How was your break? Good. I think it's important we pray for Larry and pray for the Denicola boys, the police officers. And I think it's very important that we keep in prayer until all this foolishness subsides. All right. So please do that. and pray for them and secede from them. We're going to be in Ephesians chapter four. Let's turn there, please. All right, let's pray. We'll get right to it. Father, we cannot thank You enough, Lord, for Your goodness. And Father, we love You, and we pray that You bless our service tonight, today. And Lord, we pray You will be done. And Father, we pray also, Lord, that You lead us as we preach on chapter four of Ephesians, and help us to be obedient to this. And we pray, Father, this thank You for all that You've done for us. in salvation and Christ and in sanctification and all the blessings we have because of Jesus Christ. And we want to give you all the glory. And Father, we pray you bless the church while I'm gone. I pray that you'd help me come back according to your will. And we pray you bless Brother Koozle while he's here and use him in a great way. And thank you for such a man. to be a member of our church and give up the mission field to come back and fill in for me. And I pray, Father, You bless him greatly and his family. And just thank You, Lord, for our good servant. Now, Father, lead us with Thy Spirit today. We ask this in Jesus' name, Amen. Ephesians chapter four, let's stand please for the reading of God's word. Ephesians chapter four, verse one, I therefore the prison of the Lord beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called with all loneliness and meekness and longsuffering for bearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Thank you. You may be seated. So Ephesians chapter 4 is a transition in this epistle. The transition from positional to practical truth. And the right practice must always be based on the right principle. It is impossible to have a Christian deportment without knowing Bible doctrine. And doctrine simply means a teaching of the Word of God rightly divided. A true convert cannot live pleasing to the Lord without a right doctrine, and we must receive doctrine from the Word of God. That's new flesh, right? But anyway, one cannot be saved without the right doctrine in salvation. Romans chapter 10 speaks about that. Let's just turn there real quickly. Romans chapter 10. and verse 1. And notice the Bible teaches in verse 1, Brethren, my heart says, I am praying to God for Israel, that they might be saved. For I bade them reckon that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. So the key is this, is that we understand and not be ignorant of God's righteousness. And God's righteousness is the key to come to Christ. If we're not going to come to Christ, we're not going to be saved. We're not going to be righteous in Christ. So that's very important, and that only comes by good doctrine. So the first thing we see this afternoon is our call to walk worthy. In verse 1, I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called. So a man gave an example of our worthy walk before Christ, and this was a man who was sent to prison And he said, I don't come here as other fellows are. He said, I'm a Christian. And the guard said to him, he said, I'm very sorry that being a Christian did not keep you from a place like this. So, anyway, we must go to preaching at the Bible, we must go to preaching at a Bible-believing church. Not every church is the same as other churches. And we must have a church that preaches the Bible, and from Genesis to Revelation, and everything in between, and preach on the family, preach on the New Testament church, preach on, you know, the prophecy, preach on, you know, other things that the Bible teaches. and don't skip over things. So, the idea here is we must go to a Bible-preaching church that preaches the whole counsel of God. And we learn truth, we must grow and yield to it. That's very important, that we receive the truth. And then we see in Ephesians 1 through 3, speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ and speaks about Him in heavenly places. And then chapter four through six speaks on how men see Christ in us. So one man said to turn from the doctrine to the practical is not a break or a breach. There's no divorcement between the Christian doctrine and the Christian doing. And the apostle reminds us that he's a prisoner of the Lord. And that's how he looked at it. And the apostle realized that he was jailed, or as an apostle, you know, he's going to be in trouble in some kind of a city. And so he really surrendered whatever God had for him. He yielded to the Lord. And it's walking worthy as a child of God. So God says here in verse 1, I beseech you, and it's a phrase of great intentionally of desire and also a deep sense of responsibility. We see the previous chapter of Ephesians as their high calling. Now he states in chapter 4 the need of a child of God to walk worthy. And that's not walking our own way. That's not behaving like, I think God would accept this. That's what they did back in chapter 10 of Romans. They thought, I think God would accept this, not this, and so on. So they rebelled against God and didn't submit to God or his righteousness. The word walk is going to have a great impact on the rest of the epistle. And we are to walk as a church in unity. Beloved, I have to tell you that it's so important that we understand what that means to walk in unity. The Bible describes that one heart as the same mind, the same thought, the same soul as one. And that's what God wants from His churches. You know, I've never understood that You know, there's churches that are so divided, and different people desiring different things. And