Transcript for:
Ephesians 1:7,12 -Plutocrats-(Part-2) Pastor Rick Beaudry 2025-12-14

Ephesians chapter one. We're on our series of plutocrats, and last week we looked at the predestination of the father, and we reminded you that from verse three under verse 14 in the Greek is one sentence. And so we're breaking this, down with the trinity of predestined by the father, purchased by the son, and preserved by the holy spirit. So next week, we'll look at, a Christmas message, and then when we come back from next week's Christmas message, we'll pick up, the third part of the, series we're doing on plutocrats. But why don't we start at verse one of chapter one and read the first 14 verses together. So 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 has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. According as he has 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 under the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he has made us accept it in the beloved, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace, wherein he has abounded towards us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure which he has purposed in himself. That in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, which are on earth, even in him. In whom also we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him who works all things after the counsel of his own will. That we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ. Father, we thank you for your holy word and Lord as we have come here to worship and to pray and to fellowship and intercede on each with each other, Lord, we've also come to sit at your feet and to be instructed of you. And so Lord, we pray that you'd be our teacher today and that you'd give us ears to hear, that the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit reveals to us who you are, Lord, to a greater measure than we've ever known you, Lord. The riches are ours in Christ Jesus. We pray, Lord, that you build us up and strengthen us in this most holy faith. We pray that you continue to pour out your Holy Spirit upon us and help us discern between good and evil, between right and wrong, between light and darkness, and to not succumb to the deception in the times in which we're living with this AI technology and all the other things that that are just constantly lying. Help us to be lovers of truth. Help us to be children of light and not compromise with this world, Lord. Help us to stand strong and continue to stand against the wiles of the wicked one. Equip us and strengthen us today, Lord. In Jesus name we pray, amen. Would you please be seated? So today we continue our study in Ephesians, examining the tremendous riches that are ours in Christ Jesus as plutocrats. The word riches is plutos, and so we as plutocrats by the son, so predestined by the father, purchased by the son, and preserved by the holy spirit. So the triune godhead actively pursuing, purchasing, and protecting us for all eternity. Lavishing the riches of the Plutus of his grace upon those who believe, having studied the predestination of the father last time, today we look at being purchased by the son in verses seven through 12 for this week. Notice verse seven, in whom we have redemption through his blood. The word redemption speaks of release secured. So release secured by the payment of a ransom. And so we're prisoners, we're in bondage, we have no way to release ourselves. We're spiritually bankrupt. Our sins, the wages of sin is death and the gift of God's eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. So here we are as slaves in bondage to sin, death, and hell, captives of the wicked one of the devil. We have no way to be released. No way. And so Jesus becomes that that means of payment. And so God being holy and being just, and also loving, he doesn't violate his justice. He doesn't violate the fairness or the that which is righteous and just and holy. And so something has to be done concerning our sin and and that something is the giving of Jesus Christ that he would pay the price of our redemption, the go well, the kinsman redeemer. The picture there with Ruth and Boaz. Boaz was very wealthy and Jesus being very wealthy, though he was rich here for our sakes he became poor, that we through his poverty might become rich. And so the Moabites, Ruth, she's redeemed. She's redeemed in the sense that, Boaz paid the Goel price and, Ruth and and Naomi, they're able to, receive the, the inheritance in that family structure there with the limelac and all. And so it's a picture of the redemption that you and I enjoy in that we are estranged, we're sinful, we're away from the Lord, we're separated from God, and, we're in bondage. And so there's no, we weren't redeemed as Peter says with silver and gold. We can't get enough gold. There's no trillionaires today that can redeem themselves nor redeem or pay for the sins of their children and all. It's only and completely through the person of Jesus Christ. As he said, it is finished. The talus died paid in full. And so once he's crucified and that payment is made, then there's an imputed righteousness that's imputed to you and I because of the gift of eternal life through God's dear son. And so Satan's the accuser of the brethren. He uses the letter of the law to accuse us. And Jesus basically lets all the angels and Satan and all of them know that we're a purchased possession, that we've been pardoned, that we've been paid for, that all those sins, past, present, and future, have been paid for. So Matthew twenty twenty eight, even as the son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. So as unbelievers, as we said, we were slaves to sin, we're in bondage to sin, we're being held captive by the devil at his will, and we thought we were free. We thought we were so free, you know, partying and doing whatever we wanted to do, you know, the youthful us, if you will. And I was on Facebook the other day and I saw where I grew up in Huntington Harbor, Huntington Beach, they were having a, you know, a boat party where they have the boats all lit up and all that. And then afterwards, they have a party, an actual party in Huntington Harbor. We, growing up in high school, Kathy and I went to a lot of parties there in our indulging in our youthful lust during high school and even after high school for a couple years. And it was just so strange to me though, just like when I went to my reunion a few years ago. It's very strange to me to see people still in that bondage. It's like it's like somehow, somewhat we oh, they're sowing wild oats. It's your youthful lust. Paul says, flee, you know, your youthful lust, Timothy. And so I understand how how stupid we are when we're young, but to see people my age still acting that stupid, it's just so embarrassing. It's just embarrassing. And the only reason I the only answer I can give to it is they're still blind. They don't see how stupid they are, you know? They don't see how stupid it is to get drunk and try and dance out there like you're still in high school and stuff. It's it's embarrassing. It's just absolutely embarrassing. So I'm just thankful that the Lord saved me, you know, ministered to me, you know, opened my heart and mind, and and I can be so incredibly silly by wearing an In N Out Burger shirt, know. I mean, like, I I can do that, but anyway, I'm just joking, but it's just sad. So I'm so very very thankful that that family that I came from was in such darkness with alcohol and all of the all the other stuff. And who is gonna rescue me? Who is gonna lead me to salvation? Who is gonna lead me, you know, out of that? And and it's the the Lord Jesus did by the power of the Holy Spirit as I heard the gospel, and the gospel having the power to deliver me from that, and and and so behind all that, behind the gospel, or the good news is the precious blood of Jesus Christ as a lamb slain before the foundation of the earth. God predestined me to be saved, and how did that happen? I was purchased by the son. He purchased me. He bought me because I was a slave to the wicked one. When Adam sinned, we forfeited our dominion over the earth under the little g god of this world. And, he became the, as I said, the prince of the power of the air, the little g god of this world, the devil, and we've been taken captive by him in this war. And, and so Jesus is a great emancipator. Jesus is the one that came and paid the price, and he's praying to his father in the Garden Of Gethsemane, if there's any other way, remove this cup from me. The cup of God's wrath that's gonna be paid out, that's going to be used to punish sin. And so sin had to be punished. Sin had to be dealt with, and God didn't just wink at sin. No. His son had to go and become the babe of Bethlehem and live a perfect life and go to the cross of Calvary, and he that knew no sin became sin that we might be made the righteous of God in him. He's crying out on the cross, my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from my roaring? If you and I were making up the rules, we might be narcissistic and kinda give a free pass to our kids, know. But God says, no. I'm gonna send my son. I'm gonna send my son to die in your place. My son's willing to die in your place and his blood is gonna be the payment because the wage of sin is death. And so his blood will be the payment, his perfect blood to wash and cleanse away our sin. So as unbelievers, we're slaves to sin, we're in bondage to sin. It looks like we're so free, it looks like we're so hip and cool, and then pretty soon, you're a drunk, you're an alcoholic, you're a drug addict, you're you're so incredibly covetous, you all you think about is money and making more money and more money and more money, and that would starts out to seem like so hip