WEBVTT 00:00.191 --> 00:05.935 [SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, if you have a Bible open up with me to Ephesians chapter 2, we are wrapping up Ephesians 2 today. 00:05.955 --> 00:08.457 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if y'all have felt like we have flown through Ephesians 2. 00:08.517 --> 00:15.262 [SPEAKER_00]: I think we have we have really moved through it, but we're on the last paragraph today something like what we've been in this all semester. 00:16.983 --> 00:17.943 [SPEAKER_00]: There's so much y'all. 00:17.963 --> 00:18.243 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know. 00:18.263 --> 00:25.426 [SPEAKER_00]: Do you guys read like letters like this and the Bible just think like every word of it just has meat and it's just so good and it's so helpful. 00:25.446 --> 00:33.268 [SPEAKER_00]: I hope you see it that way and I mean, I do and the butter lords grace that we can just pull out so much truth and see what he's doing in us. 00:33.628 --> 00:34.529 [SPEAKER_00]: I've said this again again. 00:34.549 --> 00:45.215 [SPEAKER_00]: I think Ephesians is just such a helpful letter to the church, to let us know who we are, who God is, who Christ is, what Christ has done, who we are, as the church, and what it looks like to be the church. 00:45.915 --> 00:49.197 [SPEAKER_00]: And right here really this particular section in this letter. 00:49.957 --> 00:58.604 [SPEAKER_00]: Paul is really encouraging the church to understand their identity, their collective identity, our collective identity in Christ. 00:58.644 --> 01:08.392 [SPEAKER_00]: I told you last week, two really good applications of this section of Ephesians is that there are no, there's now no separation of peoples and there's no isolation of persons. 01:08.453 --> 01:08.793 [SPEAKER_00]: And so, 01:09.133 --> 01:12.456 [SPEAKER_00]: That just means for all of us, we see ourselves as a collective. 01:12.496 --> 01:17.840 [SPEAKER_00]: We see ourselves as a body, as a wee, as an us, not just a me, not just an eye, okay? 01:18.100 --> 01:19.261 [SPEAKER_00]: That's who we are in Jesus. 01:19.301 --> 01:24.825 [SPEAKER_00]: We are united together as one in Christ, living in fellowship with one another. 01:24.845 --> 01:26.286 [SPEAKER_00]: And so as he ends up this chapter, 01:28.147 --> 01:39.169 [SPEAKER_00]: Paul's just letting us know, he's letting us know, man, what is this kind of the result of what Jesus has done for us in the gospel, the grace that he has poured out upon us by the cross, by his blood shed on the cross for us. 01:39.970 --> 01:43.110 [SPEAKER_00]: He ended verse 18, forth through him, Jesus. 01:43.150 --> 01:48.951 [SPEAKER_00]: We both have access talking to all people, have access to the Father by one spirit. 01:49.632 --> 01:53.912 [SPEAKER_00]: We have access to God the Father by one spirit through the work of Jesus. 01:53.932 --> 01:54.793 [SPEAKER_00]: And so when he gets to verse 19, 01:57.507 --> 02:09.697 [SPEAKER_00]: consequently, you are no longer foreigners in aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people, members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 02:10.418 --> 02:15.362 [SPEAKER_00]: In him, the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 02:15.742 --> 02:22.746 [SPEAKER_00]: And in him, Jesus, you too, church, are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit. 02:22.766 --> 02:24.207 [SPEAKER_00]: So we're going to break that down. 02:24.227 --> 02:26.929 [SPEAKER_00]: First, we want to tell you a quick story from the Old Testament. 02:27.029 --> 02:32.672 [SPEAKER_00]: There's this story in second Samuel chapter 9 of David and can you also say that word? 02:34.221 --> 02:56.206 [SPEAKER_00]: My favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my favorite, my 02:56.466 --> 03:04.816 [SPEAKER_00]: while Saul was still king, and then eventually Saul is killed, and then also Jonathan, who is Saul's son, is David's best friend, Jonathan also dies. 03:05.136 --> 03:08.500 [SPEAKER_00]: Mafidosheth is the son of Jonathan, he's the grandson of Saul. 03:09.021 --> 03:14.987 [SPEAKER_00]: So, David now takes his rifle place as king, and Mafidosheth, however, is still alive. 03:15.628 --> 03:19.529 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, he is by lineage a rightful heir to the throne, right? 03:19.729 --> 03:23.990 [SPEAKER_00]: The rightful heir of King Saul, since Jonathan, his father has died, it would be in the Fibischef. 03:24.010 --> 03:27.711 [SPEAKER_00]: In the Fibischef, the story tells us in scripture, he was lame in both of you. 03:27.731 --> 03:30.771 [SPEAKER_00]: He had had an accident as a child, could not walk. 03:30.811 --> 03:35.092 [SPEAKER_00]: And so he just sort of is totally dependent on other people. 03:35.112 --> 03:38.173 [SPEAKER_00]: And he's in no position to defend himself or anything like that, right? 03:38.193 --> 03:41.994 [SPEAKER_00]: He is not a person who David would have any trouble. 03:42.094 --> 03:42.894 [SPEAKER_00]: Let's just put it this way. 03:43.134 --> 03:45.436 [SPEAKER_00]: disposing of if he wanted to, right? 03:45.696 --> 03:46.457 [SPEAKER_00]: That's my phibischef. 03:47.558 --> 03:48.859 [SPEAKER_00]: My phibischef moves away. 03:49.780 --> 03:53.223 [SPEAKER_00]: Once David takes the throne, he moves this place called Low De Bar. 03:53.243 --> 04:03.892 [SPEAKER_00]: It was far away from his home, far away from Jerusalem, far away from his tribal land in the inheritance of Benjamin, is where his family was from, where Saul was from Benjamin. 04:05.940 --> 04:08.961 [SPEAKER_00]: And David does something in 2 Samuel 9 that is just amazing. 04:08.981 --> 04:12.802 [SPEAKER_00]: Now David represents Jesus in the Old Testament in a lot of ways. 04:12.822 --> 04:19.803 [SPEAKER_00]: We call him a type, any character or institution in the Old Testament that represents Jesus. 04:19.823 --> 04:21.284 [SPEAKER_00]: We call that a type, T.Y.P.E. 04:21.324 --> 04:21.504 [SPEAKER_00]: type. 04:21.884 --> 04:29.526 [SPEAKER_00]: So David is a type of Christ in the sense that his kingdom and his kingship, and also just his care and his shepherding of the people of God. 04:29.946 --> 04:32.006 [SPEAKER_00]: That's David really represents that. 04:32.026 --> 04:33.307 [SPEAKER_00]: Who Christ would be perfectly. 04:34.167 --> 04:41.556 [SPEAKER_00]: And so David does this, he actually calls for Mothibasheth to come to him, to come to Jerusalem and meet with him. 04:41.576 --> 04:44.619 [SPEAKER_00]: And Mothibasheth does and he goes, and he meets with David. 