(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Okay, so I'm really looking forward to preaching for you guys this Sunday. You don't get to do it very often. Good to see the turnout as well. I think my family obviously adds a lot more seats there, so I think this is fast becoming the children's section, so it's looking pretty good so far. Well look, I wanted to, I finished a series on the family. Been going for the series on the family, finished that up on Tuesday, and I wanted to get back to a chapter by chapter teaching in the Bible, and I was considering this church, and I was thinking about what this church, what I believe this church is, as far as how how much this church has grown, how mature this church is, the faithful families, the faithful members that are in this church. I decided that we're going to teach through the book of Ephesians. Now if you look at Ephesians, just look at verse number five first of all, Ephesians chapter 1 verse 5. It starts off by saying, having predestinated us, having predestinated us, and that's actually the title for the sermon this morning, having predestinated us, and I wanted that predestination right there for a reason, because there are those that would take the definition of what it means to be predestined in accordance to God's Word and twist it to something totally different, okay? So I wanted to have that title there, but I want you to notice there in verse number one, Ephesians chapter 1 verse 1, it says, pull an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God to the saints, okay? Now when the Bible says the word saints, that's another way of saying believers. That's anyone that's saved. The word saints comes from the word sanctified. If you've been saved, you've been sanctified, you've been forgiven of your sins, your sins have been paid for by Jesus Christ, you are a saint. And I know, you know, many of you, probably some of you have come into the Roman Catholic Church, the institution, and they call saints basically people that have died, so-called Catholics that have died, and may have done so-called miracles after their death. I think it's like free miracles that you do after your death that are recorded by the Catholic Church, and they'll call those people saints. Now every believer, everyone that is saved, is a saint of Jesus Christ. And then it says here, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. So not only is the book of Ephesians written to the church of the Ephesians, but it's written to all those that are faithful in Christ Jesus. And when I think about this church here in Fairfield East, I see a church that is faithful. I see families that are faithfully attending, even though, you know, you don't have a full-time pastor here. You know, even though, you know, we don't get to meet as often, even though we don't have the facilities, as comfortable as other churches are, I see the faithfulness of this church, and I thought, well no, this would be a good book to teach through, so we can continue working for the Lord, so we can continue being faithful to the Lord. You see, the book of Ephesians, unlike some of the other books of the Bible, it doesn't go into the gospel in great depth. Now if you look at the book of Galatians, you know, the Galatian Church was having major problems. People were coming in teaching a false gospel, so Paul spends a lot of time just going through the gospel with the church in Galatia. Now I'm not saying that the gospel is not found in the book of Ephesians. Of course it is. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 8 and 9, we love using that, don't we? For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast. But the key thing about the book of Ephesians is, hey, your faithful church continue doing the work, continue working hard, continue living holy lives. Now think about this, brethren, if someone wants to come and teach a works-based gospel, someone wants to come and teach another gospel, which books of the Bible do you think they're going to turn to? They're going to turn to a book like Ephesians. Why? Because it is about work, but it's not about working for your salvation. But they love to take anything that's about work, anything that's about holy living, and say, well, see, this is salvation. Wrong. Okay? And that's why Paul has Ephesians 2, 8 and 9 near the beginning to just clarify, hey, it's not of work salvation, but you should be striving to live godly. You should be striving to live holy lives. And that's the message that I have for you guys this morning, and as we go through this chapter, chapter by chapter in the book of Ephesians as I keep coming during the week, that we're going to be spending time going, hey, church, you're faithful, keep working hard, keep serving the Lord. So the first thing I wanted to cover, look at verse number 5 again, having predestinated us, there is a doctrine known as Calvinism. Okay? Doctrine known as Calvinism. Now, I'm not a Calvinist. In fact, I hate Calvinism. It's a false gospel. It's a false doctrine. Okay? Now, when I say that, there are many people that claim to be Calvinists, but they're not really Calvinists. Now, there are some that are full-on Calvinists. Okay? They believe all five points of, if you know the system, it's called Tulip, and the T represents something, the U represents something, the L, the I and the P. The T represents total depravity. The U represents unlimited, no, what is it? Does someone know? What's the U? Unlimited atonement? Is it? Unlimited election? Unconditional election, that's the one. And then the L is limited atonement. Now, when it comes to all of these, the one that just points out, it just shows the error of the doctrine is the limited atonement, the L, limited atonement. What they teach is that when Jesus Christ came to die on the cross, He did not come to die for all men. They teach that He only came to die for very few, in fact. He only paid for the sins of very few, and God has chosen most people in the world, according to this doctrine, the false doctrine, to just cast them into hell. To have no chance, just prior to their birth, prior to God creating the whole world, He knew who would live, He already decided who He wanted to damn, and He decided who He wanted to save. And those that He wanted to save, that's when He sent Jesus Christ to die for their sins. Now, that's such a false gospel. If you guys can turn to, please go to the book of John. Go to John chapter 6 for me. John chapter 6. And while you're tuned there, I'm going to read to you from 1st Timothy chapter 4 verse 10. You guys go to John chapter 6. I'm reading to you from 1st Timothy chapter 4 verse 10, which says, Therefore we labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the, look at this, who is the saviour of all men, especially of those that believe. Jesus Christ is the saviour of all men. He came to die for all men, but then it says, especially of those that believe. You see, the only ones that, the salvation that Jesus Christ has to offer, it's only those that actually believe on Him. But here's the thing, He's died for all men. And then it says, especially of those that believe. Then we're talking about a small few that actually believe on Him. Yeah, He is our Saviour. Praise God. Now, He can be the Saviour of anybody out there that's unsaved. He can be your Saviour if you're unsaved. You don't know you go to heaven. He can be your Saviour. But what you need to do is to believe, is to trust on Jesus Christ. Now you guys, in John chapter 6, look at verse number 44. John chapter 6 verse 44. The Calvinist would use these texts here in John chapter 6 verse 44. It says, Jesus speaking, says, No man can come to Me except the Father which have sent Me draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day. And I say, see, no one can come to Jesus unless God the Father draws that person to Jesus. And what they'll say is, even though the text does not say this, they'll conclude, well God must not be drawing everybody. He must be drawing just some people. And those that He doesn't draw to Jesus Christ, well that, He just