HIT THE BOOKS: Paul's Letters: Ephesians "We Are Chosen"

way to strong [Music] we he [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] you [Music] [Music] hey good morning church welcome to Crossroads it is good to have you with us today um we're excited about the opportunity we have to worship and learn and be encouraged and challenged uh through what God has to say through his word uh and now as we have this opportunity to be able to worship His name I want to ask that you worship with us let's start by standing church and let's worship [Music] together know who I am cuz I Know Who You Are the cross of Salvation was only the start but now I am chosen I'm free and forgi when I have a [Music] future and it's worth the live in I wasn't made to be tend in the grave I was called by day born and raised back to life again and I was made for more so why would I make a bet in my shame when a Fountain of Grace is running my way I know I am yours and I was made for more I know who I am cuz I know who you are the cross of salvation but only the St now I am chosen free and forgiv but I have a future and it's worth the [Music] living I wasn't made to be send in a grave I was called by name born and raised back to life of again but I was made for [Music] more so why would I make a bet in my shame when I found no Grace is running my way I know I am yours and I Was Made for [Music] More hu you called out my name so I'll sing out your praise hu you buried my past and I'm not going back [Music] hallelu you called on my name so I'll sing out your praise h you buried my past and I'm not going be cuz I wasn't made to be tend in a grave I was called by name born and raised back to life again when I was made for more so why would I make I bet in my shame when a Fountain of Grace is running my way I know I am yours and I Was Made for More yeah I wasn't made to be tend in a grave I was called by day born and raised back to life for again but I was made for more more more and more so why would I made I'm heading my shame when a found to no Grace is running my way I know I am yours and I Was Made for More hallelu You you call on my name so I'll sing as you praise huj you bury my past and I'm not going B hu you call out my name so I'll sing out your praise Hallelujah you buried my pass and I'm not going B CU I wasn't made to be send in the grave I was called by day born and raised back to life again and I was made for more so why would I make a bet in my shame when no Fountain of Grace is running my way I know I am yours and I Was Made for More would you pray with me God thank you for just that thank you for loving us for choosing us for wanting to have this relationship thank you for the opportunity we have to recognize you in this moment together as part of your church to worship your name and to understand that we have been chosen by you thank you God it's in Jesus name we pray [Music] amen will you unravel me with the melody and you surround me with with a [Music] song of deliverance from my enemies till all my fears are gone well I'm no longer a slave to fear I am a child of God well I'm no longer a slave to fear I am a child of [Music] God from my mother's womb you have chosen me love has called my name well I've been born again to your family your blood flows through my V well I'm no longer a slave to fear I am a child of God well I'm no longer a slave to fear I am the child of God well I'm no longer a slave to fear I am a child of God well I'm no longer slam to fear I am a child of [Music] God but I am surrounded by the all arm of the father I am surrounded by songs of Deliverance we've been [Music] liberated from my bondage with the sons and the [Music] daughters so let us sing our freedom we'll sing wo wo wo weing wo wo wo the Chings wo wo wo W the church sings wo wo wo you split the sea so I can walk right through it my fears are drown in perfect love yeah you rescue me so I can stand and saying that I am a child of God oh oh yeah would you spit the sea so I can walk or walk right through where my fears are drown in perfect love oh yeah you rescue me so I can stand and sing that I am a child of God yes I am when I am a child of [Music] God well I'm no longer a slave to fear I am a child of God well I'm no longer us Slave To Fear I am a child of [Music] God and being a child of God means that he takes care of us just like he takes care of his creation so keep that in mind as we understand that we are chosen by him and he calls us his own [Music] the spirit's not worried about tomorow or the troubles to C the Lily's not thinking about the season the drought of the flood a tree that's planted by the water isn't phed by the fire so why should I be you take good care of me you take good care of me you know what I need before I even ask you you hold me in your head with the kindest that never R I'm carried in your love no matter what the future brings you take good care me the sun's now worried about the winter the soon it will pass the light's not thinking about the darkness or the shadow It cast a heart that's planted in forgiveness doesn't dwell in the past so why should I be you take take good care of me you take good care of me you know what I need before I even ask you thing you hold me in your hands the kindness to never R I'm carried in your love no matter what the future brings you take good care of me [Music] well I know there must be more but I can't get past your