and cool, pretty soon becomes a a huge burden of bondage. And taken captive by the devil at his will. We thought we were so free as we indulged ourselves as we pleased, however we pleased, but we found ourselves enslaved to sin. So again, it seems so liberating to be kids drinking our first beers and doing our first whatever. Maybe some of you did it at college, maybe you did it in high school, grade school, maybe some of you never did it, indulging in these recreational kind of things. But maybe it was later in your life, or maybe you never even even did any of that. Maybe you're the righteous ones. But even you, there's areas of your life that you came into bondage. And it may be a self righteousness that you have. It may be you think you're better because you didn't do those things or whatever, but yet we can look and we can see. One time I was in a room with people that are very wealthy, and I could I could sense the, how demonic it was in that room, just the love of money. And it blew my mind. I'd never experienced that before, but I could I could sense the presence of evil from the standpoint of the love of money. And it's not the money, it's the love of money. And some people dedicate themselves their whole life long to not be drunks, to not be into drugs and all that, but to make money. And how much is enough? More and more and more. And and that's a that's a huge debilitating thing because Jesus said it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter into heaven. Well, who then can be saved? With God, all things are possible. So we see a a few rich people entering into the kingdom in the bible, Joseph of Arimathea, and you know, Boaz was very wealthy, and and Nicodemus, and there are some, Abraham, but by and large, you and I that are poor are rich in faith. We see our need of Jesus, we see our need of forgiveness, we can't buy our way out, we can't call a, you know, a promotion company to overcome our credibility in the community by, like Bill Gates does, he spreads a lot of good stuff he's doing and the media pays the media to try and counteract all the evil that he's doing, that he's being found out for. No. We we we don't we can't go that way. We need Jesus to actually pay for the sins, set us free, change us, and we're, we're thankful that we're no longer addicted to porn pornography or to illicit sexual activity, the drugs, the alcohol, the shopping on Amazon, shopping till you drop. Are you addicted? Are you addicted to your phone? Who's gonna deliver you from scrolling on your phone, from the all the electronics, from the switches, and the gaming, and all that other stuff that can be so incredibly addicting, and it looks innocuous. It looks neutral. It doesn't look like it's a problem because after all, they're just shoes, you know. I only need a bigger closet. You know, girls gotta have their shoes, and guys gotta have their boats, and so we we pursue these things, and pretty soon the things own us. So it's not the, it's it's not the, stuff that's the problem, it's the love of money that's the problem, And the cares of this life and the deceitfulness of riches that quenches our lives and causes us to not be able to bear the fruit that we should be doing. And then when we get saved, we might be like Nicodemus. We're very wealthy. Excuse me. Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus is a very wealthy tax collector, and once he's saved, he says, Lord, to half of what I have, I wanna give back to people that I may be defrauded at all. And Jesus said, salvation has come to this household. So a totally different perspective in regard to money and who he is, and that he's in that sycamore tree, and Jesus said, Nick, or excuse me, Zach, I'm gonna eat at your house today. And his life was transformed and changed because tax collectors were hated. They were incredibly hated, and Jesus made a a divine appointment with Zacchaeus to make sure that that, that he got saved. Psalm eighteen seventeen says, he delivered me. So redemption is being delivered. Right? Release secured by the payment of a ransom, so I need to be delivered. So let's look at some words, some little word study here on deliverance. Salvation is deliverance and healing. Three tenses. Psalm eighteen seventeen, he delivered me from my strong enemy and from them which hated me for they were too strong for me. So the Lord hates bullies and he comes in there and he rescues you and I from the devil and the principalities and the powers that were stronger than us. Psalm eighteen forty eight, thou has delivered me from the violent man. Psalm 34 verse four, I sought the Lord and he heard me and delivered me from all my fears. Fear can be a phobia. Fear can be dominating your life, controlling your thoughts. And so the Lord can give us peace instead of that fear being, you know, being controlled by fear. So fear not little flock, it's your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Psalms 56 verse 13, thou has delivered my soul from death. Psalm 86 verse 13, for great is thy mercy toward me and thou has delivered my soul from the lowest hell. And then I like first Thessalonians one verse 10 in that he's delivered us from the wrath to come. I love that. Because in first Thessalonians five verse nine, we're not appointed under wrath. And so I can look at that wrath in two ways. One, he's delivered me from the wrath to come. That's the wrath at the great white throne judgment. When God poured out his wrath upon his son upon the cross of Calvary and punished him in our place, there's no fearful looking to have judgment of you and I. We're never going to stand at the great white throne judgment at the end of the millennium and answer for the sins that we committed. Those sins have been forgiven as we'll see here in a minute. They've been washed away. They've been cleansed. There's no record of wrong. None at all. Now when it says he's delivered us from the wrath to come, it also means that during the tribulation period when God pours out his wrath, it's an eschatological deliverance. So I have a soteriological salvation that I'm delivered from judgment, but I also have deliverance and a hope that I'm not gonna face the wrath of God poured out during the day of the Lord, during the tribulation period. And so I look at first Thessalonians five verse nine, and it says we're not appointed under wrath. And so God's going to rapture his church before he pours out his wrath upon a Christ rejecting world. God's gonna pour out his wrath upon the nation of Israel whom he loves, whom he hasn't replaced with the church, but whom he's going to judge and purify during the time of Jacob's trouble, the 77 of Daniel. So So he's gonna purify a one third remnant according to Zechariah thirteen eight and nine. And so the wrath of God being poured out upon a Christ rejecting world, half the planet's gonna perish during that seven year period of time, and you and I don't need to fear that looking to under judgment where God pours out his wrath. In John eight thirty six, it says, the son therefore shall make you free. You shall be free indeed. Jesus said it is finished. That word, finished means paid in full to Talistine the Greek. It's all been paid for. All your sins have been paid for past, present, and future. The debt that we couldn't pay has been paid by God's own dear son. And what was the price that was paid? Notice verse seven, in whom we have redemption through his blood. It took his blood. The blood of Jesus Christ. First Peter one eighteen, Peter says, for as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold, the streets of heaven are made with gold. You know? We value the gold right now, you know, and it's going way up and summer's going way up in in this earthly place that we live. But the streets of heaven are are paved in gold. And we look at that and we think, man, and we're a pearl of great price. We're an irritation, you know, that pearl, that sand that gets there in that oyster, and and Jesus describes you and I as a pearl of great price that he went out and sold all that he had to purchase, you know, that pearl of great price. We're that field, that treasure that's within that field and he went and he purchased that field. He purchased the earth. He redeemed the earth from the devil because it's you and I he was really after. And so the devil became the prince, the power of the air, the federal head of this earth, dominating this earth and Adam forfeited. Well, Jesus is the last Adam. He's the one that purchased, this field. And what did it cost him? It cost him everything. Went and sold all that he had because he valued that treasure here. And so redeem with corruptible things as silver and gold from your own vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spa. So the sinless, unblemished, unspotted lamb of God, as John the Baptist said, who takes away the sins of the world. His blood providing, number one, the forgiveness of sins. Again, verse seven, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. Now in Hebrews chapter nine twenty two, we're reminded that in the old testament system that it's impossible that the blood without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. So way back when Adam and Eve, when they sinned and they tried to leave the garden in fig leaves, covering their nakedness, covering their sinfulness, it didn't work, did it? And so the Lord didn't allow them to leave the Garden Of Eden with those fig leaves. The Lord confronted them, didn't allow them to get near the tree of life either with an angel there guarding it, but they left with coats of skins. And so at that point, the Lord ministered to them the gospel, the hope of the future, that the seed of the woman, the virgin born son of God that is healed would be bruised, but that