God Wants Us to Know That Our Adoption Is Secure (2 of 9)
Series: Identity Theft
Craig Smith
Ephesians 1:3-14
I. Introduction
Let's start today with a basic truth which explains why this identity business is so important: What we do is a result of who we think we are. Couch potatoes don't run marathons. No one who thinks of themselves as a couch potato has ever run a marathon.
Any behavior you're struggling with can ultimately be traced back to either a lie you have believed about yourself or a truth you have failed to take hold of.
And that's why this identity business is so important. Because if we think rightly about who we are as followers of Christ, then we will naturally tend to live in light of that. But if we think wrongly about who we are - if we allow our identity in Christ to be stolen from us - then we will naturally struggle to live rightly.
So with that in mind, would you turn with me to Ephesians 1:3.
II. Main Body
A. Adoption
Today we're going to be looking at a fairly large section of Scripture and you might wonder why I didn't break it up into multiple messages. There are two reasons why I didn't. First, Ephesians 1:3-14 are actually one single sentence in Greek and two, this big honking sentence (that's a scholarly term) really has one single idea that God wants us to understand.
Now, we actually already covered a bit of this sentence last week, but let's back up just a little bit and begin where we left off last week, [Eph 1:3] Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
Two things to remember about this verse: First, it's important that we remember where these spiritual blessings are made available to us. They are available ''in Christ'' which means ''in a relationship with him.'' Second, Paul says here that we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing. And we talked a bit last week about what that doesn' ...
Series: Identity Theft
Craig Smith
Ephesians 1:3-14
I. Introduction
Let's start today with a basic truth which explains why this identity business is so important: What we do is a result of who we think we are. Couch potatoes don't run marathons. No one who thinks of themselves as a couch potato has ever run a marathon.
Any behavior you're struggling with can ultimately be traced back to either a lie you have believed about yourself or a truth you have failed to take hold of.
And that's why this identity business is so important. Because if we think rightly about who we are as followers of Christ, then we will naturally tend to live in light of that. But if we think wrongly about who we are - if we allow our identity in Christ to be stolen from us - then we will naturally struggle to live rightly.
So with that in mind, would you turn with me to Ephesians 1:3.
II. Main Body
A. Adoption
Today we're going to be looking at a fairly large section of Scripture and you might wonder why I didn't break it up into multiple messages. There are two reasons why I didn't. First, Ephesians 1:3-14 are actually one single sentence in Greek and two, this big honking sentence (that's a scholarly term) really has one single idea that God wants us to understand.
Now, we actually already covered a bit of this sentence last week, but let's back up just a little bit and begin where we left off last week, [Eph 1:3] Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
Two things to remember about this verse: First, it's important that we remember where these spiritual blessings are made available to us. They are available ''in Christ'' which means ''in a relationship with him.'' Second, Paul says here that we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing. And we talked a bit last week about what that doesn' ...
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