EPHESIANS 1

Let's stand and worship this morning. How can it be? I'm standing in your victory. Oh, hallelujah. I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood. I'm as good as new. Oh, hallelujah. I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood. All because of you. Oh, hallelujah. I'm clean. I do what I have done. And what you've done for me, you've laid it all upon that tree. Oh, hallelujah. I'm clean. This love has overcome. Your mercy is supreme. I'm dancing in your victory. Oh, hallelujah. I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood. I'm as good as new. Oh, hallelujah. I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood. All because of you. Oh, hallelujah. I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood. I'm as good as new. Oh, hallelujah. I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood. Oh, hallelujah.

Because you took away my sin. And you nailed it to the cross. You got me running out the grave. Hallelujah, here I come. Because you took away my sin. And you nailed it to the cross. You got me running out the grave. Hallelujah, here I come. Because you took away my sin. And you nailed it to the cross. You got me running out the grave. Hallelujah, here I come. Because you took away my sin. And you nailed it to the cross. You got me running out the grave. Hallelujah, here I come. Hallelujah, here I come. Hallelujah, here I come. Hallelujah, here I come. Hallelujah. Hallelujah, here I come. Hallelujah, here I come. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Yeah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

Yeah. I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood. I'm as good as new. Oh, Hallelujah. I've been washed in the water and washed in the blood. Oh, Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Baby, we made this complicated more than it was ever meant to be. Hasn't it always been about the same thing? Lord, bring us back to simple things. You'll be the center of it all. My heart belongs to You. My Savior of it all. You're the one I need. ♪ I hold on to, for the beauty of your name ♪ ♪ My soul will never say, Jesus I love you ♪ ♪ Teach us to discern the moments, when to serve ♪ ♪ And when to sit here at your feet ♪ ♪ Keep us awake to what's important ♪ ♪ Just like Mary chose the bed and egg ♪ ♪ For you are the center of it all, my heart belongs to you ♪ ♪ My savior of it all, you're the one I hold on to ♪ ♪ For the beauty of your name, my soul will never say, Jesus I love you ♪ ♪ For you Jesus, are the center of it all, my heart belongs to you ♪ ♪ My savior of it all, you're the one I hold on to ♪ ♪ For the beauty of your name, my soul will never say, Jesus I love you ♪ ♪ Oh how I love you, oh how I love you, Jesus I love you, oh how I love you ♪ ♪ Oh how I love you, oh how I love you, my whole life for your glory, my whole life for you only, everyday for the honor of your name ♪ Oh how I love you, oh how I love you, my whole life for your glory, my whole life for you only, everyday for the honor of your name And if my days tell a story, let it be of you only, everyday for the honor of your name

My whole life for your glory, my whole life for you only, everyday for the honor of your name And if my days tell a story, let it be of you only, everyday for the honor of your name My whole life for your glory, my whole life for you only, everyday for the honor of your name And if my days tell a story, let it be of you only, everyday for the honor of your name Oh how I love you, oh how I love you, Jesus I love you, oh how I love you, oh how I love you My whole life for your glory, my whole life for you only, everyday for the honor of your name And if my days tell a story, let it be of you only, everyday for the honor of your name My whole life for your glory, my whole life for you only, everyday for the honor of your name And if my days tell a story, let it be of you only, everyday For the honor of your name Oh how I love you Oh how I love you I love you Oh how I love you Beloved Jesus Oh how I love you I love you For you are the center of it all My heart belongs to you Our savior of it all You're the one I hold on to For the beauty of your name My soul will live to say Jesus I love you My soul will choose to say Jesus I love you My soul will live to say Jesus I love you Oh we love you Lord We come to you Jesus

For you're everything we need You are everything we need You're our whole life Our whole world Everything Jesus Yahweh, Rahman, Elohim Shaddah, Jireh, Adonai Will manifest Himself When we call on your name Yahweh, Rahman, Elohim Shaddah, Jireh, Adonai Will manifest Himself When you call Him When you praise His name When you call Him He will manifest Himself When you praise Him He will manifest Himself When you lift His name up He'll be there for you Whatever you need He has it, He is it Yahweh, Rahman, Elohim Shaddah, Jireh, Adonai Will manifest Himself He's the center of it all My whole life For your glory My whole world For you're only everything

