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Lessons and Sermons from the Longmire Road church of Christ in Conroe Texas USA
In the book of Ephesians, Ephesians chapter one specifically, the apostle Paul uttered a
prayer to and for the Ephesian brethren.
It's a prayer that I want to make my own this morning as we head into the new year.
It's something that I want to pray on your behalf in my life.
The apostle Paul wrote to them because their faith and their love was evident and it
prompted Paul to engage in continual prayer for them.
And his hope is that they would appreciate the multifarious blessings that they have in
Christ, all of the things that they've received in Christ.
He hoped that they would appreciate that.
And so he enumerates it for them in chapter one, verses one through 14.
He talks about the peace of God in verse two.
He talks about the provision of every spiritual blessing in verse three.
He talks about their placement into the family of God.
They have received adoption.
Verse five, he talks about the pardon that they've received through the precious blood of
Christ as we have noted in the memorial of Christ.
Verse seven, he also talks about their grand portion that they have in heaven in verse
number 11.
And so he enumerates these things and others in verses one through 14 about the many
blessings that they have in Christ.
But then after he says all of these things, he enters into a prayer on their behalf.
and tells them what he prays for regularly for them.
In verses 15 and 16 of Ephesians chapter one, it reads, wherefore I also, after I heard of
your faith in the Lord Jesus and the love unto all the saints, I cease not to give thanks
for you, making mention of you in my prayers.
He says, I make mention of you in my prayers.
And then he goes on in the rest of the verses,
and he tells them what he prays for.
He tells them how he prays for them, what he says to God in prayer in relation to them.
And this is what I want to make mine this morning for you as you enter into this new year.
What is it that I desire for you as you enter into this new year, not only for you, but
for myself, for all of us?
As the apostle Paul prayed, he prayed first and foremost for wisdom and understanding.
Notice what he says in verses 17 and in the first part of verse 18.
He says, pray I make mention of you in my prayers that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of glory may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge
of Him.
When we see the word spirit and revelation in the same sentence, our inclination may be to
make this about the Holy Spirit and His revelation, but this is not the context here.
This is not the meaning of the passage as he's writing to Christians who have already
received such.
They have already revelation from God and Paul is not asking God to do again what has
already been done.
The spirit here or the word, new moss is the idea of their disposition, their disposition.
Paul wants God to grant the Ephesian brethren a disposition that is rich in wisdom derived
from revelation.
that is rich in wisdom coming from the Word of God.
He's asking God to help the brethren have a deeper understanding of revelation, have a
better appreciation for the Word of God.
In verse 18, he uses the phrase that tells us this is about comprehension, not a new
revelation.
He says that God may, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory may give unto you the
spirit of wisdom and revelation.
Notice this, in the knowledge of Him, having your eyes
and understanding being enlightened.
He wants their understanding to be enlightened.
He wants them to know better.
He wants them to understand better the Word of God.
And the Word picture is beautiful here in verse 18.
Paul says, when the mind's eye, the heart, the mind, when it sees, beholds, when it has
been illuminated, you're going to understand some things.
When you get into this book, you're going to understand some things.
You're going to be able to know some things when you get into this book.
You'll be able to understand not only your own life, but you'll be able to understand
what's happening around you.
We see a lot of things happening in this world.
We see a lot of people making decisions in this world.
We see a lot of things happen in our country.
And it's only when you get into this book that you understand why people do the things
that they do.
It's only when you study this book that you understand, okay, I understand why you're
saying what you're saying.
Why?
Because
This book has that type of wisdom.
This book has the wisdom to be able to make you wise even in society, in your own life and
in serving God.
If there is one thing that I have tried to accomplish in every pulpit is a better
comprehension of the Word of God.
In every pulpit that I've preached and everywhere that I've gone, I've gone, I have tried
to make sure that people have a better appreciation and understanding of the Word of God
because it is in that understanding that you will be better off in serving the Lord.
And so he says he wants them to have wisdom and understanding in the knowledge of him.
Paul wants them to have a disposition of understanding in the knowledge of God.
The knowledge that Paul mentions here is not just a regular knowledge.
It's not knowing of God.
The word knowledge in the Greek is gnosis.
It means to know something.
But that's not the word Paul uses here.
He uses the word, I want you to have the epigenosis of God.
The word here epigenosis is a more intense form of gnosis to know because it expresses a
more thorough participation in acquiring the knowledge.
It is a precise and correct knowledge according to the linguist.
What he says is, I don't just want you to know of God.
I don't want you to just know that there is a God.
I want you to know God intimately.
I want you to understand God.
I want you to have a full appreciation of who God is.
That's what he prays for them.
Paul wants then to be intimately familiar with the God of heaven, not just to know God,
but to know God.
This reminds me of Moses and his request for the same in Exodus chapter 33.
You might remember in verse 13, he says, now therefore I pray if I found grace in your
sight, he talks to God, show me now your way that I may know you and that I may now find
grace in your sight.
and consider this nation unto your people." He says, Lord, I want to know who you are.
Moses wants to know who God is.
He wants to be familiar, more familiar with God.
And God answers in verses six and seven of Exodus chapter 34.
The Lord passed by before him and said, Merciful, merciful and gracious, longsuffering and
abounding in goodness and in truth.
keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity.
And so the Lord remembers Moses' call.
He comes before Moses and He tells him exactly who He is.
And Paul is praying for a broader understanding, a disposition through which they would be
better able to both know and understand God more perfectly.
Brethren, this is my prayer for you this year.
I pray for your understanding and full knowledge of God our Father.
I pray that you will be like Moses and that you too will desire to know God better.
That there will be within your disposition a desire not just to know of God that he
exists, but desire to know him better.
And there's no other way to know God but through this book.
You're not going to know of him and who he is without this book.
Having the information about God is one thing, but letting that information change your
life
is another altogether.
And so I'm not just praying for you to have the information about God, but also to do
something with that information.
If you know that this is what God desires or how God views you, let that change you.
I like what one person wrote.
He says, Christian knowledge does not consist of certain Finnish intellectual
apprehensions or certain doctrinal statements and formulas impressed upon the memory.
The intellect is exercised to its fullest capacity.
The doctrine is practiced to its fullest capacity, but only as the avenue of the heart and
soul.
Unless the latter, the heart and soul is reached, the intellect fails to serve its
purpose.
Mere historical or head knowledge is not enough.
It's not enough to just know the book.
You have to practice the book.
It's not enough to just know the things about God.
You have to do the things of God.
The necessity of being a people who know our God through His word is manifested all around
us.
We are in a generation that knows not God, true?
We are in a generation that has no clue who God is.
Even those who profess Christianity, I would encourage you talk to them about this book.
I guarantee you most of them don't know God.
They will say things that are contrary to God.
They will do things that are contrary to God.
And why is that?
Well, it's the same problem that has been in the past.
Judges chapter two, verses eight through 10 tells us of that problem.
Now Joshua the son of Nun the servant of the Lord died when he was 110 years old and they
buried him within the border of his inheritance Timnathirath and the mountains of Ephraim
in the north side of Mount Gaiash when all that generation Joshua's generation had been
gathered to their fathers another generation arose who did not know the Lord nor the
things which he had done for Israel.
We have in this generation
in this new generation coming up, people who don't know God.
That's why we go out and tell them about God.
And when you have people who don't know God, you're going to have a society that is going
to be godless.
You're going to have a society where you're going to have issues.
Why do we have the problems that we have?
Because people don't know God.
And so what is my prayer?
My prayer is that you will know God.
and that you will tell others about him.
1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 13 tells us that there is no temptation taken us but
such as is common to man.
And so to the end that we might know some things more perfectly there are things that the
Apostle Paul desires.
He desires for them to have wisdom and understanding.
He wants them to know God but to what end?
He wants them to know God so that they can know the hope of His calling.
We are called by the gospel of Christ.
God's not gonna call you on your cell phone, but he's gonna call you through his gospel.
Second Thessalonians chapter two, verses 13 and 14 says, but we are bound to give thanks
to God always for you, brethren, beloved, by the Lord because God from the beginning chose
you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and the belief in truth to which he
called you.
How, Paul?
Through our gospel for the obtaining of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so we're called by the gospel of Christ.
Peter also says in 1 Peter 2 and verse 9, but you are a chosen generation, a royal priest
to the holy nation, his own special people that you may proclaim the praises of him who
hath called you out of darkness into his glorious or marvelous light.
We are called by the gospel of Christ.
And there is a hope connected with this calling.
The apostle Paul says in Ephesians that he wants them to know of the hope of his calling.
in the latter part of Ephesians chapter one and verse 18.