one day he would crush the serpent's head. So the incarnation taught in Genesis three fifteen, and so you see Adam and Eve, they leave in coats of skin. So the gospel's preached to them in that they knew that God's only begotten son would have to go to the cross of Calvary and die for their sins. Jesus said, Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and was glad looking future to the cross of Calvary. Paul said that the gospel is before preached on to Abraham. So we see in the types in Genesis 22 where God the father Abraham offered his only begotten son Isaac, as an offering upon Mount Moriah, is Calvary, is Golgotha, where Jesus was eventually offered. So we see the types of symbolism there, the preaching of the gospel. So all these old testament patriarchs, righteousness is imputed to them because they believe just like you do in Jesus, their Messiah, that one day he would go to the cross and die for them. So that belief, that hope that they have looking future to the cross is the same kind of righteousness we enjoy by looking back to the cross. Jesus said, this do in remembrance of me as we're looking back to his body being broken and his blood being shed. So without the shedding of blood, there's no remission of sin or no forgiveness of sin. So in Leviticus 16, God gave a a lesson. He gave a way for the nation of Israel, to experience fellowship with God. And the picture, the typology that the Lord used like in Hosea 12 verse 10, where he's using the typology to try and communicate truth and we see Jesus, the volume the book is written of him. So if we're looking at Passover, and I'm an unbelieving Jew, I don't believe in the true living God, or or say I believe in the father, but I don't know who the son is, I may partake in the Passover celebration, but it's just a mechanical presentation. I don't see that Jesus is that Passover lamb. I don't see the typology. I don't see the picture. If I'm Moses even with a great wealth of knowledge that he has, and the Lord tells me to smite the rocks so that water will come out, I may not gain the picture, the understanding that Jesus is gonna cross of Calvary and be smitten once. Because next time when the children of Israel are arguing over water and they're angry and all, the Lord said speak to the rock. And so Moses goes and he smites the rock a second time. He broke the picture. He broke the typology that Jesus would only be smitten once. Because in the Levitical system, with the great day of atonement, they'd have to do it year by year. So on the day of Yom Kippur, the priest would prepare himself, and he would prepare the the two goats and all, and he would get his his clothing just perfect, and he have a little pomegranate pomegranate little bells around his his robe at the bottom. And Josephus and some of the historians would say that the great high priest would have a rope tied around his ankle because if he didn't prepare himself properly and they heard a thud, nobody could go in there and pull his body out. They just pull that old boy out, you know. So he'd have to prepare everything, and then he'd have to take the goat and slay one of the goats, and then one of the goats, the blood, he'd sprinkle there at the at the mercy seat, at the judgment seat. Then they had a second goat that they would take, and it's called the scapegoat, and the scapegoat is a picture of forgiveness. The the sin is separated from you. So they take the scapegoat, and they'd send it out, into the wilderness where the fit man's gonna send it out there. So it's a picture of their forgiveness where God takes your sin and he separates it from you, and he puts it upon, you know, his son. So the two goats, one is sacrificed, the blood sprinkled, the sins confessed, One released, the scapegoat sent out into the wilderness. So forgiveness is release, it's deliverance, it's cleansing. Now, the word atonement is the same word that is used, in the fashioning of the ark. It's the Hebrew word kaphar. And so in the fashioning of the ark, God told Noah to take the gopher wood, but also to put pitch, to put tar as a sealant around that wood to make it seaworthy, if you will. It's called a covering. So the atonement is a covering. It covers your sins for a year. And the next year, the priest has to go do it again and do it again and do it again and do it again. And it's a picture that one day Jesus will come, that he will come. And when he does come, it doesn't need to be done anymore. It's once and for all. Done past, present, future, it's done. We don't need to keep going to church and serving the mass and keep sacrificing Jesus Sunday after Sunday after Sunday or day after day after day to retransubstantiation him, you know, the body and blood. No. It's a memorial. We look back to the cross. We partake at communion today, if I remember to do it today. We partake as a memorial. This do in remembrance of me looking back to the to the cross. And then then we also look in anticipation of his soon return as we partake of the the bread and of the cup. So the atonement, the kaphar, the covering, the temporary pointing to the future. In Hebrews 10 verse four, it says, for it is impossible that the blood of bulls and the bullocks could take away sin. Could cover sin symbolically, but it couldn't take away sin. It's not efficacious. It can't pay for your sin and angels can't pay for your sin. There is no human being on the planet that can pay for your sin except Jesus. He's the only one, it's only his blood that could pay the debt that none of us could pay. And so it's the it's the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world as John the Baptist said, takes away the sins of the world. In Romans five eleven, it says, we join God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have now received the atonement. We've received the atonement. We're at one with him. Jesus prayed in John 17 that we'd be one with him and the father even as they too are one. So because of the cross, we can experience fellowship, communion. We can be at one. We can experience the atonement, that onement, that reconciliation, no longer enemies of God. I like in Revelation one verse five where it says, unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. And the loved is in the past tense, pointing back to the cross. Revelation one verse five, unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. We sing, what can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. If we confess our sin, he's faithful and just to forgive us of our sin and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. Isn't that great? Isn't it great to have the Christians borrow soap even though we know positionally it's a one time act, your sins have already been washed away positionally. But in the practical living out your Christian life, we still sin. So what do we do with that? Do we go get saved again? Do we raise our hand with pastor Rick? Those of you that wanna receive Christ, come receive Christ again. What? You gotta keep receiving Christ? No. It happened once, it's done. But for the sake of fellowship, you agree with the Holy Spirit. Hey, I've sinned this week. I've sinned today. I've sinned this morning. And Lord, please forgive me of that. Boom, it's gone. So fellowship's restored. Fellowship is maintained, if you will. But anyone that tries to cover their sin, like David did, you might go a whole year of trying to cover your sin, secretly doing what you're doing, thinking nobody knows, but your sin will find you out as Moses said. And one day David's sin found him out. God in his love for David didn't want him to waste away with guilt. So God in his love for David sent Nathan the prophet to say David, you're the man. That man? Yeah. You're the man, but you're not gonna die. God's gonna forgive you, David, but there's gonna be consequences to your sin and all. And so David no longer had to cover his sin and play the role and be a hypocrite. He could confess his sin and so Psalm 32, Psalm 38, Psalm 51, David's crying out, restore to me the joy of my salvation, you know. As you forgive me, Lord, I'll teach sinners how to repent, how to get back right with you. And I just thank the Lord that that he didn't edit out all the mistakes of Abraham or Moses or David or any of the others, that we can learn from their mistakes and we can look ahead, we can read ahead. Cathy likes to read the end of the book or the end of the movie and we can read ahead and we can see in Hebrews 11, by faith by faith by faith by faith, and the Holy Spirit edited out all their mistakes in the hall of faith. And you and I are gonna be in the hall of faith because without faith, it's impossible to please God, but they that believe in must believe that he is, and that he's a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. You're a plutocrat. You're very wealthy, spiritual spiritual bounty, a spiritual inheritance. No longer are you a slave to sin and death and hell, and it doesn't matter if Kirk Cameron or anybody else says there is no hell, we know there's a hell. Jesus said Jesus described hell. He's fact in fact, he spoke more about hell than he did heaven. And he warned people about hell. The church growth movement today thinks that, talking about hell will make it so people won't want Jesus. Well, we don't try to appease people by watering down the word of God. We warn people. If they don't want the good news, they need to hear the bad news. The bad news is the worm died not and the fire is never quenched. That's the bad news. The the worm, you throw the worm into the fire, it doesn't burn up. Where the worm died not and the fire's never quenched. Jesus described hell as a place where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth and there's no cessation, there's no purgatory, there's