For the honor of your name And if my days Tell a story, let it be Oh, you're only everything For the honor of your name My whole life For your glory My whole world For you're only everything For the honor of your name And if my days Tell a story, let it be Oh, you're only everything Only every day for the honor of your name Oh how I love you Oh how I love you Oh we love you Jesus We love you Lord Oh how I love you If there's something you've been asking for, something you've been praying for I just believe right now the Lord is saying Just believe for it, have faith for it, come to me Seek me and I will manifest myself I am the center of it all There is nothing I cannot do So Lord I just pray you would touch your people this morning Supply every need I just felt like the Lord said some of them are not calling unto me And I know sometimes we can get in a place where maybe we feel numb A place where we think that you know it's been this way for so long I don't see any change

But a lot of times we feel that way right before there's breakthrough And so if you're needing some breakthrough today or this year Just stand with him and lay down the burden of heaviness Lay down the thing that's, lay down your doubt And surrender Whether it's hard, he's in it, he will never leave you nor forsake you But he wants your trust And so we thank you Lord that you are faithful And that you are trustworthy this morning We love you So God I just pray right now That you would just pour out a refreshing over your people You would pour out strength, you would pour out just what they need And I pray today Lord as we take communion Lord We would just continue to just grow our faith And that we would walk in obedience That we would just believe for whatever it is that we need And if it's something that we aren't seeing correctly Lord If it's not in alignment with your will Change our sight, change our heart, change our mind And let it be aligned with yours Because you know what is not good for us And you know what it is that we need And so I pray Father God that you would just do that this morning We just thank you Lord We just thank you God for your body that was broken for us Your blood that was poured out So we could be redeemed So we could walk in freedom We bless your holy name Yahweh

The great I am Oh he's the great I am There is nothing too hard for you God I bless your holy name Jesus We love and thank you, Amen I bless your holy name Jesus We love and thank you, Amen So please meet us there We have a special gift for you And we want to answer any questions you may have as well Additionally, our prayer team is ready after each service to pray with anyone Especially anyone that wants to make Jesus the Lord of their life today No better day to do that We encourage you to make the greatest decision of your life And if you do, let us know about it Meet us at the New Believers Table after the church service We have a Bible for you there That's going to be your sword and shield as you walk along the greatest journey of your life there Plus there'll be some people there to answer questions you may have as well Lisa, so we're excited about that Anything today that we talk about is going to be on our church center app The QR code below and the website, so check those out as well. In fact, we also have June 3rd, Worship Night. So Worship Night is back. We're excited about that. June 3rd, Worship Night is back, and at the same time, we're gonna have Rev Kids Summer Splash. So don't forget that.

We're excited about that being back. Vacation Bible School, June 15th through the 19th. Awesome, Helping Hands, check it out on the Church Center app, website, QR code. It's all gonna be there. Lisa, there's a lot of stuff going on this summer that we're excited about, but for now, enjoy the service. Enjoy the presence of the Lord. We are very excited that you're here. We'll see you next time. We'll see you next time. ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ We just wanted to take a minute to honor all the brave men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice today, and we're so grateful because we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for them. Can I hear an amen to that? Amen. So we appreciate all of those who made the ultimate sacrifice. You guys can be seated, and then I'd also like to take just a second and honor all of those who have served in our great military. Would you stand, please?

Come on, let's give it up for each one of these individuals. Praise the Lord. Amen. God bless you. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. All men and women alike, we appreciate you all very much, and we're grateful for each one of you. You are the heroes. Right now, I want to welcome everyone to Revolution Church. Let's give it up for our first-time guests. We have several first-time guests here with us today, and Steve Campbell's family's here. They've decided to move to East Tennessee. Come on. So we're good to see them. I saw them out in the foyer. Yep, glad you're here, all the way from New York, and great people. Glad to have you guys. But anyway, help me welcome the 411 family, who just joined us live right now. Pastor Tim and Jenny, God bless you guys. Thank you all, everything that's happening

down at the 411 campus. We're so grateful for that. And then last, let's welcome the 888 correctional facilities that are joining us from all over the United States of America. God bless you. Thank you all, and all of the regular attenders at our campuses. We're so thankful for each one of you. Well, today we're gonna be taking communion, and so if you guys, if anyone did not get your communion elements, if you'll hold up your hand, we have ushers that'll come around and serve you. We've got a few hands. We've got ushers that are serving right now, and we're preparing to take communion. We do this at the beginning of every sermon series. So when we're launching a new sermon series, we like to take communion together as the entire church body. And so, anyone else? Hands, any more hands up? Everybody get served? Okay. All right, we got one up here?

