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00:00There are more than 45,000 self-help books published each year, over 200,000
00:07podcasts in the personal development category. But what if I told you all pale
00:12in comparison to the spiritual development one small book can have on
00:16your life and faith? Just six chapters, 2,000 words and 20 minutes of your time.
00:22Yet its impact lasts a lifetime. It succinctly and powerfully explains what
00:29it means to believe and how to discover God's calling for you. How to find
00:34purpose, overcome obstacles, connect with others, claim a life you love, endure
00:40difficulty, experience the fullness of life, love without limits, and ultimately
00:46be the follower of Christ you've always wanted to be. Join me in God's Word as we
00:52find the proven way to build a belief that thrives, impacts, and endures. A
00:58belief that behaves. It all starts with the book of Ephesians.
01:06Coming up on Turning Point. Almighty God brings us together into His body and
01:13takes all of our brokenness and He makes it something beautiful that people
01:18marvel at, that we even sometimes marvel at ourselves. Discover a belief that
01:25restores, relates, rejoices, and behaves in Dr. David Jeremiah's new book, Belief
01:31That Behaves, The Book of Ephesians. In this rich study of Paul's beloved epistle,
01:36Dr. Jeremiah explores what it means to be a follower of Christ in practical terms
01:40and how we should act or behave as believers. Through 19 chapters, you'll
01:45discover God's how-to guide to the Christian life, including resolving
01:49conflict with others, successful marriage and parenting, finding purpose, overcoming
01:53spiritual attacks, and praying effectively. Ephesians has the power to
01:58change your life at home, at church, and at work. Request Belief That Behaves by
02:03Dr. Jeremiah when you give a gift of any amount in support of Turning Point. Or if
02:07you give a gift of $75 or more, Dr. Jeremiah will send you in appreciation
02:11the Belief That Behaves set, which contains his new book, his complete
02:15two-volume teaching series on your choice of CD or DVD, and two correlating
02:20study guides. From the first verse to the last, the truths contained in
02:24Ephesians will fill your heart with joy and strengthen your relationships with
02:28others. Request the Belief That Behaves book or study set, new from Dr. Jeremiah,
02:32when you contact Turning Point today.
02:37Thank you for watching Turning Point. And now, here is Dr. Jeremiah with his
02:42message, Unity. Now, Ephesians 3, 1 through 13, which is our text today, is an
02:51interesting passage, because the first verse is the beginning of a prayer, but
02:56that prayer doesn't continue again until verse 14. So, if you were to diagram this
03:01passage, verse 1 begins the prayer, and then there's a parentheses between verse
03:061 and verse 14, and then in verse 14, the prayer begins.
03:10For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, and then
03:17in verse 14, he says, For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord
03:21Jesus Christ. In between verses 1 and 14, what we find is a quick recap or a
03:29reminder of some of the themes that Paul has already covered in Ephesians 2, but
03:34the overall emphasis of those verses is a desire for the church to be unified.
03:39Paul begins with a discussion of the mystery of the church. Paul mentions the
03:45mystery of God's will in verse 9. He uses it three times again in verses 3, 4, and
03:519 with reference to the church. What in the world is the mystery of the church?
03:54It's not the church can't be understood. It's not that the church hasn't been
03:59discovered yet in our world. The mystery of the church is a reference to the fact
04:03that it was unknown in the Old Testament. The church is not mentioned in
04:08the Old Testament. There is no church in the Old Testament. Some people say, Oh,
04:13Israel is the Old Testament church. It is not. The church is an unknown concept in
04:19the Old Testament. The church is not introduced in the New Testament till you
04:24come to the book of Acts and the second chapter, so you could easily say the
04:29church is not known in Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John. The church is known in its
04:35essence in Acts. On the day of Pentecost, Peter preached a great sermon and the
04:41Holy Spirit was poured out upon all. And the Bible tells us that those who heard
04:46Peter preach understood him speaking in their own language and had the incredible
04:51ability to repeat it in their own language. And that mystery was the
04:57mystery of the church. The church is the mystery. For this reason, said Paul, I am
05:04the prisoner of Jesus Christ for the Gentiles. Here's what you need to know.
05:09When Paul was saved and he became a Christian, Almighty God gave him an
05:13assignment, and his assignment was to be the apostle to the Gentiles. We'll talk
05:18more about that in a few moments. It was quite a stretch for Paul to be the
05:23apostle to the Gentiles because he had spent most of his life putting them in
05:27jail. And now God has called him to reach out to the Gentiles with the gospel. He
05:33wrote to the Ephesians during his three-year imprisonment in Rome. He said,
05:37do you know why I'm in prison? And then he gave him the answer. He said, for
05:41preaching the mystery of the church. What did that mean? It started when he was
05:45arrested in Jerusalem for preaching the gospel, and he brought a Gentile, a Greek,
05:50into the temple grounds with him. What a terrible thing for an Orthodox Jew to do.
