If you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn to the book of Ephesians in chapter one. As you're turning to Ephesians, I don't know if you noticed, but I kinda like having a little bit of congestion. It makes me sound more grown up. I don't know if it sounds like that to y'all, but it sounds like that to me, so about time. But anyway, this morning I told you that I'm having a lot of allergy problems. It was amazing. I was praying God would give grace, and God would give grace, and God gave grace. And when I came down from the podium and started to walk out, my nose started running. I felt like I was sneezing. I'm going like, you know, God is good. God is good all the time. Even through the bad times, you know, God is still good. He doesn't change. And we're thankful for that. in the book of Ephesians. I'd like to kind of give you a little bit of going over some of the things we've gone over, but not too in depth with that because last week we opened up this book kind of as an introduction and kind of gave a bird's eye view of overall what we would be looking at. We'll do that a little bit, but we're gonna deal with a little bit deeper into the word of God tonight. The Ephesian church was probably more than likely started around the time of Acts chapter 18. Matter of fact, if you can turn there, I wanna show you just a few passages of scripture in Acts the 18th chapter. What we see in verse two in chapter 18, Verse one and two, it says, after these things, Paul departed from Athens and came to Corinth. And he found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy with his wife, Priscilla, because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome and came unto them. Now, if you skip down to verse 18, the Word of God says, And Paul after this tarried there yet a good while, and then took his leave of the brethren, and sailed thence into Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila, having shorn his head in Sancreia, for he had a vow. And he came to Ephesus, and left them there. but he himself entered into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. When they desired him to tarry longer time with them, he consented not, but bade them farewell, saying, I must by all means keep this feast that comes in Jerusalem, but I will return again unto you if God will. And he sailed from Ephesus. So we see Paul in Ephesus, but he leaves behind Priscilla and Aquila in Ephesus. Now notice down in verse 24. And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus. This man was instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in the Spirit, he spake and he taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John. And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue, whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly. When he was disposed, passed into Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him when he was come, help them much which had believed through grace. Here we find the Apostle Paul probably established the church at Ephesus, and he was there on his third missionary journey. And as he was there, he pastored there for about three years. After he pastored there for about three years, he left behind Timothy, who pastored another year and a half there, and he was basically fighting false teachers and combating the false teaching from false teachers. And then another time where we read about the church at Ephesus is over in the book of Revelation chapter two. Revelation chapter two, you remember the Lord rebuked the Ephesian church, and he basically rebuked them because he said, you have left your first love. Now, pondering all that, the church at Ephesus had a lot of history, had a lot of good teaching, sound teaching, And yet if you think as these churches started, they started just with a few, very few believers. And as the Apostle Paul witnessed, those churches grew. We think of, when we think of churches in the Word of God, we think of megachurches. And I think the only megachurch that we really have in the Word of God would be the church in Jerusalem, until the persecution hit, and then they all scattered abroad. And you know, there's churches that started out of that. So it's very interesting how sometimes we come to the Word of God with preconceived notions. But what we find here in the book of Ephesians, that it teaches a lot of truths that God desires for us to know. If you notice what it says just in verse 17 through 19, then we're gonna back up right back to the beginning of the chapter. The Apostle Paul is praying and he's praying that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of his calling, and what is the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, I find this little passage of scripture very encouraging because this morning before I got up, and not while I was up, but before I got up and tried to get going, I thought there's no way I'm gonna be able to go to church today. There's no way I'm gonna be able to preach today. You know what is the power of God that's at work in us? It's His mighty power. If we believe verses 17 through 19, what a difference that should make in every one of our lives, who really get a grip on that, that God's power is working mightily in your life, both to will and do of His good pleasure. He is ultimately bringing glory to His name. Can you imagine? What kind of power is working in us? We often lose sight of that, getting caught up in the humdrum of the day, but God is mighty and is working. Oh, if we just realize who we are in Christ and what Christ has done for us, we are privileged to be called the children of God. What a great honor God has given unto us that we be adopted into his family. May our eyes truly be opened. The eyes of our understanding, being enlightened, may the Spirit of God open up our eyes that we might see very precious truths. As we look at verse one, we looked at the first part of verse one last week, and there where we read Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God. We cover that