Yep, there we go. So we're good. We're good. 1 Corinthians chapter 11, verses 23 through 26 is the passage I wanna read, and this was Paul sharing with the Corinthians the correct way of taking communion. And so communion is essentially remembering the sacrifice that Jesus made for us, and there's power in it. It's more than just symbolism. There's two ordinances that Jesus left for the church. One is water baptism, and the other ordinance is communion. When we take communion, it's more than symbolism. There's actually a movement of the Holy Spirit that happens during this time. Bible teaches that even sickness and illness is healed during this time. Sins can be forgiven. You can ask the Lord right now, cleanse you of your sins, forgive you of all your transgresses, and he will do that. But if you'll go ahead and open up your communion element.

1 Corinthians 11 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which he was betrayed, he took the bread, when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, Take, eat this, is my body which is broken for you, do this in remembrance of me. Let's take the bread. In the same manner he also took the cup after service saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood, this do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. Let's take the juice. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Let's pray. Father, today God we never want to forget the great sacrifice, the ultimate sacrifice, you laying down your life for lost humanity. For that we're grateful, for that we want to always remember. Take this time to recognize the great cost that was paid. Thank you Lord, we love you so much and everybody said, Amen, Amen, Amen. So, how many of you guys are ready for the book of Ephesians? Okay, I hope you have your Bibles, I hope you're ready to go because we're diving in the word. I got a lot of feedback when we went through the book of James that a lot of individuals are saying we like that, we're learning more of the scripture, doing it this way. So, before I dive into chapter 1, I want to give you some history on Ephesus. First of all, Ephesus was a thriving town. It was a seaport hub for commerce and for trading. So pretty much in the region, all the activity that was happening was happening, it was coming through Ephesus. There's also a temple there called the Temple of Diana and people would travel from all over the region to come to this temple and in there was the goddess Diana. It was actually known as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. They worshipped this goddess Diana. She was known as the goddess of the hunt and also the fertility god. And in the spring of 52 AD, Paul is on his second missionary journey and he stops in and he visits the city Ephesus. He wasn't alone, he was traveling with two individuals, husband and wife, Priscilla and Aquila. Priscilla and Aquila were tent makers, just like Paul, he was a tent maker. So maybe they met in that occupation, I'm not really sure, but they were all serving the Lord and they were traveling together to do this missionary work. Now Paul, he spent three months on this first visit to Ephesus and while he was there, he was going into the synagogues and he was teaching Christ. He was explaining Christianity and the resurrection and things like that. But after three months, Paul leaves and he left Priscilla and Aquila there to continue teaching and many people believe this is when the church

of Ephesus was actually birthed, was when Priscilla and Aquila stayed in Ephesus. But not long after that, there was a man by the name of Apollos. Apollos was known as a very influential man. He was a great communicator. He comes to Ephesus and he's there to teach Jesus as well. Priscilla and Aquila, they, after spending some time around him, they realized that he needed more teaching. He needed more deep teaching in the word of God, so they spent time really mentoring or discipling or training Apollos. And so together all three of them were really making an impact in this city, Ephesus. But now I want to fast forward to Paul's third missionary journey. On this journey, again, he shows up in Ephesus. This time, this particular time, he stays a lot longer and as he's there, if you want to read about this journey and this missionary visit, it's found in Acts chapter 18 and Acts chapter 19. to go there today, but sometime I would encourage you to read that and you'll hear more details of what this missionary journey looked like. But while Paul was there, he meets these 12 guys. And these 12 individuals are disciples. They're disciples of the Lord, but as Paul's talking with them, he realizes that something's missing in their life. There's just something that they're lacking. And so he asks them the question, he said, have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed? Well, they had not heard of the Holy Spirit. That had not happened yet. And so we know the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost, which is 50 days after the resurrection. How many of you realize today is actually the day of Pentecost? Did you know that? I don't think it's a coincidence that here we are in Ephesians and we're referencing this same story and I didn't prepare that. I'm not smart enough to put those details together, but the Lord definitely is. But I think it's pretty cool because today being the day of Pentecost, it's the day the