04:47.047 --> 04:48.088 [SPEAKER_00]: And here's what David does. 04:49.069 --> 04:58.158 [SPEAKER_00]: He gives me phibischef the land and the inheritance that his rightfully his from as a descendant of King Saul. 04:58.758 --> 05:00.620 [SPEAKER_00]: Give some his land, give some his inheritance. 05:00.680 --> 05:07.287 [SPEAKER_00]: And then he says to me phibischef, these words, he says, you shall always eat at my table. 05:10.456 --> 05:16.842 [SPEAKER_00]: Instead of using his power, David could have used his power to curse my Phibischef to kill my Phibischef. 05:16.882 --> 05:18.423 [SPEAKER_00]: He uses it to bless him. 05:19.264 --> 05:22.927 [SPEAKER_00]: He invites a man who could pose a potential threat to his kingdom. 05:23.148 --> 05:27.451 [SPEAKER_00]: My Phibischef could, if you wanted to, get people around him and you serve the authority of David. 05:27.772 --> 05:36.179 [SPEAKER_00]: And instead of David seeing him as a potential threat, he just simply reinstates him as a citizen and even treats him as a son. 05:37.247 --> 05:39.288 [SPEAKER_00]: That's what he does for Mfibischa. 05:39.608 --> 05:44.552 [SPEAKER_00]: No strings attached, no benefit to himself, only blessing upon him, only blessing. 05:45.172 --> 05:51.696 [SPEAKER_00]: And so again, David, as a foreshadow of Christ in his kingdom, this is the kingdom that we now live in. 05:51.796 --> 05:54.257 [SPEAKER_00]: David's kingdom was the kingdom of justice, the kingdom of grace. 05:55.238 --> 06:10.769 [SPEAKER_00]: where those who shouldn't belong were invited in, like Mephibhishet, as citizens and sons, and so it is for the kingdom of God, that we who really shouldn't belong to the kingdom of God, we are invited in as both citizens and sons. 06:10.829 --> 06:21.777 [SPEAKER_00]: Really, as Paul is talking to the Ephesians, I think he wants them to see themselves very much like Mephibhishet would see himself as much of Mephibhishet's in Ephesus and we together, today we're a bunch of Mephibhishets. 06:21.797 --> 06:23.218 [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, you can say that Bob times fast. 06:24.979 --> 06:39.083 [SPEAKER_00]: We are invited in to the Palace of the King, not for punishment, not for judgment, not to be cursed or to be killed, but to be blessed and to be invited in as citizens and sons. 06:40.123 --> 06:43.984 [SPEAKER_00]: And so this is what we are reading in Ephesians 2, 19 through 22. 06:44.004 --> 06:46.605 [SPEAKER_00]: He says, you're no longer strangers and aliens. 06:47.501 --> 06:48.402 [SPEAKER_00]: no longer strangers name. 06:48.422 --> 06:51.945 [SPEAKER_00]: And that is no longer is it true of the Gentiles. 06:52.005 --> 06:52.886 [SPEAKER_00]: And again, we've talked about this. 06:52.906 --> 06:53.426 [SPEAKER_00]: This is us. 06:53.466 --> 06:54.407 [SPEAKER_00]: We're not the Jewish people. 06:54.447 --> 06:55.428 [SPEAKER_00]: We're not the people of Israel. 06:55.448 --> 06:56.689 [SPEAKER_00]: So we're the Gentiles on the earth. 06:56.929 --> 06:58.330 [SPEAKER_00]: The Ephesians were the Gentiles on the earth. 06:58.610 --> 07:01.553 [SPEAKER_00]: It's no longer true that you don't belong in the kingdom. 07:01.993 --> 07:05.156 [SPEAKER_00]: That used to be true because it was the people of God, the Israelites. 07:05.176 --> 07:12.762 [SPEAKER_00]: But now it's also true that all people in the name of Jesus who call upon Christ as king are citizens. 07:12.782 --> 07:15.624 [SPEAKER_00]: He says, citizens with God's holy people. 07:16.505 --> 07:17.646 [SPEAKER_00]: and members of God's household. 07:17.666 --> 07:23.072 [SPEAKER_00]: So there's a few, there's actually four realities I want to kind of lift up before us today, four realities that we see in this paragraph. 07:23.092 --> 07:29.218 [SPEAKER_00]: Number one, that we have the reality of citizenship that God is our king. 07:29.639 --> 07:34.744 [SPEAKER_00]: God's kingship, we know, is exerted a perfectly and fully in the person of Christ. 07:35.204 --> 07:47.316 [SPEAKER_00]: And so all who trust in Christ, who know Christ by faith, trust in Him, by faith, trust in His blood shed for us on the cross, trust and believe in His resurrection, live and faith in obedience to Jesus. 07:47.716 --> 07:52.120 [SPEAKER_00]: We receive the blessings and provision and protection of the King and His kingdom. 07:52.140 --> 07:53.742 [SPEAKER_00]: We have the full rights of citizens. 07:53.822 --> 07:55.243 [SPEAKER_00]: This is who we are. 07:55.543 --> 07:57.765 [SPEAKER_00]: We have citizenship because God is our King. 07:57.805 --> 08:00.007 [SPEAKER_00]: Second reality, we have sonship. 08:00.728 --> 08:02.969 [SPEAKER_00]: because God is our father. 08:03.029 --> 08:06.252 [SPEAKER_00]: So he says, you are fellow citizens with God's people. 08:06.292 --> 08:07.052 [SPEAKER_00]: That's citizenship. 08:07.492 --> 08:12.636 [SPEAKER_00]: And members of God's household, my fiduciat, you will always have a seat at my table. 08:13.616 --> 08:16.958 [SPEAKER_00]: So we told him, you'll always be like a son to me. 08:17.699 --> 08:18.999 [SPEAKER_00]: Did my fiduciat earn that? 08:19.020 --> 08:19.880 [SPEAKER_00]: Did he deserve that? 08:19.920 --> 08:21.521 [SPEAKER_00]: No, David, by his grace. 08:21.721 --> 08:25.764 [SPEAKER_00]: Invites him in, gives him a seat at the tables, as you'll always be at my table. 08:26.244 --> 08:28.565 [SPEAKER_00]: And this is what God has done to us, that we now have 08:29.506 --> 08:31.266 [SPEAKER_00]: Sunship, God is our Father. 08:31.286 --> 08:36.587 [SPEAKER_00]: That word, that word's Sunship, really just the way that they would have understood this in the first century world. 08:36.607 --> 08:41.748 [SPEAKER_00]: It was the first born son who had the full rights, right, who had all the inheritance from the Father. 08:41.768 --> 08:46.909 [SPEAKER_00]: The other children would get some inheritance, but the first born son was the preeminent son and would get all the inheritance. 08:46.949 --> 08:53.430 [SPEAKER_00]: And this is how we are spoken of as adopted children, given full rights as sons, 08:58.051 --> 09:03.612 [SPEAKER_00]: and this very letter that we are adopted as his children, the Rugee Jesus Christ. 09:05.012 --> 09:10.714 [SPEAKER_00]: John 14, 21, Jesus said this, He who loves me will be loved by my Father. 09:11.534 --> 09:19.876 [SPEAKER_00]: The same love that the Father God pours out upon His only begotten Son Jesus is yours in mind in Christ. 09:19.896 --> 09:23.116 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, that right there, that really could be the end of the sermon. 09:23.136 --> 09:26.237 [SPEAKER_00]: And we could just go and try to ponder on that and pray on that. 09:27.560 --> 09:28.302 [SPEAKER_00]: for the rest of the week. 09:29.644 --> 09:32.791 [SPEAKER_00]: You are called a son, a daughter of God. 09:33.885 --> 09:36.727 [SPEAKER_00]: by faith and Christ, adopted as his child. 