portion of the scripture and we stop right there because the emphasis is on God's will, which is what we see throughout the word in the book of Ephesians. We see God's will being played out in the plan of salvation. We see God's will, God's purpose in saving people. We see God's will at work in the apostle Paul's life. And let me tell you something, our lives, God's at work in them to work according to his will and his good pleasure. Oftentimes, as we read introductions to the books, different books of the Bible, whether it's a letter to a church, as Paul's writing, or if it's a gospel, there's an introduction to it. Oftentimes, we read over the introduction very quickly, but let me tell you something. There's more significance to an introduction when it comes to the Word of God than just an introduction. Don't read past it just to get further in it. Sometimes I would, remember in my earlier years, I would read the Word of God, just to say I've read the Word of God. Well, let me tell you something, you gotta read more than that, just saying you read it. There is so much richness to God's Word. It's not just a formality with an introduction. it has great significance because as Paul is writing he is inspired by the Spirit of God and he's got a thought and he's got a purpose and he's trying to convey that even through the introduction parts which we might think is insignificant. it's inspired. Therefore, let us pause and let us see the purpose wherein God has recorded His Word. I want you to notice in verse 1, we'll pick up where we left off after Paul says that he was an apostle by the will of God. He then addresses believers. These believers are in the early stages of Christianity. And what he does with these early Christians, he gives a description of Christianity. Which, if we are Christians in our day and time, we ought to fit the descriptions that are written in God's word of these early Christians. Here, this epistle was written to Christians. Each and every one of the letters were written to Christians. We're not to try to make the world conform to the word of God that's written for the purpose of Christians. It don't work that way. Ephesians, when you come to it, it is to an ordinary group of people. It is not to the pastors, it's not to the elders, it's not to some spiritual hierarchy or anything like that. It is just to common believers, regular church members. Look what the Word of God says. To the saints which are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. In other words, if this is for church members back in that day, What is good for those church members back in that day is good for church members in our day and time. It's applicable in your life as well it was in their lives. These epistles are for our learning. It's not just for pastors, not just for leaders. It's for the everyday child of God. What's true for them? It's true for us if you're a church member. I want you to notice the descriptions that the Apostle Paul gives to a child of God in this short passage of scripture. And this description shows us how much of an impact this small group of people had upon a major population. You remember the church at Ephesus. The place of Ephesus, the city of Ephesus was a town that was full of paganism. They had all types of cults in there. They worshiped the goddess Diana. Great is the goddess Diana. You know, they had silversmiths making images of Diana. And you remember they had witchcraft going on there. They had a book burning later on. How could such a small group of people affect such a major city and things start changing in massive ways. This is kind of fascinating when you think about it. As Paul goes there to preach, you wouldn't think he'd go in the middle of a pagan city and say, boy, God's gonna do a great work here. You know what, it's like going downtown Lexington. You know how many people wanna hear you going downtown Lexington? Well, you never know. You never know what God will do. I want you to notice the impact. I want you to look back in chapter 17 of the book of Acts. We'll be referring back and forth here quite a bit. In Acts chapter 17, I want you to notice what the word of God says in verse six. In verse six, and when they have found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city. This is in Thessalonica. And they were crying, these that have turned the world upside down are come hither also. In other words, these small group of Christians had turned the world upside down. Now, you know what? If that's true for them, why is that not true for us? If they turn the world upside down in their day and time, how come it doesn't have the same effect? In Acts chapter 19, you see the church at Ephesus. You can see the paganism going on and you can see the gospel as it's spreading and it's the power of God unto salvation and how lives are changed. But it kind of goes hand in hand with what we preached on this morning. It's not just what's spoken, it's also the lifestyle. Here's something very important. Christianity did not start growing because of these people's wisdom. They didn't have a major plan. They didn't have certain things that they were gonna do and certain things, a structure of things. They didn't have gimmicks. They didn't have organizations, how to reach people. They didn't have any of that. These were small churches just starting out. And notice what it was due to. As Paul describes them in verse one, he calls them saints. To the saints, which are at Ephesus. Now you know what the word saints mean. The word saints is the Greek word hagios. Hagios very simply means holy ones. Paul is writing to the holy ones in Ephesus. They were alive. They were people. They were God's people. They were separated unto God. That's what the word hagios means. It means holy. Now ponder that with me for a moment because this has great depth of meaning. When we assemble together as God's people, It's the saints of God that have assembled. And when the saints of God assemble, here's a true church. Christians