Good morning and welcome to First
Baptist Jackson. We are so glad that
you're here.
This morning our pastor is going to be
going through the book of Ephesians
so that we can dive into what our
inheritance in him looks like as we
continue the series Reimagine YOU,
but before we get started there are a
few things we want you to know so you
can have the best
possible experience here. The first thing
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As we begin to worship together we're
going to be going through a time of
worship,
prayer and hearing a message from our
pastor. Our God is so worthy of praise
so let's worship together. (Mike Harland) That is why we have come
today. We've been invited in by the
holy spirit, God himself has invited us
to come and to bring our song a petition
our thanksgiving our worship response we
have that opportunity today
to begin our worship i want us to read
this familiar passage from Isaiah
chapter 40. Would you read this with me?
"Do you not know have you not heard
the Lord is the everlasting God, the
Creator of the whole earth.
He never becomes faint or weary; there is
no limit to his understanding.
He gives strength to the faint and
strengthens the powerless.
Youths may become faint and weary, and
young men
stumble and fall but those who trust in
the lord will renew their strength;
they will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not become weary they,
will walk
and not faint.
We celebrate what god's doing in the
lives of these
boys and girls and we celebrate his
redemption
that he gives to all of us freely.
There's redemption today, there's a
passage of scripture in Philippians
chapter 2 so familiar to us
that just talks about our redeemer and i
want you to read it with me
from Philippians 2 read this with me.
"Adopt the same attitude as that of
Christ Jesus,
who existing in the form of God did not
consider
equality with God as something to be
exploited.
Instead he emptied himself by assuming
the form of a servant,
taking on the likeness of humanity. And
when he had come as a man
he humbled himself by becoming obedient
to the point of death-
even to death on a cross.
For this reason God highly exalted him
and gave him the name that is above
every name,
so that at the name of Jesus every knee
will bow
in heaven and on earth and under the
earth-
and every tongue will confess that Jesus
Christ is lord to the glory of God
the Father."
Amen! Hallelujah!
Thank you Chip. What an encouraging
message in that song and boy it's
it's been great to be here not only to
be in church but to feel like you've had
church already right
what an incredible incredible thing i
told mike actually after the first
service
i said i'm telling you i love chip
singing i love him singing that song but
when you do that oh praise the name of
the lord
my god if he doesn't get up there quick
i'm going to preach before him and so
i'm glad he was able to make it it was
absolutely was wonderful and i
appreciate so much
the strings being here with us today and
filling up the choir lost we're not
great
what a beautiful sight to see people
again
listen before we turn to god's word i
want everybody to look at me
here just for a minute and i want to
share a message with you that i really
believe
the lord wants me to share with you and
that's this
it will get better
it will it will get better you know we
live in a world where every single time
you open up the newspaper or every time
you turn on the news
all you see and honestly all you feel
is division and despair
and i think probably all of us and maybe
it's not fair for me to speak for you
i can only speak for myself but my guess
is i think i know you well enough
now to know that i think i can speak for
all of us when i say that all of us have
been
maybe even crumbling under the burden
of spiritual warfare now i want to
share with you covet 19 is not spiritual
warfare do you understand me
covet 19 is not spiritual warfare
spiritual warfare is the war that takes
place
in your mind in the midst of the things
that you're experiencing
in the world and so i absolutely believe
the enemy uses things like
the pandemic to begin to whisper things
in your mind for instance
have you found yourself over the last
several months
being more angry than you've been in a
long time
have you found yourself over the last
several months being more impatient
than you've been in a long time
do you find yourself just being down a
lot
with no real apparent reason why
listen all of us experience life and
life has its highs
and its lows but the reality is it's
been that way since you've been born
haven't it
but doesn't it just seem like here
lately at least over the last
six months that maybe you've gone
through something
that you would have gone through a
couple of years ago and never thought
another thing about it
or just would have just picked up right
where you left off and just kept right
on going
but now it seems you go through that
very same thing and man it just
whips you doesn't it
you find yourself just saying man i'm
just so sick of this
i am so just tired of it
and do you sometimes feel yourself
saying
i'm just tired
all the time
you see the enemy begins to whisper
things in our minds
things like can you believe he said that
to you
things like can you believe that that
person treated you that way
things like can you believe they're
actually saying that
constantly whispering things in your
mind
to cause you to just clam up and
sometimes even to power down
that's why paul told us in romans 12 and
verse one
i beseech you brethren by the mercies of
god present yourself a living sacrifice
holy and acceptable to god which is your
reasonable service of worship
and he says do not be conformed to this
world but be transformed by the renewing
of your what
your mind that you may prove what is
that good and acceptable and perfect
will of god
because the enemy's battlefield is your
mind
and man he's been having a heyday doing
this pandemic
had me in you and in me
but i'm here to tell you today it
will get better
and the scripture is the evidence of
that
so i want you now to take your bibles
and i want you to turn with me to
ephesians chapter 1.