Notice what he says.
He says to them, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened that you might know the
hope of his calling.
There is a hope connected with this calling that Paul desires for them to know.
It is not a hope that the world sees like you might say, I hope it doesn't rain tomorrow.
It's not that type of hope.
See, Webster defines hope.
as we understand it as a desire of some good accompanied with at least a slight
expectation of obtaining it, it is the belief that it is obtainable.
It might be obtainable.
That's not the hope of which Paul speaks.
That's not the hope that the Bible uses.
The Bible talks to us about hope in a very different way.
It is not a hope that it rains type of hope, if you will, but our hope is defined as a
confident expectation.
In 1 Peter chapter 1 verses 3 and 5 the Bible says, be God and the father of our Lord
Jesus Christ who according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again unto notice it a
living hope, not a dead hope, but a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from
the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that faith is not away,
reserved in heaven for you.
There is a living hope to which God has called you.
And this living hope is not wishful thinking.
It's not a, I hope I make it to heaven.
That's not how the Christian talks.
The Christian doesn't talk in, oh I hope, like he would say, oh, I hope or wish that it
does not rain.
The Christian says, I know I'm going.
Why?
Because God has made it available to me and I have made use of it.
I have accepted that offer of salvation.
This is a confident expectation that is built upon the promises of God.
It is a confident expectation that knows that God, the promise maker, is God, the promise
keeper.
And if God says that he has provided a way of salvation that he has granted you hope, then
you can take that to the bank.
Why?
Because of Hebrews, Chapter six, verses 17 through 90.
Thus, God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the unchanging
nature of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath that by two immutable things.
in which it was impossible for God to lie.
The Bible says God does not lie, cannot lie.
And so he says it is impossible for God to lie.
And so because it is impossible for God to lie, and on top of that, the Hebrews writer
says he also made a promise, not that he has to, but he did that.
It's impossible for him to lie that we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for
refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us.
This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters into
the presence behind the veil.
The hope that we have is sure and steadfast.
The hope that we have is eternal life in the Father.
The reality and certainty of our hope is predicated upon the unchanging nature of God.
If God told it to you, can take it to the bank.
And so this is the hope that the Apostle Paul is calling for them to have.
And Paul says, if you get that understanding,
If you get that full knowledge that he is praying for, you're going to get it.
The more you get into this book, the more confident your life is going to be.
Not arrogant, confident, understanding whom you serve, why you serve him, and what he has
provided for you.
There's a confidence that comes by knowing God because you have this hope.
You will understand exactly what his gospel call offered because there is hope infused in
it.
And what does this hope do?
The Bible gives us some insight into what hope does.
Hope continues, that's what it does.
Romans chapter eight, verses 24 and 25 says, for we are saved in hope, but hope that is
seen is not hope.
If the hope is realized, you no longer hope, that's his point.
For why does one still hope for what he sees?
You wouldn't.
But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.
He says, since we're looking towards heaven and we have a hope of heaven, we continue.
to persevere.
When the temptations of this world come, when this world tries to take us away from the
Lord, we don't fall for that.
We continue to persevere.
Why?
Because we have hope.
We have this living hope.
And so hope continues, but hope is also courageous.
Second Corinthians chapter three and verse 12 says, therefore, since we have such hope, we
use great boldness of speech, he says.
You know, hope is not cowardly.
You know, the Bible speaks against moral cowardice.
Moral cowardice is the idea that you're not willing to stand up for that which is right.
Moral cowardice is the idea that when that which is right is being attacked, you stand and
you say, well, I'm not going to say anything.
That's moral cowardice.
That's not what hope does.
The apostle Paul said, because we have this hope, we say what needs to be said,
irrespective of what comes our way.
There is no need to disguise the gospel.
There is no need to sugarcoat the truth, because our hope is certain.
We speak it plainly.
We speak it boldly.
proclaiming the whole council of God to the glory of God.
Jesus is King, period.
There is no other King.
Now in today's world, you might get attacked for saying that, but because you have hope,
what do you do?
You say it boldly.
You say it without apology.
You say it forcefully.
Why?
Because I have hope.
What type of hope is it where I cower in a corner
and I say, well I have hope in Christ, but I'm not going to proclaim His name.
No, no, He's King and so the Apostle Paul says, we speak it boldly.
Hope is courageous.
Hope comforts.
First Thessalonians 4 verse 13 says, but I do not want you to be ignorant brethren
concerning those who have fallen asleep.
He's talking about those who have died.
Lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.
Being overcome with anxiety and sorrow is a state of hopelessness, but you don't have that
problem.
you have hope in Christ.
That no matter what this world does, if they decide, listen, because you believe in
Christ, we're going to kill you, you go ahead and do whatever you must.
I'm not going to stop believing in Christ.
And when you put me to death, guess what?
I'm going to be with the Christ.
And so there is nothing that you can do to dull that hope.
And that then brings us comfort that regardless of what happens around us, we have this
hope.
And from that hope we draw comfort and strength.
But not only does hope, we understand, continue and us courageousness or courage rather,
it also comforts but it also cleanses, very important.
1 John chapter three verses two and three says, beloved now are we the children of God and
it has not yet been revealed what we shall be.
He says, we don't even know what we're gonna look like in terms of heaven.
He's speaking of heaven and earth.
He says, we don't know what we'll be but we know this.
That when he is revealed we shall be like him and that's all I need to know.
For we shall see him as he is as we talked about Wednesday night when Jesus prayed that
his disciples may see him in all of his glory.
He wants that and we're going to see him as he is John says and everyone who has this hope
if you have the hope of being with Jesus for all eternity this is what you're going to do.
You're going to purify yourself.
just as he is pure.
You're not going to engage in the things of this world.
You're not going to engage in sinful things that's gonna keep you from the Christ.
You're going to purify yourself.
And so this is my prayer for you.
I pray that you get understanding.
I pray that you become intimately familiar with your God so that you can know and fully
enjoy the hope of your calling in Christ.
But not only does Paul say he wants them to know the hope of his calling, he also wants
them to know the
riches of his glory in his inheritance.
He says, I want you to know in the latter part of verse 18, what are the riches of the
glory of the inheritance in the saints.
The Christian is aware of the inheritance that waits here after.
We know that there is a promise made by Christ of salvation and so we know about that
inheritance.
But Paul says, I want you to know some more about it.
I want you to know about the exceeding glory of his riches.
What Paul?
I want you to go further to appreciate the glory of His inheritance.
You have to know who the Lord is.
He is the one who made everything.
I want you to think about the most beautiful place that you've ever been on this earth.
I want you to think about a place where you stood and you just, wow, that's nothing but
God.
Where you looked at whether it is out above at the sky and you look at the stars and they
have visuals of the planets and you say to yourself, that's nothing but God.
You stand on a mountaintop and you look at the valley below and it's beautiful and you say
that's nothing but God.
God made all things Nehemiah chapter 9 and verse 6 says contrary to popular belief this
world didn't come from evolution.
It didn't come from a big bang and contrary to popular belief I don't go to the zoo to
visit my ancestors.
No.
God created all things and it is beautiful and His creative genius is on display for all
of us to see.
He not only did He create all things, the Bible also says He owns all things.
Psalm 50 verses 10 and 12 says, for every beast of the forest is mine.
And the cattle of the thousand hills, I know all the birds of the mountains and the wild
beasts of the field are mine.
The Lord says, if I were hungry, I would not tell you for the world is mine and the
fullness of it.
Everything you see belongs to God.
And I want you to put those two together.
God has made everything and everything that He has made
belongs to him.
He has made everything beautiful and all of those beautiful things belong to him.
The God who owns it all, the God who made it all has promised the Christian that you can
have it all.
The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows his handiwork and Paul says I
want you to know the extent of God's riches and glory in the inheritance that you have.
Let me go and say this, you don't
He wants them to know that and appreciate that.
But can we even fathom what is yet to come?
Do even understand heaven and the glory of it?
How could we?
We've never been there before.
But you know who has?
Jesus.
And what did He say?
In my father's house are many mansions, John chapter 14.
If it were not so, I would have told you, says, I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that
where I am there, you may be also.
He is encouraging us to stay faithful.
He says, you got to see this place.
Nothing that you've ever seen here on earth compares to the riches of the glory of his
inheritance.
Paul's prayer is for us to understand that.
It is my prayer for you.
He wants us to understand the magnitude of the inheritance.
And the only way to do that is to have a full knowledge of God.
The only way to do that is to search the scriptures.