Holy Spirit came from heaven. As a matter of fact, Jesus wouldn't let his disciples leave Jerusalem until they had experienced the Holy Spirit, the power of God. And he told them, he said, now before you go into all the world and preach the gospel and baptize, I want you to stay in Jerusalem until the promise from heaven comes, the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and then you're going to receive power, dunamis power. It's boldness. It's the effective witness power. It's all of that. So we ask them this and they've not, they said no, they've not received that. So Paul now, he knows how to take care of this situation. What he does is he gathers the 12 around and he begins to lay hands on them and pray. Laying hands on them and praying. And as he's laying hands and praying, you can read about this in Acts 18 and 19, the Bible says that they are filled with the Holy Spirit. They are baptized with the Holy Spirit and the result, what Paul witnessed was they began to speak in other tongues. Not only did they speak in other tongues, they also prophesied. And so this was the witness that the Holy Spirit had come upon these people. So now, Ephesians, now that they've been filled with the Spirit, the church is growing. I mean, it starts having a huge impact on Ephesus. Everybody's being impacted by this church that's on fire for God. It's like an awakening has come to the town. And so, as a result of this, man, the first thing that I read about that happened was that idol sales, idol sales dropped drastically, okay? You guys with me? See, the city of Ephesus, they were known for their idol worship, Diana, and they sold these idols, these little metal idols that everyone had in their house, everybody. I mean, you weren't cool unless you had a little Diana idol in your house, okay? Now, Christianity comes in, Paul's teaching that we're not to worship idols.

There's only one God, only one true God that we worship. And so, as a result of this, people stopped buying the idols. Well, this didn't go well for the idol makers, okay? The people that were making it, it stirred them up. You know, here's something that I've witnessed. The devil don't care if you go to church. He doesn't care if you sing your worship songs. He doesn't care if you hear a three-point sermon. What really messes with him is when you take the message out into the community and start impacting the community. Now he's got a problem because now you're encroaching on his territory, and he don't like that. Amen? I don't like him either, and I know you don't. But God's called us not to keep the message inside the four walls, but what? Take it out there. So that's what they were doing. You know, I think it's interesting. Last weekend, after the third service, I was out in the foyer. By the way, isn't the foyer looking great? Come on. It's looking awesome, man. Can't wait until the doors are open. But I was out in the foyer, I was talking to a family, and they had stayed after the third service. They wanted to meet me. It was a large group of people. And so, it was husband, wife, son, daughter-in-law, grandchildren, another son, and they had two more sons that's not here yet. But here's what they told me.

And we're looking for an area to move to. We're checking out the Knoxville area, Sevier County area, you know, even Maryville. And they said, we're just wanting to get away from Washington. It's crazy out there, they said. And we've watched the news. We understand. But their son-in-law is a detective in Washington. And he was telling, sharing some stories with me about how corrupt things are out there. And he was talking about how homelessness is everywhere. He said, I'm gonna be honest with you. I've only just seen a couple homeless people since I've been here. And here's what I said. I said, here's the reason. When you have a church that's doing what God called the church to do, it's gonna have a positive impact in the community, and you're not gonna have, listen to me, I honestly don't believe, I think that it eliminates these tent cities and all these, and addictions running crazy on the streets because the church is being the church and being the light to the world. So I told him that. I said, God has planted some good churches here. And I said, and I'll be honest with you. Probably the largest homeless community, you're probably gonna see them at Revolution Church because they show up here and we serve them

and we help them, but not to keep them in the state that they're currently in. Our goal is to show them the gospel. The gospel brings a redemptive power that lifts them out of that condition. Can I hear an amen? And they don't stay that way. And that's like, we wanna hear more. And then this week, I got a message from our children's pastor, children's leader, and she said, hey, I got a message from a family from Washington, D.C. You wanna read it? And she showed me the text. And it was, we visited the church. Kids love it. Met your pastor out in the foyer Sunday. And we have just signed a contract on some land in Maryville. We're all coming. We're building four houses on this property. He's a builder. So, guys, I know that's not gonna help our traffic problem in Blount County. But a prophecy was given a long time ago that God was gonna bring people from the north, south, and east, and west into this place to help us with the mission that God's called us to do. Amen?

How many of you realize we have a mission that God's called us? Just like, you know, we see this mission right here. So, as a result of the idle sales dropping, people are stirred up, and they start riding in the streets. Okay, you ever seen any of that on the news? They're riding for two hours. They gather in, there's a coliseum there in Emphasis that seated over 25,000 people back then. And they've gathered in there, and they're mad. They're hot, because it's affecting their pocketbook. You know, and so, as a result, they're wanting this guy by the name of Paul dead. Run him out of town, whatever. Well, Paul hears that 25,000 people have gathered. Yeah, they're riding, but Paul sees it as a captive audience. Let me go in here and preach the gospel. Well, some of the believers didn't think that was a good idea, and they said, no, we can't let you do that, because they'll kill you. So, they encouraged Paul to go ahead and peacefully leave town, and he did. This was his third missionary journey. So, he leaves Ephesus. Now, a little later on, we're gonna find out that Paul, he was arrested for preaching the gospel in Jerusalem, okay? Not long after that, he was taken to Rome,