09:37.327 --> 09:44.891 [SPEAKER_00]: Quick word, just in case, I don't know, if any of you, maybe no a person who is a Muslim, no a person who subscribes to Islam, the religion. 09:45.752 --> 10:00.060 [SPEAKER_00]: This truth, and here's why I mentioned this, just because I want to equip you if in case you do have friends, neighbors, whoever who are Muslims, this truth, the adoption of us as the children of God is blasphemy to Muslims. 10:00.760 --> 10:06.722 [SPEAKER_00]: They cannot stand the thought that God could be a gracious and good and kind father. 10:07.262 --> 10:10.723 [SPEAKER_00]: In their view, God is really very arbitrary in His actions. 10:10.743 --> 10:12.724 [SPEAKER_00]: They wouldn't put it this way, but this is the truth of His love. 10:12.744 --> 10:15.045 [SPEAKER_00]: God is very arbitrary in His actions. 10:15.165 --> 10:17.205 [SPEAKER_00]: Allah, as they call Him, very arbitrary. 10:17.225 --> 10:18.686 [SPEAKER_00]: There's nothing in His character. 10:19.146 --> 10:19.726 [SPEAKER_00]: This is His love. 10:19.746 --> 10:24.528 [SPEAKER_00]: There's nothing in His character that compels Him to act with love and mercy towards anybody. 10:24.988 --> 10:31.571 [SPEAKER_00]: He can if he wants to, but it's not based on his character, it's just based on kind of this arbitrary if I want to act in mercy towards anybody. 10:32.051 --> 10:43.297 [SPEAKER_00]: Our God, the true God, we know to be a God of mercy and love, to be a God whose character is good and righteous and holy and loving and tender and merciful. 10:43.977 --> 10:49.804 [SPEAKER_00]: But for the Muslim to know God as a good and loving father is, in their view, illogical and heretical. 10:49.864 --> 10:51.026 [SPEAKER_00]: I heard that from a Muslim. 10:51.046 --> 10:56.372 [SPEAKER_00]: That is illogical and heretical to them to say, God cannot be a father. 10:56.532 --> 10:57.934 [SPEAKER_00]: We are not God's children. 10:58.655 --> 10:59.356 [SPEAKER_00]: That's crazy to them. 10:59.396 --> 11:00.878 [SPEAKER_00]: So I say that to you to say this. 11:01.418 --> 11:24.007 [SPEAKER_00]: If you do happen to know a person who is Muslim, studies have actually shown, I was listening to a seminar from a previous Muslim who's now a Christian, and he said this, the fact that God does offer adoption to us is actually, even though it's a struggle for them at first, it's one of the great truths that draws Muslims to Christianity. 11:24.993 --> 11:44.897 [SPEAKER_00]: Like when they hear that and if you can really dig into that with them, and let them see from the Word of God how this is true, why this is true, why this is beautiful, what Jesus has done as the only begotten Son of God to offer to us adoption as his children, oftentimes their eyes are open to that and they love it because they've never heard that before. 11:45.017 --> 11:49.038 [SPEAKER_00]: So just in case you may be have a friend or somebody that you know share that. 11:49.798 --> 11:50.359 [SPEAKER_00]: share that with them. 11:50.439 --> 11:52.501 [SPEAKER_00]: Love them enough to tell them that truth. 11:53.082 --> 11:57.808 [SPEAKER_00]: If you are in Christ, you are loved by God with the same love that He has poured out upon His own Son. 11:58.449 --> 12:00.872 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus Christ, because we now are sons and daughters. 12:00.932 --> 12:04.476 [SPEAKER_00]: Not just citizens of His kingdom, He is our King, but we are members of His household. 12:04.496 --> 12:05.397 [SPEAKER_00]: God is our Father. 12:06.267 --> 12:06.787 [SPEAKER_00]: God is our Father. 12:06.807 --> 12:15.254 [SPEAKER_00]: And then He says this, we are built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus Himself, as the chief cornerstone. 12:15.334 --> 12:16.295 [SPEAKER_00]: So we are built. 12:16.315 --> 12:20.338 [SPEAKER_00]: So the third reality is that we are the workmanship of God, that He is our builder. 12:20.358 --> 12:23.900 [SPEAKER_00]: You can use the word designer, architect, maker, creator. 12:24.200 --> 12:25.601 [SPEAKER_00]: God is our builder. 12:25.641 --> 12:31.326 [SPEAKER_00]: He is the one who puts us together as His church, as the body of Christ on this earth. 12:31.346 --> 12:32.747 [SPEAKER_00]: And He says, this church 12:33.207 --> 12:36.751 [SPEAKER_00]: that God is building over all the earth and this is why the church is very unique. 12:36.771 --> 12:39.494 [SPEAKER_00]: We're not located in any particular place. 12:39.514 --> 12:40.956 [SPEAKER_00]: We're located all over the globe. 12:41.497 --> 12:43.479 [SPEAKER_00]: All who call upon the name of Jesus Christ. 12:43.499 --> 12:46.102 [SPEAKER_00]: He says, this church is built upon. 12:46.142 --> 12:47.123 [SPEAKER_00]: He uses two groups here. 12:48.004 --> 12:52.489 [SPEAKER_00]: The apostles and prophets, built upon the apostles and the prophets. 12:52.529 --> 12:53.250 [SPEAKER_00]: So who are these people? 12:54.020 --> 13:06.836 [SPEAKER_00]: apostles and prophets, prophets are specifically those who receive special revelation from God, a prophet, receive special revelation from God and write it or speak it to God's people on behalf of God. 13:06.936 --> 13:10.261 [SPEAKER_00]: As the actual mouthpiece of God, this will be seen in the scripture. 13:10.281 --> 13:12.403 [SPEAKER_00]: Someone who has received God's direct word, 13:13.104 --> 13:15.086 [SPEAKER_00]: And then speaks it or writes it to the people of God. 13:15.106 --> 13:26.316 [SPEAKER_00]: So you got Jeremiah Isaiah, those guys in the old testament that were literally being spoken to by God to then give the message of God to the people of God and also write those things down in the Scriptures. 13:26.336 --> 13:32.561 [SPEAKER_00]: And then the apostles, the apostles in the New Testament, those are the men with special authority from Christ. 13:33.442 --> 13:40.564 [SPEAKER_00]: to plant, establish, verify, and govern the early church until the New Testament was completed. 13:40.604 --> 13:43.666 [SPEAKER_00]: We know there were 13 apostles in the New Testament. 13:43.686 --> 13:45.506 [SPEAKER_00]: They were on the early church, 13 apostles. 13:45.786 --> 13:47.787 [SPEAKER_00]: There was the original 12, Judas dies. 13:47.807 --> 13:55.350 [SPEAKER_00]: They in state Matthias in Acts chapter 1, and then Paul, Saul, Paul, who wrote Ephesians, becomes the 13th apostle. 13:56.930 --> 14:06.097 [SPEAKER_00]: These men were given by God's special and specific authority in the early church to do what I just said to establish. 14:06.117 --> 14:08.579 [SPEAKER_00]: Verify and govern the early church. 