are saints. When you're born again into the family of God, into the kingdom of God, what God does, he sets you apart unto himself. He set you apart from the world and apart unto himself. Therefore, we are called holy ones, or we are called saints. Notice what it says over in Acts chapter 19. In Acts chapter 19, as the apostle Paul, he went and he's preaching, and it says in verse nine in chapter 19 of Acts, but when divers, or different ones, were hardened, And they believed not, but speak evil of that way before the multitude. He departed from them and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyranus. He separated them. That's what God does with us. He separates us. We belong unto Him. We are His purchased possession. We are His people. We are His chosen people. We are His peculiar people, is what the Word of God tells us. We are redeemed. Therefore, we're separated. We're in the world, but we're not of this world. The Word of God tells us over in the book of Romans, chapter 12, and down in verse 1, Paul's saying here, he says, I beseech you, I'm urging you, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy. That's separated. Acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed unto this world. but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind. Don't let the world squeeze you into its mold because you are saints, you are holy ones, you're separated from the world, therefore don't become like the world. Can you start seeing why I'm emphasizing what I'm emphasizing? How Paul called them saints in Ephesus and how it changed the pagan lives of people around them. It was because of their lifestyle. It was because of how they lived. They did not live like the world. They did not live like the pagans. God had done a remarkable work in their life and people were noticing that. They were separated from the world, separated unto God. They were different from the world. The problem with a lot of churches today is that a lot of the members of the churches today are like the world. And because they're like the world, let me tell you something, if there's no difference from your life from the world, something's radically wrong because we're called saints. Saints is not something that you get like in the Catholic Church, you gotta die and then you gotta be called a saint after you're dead by the Pope or whoever. No, saints are living people. They are people that God has called out of sin into a walk with him. Saints are alive today. You see, it's our sin that separates us from God. How often I repeat that in our little good news club, and those kids know that. They're telling me that now. That's a good thing. They're instructing me on what sin is. But it's because of our sin we are separated from God. What is it that happened whereby we can now be called saints and come into God's presence? There has to be a radical change that happened, and that's a cleansing that comes from God. That's what we find in verse seven in chapter one, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace. He has cleansed us from our sins. He's cleansed us outwardly, and he's cleansed us inwardly. We, let me tell you, if you are a child of God, you are holy unto the Lord. Did you get that? You are a saint. You don't hear many people calling themselves saints or somebody calling somebody else saints. Saint Stephen, I appreciate you giving the announcements tonight. I think you did a good job. Why don't we call someone a saint? That's what the Apostle Paul called them. Inspired by the Spirit of God, they impacted the world. They had such a powerful influence on the world. Because of their holy life, they were saints that people turned from their wickedness. Why don't many people turn from their sins in our day and time? Is it because we resemble them too much? We look like the world? We act like the world? We dress like the world? We talk like the world. I believe the descriptions the Apostle Paul is giving here are descriptions of Christians that made an impact. You know something? I don't know how much longer I've got to live upon this earth, and I don't know how long you've got to live on this earth, but if you're a child of God, you want to make your life count to the glory of God. If I only got one day left, may I live it to His glory. May I live it in a holy way that other people can see in me that I'm different than other people. I'm peculiar. I don't mean that in a bad sense. I'm His purchased possession. We ought to be impacting people's lives around us because of who we are. We're the salt of the earth, the light of the world. That's a vast difference. Notice the next description. There's only two other descriptions given here and I won't spend as much time on them. The first one it says, and to the faithful. He's addressing the saints at Ephesus and He's addressing the faithful at Ephesus. Now the word faithful here is the word pistos. Pisto is the root word as far as the Greek word there. And it very simply means faith or believing. It means to have faith or exercising your faith. It means to be believing. Let me give you an example of that. Look over in the book of John, John chapter 20. In the 20th chapter of John, look down, if you would, in verse 27. The Word of God says it was eight days after the disciples were again with him, and Thomas was with them. Then came Jesus, doors being shut. He stood in the midst and he said, peace be unto you. Then said he unto Thomas, reach hither your finger, and behold my hands, and reach hither your hand, and thrust it into my side, and be not faithless, but believing. Believing, it's a continual thing. This is the word that the Apostle Paul is using over here in Ephesians 1, and to the faithful. These are the ones who are believing. They're believing in the Lord. Look back in Acts chapter 19. In Acts the 19th chapter, And notice this scenario there. It says in verse one, it came to pass that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul, having passed through the upper coast, came to Ephesus