no second chance, there's no annihilation as Kirk Cameron who used to believe in a pre trib rapture also with the left behind series. His theology is changing and Kathy told me that the donut man did the same thing that he went into Catholicism when he, didn't like the doctrine of hell. Sometimes when you have a son or a daughter, a family member that dies, and you're begin to be hit with the ramification of of, god, they're gonna spend all eternity in hell, that's hard to decipher. And we need to let people know that hell was not made for man. Hell was made for the fallen angels, for Satan and the fallen angels. Heaven, God's plan is to seek and to save those who are lost. Nobody is sent to hell. People go to hell because that's where they want to go. How do we know? Because they reject Jesus Christ. You don't get into hell by God just sending you there. He's not sending you to hell. He's long suffering, not willing that any would perish, but that all would come to repentance. He's very long suffering. He's patient. He'd give you a whole lifetime to decide. And if you persist in demanding your will because love needs to be based upon free will. He's not making you a robot where you're gonna lift your arms and say, love you, I love you, I love you. He gives you the free moral agency to be able to think and to feel and to make your own decisions. And then that free moral agency, the power of choice, you need to choose to love God. He initiates you choose to respond to his love. For God so loved you that he gave his only begotten son. Do you call it a a, you know, a a nothing? Is the cross nothing to you? Is all that Jesus went through just nothing to you? You're gonna throw it aside? And if you try hard enough, if you try hard enough and long enough, you can make it to hell. But God will do everything in his power while you're still breathing to keep you from that eventuality. It's appointed unto all men once to die and then the judgment. There's no second chance. It's it's all you're all in now. You're either for him or you're against him. You're either gathering with him or you're scattering abroad. Jesus said, no man can come on to me except the father which sent me draw him and I'll raise him up at the last day. And whosoever comes to me, I'll know why is cast out. Are you coming? Are you willing to come to Christ? The invitation is open, an open door for you to come. You have no excuses at the great white throne judgment of why you didn't come. He's gonna open the books. He's gonna play this is your life and you're gonna be without excuse before a just and a holy God. Why would you die in your sins? Why would you say no, especially all the Christmases that you've celebrated? And God's offering the gift of his son, the unspeakable gift of his only begotten son, and you're gonna you're gonna disdain it? You're gonna throw it under your feet? You're gonna throw it away as it's nothing? So then you study and you hear of other atheists. People not just indifferent, but antagonistic toward the Lord and people like Voltaire where they're screaming. They're screaming in torment as they're dying. As whatever they're seeing in that realm right before they go, they don't want any part of it. They're so bold and brazen and like Noah Yuval Harari presently. These guys are so boastful, like the antichrist is described as. And, but there's a day where every knee's gonna bow and every tongue's gonna confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. All the unbelievers, all the fallen angels, everyone is gonna proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord. You either bow your knee to him now, or there's a fearful looking to have judgment where you will one day. And I choose now. I choose to respond to the good news. I choose I choose a God that says, I'll pay for your sin. I'll give you as a gift eternal life if you just believe, if you trust in my son. How could I pass that up? How how could I say no to that? There's nothing in this lie. What's a profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul or what would a man give in exchange for his life? There's nothing that compares to being a Christian. For the Lord to be your portion forever, forever. And the spiritual riches that are ours in Christ Jesus. Psalm one twenty four seven says, our soul has escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers. The snare is broken. We are escaped. The devil had you captive. He had you blinded and shackled to sin. There was no way out. You look at Gadera and you look at the two demoniacs that were there in the tombs, and they were cutting themselves, and they were breaking the chains that held them, and I I watched a report the other day where a guy that went to prison said the most dangerous prisoners are the mentally ill. He says, you can dislocate their shoulder, they don't feel any pain. Well, he didn't use the word demonic. These two at Gadara were demonically possessed. And when they're demonically possessed like that, you know, they're they're breaking the chains and and, cutting themselves and and just the devil's destroying them. Just destroying them there. And Jesus comes and delivers them, you know. We know who you are, Jesus. Have you come to torment us before our time? The demon said. And what's your name? We're legion for we're many. And they didn't wanna be unembodied spirits, did they? He cast them out of there. And they received permission to go into the pigs. To go into the pigs that went over the side into the into the water and drowned themselves and such. But the devil holding these guys captive, holding them against their will. And then what happens after salvation? What happens after deliverance? The release from that bondage that they were in. It says that they were clothed, they were clean, and most importantly, they were in their right mind. When you resist the Holy Spirit, the devil seeks to cause people to go insane. Resisting God, resisting the Holy Spirit, fighting the Holy Spirit will make a person go insane. Yes, I have free will. Yes, I could say no to Jesus even now. I could try to walk away from him. I would go insane. It would be choosing insanity because the power of the Holy Spirit is so great. The the sense of the sense of guilt, the sense of loathing, the sense of failure, so great that my only release is confession, to confess my sin. To come back to come back and say, God be merciful to me, a sinner. I'd be like the prodigal that walked away. My only release is going home, coming back to where I know, where I've tasted, I've seen that he's good. It can happen to any of us, but pray to God it doesn't happen to any of us. As far as the East is from the West, so far as he removed our transgressions from us in Psalm a 103 verse 12. So we are free from the bondage of sin according it says, to the riches of his grace. So he made us rich, an infinite supply of grace. These rivers here in Washington, this aqua river that's dropping all this precipitation, all this rain, and you and you think of Niagara Falls, you think of the fall of water, an infinite amount of grace. He's never gonna run out of grace. We're never gonna run out of water here in the state of Washington. There's never gonna be a drought here in the state of Washington. And one of the recent governors tried to posture himself that we're under a drought. Excuse me? Where are you from? There ain't no drought in the state of Washington. You know, nut jobs. But, then it then it, allows them with their different environmental tyrannies if they can kinda get something like that passed. But fortunately, we're too smart for that. It just never stops raining. I mean, come on. So his blood providing, number one, forgiveness of sins. Secondly, wisdom and understanding. Don't you want wisdom? Aren't you living in a time of just craziness? Absolutely crazy out there. You don't know which ends up anymore. You don't know what's true anymore because the AI and all the twisting and all the YouTube videos and all the social media and the stuff. I mean, they're twisting stories. They're twisting everything. How shall then how how then shall we live during a time like this of great deception? Now some of us we choose to deny the truth. We choose to find places where we can just continue to eat crayons, you know, and eat paste and we're the kind of people that it's okay if we go potty and don't put the lid down and flush. We're we're those kind of people, it doesn't matter. We're we're babes and we don't wanna grow up because growing up is painful, it's hard. I might have to think a little bit. And so we seek out places of refuge that are denial churches. Places where we don't have to hear the truth of the times we're living in. And so the pastors will say, you know, I'm just gonna preach the gospel. I'm gonna give an orthodox message of the gospel. Well, what about places in the bible where Jesus said be not deceived? Be careful of false prophets. Be careful of false Christ. You don't wanna cross that border? You don't wanna cross it? You don't wanna talk about that? You don't wanna try and explain to people how they're being deceived? You don't wanna open their eyes? You don't wanna warn them? You don't wanna keep them from taking the jab maybe? You just wanna be silent about it and let people let people just wander in and don't mention hell. Give them a false sense of security. Don't mention sin, you know, cause we're all about all about, you know, having fun, and we don't we don't wanna be upset. Don't upset them. And so when you're around the kids, that's how it is around kids, around children. We don't need to talk about grown up stuff with the kids. Keep them in that place of loving Christmas, you know. We don't need to be a killjoy and say, you know, Christmas