Hello everyone. Thanks for joining with me on another Helping You Become podcast. I pray it's a blessing to you.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your goodness, Lord, to us. It was your kind intent that we became part of your family through Jesus Christ our Lord. Holy Spirit, thank you for leading us and guiding us into the truth of God's Word today as we embark upon this study and we just thank you for showing us something that we need to do to change our life to become more Christ-like and so we ask it in Jesus' name.
Friends, thank you for your company. I do appreciate you joining with me around God's Word. We've been looking for the last few weeks into this idea of living an effective life. That's something that I assume that we all want to do, is to live an effective life.
And taken from the book of Ephesians, the first couple of foundation scriptures that I've used here from Ephesians, of chapter 4 verse 1, "I therefore the prisoner for the Lord in the Amplified Bible, I therefore the prisoner for the Lord appeal to and beg you to walk and to lead a life worthy of the divine calling to which you have been called. There's a divine calling on your life. With behaviour, that is a credit to the summons to God's service.
And verse 15 of chapter 5, look carefully then how you walk. Live purposefully, worthily, and accurately, not as the wise and witless, but as wise sensible intelligent people, what is purposefully, worthily and accurately made up of? Verse 16, "Making the very most of the time, buying up each opportunity because the days are evil. Therefore do not be vague and thoughtless and foolish, but understanding and firmly grasping what the will of the Lord is.
Personally, I would like to do that well, yes? Now, we've been looking at living an effect of life. We've seen that the Apostle Paul ministered face to face in Ephesus for over two years, at least five hours a day.
And in the School of Tyrannus and Acts chapter 19, Paul held daily discussions from about 10 o 'clock through to 3 o 'clock, and did this for over two years, and he was preaching the attainment through Jesus Christ of eternal salvation in the kingdom of God.
So Paul covered so much ground with the people at Ephesus on a face-to-face basis for over two years. Okay, so when he says, "Live purposefully, worthily, and accurately," not as the unwise and witless, but as wise, sensible, intelligent people, when he says things like that and writes in Ephesians for them to behave this way, and I'll read it to you in verse 2 of chapter 4, Living is, becomes you with complete lowliness of mind, humility and meekness, complete lowliness of mind, humility and meekness, unselfishness, gentleness, mildness with patience, bearing with one another, making allowances, because you love one another, be eager and strive earnestly to guard, and to keep the harmony in oneness of and produced by the Spirit in the binding power of peace.
Thank you, Paul, for the information. How do I do it? And that's what we've been looking into for the last eight weeks, some of the behind the scenes things in the how to do's of Ephesians chapter 4, which is one of the most remarkable chapters in the Bible. In fact, the whole book of Ephesians is just staggering.
So I think Paul covered with the Ephesian people quite likely face -to -face. Who did you used to be? Who are you now? What are you now doing? Where are you now going, okay?
And let's look today at something else that I suspect that Paul may have shared
with them face -to -face, and we find it in Romans chapter 6, because remember, what did Paul minister for five hours a day for two years? I mean, he's covered some ground here, yeah? And he was talking about the attaining of eternal salvation through Jesus Christ in the kingdom of God. I mean, what does that mean? Surely, he covered things like righteousness, sin, how you no longer a slave to sin.
I assume he would have covered a heap of stuff in five hours a day for two years teaching, yes.
So, Romans chapter 6 and in verse 16 and 17, "Do you not know that if you continually surrender yourselves to anyone to do his will, you are the slaves of him whom you obey. Whether that be to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience,
which leads to righteousness, right doing and right standing with God. But thank God, though you once were slaves of sin, you have become obedient with all your heart to the standard of teaching in which you were instructed and to which you were committed."
Now that's big. You have become obedient with all your heart to the standard of teaching in which you were instructed and to which you were committed. And I see, and This is my view, I see that kind of sentiment in the book of Ephesians. He's talking about their commitment, he's talking about their divine calling and the summons to work and flow in that divine calling with an appropriate behaviour
that flows with that divine calling in the service to God and in the service to
others.