and for two years, Paul was under house arrest. As a matter of fact, you had these guards, these Roman guards, chained to Paul for two years. Can you imagine being a Roman guard chained to the apostle Paul? If you weren't a believer, you would be before long, and that's exactly what happened. These guards became believers, because, I mean, they're hearing a guy, I mean, this is one of the smartest, he speaks like multiple languages. He could take you to the tomb where Jesus was at. He saw Jesus on the road to Damascus. I mean, can you imagine? So, for two years, he's there. He's under house arrest, but during this time, Paul wrote four letters. He wrote four letters, and these letters are known as the prison epistles, and the first letter he wrote was the letter to Ephesus. It's Ephesians. He also wrote Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon. So, he wrote these four letters from prison, and the first being Ephesus. Now, another thing before we dive into chapter one is Ephesus is rich with Christian history. As a matter of fact, when you dig in and you look at it, John, John ministered there in Ephesus. He like was a pastor of the church in Ephesus before he was arrested and taken to the Isle of Patmos Where he got the revelation the book of Revelation

He was a leader there and then also some more history on on Ephesus is Jesus himself wrote a letter To to Ephesus. It was a short letter. It was a small letter to the church in Ephesus You guys remember some of what he said that one thing he said that I'll never forget is he said I have I have one thing against you that you have lost your First love you remember reading that this was to Ephesus. So what they had they didn't keep and Jesus addressed it. So again a lot of rich history there so when we go through these chapters six chapters, the first three chapters are going to really be about doctrine and The last three chapters are focused on application Doctrine the first three application the last three and this is common to Paul's writings and and so All right. Now we're ready to go chapter one. You guys ready? All right. Let's let's dive in chapter 1 verse 1 starts like this and If you would leave the the verses on the screen until I go to the next verse if that's possible Okay, verse 1 Starts out it's Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God To the Saints who are in Ephesus and faithful in Christ Jesus Then he goes on he said grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ now notice how it starts Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ How many of you realize Paul was not always an apostle of Jesus Christ as a matter of fact? For the majority of his life. He was an opponent of Jesus Christ We know that he was traveling to Damascus on a journey to stop this movement Which he believed fully believed this was heresy and needed to stop he's on his way to Damascus to stop it and Jesus himself shows up to Paul Knocks him to the ground. He sees the great light and so When this all happens Paul asked two questions the first thing is He has who is this Lord?

He's wanting to know I mean that would be a question. I would probably have somebody knocked me to the ground It's like who is it? Just knocked me to the ground. Who is it Lord? And the second question was this What do you want me to do? These are two questions that every single one of us need to ask ourselves Who is it who is he and what do you want me to do? See, it's important that we know who he is that we know he's Lord They we that he's Savior that you know who you are in Christ. It's also important that you know your calling What did God call you to do? So what I'd like to do is looking back at verse 1. I'd like for you to replace the name Paul With your own name for just one second. I want you to think about it instead of Paul. It's Tim It's Chester. It's Connie. It's Dale Put your name in there Pacer Blank, what is my calling? What is my calling? So so for some of you maybe it's servant. Maybe it's pastor. Maybe it's group leader Maybe whatever that that is. We all need to know who we are and what our Calling is and this is exactly what what he's he's sharing out here It's important to know these these questions and then the second thing here in verse 2. He says to the Saints to the Saints in Ephesus And he goes on and he said to the Saints and who are in Ephesus and faithful in Christ Jesus So in Ephesus and in Christ Jesus now one thing that I want you to notice right here is Saints the word Saints. It's not referring to someone who lived a holy life Who died in good standings with the church who had at least one verified miracle and was canonized All right, all of our Catholic folks that's moved down got that most most of us Protestant didn't even get it It's not referring referring to that you do you know what it's referring to the word here for Saint is Hagia's and And the word Hagia's actually means most holy thing This refers to all who have trusted in Jesus Christ Today every single one of you who have trusted in Jesus Christ are now a saint And I didn't canonize you we don't do that here at Revolution Church, but you are a saint according to the scripture

