"WHY EVERY SELF-RESPECTING CALVINIST IS A PREMILLENNIALIST"

and other quotes I received this week, via E-mail

John MacArthur, Oswald Chamber, John Scott, A.W. Tozer, Thomas Brooks, Charles Spurgeon, Albert Mohler, Uncle Chuck, Donald Whisnant, Glenn Frankie, Tim Challies

I was unable to attend this year’s Shepherd’s Conference at the Grace Community Church where John MacArthur is pastor. This year the main keynote speakers were:

I was bless by been able to read from live blogging by Tim Challies.

• "The session concerned itself with sovereign election, Israel, and eschatology, Dr. MacArthur sought to answer questions such as does the end matter. Does it matter to God? Should it matter to us? The answer is that of course it matters to God and thus should matter to us. History is heading to a divinely designed and revealed end, and if it matters enough to God to reveal it, it should matter enough to us to study it. And yet we often seem to think that God somehow muddled the biblical discussion of the end times so badly that it is best to just conced the muddle and move on. Yet MacArthur believes that the hard work involved in understanding the prophetic passeages is neither needless nor impossible.
• MacArthur made the point that those who most celebrate the sovereign grace of election regarding the church and its place in God’s purpose and those who defend the truth of promise and fulfillment and believe in election being divine unashamedly deny the same for elect Israel. This is a strange division. "Its too late for Calvin," he said, "but it’s not too late for the rest of you. If Calvin were here he would join our movement."
  The trust of the message was simple:
• Of all people to be pre-millennialist it should be the Calvinist - - those who believe in sovereign election. A-millennialism is ideal for Arminians because according to their theology God elects notbody and preserves nobody. A-millialism is consistent with Arminianism. Yet it is inconsistent with Reformed theology and its emphasis on God’s electing grace."
• IS ESCHATOLOGICAL DOGMATISM NECESSARY? IS IT EVEN HELPFUL?
  This week at the Shepherd’s Conference 2007 John MacArthur where 3,000 pastors of all background attended: John MacArthur, Steve Lawson, C.J. Mahaney (stepped in for John Piper who’s father died) Albert Mohler, Mark Dever

Oswald Chambers

• We are not saved to be "channels only," but to be sons and daughtersof God. We are not turned into spiritual mediums, but into spiritualmessengers; the message must be part of ourselves. The Son of God wasHis own message, His words were spirit and life; and as His disciplesour lives must be the sacrament of our message. The natural heartwill do any amount of serving, but it takes the heart broken byconviction of sin, and baptized by the Holy Ghost, and crumpled intothe purpose of God before the life becomes the sacrament of itsmessage.There is a difference between giving a testimony and preaching. Apreacher is one who has realized the call of God and is determined touse his every power to proclaim God's truth. God takes us out of ourown ideas for our lives and we are "batter'd to shape and use," asthe disciples were after Pentecost. Pentecost did not teach thedisciples any thing; it made them the incarnation of what theypreached - "Ye shall be witnesses unto Me."Let God have perfect liberty when you speak. Before God's message canliberate other souls, the liberation must be real in you. Gather yourmaterial, and set it alight when you speak.

John Scott

• 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10. 2). A defense of God’s justice (continued)First, when ill God vindicate his justice and redress the present imbalance of human experience? Answer: This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels (7b). The parousia (official visit) has now become the apokalypsis (unveiling) of Jesus Christ. The basic affirmation of his coming is almost identical in both letters:

A.W. Tozer said:

• Pastoral Ministry: Fencing With MastersFor the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. --2 Timothy 4:3-4Every one who has come to the years of responsibility seems to have gone on the defensive. Even some of you who have known me for years are surely on the defensive--you have your guard up all the time!I know that you are not afraid of me, but you are afraid, nevertheless, of what I am going to say. Probably every faithful preacher today is fencing with masters as he faces his congregation. The guard is always up. The quick parry is always ready.
• It is very hard for me to accept the fact that it is now very rare for anyone to come into the house of God with guard completely down, head bowed and with the silent confession:
• "Dear Lord, I am ready and willing to hear what You will speak to my heart today!"We have become so learned and so worldly and so sophisticated and so blase and so bored and so religiously tired that the clouds of glory seem to have gone from us. Christ the Eternal Son, 108-109."Lord, quiet my own heart before You and give me that humble spirit of listening. Whenever I come before You (including this morning!), may it be with my 'guard completely down, head bowed.... ready and willing to hear what You will speak to my heart today.' Amen."
  