So yeah, you know, the obedience with all your heart in which you're instructed and you're committed to, I see all of that in some of the requirements in the book of Ephesians. Romans 6 verse 22 and 23, "But now, since you have been set free from sin and have become the slaves of God."
No longer a slave of sin, but a slave of God. And Jesus said, "All you that labor and are heavy laden." You know, you're heavy laden, you're weighed down, and you're burdened. "Come to me, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. But Now since you have been set free from sin and have become the slaves of God, you have your present reward in holiness and its end is eternal life. The end of this is eternal life, living with God forever as, you know, part of the family and the economy of God
"For the wages which sin pays is death, but the bountiful free gift of God is eternal life through and in union with Jesus Christ our Lord." So what does that mean? Well, I think if Paul has been covering ground with the Ephesians on the retaining of eternal salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord. Well, he would have covered sin and who you used to be.
He would have covered, I suspect, who are you now? Now that you're born again in Christ Jesus, what does that mean? And he would have also covered, what are you now doing? Because the doing is very, very important. And then he would have covered, I suspect, Where are you now going to go? What are you now doing and where are you going? What direction are you heading in as a born-again person with eternal life in Jesus Christ?
Understand that direction. It starts the day you got born again and goes for forever, okay? It goes for forever. it's eternal. So understand that direction as to where you're going. Now along the journey, along the journey, what do you now see? What are you now seeing? But now since you've been set free from sin and have become the slaves of God, you have your present reward in holiness. Is that what you're now seeing? Are you seeing a holy lifestyle, develop and grow and manifest itself in your heart and mind? Yeah?
You have your present reward in holiness, and its end is eternal life, for the wages which sin pays is death, but the bountiful free gift of God, the bountiful free gift of God is eternal life in union with Jesus Christ our Lord. What are you now seeing? How has your life changed? Now that you've been set free from sin, what other options are open to you?
How does your future now look as an integral part of God's own eternal family. Remember eternity never stops. How does this realisation equip you moving forward in Christ Jesus for the rest of your natural life here? Becoming all that He's created for you to be.
We've called our radio you become. Yeah? Look, if you've never gone to our website, please go to LivingSuccess. That's L -I -V -I -N -G -S -U -C -E -S as it sounds. LivingSuccess.org. Go to LivingSuccess.org
There's a heap of free things there for you. There's lots and lots, free resources, podcasts, messages, prayer cards, you know, there's all sorts of stuff. If you are interested in this series, it's there. It's called "Living an Effective Life" because we all want to live an effective life. A life that isn't, you know, you just don't leave a tombstone. You actually leave a legacy.
That's so important, so, so important. How are you influencing the world around you? Because that all is part of your eternal legacy. You can find so many resources at livingsuccess.org. There's a heap of it there. Just help yourself to it, it's free. If you wanna leave us a donation, that's up to you, okay? Praise God, but take advantage of all of the free stuff. livingsuccess.org please.
So how does this realisation equip you for moving forward in Christ Jesus for the rest of your life becoming all that he has created you to become and to live a meaning purposeful and truly effective life, yeah?
Live purposefully, live worthily, live accurately, not as the unwise and witless, but as wise, sensible, intelligent people, making the very most of the time, buying up each opportunity because the days are evil, and I tell you what, they're certainly evil now, therefore do not be vague and thoughtless and foolish.
No, no, no. But understanding and firmly grasping what the will of the Lord is. So, I think the next thing that Paul quite likely could have shared with the people at Ephesus, some of the underlying foundational things of attaining eternal salvation in Christ Jesus.
What are you now seeing people? Yeah? What are you now seeing? What's happening? What's unfolding in your life? Where are you going? What are you seeing along that journey? See, because God has specific intentions. Let me just share a few things with you.
Turn back in my Bible here. You can hear the pages. Ephesians chapter one, And this is powerful. This is really strong. Now, it's a little hard to interrupt and just start reading from the verse.