So he's talking to all the born-again believers everybody with me Okay Now Paul addresses. He says to the Saints who are in Ephesus Okay, Ephesus you have two addresses You have two addresses one is your your earthly address Wherever you live Seville Road East Lamar Alexander Parkway Wherever it may be that's your earthly address But those who are in Christ Jesus you also have a heavenly address are you guys with me? To those who are in Ephesus and in Christ Jesus So that's important now. Let's let's move to verse 3 He said 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 Now when we hear of blessings Where does our mind normally go? Goes in the natural doesn't it material things God bless me with a new house God bless me with a new car God bless me with a new boat. God bless me with a new motorcycle. God bless me with good Help God bless me with whatever but usually when we refer to God's blessings We're referring to the natural the physical But here Paul's when he's addressing Ephesus he's he's not referring to the physical blessings. He's he's referring to spiritual blessings in Heavenly places which are far more valuable Than anything earthly. Can I hear an amen to that? And so today I want to spend a few minutes talking about these blessings that he points out The first blessing is found in verse 4 Verse 4 says 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 the first spiritual blessing that we see here That's extremely valuable is the fact that God chose you You were chosen by God

You were selected by God and and and you I mean God is all-knowing He's omniscient and he knows the mistakes that you will make he knows this The mistakes that you have made yet. He still chose you look over to your neighbor and tell them God chose me Come on, look at your other neighbor and say God chose me Okay, you've heard me say this if I was choosing some men To lead an initiative to change the world. I would not have picked Peter James and John. I Wouldn't have and you wouldn't have either would you not if you looked at their life prior to you would not have selected them if You were you know, especially as important as this mission was But Jesus again being omniscient. He was picking winners say God picks winners No, say that louder God picks winners Yeah, so so they didn't start out winners, but they were going to finish strong Amen you guys with me. Okay. How many of you today have heard of Golden Tempo? I Don't see a hand raised in the crowd. Oh I got one. We got one back here. We got one. We got two we got three Okay, a few of you you high achievers meet with me after church and we'll give you a free cup of coffee Okay Don't forget that miss dawn our interim principal along with Lisa Mattingly Golden Tempo not many people's heard of Golden Tempo because He was 23 to 1 odds in the 2026, Kentucky Derby Nobody heard of him, but he went from last To winning the race. I don't know if you watched it, but it was crazy Now Listen to this one person bet $1 on Golden Tempo to win and the next four positions and won 1.7 million dollars one dollar bet I'm not advocating gambling or betting today just saying When God looked at you he saw a winner So some of you

You know most of us have not crossed the finish line yet but God sees a winner and And today if you don't get anything out of this message than that understanding that God Saw a winner when he chose you then you've got what I feel like I needed to deliver because that's what Paul was delivering to This group in Ephesus. He chose you He chose you verse 5 and 6 now check this out 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. Key words right here, having predestined us to adoption. Second blessing, not only did God choose you, God adopted you. How many of you are glad that you were adopted by God? Amen? Praise the Lord, you were. He chose you and he adopted. Now, I'm gonna say this, being adopted is actually the best. You may say, well, why is it the best? Because if you were adopted, then you were selected. You were chosen. If you had a child born to you, you just get what you got. Right? You do, and it's all great. It's awesome. But you didn't really choose, God chose. So, think about adoption, adoption is really, I put here, in my words, is the best. And when God chose you, he not only chose you, but he adopted you. He brought you into the family of God.

And that is so good. How many of you guys are glad you're part of the family? I mean, I'm so grateful that I have brothers and sisters in the family of God. It's awesome. Verse seven. Now, listen to this. 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. So, the third spiritual blessing here, which are far more valuable than the physical, the third spiritual blessing is God redeemed you. Do you guys understand that the impact, the magnitude of being redeemed by God? As a matter of fact, if you look at this word redeemed or redemption, the Greek word here was a word used in the slave market. And when a slave went up on the block to be auctioned off, this word meant someone stepped up, purchased that slave, and then freed them, released them. And that's what happened in my life and in your life. Whom the son sets free is free indeed. Jesus purchased you and I with his blood. He bought you. He redeemed you. And so, what a spiritual blessing. There's nothing in this world that compares to that. Nothing compares to being chosen.

Nothing compares to being adopted. Nothing compares to being redeemed. Verse nine. 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, now listen to this, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are here on earth in him. So, here's the fourth spiritual blessing. The last one I'm gonna touch on today is God revealed the mystery. God revealed the mystery. Right here he said, and made known to us the mystery of his will. What is the mystery? What is a mystery? You know, generally, when we hear mystery, we think of maybe it's a clue to solving a puzzle or maybe it's a police drama and it's a mystery and we're trying to figure it all out. Well, honestly, here, what it actually represents is something that was hidden in the past. But now, it has been revealed in the present. And the mystery was this. The Old Testament, this was all hidden. It was only Jews and the nation Israel was part of the covenant, part of the family of God. But the mystery is this.

