praise God.

Your a child of the King.

Look again at verse 3, and notice once again the word "*BLESSED*" or “*PRAISE*.”

*SECOND - THE BLESSER - GOD*

 

Look at verse 3 and notice how Paul views God. 

 

*                                                                                Ephesians 1:3 \\ **Blessed /be /the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly /places /in Christ, * \\ \\

*- GOD IS GOD AND FATHER OF JESUS.*

This is a great mystery called the trinity.

The Trinity most definitely is a mystery.

It was A.W. Toser who said, "Trying to understand the Trinity, will drive you insane.

Not believing the Trinity will send you to hell."

Augustine, while puzzling over the doctrine of the Trinity, was walking along the beach one day when he observed a young boy with a bucket, running back and forth to pour water into a little hole.

Augustine asked, "What are you doing?"

The boy replied, "I'm trying to put the ocean into this hole."

Then Augustine realized that he had been trying to put an infinite God into his finite mind.

When Jesus prayed, He prayed to God.

When Jesus leaned on faith, He leaned on the promises of God.

When Jesus sang on that Passover night, He sang unto God.

When Jesus prayed in Gethsemane with sweat like great drops of blood, He prayed to God.

 

*                                                                                John 20:17 \\ **Jesus said to her, “Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.’ ” \\ \\ *

God said speaking of Jesus, “

 

*                                                                                Matthew 3:17 \\ **and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”

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The angel Gabriel said to Mary the mother of Jesus,

 

*                                                                                Luke 1:35 *

* The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.

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When Jesus hung upon the cross, He prayed to God saying, "My God, my God why have you forsaken me."

 

*                                                                                Matthew 27:46 \\ **About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” *

 

And yet at the same time Jesus presented Himself as God.

In John chapter 10, Jesus said to the Pharisees, "I and the Father are one."

When Jesus said that, the Pharisees pick up rocks to kill him?

Because the Bible says that Jesus

 

*                                                                                John 10:33 \\ **The Jews answered Him, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out /to be /God.”

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When Jesus reveled Himself to doubting Thomas, Thomas said, "My lord and my God."

Not only is God called the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, but notice also from verse 3 that God is called the "FATHER" of our Lord Jesus Christ.

How is God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ as God is another mystery hidden in the Trinity.

But to suffice it to say, God is the father of the divine nature of Jesus.