14:08.659 --> 14:11.001 [SPEAKER_00]: And to write, then the New Testament scriptures. 14:11.041 --> 14:14.183 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus told his apostles before his ascension. 14:14.423 --> 14:18.847 [SPEAKER_00]: The Spirit will come and he will remind you of all the things I have spoken to you. 14:19.487 --> 14:27.789 [SPEAKER_00]: Talking to his apostles that they would be able like John and math they would be able to write it down They would give it for us so that we would then have the scriptures of the gospels. 14:27.809 --> 14:28.549 [SPEAKER_00]: What did Jesus do? 14:28.569 --> 14:29.149 [SPEAKER_00]: How did he live? 14:29.449 --> 14:32.250 [SPEAKER_00]: What happened in in his death and his resurrection all that? 14:33.150 --> 14:43.952 [SPEAKER_00]: Acts the early church and then the letters of the early church the letters that Paul wrote the letters that Peter wrote the genre So these are the apostles and prophets these these groups of people the apostles and the prophets now 14:45.733 --> 14:54.739 [SPEAKER_00]: I certainly believe, and this is a bit of a debate that I certainly believe that the authority to roll of a possible and profit is done, that does not exist anymore. 14:55.219 --> 15:06.347 [SPEAKER_00]: That existed in the New Testament time, that existed in biblical time because it was given to certain individuals to write the Scriptures, the revelation of God, and I believe that this is closed. 15:06.367 --> 15:06.988 [SPEAKER_00]: This is done. 15:07.028 --> 15:08.429 [SPEAKER_00]: We don't add to this ever again. 15:09.009 --> 15:11.312 [SPEAKER_00]: And this is what I think we should believe as Christians. 15:11.332 --> 15:12.454 [SPEAKER_00]: We do not add to the Scriptures. 15:12.474 --> 15:16.359 [SPEAKER_00]: And so the role, the authoritative role of the apostles and prophets, is done. 15:16.379 --> 15:20.064 [SPEAKER_00]: So this is what Paul means when he says that the church is built on that foundation. 15:20.665 --> 15:21.546 [SPEAKER_00]: What's the foundation? 15:22.147 --> 15:25.832 [SPEAKER_00]: It's the Scriptures that they wrote down for us, the actual revelation of God. 15:26.353 --> 15:40.084 [SPEAKER_00]: that we can know God, know who he is, know what he's done for the history of the world, know how the church began in Christ, and how the people of God have now been called in Christ to live and to go and to make disciples of all nations. 15:40.145 --> 15:43.127 [SPEAKER_00]: This is the foundation that we now stand on. 15:43.768 --> 15:50.113 [SPEAKER_00]: I do believe that there is a gifting, an apostolic gifting and prophetic gifting that can still exist in the church. 15:52.573 --> 15:54.234 [SPEAKER_00]: Apostle means one who is sent. 15:54.334 --> 15:55.035 [SPEAKER_00]: That's what it means. 15:55.455 --> 16:00.139 [SPEAKER_00]: And so like a like a missional gifting, a church planting kind of gifting, those kinds of things. 16:00.159 --> 16:01.059 [SPEAKER_00]: I think those things exist. 16:01.079 --> 16:04.702 [SPEAKER_00]: But capital A, Apostle, no, we don't have any. 16:04.882 --> 16:07.904 [SPEAKER_00]: All right, those guys are, they're dead, long time ago. 16:08.024 --> 16:08.685 [SPEAKER_00]: And they're done. 16:08.985 --> 16:09.825 [SPEAKER_00]: We have the foundation. 16:09.845 --> 16:11.206 [SPEAKER_00]: You don't continue to build a foundation. 16:11.467 --> 16:11.987 [SPEAKER_00]: You get it. 16:12.007 --> 16:12.727 [SPEAKER_00]: The foundation's there. 16:12.868 --> 16:13.548 [SPEAKER_00]: It's, it's done. 16:14.068 --> 16:16.990 [SPEAKER_00]: But he says, builds on the foundation of the Apostles and 16:19.813 --> 16:24.584 [SPEAKER_00]: Christ Jesus himself as the chief. 16:25.523 --> 16:27.524 [SPEAKER_00]: cornerstone, chief cornerstone. 16:27.965 --> 16:29.406 [SPEAKER_00]: Also a very important point here. 16:29.766 --> 16:32.248 [SPEAKER_00]: I mentioned Islamist saying, I'm going to mention Catholicism. 16:32.288 --> 16:37.691 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm not going to harp on Catholicism or anything, but I want to say this Catholic church, they have the Pope. 16:38.452 --> 16:48.959 [SPEAKER_00]: And the Pope, they call the Vicar of Rome, the Vicar of the Church of Vicar means one who perfectly with the same authority represents Jesus on this earth. 16:48.979 --> 16:51.841 [SPEAKER_00]: That's what the Pope is in the Catholic mindset. 16:53.642 --> 16:54.422 [SPEAKER_00]: He isn't a possible. 16:54.602 --> 16:55.883 [SPEAKER_00]: He is capital A, a possible. 16:55.923 --> 16:57.764 [SPEAKER_00]: The Pope today is what is what they believe. 16:58.264 --> 16:58.904 [SPEAKER_00]: I reject that. 16:59.004 --> 16:59.905 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm a Protestants. 16:59.985 --> 17:00.725 [SPEAKER_00]: We do reject that. 17:00.985 --> 17:03.686 [SPEAKER_00]: And here's why they get that lineage from Peter. 17:03.846 --> 17:13.690 [SPEAKER_00]: They trace the Pope, the papacy, back to Peter, because Jesus told him in the book of Matthew that I'm building my church on this rock. 17:14.190 --> 17:15.431 [SPEAKER_00]: But he was not talking about Peter. 17:15.451 --> 17:16.851 [SPEAKER_00]: He's somewhat the confession of Christ. 17:16.871 --> 17:19.912 [SPEAKER_00]: He's talking about Jesus as the son of God. 17:19.992 --> 17:22.153 [SPEAKER_00]: That's the rock that he built this on. 17:22.453 --> 17:25.994 [SPEAKER_00]: And I just think if there was any place in Scripture, I'm going to show you two of them. 17:26.214 --> 17:27.215 [SPEAKER_00]: One is right here in Ephesians. 17:27.655 --> 17:32.697 [SPEAKER_00]: Any place in Scripture where it would have been clear that Peter is the cornerstone of the church. 17:32.737 --> 17:34.197 [SPEAKER_00]: That Peter was the first pope. 17:34.477 --> 17:35.878 [SPEAKER_00]: And all the pope's descended from him. 17:36.138 --> 17:37.118 [SPEAKER_00]: It would be a place like this. 17:37.178 --> 17:42.040 [SPEAKER_00]: Paul would have said, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus himself and Peter. 17:43.067 --> 17:48.093 [SPEAKER_00]: As the cornerstones of the church, he would have definitely mentioned that here to make it very clear to us. 17:48.113 --> 17:49.414 [SPEAKER_00]: And we'll show you another place. 17:49.434 --> 17:51.877 [SPEAKER_00]: Let's go to a letter that Peter wrote first Peter. 17:51.977 --> 17:53.018 [SPEAKER_00]: Go to first Peter with me. 17:55.030 --> 17:59.235 [SPEAKER_00]: Again, if this was the intent, I think Peter would have made it clear to us. 17:59.255 --> 18:01.738 [SPEAKER_00]: He wouldn't want to leave us in the dark about this, right? 