Brooks said in 1662

Holiness will render you most beautiful and amiable. As holiness is the beauty of God, and the beauty of angels--so it is the beauty and glory of a Christian also. Holiness casts such a beauty upon man, as makes him very amiable and desirable.

Holiness is lovely, yes--loveliness itself. Purity is a Christian's splendor and glory. There is no beauty compared to that of sanctity; nothing beautifies and bespangles a man like holiness. Holiness is so attractive and so lovely a thing--that it draws all eyes and hearts to an admiration of it. Holiness is so great a beauty--that it puts a beauty upon all other excellencies in a man. That holiness is a very beautiful thing, and that it makes all those beautiful who have it--is a truth that no devil can deny!

Charles Spurgeon said

Live near to Jesus, Christian, and it is matter of secondary importance whether thou livest on the mountain of honour or in the valley of humiliation. Living near to Jesus, thou art covered with the wings of God, and underneath thee are the everlasting arms. Let nothing keep thee from that hallowed intercourse, which is the choice privilege of a soul wedded to THE WELL-BELOVED. Be not content with an interview now and then, but seek always to retain His company, for only in His presence hast thou either comfort or safety. Jesus should not be unto us a friend who calls upon

Albert Mohler’s blog :

• Just a few decades ago, educators and other observers were warning that the American attention span was growing dangerously short. Educators reported that students had difficulty maintaining focus on a subject -- even for just a few minutes. Well, it now looks like those minutes may be turning into seconds. In this morning's blog, Dr. Albert Mohler says the attention deficit spells further challenge for educators, parents and preachers.

Uncle Chuck sent this to me:

• A little boy was overheard praying:"Lord, if you can't make me a better boy, don't worry about it.I'm having a real good time like I am."

My brother Donald Whisnant said this:

• You can believe as fact every word the Bible says, including about God, Christ, his death on the cross and resurrection, Heaven and Hell, and the entire Gospel message, but still be lost for eternity. Even Satan knows the facts (James 2:19) and shudders. To "believe" in the sense of John 3:16 is to turn away from trusting in your own schemes and self-efforts to get to Heaven (including church membership and sacraments, baptism, and doing good deeds) to trusting wholly and alone in what Christ has already done for you by his death on the cross as the only payment God will accept (nothing you can add) to satisfy his judgment against the human race because of Adam’’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden. Read to hear what God says in Romans chapter 5. Don Whisnant
  
  

Glenn Frankie e mail me this week:

• Charles; I would offer that when a person suggests that a pastor did a good job with his sermon - the meaning is with the hearer - not with the Pastor. I feel it comes to application and individual need. I can honestly say that I hear some messages that sound better - more meaningful to me than others. That - to me - says the Holy Spirit was convicting me more with the author's message/ the Pastor's sermon.
  

Drafted by Charles E. Whisnant 03 10 07

THE WORD, THE SPIRIT, DEPENDENCE, TRUTH, HOLY CHRISTIAN SERVANTS

An excellent statement Pastor Frank Tallerico made this past Sunday:

• The point: "a sporadic or casual approach to the Holy Scriptures will never produce a holy Christian. Nor will Bible Study alone produce a holy Christian." "It must be the study of Scripture coupled with a deep and abiding dependence upon the Spirit of God to put into practice the truths that you learn that alone will develop a holy Christian."

We need to think Biblically. Preaching alone will not make us a great preacher. Pastoring a church alone will not make us a good pastor. Eldership alone will not help us to be a wise elder. Deaconship alone will not make us a helper and servant, biblically. Church membership alone does not make one a Biblical holy Christian.

• Hebrews 4:12 "The word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Our hearts and attitudes are to be filled with the Spirit’s perspective about truth and how ministry is to be.. Ministry is not about us, or our feelings and our ideas, but it’s about Him. We are to ask "How can I as a pastor, teacher, elder, deacon, church member be guided into all truth about how He wants me to fulfill the ministry that has been assigned to me. It’s not about what I do, how I feel, as much as how and why I do ministry.

WE ARE TO ENGAGE THE PRIORITIES OF THE SPIRIT IN OUR MINISTRY

"Sanctify (Greek hagiazo (set apart for sacred use or make holy) them by the truth; Your word is truth, for them I sanctify Myself, that they too may be truly sanctified." John 17:17 Not simply thought for mind or memory, but words of life by the Word of Life.