05:55This so angered the Jewish leaders who nearly started a riot, causing the
05:59Romans to arrest Paul, probably for his own protection. And in verse 1, Paul makes
06:04mention to the fact that he's in prison. That's why we say that the book of
06:09Ephesians is a prison epistle. It was written by Paul while he was incarcerated.
06:16And this mystery received was revealed. Here's the mystery, verses 3 and 4.
06:21How that by revelation he made known to me the mystery, as I have briefly written
06:25already, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery
06:30of Christ. The mystery is that Jews and Gentiles would be unified in one body,
06:36unheard of before now, incomprehensible. How did Paul gain knowledge of the
06:42mystery of the church? Well, the Bible says, by divine revelation. That means
06:45Almighty God told him directly this is what he was going to do. He couldn't find
06:51any information about it in the Old Testament. Why? Because the church is not
06:54in the Old Testament. So, when the time was right that God wanted to bring the
06:59Gentile believers and the Jewish believers together, he spoke to Paul and
07:04gave him this divine revelation that he would be the one who would be the
07:09bridge builder between the two and the catalyst so that the Jewish believers
07:14and the Gentile believers could be a part of the body of Christ. Perhaps God
07:19revealed these truths to Paul after his conversion. If you read his life story,
07:23you remember there was a period of time after he got saved that he was in the
07:27desert. He was absent. Maybe it was during that time that God spoke to him. Maybe
07:31God was getting him ready so that when the time came he would be able to step
07:36into the breach and bring these two communities together. Ephesians 3, 5 says
07:41that this was in other ages not made known to the sons of men as it has been
07:46now revealed by the Spirit to his holy apostles and prophets. The prophets often
07:51wrote things down that they did not fully understand. And references to
07:56Gentile salvation is in that category. So, in the Old Testament, while the church
08:01wasn't mentioned, periodically there would be a hint that somewhere in the
08:05future Gentiles would be included in God's plan. And the Bible says, as you
08:11know, he came unto his own and his own received him not. But as many as received
08:16him, to them gave he the power to become the children of God. So, we are grafted in
08:21to the church as Gentiles because of this particular moment in history. And
08:26then the mystery is restated in verse 6 that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs
08:31of the same body and partakers of his promise in Christ through the gospel.
08:36One of the writers I read this week is a man by the name of Max Anders and he has
08:41written a helpful statement on why Paul keeps coming back to this issue of unity
08:46between the Jews and the Gentiles. Here's what he wrote. He said, we have trouble
08:51understanding why Paul is making such a big deal out of this because we don't
08:55understand the degree of separation that existed between the Jews and the Gentiles.
09:00It's like saying that there will no longer be blacks and whites in South
09:03Africa. It's like saying there will no longer be Catholics and Protestants in
09:08Northern Ireland. And this one is really relevant at this particular time. It's
09:14like saying there will no longer be liberals and conservatives in the United
09:17States. It's like saying all these people are going to be in one with no strife and
09:25no conflict, all one. To drive the point home again, Paul restates three things. He
09:33says the Gentiles are fellow heirs. Throughout the Old Testament, the Jews
09:39lived with the anticipation of being an inheritor of the promises that God made
09:42to Abraham. And here is God through Paul saying, now the Gentiles are going to
09:47participate in that inheritance. They are fellow heirs of the gospel. And you can
09:53see the Jewish listener swallowing hard, trying to ingest this in their spirit.
09:57And then he said they're not only fellow heirs, they're fellow members. Up to the
10:02time of Christ and the giving of the Spirit to become a child of God, a member
10:07of God's household, you had to be a Jew. No longer. Now Gentiles could become
10:12children of God as well, fellow members of the same body, God's family. And the
10:18Gentiles are fellow partakers, says Paul. The Gentiles, according to Paul, are
10:23now fellow partakers of the promises in Christ through the gospel. Everything
10:27that is associated with the gospel of Christ is now not only the full
10:32possession of every Jewish person who believes, but every Gentile person who
10:36believes as well. The two have become one. And what amazing thing that is. This was
10:43a revolutionary moment in the church, men and women, and the human race. The Jews
10:48who absolutely despised the Gentiles are now being told that they must move
10:53over and allow the Gentiles to sit in their pew. What a thought that was.
10:59Co-participants with them in the blessings of God. Now he begins a second
11:04part of his discussion with the Ephesians by trying to help them
11:08understand that what he is saying they better listen to. I mean, if you're
11:12sitting there hearing this revolutionary speech from Paul, you're probably
11:16thinking, who does he think he is to be telling us this? Why should we listen to
11:21him? So, Paul's going to give us some reasons why we should listen to him.
11:24First of all, he said he was appointed, of which I became a minister, verse 7,
11:30according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working
11:34of his power. How did Paul get the right to say what he was saying? By the grace
11:40of God. Paul didn't volunteer for this ministry. I mean, Paul would never have
11:45volunteered for this ministry. He was one of the great Jews of his day.
11:50His pedigree as a Jewish person is in the Bible more than once. He was born in
11:55the right place. He was born at the right time. He had the right parents. He sat
11:59under the right rabbi. He had all of these things that now God has said, Paul,
12:03take the gospel to the pagans. He wouldn't do that on his own. The Bible
12:10says he did it because he was appointed. Not only was he appointed, the Bible
12:14says he was anointed. I hear people talking about being anointed. Somebody
12:20sings a great song in church and they'll say, oh, that was anointed. What that
12:24means to most people, it was good. It was a good song and a good rendering of
12:28the song. Somebody said the pastor preached an anointed sermon. Sermons
12:32aren't anointed. Only people can get anointed. Well, what does it mean to be
12:37anointed? Well, I think Paul gives us a clue here. In verse 7, he says, of which I
12:43became a minister according to the gift of grace given to me by the effective
12:47working of his power. When you sense that God's power is on somebody, when what
12:53they're singing or saying has a sense of divine involvement, you could say of that
12:58person, that was an anointed moment. That was God working through that person. If
13:04you serve the Lord for any given time, you will have some moments like that.
13:07Paul said, I'm giving you this message of unity not only because I was appointed
13:13to do it, but because I was anointed to do it. You know, one thing I've always
13:18loved about Paul, he was a magnificent person. Many people believe Paul was the
13:22most important person to ever walk on this earth apart from Jesus Christ. You
13:25know, he did give us 13 books in this Bible that are ours. We wouldn't know
13:30very much about anything that we do today without Paul. He still lives in our
13:34lives. We study his words, we read his letters, and we are blessed. But Paul was
13:39not into himself. He wasn't impressed with himself. In fact, the next thing he
13:44says that he was not only appointed and anointed, he was amazed. He was amazed
13:48that God would let him do this. After he thought it through, after he realized the
13:52importance of his message, he said, to me who am less than the least of all the
13:57saints, the grace was given that I should preach among the Gentiles the
14:01unsearchable riches of Christ. He may have resisted at first because of the
14:06cultural divide, but as he began to realize that God had given him the
14:10privilege of reaching his hands out and bringing the Gentiles and the Jews
14:14together, he realized what an incredible calling this was. And he was amazed that
14:19God had trusted this particular calling to him. He said, I'm the least of all the
14:24saints. How could I be allowed to do this? I like what one commentator said about
14:29it. He said, here Paul bends the language. He takes the Greek word for least or
14:34smallest and adds an ending that is impossible linguistically, so he comes
14:39out with the word he's the leaster. He's the leaster of the apostles. Some think
14:45he was playing off his Latin name Paulus, which means little or small. So, the
14:50author said, who did God choose to bring the Jews and the Gentiles together? He
14:55chose small Paul. Small Paul was the one who was brought into the place. You may
15:02not think you're worthy to serve the Lord, I think that often. The Bible says
15:08we're not worthy, but Almighty God has counted us worthy. Paul was made worthy
15:13to do this even though he did not consider himself to be worthy. He said,
15:18I'm the least of all the apostles, less than the least. Isn't it amazing that God
15:24uses times when we think we have failed miserably to show us his grace? After I
15:31had spoken to a college group in New Jersey, an occasion at which I thought I
15:36had completely blown it. In fact, I was so depressed on the way home, I told my
15:41wife, don't ever let me accept another invitation to speak to a college group.
15:44It's out of my world, and some professors were there. That was
15:49even worse. I went home so discouraged and thought nothing had happened, but a
15:56man introduced himself to me not too long ago and told me that he had been in
16:01the crowd of college students that night and had given his heart to Christ. He'd
16:05gone on to Bible school, and he had been in the ministry ever since. The very
16:11thing you think isn't working often is, because you see, here's what we have to
16:17understand. God does his best work not through our strength, but through our
16:20weakness. When we are weak, what does it say? Then he is strong. When we are strong
16:26or think we are strong, we may not be as strong as we think we are, because if you
16:30get so strong you don't have any room for Jesus, then what you try to do has no
16:35impact upon anybody. That night, I stumbled through a presentation of I
16:39don't know what, and 33 years later, I ran into one of the coupons from that
16:47investment. What a story. In other words, Paul says that Christ always enriches
16:54our lives. If we let him rule in us, he will take the things that we feel like
16:59we don't know how to do, and he'll enable us to do them. And when we feel like
17:02we've done them imperfectly, he fills in the empty places, and he makes it happen.
