A Priceless Masterpiece

A Priceless Masterpiece

Announcements:

-I hope you had a Great Christmas

-Thank ministers for their ministry to the church.

-Middle School meeting @ 8:30 on the 6th, Next Sunday.

-Happy New Year.

-Songs: Our god is for us!!! You are no longer slaves. The devil is a lair. You can now run to him!

I. You are invaluable in the eyes of God.

a. You must know this truth so that you may not fall into the lies of the devil.

i. Who you are and what you ought to be in Christ has already been determined by God through Jesus Christ through His immeasurable and unsearchable riches.of his Grace.

ii. In your identity you have vision and purpose, and worth.

II. In the letter to the Ephesians church the Apostle Paul give them foundational knowledge and he begs them to understand who they are in Christ.

III. Chapter 1: The Great news of who you are in Christ Jesus

a. Vs 4: “Even as he chose in Him before the foundations of the world that we should be holy (set apart) an blameless before him.”

b. Vs 5: “In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.”

i. Humans are passive in this ordeal.

1. You are the object of his Grace. (his masterplan)-His purpose

c. Vs 7: In Him we have Redemption through His blood…

i. He has redeemed by at the price of his own blood.

1. Who much are you worth?

a. Who can pay a price grater than God for your life?

b. Who if more powerful than him to stop his will from happening?

i. Are you more powerful than him?

1. “For the LORD of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?”

d. Vs 11: “In Him we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to the purpose of him who woks all things according to the counsel of hi will.”

e. Vs 13: “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.”

i. The down payment has already been made with a promise.

1. The engagement ring has been given with a promise that he is coming back. He doesn’t lie.

a. Who can separate us from the love of God.

f. Vs 16-23: 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers,

17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him,

18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, (Paul is begging you to know this)

19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might

20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,

21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.

22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church,

23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. [1]

g. God placed all things under Christ on your behalf. God gave his son up to be the head of the church so that nothing can be above.

IV. Chapter 2: 2:1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins

2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—

3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. [2]

a. This is who you were.

i. But he says that with the intent of showing how great God’s love is. The focus here is not who you were, but who He is.

4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,

5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—

6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. [3]

ii. We were made with the purpose to be the objects of God’s grace, of his love and of his kindness.

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. [4]

i. We were not saved by faith, but by grace, and we received it through faith. We believe in Him and we are baptized with the Holy Spirit.

NO ONE CAN STOP THE PURPOSE OF GOD

I. - You are made with a purpose and no one can stop it.

For the LORD of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?

WE ARE LIKE CLAY IN HIS HANDS

V. Isaiah says to God: We are but clay in your hand, and he begs God for a change.

VI. : Jeremiah is called into the potter’s house and God tell him that yes, you are just like clay. But there are impurities in the clay, so I will

VII. 2 Corinthian 3:18

a. 18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as [a]by the Spirit of the Lord.

CONCLUSION:

You are the handiwork of Christ and Paul will go on to explain in the rest of Ephesians that you need to know that you have been called in love to be one with Christ.

YOU WERE CALLED INTO LOVE AND PEACE AND ONENESS WITH CHRIST

You identity, you authority, purpose, and calling is in him and for him and to one another.

Paul teaches us that the truth that sets us free is that you and I have been called in love to be in Christ.

[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

[2] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

[3] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

[4] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .