Ephesians, move on to Philippians, Lord willing. Let's read verses 19, 20, and 21. Ephesians 6. And for me, the utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in thought, that therein I may speak boldly, that I also speak, but that ye also may know brother and faithful minister in the Lord, shall make known to you all things. All right, now notice, and for me. What is the preceding verse? And for me, what? Yes, tell me. Pray. Pray for me. Pray for Paul. He said, pray for all the saints, in the preceding verse 18. Pastor, could you tell me, you said chapter 6, but I didn't hear the verse. Chapter 6 and verse 19. 19, okay. Thank you. All right. He wants prayer for him. For what purpose does Paul want prayer? Any answer on that? What purpose? Why? Attendant? He wants to be an effective witness for the Lord. All right. Our utterance will be given, it will be opened in my mouth boldly. What does that mean? Opened in my mouth boldly. What would be the opposite of boldly? Weak. and very tentative and not sure and no certainty about things. And are there some preachers and teachers that are not slowly in their preaching? Plenty. Plenty of them. Plenty of them. They water down everything. Water down everything and many times contradict the scriptures and so on. I don't know whether that's admitted at all, but who knows. We'll see. with his mouth, speak boldly." What does he want to make known? The mystery of the gospel. Oh, John, he said it. I'm sorry. What do you mean the mystery? The mystery of the gospel. What is the mystery about the gospel? Put your hands on that. What is the mystery? That God should love the world that He gave His only begotten Son for us sinners. Right, and for that, what is the mystery? That's what I was going to say, that Jesus Christ came, died for us, was born as a baby, grew up, died for our sins and resurrected into the heavenlies and that because of His death on the cross and His blood that was shed for us, we have a... He's our mediator between God and man. He was the sacrificial lamb. So because of Him we have life. What is mysterious or secret about the gospel? What is there about that that is a mystery? Any heads on that? Is it just normal things? No. Or is it abnormal? What's abnormal? What's mysterious about it? Because it's spiritual, it's something that is... We have to have the belief, we have to believe God, we have to confess our sin, we have to have a relationship with Him. It's not just a head knowledge, it's a heart knowledge, and have a genuine faith It's mysterious because we don't always understand every little thing, but we know that the Holy Spirit guides us into all truth. And Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. Well, is it a normal thing that somebody, such as the Lord Jesus Christ, would come into the world and become a perfect God and perfect man? No. Is that a normal thing? No. That's a mystery. And how that He, one person, deity, can die for the whole humanity that they by faith can have everlasting life. Isn't that mysterious? Nothing like that happens every day. It's not. Because the world is blind. They're blind to the fact that they're created. They're blind to the fact that there's a creator. Therefore they're blind to the fact that there's such a thing as sin. So that's all a mystery to them. They don't understand. They need a savior. They need someone to redeem the creation. Because of their blindness, it is all a mystery to them. Is the gospel logical and reasonable to people? There's a lot of logical reason to believe this. How one man can die for the sins of the world and give that everlasting life and go to heaven. That's terribly mysterious, isn't it? That's not... It doesn't happen every day. It's planned by God. It's planned by the Lord Himself. It's difficult to fathom the mystery of the Lord. Mystery of the Lord. Yes, and in the Old Testament it talks about how our ways are not His ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts. His ways are different than our ways as human beings, and He thinks differently than we think. But bless God, we can have the mind of Christ through a relationship with Christ. So that's the mystery. How could it be? Because God is perfect, and if we're His daughter or His son, then we're in the family. So what is the definition of the Gospel? How would you define it? From the Greek, it's the good news. Evangelio is the original word. I don't know what that means. Good news about what? About God's coming to us to save us. Alright. That's good news. Pastor Dan. A message from Moody Springs. I just want to say hi, and we appreciate you being there for us. God bless you all. Ron, Kathy, Moody Springs. I don't know. What are their names again? Ron and Kathy. Ron and Kathy. The last name? I mean, Ron and Kelly. I'm sorry. Oh, it's Kathy. It is Kathy. Kelly. Kathy and Ron. Thank you for calling. Thank you for calling. So, the Gospel of the Good News for all. Do all receive this mysterious Gospel of open arms? No. No. Do people, pastors, falsely proclaim their kind of the Gospel? Yeah. That are false Gospels. What are some of the false Gospels? Prosperity Gospels. Prosperity. If you do right, you'll be prosperous. What other type of false Gospels? The big one that's very popular today is MacArthurism. MacArthurism. And what does he say about the blood of Christ? Pastor Dan? Oh, Tammy, I'm sorry. I'm going back to mystery. I knew it, and it was mentioned several times in this book. And in chapter 3, verse 2, it talks about the dispensation and the grace of God. And then verse 3 says, by the revelation, you may know unto me the mystery, as I wrote before in a few words, whereby when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit." So those in the Old Testament did not understand what they weren't looking for the, on large measure, they weren't looking for a dying savior. They were looking for a king. Paul says he wants to be at utterance, given to make known boldly, mouth boldly, the gospel. Are there false gospels? And if so, what are some of the false gospels that are proclaimed today? As Laurie mentioned, the prosperity gospel, and MacArthurism, which is believing that the death of Christ is not the blood. What are the false gospels? That you can earn your salvation by being good. No one good but the Father. What are the false gospels? Well, like Angela says, you know. by being a good person, and then, in addition, by religion, that somehow we can work our way to God through a systematic religion that was made by man, whether it be of sacraments, like the Roman Catholic Church, whether it be through meditation, like the Eastern religions, or other things, other requirements of a religion, a man-made religion. We have another large one today, a social gospel. We believe that doing good humanitarian works... If a good system of works is the end, that will get you there. What a huge, huge error is believed by some. After that. Universalism. Universalism. Everybody is saved. Everybody is going to heaven. False, false, false, false. So Paul wanted utterance to boldly make known the real gospel for sinners. And Christ died to save us from sin and die for our sins. And we must trust Him implicitly and firmly in order to have everlasting life and go to heaven. And then in verse 20, for which I am invented. For which, go back. Any hands on that? For which? The gospel. the gospel preceding it, or the word gospel. And what does he say he is concerning? What does it mean? An ambassador. Tammy? God's ambassador. Yeah, and he's an ambassador. And so that means he's representing another country. Our citizenship is in the family. But we are here as ambassadors to the king of kings. So an ambassador is basically a representative, isn't it? From a different, different place. And Paul's place of representation was for heaven itself and the gospel itself. Ambassador. Utterance as an ambassador. Therein that I may speak boldly. Again, speak boldly. He's got that boldness. He's got to have boldness. If it's not bold and the people don't understand it, then accept it as I ought to speak. Now, what does an ambassador, what does that mean? as a representative of the, from the other half of the country. Our citizenship is in heaven. We are ambassadors for the Lord Jesus Christ on this earth. Just because we have a savior from heaven, does that mean necessarily we're good ambassadors? No. No. What does it take to be a good ambassador for a country, for a nation, for a source of You have to be able to represent them well. That's right. And do a good job of it, not a bad job. If a person doesn't represent heaven properly, with a false gospel, or false things, that's a terrible, disgusting, corrupt ambassador. Some ambassadors, even today, that are from other countries, they're drunk, and they're liars, and thieves, and everything else. They claim to represent their foreign country. They're not doing a good job of it. We should be doing a very good job representing our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Ambassador, what does it mean in bonds? In verse 20. Ambassador in bonds. Shackles. Chains. Shackles. And what does he shackle? What kind of ambassador? Bonds does he have? Yes. We're not sure if that's when he wrote this, but he was shackled in Rome for a time. Until he was in his own house, and had a house arrest. He was in house arrest. He was in Ephesus, in prison was he not? Or Rome, I guess it's Rome, as an ambassador. And he was in Rome for quite a few years. Roman ambassador. Bonds. How many chapters, how many books of the Bible did he write from prison? What are they? What are they? Ephesians, Philippians. Ephesians, Philippians. Colossians. Colossians. 