is on December 25 and the Romans brought that in there through the Roman Catholic church and it's the, you know, it's the winter solstice, you know. I'm not gonna go there. I'm not gonna quench. I don't care what day he was born. I just know he was. I know he was incarnate. I know the babe of Bethlehem became a man. I wanna tell that story. And I don't I don't wanna take that away. Now, when Kathy and I were raising the kids, our kids, we felt it we felt it was our responsibility to let them know that there really isn't a Santa Claus. Well, today as grandparents, I don't think I need to do that. Not yet. I mean, why? Let him let him let him have some fun. I was so strict. I was so careful. So so afraid I'd make a mistake with him, you know, and all. And so I don't think Ruthie knows there's not a Santa Claus yet because I think I said to her, know, Claus brings some gifts. The big emphasis is upon Jesus, of course, as the babe of Bethlehem. And so we wanna keep the main thing the main thing, and I'm definitely gonna expose about Halloween, and I'm definitely gonna expose Disney movies that are evil, and I'm definitely gonna let them know about that. I'm not gonna let them roll along with witchcraft or Harry Potter, but the Christmas season, I I don't know. I I maybe maybe if I'm feeling real self righteous one day, I don't know. So wisdom and understanding. I'm gonna need wisdom and understanding. Wherein he has abounded towards us in all wisdom and prudence. So I'm just glad it's not my job. I'm a grandparent. It's a parent's job. If they wanna quench Santa Claus, alright, go ahead. Quench Santa Claus. And I'll support you in that because I like to promote Jesus. Second Corinthians four three four three, it says, if our gospel be hid, it is hid them that are lost. In whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not. And so I would liken it to the present time we're living in where people have drank the kool aid. And no matter how hard you try, you cannot get them to see. There is such a strong delusion. There's such an incredible time of deception that we're living in that we can we we can't look at prophecy. We can't look at where Timothy is warned of the apostle Paul in the last days perilous times will come. Churches don't don't wanna teach prophecy. Well, if it's in there, so so you're gonna posture yourself, I'm gonna just give the gospel. Well, then why Paul give these other chapters to Timothy, a young pastor, to be aware of deception? Why why why let him know that in the last days perilous times will come, that men will be lovers themselves, proud, blasphemers, posters. So let's just what? We wanna get rid of all that? And we don't wanna connect the dot in the last days in which we're in that these days are upon us? We're just gonna line up for the real ID. We're gonna line up for the wearable for medical. We're gonna line up for all the all the beast system that's being built, but don't talk about it because that's negative. Let's go to church to escape. Let's just sing louder while they're taking train loads of Jews to Auschwitz. Let's be orthodox. Nobody can nobody can look at my message and say I didn't tell the truth. But as Bonhoeffer would say, silence in the face of evil is evil itself. You're a coward. You're more concerned to making people feel good in a time of grave destruction, deception. You're not warning people, getting them ready for eternity. And with Kirk Cameron saying there is no hell, boy that's very very dangerous. Now you've got a whole lot of people out there that aren't gonna prepare themselves because they think, oh well, God's just gonna burn me up. You cease to exist. Know, oh, no, no, no. It's more serious than that. That you're lacking wisdom and understanding there, Kurt. In acts twenty six eighteen, Jesus sent the apostle Paul to preach the gospel. Here's the gospel. To open their eyes, so they're blind. Now he wants their eyes to open, the scales come off. They can see now. They can see spiritually. They couldn't see spiritually before. And to turn them from darkness to light, so they were going with the flow of darkness, now they're repenting of that darkness and they're following the light. They're following Jesus. And from the power of Satan, Satan is more powerful than you and I, unto God. So it takes a strong man, someone stronger than Satan to deliver us, and that person is Jesus. That they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance, that's the plutos, the riches that we're talking about, among them which are sanctified means set apart, made holy by faith that is in me, Jesus said. Paul, that's your mission. That's what you're to do. Now he's when he's in Ephesus, for the space of three years, he gave them the full counsel of God. So he didn't just give the gospel, John three sixteen. He broadened from Genesis to Revelation. Revelation wasn't written yet, but all that he had to teach on, the full counsel of God. Why? Because in Ezekiel three and Ezekiel 33, he would be responsible for the blood of people that weren't prepared if he didn't warn them ahead of time. So he said, I'm innocent from your blood. And then he said, now when I leave, there's gonna be some that develop from within you that are wolves and some other wolves from outside. Well, wait a minute, we can't talk about that. We we wanna eat our crayons, you know. We wanna escape ugliness, you know. Give me a crayon pastor, give me a crayon. Give me a place I can hide from the reality of the times in which we're living in, which are evil. How long can you last? How long can you get away? Where's your wisdom and prudence? How long are you gonna be able to last not paying your bills before the bill collectors come and take everything you think you own? I just wanna hide. I'm just gonna go to church today and hide. Well, you come home, your car's gone. The phone doesn't stop. No. There's a pain in the piper. There's a day where you're gonna have to pay. There's a day where a man whatsoever man sows that shall he also reap. You're not gonna be able to hide. You have to contend, earnestly contend for the faith. You gotta fight the good fight. Look at the letters that Paul wrote. Look at the letters of the New Testament. All except for two are to correct error. So I can choose to only tell you the good things like Pollyanna, the gospel. Or I can do the gospel and try to protect you from deception. From how the YouTube channels and people's perception of the culture, they're being deceived. To try and warn and get you ready for the soon return of Jesus because you might not be ready. You might be trusting in a false hope, a false Christ. So I want you to evaluate and be ready. And I want your roots to grow deeper into Jesus while there's time to prepare you for the tough times that are coming. Because if I don't prepare you, those crayons you've been eating aren't gonna nourish and get you through the tough times. There's no nutrition. So the pastor's doing a grave disservice, but not equipping the saints and getting the saints ready for the times in which we're living. As you see the beast system approaching, especially the hope of Titus two thirteen, the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and savior. So you can choose to believe in a golden age that the politicians are gonna take you into with the seven mountain mandate, or you can see through that lie and see that the only way we're entering into the millennium, the golden age, is through Jesus Christ. And things are gonna get a whole lot worse before they get better. It's called the day of wrath. The great tribulation period where God pours out his wrath. The good news is you don't have to go there and be a part of that. You can be a part of the rapture. The escape by praying always, it'd be kind of worthy to escape these things and stand before the son of man. When you see these things begin to come to pass, look up knowing your redemption is drawing nigh. It's good news. It's great news. But in some circles, that prophecy and that teaching, wait a minute, I heard a negative there. What do you mean the tribulation period? I I don't wanna hear about the tribulation period. I I don't wanna hear about anything negative. I want the positive. I wanna know how I can get like Joel Olsteen, more stuff. Live my best life now. The eyes of the wicked are never full. So you're promoting covetousness. You're preaching health and wealth. When we study the book of Laodicea tomorrow night, we're gonna see that a big part of the problem of the last day's church now, the Laodicea means people rule. They're delusional. They don't even know how to self evaluate. Children don't know how to self evaluate. They say in their deception of themselves, I'm rich and increased with goods in need of nothing. Jesus looks at them and his evaluation of them, he says, no, you're naked, poor, blind, and miserable. You're blind and you've kicked me out of the church. I'm on the outside of the church, you kicked me out. But you're so successful in the eyes of the world with your money that you think you're in need of nothing. In actuality, you're lukewarm. You're not hot or cold. I'd rather you're hot or cold. You make me sick, so you're a powerless church. You don't have the power of the holy spirit to be used of God to transform and change lives. That's the church of Laodicea, and that's the last days apostate church. That's what's happening presently. And so what's the cause of it? The cause is since World War two, we have been the most prosperous generation in the history of the world. Ever since World War two, when the Bretton Woods Agreement was made with the bankers, where The US has the dollar as the dominant de facto world currency, and our military able to spend more than all the other countries combined for our military. We become the muscle for the bankers. And this debt system that used to be backed by gold and gold's removed, this debt system's coming to an end, not because of the debt, because they can keep spending to infinity if they want. They can tokenize assets and keep going. No. The reason is they gotta build the beast system and they have new technology now. They have AI. They have digital technology to enslave men. Now as a pastor, wouldn't I wanna warn people about that time that's coming? Wouldn't I wanna warn people just as we did with the jab, you know, evaluate, make sure, be wise, be prudent, don't just don't just follow along, do your investigation, be ready. Otherwise, the blood of people's on my hands. And so open our eyes, our eyes have been opened. We now enjoy spiritual insight and practical intelligence. We now value human life more so than the planet. We value human life like little babies. We value human beings like the elderly more than we do the planet or budgets. We're not We're a type of people that aren't gonna allow AI with its singularity to determine whether a person should receive a surgery or not or medication or not. We're not gonna allow a machine to make that decision if we're wise and prudent. But if we're evil, and all we care is the bottom line, and we really don't like the population being at this point. If we look at the Georgia Guidestones, the objective was half a billion people, 500,000 people is the goal of the demonic globalist. And so for wise and prudent, we see these things and we say, no no no, we need real people in real time evaluating these charts, evaluating these person's lives. And so like I described when my dad was dying last year, the the hospice care was phenomenal. Phenomenal in how much they cared. They worked with him to give him the best quality of life while his appendix was causing more and more problems in his intestines and all. And and he when he believed that he was gonna be healed, he fought harder. And when the doctor came back in and said, no, this is terminal because you you didn't want the appendix taken out or a colostomy bag, He said he didn't wanna live like that and so they basically let his body take its course. They didn't pull the plug, they didn't morpheme him, they let his body take its course. So we could pray and we could say, Lord, heal his appendix, heal his intestines. Give him meds for that, the meds didn't work. So my dad's choosing as a Christian to let God decide. And yet, in many cases, circumvent that decision of my dad's and they'll just put him asleep. It wasn't the medical people's decision. They gave him an out. They gave him a chance. They gave him a an option. Let us operate. And my dad didn't wanna go that route. He was ready to go be with Jesus. And so he so many of us, we we aren't ready to be with Jesus. He's ready. He's his body's wearing out. There was all sorts of trouble the last few years, and he he's tired. He's ready. And it's okay. But in in Europe to take a young person in perfect health and trying to convince them, you know, we can assist you in suicide, that's wrong. That's not wise, that's not prudent. And giving them all sorts of psychotropic drugs and things that make them more and more depressed and and not building them. My solution be share the gospel. Share the gospel. I might be suicidal if I don't know Jesus. It's easy to get there without Jesus. So we're more concerned about salmon. We're more concerned about whales. We're more concerned about dolphins. We're more concerned about a little rat in the field. Can't build houses there because of because of a rat or a spotted owl. Mindless idiocy, Al Gore. She's got it. And yet the spotted owls are making nests at Walmart parking lot, know. Yeah. And it's just funny. It's just so strange how how stupid we are. In John eighteen thirty seven, Pilate asked Jesus, art thou a king? And Jesus answered, thou sayest that I'm a king. To this end was I born and for this cause came I into the world that I should bear witness under the truth. Everyone that is of the truth. There you are Rick. I'm getting gas lit. I I think I'm talking to people that are of the truth. But they drink the kool aid, I can't get through to them. And you know what, pretty soon I quit trying. I'm just tired. I'm tired. They wanna believe these lies, believe them. You think 2026 you're gonna vote things better? It's mindless idiocy. It's just idiocy. And when you can see it, it's just incredible how deceived people are. And you wait for the facts to prove what you're trying to tell people. It's not just your words, the facts come, overwhelming facts. The very first day in office, the Trumpster signed. You didn't see this coming before the election. He signed into law the Stargate Project, a half $1,000,000,000,000 to develop AI. With Peter Thiel and all the technocrats, all the techno people, You're building the beast system. And before the election, we were wrestling a little bit. I was wrestling trying to challenge you about voting because most people still see left, democrat, republican, but they're one party and they're playing us and we still think that our vote's gonna matter? No. He's appointed president. He's appointed. He It wasn't an election, it's an appointment. But you're made to think that you still have a in your constitution or public, a voice. You don't. It's a it's a it's a it's a coup. It's over. It's all over. So when I told you I was gonna finally vote, I saw a bunch of your friends have body language. They couldn't wait to get out of here because that wasn't for Trump and then I don't have the Cyrus coin and the red hat and all that. I was trying to show you're being deceived that he's a he's it's a Trojan horse to bring in the beast system. Any Christian should know what the beast system is. The mark of the beast, right hand or forehead, a digital currency. His son Eric, you know, the Trumpsters, they're they're saying the old system's old. It's it's time to change it now. Your military leaders are saying the old system's over. Time to change it. The ministry of war. All the change is taking place to implement the new, which is the beast system. And I told you I was voting for Trump to pacify you or your friends that left. Because, oh, that's evil. Because one of the pastors said, I don't know if you're a Christian if you don't vote. Well, why are you silent about what he's doing now? I love the new Billy Crone, little video. It's taken a long time for the pastors to come up to speed. JD Farag was right on. He was right on all the way through. His wife's been, you know, he's under attack. He came under attack. One group wanted him to change his name or not be affiliated with Calvary's anymore because all the stuff he was bringing out. I know what that's like. They don't wanna associate with you because their churches might be affected. And then, I noticed that this week, there's three prophecy buff guys. One is Billy Crone, number two is Patrick Woods, and number three is Brandon Holthaus. All of a sudden they're talking about AI technology. And here's the key, you can talk about AI technology, just don't connect it to Trump and your church will still grow. Only point out the stuff, good stuff Trump's doing, but don't show the half trillion dollars for the Stargate Project. Don't show the Genius Act. Don't show the Genesis Act. Don't show all of the b system being funded and built right before your eyes, church. Now to me, that's not negative. That's confirmation that Jesus is coming. Amen. I know that that b system, I'm not gonna be here to see it. But in reality, in real time, prudence and wisdom, how am I gonna deal with the real ID? The digital ID. So I've already said to you, that's not the mark of the beast. I'm probably gonna have to take the real ID. Yeah. I'm probably gonna have to do it. There's no way around it economically when they put that on us. Right? How are you gonna do it? You you gonna we're gonna just raise pigs and barter? We're we're we're sucked in. There's nothing we can do because they're collapsing the present system. Now if you come up with a solution, I'll fight with you. But it's not the mark of the beast. It's not on my right hand or my forehead, and I don't think I'm gonna be around to see that eventuality, but I see the infrastructure of the beast system developing, pointing, and that's when Jesus said, when you see these things begin to come to pass, that's what I said to you, voting for Trump hastens the return of Jesus. I choose to focus on the positive of it. He's coming. He's coming soon because I can see the b system developing, the one world religious system, The one world governmental system. The one world economic system. But don't put your head in the sand and act like it's not happening church. Be wise, be prudent. Maybe if we woke up in time, Patrick Woods, he says it's a coup d'etat. It's a takeover of the world, not just America. It's a takeover. An erosion of your freedom. So if your objective is to share the gospel, can't you share the gospel in a more free society? Then you better fight to maintain freedom. Because if you come under tyranny, even your social media and everything you say is gonna be used against you. So if you really really wanna get the gospel out there, then fight to maintain your freedom. And how do you do that? Truth. Simply expose the lies. That's all you gotta do. And they'll they'll go hide like cockroaches in the dark until you're unarmed again. So the prosperous world we're living in from the Bretton Woods of the current, what what neutralized us? What made us insipid? What made us lukewarm? It's the prosperity. It's we can't let go of the rice. We can't let go of it. If we just let go, we'd be free and the hunter wouldn't