The only way to do that is to understand 1 Peter chapter 1 verses 3 and 4, says, blessed
be God and the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to his abundant mercy has
begotten us again unto a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the
dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that does not fade away, reserved
in heaven for you.
And so when Satan lures you in with the pleasures of this world.
when the world tempts us with the lust of the eye and says, all of this can be yours.
And when the Christian says and looks at that, he says, no, you have nothing on what my
God has promised me.
There's nothing that you can offer me that will eclipse what God has promised me.
And that's what Paul wants them to know.
He wants them to understand the riches of what God has promised you.
The same God who has made this world and all of the beauty that is in it.
does not compare to what He has prepared for you.
And so my prayer for you is that you will study your God so that you can know the hope of
His calling, but also the riches of the glory of His inheritance, but also this, notice
it.
Paul says, I pray that you know the greatness of His power.
He says, and I want you to know what is the exceeding greatness of His power.
Keep that in mind.
toward us who believe according to the working number two of his mighty power.
There are four words that Paul uses in that text.
It's beautiful.
I love this passage because in this text Paul used four synonyms to describe the power of
God.
The first word he used is he uses the word power there.
It's the greatness of his dunamis.
We get our word dynamite from that.
Dunamis, power.
The word here means ability to accomplish.
It's a cognate verb, it means I am able.
That's what that word means.
The greatness of his ability to accomplish.
And so he says, I want you to know and I want you to understand what is the exceeding
greatness of his ability to accomplish.
The second word he used, the word working there is the word energia in the Greek.
We got our word energy from that.
The greatness of his ability to accomplish and the word means to work.
not mere potential work but active work is the idea that he is actively working towards
something so he has the ability to accomplish he's actively working towards of his kratos
his kratos the word mighty is the word kratos and it means dominion it means authority it
means rule it means to rule over the kratos of his
strength.
The last word power there in the Greek means inherent strength.
What is Paul saying here?
Four words that highlight the awesome inherent omnipotence of God.
He says I want you to know that God has the ability to accomplish what he wants to
accomplish.
I want you to know that there is inherent power within God.
He has the potential power that works
The power that works rather not potential.
He has authority in that power.
He has strength in it with one singular purpose.
That power, he says, is working for you.
That's what that power is working for.
I want you to know, he says, I want you to understand that that power is working for you.
It works towards those who believe.
That's who you have standing behind you.
The one who has all power.
the ability to accomplish all things, the one who has all authority and rules with
absolute power.
That's who's in your corner.
That's just working for you, Paul says.
We might think that the power of God would be demonstrated and highlighted in the creation
of the world.
If I were to ask you, how is the power of God displayed?
I would ask you that question and you would say, well, you would look at creation and Paul
is trying to encourage us, but he's not pointing towards creation.
How is God's magnificent power displayed?
Ephesians chapter one, verses 19 through 23, he explains to us how God's power has been
put on display.
He says, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power towards us who believe, starting
in verse 19, according to the working of His mighty power, notice this, which He worked in
Christ.
How was God's magnificent power displayed when He raised them from the dead?
You want to know how powerful God is?
On the third day, they came to the tomb and they asked, is Jesus?
And the angel said, He's not here, He's risen.
That's how powerful God is.
was able to raise Jesus from the dead, but not only this and seated him at the right hand
of God in heavenly places, far above all principality and power and dominion and every
name that is named not only in this age, but also in that which is to come.
And it put all things under his feet and gave him to be the head over all things to his
church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all and all the same God who
raised Jesus from the dead, the same God who seated him at his right hand.
the same God who gave him to behead over all the things to the church and put all things
under his feet.
That's the God who was working on your behalf.
How could you not have anything but confidence?
God's power is highlighted in His resurrection.
When you know God, when you understand what He has done through Christ, then you will
understand His mighty power and only then can you enjoy the comfort from knowing His power
is used.
to your benefit.
And so therefore Romans chapter 8 and verse 31 takes on a whole new meaning when you
understand that.
Romans chapter 8 and verse 1 says, if God before us, who can be against us?
They may look at the Christian and they may say, we're going to come after you.
You and what army?
There is not an army in the world.
There is not a military in the world more powerful than my God.
So you go ahead and do whatever you must.
But if God be for me, there's absolutely nothing that you can do against me.
And so therefore we strive with confidence, we act with courage, and labor without fear,
knowing that success is not rooted in our power, but in the God who stands with us, and
with Him the sky is the limit, so to speak.
for what we can achieve in Christ.