1st and 2nd Timothy. Well, that may be the 2nd prison, but the 1st imprisonment, one more. Romans. What is it? Romans. Philemon. And there are others, the 2nd imprisonment, but the 1st imprisonment, Ephesus from prison as well, in bonds, that therein, what does that therein go back to? Back to the gospel. But therein where? Therein what? The ambassadorship. Ambassadorship and what else? As an ambassador, let's go back to the ambassador. Therein, as an ambassador, I must speak boldly. Ambassador in bonds, I must speak boldly. Therein, being an ambassador, he's got to speak boldly. Honestly, truthfully, that's what bold means. It's like when we preach the gospel, we've got to be clearly, boldly, as I ought to speak. What does that imply? As I ought to speak. It wasn't perfect. It doesn't say as I always speak. It says as I ought to. So sometimes I didn't always speak boldly. Talking about the Bible and the things of eternity and truth about heaven, there should always be an ought to, an obligation to do right, to preach right, to speak right and truthfully. And then, verse 21, that he also may know my affairs. What affairs is he talking about there and why do the people of Ephesus want to know his affairs? Any hands on it? Well, they haven't been able to see him. So, I mean, he's writing this letter so that they know how he's doing. Right. It's important. He wants people to know his ministry, his work, what he does. And if he can't speak for himself, who's going to help him show them what he does and where he is? What's brother? It's a brother or sister in the Lord. That's what I was going to say. A brother. And what else does he say Titicus is? Very important. Faithful minister. That implies there's some unfaithful ministers. What was the difference between a faithful minister of the Lord Jesus Christ, and unfaithful minister. Are there unfaithful ministers all over the world today? Yes. All kinds of them. In fact, 50 years ago, there were many more faithful ministers than today. From 100 years ago, many more. Why have formerly faithful ministers of Christ now become unfaithful? Compromise. Compromise. The old sinful nature. It's a terrible thing. It's a disgrace. There should never be any unfaithfulness in the ministers of Christ. Those who are serving Him and the Lord's Savior. A faithful, a beloved brother, a faithful minister in the Lord. That's what every pastoring minister should be faithful. Shall make known to you all things. He's the ambassador to tell people about Paul and what he's doing. I send you warm greetings to you and to all our BFT Church family. Thank you very much for this evening's Bible study. We are facing these difficult times of uncertainty in our nation. We thank the Lord for his promise. He that dwelleth in the secret places of the Most High shall fly to the shadow of the Almighty. I will save the Lord. He is my refuge and my fortress, my guide and him who I trust. May God bless you all in Him. Carl and Vicki. Carl and Vicki, it's State of Maine. I was waiting for Carl and Vicki out. Now, they're waiting. Even though we're here, they're way up there listening. Praise the Lord for them, for their ministries, for helping us. So, make known to you all things that you can swallow in verse number 21. Is that three verses? Yes. Okay. Let's read verse 22 and 23 before you get into Philippians. Whom I have sent unto you with the same purpose, that ye might know our affairs, and that ye might comfort your hearts. Peace be to the brethren, and love, and faith, from God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. We receive you with all them, and love our Lord Jesus Christ, in sincerity. Amen. Verse 22. Whom I have sent. Who's the whom of Rebekah? The same purpose. The same purpose. What purpose do you think that would be from the context? What purpose? The same purpose. Just to be a faithful minister and to speak boldly. Speak boldly. Faithful minister. That's exactly right. He might know our affairs, but you might know our affairs. Paul wanted others to hear about him and know what he's doing, and hear about his affairs. Not a wicked affair like we're talking about today, but all his faithful service for Christ. Yes, Tammy? So a ticket has been sent to Ephesus to encourage them. No, no, that's right. No, I was raising my hand because I was thinking about the sense of accountability that, you know, he wants to, you know, know our affairs. So there's like a spirit, if you will, of accountability. He wants everyone to know what they're doing. It's beautiful because they want to be accountable. They're not hiding anything. What does this word comfort your