ephesians 1 verses 11 through
13 or maybe 14 today
and the basis of this particular passage
remember paul began by saying
blessed be the god and father of our
lord jesus christ who has blessed us
with every spiritual blessing
in the heavenly places in christ paul is
writing to this church and he says
listen
god has already given you everything you
need to walk through whatever it is
you're going to walk through in life
he has given all things that pertain to
life and godliness as peter would say
according to the spirit who lives within
you and he goes on paul tells us in
ephesians chapter 1
that the evidence that god has given us
every spiritual blessing
is that already in christ you and i have
a purpose
and in christ you and i have a place and
in christ you and i have
permanence and that's because in christ
we have redemption
in christ our sins are forgiven and
guess what in christ
life even makes sense even in a pandemic
world
today though he's going to be talking
about our future he's going to be
talking about our inheritance
and as he begins to paint this picture
of what christ has done for us
in the wonderful miracle of salvation in
the redemption that is ours
in him he is saying to us
it will get better so with your bibles
open i want to ask you please to stand
at the reading of the word of god
ephesians chapter 1
verses 11 yes we'll go through 14.
paul writes in him also we have obtained
an inheritance
being predestined according to the
purpose of him who works all things
according to the council of his will
that we who first trusted in christ
should be to the praise of his glory
in him you also trusted after you
heard the word of truth the gospel of
your salvation
in him in whom also having believed you
were sealed with the holy spirit of
promise
who is the guarantee of our inheritance
unto the redemption of the purchased
possession
to the praise of his glory you may be
seated
now i want to point out to you that in
verses 11 and 12
when paul uses that pronoun we he's
speaking of jewish
believers and then in verse 13
when he uses the pronoun you he's
speaking to gentile believers
most of the ephesians the most of those
in the ephesian church and those in the
surrounding areas
were gentiles who had come to faith in
christ
but paul begins there in verse 11 and he
says in him speaking of jesus
we have obtained an inheritance
we were predestined according to the
purpose of him who works
all things according to the council of
his will that we who first trusted in
christ
should be to the praise of his glory
first trusted in christ who were the
ones who heard the message of the gospel
first
jews even paul himself said i am
ambassador of the gospel he said to the
jew first and also
to the gentile but see the jews have a
history with god
in fact as paul is using this very
beautiful word
inheritance israel has a history with
god as it comes to that word
let me remind you of what you probably
already know from the old testament
and that is you remember in genesis 11
and 12
god called a man named abram not because
of anything abram had done
but god said his love on him god chose
him
god called this man named abram and he
said i want you to leave
where you are and i want you to go to a
place that i will show you
and he made several promises to this
abram who you and i know as abraham
he promised him that he was going to
build a nation from he and his wife
sarah
he also promised that one day this
nation would inhabit
a land that would be their inheritance
he promised that he would make their
name great they would be
different distinct from all the other
nations of the world
and he promised that one day a blessing
for the entire world would come through
this nation
will abraham eventually obeyed god and
he went to this land that god showed him
it was the land of canaan
but abraham didn't own that land he was
a stranger in that land but
god began to build a family through him
now you remember as you go through the
book of genesis towards the end the last
portion of that book we referenced a guy
last week named joseph
who had been sold by his brothers into
slavery and found himself in
egypt even from a slave to being a
prisoner in
egypt but god raised him up as the prime
minister the
chief administrator over all of the land
and you and i were able to see as we
look through the end of genesis
that god's hand was on joseph from the
very beginning that god knew
a famine was coming to the land of
canaan and god had placed
joseph in that position even all of
those incredibly difficult things that
happened to him
god was working everything according to
the council of his will right
and god raised up this man joseph to be
the one
who would deliver his people from famine
and bring them from the land of canaan
to the land of egypt where they could
continue to multiply as a nation
as god told them that they would do
now you remember how the book of exodus
opens up
there's a new pharaoh who doesn't know
this joseph
but he recognizes that this people who
are living in his land are multiplying
at an incredible rate
and he begins to see them as a threat
and so he oppresses them with
slavery but you're familiar with the man
moses
who god raised up to be a deliverer of
his people
out of egypt to lead them from slavery
in egypt
and march them towards that land of
canaan the land that you and i
often times call the promised land
remember that
then at the end of the book of
deuteronomy moses dies
and his right hand man the commander of
the army of the lord at that time joshua
is elevated as the
head of all israel and it's joshua's
charge
to lead the people into that promised
land to conquer
the nations that were in that land
and to give the tribes of israel their
inheritance
by allotment
and so israel was god's chosen people
they were his inheritance and he was
theirs
in fact it would be david who in psalm
16
verse 5 would cry out to god oh lord you
are my inheritance and the portion of my
cup
oh yeah the lion has fallen to me in
pleasant
places see he recognized what a
privilege it was to be a part
of the people of god and god had given
them that inheritance they had divided
up the land
and now it was theirs but of course you
and i know
as we fast forward into the new
testament that the writer of hebrews
tells us that well there still is a
promise of a rest
right that everything that was happening
in the old testament was a shadow of
that which
was to come and so as paul
is saying in him we also have an
inheritance
paul is saying we jews who have trusted
in jesus as lord and savior
we have a much better inheritance we
have the real
inheritance that the inheritance of the
land was to foreshadow
but he also says in verse 13 he says
in him you also trusted you being those
gentile believers
those who didn't have that promise of
the land those who didn't have those
promises
of abraham but in jesus you were brought
into the family
in him you also trusted after you heard
the word of truth the gospel of your
salvation in whom also
having believed you were sealed with the
holy spirit of promise who is the
guarantee
of our inheritance you see paul says an
amazing thing here
because jews and gentiles were very
divided
there was a lot of animosity between the
two groups of people
but paul is helping us to see that the
gospel brings
unity
listen every every time you turn on the
news every time you read the newspaper
there's somebody who's promising
to be the one who brings unity to our
world
sometimes it's a politician sometimes
it's a football coach
sometimes it's a researcher sometimes
it's a business
owner but here's the problem with that
promise
all of us are sinners and fall short of
the glory of god
and no sure a person can rally people
together for a point of time
but it doesn't last because as sinners
it is our nature
to resist that and go our own way
only jesus can bring unity
the gospel brings people together
because just as mike had us read a few
moments ago from philippians 2
to have this same attitude in you that
was also
in christ jesus right before that
passage
paul exhorts us to look out not only for
our own interests but also for the
interests of others
only christ deals with our sin only
christ
brings us a true eternal unity
everything else is only for a temporary
period of time
but paul is saying in jesus we
have an inheritance in jesus there is
something for you and me to look forward
to
what is that inheritance that he's
talking about because he's not talking
about the land of canaan
you remember when jesus said to the
disciples john 14 you've heard this a
lot particularly at funerals
let not your heart be troubled do you
believe in god believe also in me
in my father's house for many mansions
if it were not so i would have told you
but i go to prepare a place
for you and if i go to prepare a place
for you i will come again
and receive you to myself that where i
am
there you may be also
man we get those beautiful words that
john writes for us in john 1 and verse
12
he says as many as received him and him
of course is a reference to jesus
as many as received him to them he gave
the right to become children of god
even to those who believe in his name so
now that we have a place
now that we are adopted into the family
of god you and i
have an inheritance and listen to the
beautiful words of peter
who in 1st peter chapter 1 verses 3 and
4
is writing to a persecuted church i'm
telling you these brothers were hurting
and listen to what he says blessed be
the god and father of our lord jesus
christ who has begotten us again
through the abundant mercy of god to a
living hope through the resurrection of