and finding certain disciples, he said unto them, have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed? And they said unto him, we've not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. And he said, under them, under what then were you baptized? And they said, under John's baptism. Paul replied, he says, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is on Christ Jesus. When they heard that, heard what? To believe on Christ Jesus, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Notice what happened to those disciples there. They believed in Jesus. They had faith in Christ. Here is what it's talking about to the faithful. These are to the believers, those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. They believe in His person. They believe He's the Son of God, that He was born of the Virgin Mary. They believe that He was God come down in flesh. They believed that He suffered, bled and died upon a cross, that He was buried, that He rose again. They believed in all the things and the works of our Lord Jesus Christ. They had faith. These Ephesian saints, very simply, they are believing. Can that be said of the same as far as the New Life Baptist Church? We are saints. We are believing. We are faithful. Faithful can have another connotation to it. You well know if someone is faithful, we often think of faithful as being loyal to. We think of someone loyal to the faith. I was talking to someone not too long ago. You know what, it's hard to find faithful men of God. It's hard to find faithful pastors. It's hard to find faithful preachers. Those who will stick to it, even if it comes to the point of death, like many martyrs that have gone down through the years, ready to defend and to contend for the faith, they are dependable, reliable, not tossed about by every wind and slate of doctrine. They are rooted and grounded in truth. and willing to stand for the truth. That is faithful. Here are the faithful at Ephesus. They are saints. They are believing and they are faithful to the Lord. The third description there is the description in Christ Jesus. These saints, these faithful, these believing, they are in Christ Jesus. That means they belong to Christ. They're united with Christ. They're joined to Christ. If you read over in the book of Romans, we won't take time to go there, but you remember how it talks about how Adam was our federal head. In other words, when Adam chose to sin, he pretty much represented all of mankind. We were in the loins of Adam. We had not come into being at that time. Adam made the choice for all of us. Don't say, I wish I could go back and bend in Adam's shoes or sandals or bare feet, whatever he was. Well, he wasn't wearing nothing. You understand what I'm saying? Your choice would have been just as bad. You would have been just as bad in bringing sin into this world. But as Adam was our federal head, even so now in Christ, we are in Christ and he has died for our sins. We're united to him. It's a whole different standing. These believers at Ephesus are just church members, common church members, just like many here tonight. And that's who Paul is addressing. To the saints that are living in the middle of a paganistic society, you know what, I'm kind of wondering if we live in an Ephesus in our day and time. They were separated, they were sanctified, they were holy. and they are faithful in Christ. You cannot be a believer without being holy. Did you hear me? You cannot be a believer without being holy. You cannot be holy according to the word of God without being a believer. They go hand in hand. If you are sanctified, you are justified. If you are justified in God's sight, you are sanctified, you're set apart unto God. You see, these go hand in hand. Here is just a short little view of the church at Ephesus really in its heyday, when it was going good. And you know what? They were impacting the society around them by sharing the gospel and living a godly life. I really believe what has damaged Christianity so much down through the years, and even in our day and time, is people who profess Christ. And the way they walk is opposite of what they profess. And you know what? People are watching. You don't think people are observing your life. They're looking at your life. It's just like little kids. Well, where do they learn that from? You know, you'd be amazed what kids can pick up. You'd be amazed what people that are around your life see in your life. Do others see Christ in you? Are you showing forth that you're a child of God, that you're a saint, that you're a faithful, that you are believing, that you are in Christ? Here are the marks of a child of God according to a early New Testament church. May that be the marks of New Life Baptist Church. We are saints at New Life Baptist Church. We are faithful and we are in Christ. We're gonna have an invitation. If anyone here has never publicly professed Christ and you desire to publicly say, he is my Lord, I've surrendered to him. You've acknowledged your sin, you turned and you believe by faith that Christ died for you, that's what this invitation's for. There are other issues in your life, you need to get right with God, that's what this invitation's for. Would you make things right with the Lord? Let's stand and go to the Lord in prayer. Father, we thank you for your precious word, and as we look at just a few lines of scripture, we have not even delved greatly into your word more than just a few words, and it's so rich and deep. Lord, you call us saints. You call us faithful. You call us in Christ. Lord, help us to realize who we are and who we are in Christ. May our walk match our talk. May our walk match our faith. May others see there is something different in our lives as they look and live in this world. May we be the salt of the earth to where people would hunger and thirst after righteousness. In our lives, we ask that you be glorified for Christ's sake. Amen. We're gonna sing, Have Thine Own Way. Would you sincerely let that be your prayer?