Well good morning to everyone. 

We're gonna start a new book this morning, the book of Ephesians, and it's been 12 years since last time I preached through Ephesians. Let's have a show of hands who was here 12 years ago for the book of Ephesians. Well there's a lot of new people, so this is really, I believe, one of the most important letters that we can study as a new covenant church. This is because it tells us what or who the church is, and it also tells us God's purposes for the church, as well as His means for accomplishing these purposes. 

It's specifically describing, as we're going to see, the new covenant church in Christ, a body, a mystery revealed for God's glory, meant to equip and encourage believers to live out who they are and to fulfill the ministry that God has for each one of us. This is a letter of lofty heights, especially in this first chapter. It brings us up to the level of our union with Jesus and gives us profound and amazing truths concerning who we are in Christ. 

The first three chapters are doctrine, wonderful, deep, important, and encouraging doctrine, and the last three chapters are exhortation to live out that doctrine, to live out who we are, to have our outward living be equal to, consistent with, who we are on the inside because of the salvation work of God in our lives. And this book is not only going to tell us why we can live a new life, but it also tells us how God intends to produce a holy life through us, His means, His prescription for a faithful, holy life of witness that brings glory to God. 

We're going to see that it is His power that works in us, the very power that raised Jesus from the dead, that is the only means by which we can live in consistency with who we are, and this by faith, faith in Jesus, trusting Him and seeing His life live through us. We will see that we have an entirely new life in Christ, that we are no longer who we were in Adam and therefore should no longer walk like we did in Adam, and this new life affects every relationship in our lives, from the church, the body of Christ, to our marriages, to our families, our workplace, every relationship that we have is new and lived in a new way because we are new, new creations in Christ, and we ultimately stand against the wiles of the devil, the temptations of this world. 

We experience victory in and living according to who we are only by God's power, by putting on Christ, we'll see by putting on the full armor of God, trusting Him, believing Him, obeying Him. It's fascinating to me to study this great epistle considering our recent studies in covenant and dispensational theology. One thing we see for sure in this epistle is that the church is something entirely new, a new concept altogether, never before revealed in history in God's salvation plan, Jew and Gentile in one body, the church. 

Look at Ephesians chapter 3 with me at verse 3. Ephesians chapter 3 at verse 3, Paul says, how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery, as I have briefly written already, by which when you read you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs of the same body and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel. 

In verse 8 he says, to me who am less than the least of all the saints this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ. 

Look at verse 10, to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places. We studied this a little bit on Thursday night, something very interesting that we see in Ephesians and several other scriptures is found in chapter 4. Chapter 4 verse 4 says, there's one body and one spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all. 

Here Paul's making a plea for unity in the context of chapter 4, but he bases this plea on the truth that the church is one. One body, one spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father. The body is the invisible church, the mystical body of Christ composed of believers saved between Pentecost when the church was formed and the rapture when the church will be caught out of this earth and taken to heaven. 

The spirit is the Holy Spirit. The hope of our calling is the hope which is characteristic of God's call to salvation, justification, sanctification, and glorification. Faith is not the Christian faith as in the revealed Word of God, the doctrine. It refers to the principle of faith by means of which all the saints enter into salvation. And now we come to the interesting part. He says one baptism, and the context here, all being supernatural, refers to the Spirit placing us into the church. 

In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul speaks of the body which is the church and the spirit baptism. In verse 12 he says, for as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body being many are one body, so also is Christ. For by one spirit we were all baptized or placed into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and have all been made to drink into one spirit. So one enters the church through faith, yes, but because of that faith in Jesus, the Holy Spirit places you into the body of Christ. 

This was not true in the old covenant time. In Matthew 3, John the Baptist said this, I indeed baptize you with water under repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. In Acts 2, we see this prophecy fulfilled on the day of Pentecost when the apostles were baptized by the Holy Spirit, placed into the body of Christ on the birthday of the church. 

Later in Acts 11, we see that God through Peter also brought Gentiles into the church, baptizing them by the Holy Spirit. Acts 11:15, Peter explaining what had happened there says, as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them as upon us at the beginning, the beginning of the church at Pentecost. Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, John indeed baptized with water, but you should be baptized with the Holy Spirit. 

The covenant theologian says that the church existed in the Old Testament, that the church is Israel and Israel is the church, but Paul teaches us in this epistle that the church has never before been revealed. It's been kept hidden from ages past, but now is revealed through the New Testament prophets and apostles, and the way that a person is placed into the body is by spirit baptism, something never occurring before, but promised by John the Baptist and Jesus himself, now a reality since the day of Pentecost. 