wants them damned in hell, doesn't He? Well that's what they teach, right? Let's keep reading verse number 45. It is written in the prophets that they shall all, look at that, that they should all be, sorry, shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that have heard and have learned of the Father cometh unto Me. Not that any man have seen the Father, save here which is God, he have seen the Father. Look at this, verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on Me, hath everlasting life. So how are we drawn to Jesus Christ? How are the, what has happened? It gets there, it says that we're taught of God in verse number 45. Verse number 45, it is written in the prophets. Hey, where do we have the writings of the prophets right now? It's in our hands, right? You all have one, I hope you all have a copy. This is the writing of the prophets. This is what God uses to teach all men. This is what God uses so that we can believe on Jesus Christ. Now please go to John chapter 12, just a couple of chapters later, John chapter 12 verse 32, John chapter 12 verse 32, Jesus had said no man can come to me except the Father which have sent me draw him. How does the Father draw men to Jesus Christ though? We just saw it's through the writings of the prophets, it's through the words of God that we use, but look at John chapter 12 verse 32, John chapter 12 verse 32, in the same book, the same Jesus Christ speaking, he says and I, if I be lifted up from the earth will draw all men unto me. What's that? All men unto me. How are all men drawn to Jesus Christ? What was the process? The teaching of God's Word points in us to the time when Jesus Christ would be lifted up. When was he lifted up? On the cross, on Calvary, right? When he was lifted up, he was put on the cross. That is the process. That death is what draws all men to Christ, okay? And it's our job and I'm glad this church are faithfully going out there every week. Our job is to teach them what the prophets said about Jesus Christ, right? Faith comes by hearing, hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Listen, you're not going to get anybody saved just by saying believe Jesus, just by using your own logic, using your own words. No one's going to get saved like that. You must use the Word of God. That's what brings forth faith, okay? And that's what God uses to draw all men, all men, to the one that was lifted up and that's Jesus Christ. This doctrine of Calvinism, limited atonement, just makes a mockery of Jesus Christ, makes a mockery of what he's done. Now, you know, I'm not someone that will turn around and say everybody that's a Calvinist is unsaved. You know, I recognize that some people are truly saved. They get into bad churches. They hear bad doctrine. They don't know. They're babes in Christ. They're new believers. They don't know and they accept some of this teaching and again there are some Calvinists that are like, well, I'm not all five-point Calvinist. I don't believe all of it. I don't believe limited atonement but I have my faith in one of these points or something like that and so there are different varieties of Calvinists but I'm saying the hardcore Calvinists, especially because of the P, perseverance of the Saints, those that teach, you know, if you're truly saved you're going to persevere to the end. They're not even saved because what they're saying is salvation is not just on Christ but salvation is based on you persevering to the end. You doing the works. You live in holy. That's salvation. No, salvation is a free gift paid completely by Jesus Christ, okay? And I know some Calvinists because they're embarrassed by that. They don't believe that. They'll change the P to preservation of the Saints and I believe in the preservation of the Saints. Once you're saved, you're always saved. Praise God. But you're always saved because of what Christ has done for you. Again, not because of your efforts. You're always saved because Jesus Christ, when he was on the cross, paid for your past, your present and even your future sins that you're still to do, okay? Now all of that just so we can get to Ephesians chapter one because I don't want to spend my whole time debunking Calvinism in this chapter. I want to just teach you what the Bible says about this, okay? Now the Bible says here in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 1, Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God to the Saints which are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Jesus Christ, grace be to you and peace, the next, notice the next words, from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. From the very beginning guys, we see a distinction, don't we, between Jesus Christ and God the Father. It doesn't say here from God our Father Jesus Christ. Okay? The fact that it says from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, these are two individuals, these are two different people and yet the Bible teaches us about the Trinity. God the Father, God the Son who is Jesus Christ and God the Holy Spirit. Later on in this chapter we'll see the Holy Spirit come into view, okay? But this chapter begins by teaching us about the Trinity. Even though there are three, you know, the great truth of the Bible is that they are the one God, the one true God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. That is the God that we worship, okay? The other thing I want you to notice is how does the writer, how does Paul differentiate the Father from the Son? How does he do it in that verse, all right? It said there, from God our Father and from the Son, does it say that? How does he differentiate the Son? He uses the name and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Now if the Father's name was Jesus Christ wouldn't that be completely make no sense whatsoever? I mean from God the Father who's Jesus and also Jesus? Like you know what are you talking about, right? The fact that the name of Jesus is being used here to identify the Son means that Jesus is the name of the Son. Jesus is not the name of the Father otherwise you'd have major problems that you wouldn't know what's going on, right? Or the name of the Holy Spirit and this is something that's super important. A lot of you guys know why I'm saying this, okay? Because of the history of this church but this church teaches the Trinity. We believe the Trinity. We believe Jesus Christ is God just as much as the Father is God, just as much as the Holy Spirit is God but there is a chain of command. God the Father in that chain of command is above, okay? And yet Jesus Christ is submissive to the Father and we'll see later on that His name, the name of Jesus is the name above every name. Praise God. Some people struggle with that. They say well if God has a higher authority than Jesus Christ how is that Jesus Christ has a higher name? Well the Father's glorifying the Son. You know I've got I've got a lot of sons. You know what I want for them? I want them to be better Christians than me. I want them to be more successful than me. I want to I want them to have a better you know a life than I did. You know and if I can see that with my own children then we can see how God the Father wants to exalt the Son and He gives Him a name that is above every name. We'll go into that later on. Look at verse number three. Verse number three. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He's not just our Father but He's the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Again you know Jesus Christ is not His own Father, okay? No. There's a Father who is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and this is who have blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Okay? Now that there as we go through this chapter and through this book there are two things you need to realize. God wants us to live holy today. Okay? But when you look at verse number three He wants us to think about the heavenly places in Christ. This is not our final destination brethren. You know it's not just about this earth. There is a future to come. There is an eternity. You know and this is the point of the Bible. This is the point of Jesus Christ. To lead us to heaven. To lead us to those heavenly places which are eternal. The Bible compares eternity to this life on the earth. This life on the earth as a vapor. You know it's here one moment, it's gone the next. That's truly how it is. You know we might live 70, if you're healthy you might live 70, 80, 90 years, 100 years if God's blessed you. You know you may live that long and that feels like a long time. People that are elderly that I've lived a long time. Praise God you have. But here's the thing compared to eternity it's just a vapor. It's here today, gone tomorrow. And so the context here, one thing you need to understand as we go through this, Paul is continually pointing to the heavenly places. He's continually pointing to the future and in light of the future because we see the heavenly places, we see that we ought to start living and striving to live as though that's the case for us today. And it is the case of us today if you are saved because God has given you a new man. He's made you born again. You've been born of the Spirit and there's a part of you that is perfect. There's a part of you that is without sin and that's the strike, that's that's the challenge that we have every day. To walk in the new man, to walk in the Spirit and not to walk after the lust of this flesh. That's how we overcome sin. That's how we live holy by living in the new man because that's our little snapshot of what heaven will ultimately be like. Look at verse number four please. Verse number four. Now here's the verse that is used by Calvinists to say well God has chosen some to go to hell and chosen some to go to heaven. Look at verse number four. According as he have chosen us, now brethren have we been chosen? Absolutely. We just saw it there, right? Chosen us. In him, in who? In Jesus Christ. That's super important for you to understand, okay? Because here's the thing. Is someone that is unsaved, let's let's say God has chosen me to be saved but I'm still unsaved. I've got to get to a point where I'm regenerated. That's that's the term they use. When I'm in a point of being unsaved, am I in Christ? Absolutely not. You're only in Christ when you are saved. So the choosing is when you're where? In Christ. Think about that. It's in Christ. You cannot be at a state where you're unsaved and then you're chosen because you're not in Christ at that point. But here it says according as he have chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should, look at this, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. What has he chosen us to do? For what purpose? Is this saying he's chosen some to go to heaven and some to go to hell? Is this saying that he's chosen some to be saved and some to be unsaved? That's how the Calvinist reads this, okay? Now think about it. Let's say this is about salvation. Let's say this is about salvation. All right, so he's chosen us to be saved. Let's say it is. So according to verse number four, how does someone get saved if that's what we've been chosen to be? What does it say there? That we should be holy and without blame before him in love. Brethren, is that the gospel message? Sirs, what must I do to be saved? Well, you have to be holy. You have to be without blame. What are you saying? You've got to clean up your life. You've got to keep the commandments. You've got to be sinless. You've got to overcome sin. You've got to work for your salvation. Is that the gospel message? Of course not. Of course not. Salvation, as we said, is believing, trusting on Jesus Christ, the free gift of salvation. So you can see when you start applying this for salvation, God has chosen us to be saved, well now he's starting to teach a workspace gospel because what God has chosen us is to live holy, to live blameless, to those that are in Christ, to those that are saved. That's what you have been predestined to do, brethren. And if you're living like the world, you're living sinful, you're still saved, but you're not living in accordance to what God has predestined you to live by. You know, he's given us the power of him. We'll see this later on. He's given us his power. He's given us his Holy Spirit. He's given us the new man so we can live holy and blameless lives. But that's to someone that is saved. The unsaved cannot live holy, blameless lives before God. Okay? They're unsaved. They're lost. They're sinners before God. And so we understand that. And again, if you, you know, this is still, verse number four is attached to verse number three, right? Where it's said again at the end of verse number three, who have blesses for all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. This is talking about a saved person. If you're saved, you've been chosen by God. You've been predestined by God to live holy, to live blameless lives. That's what's expected from us, brethren. Okay? And I see a faithful church. I see you doing good works. God says, according to his word, continue being faithful. Continue living holy. Continue trying to be blameless in your daily living in light of the heavenly places to come. Live like you're in the heavenly places today, is the message of the book of Ephesians. Look at verse number five. Look at this. Verse number five. Having pre- now this is another verse that they use, right? Having predestinated us, predestined unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will. So you can see there, it sounds like we've been predestined to be adopted as children of God. In fact, we have been predestined to be adopted of children of God. But let's keep going. Verse number six. To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he have made us accepted in the Beloved. And we need to think about this, brethren. When you got saved, the moment you believed on Christ, were you adopted? When we think about, you know, parents, when you have parents, there's two ways to have children basically, right? That's through natural birth, you know, that's the fruit of the womb. That's one way. That's your biological son. Another way you can have children is to adopt, you know, in some places. Some people who can't have children may decide, or even if they have children, they may just decide to adopt children, orphans that don't have parents, these kinds of things. Is adoption the same as birth though? If you were to have children, are they the same process? You know, one's physical, one's coming from the loins of those parents, the other one's coming from other biological parents, right? Adoption. So if you can please keep your finger there and go to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. Go there, Romans chapter 8. Because a lot of preachers, and I don't blame the preachers, you know, I don't blame them, they do teach that when you get saved, you're adopted into God's family. Now what I'm going to say, and I'll prove this to you shortly, is that we've been born into God's family. We've actually been spiritually born, well I'll show you that in a minute, and the adoption is yet to come. And I'll prove this to you. We'll go to Romans chapter 8, go to Romans chapter 8, and I'm going to wait your turn now, just read to you from John 3-3. A lot of you guys know this, Jesus answered and said unto him, verily, verily, I say unto thee, Jesus speaking to Nicodemus, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. And of course John 3, we have the famous John 3 16, right? For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. So how is it that we're born again? How is it that we're born of God? How is it that we're born of the Spirit? Born of the family of God? By again believing on Jesus Christ, right? Believing on him. And when you believe on him, you've been born into God's family. That's why they use the words born again. So why then, in Ephesians, are we talking about an adoption? If we've been born into the family already, what do we have to be adopted by? Well look at Romans chapter 8 please, Romans chapter 8 verse 22, it says here, for we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. Okay, the Bible