18:01.958 --> 18:09.928 [SPEAKER_00]: If there was going to be a lineage, a succession of poops from Peter, of leadership from Peter himself, I think Peter would have made that clear. 18:09.948 --> 18:10.869 [SPEAKER_00]: But here's what Peter says. 18:10.989 --> 18:13.151 [SPEAKER_00]: First Peter, chapter two, verse four. 18:14.433 --> 18:23.056 [SPEAKER_00]: As you come to him, he's talking about Jesus, the living stone, rejected by men, but shows in my God and precious to him. 18:23.436 --> 18:34.361 [SPEAKER_00]: He's just, man, he's lifting Christ up, right, Christ is chosen as precious, precious meaning unique, different, valuable, greater, better, more significant than every other thing, every other person, every other stone. 18:34.981 --> 18:39.963 [SPEAKER_00]: He says, this precious one, he says, verse 5, you also, like living stones, 18:40.783 --> 18:55.352 [SPEAKER_00]: are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ, offering, and that's important too, offering spiritual sacrifices to God through Jesus. 18:55.572 --> 18:56.453 [SPEAKER_00]: How do we get to God? 18:56.513 --> 18:57.954 [SPEAKER_00]: How do we approach God, through who? 18:58.774 --> 19:05.759 [SPEAKER_00]: Christ, any other person, no, no Pope, no priest, you don't need me to come to God. 19:06.606 --> 19:10.647 [SPEAKER_00]: You need Christ, and Peter says that, not the first Pope. 19:10.887 --> 19:13.968 [SPEAKER_00]: Peter says, Christ, you come through Christ. 19:13.988 --> 19:16.548 [SPEAKER_00]: For inscriptions, he says, and then he quotes a prophet. 19:16.568 --> 19:18.809 [SPEAKER_00]: This is a apostle quoting a prophet. 19:19.529 --> 19:21.690 [SPEAKER_00]: He says, see, this is Isaiah 28. 19:22.110 --> 19:26.371 [SPEAKER_00]: See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone. 19:26.951 --> 19:30.472 [SPEAKER_00]: The one who trusts in him will never be put to shame. 19:31.297 --> 19:35.498 [SPEAKER_00]: So as I say, a 2018, so that's Peter quoting Isaiah again. 19:35.518 --> 19:48.401 [SPEAKER_00]: I think if there's any places in Scripture where it would have been clear to us that we need to think about Peter and the succession of popes from Peter as like our way in which we have authority and get to God, then it would have been clear there, but not a word, not a word about it. 19:48.701 --> 19:53.402 [SPEAKER_00]: We come through Christ our cornerstone. 19:55.142 --> 19:55.783 [SPEAKER_00]: our cornerstone. 19:56.263 --> 20:04.852 [SPEAKER_00]: And he says, in him, Jesus, the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 20:04.872 --> 20:06.393 [SPEAKER_00]: So let's think about a cornerstone for a second. 20:06.773 --> 20:14.741 [SPEAKER_00]: He calls Jesus the cornerstone and he says, in him, the whole building is joined together and it rises to become a holy temple in the Lord, a cornerstone. 20:15.042 --> 20:16.743 [SPEAKER_00]: And you guys know this, I've talked about this soon before. 20:17.984 --> 20:22.126 [SPEAKER_00]: A cornerstone was, it would have been the very first stone laid to build a building, right? 20:22.226 --> 20:36.430 [SPEAKER_00]: And the cornerstone had to be, one, it had to be perfectly cut perfectly square or oriented the way that, you know, the rest of the building would be oriented and it would be laid first and so the whole building would be built off of that because the cornerstone offered three things, three things for the building. 20:36.490 --> 20:41.632 [SPEAKER_00]: I think all of these things point perfectly to who Jesus is, the fullness of Christ for us, three things. 20:41.672 --> 20:43.933 [SPEAKER_00]: Number one, a cornerstone was the standard. 20:44.733 --> 20:48.494 [SPEAKER_00]: of the building or orientation, that is perfect alignment. 20:48.534 --> 20:52.275 [SPEAKER_00]: The building is straight because the cornerstone is straight. 20:53.015 --> 20:53.975 [SPEAKER_00]: So I'll be have the scriptures. 20:54.055 --> 20:58.316 [SPEAKER_00]: Again, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, what are the apostles and prophets teaching us about? 20:58.816 --> 21:03.998 [SPEAKER_00]: The cornerstone, Christ, Jesus, who he is, all that he taught, all that he said. 21:04.298 --> 21:06.418 [SPEAKER_00]: So we are Paul says, join together. 21:06.458 --> 21:07.318 [SPEAKER_00]: That's that standard. 21:07.938 --> 21:12.760 [SPEAKER_00]: Left, right, forward, up, everything aligned perfectly on the stone. 21:15.327 --> 21:31.914 [SPEAKER_00]: It's there, and the whole building is there, joined together from that Stone Jesus, is our perfect example, our perfect standard, our perfect orientation of how we live, he leads us in paths of righteousness for his name's sake, Psalm 23. 21:32.594 --> 21:36.396 [SPEAKER_00]: We follow him, we walk behind him, we trust in him, straight line. 21:36.936 --> 21:38.917 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus said the way is narrow, to life. 21:39.677 --> 21:40.217 [SPEAKER_00]: How do we get there? 21:40.277 --> 21:43.678 [SPEAKER_00]: We follow Christ, the cornerstone, our standard. 21:45.659 --> 21:49.923 [SPEAKER_00]: So the cornstarch is the standard, the orientation, it's also number two, the strength, the foundation. 21:49.943 --> 21:52.345 [SPEAKER_00]: So the cornstarch will also be the strongest stone. 21:52.365 --> 21:53.226 [SPEAKER_00]: It would bear the weight. 21:53.606 --> 21:54.427 [SPEAKER_00]: It would be unfailing. 21:54.447 --> 21:58.951 [SPEAKER_00]: It would be reliable if the cornstarch is not strong, the building is not strong. 21:59.831 --> 22:05.737 [SPEAKER_00]: If Peter's the cornstarch, the thing would have come down in 80, 34, that's when the church would have been done. 22:06.823 --> 22:08.264 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus is the cornerstone. 22:08.884 --> 22:09.905 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus is the strength. 22:09.925 --> 22:15.468 [SPEAKER_00]: We are built upon his righteousness, not ours, not Peter's, not anybody else's. 22:15.848 --> 22:19.129 [SPEAKER_00]: Christ's, we're built on his holiness, not ours. 22:19.710 --> 22:22.571 [SPEAKER_00]: The church does not stand on our good works. 22:23.612 --> 22:34.938 [SPEAKER_00]: Our ability to come up with a new and fresh vision or program or whatever the church exists on the strength and the goodness and the holiness and the righteousness of Christ alone. 22:35.558 --> 22:36.580 [SPEAKER_00]: these are strength. 22:37.402 --> 22:40.487 [SPEAKER_00]: And number three, the cornerstone was the story. 22:41.350 --> 22:41.870 [SPEAKER_00]: of the building. 22:42.151 --> 22:44.392 [SPEAKER_00]: The story, the celebration of the building. 22:44.412 --> 22:45.233 [SPEAKER_00]: That's what the story was about. 