kindness I know there got to be more but I can't get past your goodness well I know there must be more but I can't get past your kindness I know there's got to be more but I can't get past your goodness you take good care of me you take good care of me you know what I need before I even everything you hold me in your hands with the kindness never you your love no matter what the future breaks you take good care of me what seems like and all I can see was the [Music] struggle haunted by Ghost and Liv it my past bound up in shackles of all my [Music] failures wonder how long is this going to [Music] L then you look at this prisoner and say to me son stop fighting this fight it's already been W cuz I am redeem and you set me free so I'll shake off these heavy chains while away no I'm not who I used to be cuz I am [Music] redeemed I am redeemed with all my life I've been called un Worthy named by the voice of my shame and [Music] regret but when I hear you whisper Child Left up your head I remember oh God you're not done with me yet cuz I am redeemed and you set me free so I'll shake off these heavy chains wipe away stain that I'm not who I used to be because but I don't have to be the old man inside of me cuz his day is long dead and goone because when I got a new name a new life and I'm not the same with a hope that will carry me home I am redeemed and you set me free so I'll shake off these heavy chains and wipe away every stain now I'm not who I used to be cuz I am redeemed and you set me free so I'll shake off these heavy chains and wipe away every stain now I'm not who I used to be no God but I'm not who I used to be in Jesus but I'm not who I used to be CU I am [Music] ready thank God redeemed you may be seated [Music] three times this week I've heard the sentence I wish we could all just get along it's a it's a great line right unfortunately as human beings we don't always agree with everybody else but what God did for us in Jesus levels everything and I I think today as we as we part take of this bread and this juice that we need to be reminded in our own in our own minds that that we've been forgiven and the folks around us have been forgiven maybe we should strive to just try a little bit harder at sharing that forgiveness with others is it a hard line to accomplish I wish everybody could get along it is but I feel like at the foot of the cross and around this table we're all on equal ground forgiven and we just need to be reminded of that I think that's why we do this every week to know what God has done for us and his son let's pray gracious God lord as we ready our hearts and our minds to partake of this Memorial to think about what you've done for us in your son Lord just help our hearts help us to have the Forgiveness with others that you've had with us Lord may we continue to strive to bring glory and honor to you and Lord as we partake this meal and so many others do today as well around this entire Globe we thank you for what your son's done for us for the Forgiveness that we have because of his death burial and Resurrection it's in Jesus name we pray amen [Music] oh [Music] [Music] oh [Music] n n [Music] oh [Music] St [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so we are in the midst of uh our annual series called hit the books and we're talking um working through Paul's letters not working through them but we're each kind of picking one and talking a little bit about it uh and there's homework associated with this so hopefully last week you read first and second Timothy um so you know the question's been asked me through the years what is your favorite of Paul's letters well you know that'd be difficult he's written so many and there are so many really good ones out there uh I don't know if I could choose but if I if I had to pick I probably would pick uh e Ephesians uh because Paul's letter to the Ephesians is a it's a wonderful book for anybody to read and stop and think about and the thing is it's only six chapters long so you can easily Breeze through it in one sitting however I would strongly recommend that you don't do that uh that you should probably take your time and absorb what Paul has to say because there is a lot packed into those six chapters of the letter that he wrote to the Ephesians Church the book of Ephesians with a letter to the Ephesians is written uh with all kinds of important insights about our Christian faith and what it means for us to live as Jesus followers and the text that I'm going to use this morning uh is is from the opening of Paul's letter to the the Ephesians and it's just like it's just like 12 verses long okay but if you were to read it in the original Greek it's just one giant runon sentence it's it's like Paul hardly even stops to take a breath he rushes from one blessing to the next and Paul is just so excited to get this letter going he's so excited to talk about the good news of Christ that he just starts right off right off the bat praising God for all of his incredible blessings and Paul just can't say enough about God and about his treatment of us and how he cares for us and so Paul just keeps going and going and going if if you ever met somebody that just rattles at the mouth just it runs it just runs and they barely take a breath they're so excited they usually get that white frothy things on the sides of their mouth you know what I'm talking about when when I read these verses and try