jesus christ from the dead
to an inheritance incorruptible and
undefiled
reserved in heaven for you
and peter's writing to those hurting
brothers and he's saying listen the
world can take a whole lot away from you
but they cannot take away your
inheritance
now i want you to think with me for a
second look here at that verse 14
who is the guarantee of our inheritance
until the redemption of the purchased
possession
that's a what does he mean by that the
redemption of the purchased
possession because in verse 7 he says in
him we have redemption right
so last week we learned that christ is
the ransom price
who frees us from our enslavement to sin
so
we are redeemed but here in verse 14
he's talking about redemption
as if it is something yet to come
so which is it has it already happened
when we trusted in christ
or is it yet to come the answer is
yes both
it's an amazing thing that happens in
salvation again we've talked about this
a couple of weeks ago we often times as
believers we don't truly understand our
salvation but listen to me
and think with me listen first baptist
jackson
hey we're thinking people right
we're gonna go deep into the word of god
we're not just glossing over stuff
we're pondering it so ponder church
ponder
when we trust in jesus christ as lord
and savior
we are as a scripture tells us redeemed
right we have been set free set free
from what
we are set free from the penalty of sin
last week we saw how before christ we
are children of wrath
but when we give our lives to christ now
we are children of god
so at the moment of salvation we are
redeemed we are set free
from the penalty of sin but do you still
sin
believer yes you do
several times this morning probably
right
and so why is it that we still sin
as we are saved the holy spirit comes to
live within us
and remember what paul wrote in
philippians 1 and verse 6
he says oh i am convinced
i am convinced
that god will complete what he began in
you
you see we begin to change we begin to
transform
we begin to be more like christ every
day
the spirit convicts us of sin guides us
into all truth guides us into living
according to god's perfect desire
we grow in christ right that's why there
are all these admonitions in scripture
to walk in the spirit to turn away from
our sins
to turn to christ even as believers
we teach that when a person is saved
they're born again but just
as a physical infant needs physical food
in order to be nourished and grow a
spiritual
infant needs spiritual food in order to
be able to spiritually
grow right of course
and so in salvation we are redeemed from
the penalty of sin
but as we live and as we grow in christ
we are continually being redeemed from
the power
of sin
but then when we go to be with the lord
we are redeemed from the presence of sin
and so paul writes listen in jesus you
have an inheritance
and jesus there is the promise that
things will
get better this is not
the end for you
and what a wonderful truth
listen listen to me let's put it all
together right
remember in romans 8 where paul says
that even the creation
groans for the redemption of man
you know why i said that because even
creation has been affected by sin
that means the most beautiful
sunrise over the ocean
the most beautiful purple haze over a
mountain range
the most beautiful snowfall on the
plains
that you have ever seen in your lifetime
pales in comparison to what will be
because everything that you see has been
stained
by sin
no wonder we live in a world filled with
division and despair
because the world in which we live has
been stained by sin
but in redemption
you have been taken from a kingdom of
division
and despair and placed in to a kingdom
of unity and hope
we have an inheritance
paul writes and secondly he tells us
and in the spirit by the way we have a
guarantee of that
again look at what he says verse 14 he
is the guarantee the holy spirit
of promise or we are sealed with the
holy spirit of promise the word seal
means to stamp or like a signet like a
king signet ring
it means to show uh ownership but also
protection over so the holy spirit
is that seal in you he is the guarantee
the word there is earnest which means
the same as like earnest money
when a person gives a sum of money to
purchase a house and it's the first
installment of that purchase
it's the promise that that house is
going to be bought that more money is
going to come
the holy spirit is the earnest money the
holy spirit is the deposit he is the
guarantee
of our inheritance unto the redemption
of the purchased
possession so the holy spirit living
within you
is the evidence that god has given to
you that there is
an inheritance laid up for you so my
friends
it will get better
you see as the holy spirit guides us
as the holy spirit guides us in
understanding the word of god
as the holy spirit helps us to make life
