I AM what I AM!
Become 1 of 6 • Sermon • Submitted
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1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:
2 Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
I AM What I AM! (Ephesians) – Part 1 of 6
Usually used as an excuse for a personality flaw or character issue
I want to use this old saying after just wrapping up 10 weeks in the book of Romans dealing with who we are in Christ!
We are learning to become what God intends!
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Ephesus was an incredibly powerful and wealthy city in the ancient world of Paul’s time.
It had marble streets
Mosaic sidewalks
Massive temple to Diana that was considered one of the wonders of the Greek world.
It had a busy port
Popular athletic arena
One of the finest libraries of the first century
Villas filled with artwork, tapestries, silks, and exotic birds and animals
Even today, the restored coliseum at Ephesus is considered one of the finest performing arts centers in the world.
It was into this influential city of a half-million people that the Apostle Paul brought the gospel and planted a church.
He worked longer here than anywhere else, staying for nearly three years (Acts 19).
Key verse of the book:
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
1:3 – God is not frail or impoverished
He has every resource at His disposal
God is a good parent
He is not only good TO us, He is good FOR us
He doesn’t give us everything all at once for His own reasons
We need to be mature enough to handle it
1:3 – God HATH blessed us – past tense – we already have access to the resources of Heaven
The blessings of God are a FINISHED WORK.
From God’s viewpoint, we possess our “promised land” right now.
All of the blessings we can ever receive from God have already been created!
The first step to possessing them is BELIEVING that God has what we need
The second step to possessing them is TAKING what has been promised to us.
Principle:
Explain time and eternity
Line representing God - pre eternity and post eternity
Somewhere along this line is time
We think linear terms.
Time marches on
Time is one minute after the last...
Not so with God
God exists filling all time and space at the same time, and in eternity before time and in eternity after time!
8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;
Lives in the past, present and future!
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As a spiritual being God’s blessings are first and foremost SPIRITUAL blessings
But when we focus on them, spiritual blessings have a way of working into the other aspects of everyday living and producing ABUNDANT LIFE.
18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
All spiritual blessings are ETERNAL
They existed before we did, and when we became God’s child He deposited them into our spiritual “bank account.”
Everything you need to live for God is already in you by His Spirit!
Natural blessings are only temporary, but spiritual blessings last forever.
That’s why God never panics!
He has ALREADY done everything He needs to do to deliver you!
You are not WAITING on your deliverance until God chooses to give it
...you already POSSESS it, but you just need to walk in it, fight for it and live in it!
The process of maturing in Christ Jesus is simply learning how to work out what God has already placed in us.
Spiritual maturity is living from the spiritual reality resident in us through the Holy Ghost, instead of living according to our outward circumstances.
A baby in its mother’s womb has every gene, every chromosome, every trait of an adult already built into it from the moment of conception.
That’s the way it is with us when we receive the Holy Ghost
God places in our spiritual DNA everything we will need to be all that I am to be!
You don’t yet know everything God has planned for you, but it will be awesome!
No other believer possesses more of God than YOU possess right now, but some believers have learned how to walk in their inheritance much better!
When the devil comes against you, you need to recognize that he is not only challenging where you ARE
He is troubled over what has been deposited in you for the FUTURE.
He is intimidated by your DESTINY, and is fighting to keep you from possessing it!
9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
GOD HAS CHOSEN YOU – so if not one person on the face of the earth showed any love toward you or valued you in the slightest way, this verse shatters all that rejection by telling you that GOD chose you even BEFORE He created the Heavens and the earth – you are LOVED and WANTED!
4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
1:4 – “He hath” (PAST) and “we should” (FUTURE)
that’s why we want to please God – because of the wonderful things He has done for us!
1:4 – “holy” (inner relationship) and “without blame” (outer relationship) – both lived “before him”
1:4 – “according” – same root as the musical term “chord” (watch this word in Ephesians!)
In harmony with God’s pleasure, purpose and power
No one can live a holy and blameless life without living in harmony or according to God’s Spirit!
5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
1:5 – “predestinated” – we had no influence on God choosing us
because we didn’t exist yet and had no access to Him
but God planned a “script” for our Christian lives
God is not making up His plan as He goes along!
That’s the reason He doesn’t get hysterical about the things you get hysterical about.
This is a FIXED FIGHT
God knows He is going to win in the end!
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Satan created a dilemma when he seduced Adam into sin, because he was trying to get God to work against Himself.
As long as what God loved (man) was separated from what God hated (sin) there was no conflict, because God could love what He loved and hate what He hated.
But when what He hated got into what He loved, it created a conflict.
If He killed what He hated, He would kill what He loved.
And if He loved what He loved, He would have to love what He hated because what He loved now had what He hated inside.
This was the dilemma ... but Satan has never been able to create a dilemma that God has not been able to out-strategize.
In fact, there was ALREADY a lamb "slain from the foundation of the world"!
8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
We don't serve a God who REACTS, we serve a God who sovereignly ACTS.
He is never on the defensive, but always on the offensive.
And nothing that the enemy ever does can abort what God has already done.
There is no way Satan can out-maneuver God!
God is not a CONTRACTOR, He is an ARCHITECT.
We are his contractors, building in TIME what He has designed in ETERNITY.
1:5 – “adopted” – people give birth to children they don’t want, but no one ever adopts anyone they don’t want
And adoption in Paul’s time was usually a childless family of means adopting a full-grown heir
GOD ADOPTED US KNOWING FULLY WHO WE WERE!
6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
1:6 – “accepted in the beloved” – talk about self-esteem!
This is exactly why Christians don’t need to be “accepted in the crowd”!
We can be more concerned about the needs of OTHERS because our need are met by God!
7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
1:7 – quit worrying about your CURRENT CONDITION and start focusing on your ETERNAL POSITION - NOTE “ACCORDING”
Any time the devil says to you “that’s just normal human behavior,” remember two things
(1) normal for the believer is not the same as normal for the sinner, and
(2) the devil cannot tell the truth!
8 Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;
1:8 - "abounded" = "overflowed" / "prudence" = "wisdom acted out"
...you need abundance ("more than enough") so that your blessing can "overflow" on others and MINISTER to them
10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
1:10 – “together in one ... in heaven, on earth”
we’re part of a huge family; one of us might not be strong enough, but together we are strong enough!
I AM what I AM!
BECOME WHAT YOU BELIEVE!