We do not enter the church body or covenant through water baptism as the Reformed and Catholic Church teaches, but through spirit baptism because of faith in Jesus. I just found this something I found interesting, thought I'd share with you as we go through the course of the book of Ephesians in light of our recent studies. 

So in the letter to the Ephesians, we learn about the new covenant church, and Paul makes very practical application concerning who we are and what we have in Christ in this new age, this time of the body, the mystery revealed, the church. 

So let's look at our text together, Ephesians 1.1. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus and faithful in Christ Jesus, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 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, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace by which he made us accepted in the beloved. 

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace, which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth in him. 

In him also we have obtained an inheritance being predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things together according to the counsel of his will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of his glory. In him you also trusted after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also having believed you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession to the praise of his glory." 

Well, I've given you five points on your outline this morning. First, in Christ. Second, the body. Third, a mystery. Fourth, glory to God. And fifth, equipping center. 

So we're going to do kind of an overview of the book this morning by way of introduction. First, we see in this great epistle that the church is defined by being in Christ. This is perhaps the most important phrase in all of the New Testament for our understanding of who we are as believers in Jesus, as new creations, and the most important truth for us to understand as to why we can now live a new life and how God intends that we should do it. 

In Christ, in Christ, in him, in whom. These terms are used at least 10 times just in these first 14 verses of chapter 1. This is Paul's favorite way of describing the believer, his favorite way of describing the church. He uses the term in his writings in the New Testament 83 times. It has rich, tremendous meaning for understanding who we are, how we should live as saints, as new covenant believers in Jesus Christ. 

In verse 3, Paul writes that we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ. And in this verse, Paul begins to expound these truths, these blessings, who we are, what we have in Christ. And once he gets going, he can't seem to stop. Verses 3 to 14 are one sentence in the Greek, 202 words in this one sentence. 

As Paul tries to expound all that it means to be in Christ, it reminds me years and years and years ago, I'd study in the mornings. I was home all winter when the girls were little, and I'd study, and I'd be studying something profound. I'd just get so excited. I'd get up and just walk around my chair. I just couldn't sit. You can imagine Paul writing, and he's writing this, and he's just so excited. He just keeps writing, and this, and this, and this, and glory, and the lavish, and the grace, and he just goes on and on. He can't stop talking about what it means that we are in Christ. 

We could spend years in these verses, in this one sentence. He chose us in him to be holy and blameless. The statement alone is so important, so practical, and we'll dig into this next time as we begin our study in earnest of these great truths. He predestined us to adoption as sons. He made us accepted in the beloved. In him, we have redemption, forgiveness of our sins. Aren't you so thankful for that truth? 

He's made His grace abound toward us, giving us wisdom, understanding. We stand in His grace, secure and holy. In him, we have an inheritance. We have a hope, a promise. We have a purpose to praise and glorify him, and my friends, we have a deposit, a guarantee. We have been sealed by the Holy Spirit who lives in us permanently and secures our redemption, our full and final salvation and glorification. We will see that Jesus lives in us. His very life is lived out through us. The very power that raised Him from the dead is at work in each one of us. 

The Holy Spirit imparts strength to our inner man. Jesus is at home in us, working, living in and through us to accomplish his will, and it is God and his power by his grace that can do more than we can ever ask or think. Now, brother, my sister, if you believe Jesus, you are in Christ. This is a fact, a truth by the word of God, the God who cannot lie, and all these things are true of you. 

You know, often I hear believers say things like, yeah, but that's in Christ, implying that somehow that's only part of who I am or a portion or partial truth of my life. What they're saying is that somehow these things are not totally true of me. Doctrines like the depravity of the believer, the two natures view that I'm still a sinner by nature, having a new nature added in Christ, yes, but still possessing my old nature, thus I am somehow two men in Adam and in Christ. This idea is completely foreign to the New Testament. 

I hear preachers preach and I read books and devotions where there's a constant drumbeat of how bad I am, of how wicked I am, how I need the law to show me how sinful and evil and depraved I am so that I may be driven back to God's grace. Had a brother tell me just the other day, the lower I go, the more I realize how sinful I am, the more I exalt God. I'm not sure how rejecting and denying what God says is true of me brings Him glory. 

