Sermon Central
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Every Spiritual Blessing In Jesus Series
Contributed by Dr. Bradford Reaves on Feb 10, 2022 (message contributor)
Summary: Many Christians today have their eyes set on rolling hills of worldly blessings, never realizing we have within our grasp the richest reserve of blessing in Jesus that will never go empty.
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Dr. Bradford Reaves
Crossway Christian Fellowship
Hagerstown, MD, USA
www.mycrossway.org
View this and other messages at: https://mycrossway.churchcenter.com/channels/8118
I want to ask for some license for just a moment to revisit a story I put into the newsletter last Sunday. It is about the Yates Oil Field in West Texas. The man who owned the property was named Ira Yates, and he was a poor sheep rancher during the Great Depression. He struggled hard and was barely able to make ends meet. Until one day when someone offered him an opportunity to allow them to drill for oil on his land. The result of that test drill was the discovery of one of the great oil fields in the United States. 30 years after that first well was drilled, even one well on the Yates oil field was producing up to 125,000 barrels of oil a day. It is still in the top 10 oil producers today.
When Yates purchased the ranch, he was more interested in grazing land for his sheep than he was in the oil & mineral rights. There he was, living on government subsidy, but sitting on a mammoth underground lake of incredibly valuable oil. He was a potential multimillionaire living in poverty. What was his problem? It was simply that he did not know the oil was there. I want you to know today that we are just like Ira Yates. Many Christians today have their eyes set on rolling hills of worldly blessings, never realizing we have within our grasp the richest reserve of blessing in Jesus that will never go empty.
With that in mind, let’s read today’s text:
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3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. 11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:3–14 ESV)
Verses 3-11 are one continual sentence in Greek. Within those 11 verses are some of the richest blessings of God we could ever hope to find. I decided to write down the blessings Paul identifies in these verses. There are probably a few I didn’t find, and it is certainly not an exhaustive list. I found 32 spiritual blessings:
He chose us
He made us Holy and Blameless
He predestined up
He adopted us
He gave us purpose
He placed us in His will
He pours out on us His grace
He sent to us Jesus
He redeemed us
His redemption is in the blood of Jesus
He forgave our sins
He paid for our salvation with his own riches
He lavishes on us his blessings
He provides us with His wisdom
He gives us insight into His will and plan
He provides us the plan of the ages
He gave us His complete prophetic word
He shows us how he will achieve all things
He unites all things to Him
He gave us an inheritance
He predestined us to His purpose
He gave us hope in Christ
He opened up the Heavens for us to worship Him
He revealed to us His truth and all truth
He shared with us the Gospel
He revealed to us how he will save us
He revealed Himself to us that we can believe
He sealed us with the Holy Spirit
He fulfilled His promise of the Holy Spirit
He personally guarantees our inheritance
He will not let us lose possession of His promises
He is our Lord and God