says all of creation is just groaning because of the curse of sin. Even in ourselves we're groaning, we have this sinful flesh that we're constantly battling with. But look at verse number 23, and not only they, that's the world, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, so these people that are saved, right, we have the firstfruits of the Spirit, you have the Holy Spirit indwelling in your life, even we ourselves groan within ourselves waiting for the adoption. What's the adoption? The redemption of our body. What is the adoption according to the Bible? The redemption of our body, the resurrection. Okay, you've been born again, you're born into God's family, you have the new man, praise God, but the adoption is what we're waiting for, it's what we're groaning, right? Ah, this sinful flesh, why can't we, you know, it's so frustrating God. One day God promises us at the rapture, at the resurrection, to give us resurrected, redempted bodies without sin. That's the adoption, that's the adoption. We're adopting, as it were, the body of Christ, we're going to be like Him, okay, and so when we read the Bible, are you going to understand these two things? You're born into His family, when you're saved, you're born again, okay, the Spirit is born, but the resurrection is the adoption, the resurrection is the adoption. Go back to Ephesians chapter 5 now, Ephesians chapter, sorry, Ephesians chapter 1 verse 5, Ephesians chapter 1 verse 5. Now that we understand that, that's very clear for us in the Bible, I don't think anyone's going to argue with what we read in, we're waiting for it, right, it hasn't happened yet. So when you read this, verse number 5, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children, are we talking about salvation? No, we're talking about the resurrection, we're talking about receiving the new resurrected bodies, okay, so what have you been, what has God predestined for you? Once you're in Christ Jesus, you're predestinated to get a new resurrected body like Jesus Christ, praise God, this is not about salvation, it's about receiving the new resurrected body, okay, so you can see how the Calvinists can take these passages and fool people, okay, because they've not compared these passages, they've not seen what the adoption is, they don't differentiate between adoption and birth. Okay, look at verse number 7 now, Ephesians chapter 1 verse 7, in whom we have, in whom that's been Jesus, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace, wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence. The word prudence means to be cautious, okay, now not only, this is what it's saying here in verse number 7 at the end of verse number 7, it says according to the riches of his grace, not only are we saved by grace through faith and not of works, not only does grace save us, but God through his grace has also given us other riches. Verse number 8 said, what those riches are, wisdom and prudence. Praise God for that, okay, because he wants us to live holy lives, he wants us to live blameless lives, so he gives us wisdom, he gives us prudence, that's caution, protecting ourselves against sin, to protect us against wickedness, to protect us against the ways of the world, or the ways of the devil, he's given us this knowledge, but brethren, you know where you have to learn the knowledge, you got to pick up this book, you got to read this book, okay, you got to come to church, you got to get yourself into a good church, you got to get yourself on the good preaching, you got to open up this book, this is where the wisdom of God comes from, okay, so you know, if you're neglecting the Bible, you're neglecting your study, you're neglecting your growth, you're neglecting the grace of God in your life, okay, that's the riches that he wants to give us in this life right now, he knows we're struggling in this flesh, so he gives us his wisdom, he gives us his word, now brethren, if you're struggling in sin, if you've been, you say to me, man, I'm in a backslid and slayed, I'm just, I seem to be chasing after the world, the way, you know, sin, I'm pretty confident it's because you've neglected your Bible reading, I'm pretty confident that's why, you've neglected your own reading, you know, you've neglected your own growth, you've neglected your own prayer time, you've neglected the times to confess your sins before God, you know, you're not using the wisdom that God has given us, and I beg your brethren, you know, if you're backsliding, if you're finding yourself in a bad state, you know, you know, struggling with sin constantly, now we're all going to struggle with sin, okay, but you're just having these constant battles, you never can seem to have power over it, you need to get back into the grace of God, back into the wisdom and the prudence that he gives us, verse number eight says, we're in here abounded toward us, in all wisdom, it's not like he gives us a little wisdom, just a little bit, he wants to give, he wants us to abound in his wisdom, okay, and again, don't neglect the reading of God's Word, because that's where you're going to find it, verse number nine, having made known unto us the mystery of his will, now I'm going to come back to this, just remember this, the mystery of his will, alright, according to his good pleasure, which he had purposed in himself, that the dispensation of the fullness 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, now we've got to debunk another doctrine out there, okay, what did it say in verse number 10, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, there is another doctrine that is called dispensationalism, okay, now I don't want to go into all this, it needs his own sermon, okay, now again, most independent Baptists, most of my pastors, men that I love, men that I've learned great things from, have been dispensational in their teaching, okay, so I'm not having a go at the people that believe this, okay, now there are different forms, there are different expressions of that, some people are totally extreme, where they believe some people were saved by works, or can be saved by works in the future, or things like that, okay, that's an extreme form of dispensationalism, the Bible does use the word dispensation though, I do believe in dispensations, because it's there in the Bible, I believe in predestination, because it's in the Bible, but we need to just understand what the Bible's talking about, when it says these things, right, now if you were to ask a dispensationalist, I'm not saying the average person in the church, if you went to ask a Bible college professor that teaches dispensationalism, say what is this doctrine about, what's the key thing about it, what's the main learning here, they'll say to you whether there's a distinction between the nation of Israel, the Jews, and the Gentiles, or the church, the saved people, there's a distinction, and what dispensationalism tries to do, is create a separation between these two groups, now in times past, there was a distinction between those two, we'll touch on that soon, okay, but what did we just read here, let's read it again verse number 10, I'll get back to verse 9 soon, but verse number 10, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might separate these two groups, that he might gather together in one, all things in Christ, does this sound like a separation of dispensations to you, of different groups of people, or does it sound like a gathering of one together in Christ, you know, so I want you to think about this, but let's look at verse number 9 first, actually keep your finger there, and go to, where can I send you, I'll send you to Ephesians, yeah actually you're in Ephesians, so go to chapter 3 for me, Ephesians chapter 3, I'm gonna have to remember to go back, so I've sort of missed my notes a little bit, but anyway, let's look at Ephesians chapter 3 verse 4, it says here, because we don't need to wonder, we don't need to wonder, okay, the Bible gives us the answers of the mystery of his will, here in Ephesians chapter 3 verse 4, whereby when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, what's