These kinds of teaching, this kind of doctrine, first of all, is not at all biblical and it totally confuses and undermines the very doctrine that Paul is teaching us in the book of Ephesians and throughout the New Testament. I am fully aware and understand the truth of indwelling sin in the believer and the true and real battle of the Christian life. The struggle is real. But my friend, we must understand who we are. We must understand our relationship to indwelling sin. We must understand the nature of the battle. 

When you believe Jesus, you were placed into Christ and blessed with every spiritual blessing. God gave you all things that are necessary for life and godliness. Paul says, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. He says, when we were in the flesh, but now we are in the Spirit. My friends, we are in Christ, no qualifications or mitigations, and these truths are the very basis for why we can and must live a new kind of life by His grace and power. 

Let's look at Romans 5 at verse 12. Romans 5, 12, as Paul lays the basis for this at length in the book of Romans. Romans 5, 12, these are such crucial truths here for our understanding. Therefore, he says, just as through one man sin entered the world and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because all sinned, for until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there's no law, nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses. 

You see what Paul's saying there? God gave Adam a law, don't eat of the tree, he broke the law, transgressed it, therefore he died. But from Adam until Moses, there was no law. And yet men kept dying. Why? Because they're in Adam, okay? So it says, nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of him who was to come. 

But the free gift is not like the offense, for if by the one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ abounded to many. And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned, for the judgment which came from one offense, Adam's sin in the garden, resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses, all of our sins, resulted in justification. 

For if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one Jesus Christ. Therefore, as through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one man's righteous act, the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification unto life. 

For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one man's obedience many are made righteous. Paul's argument here is that it is the sin of Adam in the garden that brought death to mankind. One man's unrighteous act brought condemnation and death and made every son of Adam a sinner by nature. So we sin before Christ because we are sinners. It follows then in his argument that the solution to this profound problem for man is the one act of the one righteous man, Christ, who would deliver us from the power of indwelling sin, bondage to the law and fear of death, that we would be made righteous and have divine life imparted to us because of Christ's one act on the cross, his death, burial, and resurrection. 

And that's the very truth that Paul expounds and builds on in chapter 6 to 8 explaining sanctification and the Christian life as God intends. The whole point is that I was in Adam and now I am in Christ. I cannot be in Adam and in Christ. I cannot have two natures. That's ridiculous because my nature is the essence of who I am in my spirit. 

So who am I? God says I am in Christ. Paul says 83 times, you are in Christ. And this is what this means. I've been united to him in his death, burial, and resurrection. My friends, I, the ego, the me, my spirit, that old man, the man in Adam, died. I was buried and raised a new man, a new creation in Christ, therefore I must live a new life. 

If I am just who I was, if I'm a vile, wretched sinner, wicked, depraved in my heart, then by golly, I should expect to live that way. The whole basis of holy living, every exhortation in the New Testament to holy living is to live on the basis of who I am in consistency with who I am on the inside in my spirit. So it's kind of important to understand who I am if I'm going to obey that. 

Sanctification, biblical sanctification, is an outward conforming to the inward reality of who I am by God's grace and power alone as I walk by faith. How does Paul understand what it means to be in Christ, our relationship to sin, who we are, how we should live? Look at Romans 6.1, we'll follow that. He says in 5.20 and 5.21 that the very purpose was to release us from sin and law and eternal death and that we might live under grace and righteousness unto eternal life. 

In 6.1 he says, what shall we say then, shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? I mean, can you do whatever you want because you're under grace? You hear that quite a bit, don't you, when you preach the gospel? You just live however you want then, it's just grace, right? Paul says certainly not, it's not possible. How shall he who died to sin live any longer in it? 

Or do you not know that as many of us as were placed into Christ Jesus were placed into His death, therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him. 

Why? Why did God do that? Why did God crucify our old man with Christ? In order that the body controlled by sin might be rendered powerless or done away with. In order that we should no longer be slaves of sin, for he who has died has been freed from sin. 

My brothers and sisters in Christ, my hope and prayer is that over the next several weeks of study in these first 14 verses alone, we will come to really grasp and understand and take for ourselves what it means to be in Christ, and that we will learn to live in light of these truths for a witness to the world and glory to God. Paul says we have been chosen in order to be holy and blameless. The very purpose and intent for which God saved you is to make you like Jesus. 