to take out all the punctuation to see what it's like it's just a mess I mean yeah there's some there's some things you can pick up on but the rest just kind of gets buried in everything else and I I just think about somebody that's just so excited that you never get a word in edge like and there just it it reminds me a little bit it reminds me about when I was young on Thanksgiving or Christmas and there's that special meal prayer that happens right before everybody gets to Gorge themselves and as a kid that loves food as an adult that loves food um I remember just standing there you know you're standing there you're all around the table and you know what you do because you still do it as an adult you crack open your eyes a little bit you look you look at the food I mean it's Thanksgiving you know there's steam coming off the turkey there's steam coming off the tater look at all that stuff in right there and the prayer just keep and I'm like oh I'm so hungry you know what I'm talking about that's what I think about when I think about these runon things and maybe that's why I keep my meal time prayers so short now as an adult I don't like to do but anyways we're going to jump right into it like I said thank God for people that translated the Bible because they did help Paul out and put in some punctuation so that we can make sense of some of these ideas he just streams out as he's writing this letter to the Ephesians we're going to be going in Ephesians chapter 1 we're going to be looking at verses 3 to4 this is what Paul wrote as he started off this letter to the church at Ephesus he said praise be to the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ in Christ God has given us every spiritual blessing in heaven in Christ he chose us before the world was made in his love he chose us to be his holy people people without blame before him and before the world was made God decided to make us his own children through Jesus Christ that's what he wanted and that's what pleased him and so this brings praise to God because of his Wonderful Grace God gave that Grace To Us freely in Christ the one he loves and in Christ we are set free by the blood of his death and so we have forgiveness of sins because of of God's Rich Grace God gave us that Grace fully and freely and God with full wisdom and understanding he let us know his secret purpose and this is what God wanted and he planned to do it through Christ his goal was to carry out his plan when the right time came and he planned that all things in heaven and on Earth would be joined together in Christ as the head see in Christ we're chosen to be God's holy people God had already chosen us to be his people because that's what he wanted and God is the one who makes everything agree with what he decides and wants we are chosen so that we would bring praise to God's glory and so it is with you you heard the true teaching the good news about your salvation and when you heard it you believed in Christ and in Christ God put his special mark on you by giving the holy spirit that he promised and that Holy Spirit is the guarantee that we will get what God promised for his people this will bring full freedom to the people who belong to God to bring praise to God's glory so there's a lot in those in those few verses right there is a lot of of ideas there and if we're to boil this down to what Paul is praising God for is he's praising God for his plans that God planned to choose you and I God planned to accept you and I God loves you so much that he he wanted you to be his friend and to have a relationship with you that God loved you so much that he planned that he would send his son for our Redemption that we would be his chosen people God planned that so long ago not only did he plan that but he also planned for us to fulfill the our our goals to fulfill his goals as we are his church here in this world and so Paul just kind of goes on and talks praise God for all these plans that he's got for us now did you notice in verse three the very first thing that Paul Praises God for is he thanks God for choosing us it says this it says in Christ he chose us before the world was made in Christ God chose you and he chose me before he even created the world I mean isn't that amazing think about that for a second we see such a small amount of what he created because we are limits and we have physical limitations as far as our bodies we can't even begin to Fathom everything that he's done but yet before God ever spoke anything into existence he chose you above all things God chose you he he chose to create you he chose to have this amazing relationship with you and he chose you and I to be a part of his family now several things I'm going to say this morning are a bit redundant and that's because I want us to understand how important the message is that Paul is trying to convey here he wants you and I to come to grasp to come to terms to believe in the fact that we have been chosen by God we have been chosen to be a part of his family I run across people all the time that don't understand why they're here they don't understand why they were born they don't understand the talents that they have or the lack thereof they don't understand what it is what's going on I don't feel like I belong and yet Paul is so it's so important to him for for us to understand for him to convey the message Hey listen you were chosen Above All Else he ch chooses