the mystery, which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, but it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, by the way that's the third part of the Holy Trinity, the Father, Son, the Holy Spirit, there it is, verse number 6, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel, what's the mystery of his will, what's the mystery that we read about here, we saw later on, talks about being gathered in one, what are we reading about here, again let's look at verse number 6, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, fellow heirs, with who, the Jews, the prophets, the Old Testament saints, this is the great thing about Jesus Christ, is that in times past God had a physical nation of Israel, praise God for that, it served his purpose, right, but the thing is the Gentiles, if they wanted to have the God of Israel, most often they would need to migrate into the nation and have God as their God, that's not the only way, there's other ways, for them to simply believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, alright, but what we have today, because we've reached a fullness of times, I'll show you this shortly, is that now that Christ has come, both Jews and Gentiles are made up of that one body, we are fellow heirs, we're not strangers, alright, when someone migrates to Australia, they get their Australian citizenship, they become a fellow heir of the Commonwealth of Australia, don't they, they're no longer a stranger, that's the same thing guys, everybody, there's no special people, we're all the same, we're all one blood, we're all from Noah, we're all from Adam, you know, and I look at the church here, we're all from different backgrounds, I don't care, we're all one and if you're in Jesus Christ, we're in one, we're one in him as well, we're fellow heirs, we're the saints that have gone before us, now what I want to do, please go to Galatians chapter 4, Galatians chapter 4 verse 4, Galatians 4 verse 4 and Galatians 4 actually, because again it's written by Paul, right, so it puts all these thoughts together, what are we talking about, we're talking about the fullness of times, what is dispensationalism or dispensations of the Bible, it's bringing people together, not separating people, so what is the fullness of times, we'll have a look at this shortly and I already kind of covered this and also we talked about the adoption, didn't we, the adoption which is the resurrection to come and in Galatians chapter 4 verse 4, look at this, but when the fullness of the time was come, oh there it is, right, the fullness of time, of the time was come, what happened at the fullness of time, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem that, that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons, look how Galatians 4 puts it all nicely together for us, everything that we've been looking at so far, right, the adoption, that's going to be the resurrection, to redeem us, the fullness of time, what is the fullness of times then, that's the separation between the Old Testament and the New Testament, what separates that is the death of Jesus Christ, his burial and his resurrection, when the fullness of time was come at the end of the first covenant, God sent his son, now notice that, who did he send, his son, he didn't become the son at his birth, the son already pre-existed and he was sent by the Father, okay, we believe in the eternal sonship of Jesus Christ, okay, so he sends his son at the fullness of times, to redeem them that were under the law, that being the Old Testament Israelites, that we, now who's the we, he's writing to Galatians, he's writing to the church, he's writing to Gentiles, that we, Jews and Gentiles, right, that we might receive the adoption of sons and because ye are sons, God have sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts, crying Abba Father, you know what, we can call God Jesus, the Father of Jesus Christ, we can call him our Father, we can cry to him Abba Father, when we have a need, when we need help, verse number 7 Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ, the fellow heirs, there it is, the heir of God, we made fellow heirs with the Old Testament Saints, don't you love how when the Bible is just so consistent and perfect, it just comes together, just a bit of study, we don't need to be tricked into some complicated Bible college, you know, way of interpreting the Bible, the Bible explains it for us nicely, we just need to do the study, we just need to do the work, okay, so what is the true definition of dispensation, okay, it's something that God has dispensed, okay, one way to understand the words dispense, two ways, is either you distribute something, you know, we don't have a water dispenser here, but some people at work might have a water dispenser, you go to the water dispenser and you get water, right, but another way we use the word dispense is to throw something out, to be done away with, you know, I might say to you, can you dispense of that plastic bottle, so you'll take that plastic bottle, you know what I'm talking about, you throw it in the bin, all right, and so when it comes to the dispensation of fullness of times, the time was done, God had done away with the old covenant and has brought in the new covenants, okay, that's what it is and when he brought in the new covenant, guess what, Jews, Gentiles in Christ, one body, no separation, one body in Jesus Christ, all right, so please go back to Ephesians chapter 1, Ephesians chapter 1, verse number 11, Ephesians chapter 1 verse 11, verse 11, and here are the words we talk about, as being fellow heirs, these kinds of things, look at verse 11, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, that's where the word heirs come from, inheritance, heirs, okay, same idea, being predestinated, or there it is again, right, predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will, look at, what are we predestined for, verse number 12, that we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ, now let me go back to Calvinism for a moment, okay, because they believe, they believe that some have been chosen by God to be saved and they believe a man on his own cannot be saved, and that's true, I guess a man on his own cannot be saved, that's true, those say, well, before you can actually even believe the gospel, before you can even trust the gospel, God has already regenerated you, God has already given you a born-again spirit, that's what they say, before you even believe, and so when you receive that born-again spirit, at whatever point in life that is, okay, then because you have it, you're going you're going to at some point believe on Jesus Christ, at some point you're going to believe the gospel, you see the difference between what we believe and what they believe, they say you're saved before you believe on the gospel, okay, we say no, you can only be saved when you believe the gospel, okay, now the Bible uses the word predestined here in verse number 11, and we ask the question, well what does that mean, verse number 12, that we should be the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ, what comes first, brethren, what's the first thing we've done, we first trusted in Christ, you know the word trust, we'll have a look at this, is belief, is faith, when you trust, when you put your faith on Christ, that's the first thing you do, and then when you're trusting Christ, now you've been predestined that we should be to the praise of his glory, you know, we ought to be people when God looks down at us, he's praised, people say, man, you must be one of those Christians, you must be that person that believes in Jesus Christ, that gives God's praise, that gives him glory, when people can recognize that there's something different about you when you're walking according to according to God's ways, but it's not about walking in God's ways to be saved, no, you first trust in Christ, that's salvation, that's once you're saved, we ought to be being his glory, being his praise, alright, verse number 13, now if you don't believe