• "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on His own; He will not speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to Me by taking from what is Mind and making it known to you." John 16:13-14

Drafed by Charles E. Whisnat 03 07 07 Checked by Charity Whisnant

• SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY, NAY OF THE WHOLE OF THEOLOGY WITH EQUAL TRUTH

Part Five

Systematic Thelogy a part of Theology that it deals with supernatural revelation

• In Systematic Theology these contents of revelation as parts and products of a divine work. In Systematic Theology the same contents of revelation appear, but not under the aspect of the stages of a divine work, rather as the material for a human work of classifying and systematizing according to logical principles.
• In Biblical Theology it applies no other method of grouping and arranging these contents than is given in the divine economy of revelation itself.
• The Bible is arranged not according to assumption but according to history.
• John Murray has pointed out that systematic theology views revelation as a finished whole, while biblical theology views revelation as organic process.

To have a more definite conception of Biblical Theology, we must try to gather the general features of God’s revealing work. The supernatural revelation of God.....

• The first feature characteristic of supernatural revelation is its historical progress.

*God has revealed himself not in the form of abstract propositions logically correlated and systematized.

The self-revelation of God is a work covering ages, proceeding in a sequence of revealing words and acts, appearing in a long perspective of time.

The truth comes in the form of growing truth, not truth at rest.

No question the explanation of this fact is partly to be sought in the finiteness of the human understanding.

Even that part of the knowledge of God which has been revealed to us is so overwhelmingly great and so far transcends our human capacities.

• is such a overwhelming of light, that it had, as it were, gradually to be let in upon us, ray after ray, and not the full radiance at once.
• By disclosing the elements of the knowledge of Himself in a divinely arranged sequence God has pointed out to us the way in which we might gradually grasp and truly know Him.-
• This becomes still more evident, if we remember that this revelation of the Word of God is aimed for all ages and nations, and classes and conditions of men, and thus must adapt itself to the most various characters and temperaments by which it is to be assimilated.
  " The Bible is indeed a living, alive book, it alone among books accommodates its readers.In every class, culture, time, and place.

Failure to address the Bible as "alive and powerful," leads to a perceived gap in culture and history which needs to be bridged by gleaning eternal principles from the text in order to make it relevant. The text itself is relevant by virtue of its nature.

THE BIBLE ACTIVELY REACHES OUT TO INCLUDE YOU.

• "We stand in the same place with the Apostles, namely the semi-eschatological age of fulfillment, looking back at the cross and resurrection and seeing the culmination of God’s revelation in Christ." Vos

Much of prophecy was fulfilled in the coming of Jesus Christ, put the purpose of the O.T. was was totally in my opinion fulfilled in the times of Christ, but will continue in the church age, and in the Earthly Kingdom, and then Heaven.

FOOTNOTE MY PERSONAL UNDERSTANDING

• 
  Footnote: I am not going to concluded that all revelation that was prophecy in the O.T. was totally fulfilled in Christ, in the sense that there is yet to be the fuller fulfillment of prophecy. For example I still believe that the prophecy about the Earthly 1000 year Kingdom of Christ is yet to happen. I believe there is yet a future for Israel to be saved. Etc.
  
  We have been brought into that same wonder-world of redemption which Peter, John, James and Paul found themselves in: and that world now compels us in our many stations and position. It is the air we breath.
  
  Drafted by Charles E. Whisnant 02 19 07 Proof checked, not necessary understood

THE OBJECT OF BIBLICAL THEOLOGY IS GOD

PART THREE

The title of a certain amount of knowledge to be called a separate science depends on its reference to such a separate and specific object as is marked off by those God-drawn lines of distinction.

The object of Theology is GOD. The object of Biology is t he science of life and of living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, and distribution

The study of God is something encouraged by God, and this is evident by His gift to us of His Word we call the Bible. God’s eternal purposes to know and be know is well known in scripture. And we know the Scripture’s revelation of God is the foremost means by which this purposes is realized. Therefore we must see, that the Bible as God’s love letter to His people. It’s a living document in which He discloses Himself.

The Bible itself is a allowance (condescension) on God’s part, a grace, a show of favor..
I don’t know if I agree with Vos statement: here:

• A covenantal approach to Scripture will yield peculiar insights as opposed to a systematic approach. Thus you need to study the whole process.
• 
  Essentially Biblical Theology adopts God’s system, and attempts to conforms our understanding of God to God’s calculated historical revelation of Himself.
  