Not only Jews, but Gentiles. Even those who have died and went on, those who have not even been born yet, the mystery is we are all one in Christ Jesus. Can I hear an amen to that? We're all one, that's the mystery. It's not just the Jews, it's the Gentiles. And so, when Paul was writing this to the church in Ephesus, this excited them because they're primarily Gentiles. There's only a few Jews there in the whole town, the whole city. So, that fired them up. It's like we're part of the promise. We're part of the gifting, gifts of God. So, verse 11. In him, say in him. In him, also, we have obtained an inheritance. Again, here's this word, being predestined. According to the purpose of him. who works all things according to the counsel of his will. That we, say we, it's important because we need to remember that, in him and we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of his glory. And in him you also trusted after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom, having believed, 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. So here, guys, Ephesians chapter one. More churches have been split over the centuries over what I just read you. The book of Romans, some of Paul's teachings, predestination, is the Bible teaching that before the foundation of the world, that I was selected, that it was a done deal, that it was all arranged before it ever started for me to be saved? That's what we call Calvinism, what people call Calvinism. And then there's a flip side, Arminianism. And this is where your big debate is. In this room, there's probably a large percentage that believe both ways. So here's the question, and it's on the screen. Did God choose you, or did you choose God? Here's my answer. Yes. Yes. I'm honest, I know that sounds very simple, but it's yes. It was both. It's not one or the other. And we read it, again, the key, guys, is studying the word of God and not taking things out of context. Because we can form an opinion, a church, a doctrine, based on a small section of scripture,

but you gotta look at all 66 books. And you gotta figure the context, Old Testament, New Testament, who it was written to, all of that, that's called rightly dividing the word of truth. Are you guys with me now? Let me give you an example of the way I see this. First of all, I wanna thank Mr. Chris Scarborough, a volunteer firefighter up in Townsend for getting me this equipment. I had the idea of it around Tuesday or Wednesday, and I text him, and he brought it to my house, and I appreciate him for doing that. So right here is a life preserver. They use it for water rescue. This is your throw bag. Here's the way I see it. There was a lost and dying world. They couldn't help theirself, they were going under. And God saw it, and God cast the life preserver. He selected you, he chose you, he threw you the life preserver. Can you see the dying world? God could, all through time, being omniscient. He saw him dying, and he cast it out. Here's the illustration. God chose you when he threw the life preserver. But salvation's not complete yet. You have to reach over and grab that preserver. When you reach over and you choose God,

salvation happens, but it takes both. Are you guys with me? It takes both. It requires God choosing you. And you choosing God. It's not one or the other, it's both. And that's the love of God. That He saw me and He saw you from the foundation of the world and He said, I want Him. I want Her. I choose that individual. How many people today are down here, drowning, and they don't even realize it, but the Preserver is right there in front of them. All they have to do is reach down. They're dying. They're drowning. And God's provided a way. That's all humanity. Oh man, I feel the Spirit of God right now. God's moving in somebody's heart right now. I don't know who you are, but you feel like you're going under and you can't get up. God said, listen, I provided the essentials to save you, but you've got to reach out and pick it up. And when you do, salvation happens. I just wonder if there's anybody here today that's not truly grabbed a hold of the Preserver. For whatever reason. You've been close. You've been with arm's reach. But for whatever reason, you just didn't grab it. God's saying today, if you by faith will reach out, your life will never be the same. I was lost just like you.

I didn't know how to fix myself, but God knew how to fix me. Even in my brokenness, He just said, hey sir, if you'll just reach out, trust me, I'll save you. I'll save your wife. You'll have children and they'll know me. You'll have grandchildren. Come here, Liddy. Right here's one of them sitting right up here on the front. You'll have grandchildren and they'll know me. This week, Connie was having a migraine headache, sitting in the house. The grandchildren were there. This young lady right here, Lydia said, let's pray for her. Lydia laid her hands on Connie's head along with the other grandkids and prayed, right? Amen. God bless you. Sit down. Thank you. We stand. I feel like that God's wanting to move in some people's lives. Will you pray for the lost right now? Those that need rescued? Those that are drowning? Father, today in Jesus' name, Lord, we know that you're still on the throne and you hear us when we pray. And I pray right now, God, that you would draw people to Jesus, the preserver, the life preserver. Not just temporary, but eternal life. Draw them to it right now. If you're in this building, you just say, pastor, I feel the Holy Spirit drawing me. I feel him pulling me.

