In Christ Jesus

• Ephesians 1:1-6 says: Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
• The first thing that we are offered here is Grace'and peace.  However, there are lots of saved people who do not have these gifts from God, especially they do not have peace.  The number one reason that they don't is because they are not faithful.  Notice that our reference only offers these spiritual gifts to the faithful in Christ Jesus.
• Next, notice that these blessings are offered in Christ.  Christ  is not a name but a role like pastor is a role. Ephesians 5:31-32 tells us that the relationship between a man and his wife is a picture of the relationship between Christ and the church. A man can be married but not enjoy the blessings of being married if he leaves his wife or even if he just refuses to maintain a good relationship with her. Likewise, we can be saved and lose the blessings of being in Christ  if we refuse to do our part to maintain a good relationship with Christ.
• I have studied every place that the Bible uses the name of Christ  at least 24 times and in most cases over 50 times. I have provided written evidence of my conclusions and, while many say that they disagree, NO ONE has shown anything to dispute my conclusion that the Bible uses Christ  for the role and relationship that brings spiritual maturity after initial salvation. Simply put, if you are not more spiritually mature than you were a year ago then you are not in Christ  even if you are saved. You can not expect to receive the blessings which are only given to people who are in Christ.  For a simple test, when disaster hits do you fret or does God give you peace and assurance that everything is going according to His plan?
• Next, notice that the promise that we will be blessed us with all spiritual blessings  is in heavenly places.  While God does bless His people here, those blessings will be lost when we die. However, the blessings that wait for us in heavenly places  can never be stolen. Therefore, we might not see a lot of blessings in this life but we can anticipate great eternal rewards through true Biblical faith.
• Next notice the phrase wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved  at the end of our reference. It is one thing to be a child of God but it is something more for our attitudes and actions to be accepted  by God. The word wherein  means 'when we are in Christ' and that is only when we are letting Christ cause us to spiritually mature. The opposite side of being accepted  is being one of the children of wrath,  who are described in Ephesians 2. They are not lost people because the lost are not children of God.  They are God's children who live a lifestyle of sin and refuse to let Christ  free them from their sin through their ongoing personal relationship that is in Christ.  Simply put, if you are saved and are not doing less sin than you were a year ago then you are 'cruising for a bruising' from God.
• Next, notice the phrase that we should be holy and without blame before him.  This is why we should be in Christ  and the results that God wants to produce in your life. Would the people who know you well agree that your life is holy,  or at least more holy  than a year ago?
• Would those people agree that there are fewer wrong things that can be blamed on you?
• Next, look at the phrase in love.  John 13:35 says: By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.  Do people see more love for the church in your life than you had a year ago?
• Next, look at the phrase Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.  Anyone who adopts a child does so with the plan of teaching the child to be like them. God used Jesus Christ to adopt us so that He could make us like Him. The word according  lets us know that the more we become like God the more we will receive the good pleasure of his will.  However, the less we become like God the less we will receive the good pleasure of his will  and the more we can expect to receive His wrath.
• Finally, look at the phrase To the praise of the glory of his grace.  God saves us by His grace (Ephesians 2:8-9). He sanctifies us by His grace (Acts 20:32). If we are saved but never become sanctified then God gets no glory  and no praise  for giving us His grace. Saved people who refused to mature spiritually so that they become sanctified have a life testimony that God wasted His grace on them.
• Hebrews 10:28-29 says: He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?  If you refuse to maintain your relationship that is in Christ  and causes you to mature spiritually then your life says that you hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing.  Expect to receive severe punishment even if you are saved.
• Galatians 3:16-18 says: Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect. For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.
• Our salvation and everything which comes from it are because of the promises given by God the Father to Christ.  All of our eternal rewards, which this verse identifies as inheritance  come only through Christ.  Under Jewish tradition, and according to the Bible, different people get different levels of inheritance.  Therefore, in order to get the best eternal inheritance,  we need to get close to Christ  and that only happens if we mature spiritually.
• Acts 20:32 says: And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.  Saved people who refuse to be sanctified  have no promise of an inheritance.  They should expect to be eternal paupers.
• John 10:10 says: The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.  When we get saved, we receive God's life.  The word and,  in our verse, means that life' more abundantly  is added to salvation and added after our initial profession. This life' more abundantly  is only added as we mature spiritually and is added in proportion to our personal spiritual maturity. Saved people who refuse to mature spiritually prove that God wasted His efforts to try and bless them after their initial salvation.
• 1Corinthians 3:1-2 says: And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
• Babes is Christ  can be physical adults, such as these church members were. In this epistle we have a 'Test of Spiritual Maturity' which God requires people to pass before He teaches them personally and before He will make them a leader in t true spiritual church. Filipinos can pass a Board Exam and be qualified to get a job, even a job overseas. However, until they pass God's test God will not use them the way that he wants to. God wants all of His people to spiritually mature to the point that they can help to build a new church any place that they are sent to.
• Aquila and Priscilla helped to start churches in 3 different cities and they were not preachers and only had training from their home church. God included them in the Bible to be our example. God wants every saved person to follow their example.
• 1Corinthians 4:9-13 says: For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised. Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwellingplace; And labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it: Being defamed, we intreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day.
• The first verse is sarcasm. After it we see the way that mature Christians are to act. These are the people who can expect to receive God's blessings here in this world and in eternity where they will never lose their reward.
• People who are truly in Christ  will act like Paul says that the apostles acted.
• Acts 24:24-25 says: And after certain days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, which was a Jewess, he sent for Paul, and heard him concerning the faith in Christ. And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee.
• Righteousness is: 'doing the right thing at the right time and in the right way and with the right attitude'.
• Temperance is: moderation in regard to the indulgence of the natural appetites and passions.
• Judgment to come is what we will all face and it to be the primary motivation for everything that we do in this life.
• People who are truly in Christ  will spiritually mature to the point that they can reason with lost people just like Paul did in this verse.
• Would people looking at your life say that you act like the person that our references describe or do you need more spiritual maturing?
• 1Peter 4:17 says: For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

All of you have heard some of how God will judge saved people who refuse to obey and become spiritually mature.  However, if you have never accepted Jesus as your personal Lord then you are the enemy of God and can expect to receive far worse punishment in the lake of fire  and receive it for eternity.  If you don't want that then come forward and someone will show you how to become a child of God.

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