The difference between the natural sciences, humans examines the field of science. In theology it’s the reverse. God is the one who takes the first approach to man for the purpose of disclosing His nature, and who creates man in order that he may have a finite mind able to receive the knowledge of His infinite perfections.

Because of the entrance of sin into the human race. In man’s sinful condition, he does retain some knowledge of God, but all pure and adequate information about God is absolutely dependent on that new self-disclosure of God which we call supernatural revelation.

By the new birth and the illumination of the mind darkened through sin, a new subject is created. By the purpose self-manifestation of God as the Redeemer, a new order of things is called into being.

And by the depositing of the truth concerning this new order of things in Holy Scriptures, the human mind is enabled to obtain that new knowledge which is but the reflection in the regenerate consciousness of an objective world of divine acts and words.

Vos’s THEOLOGY consists in the appropriation of that supernatural process by which God has made Himself the object of our knowledge.

We are not left to our own choice here, as to where we shall begin our theological study. The very nature of Theology requires us to begin with those branches which relate to the revelation-basis of our science. Our attitude from the outset must be a dependent and receptive one.

To let the image of God’s self-revelation in the Scriptures mirror itself as fully and clearly as possible in his mind, is the first and most important duty of every theologian.

Essentially all theology is exegetical. Exegetical Theology: There is no true knowledge of God apart from His Word. Because the Bible is the source of human knowledge of God, it becomes then imperative to make the Bible’s own method of revelation our own foundation for formulating theology.

Theology is the knowledge of God which God Himself has afforded to His believers in His self-disclosure.

With this understanding, the study of theology cannot be infringed by the study of religion, which is essentially the study of the creature.

EXEGETICAL THEOLOGY:
This deals with God under the aspect of Revealer of Himself and Author of the Scriptures. Two parts

• One treats of the formation of the Scriptures
• The other of the actual revelation of God lying back of this process.
  

The formation of the Scripture serves no other purpose than to perpetuate and transmit the record of God’s self-disclosure to the human race as a whole.

The ultimately purpose of all the research of Scripture as to its original language, as to how it was brought into a Canon. , as to its exegetical researches... all this serves the one purpose of teaching us what God has revealed concerning Himself.

And this is best done by BIBLICAL THEOLOGY.

• Biblical Theology is not the study of the Bible, but the study of God as revealed in the Bible.

The specific character of Biblical Theology lies in this:

• It discusses both the form and contents of revelation from the point of view of the revealing activity of God Himself.
• Biblical Theology deals with revelation in the active (moving) sense, as an act of God, and tries to understand and trace and describe this act, so far as this is possible to man and does not elude our finite observation.

I can tell you I never receive this information in Seminary in theology class. But Dr. Bob Cummingham was very good. And Dr. George L. Norris was very good. His theology was calvinist, but that term was not used in seminary. But that was 40 years ago, and I have certainly learned a great deal more in the following years.

Drafted by Charles E. Whisnant, checked by Charity Whisnant for grammer and spelling, but doesn't understand this idea of theology as I have presented it.

WHAT I AM LEARNING IS THEOLOGY HAS HAD DIFFERENT VIEWPOINTS

What I am learning is the different views of theology. And depended upon who you are study you will have your view of theology. Generally you tell a student of theology who you are reading and they will tell you the kind of theology you are learning.

I read that there is no privileged definition of the word"theology" The word theology is not a Biblical term, that word does not appear in the Scripture. Generally you see the word used
in terms of how the word is used.

In the early centuries of the church, theology was used as wisdom, the art or science of knowing God. What was emphasis was not the intellectual knowledge but personal knowledge or relational knowledge. Today the term might be called "spirituality" theology. Augustine had this idea of theology

THE GREEK FROM OF THEOLOGY: THEO LOGOS:

• While the term itself in the Greek is used: a combination of two words: theos / logos: Logos: ‘the study of’ or ‘a word about.’ Theos: ‘god’ ‘a word about god.’ The Greek word was used as a cognitive, abstract, factual knowledge.

AN ORGANIZED COGNITIVE BODY OF KNOWLEDGE

• After Augustine the common thinking of theology was not in terms of knowing God, but in terms of an organized cognitive body of knowledge. Theology became things to know. Now theology was a term to understand as a science. What is the realm of theology? It is Christian doctrine, those things pertaining to God, and man, sin, and redemption, etc, i.e. those things which are mediated to us by revelation. The goal of theology was to know the facts, the truth about God and about His ways.