22:45.253 --> 22:46.234 [SPEAKER_00]: It's about celebration. 22:46.614 --> 22:52.258 [SPEAKER_00]: Oftentimes they would lay the cornerstone first and as they would do that would be like the inauguration of that building and they would celebrate. 22:52.278 --> 22:53.519 [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, we're laying the cornerstone. 22:53.739 --> 22:56.701 [SPEAKER_00]: They would carve things onto the cornerstone about the story of the building. 22:56.722 --> 22:57.662 [SPEAKER_00]: Where did the building come from? 22:57.722 --> 22:58.603 [SPEAKER_00]: Why are we building? 22:58.923 --> 22:59.524 [SPEAKER_00]: This building? 22:59.784 --> 23:01.305 [SPEAKER_00]: Who are the people building? 23:01.605 --> 23:02.166 [SPEAKER_00]: This building? 23:03.066 --> 23:06.028 [SPEAKER_00]: They would break, you know, break things on the cornerstone. 23:06.048 --> 23:06.349 [SPEAKER_00]: They would even 23:09.611 --> 23:10.372 [SPEAKER_00]: into the cornerstone. 23:10.392 --> 23:14.835 [SPEAKER_00]: The cornerstone told the story of the entire building. 23:14.855 --> 23:21.700 [SPEAKER_00]: And that's why he says it rises to become what a holy temple in the Lord Christ is our story. 23:22.592 --> 23:23.732 [SPEAKER_00]: Christ is our song. 23:24.432 --> 23:25.693 [SPEAKER_00]: Christ is our praise. 23:26.353 --> 23:28.794 [SPEAKER_00]: He's our joy, he's our celebration. 23:28.834 --> 23:31.254 [SPEAKER_00]: He is the epitome of our testimony. 23:31.494 --> 23:33.795 [SPEAKER_00]: He is the epitome of our story without Christ. 23:34.215 --> 23:35.195 [SPEAKER_00]: We're nothing, church. 23:35.755 --> 23:36.676 [SPEAKER_00]: Without the gospel. 23:36.956 --> 23:37.516 [SPEAKER_00]: We're nothing. 23:37.536 --> 23:39.056 [SPEAKER_00]: We're just ordinary old stones. 23:39.096 --> 23:39.896 [SPEAKER_00]: We're just little rocks. 23:40.557 --> 23:41.637 [SPEAKER_00]: By the way, that's what Peter means. 23:41.697 --> 23:43.197 [SPEAKER_00]: Peter means Petra, little stone. 23:43.737 --> 23:46.378 [SPEAKER_00]: When Jesus said, your name is Peter, he was saying, you're little stone. 23:46.658 --> 23:49.459 [SPEAKER_00]: And on this Petra, this foundation, something else. 23:49.919 --> 23:50.620 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm building my church. 23:50.640 --> 23:52.321 [SPEAKER_00]: You didn't say I'm building my church on the little stone. 23:52.801 --> 23:54.602 [SPEAKER_00]: You said I'm building my church on a foundation. 23:55.643 --> 23:58.986 [SPEAKER_00]: Petra, Christ is the foundation, right? 23:59.026 --> 24:01.287 [SPEAKER_00]: And so without Him, we are nothing. 24:01.307 --> 24:03.068 [SPEAKER_00]: We're just insignificant little rocks. 24:03.849 --> 24:11.935 [SPEAKER_00]: But in Him, in Christ by faith and Christ staying strong upon Christ, the foundation staying oriented with Christ, our orientation. 24:11.975 --> 24:14.917 [SPEAKER_00]: We become greater than even the sum of our parts. 24:14.957 --> 24:17.399 [SPEAKER_00]: We become a holy temple in the Lord. 24:17.939 --> 24:22.021 [SPEAKER_00]: So Paul says here, that's who the church is, the holy temple in the Lord. 24:22.041 --> 24:23.902 [SPEAKER_00]: And so we celebrate Christ. 24:23.922 --> 24:24.283 [SPEAKER_00]: Don't we? 24:24.683 --> 24:25.323 [SPEAKER_00]: That's what we do. 24:25.663 --> 24:28.185 [SPEAKER_00]: Every Sunday when we gather, we celebrate Christ. 24:28.205 --> 24:29.185 [SPEAKER_00]: We celebrate His death. 24:29.405 --> 24:30.866 [SPEAKER_00]: We celebrate His resurrection. 24:31.086 --> 24:32.867 [SPEAKER_00]: We celebrate Him daily on our own. 24:32.887 --> 24:35.108 [SPEAKER_00]: We should, but we also celebrate Him together. 24:35.128 --> 24:36.449 [SPEAKER_00]: Can I just encourage you, church? 24:36.469 --> 24:39.331 [SPEAKER_00]: Listen, don't forsake the gathering of the church. 24:40.071 --> 24:41.132 [SPEAKER_00]: We need to do this. 24:41.732 --> 24:41.972 [SPEAKER_00]: Why? 24:42.032 --> 24:44.293 [SPEAKER_00]: Because we celebrate together, y'all. 24:44.333 --> 24:46.154 [SPEAKER_00]: Celebrating is okay, like by yourself. 24:46.174 --> 24:48.714 [SPEAKER_00]: Be ever like sit by yourself, celebrating something. 24:49.195 --> 24:50.155 [SPEAKER_00]: There's just not as fun. 24:50.535 --> 24:51.375 [SPEAKER_00]: It's not as good. 24:51.615 --> 24:52.496 [SPEAKER_00]: It's not as encouraging. 24:52.536 --> 24:53.456 [SPEAKER_00]: It's not as edifying. 24:53.556 --> 24:54.917 [SPEAKER_00]: It's not as joyful. 24:55.397 --> 24:58.018 [SPEAKER_00]: You know how joy grows by rejoicing together. 24:58.298 --> 24:59.058 [SPEAKER_00]: That's how it grows. 24:59.578 --> 25:01.279 [SPEAKER_00]: And listen, I know my story. 25:01.559 --> 25:05.280 [SPEAKER_00]: I know my story of what the cornerstone is in my life and how Jesus has worked in my life. 25:05.620 --> 25:06.821 [SPEAKER_00]: But I want to know your story. 25:07.521 --> 25:14.486 [SPEAKER_00]: And when I hear your story, and I hear of how your faith is being built upon that stone too, and our faith is oriented all on that same stone. 25:14.766 --> 25:19.089 [SPEAKER_00]: We come from different walks of life, different places, we have different stories, but we have one story. 25:19.750 --> 25:22.412 [SPEAKER_00]: And when we do that together, y'all are faith is built up. 25:23.012 --> 25:23.813 [SPEAKER_00]: We are encouraged. 25:23.833 --> 25:24.493 [SPEAKER_00]: We are edified. 25:24.513 --> 25:28.697 [SPEAKER_00]: We are stronger as the church than we are as individuals. 25:28.717 --> 25:29.618 [SPEAKER_00]: So don't forsake. 25:30.399 --> 25:40.308 [SPEAKER_00]: Don't forsake the gathering like this, weekly, regularly, the gathering of the saints and in growth groups and all other manner of us do life together. 25:40.489 --> 25:41.630 [SPEAKER_00]: That's who we're meant to be. 25:43.403 --> 26:11.370 [SPEAKER_00]: every week y'all we gather together and we have story time don't we me right now this is kind of story time but also I mean while we're singing we're singing stories when we take communion together what are we doing we're telling story again the same story and it's always good and it's always fresh and it's always the story we need to hear that this cornerstone that Jesus we declare every week he is our standard he is our strength he is our story Christ is died Christ is risen 26:13.750 --> 26:26.094 [SPEAKER_00]: It's a story and we share that story every week so three things number four I'm going to go back and remind you that the four reality citizenship God is our king sun ship. 26:26.114 --> 26:27.835 [SPEAKER_00]: God is our father workman ship. 26:28.315 --> 26:29.035 [SPEAKER_00]: God is our builder. 