come bang us in the head like a monkey. But because you reach in there and grab hold of that that materialism and the hunter's coming. You can't get your hand out of that hole when you make a fist and you're squawking and he hears you and he rolls over there and bops you in the head. He's he's gonna be eating monkey stoop. If you just let go of it and say, no, you're not gonna control me. I don't care how you threaten me. I'm not taking the jab. I'm not doing that. But if only you guys are awake, how are you gonna get other people? You can't do it. They're zombies. They're in lockstep. They've drank the kool aid. There's no way to wake them up especially when the leadership won't. So this week I was encouraged because Billy Crone actually mentioned the name Trump. You see, it's okay to mention the the trend we're in with the digitalization of everything. That's okay. That's educating the church, but don't tie it to Trump. You do that, man. They're they won't listen anymore. So Billy was brilliant. He said, now, why is it okay to say Biden did this and Obama was doing this or Newsome in California was doing this and nobody gets mad. But if I let you know during the Trump administration, these are a series of things leading toward tyranny and toward a one world government and toward a one world digitalization, singularity. Why is it you're mad at me? So he was apologizing as he's trying to get him up to speed. And then Patrick Woods, he point blank used words like, who'd have taught? It's a takeover. It's a Trojan horse. And then Brandon Holthas was a little little more careful because you're gonna lose a huge number of your people in these conservative Christian churches who are looking for Trump to save us if you mention his name in a derogatory way. So you have no wisdom or prudence if you won't look at the facts. The holy spirit should be showing these guys. And that's what I I go crazy. I go, how come they can't see it? How come they won't see it? Because they're so addicted to the success they've enjoyed. They can't let go of a 100 or 200 people in their churches or even a thousand if there's a certain segment of them that get angry. They know the formula to keep building, which is just be orthodox in your presentation of the gospel. Nobody can say you're a heretic then. Well, Bonhoeffer would say, silence in the face of evil is evil itself. And I was I would look at a teaching in Matthew 24 when Jesus said, be not deceived. And he said there'd be false Christ and false prophets that are coming. So for me as a pastor, am I to teach on that? No. Just teach the gospel. Can I warn people about the false prophets and the false Christ? The ones that are appearing as an angel of light or an angel of righteousness, a minister of righteous to deceive you and the church? Can I can I warn you about that? That you'd be on deceived? No. That's negative. You're my discernment doesn't say that. He's a good guy. He's not really on the Epstein files. He was a spy for the for Massad. He was a spy for The United States. That's what he did with those pictures. So weird how people twist everything. They wanna twist and it's like there is no truth anymore. Doesn't it just say what it says? And so I should bear witness under the truth. Everyone that's of the truth hears my voice. Pilate said to him, what is truth? Pilate submersed in with Rome with the Greek philosophy. Those seeking wisdom and prudence were left in the darkness of cynicism and hopelessness. Do you think AI is gonna replace the holy spirit? Do you think people are gonna reach nirvana? You you think they're gonna be living happy lives with AI directing their lives? Universal basic income apartment, play gaming all you want? How long is that gonna last? Fifteen minute cities? Especially when the first seals open. What's gonna happen? Wisdom and prudence that are left in darkness of cynicism and hopelessness. This is the light of the world. He opens the blind. He opens the blind eyes that men may see the truth. He is the way, the truth and the life. We see his blood providing, forgiveness of sins, wisdom and understanding, and thirdly, knowledge of his will. Do you wanna know God's will? Having made known unto us the mystery of his will according to good pleasure which he has purposed in himself. This word mystery means something once hidden, now revealed. One of the things that was hidden, now revealed is what? The church. The old testament saints like the apostle Paul, he's a new testament saint, but the apostle Paul is strong as he is in the scriptures being raised at the feet of Gamaliel. All the study of the old testament, he never saw the body of Christ, the church. So we get to Ephesians two, he's going to describe that mystery that was once hid now revealed. The church made of Jew and Gentile. They never saw that in the scriptures. They never saw that was gonna happen. And yet God purposely wanted to use the nation of Israel as light under the Gentiles. God intended all along to save the Gentiles. How the Jews got to a place where they viewed the Gentiles as simply fuel for the fire of hell, that's not a biblical concept. For God so loved the whole world. So this mystery something once hidden now revealed. We never even had a clue until he saved us. We're walking according to the course of this world. The walking dead men zombies asking why did God make me Or if I came from a monkey, is there no God? What's the purpose of my life? Make lots of money, indulge my flesh, vanity vanity all, is vanity and vexation of spirit, king Solomon? God loves us enough to reveal himself to us, to reveal, to give spiritual understanding, the insight into the deep things of himself. Not not the crayon eating. How does how how embarrassing. Have you ever watched some of these sermons or guys, they're like clown shows. It's embarrassing. You're better than that. Your Jesus is much better than that. The gospel, the bible's much better than that. But you gotta bring it all the way down to the kindergarten level and keep them there? In Matthew eleven twenty five, Jesus said, I thank thee oh father lord in heaven of earth because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent as revealed them unto babes. It it's not the IQ, it's the spiritual IQ. It's being born again. The Holy Spirit gives you wisdom and understanding. You don't have a theology degree. You you just know that's wrong. You know it's wrong. Your spirit is telling you it's wrong. And I'm gonna search the bible to try and understand why it's wrong. I don't know yet. I'm a babe in Christ, but I know that's wrong. That's a child of God. That's the holy spirit leading, guiding you to all truth. But if you think you know and you're filled with pride, you're gonna be deceived. If any man thinks he stand, take heed lest he fall. So do you wanna find yourself to discover God's will for your life? His will is that you might know him. That's why God made you. You are and were made for his pleasure. That you might gain wisdom and understanding knowledge of his love for you. In Colossians two three, in whom Jesus are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hid in a person in Jesus as you get to know him. Are you mining the hidden treasures, the riches, the plutus that's ours in Christ Jesus? We have been purchased by the son verses seven through 12. His blood providing, forgiveness of sins, wisdom and understanding, knowledge of his will. In the next, we wanna see his purpose in dying. Why did he die? Three reasons. Number one, the unity of the saints, verse 10. That in the dispensation, there's a good word. Whole lot of fighting going on about us, we're pre millennial dispensationalists. So we see the bible as God operating, working during epoch or a certain period of time. So this period of time is where you see here, the word time is plural. This is the church age and God is dealing with humanity differently than he did in the old testament, that older age. The next age will be the tribulation period. The age after that's gonna be the millennial period. The age after that is the eternal state, Revelation twenty one and twenty two. So we are in the church age, this dispensation, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, plural, ultimately, looking ahead, God's gonna gather all the saints together. Four types of saints, Old Testament saint, New Testament saint, tribulation saint, millennial saint, and the nation of Israel. All distinctly different during different dispensations. Now the church saints are made up of Jew first. Jew, Gentile, barbarian, Scythian, bonder free, male, female. So blindness in part has happened unto Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. When the last person in this church age receives Christ, that's when the rapture takes place. Then God's gonna work on that next dispensation, which is the nation of Israel, who have been regathered in unbelief. But God's gonna preserve a one third remnant and give them the unconditional covenant of Jeremiah thirty one thirty one. He's gonna write his word within their heart. So dispensation and economy, a system of order. So the way God runs something at a particular time. And I just quoted Romans eleven twenty five that, for I would not brethren that you should be ignorant of this mystery lest you should be wise in your own conceits that blindness in part has happened unto Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. So we presently live during the church age. God is working according to plan of gathering a bride for a son. So what I would say in that regard, don't be a replacement theology person. Don't say that God's already done with the nation of Israel. Understand that you're in the church age, that Israel rejected their Messiah, and during this period of