17:08The mystery of the church and the minister to the church, now the mission
17:11of the church. Paul completes his parenthetical digression by focusing on
17:15what the church is supposed to do. This church made up of Jews and Gentiles, over
17:20which he has been asked to preside. To make all see what is the fellowship of
17:25the mystery, verse 9, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in
17:30God, who created all things through Jesus Christ. The church is to be a living
17:35testimony to the work of God in man. We live in this fractured world, but we're
17:41the church, and we're in communion. That's what should happen. In the world
17:45around us that's falling apart, we should be coming together. That's what God
17:49wants. He wants us to be different. He wants the world to see us. The Bible says,
17:54by this shall all men know that you are my disciples, because you have love one
17:58for another. The Bible says, how do you know that you're in the right church? How
18:02do you know that this church is a church under the Holy Spirit? How do they
18:05love one another? I watched today as I was standing over here before church
18:09started. I couldn't believe how many of you are huggers. I mean, a lot of hugging
18:16going on in this church this morning. People haven't seen each other for the
18:20last week. They walk into the row, and they brace each other, and they sit and
18:23talk. I know people say, I wish it weren't so noisy before church started. Listen to
18:27me, I think that's holy noise. I really do. I think that's a great noise. With the
18:31people of God coming together to say, I missed you, what's going on? And they hug
18:35each other, and they love each other. When a person comes into a church, and they
18:38see that, they know something's going on in that church that's really good. That's
18:43what the Bible says. By the way they love each other, you will know that they are
18:48mine. Then here's something that he says. I don't know if you've ever read this
18:52before, but the Bible also says that when we love one another, it's not only a
18:56message to the church, the angels get in on the deal. Listen to this, to the intent
19:02that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the
19:06principalities and powers in heavenly places. Those are angels. Did you know
19:12that we have one up on the angels? Did you know that? Because angels have never
19:17been lost, so they can't get saved, so they don't know the joy of salvation.
19:20Paul says that part of the church's mission is to make God's wisdom known to
19:25the angels. And when we live the way we should in unity with one another, when
19:30we've refused to be separated over things that are not worthy of being
19:34separated over, we join together in oneness, and the angels are blessed. The
19:40Bible says angels desire to look into the gospel, 1 Peter 1 12. Why is that?
19:45Because they have not experienced salvation. They're looking down here at
19:49seeing the transformation that takes place in the lives of people, and they're
19:52wondering, how does that work? When someone falls on their knees and repents
19:57of their sin and receives salvation, the angels get to see a picture of God's
20:02grace. When we sacrifice our resources, and we sacrifice our time, and we serve
20:08one another, the angels get to see a picture of God's goodness reflected in
20:12us. When we stand up for the truth and confront the dangers of sin in our
20:16culture, the angels get to see a reflection of God's zeal and God's
20:21passion. As the church, we are witnesses and testimonies, not just to the world,
20:25but to the principalities and powers in heavenly places, to the angels
20:30themselves. So, you see, this business of being one and having unity in the church
20:35is not something you should push off to the side. God cares deeply about the
20:42unity of his people. And let me just say this, these principles work not only in
20:46the church, they work in the family as well. I'm sure someone's here today, and
20:51you haven't spoken to a relative in five years. How does that reflect the love of
20:57God? You say, well, they didn't know. Wait a minute, if you're a God person, you know
21:01that forgiveness covers everything. How do you know that? Because it covered
21:04everything for you. God's purpose for you is to forgive others out of the
21:08reservoir of the forgiveness he has placed within your heart, and live in
21:13unity. God wants us to be one. He doesn't want Christians to have families that
21:17are split apart when everybody in the family claims to be a Christian. That's,
21:21that has to hurt the heart of God like nothing you can imagine. So, you say,
21:26Pastor, what do I do? Well, if you're not in harmony with somebody in your family,
21:29go fix it. Well, you say, it's not my turn to do that. I tried once before and
21:36they didn't respond. Let me tell you, if you're a Christian, it's always your turn.
