Ephesians 1:1-14 “Paul,
an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints who are in
Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the
heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in
Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and
without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption
as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His
will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made
us accepted in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His
blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His
grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom
and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will,
according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in
the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather
together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and
which are on earth—in Him. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance,
being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things
according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in
Christ should be to the praise of His glory. In Him you
also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of
your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the
Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our
inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to
the praise of His glory.”
Our Wednesday evening
never-ending small group Bible study has been going through a 5 lesson series
on God’s Grace. Pastor Giglio explains that there are two spiritual
impossibilities in life. One being that nobody can approach our holy God in our
state of sin and two being nobody can maintain fellowship with God in our state
of sin. Confession and repentance of sin is the step that leads to accepting the
gift of redemption, forgiveness, reconciliation and restoration of relationship
with God through our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. Confession to God is more
than the dictionary definition of the
acknowledgment of a crime, fault or something to one's disadvantage; open
declaration of guilt, failure, debt, accusation. Avowal; the act of
acknowledging; profession. The act of disclosing sins. The word literally
means to agree with and speak the same thing according to God’s Word. The word
“Lord” means “owner”, a master; a person possessing supreme power and authority;
one whose word must be obeyed. So confession to Lord God Almighty is making the
God’s Word, our word.
In the gospel of redemption,
by God’s grace and our by faith, we have justification and salvation in Christ
where our sin is placed upon Jesus and through His sacrifice on the cross ,
Christ’s righteousness is credited to us (making us holy and blameless in the
sight of God). We also receive regeneration of our spirit, transformation of
our heart, eternal life, become a child of God and a citizen of the kingdom of
Heaven, receive the indwelling Holy Spirit to guide us, and are blessed us with every spiritual blessing in
the heavenly places in Christ. But, our complete transformation is not instantaneous. There is a
process of “Sanctification” to transform from the image of the sinful flesh to
the image of the spirit of Christ according to the Word of God. When we put our
faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord at the moment of salvation, we are
sanctified and He equips us everything spiritually that we need to accomplish
this lifelong process. Our challenge is to trust and think according to the
truth that we’ve already received. We do not have a “low pool”; we have a “full
pool”. Live it out daily.
In Christ, Brian
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