The apostle's prayer for the Christian is simple, but yet it is profound and it is my
prayer for you this year, that you will come to a full understanding and knowledge of God,
that you may know who he is, that you may understand through that knowledge the hope of
your calling, that you may understand through that knowledge the glory of the riches of
his inheritance.
that you may understand through that knowledge the greatness of His power that is working
for you.
When you understand those things, I guarantee you that your life will be better for it.
That's my prayer and my desire for you.
Get to know God better.
But brethren, the Bible is very clear.
My prayer for you can only go to God.
in relation to me praying for you.
But what it cannot do, what it absolutely cannot do is force you to do those things.
You have to make that decision.
You have to make this decision to pick up this book.
You have to make the decision to get to know God better.
I can pray till I'm blue in the face.
I can stand up here and preach all day twice on Sunday.
You have to finally make that decision to do it.
So it is my prayer to you, but I hope that it will be the disposition that you have.
My prayer for you is God's desire for you.
What Paul is asking them to know is exactly what God wants them to know.
And I hope you will do those things.
If you're here this morning and you want to know God better, if you have a desire to know
Him better, our prayer is that you will ask the question, how can I know God better?
We'd be happy to sit down with you and study with you.
Maybe it is the case that you heard something in the sermon this morning and you have
questions about it.
Please, we want to sit down and ask you about it.
We want to sit down and explain it.
But I want to go back to a text that you need to understand.
In verse 23 of Ephesians chapter 1, verses 19 through 23, the Bible is clear that Jesus
has been given authority and dominion.
over his church.
I want you to notice there he didn't say over his churches he said over his church
singular which is what his body the fullness of him that filleth all and all.
The question I asked for you this morning are you in the church that belongs to Christ?
Are you in that church?
Now you may ask yourself why I didn't know there were men I didn't know there was only one
there's only one
It's the one that has been sanctioned and authorized by God.
And if you want to know how to get into that one church, our prayer for you is that you
would ask that question.
But maybe it is the case that you know of the one kingdom.
Do you know access into that one kingdom is only through one way?
And our prayer this morning is simple.
Our prayer is that you will accept God's offer of salvation.
And how is one saved?
Well, one is saved, the Bible says, that one is saved through obedience to the glorious
gospel of Jesus Christ.
You can't be saved any other way than what God has given us in this book.
And so ask yourself, have you done these things?
Have you heard the gospel of Christ?
His death, His burial, and His resurrection?
But not only have you heard it, do you believe it?
Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ, Son of God?
That He was put on a cross, He died, He was buried, and then by the power of God, He was
risen again?
If you believe it, what are you gonna do about
Because it's not enough to just believe in the facts.
You have to respond to the facts.
On the day of Pentecost, they were preached that message in Acts chapter 2 and verse 37.
The Bible says they believed it and then asked the question, what must we do?
And so what are you going to do this morning?
Well, the Bible gives you an answer.
In Acts chapter 2 and verse 38, it says repent.
In Acts chapter 17 verses 30 and 31 it says you have to repent.
What does repentance mean?
It means that you have to change your mind about living like the world.
I'm gonna do the right things, I'm gonna live the right way because that's what God
demands of me.
But not only repentance, I need to be willing to confess the name of Christ before
witnesses.
During those times, and maybe in our future, if you confess the name of Christ, they cut
off your head.
And so it was a big deal to confess the name of Christ.
So while you can still confess the name of Christ without having your head chopped off,
why don't you do that?
Because that's Romans chapter 10 verses 9 and 10.
the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
The Ethiopian eunuch as they were traveling in Acts chapter 8, the Bible says he was
standing there and they were teaching him the word of God.
He says, what's hindering me from being baptized?
He says, if you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
And he said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
If you're willing to confess the good name of Christ, then you can be baptized in water
for the remission of sins.
Baptism washes away sin.
1 Peter 3 and verse 21.
Baptism is God's answer to save you from your sin.
It's not that the water is holy.
It's because the Holy God said, in the water so that I can make you holy.
And so God says, he who believes and is baptized will be saved.
And then the Lord adds you to his church.
the one you read about in the Bible, Acts chapter 2 and verse 47.
That's what you can do to put yourself under the one who has all dominion and to be added
to the body of Christ.
If we can help you, please make a note while we stand and as we sing.