21:39Always. And you'd be surprised what happens when you make unity, not just in
21:45the church, but in the family, a priority in your life. And finally, there's the
21:51ministry of the church, and we're almost finished. He says in verses 12 and 13,
21:55in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in him, therefore
22:00I ask that you do not lose heart at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.
22:04The Bible says, because God has broken down all of these barriers, we can come
22:09boldly before him and ask for his help. Nobody who's a Christian ever has to
22:14fear being rejected by Almighty God when they come in prayer. Hebrews 4, 16 says,
22:20let us therefore come boldly before the throne of grace. What does that mean? Come
22:26confidently, not arrogantly, but confidently. Why are you confident?
22:30Because you know that you come in the name of Jesus, and that means you have a
22:34standing before Almighty God. So, let me ask you just two or three questions
22:39before we close our Bibles today. Do we long for the unity of the believers? Do
22:46we understand what Jesus was talking about when he prayed that they might be
22:50one? When I lived in Fort Wayne, Indiana, many years ago, I used to work out at the
22:55YMCA during lunch. To get to the gym where I played basketball every noon, I
22:59had to walk through an archway, and inscribed on the archway were these words
23:04from John 17, that they all may be one. And I always thought that was funny,
23:08because I'd walk through that arch and go down into the pit, which is the gym,
23:11and fought like cats and dogs for a whole hour with other guys who were
23:15playing. It was like a war. Then you'd walk up out of that gym and walk through
23:19the arch again, that they all might be one. Listen to me, friends. Jesus is
23:24interested that we live our lives in oneness with one another. What that means
23:29is we keep short accounts. Somebody hurts you, says something that you don't like,
23:34don't say, well, I'll get it. No, don't let the devil get his foot in the door
23:38of that. Go meet that person. Go talk to that person. Get that thing right. The
23:43devil wants nothing more than to drive wedges between us in the body of Christ.
23:47Don't let him do it. You don't have to let him do it. You say, well, I don't give
23:52me excuses, because none of them work. The Bible says how good and how pleasant it
23:57is when God's people live together in unity. Dorothy Day made this statement.
24:04She said, and this is convicting, so, you know, take another deep breath. I really
24:10only love God as much as I love the person I love the least. I really only
24:18love God as much as I love the person I love the least. Is there anyone in God's
24:26family whom you love less than you should for any reason? Well, according to
24:31Dorothy Day, that's how much you love God. Every Christian who's a member of our
24:37church is your brother and sister. They're fellow members of Christ's body.
24:41Is there anyone in the family who is feeling left out? Someone you could put
24:45your arm around, make sure they're affirmed in their standing as a fellow
24:48member. Ladies and gentlemen, we're in this body called the church, and we're all
24:53here for one reason. You know what it is? We're all broken, every one of us. You
24:58say, well, I'm not broken. You're broken. But Almighty God brings us together into
25:04his body and takes all of our brokenness, and he makes it something beautiful that
25:10people marvel at, that we even sometimes marvel at ourselves. In this world in
25:16which we live, the one hope we have is Jesus Christ, and the closer we stay to
25:21him, the better we're going to function going forward. It's not what you know,
25:25it's who you know that makes you what you are as a believer.
25:38Thank you for watching Turning Point. When you give a gift of any amount in
25:42support of this program, Dr. Jeremiah will send you, in appreciation, his new book,
25:47Belief That Behaves, The Book of Ephesians. And if you give a gift of $75 or more,
25:53Dr. Jeremiah will send you The Belief That Behaves set, which contains his new book,
25:58his complete two-volume teaching series on CD or DVD, and two correlating study
26:03guides. Thank you for your support. Request these resources when you contact
26:08Turning Point today.
26:12Thank you for joining us on Turning Point as Dr. Jeremiah taught from the Book of
26:16Ephesians and shared the many blessings that believers have through Christ. But if
26:21you have never put your faith in Jesus Christ before, Dr. Jeremiah would like to
26:25help you take your first steps by sending you two resources. The first is a
26:30booklet called Your Greatest Turning Point, which will help you begin your
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26:38Turning Points, to give you encouragement and inspiration throughout the year.
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27:19Next time on Turning Point. I don't know how many times people have said that to
27:24me, Pastor, I just can't do this anymore. Maybe they're in a marriage that's coming
27:28unglued, or they got children that have gone south, or they have a financial
27:32issue, or they're sick. Pastor, I just can't do this anymore. And you need to say,
27:36you know what? That's true. I can't either. But I know someone who can. He is
27:41able. He's able to do above all that you ever ask or think. Thank you for being
27:48with us today. Join Dr. Jeremiah next time for his message, A Prayer for Inner
27:53Strength. Here on Turning Point.
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