IMAGE: ALIVE IN CHRIST
IMAGE: TO THE PRAISE OF HIS GLORY
WELCOME
Sunday, April 23, 2023
SERIES: ALIVE IN CHRIST
A STUDY IN EPHESIANS
LIVE MESSAGE: TO THE PRAISE OF HIS GLORY
Scripture: Ephesians 1:3–14 ESV
Pastor Philip Miller
Scripture Reading Ephesians 1:1–14 ESV
Ephesians 1 ESV and Audio
Greeting
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,
To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus:
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Spiritual Blessings in Christ
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.
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“All Creatures of Our God and King” 1225 by St. Francis of Assisi
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LIVE 11:00 AM EST
Sunday, April 23, 2023
SERIES: ALIVE IN CHRIST
A STUDY IN EPHESIANS
LIVE MESSAGE: TO THE PRAISE OF HIS GLORY
Scripture: Ephesians 1:3–14 ESV
Pastor Philip Miller
^Videos by Inspirational>1…
MESSAGE: TO THE PRAISE OF HIS GLORY
SERIES: ALIVE IN CHRIST
A STUDY IN EPHESIANS
MESSAGE: TO THE PRAISE OF HIS GLORY
Scripture: Ephesians 1:3–14 ESV
Pastor Philip Miller
Scripture: Ephesians 1:3–14 ESV
Ephesians 1 ESV and Audio
Spiritual Blessings in Christ
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.
SERMON NOTES
Sunday, April 23, 2023
SERIES: ALIVE IN CHRIST
A STUDY IN EPHESIANS
LIVE MESSAGE: TO THE PRAISE OF HIS GLORY
Scripture: Ephesians 1:3–14 ESV
Pastor Philip Miller
To be alive in Christ is nothing short of a miracle! And it didn’t just happen; there was a purpose, a plan, and a promise. In fact, as the Apostle Paul is about to tell us in Ephesians 1 all three Persons of the One Triune God—Father, Son, and Spirit—have been collaborating from eternity past to eternity future on this very project of Salvation which is now ours by grace through faith in Christ.
It took all of Heaven to work this miracle to make us alive in Christ!
And as the Apostle Paul begins his letter to the church in Ephesus, he breaks forth in one of the most beautiful and transcendent choruses of worship to the Triune God who has saved us and made us alive in Christ. And it’s all to the praise of His glory!
Paul begins Ephesians 1 with a prayer of blessing that will saturate their minds with the truth of the Gospel and stir up their hearts in the worship of God. In so doing, Paul reminds them (and us) of three things: that we are chosen by the Father, redeemed by the Son, and sealed by the Spirit.
Chosen by the Father
The Father has chosen you for adoption.
He chose you! He picked you! He wanted you! And in making you His son, He’s called you “Beloved.” He’s drawn you to Himself. He’s destined you to be well-pleasing in His sight.
You are His from before the dawn of time until beyond the ending of the world and every moment in-between. You are His forever and always.
Redeemed by the Son
The Son has redeemed you for union.
God’s plan all along was to unite you to Christ. So that His life might become your own, and that you might come alive in Him.
Sealed by the Spirit
The Spirit has sealed you for inheritance.
You are branded as God’s very own. You bear His image and likeness. You are adopted as a son. You are sealed by the Spirit.
Takeaway:
Our salvation is to the praise of His glory!
All God’s saving work is for your good and His glory.
Before time began God knew you, loved you, and chose you. He set His affections upon you, and purposed that you would be his child, that you would be with Him, holy and blameless.
It’s why He sent you Jesus as your Substitute, your Redeemer, your Savior, your Lord, and your King.
It’s why He sealed you with the Spirit—to be his very own possession—as a guarantee of all the glory to come, so that in the end He might share all that He is and all that He has with you.
It’s the procurement of your good to the praise of His glory!
Image: Pastor Eric and Rebecca Targe with their daughter (“Cece”) and son (“Teddy”)
Eric Targe
Teaching Pastor at Park Community Church, Near North
Park Community Church
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
Greater Chicago Area
Benediction
Scripture: Romans 11:33-36 ESV
Romans 11 ESV and Audio
The Mystery of Israel’s Salvation
33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord,
or who has been his counselor?”
35 “Or who has given a gift to him
that he might be repaid?”
36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
PASTOR TO PEOPLE
One of the things you begin to notice as you read your Bible over time is that God always acts in pursuit of His glory. Today’s passage in Ephesians 1:3–14 is no exception. Everything God has done in saving us is “to the praise of His glory.”
But it would be a mistake to think that makes God selfish. Because we were made to come fully alive in worship, God’s glory and our everlasting joy are, in fact, the same pursuit. We come joyously alive as God—the One we were made for—gives Himself to us; and in joy, we naturally respond in worship to the praise of His glory. That God always pursues His glory is good news for our eternal joy.
C. S. Lewis has helped me tremendously with his thoughts in Reflections on the Psalms:
I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed. It is frustrating to have discovered a new author and not to be able to tell anyone how good he is; to come suddenly, at the turn of the road, upon some mountain valley of unexpected grandeur and then to have to keep silent because the people with you care for it no more than for a tin can in the ditch; to hear a good joke and find no one to share it with. . . . The Scotch catechism says that man’s chief end is ‘to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.’ But we shall then know that these are the same thing. Fully to enjoy is to glorify. In commanding us to glorify Him, God is inviting us to enjoy Him.
We are loved, more than we know, to the praise of His glory!
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