So is he going to do all that he did, sacrificing his son, bringing you to Christ, regenerating you, making you a new creation, coming to live in you and make His home in you, and then just let you go? Is he not going to accomplish his will and purpose to make you holy? That's the whole point. So we see that the church is in Christ. 

Next we see that the church is the body of Christ, Ephesians 1:19. He says, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places? Far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come, and He put all things under His feet and gave Him to be head over all things to the church which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. 

Paul keeps talking about how God is working in us, it's the very power of God, it's the Holy Spirit that's in us, it's Jesus living in us to accomplish His will and purpose. It's kind of a silly illustration but it made me think of when I played hockey in college, we had this guy named Corey Gimpler. And Corey had a full scholarship to play at UMD hockey, UMD wins the national championship, I don't know now but this is 20 years ago, 30 years ago. He forsook that to take a scholarship at Northland College to play soccer, I never understood that. 

But anyway, he was on our club hockey team which was really good for us. So whenever we'd play club hockey against some of the local bar teams and stuff like that, I mean you get to puck to Corey and Corey just, every time Corey was on our team, nope, I mean he'd just skate through everybody, he'd score 10, 12 goals a game. We always were confident because I remember one time he set me up so I got a hat trick one day, he just skated all the way down there, I'd follow him and he'd drop the puck and I'd hit it in, it was great. 

We had Corey, that's just a stupid, silly example. But you have God, you have Jesus Christ, the creator of the universe, the sovereign over all things. Not only do you know Him through Jesus Christ, He's your Father and He lives in you and He has these purposes for you and He's done this great work of salvation in you. He's made you part of His body. 

Chapter 2 verse 13, but now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace who has made us both one and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity that is the law of commandments contained in ordinances so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. 

And as we saw in chapter 3 before, the mystery that has never been revealed before the church, the body, is made up of Jew and Gentile, both entering through faith in Jesus alone, placed into one body by the Holy Spirit. 

In the book of Colossians, the emphasis, the focus is that Jesus Christ is the head, the fullness, the pleroma, the all in all. In Ephesians, the emphasis is that the church is the body. Jesus is the head, the church is the body. And this metaphor serves us very well for understanding how God intends that the church should operate, how it should conduct itself, and the importance of each part doing its share to promote growth and health and productivity in the body. 

Look at chapter 4, verse 7 with me, Ephesians 4:7. But to each one of us, grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift, therefore He says when He ascended on high, He led captivity captive and gave gifts to men. Now this He ascended, what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens that He might fill all things. 

And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints, for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect man to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we should no longer be children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting. 

But speaking the truth in love may grow up in all things into Him who is the head, Christ, from whom the whole body joined and knit together by what every joint supplies according to the effective working by which every part does its share causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. 

We are all individually parts of the body making up the whole. Paul talks about this at length in 1 Corinthians 12 as well. The growth and health and productivity of the whole depends on the growth and health and productivity of each individual part in the body. And so God has gifted each one as He sees fit to be a productive part of the body to encourage the full functionality and efficiency of the whole. 

Each part must do its share if the body is to function as God intends as to be an effective and fruitful witness in this world, bringing glory to Him. You might think that some parts of the body are more important than others, but this is not true. Paul covers this in 1 Corinthians 12. 

Think about it this way. Perhaps I have some project I want to accomplish on our farm. Let's say I want to build something. My wife told me, by the way, I'm not allowed to build anything next year, no more building anything. But let's say I wanted to build a new barn. I might think that my strength, my arm... and legs and muscles and what really matters if I'm going to accomplish that task of building that barn. 

But what happens if I get an awful toothache? I mean a bad one. At that point, my tooth is suffering. That little seemingly insignificant part of the body whole, I mean, whoever thought about my molar when considering the resources necessary to build a barn? Let me tell you, if that one part of the body is suffering, the whole body suffers. And the fact is, without that one part doing its share, performing in health and productivity as it was designed, my strength and muscles are irrelevant to accomplishing that project. It's not going to happen until I get that tooth fixed. 

Or let's say I drop a timber on my thumb and smash it real good. I have a little experience in this area. I'm done. I'm no good for days until there's some modicum of healing in that little part of my body. The rest of my body is completely disabled from completing the task at hand. This is the picture that Paul gives of the church, the body of Christ. 

And the intention of the local body, this fellowship, is that we would be an equipping and encouragement center, to promote growth and health and productivity of every individual part of the body, and therefore of the whole, to accomplish God's purposes, that we sing His praises, that we glorify Him, that we witness to Him in the world. 