THE 1700TH CENTURY: THE ENLIGHTENMENT PERIOD

• Here this group of theologians chose the opposite of what medieval scholasticism had been choosing. Which made a distinction between theology as "things to know’ on the one said and ethics as ‘things we do’ on the other.

REVIEW: THREE OPTIONS:

• Theology as spirituality (knowing who)
• Theology as thinking right about doctrine (knowing what or knowing that)
• Theology as a ethics (Christian action, knowing how.)

A REVIEW OF SOME THEOLOGIANS DEFINTION OF THEOLOGY
Geerhardus Vos:
The etymology of Theology is knowledge concerning God.
THEOLOGY AS A SCIENCE

Science in the broadest sense refers to any system of objective knowledge. In a more restricted sense, science refers to a system of acquiring knowledge based on the scientific method, as well as to the organized body of knowledge humans have gained by such research.

It is similar to other sciences in that it is a careful, systematic study of an area of knowledge. That is ‘what is known’ related to truth, wisdom, and belief.

• Sciences generally as relating to "whole bodies of knowledge."
• Science is a useful tool. . . it is a growing body of understanding that allows us to contend more effectively with our surroundings and to better adapt and evolve as a social whole as well as independently.

1. Science: in general: knowledge, learning ‘to know’

• The observation, identification, description, experimental investigation, and theoretical explanation of phenomena.
• Such activities restricted to a class of natural phenomena.
• Such activities applied to an object of inquiry or study.

2. Methodological activity, discipline, or study: I've got packing a suitcase down to a science.

3. An activity that appears to require study and method: the science of purchasing.

4. Knowledge, especially that gained through experience.

Branch of knowledge: a branch of knowledge; "in what discipline is his doctorate?"; "teachers should be well trained in their subject" Field of study. Discipline

Only when making Theology knowledge concerning God do we the right to call it a separate science. Sciences are not formed at haphazard, but according to an objective principle of division. As in general science is bound by its object and must let itself be shaped by reality. Thus in this field of Biblical theology we need to follow the great lines by which God has mapped out the immense field of the universe.

Drafted by Charles E. Whisnant 03 03 07 Check Charity Whisnant

The Average Christian ought to care about theology?

The 20th century witnessed an increasingly energetic revolt against doctrine. A denial of specific formulations of classical Christian doctrine has been evident in some quarters, while others have rejected the very notion of doctrine itself.

Doctrine has even fallen on hard times even among those who call themselves evangelicals. Some evangelical historians now argue that the defining principles of evangelical identity are not specifically theological--at least beyond the most general affirmations. If true, that judgment would be a disgrace to any people of God. As it is, however, evangelicals have a proud doctrinal heritage and have historically given careful attention to confessions of faith and doctrinal issues

Doctrine is, quite literally, the teaching of the church--what the church understands to be the substance of its faith. It is no substitute for personal experience. Evangelical Christians have given clear witness to the necessity of personal faith in Jesus Christ, but that personal faith is based in some specific understanding of who Jesus Christ is and what He accomplished on the cross. After all, we do not call persons to profess faith in faith, but faith in Christ.

There is no Christianity "in general." Faith in some experience devoid of theological or biblical content--no matter how powerful--is not New Testament Christianity. Those called to Christianity in general may believe nothing in particular. But faith resides in particulars.

Some churches seem to think that doctrine is a concern for those of a certain intellectual bent, but unnecessary for most Christians. Interest in doctrine amounts to something like an intellectual hobby. Others steer clear of doctrine for fear of argument or division in the church. Both factors indicate a lack of respect for the Christian believer and an abdication of the teaching function of the church.

Those who sow disdain and disinterest in biblical doctrine will reap a harvest of rootless and fruitless Christians. Doctrine is not a challenge to experiential religion; it testifies to the content of that experience. The church is charged to call persons to Christ and to root them in a mature knowledge of Christian faith.

Sociologists and historians observing the American church scene indicate that one of the first signs of denominational decline is a lessening of doctrinal attention. Many mainline Protestant denominations have followed this course, with a weakening concern for biblical doctrine followed by decline in membership and evangelistic outreach.