you and I really feel like if we can Embrace that it's really an amazing freeing truth to understand we do belong we have been created on purpose with purpose God chose us in Christ and we need to be confident of that and understand that nothing we do can take that away nothing we do can take that away but I want I want us to think just a little bit more about what it means about being chosen God's chosen people as Corey and Jason introduced Paul to us the last couple weeks um Jason especially spoke about the fact that that Paul grew up reading the Old Testament the Old Testament was the only Bible he had that was his Bible and a very important theme in the Old Testament is that the nation of Israel was God's chosen people the nation of Israel the Israelites were God's chosen people and it all began with with Abraham okay Abraham was chosen by God to be the father of many nations remember Father Abraham had many sons remember that I'm glad I don't remember it anymore but he was chosen to be the father of many nations God chose him and blessed him so that he would be a blessing to all others and so the theme about the Israelites being God's chosen is all through the Old Testament you have to understand even when things were rough for them even when the Israelites didn't do the right thing even when they were like enslaved in Egypt they were still God's chosen people for example in Deuteronomy 7:6 God's people are told this You Are Holy people you belong to the Lord your God he has chosen you from all the people on Earth you are his very own you see the Israel isites they were God's chosen people and they were chosen for a purpose they were to be a light to the Nations and they were to bless all the nations of the world being a light to the Nations meant they were to be an example they were be an example but not just an example where there there's some entitlement issues it's not that there would to be an example of of what love looks like of how God treats us about how God leads us how God provides for us and then they in turn are supposed to bless everyone else through this relationship they have with their heaven father but Paul says That Was Then That Was Then and Now Paul is telling us that we are the new Israel we have been chosen to bless the world the church has been chosen to be a light to the nation we have been chosen to do God's work on this Earth we are to care for the poor and the sick we are to feed the hungry we are to bring hope to the Hopeless and we are to strive for justice and peace and we're to do all these things in the name of Jesus that's what we have been chosen for and Paul is telling us as hey they were the chosen ones you are now the chosen ones and he says he says we have been chosen we've been chosen in Christ to be to be holy and blameless before God little problem there we have been chosen by God to be be holy and blameless I I think you might have figured it out just like I have who uh who believes that please don't do it who believes You Are Holy and blameless raise your hand if somebody wants to they can take this mic and I will sit right down and listen to you because I know I'm not I'm not holy I'm not blameless and uh I'm guessing that you're not either well Paul reminds us that none of us are the nation of Israel they weren't the church certainly isn't and we aren't either and that's that my friends is why we need a savior we need one who is Holy we need one who is blameless we need Jesus who is truly God's chosen ones because we don't always get it right but Jesus us he is God's chosen one who is always holy always blameless he is God's beloved he is God's treasured possession he is the light to the Nations he is the one in whom All Nations and all people are blessed and thank God we are adopted into his family anybody here adopted I uh I'm amazed uh by families that adopt um I um I just I'm amazed because I think about the kids that they adopted to know if they're older to know that maybe um for them to realize that there was somebody at home that probably didn't want me anymore or couldn't keep me anymore or couldn't take care of me anymore I don't know about you but that would make me feel pretty low but to turn around and have somebody say you I want you I want to take you home you're GNA be my son you're G to be my daughter and I'm gonna treat you just like my very own that's pretty cool isn't it I think it is it it it makes puts a wobble in my throat wrot when I think about it to know to know that hey you have been selected you are good enough you are family and that's what Paul is saying to you and me yeah it's pretty easy for you to think back you've made your share of mistakes you've really messed some things up I have too and I can go back and wer in my shame or tend to the grave but instead God says no come on enough that's old this is new the new is that you were chosen and then Paul goes on to explain we're not just been chosen but we have been chosen in Christ and the next verses through the first chapter of Ephesians remind us about that we have been chosen but we've been chosen in Christ we have been chosen to be a part of his family and all that comes through Jesus we are redeemed through his blood we are forgiven of our sins because of the sacrifice that Christ made on the cross for you and me God chooses us and I know life can get confusing at times and I know there's chaos all around us I understand