time, it's the church age. But God is going to fulfill his promises to Israel as evidence of Ezekiel thirty six and thirty seven, they're in the land according to May 3848, reborn as a nation. But they're regathered in unbelief by and large. So eventually, God's gonna stimulate them with faith as God initiates. They're going to mourn, they're gonna confess, they're gonna cry out bless is he that comes in the name of the Lord and Jesus gonna return and and preserve a one third remnant that have fled Jerusalem and are running toward Moab, ancient Moab, Mount Seir, Petra, Basra, Isaiah 63, and Jesus is gonna rescue them and except those days be short, no flesh be saved. But for the elect's sake, for the nation of Israel, Jesus intervenes for that one third remnant that's gone through the time of Jacob's trouble, the 77 of Daniel. So we distinguish dispensationally between Old Testament saints, the church, the tribulation saints, Israel, and those who come to a saving knowledge of Jesus during the millennium, the millennial saints. And so notice times again is plural. Jesus unites all the saints from each dispensation from each time. So at his second coming, all the saints will be united. We will meet Noah, you're gonna meet Abraham, you're gonna meet Sarah, you're gonna meet Moses, and it could be that Moses and Elijah are the two witnesses in the book of Revelation, but three and a half years after that, Jesus returns. Twelve hundred and sixty days later from the midpoint where the antichrist slays the two witnesses. They're laying on the street for three and a half days and they rise up. They're raptured up, ascended up to the throne of God. Whole world's looking on their phones. Everybody's watching it. The technology's there and and it's like, woah. So we'll be we will be with Jesus celebrating his victory, drinking the fruit of the vine with him in his kingdom. His blood having washed us from all sin. The angels of heaven accompanying us on instruments playing music, heavenly music. Revelation five verse nine and they sung a new song. Thou are worthy to take the book and open the seals thereof for thou was slain and has redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred tongue, people, nation. Not only is it wrong to be anti semitic, it's also wrong to hate any ethnic group. For God so loved the world. Why don't we emphasize what God's doing in Iran, the fastest growing church in the world? Why is the media and everybody silent? God's doing great things in an Islamic country that we're demonizing to justify war. It's my it's it's mind blowing to me to get excited about various places around the planet that the Lord is is saving people, doing a great work. But we wanna demonize Muslims. I mean, in their ideology, in their Islam, we condemn the ideology but many of them are being saved from that ideology. They're being saved just like you and I. God's given them dreams and visions in these countries. People are coming to faith. Isn't that amazing? Palestinians are coming to faith. That's exciting to me. So united in him. The second purpose, the first being that of unity of the saints. The second is the airship of the saints. Verse 11, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance being predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things after the council of his will. So God has purposed to reward us when we don't deserve anything except what? Hell. God, want what I deserve. Well, then you're gonna get hell. We become joint heirs with Jesus. Meaning, all that he's inherited, we share with him in. Everything he's purchased, everything he's made, everything that he took back from the devil, the globalist, all of them. It all belongs to Jesus and we're joint heirs with him. First Peter one four says, to an inheritance incorruptible, none defiled, and that fades not away reserved in heaven for you. Moth and rust can't corrupt, thieves can't break through and steal, reserved. And then the third purpose is, notice the praise of the saints, verse 12, that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ. Blessed are they, all they who put their trust in Jesus. So all the angels are looking in, they're just blown away because they remember when Lucifer did a coup and pulled one third of the stars away from God, and then God's you know, this mystery once hid now revealed is revealed to the angels. They didn't see this coming. And now they see that Jesus, the second person of the trinity, the only begotten son of God is gonna become the babe of Bethlehem, that he's gonna live a perfect life, and at 33 years of age, he's gonna go to the cross Of Calvary. He's gonna be crucified, nailed to a tree, a curse, that he's gonna be put into the tomb, and three days later, he's gonna raise himself from the dead. He's gonna spend forty days on the earth with making witnesses, people witnessing him. The 120 are gonna wait in an upper room for ten days. On Pentecost, the holy spirit's gonna be poured out. The church is being formed, and this church continues for almost two thousand years now, culminating with the rapture of the church. That blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and savior Jesus Christ. Are you trusting him this morning? Are you to the praise of his glory? Do you wanna hear the Lord say, well done, thou good and faithful servant. You've been faithful over a few things. I'm gonna make you rule over much. Enter into the joy of the Lord. Isn't that what we wanna hear? And don't you want the Lord to be glorified? Don't you want him? Don't you want your life to be praised to his glory? He's glorified in us. Has your debt been paid? Have you been redeemed in the blood of the lamb? Are you this morning, are you a plutocrat? And if you are, are you living like a plutocrat? It may not be the material wealth. You might have got a taste of some of that, but the true riches for you and I in the church are the spiritual riches that are ours in Christ Jesus. How much is peace worth in a time of great stress right now? The peace that's in your heart is the fruit of the spirit. How much is that worth? How much is it worth to you? How much do you spend? How much do people spend on meeting with a psychiatrist? How much an hour? Well, how about the comforter, the holy spirit counsel you? He'll keep him in perfect peace to his mind to state on thee. Jesus, my peace I give unto you not as the world give give I unto you. He's given it to you. It's a gift of the spirit. How valuable is that? Do you place value on his peace that surpasses all understanding that guards your hearts and mind through Christ Jesus? The world can't give you that peace. No psychiatrist can give you that peace. It's a fruit of the spirit. The worldly person can't have that peace. It's yours. Everything can be falling apart around you as a Christian and you have hope. You have peace, you have love, you have joy, and you know the reason for the season. We celebrate Christmas because the gift of God's dear son that you who were in bondage, who are slaves to sin and death and hell, that he would make you plutocrats. The riches that are ours in Christ Jesus. Let's pray. Father, thank you so much for the truth of your word, Lord. Lord, continue, we pray, to continue to lead and guide us into all truth. Lord, we pray that we not succumb to the temptation and the struggle of the world, that we be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds, that we may prove was that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Lord, we pray as we evaluate our lives individually, as we evaluate our homes, as we evaluate the church that we attend. Lord, we pray that you would bring correction, that you'd bring instruction in righteousness. Lord, we don't want to be displeasing to you. We don't want to make you vomit. Lord, we pray that our lives would be fervent on fire, well pleasing unto you. Lord, we pray that we not be engulfed or in love, no idolatry, no things of the world that take that upper place within our hearts. Lord, we pray that we'd open that door. The doorknob being on the inside of our hearts and invite you in once again, that we desire fellowship. We desire to have fellowship with other like minded believers during this Christmas season and celebrate your incarnation. Celebrate your birth, your life, your death, your burial, your resurrection, and rejoicing in your soon return. You're the only one that makes sense, Lord. Only you make sense. All this other stuff is just lying. They're lying when their lips are moving. They're lying, Lord. We know that you warned us that Satan's a liar, and that he's a murderer from the beginning. Lord, please keep guiding us in all truth that we'd have this wisdom and prudence. That we'd be led Lord according to your will in these last days. That we could see the value that you place within us Lord, that we might share the glorious good news of your coming kingdom. Lord help us seize the moment, seize this time and use prophecy. Use your prophetic picture that you tell ahead of time to let people know the more sure word of prophecy. Put us on fire, Lord. Pour out your holy spirit afresh. In Jesus name. Anyone here this morning, you don't know Jesus as your Lord and savior, just lift your hand up. We wanna introduce you to him. We want you to be a plutocrat. We don't want you to be a pauper, to be a beggar, to be a street person. He said he's gone to prepare a place for you, and if he's gone to prepare a place for you, that he will return and receive you unto himself, that where he is there, you may be also. Anyone here this morning? Father, thank you. Thank you for the joy. The joy of this season, Lord. The joy of the Lord is our strength. We're rejoicing, Lord. Bless, we pray now, as we partake the communion in Jesus' name. Amen.