26:29.055 --> 26:40.619 [SPEAKER_00]: He's building us into this this this holy temple in the Lord and then the last one worship God is our God worship God is our God so he says 26:43.084 --> 26:48.046 [SPEAKER_00]: Again, him, the whole building is joined together, and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 26:48.066 --> 26:49.646 [SPEAKER_00]: Hold on to that word, temple, it's important. 26:50.247 --> 26:59.650 [SPEAKER_00]: And in him, you two are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit. 27:00.551 --> 27:01.491 [SPEAKER_00]: What was the temple? 27:02.397 --> 27:08.579 [SPEAKER_00]: I was the temple, and in the Old Testament for the Jewish people, the temple was the place of the presence and the power of God. 27:09.339 --> 27:10.080 [SPEAKER_00]: That was the temple. 27:10.620 --> 27:12.861 [SPEAKER_00]: And it started with the Tabernacle in the desert. 27:12.881 --> 27:15.922 [SPEAKER_00]: And actually, that same word that Paul uses here, he says, we are a dwelling. 27:16.382 --> 27:18.642 [SPEAKER_00]: We're a dwelling that God lives in by His Spirit. 27:18.903 --> 27:20.063 [SPEAKER_00]: That's the word Tabernacle. 27:20.223 --> 27:21.023 [SPEAKER_00]: It's the same word. 27:21.383 --> 27:23.284 [SPEAKER_00]: John uses that word in John chapter one. 27:23.304 --> 27:25.244 [SPEAKER_00]: He says that Jesus dwelt among us. 27:25.804 --> 27:27.185 [SPEAKER_00]: He tabernackled among us. 27:27.405 --> 27:29.005 [SPEAKER_00]: He came and he made his dwelling here. 27:29.405 --> 27:30.865 [SPEAKER_00]: And now we, he's calling us. 27:30.906 --> 27:34.026 [SPEAKER_00]: Paul is calling us the dwelling, the tabernacle of God. 27:34.366 --> 27:40.868 [SPEAKER_00]: Again, referencing back to the Exodus story when God's presence and power resided in the tabernacle. 27:41.408 --> 27:46.429 [SPEAKER_00]: Wherever the tabernacle is, wherever the temple then would be because then it was the temple built in Jerusalem. 27:46.789 --> 27:47.909 [SPEAKER_00]: Wherever the temple was, 27:50.731 --> 27:52.873 [SPEAKER_00]: So, what is Paul saying about the church right here? 27:53.775 --> 27:59.482 [SPEAKER_00]: We are that now, we are the temple of Almighty God. 28:00.103 --> 28:04.308 [SPEAKER_00]: That's who and what the church is, now the Ephesians. 28:05.370 --> 28:09.715 [SPEAKER_00]: They understood Temple as well because they lived in Ephesus where there was a great temple. 28:09.735 --> 28:10.696 [SPEAKER_00]: We've talked about this before. 28:11.076 --> 28:14.760 [SPEAKER_00]: The Temple of Artemis was one of the wonders of the ancient world. 28:15.080 --> 28:17.803 [SPEAKER_00]: One of the wonders of the ancient world is called the Temple of Artemis. 28:17.823 --> 28:22.908 [SPEAKER_00]: This massive temple to this false deity that they worshiped called Artemis. 28:22.928 --> 28:24.510 [SPEAKER_00]: So even to them, I mean, they understood 28:25.090 --> 28:25.890 [SPEAKER_00]: What a simple meant. 28:26.310 --> 28:28.271 [SPEAKER_00]: It meant presence and power. 28:28.811 --> 28:30.532 [SPEAKER_00]: That's where our God resides. 28:30.552 --> 28:31.632 [SPEAKER_00]: That's where our God lives. 28:31.852 --> 28:33.733 [SPEAKER_00]: That's where the power of our God is. 28:33.753 --> 28:40.174 [SPEAKER_00]: And so we go to that place to experience our God and to know our God and to have relationship with our God. 28:42.575 --> 28:46.016 [SPEAKER_00]: But today I named this message the wonder of the world. 28:46.536 --> 28:51.478 [SPEAKER_00]: Because what Paul is saying here, just like that Ephesian temple to Artemis was one of the wonders of the ancient world. 28:51.518 --> 28:52.898 [SPEAKER_00]: Paul is saying y'all the church. 28:54.113 --> 28:56.717 [SPEAKER_00]: is now the wonder of the world. 28:58.179 --> 29:06.371 [SPEAKER_00]: We are the place where the presence and the power of God resides on earth. 29:07.933 --> 29:12.597 [SPEAKER_00]: Is that not amazing and humbling and baffling to you? 29:12.657 --> 29:15.800 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it is to me, and we really are. 29:15.840 --> 29:17.381 [SPEAKER_00]: This is not to puff us up. 29:17.601 --> 29:29.592 [SPEAKER_00]: This is to humble us before our God and King to think and to say that it's absolutely true, that all of his presence and all of his power resides within us as his church. 29:30.032 --> 29:30.853 [SPEAKER_00]: That's who we are. 29:31.093 --> 29:34.415 [SPEAKER_00]: The people of God united together by the Spirit of God. 29:34.455 --> 29:35.955 [SPEAKER_00]: He lives within us. 29:36.396 --> 29:42.839 [SPEAKER_00]: Again, yes, God lives in me individually, personally as a person who knows and loves Jesus. 29:43.120 --> 29:50.364 [SPEAKER_00]: But He lives in us as the temple as the people of God where His presence and His power resides. 29:51.544 --> 29:53.225 [SPEAKER_00]: And so a couple of questions for us. 29:53.325 --> 29:55.947 [SPEAKER_00]: I think as we wrap up our time together, listen. 29:57.508 --> 30:04.954 [SPEAKER_00]: When we think about how we go out and live our lives this week, and you guys are going to do a lot of different things this week. 30:05.134 --> 30:08.576 [SPEAKER_00]: We have different jobs, different having some of us are in school. 30:09.357 --> 30:14.301 [SPEAKER_00]: We're working various places, you have families, some of your families, the Lord, some of your families, don't know the Lord. 30:14.801 --> 30:24.208 [SPEAKER_00]: Some of you are around Christians all week, some of you are around a lot of non-Christians all week, and that's, I mean, either way, wherever the Lord is placed you, I think a good question for us to ask is this, 30:28.018 --> 30:32.763 [SPEAKER_00]: Do they experience God, do they see Him in you? 30:34.284 --> 30:45.716 [SPEAKER_00]: All the things that we've talked about this morning, these realities of worship, of sunship, of citizenship, of workmanship. 30:46.598 --> 30:50.621 [SPEAKER_00]: Like, do they know that you are a citizen of the kingdom of God? 30:51.402 --> 30:55.666 [SPEAKER_00]: Do they know that you are an adopted son or daughter of God, your Father? 30:56.386 --> 31:00.950 [SPEAKER_00]: Do they know that you are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works? 31:01.510 --> 31:02.131 [SPEAKER_00]: Do they know that? 31:02.291 --> 31:03.452 [SPEAKER_00]: Is it evident to them? 31:03.512 --> 31:07.215 [SPEAKER_00]: We talked a couple of weeks ago, living our lives in the manner worthy of the gospel. 31:07.996 --> 31:12.520 [SPEAKER_00]: Does it look, has the simple question, does it look like you believe what you believe? 