To Praise His Glory! Series

INTRODUCTION

• SLIDE #1

• We all need a reason to wake up in the morning. We need something to get our heart pumping.

• I know when I get up to go riding on the bicycle I need something to get me out of the bed to go workout.

• We need purpose!

• We need a reason for our heart to beat when we wake up each day. Life can be tough as well as a joy.

• When we have purpose in life, life takes on new meaning. Over the next few weeks I hope I can give you some reasons for your heart to beat.

• The reasons we will explore can add passion to our sometimes listless faith. The reasons we will examine together can give depth and purpose to our faith as well as the resolve to stand strong in the face of adversity.

• Today we will see our first reason for our heart to beat each day! TO PRAISE HIS GLORY!

• Today I want to share four reasons we can live to PRAISE HIS GLORY. In Christ God has given us many things and these blessings can make life full of meaning and purpose.

• Let us begin in Ephesians 1:3.

• SLIDE #2

• Ephesians 1:3 (HCSB) Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens.

• SLIDE #3

SERMON

I. In Jesus you have every spiritual blessing.

• As Paul is writing this letter to the church at Ephesus, he begins with a list of reasons to praise God.

• It is so easy to lose sight of who should get the glory in life. When we just live for our own glory, life starts to get empty and at some point void of meaning.

• Well Paul reminds the readers of a great reason to Praise God’s glory!

• The word “blessed” comes from the verb meaning “to speak well of.”

• To say "blessed" be God, we are "blessing" God by recognizing and attributing worth to him. It is a word of praise and reverence.

• When we are BLESSED by God is means that God has done something for our benefit, to help us to prosper, to give us contentment.

• We have people in life that we love and want to see be blessed. God loves you and wants to see you be blessed also.

• What we find here are a couple of things. First our SPIRITUAL blessings by God come through Jesus. In other words without Jesus we are not blessed by God, that only happens through Jesus.

• Second, how many blessings do those who are in Christ receive? EVERY SPIRITUAL BLESSING!

• What does this mean, what does it mean to have every spiritual blessing? Mainly it means that since we know God, we have everything we need in order to grow spiritually!

• WE do not have to ask for these blessings, God lavishes every spiritual blessing upon us in Christ!

• The blessings spoken of here are not physical nor the blessings given by the Spirit, but rather word SPIRITUAL denotes the quality of the blessings as eternal and imperishable.

• God will not withhold from those obediently in Christ!

• SLIDE #4

• Romans 8:32 (HCSB) He did not even spare His own Son but offered Him up for us all; how will He not also with Him grant us everything?

• These blessing from God do not refer to a FUTURE blessing but rather a current reality.

• We do not have to wait until the return of the Lord to receive our spiritual blessings, they all come now!

• God gives you all you need in order foster a healthy, growing, fulfilling relationship with Him!

• Let’s look at verses 4-6.

• SLIDE #5

• Ephesians 1:4–6 (HCSB) 4 For He chose us in Him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love 5 He predestined us to be adopted through Jesus Christ for Himself, according to His favor and will, 6 to the praise of His glorious grace that He favored us with in the Beloved.

• SLIDE #6

II. In Jesus you have been adopted into God’s family.

• This is a great thought to contemplate. Before the foundation of the world, God decided that whoever would believe in Jesus would have the privilege of being adopted into God’s family.

• Without getting too deep into the predestination issue, biblically what we are told here is that God predestined the plan by which those of their own free will would be able to be a part of God’s family; they would be saved by accepting Jesus of their own free-will.