me when it says first trust in Christ, about that being about faith, look at verse number 13, in whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, remember what did we say, how does someone believe, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word, okay, a word of God, and here it says, whom we also trust after that we have heard the word of truth, so we heard the word of truth, that's what caused us to trust, then look at it, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that ye believed, and ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, so you notice how verse 13 uses the word trust and then uses the word believe, because they're one and the same thing, okay, when you, when we go out there we tell people you need to believe on Jesus Christ, we're not just saying you got to believe Jesus died on the cross and rose again from the dead and you paid for your sins, okay, we're not just saying you got to believe the facts, no, now that you know the facts, now that you understand the facts, now you need to trust the facts, now you need to trust Jesus Christ, you need to trust the final work that he did for us on the cross and his resurrection, and when they believe on Jesus Christ, they trust in Jesus Christ, okay, now Brethren, I hope you're all Brethren, you know, what are you trusting in, can you say with full confidence I trust in Jesus Christ 100%? That's what, I mean, is there anything else to trust in this verse so far? Or are you saying, well, I trust 90% Jesus Christ and 10% New Life Baptist Church, or Pastor Kevin Sepulveda, or I trust 90% Jesus and I trust 10%, you know, my Roman Catholic Church, or I trust in 10% in my good works, look at me, I'm so good, you know, of course I'm saved, look how I'm living my life, look how I dress, look at my nice haircut, you know, look I've got my tie on, definitely saved, is my full trust on Jesus when I'm doing that? No, just a little bit of your trust, some of your trust is on Jesus, the other trust is on, look at me, look how good I am, boasting, right, and that's why Ephesians 2 is there for a reason, because if it was by works, if it was by our efforts, we would be boastful, and you know, you immediately know when someone's not saved, because they boast of themselves, oh how do you know you're going to heaven, I'm such a good person, I'm good enough, that's boasting, no one's good enough for heaven, no one's good enough, otherwise Jesus Christ will not have had to come to die on the cross for us. Verse number 14, verse number 14, it said, sorry, at the end of verse number 13, it ties in, it says you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, so you've heard the gospel, you heard the Word of God, you trusted the Word of God, and then the third point there was the Holy Spirit has come to indwell the believer, it's a promise of God, and then it says in verse number 14, which is that the Holy Spirit, which is the earnest of our inheritance, now the word earnest there means like a down payment or a commitment, okay, have you ever heard of the word term earnest money, I don't know if you've ever, like if you purchase a house, often when you make an offer for a house, they ask you to put down a like a like a deposit that you can't get back, it's I'm not talking about deposit for the house like a mortgage, I'm talking about the offer, they'll say can you put in like maybe with your offer like $2,000, and the reason they do that is because they don't want people to back out, and if you do back out, then the owner gets that money, okay, because then he might take it off the market, he might, you know, whatever, he might change things, and then there's a, you know, you cause them problems, so when you put down, when you make that offer for the house, you put down that little, that whatever it is, $1,000, $2,000, you put that down with the real estate, and it's like a true commitment, this is a promise that I'm actually, I mean my offer, I want to buy this house, well this is what God has done for us, he's given us the Holy Spirit, which is our earnest, our down payment, our commitment, he says look I'm giving you the Holy Spirit, because you're not in heaven or places right now, you're not, you know, your body's still, you're still throwing the sinful flesh, but I'm giving you the Holy Spirit, this is a guaranteed that you're saved, this is a guarantee that you'll receive resurrected bodies, this is a guarantee that you'll be with me for all eternity, a guarantee that you will never be damned and go to hell, once saved, always saved, is the teaching here, verse number 14, which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory, what's the purchase of the, redemption of the purchased possession, this possession, this purchase right, the resurrected body to come, this old flesh, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, the Bible says, this body needs to perish, this body needs to be changed, at the rapture, at the resurrection, we received the redemption of the purchased possession, verse number 15, wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and the love unto all the saints, I love that, you know what Paul says about the church in Ephesians, because I've heard about your great faith, I've heard that your trust in Christ, praise God, but then he says, I've heard about your love unto all the saints and brethren, I think this is one we always struggle with a little bit, now I think this church is very loving, but you know there's a lot of good churches out there that struggle with loving the brethren, they're saved, okay, now what made this church super excellent in the eyes of Paul is not only are you saved, not only do you have the faith for Christ, but I can tell you love the Saints and he's just thankful about that, right, he's just lifting them up, you know, he heard about it, praise God, that you have great love for the brethren, and brethren, let me encourage you, you know, again, I say this all the time, because you're not always going to get along, sometimes you're going to have little clashes and little things going on in life, but one thing that, you know, and that's just life, you've got to accept that, but one thing that I want you to learn is to love the brethren, and you can see how God, you know, acknowledges that in the Word of God, how he praises that when you have love for one another, and I can truly say to you that I really love each person here in this church, you know, I really do, and I wish, you know, I could be with you guys more, you know, but unfortunately, I mean, it's not unfortunately, I've got my church up in Queensland, praise God for that, right, but we need to make sure that we continue striving to love one another, you know, when we have visitors, a lot of people are interested in our church because of the doctrines that we teach, they know we teach the Bible, okay, and that's what brings people through the door usually, but you know what's going to keep people stayed, stay in church, is if they feel loved, at the beginning it's, yeah, great doctrine, praise God, I'm on the same page, but then it's like no one talks to me, no one spends time with me, no one loves me, I'm gonna find another church, that's what happens, that's what happens a lot of times, but if you can show love to visitors and to, you know, first-time visitors and get involved in their lives and just understand, hey, this person's probably not on the same page as me on all the doctrines, this person's probably not on the same page with me, maybe if he's newly saved, he doesn't really know much, right, maybe I've got to take this person under my wing and teach him a few things, you know, and I hate when I see believers just thumb up their nose, you know, they've been saved for 20, 30, 40 years, oh look at me, I'm so good, some guy comes in with long hair and tattoos, oh who's this guy coming here, you know, that's so ridiculous, because we all have to start somewhere, okay, we all need to start somewhere and we need to show love to the Saints. Verse number 19, sorry, verse number, we're after guys now, I've lost