February 10, 2008 Sermon Notes

Pastor Marty Grubbs -- February 10, 2008
“Chosen”
Six Words for a New Life series, part one
Ephesians 1

“How blessed is God! And what a blessing He is! He’s the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in Him. Long before He laid down earth’s foundations, He had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of His love, to be made whole and holy by His love. Long, long ago He decided to adopt us into His family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure He took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of His lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.” -Ephesians 1:3-6, The Message

Chosen …

·         A plan from the beginning

·         To give us the riches of His grace

·         For a greater purpose

“An infinite God can give all of Himself to each of His children. He does not distribute Himself that each may have a part, but to each one He gives all of Himself as fully as if there were no others.” -A.W. Tozer

For next Sunday:  

Read Ephesians, chapter 2.
     What has God done through Christ?
     How does Paul describe us in verse 10?
     Do you view yourself in this way? Why or why not?

 

 

A morning thought...

God comes like the sun in the morning—when it is time. We must assume an attitude of waiting, accepting the fact that we are creatures and not Creator. We must do this because it is not our right to do anything else; the initiative is God’s, not ours. We are able to initiate nothing; we are able only to accept.

If God does not call, no calling takes place. If God does not come, there is no history!  History is the coming of God to us, and the way in which we reply. Only God created the heavens and the earth; only God can create history. We carry it out through our response, but the inspiration, the design, and the strength to carry it out comes from Him. In short, He is what creates, and we creatures are in an act of becoming. —from The God Who Comes by Carlo Carretto

It now becomes our responsibility to hear His call and to know that we are chosen to write history!  “His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave Him great pleasure” [Ephesians 1:5].