hearts? What does that mean and how do you do it? And some people stumble at comfort. Is it easy to comfort hearts? Yeah, Antoinette? Yeah, to have grace one towards another, like to be comforting, like to uphold each other, to bear one another's burdens, to comfort each other in maybe a trial or a situation. I'm called to do that, so it's beautiful. The Holy Spirit is our main comforter. Jesus, you know, God the Father sent the Holy Spirit as the comforter. But we also, because we're human, we need, you know, we have a need to have people here on earth comfort us, listen to our problems, encourage us. Is every genuine Christian able to comfort people the same as other people comfort people? Annie? I think you have to be able to listen before you can comfort. And some Christians don't seem like they know how to listen. Is it easy to comfort one another, or is it difficult? Is it easy or simple, or is it difficult to comfort? It can be easy with some people, but it can be difficult with others. Can someone who's not comforted themselves comfort others? No. No. You've got to know what you're doing. If you're not comforted by the Lord, You can't comfort other people. They think they are, but they usually do harm. Yeah, it's true. This is a very important feature of genuine Christians, being able to comfort one another. It's easy to scold one another and have fights with one another. Serious, serious comfort. It's real difficult. And so, this is in verse number 20. That was 22. Twenty-two. I have eleven brothers, faithful minister in the Lord. How would you define a faithful minister? One who tries to do everything the right way, doesn't cut corners or doesn't try to shortcut anything. Faithful, following the Scriptures, following the Word of God, minister and serve. others, and they shall make known unto you all things. See, Titicus was a faithful minister in the Lord, and be able to make known to these people in Ephesus all these things, because they're faithful in their ministry. Then, did we read the next verse? Yes, we read it. We read the chapter. We're on discussion of 23. Now, what does Paul wish for the brethren and those who are saved in Ephesus at that time? Peace. What kind of peace is He speaking about here this evening? Peace from the Lord. Why? The Lord Himself can give us peace. Peace of the heart and peace that is important. God's peace, Christian peace, not just simply... There shouldn't be Him fighting. There should be peace amongst the brethren. Peace to the brethren. What are brethren? Who are they? True, born-again Christians. True, born-again, gendered Christians. And what else in addition to peace? Grace. Hades. The Greek word is Hades. Well, before that? Oh, I'm sorry. Peace and what else? Love. Love. With faith. Now, faith. Who's the source of peace and faith in this first year? God the Father. God the Father. And the Lord Jesus Christ. Peace and passive understanding comes from Him. And His peace, peace I give and leave unto you, not as the world hath given, give I unto you, that not your heart be troubled. The Lord's peace is a very great thing. And the Holy Spirit of God, in dwelling with believers, can bring that peace. And love, with faith. Genuine love. Not sexual or other kinds of love. Sham love, shameful love. God's love to the brethren. Those are genuine Christians. Now, it's important that the brethren be loved and have peace. The brethren, those are genuine Christians. And a lot of genuine Christians are not shown love by other Christians. Am I right? I just sort of squashed that. So, love with faith. And who is that faith and love from? This first. And the Lord Jesus Christ. Then, well... We can finish the chapter. I think we should finish the chapter. The book. Lots of unspoken things. That's our one hour. I have a question. Do you have any comments you want to talk about? I have a question. Yes, go ahead. Can we do the next verse? We can do that. It's part of our discussion. Then it will be all done. What else is for peace, brethren, and love? Grace with all whom. What is that a wish for? Grace. What does grace mean? Unmerited favor. All right. With all them. and love our Lord. That's a wish for grace for them, to love the Lord, and be gracious, and receive grace. The Lord Jesus Christ. But what kind of love? What kind of things in mercy? This verse. And after that? Well, it has to be with sincerity. Like, honestly. Honestly. Very important. Not just some fake. Unconditional love. Unconditional love. Peace and sincerity. All right, as we always do, we'll close the general thing. We'll begin with Philippians next time. If you have any other comments or questions, before we close. We always have time for other questions if you have any. All right, if not, John, will you close the work for us?