Let's go up to verse 3. Amplified Bible Ephesians chapter 1. May blessing, praise, laudation and eulogy be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing given by the Holy Spirit. Blessings in the heavenly realm even as in his love he chose us.
Let me put it this way. He chose you actually picked you out for himself as his own. Now that's God deliberately choosing you, even as in his love he chose you, actually picked you out for himself as his own, in Christ, before the foundation of the world, that you should be holy, consecrated, and set apart for him, and blameless in his sight, even above reproach, before him in love, for he foreordained you, destined you, planned in love for you, to be adopted, to be revealed, as his own child, through Christ Jesus or through Jesus Christ, in accordance with the purpose of his will. Why? Because it pleased him and was his kind intent.
God is so incredibly kind. Just wonderfully, beautifully kind. That's not a weakness. That's a powerful force. He was So kind, and his kindness drove this desire, this desire, all consuming desire that the Father had to actually choose you
individually. He chose you, he picked you out for himself as his own in Christ,
so that you could be set apart, you could be wholly consecrated, set apart for him
and blameless in his sight, completely innocent before your Father God.
Wow. It was his kind intent. And then we look here at verse 9, Ephesians chapter 1, "Making known to you the mystery, the secret of his will, of his plan, of his purpose. That's so strong. Let me read that again." Making known to you the mystery and the secret of his will, of his plan of his purpose, and it is this, in accordance with his good pleasure, his merciful intention, which he had previously purposed and set forth in him.
It was God's intention, his merciful intention. Oh dear me, so powerful. So God has specific intentions. It's quite clear that as the body of Christ we are to be the primary method for the spreading of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, if we don't do that, if we don't relay that information, it was God's kind intent. He chose every person before the foundation of the world. And it was His kind intent. Yes? It is not the Father's will that any person should perish.
Oh, do you mean? If we don't share that information, Who is it that will? Yeah? I know the devil and his mob won't do it. So if we don't do that, if we don't minister the gospel, preach the gospel, share the gospel story, who will? God has a desired intention. He has a desired results in mind. With a desired intention comes desired results. He's got results in mind.
Now, we're a significant and vital part of God's intentions. You are a vital part of God's intentions coming to pass and coming into effect here on the earth. And that's why Paul says, you know, "Lead a life worthy of the divine calling to which you've been called with behaviour that is a credit to the summons to God's service, to God's service.
Now, if you're in the service of something, then you're furthering the ideas, the goals, the intentions of the something. If you're in the military service, then you're serving in the military. If you're in God's service, then you're serving in the kingdom of God, furthering the intentions of the kingdom of God, which is what we all are. Yeah?
Live, live a life worthy of the divine calling to which we have been called, with behaviour that is a credit to the summons to God's service. Us born-again believers, the born-again Church of Jesus Christ become a very important part of helping improve people's lives. We're the primary method of improving people's lives.
Yes, medical science, all of that sort of thing. Yes, that helps improve people's lives as well. So does law and order. So does telling truth, You know, strong ethics, moral communities, all of these sorts of things improve people's lives, but eternal salvation is the bottom line here, absolute bottom line.
So how do we effectively do that? We are a significant part and a vital part of God's intentions, His desired results coming into effect on the earth, and How do we do that with excellent results? Results that the Father and the Lord Jesus are pleased with. Remember Jesus, he said, "He who sent me is ever with me. My Father has not left me and He's not left me alone, for I always do the things that please Him."
Well if we're going to do that effectively, I think we need to understand some basic things first. Out of Romans chapter 4, 5 and 6, and may I invite you please download this study, go to LivingSuccess.org, search out among the podcasts and find "Living an Effective Life" and at the same time try and commit Romans 4, 5 and 6 to memory, or at least read those three chapters every day of your life for one month and see what the Lord does through you.
God bless, have a great week and remember the amazing words of the Apostle Paul, staggering, Ephesians. You be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you. God bless.
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