31:13.915 --> 31:22.919 [SPEAKER_00]: Does it look like you actually know God as all of this that it teaches us that we should know Him like as our King, as our Father, as our Creator, and as our God? 31:22.939 --> 31:23.739 [SPEAKER_00]: Does it look like it? 31:27.341 --> 31:29.942 [SPEAKER_00]: Do they see God's fatherly love and care and provision in you? 31:30.262 --> 31:31.483 [SPEAKER_00]: Do they know that you're his child? 31:32.383 --> 31:33.264 [SPEAKER_00]: Do you talk about that? 31:34.104 --> 31:35.505 [SPEAKER_00]: Do they see the purposes of God? 31:35.525 --> 31:37.466 [SPEAKER_00]: And do they see you living a life of purpose? 31:38.566 --> 31:40.527 [SPEAKER_00]: Or do they see you wandering around aimlessly? 31:43.419 --> 31:45.019 [SPEAKER_00]: Do they see God's love in you? 31:45.739 --> 31:46.920 [SPEAKER_00]: This is the letter of first John. 31:47.520 --> 31:49.600 [SPEAKER_00]: Go re-first John and tell me you're not convicted. 31:49.700 --> 31:57.281 [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, John's gonna tell you again and again, if you've received the love of God, love people, the way God loves you. 31:58.362 --> 31:59.862 [SPEAKER_00]: If they don't see that, then what good is it? 32:00.842 --> 32:02.462 [SPEAKER_00]: What good is all of this knowledge? 32:03.223 --> 32:03.743 [SPEAKER_00]: What good is it? 32:03.783 --> 32:09.564 [SPEAKER_00]: If you can take the notes that you heard today and you can go and spout it off to somebody but you don't love your neighbor as yourself? 32:12.076 --> 32:32.074 [SPEAKER_00]: Right, so when people see us, when they see the church, I'm not just talking Easter, but we are, we're Easterage here, so we're in this community, but yeah, Easterage, but also the church, when people see the church, when people see Christians us, as much as it depends on us, let them see God in us, Christ in us, let them wonder, that's why I call this message today, the wonder of the world. 32:32.335 --> 32:33.896 [SPEAKER_00]: The world should wonder about us. 32:34.937 --> 32:38.940 [SPEAKER_00]: They should look at the church and wonder, wonder in the sense of being a little bit bewildered at us. 32:39.560 --> 32:41.061 [SPEAKER_00]: We should be weird to them. 32:41.722 --> 32:46.665 [SPEAKER_00]: It should be confusing when they see you have joy through pain and suffering. 32:47.366 --> 32:52.109 [SPEAKER_00]: It should be confusing to them when they see you bless and love those who hate you. 32:53.090 --> 33:00.555 [SPEAKER_00]: It should be confusing to them when your marriages are beautiful and wonderful and mutually submissive and you love one another and you serve one another. 33:00.735 --> 33:02.797 [SPEAKER_00]: That's weird to the whole world. 33:03.738 --> 33:05.200 [SPEAKER_00]: It's no power dynamic there. 33:05.740 --> 33:06.541 [SPEAKER_00]: It's strange. 33:06.782 --> 33:10.346 [SPEAKER_00]: The world should wonder at our joy and our hope and our peace. 33:10.586 --> 33:11.487 [SPEAKER_00]: So let them wonder. 33:12.228 --> 33:16.894 [SPEAKER_00]: The world should wonder why we worship a Jew from ancient Nazareth. 33:17.675 --> 33:18.676 [SPEAKER_00]: They should wonder about that. 33:19.377 --> 33:20.537 [SPEAKER_00]: They should ask that question. 33:20.917 --> 33:22.518 [SPEAKER_00]: They should wonder because we talk about them. 33:22.958 --> 33:25.918 [SPEAKER_00]: They should wonder why we live our lives with purpose and without fear. 33:26.539 --> 33:29.419 [SPEAKER_00]: They should wonder who we are and why we are the way we are. 33:29.519 --> 33:44.142 [SPEAKER_00]: And we should answer because we have citizenship and sonship and workmanship and we are filled with worship in the presence of our God and King, our Father, who loves us in Christ Jesus. 33:44.782 --> 33:47.583 [SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, look, when we go out there, let the world wonder. 33:48.770 --> 33:49.291 [SPEAKER_00]: I really do. 33:49.431 --> 34:03.940 [SPEAKER_00]: I hope and pray that they think you're a weirdo this week because your life looks like Christ because you're living as his citizen, as his son, as his workmanship, and as the temple of his presence and power in this world. 34:03.981 --> 34:05.421 [SPEAKER_00]: So I'm going to invite the band to come back up y'all. 34:05.442 --> 34:07.863 [SPEAKER_00]: We're going to sing one more before we walk out today. 34:08.003 --> 34:08.924 [SPEAKER_00]: We're going to sing Cornerstone. 34:09.024 --> 34:09.764 [SPEAKER_00]: That's what we're going to sing. 34:10.045 --> 34:11.125 [SPEAKER_00]: We're going to sing what we just read. 34:11.145 --> 34:14.448 [SPEAKER_00]: We're going to sing scripture that Christ is our Cornerstone. 34:14.668 --> 34:15.989 [SPEAKER_00]: And here's my prayer for us as we 34:17.396 --> 34:19.818 [SPEAKER_00]: as we sing this, you guys go ahead and stand with me. 34:20.878 --> 34:32.645 [SPEAKER_00]: As we sing this, that this would not just be a song that we sing, that this would be a declaration of that truth, that when you think cornerstone, again, you're thinking, who do I build my life on? 34:33.786 --> 34:35.027 [SPEAKER_00]: Do you build your life on you? 34:35.747 --> 34:44.853 [SPEAKER_00]: And what you want, and what you're doing, and where you're going, and what your plans are, and your family, and your kids, and your marriage, and your career, and your bank account, all that, like, you just build your life on you. 34:46.122 --> 34:47.403 [SPEAKER_00]: How do you build your life on Christ? 34:47.943 --> 34:49.584 [SPEAKER_00]: Standard, strength, story. 34:49.744 --> 34:50.365 [SPEAKER_00]: He's all of it. 34:51.105 --> 34:51.806 [SPEAKER_00]: He's all on all. 34:51.966 --> 34:53.107 [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, so let me pray for us. 34:53.807 --> 34:54.327 [SPEAKER_00]: And let's sing. 34:54.447 --> 34:55.708 [SPEAKER_00]: Let's really mean that when we sing it. 34:56.089 --> 34:56.609 [SPEAKER_00]: Lord, thank you. 34:57.289 --> 34:58.030 [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for Jesus. 34:58.970 --> 35:01.312 [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for all that He is for us and in us. 35:02.153 --> 35:02.893 [SPEAKER_00]: And Lord, I pray now. 35:03.153 --> 35:06.495 [SPEAKER_00]: As we sing, let us sing with joy. 35:06.515 --> 35:13.500 [SPEAKER_00]: And let us truly proclaim this truth that your Son Jesus is our cornerstone. 35:14.667 --> 35:28.839 [SPEAKER_00]: the rock we stand upon, and we know this church will never fail, it will never fall because it's built on a sure precious steady, perfect foundation. 35:29.801 --> 35:31.766 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus, I pray this in his name. 35:32.146 --> 35:32.427 [SPEAKER_00]: Amen.