My gift is to preach and teach the Word, to be available to people, to counsel by the wisdom and the Word of God, to encourage. What's your gifting in the body? What part does God have for you to promote the health of the brothers and sisters sitting around you? Fellowship, worship, encouragement, individual relationships to point each other to Christ continually to help, to minister, in whatever way God provides opportunity. 

This is a body. Every part matters. Every part has to do its share in order for it to function freely and fully as God intends. The church is a body, the body of Christ. 

Next we see that the church is a mystery, and we've touched on this already, but just to emphasize in chapter 3 at verse 1, Paul says, for this reason, I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles, if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery, as I have briefly written already, by which when you read you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ. 

A mystery in the Bible is something that's never before been revealed, but is now being revealed or made evident. He says, which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs of the same body and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel, of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me to be by the effective working of His power, to me whom less than all the least of the saints, this grace was given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ, to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in heavenly places. 

Twice in this passage Paul says that the church, the body of Christ, is a mystery that has been hidden in ages past, has never been revealed, but is now made manifest, revealed to the New Testament apostles and prophets. Again, this makes clear that the church is an entirely new creation of God, beginning at Pentecost, that the church has never existed and is not mentioned in the Old Testament. This is a new work of God, Jew and Gentile in one body, a mystery revealed. 

Further down in chapter 3 we see that the purpose of the church is to bring glory to God. Ephesians 3:20, now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever, amen. To Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus. 

We bring God glory by singing His praises, telling of His excellent greatness, we bring Him glory by living out His intention for us and saving us to be holy, to live in consistency with who we are, to show the transforming power of the gospel of Jesus Christ of His life in us. 

And we bring God glory by fulfilling our purpose as a witness, preaching His good news message, the word of reconciliation which He has entrusted to us as His ambassadors, heralds in this foreign land. God's purpose in saving us is to bring glory to Himself in the church, by the church, fulfilling God's intent and purpose for us. 

And finally, I want to reiterate that the church, the local body, is an equipping center. This is the place where we have fellowship, where we worship God and grow in grace and knowledge of Christ by the preaching and teaching of the Word of God. And this, as we saw in chapter 4, is so that we might grow together, become mature, discerning, so that we might work together, each doing his share, so that the body might be healthy and firing on all cylinders, productive in the work of God. 

And this all in the church, so that we, as individuals, might be equipped to go out into this world and do the work of ministry. The ministry is the preaching of the gospel, persuading men to come to faith in Jesus and showing the love of Christ in this dark world. 

My friends, it's in this way and only in this way that we will see the fruit of our new life in Christ's life in us. We have been amazingly, wonderfully, totally transformed in salvation. We must know and understand these truths, we must choose to reckon them, believe them to be so, and then trust in God's grace and power to produce His life in and through us. 

In this way, as we see in the application chapters of this letter, every one of our relationships will be changed. Certainly our relationship with God, first and foremost, is changed when we come to faith in Christ, but also our relationship to sin, to our old man, and subsequently our relationship to others in this world, our marriages, our family, our workplace, our relationship to government and society, everything will be transformed when we know and believe who we are in Christ. 

When we understand the body principle, when we are abiding, growing, becoming mature, walking by faith in the Spirit. You know, we're about halfway through our season there in college and Corey Gimpler broke his leg. It was awful. A big goon hit him, threw him into the wall and broke his leg. We didn't win any more games that year. 

God's never going to break His leg. He's never going to fail us. He's never going to leave us. He's never going to forsake us. He has a plan and a purpose in saving us and making us one new man in the church. This letter is about the new covenant church and this is who we are. 

And for these reasons, God chose us and prepared and equipped us to do His work in this time, in this place, by His means. Please be reading this great book over and over as we study together the profound truths as well as the applications of them in our lives. And we'll be doing that over the next several months. So read Ephesians, pray about it. This is a tremendous book. It's important for us to understand, to know and believe. 

Let's close in prayer. Father, we thank You for Jesus. We thank You for Your love for us. We thank You that while we were yet sinners, You demonstrated Your love to us and that Christ died for us while we were against You, while we were enemies in Adam. And thank You that You've placed us by Your Spirit into Christ in the body and that we have every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies, that You've given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. 

You fully equipped us in order to do Your work. And we depend on You, we trust in You and Your grace and Your power one day at a time as we walk by faith. Help us to really understand that and begin to apply it in our lives for Your glory. In Jesus' name, amen.