make sense through the word of god
as the holy spirit convicts us of sin
through the word of god
listen it's why it's so important that
we gather together as a body of
believers because when we gather
together as a body of believers
and the holy spirit speaks to us as a
church not only is the holy spirit
redeeming us from the power of sin but
the holy spirit is also
guaranteeing us that it will get better
it's why it's so important to gather as
a body of believers
because it's a weekly reminder that it
will get
better and you and i need that don't we
maybe now more than ever we need to know
that it will get better
well as you feel the spirit at work in
your life and as the spirit begins to
guide you it's every single time
god tapping you on the shoulder going
hey hey
it will get better it will get better
it will get better
and so in jesus we have an inheritance
in spirit we have a guarantee
listen notice where he says at the end
to the praise of his glory
god has done this for us in redemption
he's redeemed us from the penalty of sin
he is redeeming us through the spirit
from the power of sin
one day we will be redeemed forever from
the presence
of sin but guess what
you're still here
you live in a broken world
you live in a covered world
you live in a world of division
and despair
why
we talked about this before
if god's only purpose in saving you
was to take you to heaven when you die
how cruel it is
that he leaves us here
there must be another purpose there must
be
and that purpose as we have seen over
and over again and as we see again today
is that we may live to the praise
of his glory
as paul tells us in jesus we have an
inheritance and in the spirit we have
a guarantee he reminds us that it's in
god
we trust
because god is working all things
according to the counsel of his will
god is the one who from eternity past
has chosen you for salvation
god is the one who has redeemed you
through jesus
god is the one who has given you the
spirit as a guarantee
god is the one who has an inheritance
reserved for you
and so while you're here on this earth
in the midst of division and despair
we praise him because he's given us all
things that pertain to life and
godliness he has
blessed us with every spiritual blessing
in the heavenly places
we have everything we need in order to
live the life that god has called us to
live
he's given us the gospel he's given us
his holy spirit
who taps us on the shoulder and says
it's gonna get better
it's gonna get better we have hope
we have a future and it's secure
and it's real because of god
you know
what i love about the scripture one
thing that i love about scripture
it's just just filled with people who
went through a lot of junk you ever
realize that
i mean there's not a soul who just had
it squeaky clean easy
everybody went through some tough stuff
joseph my word moses
joshua david good night
but you and i read the scripture
this cohesive unified story of the
history of the world
and god's redemptive plan and from the
outside in which by the way everybody's
an expert in what they're not doing
right
everybody everybody's a church expert i
promise you that except for the preacher
everybody's an expert in what they don't
do
and from the outside in it's just so
obvious
you see what these guys go through and
if you and i
were to give them advice we'd go hey man
hang in there
just hang in there god's got this
all things work according to the counsel
of his plan
hang in there but man it's so hard for
you and me to do isn't it
it was hard for them to do too
but in god we can
listen talk about purpose
remember when paul writes the church of
corinth
he says individually you're ambassadors
of the gospel
now that means something to us we
understand that ambassadors of the
gospel
that means we live in this world but we
represent another kingdom and we're
supposed to show what that kingdom looks
like well
therefore if individually we're
ambassadors
then collectively we're an embassy right
we're an embassy
and so god has chosen to place us right
here
in the center of the city and in the
center of this state
and in the center of a pandemic
he didn't make a mistake
coveted 19 was not a surprise to him
he placed us right here right now
for such a time of this in the midst of
a world of division
and despair to show
that there's unity and there's hope
in the kingdom of god
could it be that as we're crumbling
under the weight of spiritual warfare
we are actually fighting against
god's purpose for our redemption
maybe we should think about that
it will get better
i promise you let's pray
father we bow before you here this
morning we are just so humbled
with the opportunity to be in your
presence oh god how good it's been to be
in your church
how good it's been
to be reminded
that you are the lord our god that in
you we have redemption