Yet, evangelicals should not recapture a healthy concern for biblical doctrine merely as a means of avoiding organizational or congregational decline. We must do so because nothing less is worthy of a New Testament people. The essential issue for the church is faithfulness.

Churches lacking an intentional and effective program of doctrinal instruction risk becoming the company of the confused. Charles Spurgeon told the painful story of the Irishman who attended a sectarian religious society meeting. Telling of the meeting, the man recounted: "Oh, it was lovely: none of us knew anything and we all taught each other."

American evangelicals must curb the decline of doctrinal concern in our midst and recapture the teaching responsibility of the church. Doctrine without piety is dead, but piety without doctrine is immature at best, and inauthentic at worst. Faithful Christians are always concerned with the development of true Christian piety and discipleship in believers. Yet, as John A. Broadus commented over a century ago, doctrinal truth is "the lifeblood of piety."

Those who call for a "doctrine less Christianity" misunderstand--or misrepresent--both doctrine and Christianity. Pragmatism and program concerns dominate the lives of many Christians and their congregations. The low state of doctrinal understanding among so many evangelicals is evidence of a profound failure of both nerve and conviction. Both most be recovered if there is to be anything even remotely evangelical about the evangelicalism of the future.

What is theology?

Theology is the understanding of God. Christian theology is the understanding of God and the relationship of God to mankind, as taught by Jesus Christ. An introduction to Christian theology presents the basics of what he taught. He did not come to merely teach ethics or to help people through life's problems, but he proclaimed the good news that through him God offers forgiveness. His message is objectively true.

PERSONAL INTRODUCTION TO THEOLOGY

• Theology in Seminary was light weight for sure. Dr. Cunningham was our freshman teacher, at Bible Baptist Seminary, in Arlington, Texas. Then the next several years we had Dr. George L. Norris in theology. I really don’t remember much about those classes. In my last year of Seminary Charity and I went to his church, and was one of the great experiences of Seminary or any other time.
• But when I left Seminary with the idea that doctrine or theology had little to do with preaching or teaching. For the next twelve years I gave little thought to how theology had an impact on my preaching or teaching.
• If I remember correctly the first real thought about theology was at the Shepherd’s Conference in 1983. When I discovered the process of preaching and teaching from John MacArthur, I discovered the necessity of knowing theology and how it impacts one thinking about learning the Word of God.
• While I was learning how theology impacted my preaching/teaching I was still learning the different kinds of theology teachings. As a matter of fact, I am today still learning the different forms of theological systems in which is used to form how one believes the teaching of the Bible.
  

Drafted by Charles E. Whisnant 02 28 07 Proof Checked by Charity Whisnant

SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS IN CHRIST

Ephesians 1:3-14

Ephesians 1:3 "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord JesusChrist, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—— 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace 8 that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. 9 And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment——to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.

11 In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 12 in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. 13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession——to the praise of his glory."

A SPECIAL GROUP OF REDEEMED PEOPLE

Those whom these verses speak of are born again of God. And all who have been purchased, have a common source of life and a common kind of life. We came into the body the same way, by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We all possess the same nature (2 Peter 1:4) We are all moving toward the same ultimate destiny - the kingdom of God and eternal glory in Heaven with Christ. So there is this wonderful unity among believers. We are one in Christ.

Paul is teaching us in Ephesians that the Church is a special group of redeemed people. We are:

• The hottest commodity in the universe.

• The angels look at us to see the things that they can't comprehend.

• We have been purchased for God by the Blood of Jesus.

• Forgiven, accepted in the Beloved, we've become slaves and Sons of God.

• Protected by Divine Love, sustained by Divine Providence, and energized by Divine power.

• We're priests, and kings

• We've been taught, lead, ruled, loved, made alive, built up, blessed by the Lord Jesus Christ.

• We are blessed with the unsearchable riches of Jesus Christ

• The God of this universe has set His love upon us. We're His family, and He continues to pour on us the gracious gifts of His Love, now and for ever. WE'RE RICH.

No wonder there is such a wonderful bond, something that binds, fastens, confines, or holds together those who have the same like nature. Christ.

Do you realize that we came into the mind of God before the creation of the world, we are now in the midst of His eternal purpose, and what is best, we will be a part of God's eternal plan for all eternity. It's not over yet, it has hardly begun, all that the Lord has prepared for those whom God has redeemed. Are we blessed or what?

Drafted by Charles E. Whisnant 03 04 07 Agreed with by Charity Whisnant 03 04 07