that there's challenges and sometimes that can really rock us can really rock our foundation and make us wonder what exactly why are we here what's going on is do I even have play a part in this life in this world but I want you to understand we have been chosen in Christ so the next time you have some identity issues the next time you wonder why you're here what is so important that God would want you to be wrapped in skin and take care of you to that you're to this point in life what is it I know because I'm like I said I'm surrounded by people who really question this thing they really question their worth they start to feel like they're expendable maybe things would be better if I wasn't here and I want you to rase that thinking I want you to to put it away I want you to flush it because I want you to understand it's so important that you come to terms with the fact you're not your own you were created specifically to belong you were already created into his family adopted into his family I think at times we all have questions about why we're here why is it important that God wanted me to be here I think we've all probably struggled with trying to live up to our potential to live out our purpose it took me a long time to figure out why it was that I was this hot mess that God made and because of Christ God chooses hot messes so I think it's just so important for you and I to be reminded of how important you are how important you are to God how important that he absolutely chooses you and he made us his he calls us family we are his own and there is a place in heaven for us but until then God wants to be with us now he wants us to understand that we're family there's a song from the band called Casting Crowns that I love uh the song is called who am I and the lyrics remind meind remind us of exactly who we are here's the lyrics who am I that the Lord of all the Earth would care to know my name that he would care to feel my hurt who am I that the bright and Morning Star would choose to light the way for my ever wandering heart not because of who I am but because of what you done and not because of what I've done but because of who you are because I I'm a flower that's quickly fading here today gone tomorrow like a wave tossed in the ocean or a vapor in the wind but still you hear me when I'm calling and Lord you catch me when I'm falling and you've told me who I am I am yours I am yours whoever we are we are God's God has chosen us we need to remember this we need to lean into this and build our lives on this we are God's no matter who we are because we have been chosen in Christ I always think back to Toy Story I always think back to Woody I always think about the boy and writing his name on the bottom of Woody's Boot and then I always think about Nikki and how Nikki has a god Nikki has the word god tattooed on the bottom of her foot so she can be reminded that she's his and so are you so am I we've not just been chosen but we've been chosen in Christ for a reason we have been chosen for a purpose and verse 12 tells us what this is it says we were chosen so that we would bring praise to God's glory we would bring praise to God's glory what does that mean what does that mean well Paul Spen a good amount of the rest of his letter to the to the Ephesians explaining what that means because Ephesians is filled with teachings on what it means to live as God's chosen people and how we are to praise God's glory and just like any good book report I'm not going to tell you how it ends I'm not going to give you the answer because I want you to read it I want you to read it for yourself you're going to have to read the rest of the book The Paul's letter to the Ephesians to find out exactly what our Jesus following should look like but first and most importantly Paul wants you and I to understand really understand and believe that God has chosen us in Christ it's no longer the Israelites that been chosen by God it's us it's all of us that you and it's me and every one of us is God's treasured possession a light to the Nations chosen in Christ to live to praise God's glory and we have been blessed to be a blessing to others who are we that the Lord of all the Earth would care to know our names that he would care to feel our hurt who are we that the bright and Morning Star would choose to light the way for our ever wandering Hearts because it's not because of who we are it's but because of what you've done it's not because of what we've done but it's because of who you are CU we man we're flowers quickly fading we're here today gone tomorrow like a wave tossed in the ocean or a vapor in the Wind but still you hear us when we're calling and you catch us when we're falling and you've told us who we are we are yours we are yours so praise be to God who has blessed us in Christ and chosen us to be a blessing to the world so you and I now have the opportunity to live as chosen to live as his would you stand up and sing with [Music] us who am I that the highest king would well me I I was lost but he brought me in oh his love for me oh his love for [Music] me who the son said free oh is free indeed I'm a Child of God yes I am [Music] free last he has Ransom me his grace R deep while I was a slave to S Jesus died for me yes he died for me who the son set free hope is pray and day I'm a Child of God yes I am in my father's house there's a place for me I'm a Child of God yes I am [Music] think about the words of this next part of the song church not just for all of us but for you and for me I am chosen not forsaken I am who you say I am you are for me not against me I am who you say I am sing it out chur ready I [Music] am I am who you see you are for me not against me no I am who you say I am I am who you say I am I am who you say I am who the son say free always pray indeed I'm a child oh God yes I [Music] am in my father's house there's a place for me I'm a Child of God yes I am in my father's house there's a place for me I'm a Child of God yes I am [Music] Li am chosen not forsaken I am who you say I am you are for me not against me I am who you say I am I am chosen not forsaken no I am who you say I am you are for me not against me no I am who you say I am I am chosen not forsaken I am who you say I am you are for me not against me no I am who you say I am I am who you say I am well I am who you say I [Music] am the sun sets free hope is free and day I'm a Child of God yes I am in my father's house house there's a place for me I'm a child oh God yes I am in my father house there's a place for me I'm a child oh God yes I am so remember that you're chosen remember that you are God's family and allow that to be some truths a foundation that you can build your life on so that you can act as his chosen like I said to be chosen is not a entitlement kind of thing but it's something that we understand who's we are and why we're here we have been chosen to bring praise to God's glory and that is by you and I being a light to the this world it is by you and I uh blessing all others that we come into contact with understand you're not an outsider God sent his son so that you would be on the inside that you would be family and now we have an opportunity as his family and his chosen ones to go and love all others as God loves us he loves you let's pray God thank you for loving us thank you for choosing us before before you ever had us wrapped in skin you chose us and you called us your own you're so delighted that you you wanted us to be family not a strange family members not like that weird uncle but God you love us as your own and you want us to sit right with you to be with you not only then but now you want to dwell in US you want to empower us you want us to wear the label of gods so that we can go into this world and love others and serve others and help others in Christ and through Christ and because of him it's in Jesus name we pray amen you can pop a squat real quick thank you for coming just got a couple quick announcements to run through Jason and I do first of all thank you for being here uh homework read Ephesians 6 chapters you can work your way through it Ephesians 6 do that read that for this week okay so that's your homework uh for next week uh we only got a couple things uh today uh today it's happening it is the fellowship and it's going to be cards and football okay you're going to be playing cards while you watch football that's happening Jay what time is that o00 not real confident but we're going to say four you know what I look like that looked like uh that looked like uh The Price is Right but the person's trying to come up with a bid and they have to look out in the crowd and be like Chris what is it four one four it's four anyways so four o'clock fellas be here today there'll be Pizza you're going to be playing cards and watching football one last one before I pass the mic to Jay don't forget we encourage you to Worship in another way and that's through givings of tithes and offerings our worship box or worship our offering boxes are are anchored to the wall um just because back in the day we didn't have that and we had offering walk away so yeah if you ever wondered why they're locked in the back dollar bills are sticky sometimes in more ways than one anyways so we encourage you to to give by uh by um giving your ties and offerings and being able to help us keep doing what we're doing for this community and others so anyways this is my buddy Jason I was waiting for more Applause it was just my kids thanks Paxon Sky um tonight hey we are doing uh every September um we always do something called the riot kickoff Riot is the name of our youth group um it is for junior high and Senior High ours starts uh sixth grade all the way up and we always kind of do this kickoff as some kind of Welcome to any kind of new students anyone that hasn't been a part of it um and we have we we've really tried to make um not just tonight but just riot in general a place where um as teens come in they can feel comfortable and welcome we have an amazing group of teens right now we have an amazing group of sponsors um and there's just a lot of exciting stuff going on so anyone out there that is sixth grade um all the way up if you've never been I I promise tonight is a great time to be able to come and connect with people and and honestly for those teens that have kind of Fallen away I know they kind of get and the this mindset of what it's going to be really weird if I go back um this kickoff is always a great night to just be like come back it's not that bad like and we got all kinds of weird crazy chaotic stuff going on tonight so um it's a good one to come so if you guys have any questions find anner I and um he's jealous see you T my chest hair can do that I believe that's it Congress said and be the church CE all [Music] [Music] all [Music]