how good it's been god you know we have
needed it
thank you for your word of truth that
guides us
in life and help us oh god not to live
as a people who have no hope
but to live as a people who radiate it
god help us every day
to get up in the morning and walk out in
the face of the day
saying to ourselves i am redeemed
and it will get better and lord we can't
wait to see
what you do in the days ahead in the
name of jesus we pray
amen listen as we come to this time of
response
we call it that because it's a time for
you to respond to god
if you're watching by live stream
there's a number that you can call there
are people who are there waiting to hear
from you we encourage you to do just
that
but for those of you in the room as we
come to this time of response we're
going to have ministers here at the
front who are ready to help you
maybe you're here today and you're not a
christian listen you don't have to live
in division and despair
you can live in unity and hope
jesus came to redeem you you can be set
free
in a moment we'll ask you to come
forward and take one of these ministers
by the hand and allow them to talk with
you and pray with you
maybe you're here today and you're going
man did i ever need
this well i'm going to tell you you
didn't hear a word from chip you needed
you heard a word from the lord
chip needs to hear the word from the
lord right we're in this one together
no expert here maybe god has spoken to
you today and you've been
crumbling under spiritual warfare i mean
crumbling
you've been miserable making everybody
around you that way too
maybe you needed to be reminded it's
going to get better
and maybe for you in fact in a moment
i'll ask you to stand not yet but i'll
ask you to stand in a moment as we do
this last song
maybe for you you want to come to the
altar and pray maybe you want to be
right where you are
you want to lift your hand and pray
maybe you want to get on the floor or
kneel down and pray maybe you just want
to come into the presence of god and say
thank you god thank you god
that we had church today because i
needed to hear
that it's going to get better how is god
leading you today
will you respond as we stand you come
i'm going to ask you to be seated for a
moment
just a couple of things that i want to
um announce to you bruce if you we're
going to get you to make an
introduction here in just a second a
couple things i want to announce to you
one is remember that our evening service
is not uh
in person it's online only and so
tonight we want to encourage you to tune
in at 6 00 p.m
to reimagine worship as mike continues
to teach us about what biblical worship
looks like listen it's been great stuff
i hope that you've been tuning in thus
far
you can catch the ones that you've
missed and also join in with us tonight
at six if for some reason you can't do
it at six
you can do it after that so i really
want to encourage you in that i also
want you to know
um we are beginning to talk about kind
of opening things up a little bit more
in the coming weeks and months uh not
ready to share that with you yet we'll
share something with you hopefully next
sunday um but we're
we're making plans in order to kind of
do some sunday school and community
groups and
maybe change things up a little bit as
we move more into the fall
and so make sure that you're paying
attention to all of those things
uh as they come available to you don't
forget also if you're interested in d
groups and we plan to get d group
started right after labor day
and today you can purchase your book or
you can find out uh
answers to some of your questions about
d groups in the foyer here to my left
and if you're a guest with us today
we would love for you to come by the
welcome center which is right here to my
left to your right
once you go out that door you'll see it
we have some people there who would love
to connect with you today
maybe answer some questions you have
about first baptist jackson
so bruce church some great news to share
with you i'm going to have jonathan
rachel
and owen come and stand beside me
winborn it's jonathan rachel and owen
winborn
so they're coming to make first baptist
jackson their church home so we're
excited to welcome you all
and i'm looking forward to serving with
you each of you guys
let me close us in a word of prayer and
then we will be dismissed i'll give you
instructions for that actually let's
pray together father again we thank you
for the opportunity to be here this
morning and to worship you thank you o
god for
the redemption that we have in you the
promise that it will get
better help us oh lord to leave this
building today
with our heads held high ready to face
the weak knowing that we have every
spiritual blessing
in the heavenly places available through
you
for it's in the name of Jesus we pray Amen.