Would you pray that God would give me the boldness to move? Hold up your hand right now across this building. Hold it up high. Come on, hold it up high. Amen. There's hands going up across this. Hold it up high. Come on. We're not ashamed. I feel the Holy Spirit drawing. I feel the Holy Spirit drawing me right now. Come on, hold it up if that's you. Father God, you see every hand right now. Come on, pray, church. In the name of Jesus, I pray every single hand that's going up right now, God, would feel your love, feel your compassion, feel your desire for them to be saved, to be in relationship with you. If you would look at me for just one second, here's what I feel strongly to do. If you were here and you raised your hand or you didn't raise your hand, I want you to just step out of your seat, step out from the aisle you're sitting in, and I want you to come down here and stand by that life preserver because it represents Christ. Step over there. Come on, every one of you. Come on, make your way down, stadium seats, wherever you're at. Come on, praise the Lord. Give the Lord some praise right now for people moving. This is huge. This is big. This is God. Come on, there's more of you coming.

We're going to pray for you in just one second. Prayer team, would you come to the front, please? Another group I want to mention, you were the individual who grabbed the preserver, but the waves were so difficult, so horrendous that there was a point in your life where you were on fire and you were doing good and you had a hold of Jesus, but for whatever reason the storm hit your life and you let go. If that's you, today the Lord's saying, I've not forgotten about you. The preserver's still right there. It's still right in front of you. If that's you right now, I want you to step out. Come on, somebody needs to rededicate your life to the Lord. Lord this Sunday morning. Come on. Move out of that seat wherever you're at. Maybe you're watching online. There's people coming from the back. Come on. Stadium seat. Praise the Lord. Thank God. Thank the Lord. Amen, Mike. Praise the Lord. God's good. There's more. There's probably more that need to move, but it's okay. Here's what I'm going to say. We're going to sing this last song. And while we're singing this last song, we're going to pray. And I believe the Holy Spirit is going to move in a powerful way in these altars. Can I hear an amen to that? I want all of you walk past that preserver and find you a prayer partner right now as we sing this last song. Let's go worship team. Oh, the saints and angels bow before your throne. All the elders cast their crowns before the Lamb of God and sing. You are worthy of it all. You are worthy of it all. For from you are all things. And to you are all things. You deserve the glory. You deserve it, my God. We give you all the glory, Lord. Oh, the saints and angels bow before your throne. All the elders cast their crown before the Lamb of God. Come on, let's sing it all together. You are worthy of it all. You are worthy of it all. For from you are all things. And to you are all things. You deserve the glory. You're worthy, God. You are worthy of it all. For from you, Lord. For from you are all things. And to you are all things. You deserve the glory. You deserve all our worship, God. All our adoration. It goes up to you, my Lord. You are a good, good father. Day and night, night and day, let incense arise. Day and night, night and day, let incense arise. Day and night, night and day, let incense arise. Day and night, night and day, let incense arise.

Come on, this is your worship. Let it rise. Let it rise right now above all the circumstances. Let it rise, let it rise. Day and night, night and day, let incense arise. ♪ Day and night, night and day ♪ ♪ You are worthy of it all ♪ ♪ You are worthy of it all, yes you are ♪ ♪ For from you are all things and to you are all things ♪ ♪ You are all things, you deserve the glory ♪ Come on, he deserves it this morning. ♪ You are worthy of it all, everything, everything, oh Lord ♪ ♪ You are worthy of it all, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ For from you are all things and to you are all things ♪ ♪ You are all things, you deserve the glory ♪ One more time. ♪ You are worthy of it all ♪ ♪ You are worthy of it all ♪ ♪ For from you are all things and to you are all things ♪ ♪ You are all things, you deserve the glory, Lord ♪ ♪ Cause you are worthy of it all, everything, every day ♪ ♪ You are worthy of it all ♪ ♪ For from you are all things and to you are all things ♪ ♪ You deserve the glory, yes God, you deserve all the glory ♪ For from you are all things and to you are all things, Jesus. It's all you, Jesus. You're the center, you're at the center of it all. Amen. Father, I pray as we leave this place this morning, oh, that your spirit would just go with us. Let our hearts be so focused on gratitude and your goodness. You are worthy to be praised.

Father, we bless your holy name. Amen and amen and amen. Amen.