myself, verse number 16, 16, he says, so he heard about the church, he says, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers, that's another thing, that's another way of showing love, by praying for one another, he says, you're such a great church, I'm always talking to you, to God about you in my prayers. Verse number 17, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. So what does Paul pray for the church? He goes, I know you're saved, I know you love one another, but I'm praying that God will continue giving you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. See brethren, saved is great, loving the Brethren is great, but where do you go from there? You need to learn, gain wisdom, gain knowledge, study the Bible, learn the Bible, hear great preaching, okay, that's what Paul wants for the church, that's what I want for this church, I want you to grow in knowledge, not just love, great love, knowledge as well, in wisdom, start learning your Bibles, I want you to know, why do I believe these doctrines? Why do I believe salvation is by grace through faith and not of works? You know, how do I handle these difficult passages about predestination, about being chosen? You study, you learn, you gain wisdom, that's what we need to be brethren, a church that has great wisdom, because if we have great knowledge in the doctrines, when the false prophet comes in, when the false teacher comes in teaching you false things, you'll be able to identify him immediately. He won't be able to take away, you know, any, you know, deceive anybody in the church, you know, because you have wisdom, you have knowledge, you know, how to defend your doctrines. Verse number 11, sorry 18, verse number 18, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints. So not only do I want you to gain knowledge, he says, but I want you to also, that your eyes, what did you say? That your eyes may be enlightened, being enlightened, that you may look, that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what God is calling you to be, is to be like Jesus Christ, but you're not going to be fully like that till the adoption of this purchase possession, until the resurrection, right? And so what he's saying here is, he says, look to the church, I want you to live for eternity, don't live for this temporary life, don't live for the earthly things, don't live for the possessions of this earth, live for that which is to come, have your eyes set on eternity, and listen brethren, that's going to change the outlook on your life. Most people, everybody out there, everybody that's unsaved, you know what they live for? They live for today, they live for now, they live for money, they live for the status, a big name, a big house, a lot of money. Paul says, don't live like that, live like your eyes are for eternity, and when your eyes are fixed on eternity, it's going to shape the way you live your life, it's going to shape the things that you put as priority in your life, okay? And so that's what he's striving this church to do, verse number 19, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us, word, who believe, according to the working of his mighty power? So there it is again, the power that he gives us, right? The exceeding greatness of his power to us, word, who believe. God has given us his power to live those holy lives, he's given us power to live like Christ. Again, he comes in that new man, he comes walking after the Spirit, according to the working of his mighty power, he says, God has given you power. You know when you're weak, you know what you need? You need the power of God. Even when you're strong, even when you're healthy and things are going well for you, you know what you need? You need the power of God in your life. That's what's going to get you through life, that's what's going to help you overcome sin, to live holy, be blameless. Now he says that power that we just read about, look at verse number 20, which he wrought in Christ, the word wrought is the word worked, okay? Which he wrought or he worked in Christ, when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places. You know what he's saying there? The power that God used to raise up Jesus is the same power he gives you today. The same power to raise up the dead, to raise up Jesus Christ, to overcome sin and overcome death, is the same power that's available to me, to you, right now, is what Paul is saying. What a promise, what a promise. Keep your finger there and go to verse number, Romans chapter 6 please, Romans chapter 6, go to Romans chapter 6. You see, for you to live holy, for you to live, to overcome sin, you need the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, okay? Romans chapter 6 verse 1, it says here, what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin so that grace may abound? God forbid, how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? Okay, so look, you're going to sin for the rest of your life, right? But that shouldn't be just, okay, I'm just gonna sin, I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna deal with it. I'm just gonna sin for the rest of my life. We should be striving to live holy, right? We should be striving to overcome that. How do we do it? Verse number 3, know ye not that so many of us that were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk in newness of life. And this is where we get the name of our church, New Life Baptist Church. Right there, and verse number 4, that we should walk in newness of life, okay? What's being said here is we shouldn't live like we lived before we were saved, okay? We shouldn't live in sin, we shouldn't continue living that way, but we should strive there to be walking newness of life. And again, it's talking about the resurrection of Christ there, the power of the resurrection of Christ. That's how you're going to do it. And after the service today, we're going to have some baptisms. And you know what baptism represents? Baptism will never save you, by the way. Whether you get baptized or not doesn't save you. But what baptism represents there, let's look at verse number 3. Verse number 3 again, know ye not that so many of us that were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? So when you go under the water, that represents the death of Christ when he was in the tomb, right? When you stand out of the water, that's a picture of the crucifixion. When you get in the water, it's a picture of the death. Then it says there in verse number 4, therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so should we walk in newness of life. Now brethren, if you've not been baptized, let me encourage you, we've got an opportunity today. You're just going to get wet clothes if you didn't bring a change, you guys. But let me encourage you to get baptized, because it shows a picture of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Bible refers to this as walking in the newness of life. You know, when you read the Bible, when you look at these people getting saved, you know what happens immediately after they get saved? They get baptized. Why? Because it's the first step of obedience. It's the first step of that newness of life, to live a godly life. And I had this experience, I know other people have had this experience, is when you've been baptized biblically, you've been able to live for the Lord a lot better, a lot greater, you know, because you're taking on that picture, you're taking on that, you know, that public confession of what you've done in Christ, and you're identifying with the power of the resurrection of Christ. That's what's going to help you live more holy, to overcome sin in your life, okay. Let's go back to Ephesians 1 verse 21. Ephesians 1 verse 21. Let me just make it clear once again, baptism does not save anybody. Make that very clear, okay, very clear. Whether you're baptized or not, the thief on the cross did not get baptized, right. He just said, Father, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. What did Jesus say? Verily, verily, today thou shalt be with me in paradise, he said. The thief on the cross, all he did was trust in Christ, was put his belief on Jesus Christ, was never baptized. He didn't even go to church, he never read his Bible, he never did a single good work, he just died, okay. But because he placed his faith in Christ, he was in paradise with Jesus Christ. Verse number 21. Far above all principality, speaking of Jesus, and power and might and dominion. See, Jesus Christ is above every power and might and dominion, speaking of the devil. He's above every single power, because he's the Lord God. And it says here, and every name that is named, the name of Jesus is above every name that's been named. Any name you can think of! The name of Jesus is above every name, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. Verse number 22. And have put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church. You see, the future's still to come. There's going to be a millennial reign of Christ, it's going to reign for a thousand years, and at the end of that thousand years, I mean, as far as what God says right now, he says everything's under Christ already, okay? But the full realization of that is at the end of the thousand years, when even death is subjected unto Christ. Everything is under Jesus Christ. And notice, not only all things, all powers, all dominions, you know, all names, it's said here in verse number 22 at the end, that to him be the head over all things to the church. Who's the head of this church? Let me tell you something, it's not Pastor Kevin. It's not Brother David who preaches normally on Tuesdays, or Sunday, sorry. It's not you, okay? The head of this church is Jesus Christ, okay? And every decision I make, you know, I can make mistakes, you know, I'm a human being, I'm sinful, I have sin. You have sin, okay? So please never elevate me above anybody. I'm just, I'm Brother Kevin, okay? That's who I am, I'm your brother in the Lord, okay? But I have been given authority in this church, but at the end of the day, that's because I'm under the authority of Jesus Christ, and so are you, so are you. You know, anything I teach from the Bible, this is not a cult, it's not like I taught this and you have to go and do it at home now, you know, I'm gonna come to your house and check that, are you doing it? You know, if I preach against Hollywood movies one day, I'm gonna come to your house and check your DVD cabinet, that's not what I'm gonna do. No, at the end of the day, Jesus Christ is your head. You have to decide am I going to live after Christ, you know, I'm going to decide the things that I learned in church, the things that are in my Bible, am I going to place this, am I going to do this in my home or not? You know, but some Christians are like that, let me check that person, what's Brother so-and-so doing over there, you know, what sins has he got? We all have sin, we all have weaknesses, we all have problems, but Christ is our head, Christ is the head of this church, and for this church to continue to grow, to be successful, we need to always remember who the head is, always remember, it's Jesus Christ, okay? This church may have rotational passes in the future, I don't know what the future holds for this church exactly, okay? But one thing that is never going to change is the head, Jesus Christ, okay? Please don't make church about, I prefer this pastor over that pastor, never be that way, okay? Because otherwise you're going to church for the wrong reasons, you're not going for the reason of having Christ as the head of this institution, and so one thing I want you to turn, the last place I want you to turn is in Philippians please, Philippians chapter 2 verse 9, Philippians chapter 2 verse 9, I just want to finish up on this, Ephesians chapter 2 verse 9, because when it's said here that all things are under the feet of Jesus Christ, and that every name, above every name that is named, this actually comes from Psalm, Psalm 8, Psalm 8, I'm going to read to you from Psalm 8 verse 6, it says, thou madeest him to have the minion over the works of thy hands, thou has put all things under his feet, you know, speaking of God the Father, putting all things on the feet of the Son, all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field, the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the sea, and then it says this in verse number 9, O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth. You know there's a movement coming called the Hebrew Roots movement, and they want to take away the name of Jesus Christ, they want you to call him Yeshua. Yeshua is not in your King James Bible, you know the name Yeshua is not in the original Hebrew nor Greek, okay, the name that is excellent above all names is the name of Jesus Christ, praise God for that name, when you go out and preach the gospel, you preach and you name Jesus Christ, you know, salvation is not I believe in God, oh you believe in God, oh man you're saved, praise God, no, they have to believe on Jesus Christ, they have to believe in the name of Jesus, and he shed blood on the cross. You guys are in Philippians, look at chapter 2 verse 9, Philippians chapter 2 verse 9, it says, wherefore God also have highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, and at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father, and the Father has given Jesus the best name of all, Jesus Christ, and you know what, it says here, verse number 11, to the glory of God the Father, he gives God the Father glory to have given the name of Jesus to his son, so I said to you, you know, as a father, I want my sons to do better than me, I want them to be better believers, right, even though God the Father has the authority, and I have the authority in the home, I still want them to be better than me, well God the Father wants to exalt Jesus Christ, and by how did he exalt him? By giving him a name above every name, please make sure you go out and do the work, back to Ephesians chapter 1, last verse, Ephesians chapter 1 verse 23, we'll talk about the church, the head over the church, and then verse number 23 says, which is his body, man, what a responsibility brethren, Jesus Christ is not walking the earth today, but his body is here, and that's the church, that's you, that's this congregation, okay, the body, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all, just think about how important this church is, and other churches that believe in Christ, that are true churches of Jesus Christ, that they're called the body of Christ, if you want to have the fullness of Christ, if you want to be filled in God, you know where you need to be, in church, you know, make sure you don't become someone that misses church on a regular basis, now of course you're going to miss it from time to time, for whatever reasons, okay, legitimate reasons, but make sure, you know, part of you having the fullness of Christ, yes, you know, you go, I don't know, you go door knocking, I don't know if it happens in Queensland, they're like, I need to go to church, I have it all, you know, I've got my Bible, which is good, you know, I've got my faith, which is good, but they think that's enough, they think that's enough, no, the fullness of Christ will be experienced in church, so important that this church exists, so important that you can continue coming to this church, and experience the fullness of Christ, because Christ says, we're two or three are gathered together in his name, that he'll be here in the midst of us, Jesus Christ is here right now, you know, his presence is here, and so that's the end of Ephesians, brethren, let me just conclude very quickly, have your sights on eternity, on eternal matters, the redemption of your body, you're gonna be resurrected one day, you're gonna have full power over sin, well you don't need to wait, you can start living that way today, you can start living after that, God has given us his power, he's given us his Holy Spirit, that's what he wants us to do, live that blameless, holy lives, and make sure brethren, be in church, and be in church, because this is the opportunity for you to learn to love the brethren, let's pray. you