I always thought, that's not what God says in His Word. God says, would it be one mind, one heart, one soul? And it's not easy. But if people are saved by God's grace, it's easier. And God asks us to submit ourselves unto the Lord as one who's unified. So the Bible speaks about walking church unity, walking holiness, walking love, walking light, walking wisdom, walking harmony in the home. Walk speaks of our lives of living day by day, regulating one's life. So it takes discipline to be led by the Lord and discipline in our lives to live pleasing to God. So walk worthy speaks of balancing the scale. The literal meaning is to bring up the other arm of the scale. It has the idea of adding something of equal value. So the word vocation speaks of a calling or an invitation. And God says it's speaking of receiving God's free gift of salvation, ordered by the Lord. So Jesus said this, he said, I'm the way, the truth and life, and no man comes to the Father, but by me. So we know that Christ is our only hope. Notice back here in Acts chapter four, please, Acts 4, and I should have this memorized, but I don't. Acts chapter 4, and notice, if you would, verse 12. The Bible says in verse 12, in verse 12, neither is salvation any other, for there's none other name on heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. So that's another verse of scripture speaking about salvation. So Paul is saying to us that we are to live our lives in such a way that we balance the scales by adding something of equal value with what we have been given by the Son of God in salvation and a life which follows. So let's go have a Bible study here. Let's go to Ephesians chapter one, and we're going to read this for a few minutes. Ephesians one, think of all that Paul deals with in Ephesians that we think about all that we have in the Lord. So notice if you would, verse Chapter 1, according as He had chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. So we're chosen in Christ. Now you say, see, that's Calvinism. No, it's not. Everyone's chosen Christ. That's the only way to be saved. So, and then Ephesians Chapter 1, Verse 3, Blessed be the Godfather of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed them with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. So, all spiritual blessings are attached to Jesus Christ. In Ephesians 1, verse 5, having predestined us unto adoption of children by Jesus Christ himself, according to the good pleasure of his will. So, we will be like Jesus, and will be with Jesus one day. Notice verse 11-12, in whom we have obtained inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of him who worketh all things at the counsel of his own will, that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trust in Christ. And then notice if you would, chapter one in verse six. And the Bible tells us here in verse six, to the praise and the glory of His grace, when He hath made us accepted in the Beloved. That's a wonderful thing, to be accepted in the Beloved, to be in Christ, to be accepted as you are. That's a wonderful thing about salvation. God doesn't say you have to improve, or you have to change things. No, just as you are. And then in chapter 1, verse 7, our sins have been forgiven. And then we have redemption through the blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace. And then notice, if you would, chapter 2. And notice verse 1 to 4. The Bible says, and you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. When time passed, you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air. The spirit now worked within the chiller of disobedience, among whom also we had our conversation. And times passed, and the lust of the flesh fulfilled the desire of the flesh, and of the mind by nature, the chiller of wrath, even as others. but God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us. And then notice in Wood chapter 2 and verse 6, the Bible says, and he has raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Then the ages to come, we might know the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus. So I think like last week in the morning sessions, Last week in the evening sermons, we were sitting in heavenly places as saved people. Realize that God is speaking to us, showing us, teaching us, and so on. And that's what the Bible speaks of, about heavenly places. And that's what we have in Christ. So it goes on and tells us here, chapter 2, verse 8, for by grace you are saved through faith and not of yourselves. It's a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. And then we see in chapter 2, verse 10, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. So God saves us. by His grace, verse 8 and 9. And then verse 10, where the Bible says, for we are His workmanship created, how? In Christ Jesus. So it's a work of God that makes us His workmanship. So let's just say we have a person who says, I'm saying, I'll tell you a real testimony. There's a guy down in Pensacola, Florida who testified and said he was saved at a young age. Right off the bat, I have a problem with that. But he got saved, and you know what happened? He got married, had a great job, and then he got away from the Lord. Amazing? Not one year, not two years, not five years. Not 10 years, 40 years. You know how that is, right? Get away from the Lord. You left your first love. I say hooey on that testimony. That's an out and out lie. He drank, he smoked, and so on. But then, in the old days of 55 or whatever, He came back to the Lord. Isn't that great? It's not great at all. It's not what the Bible says. It's not what the Bible says. So, we've got to line things up with the Bible. We are His workmanship. So, let's just say, after 40 years of being like this man, I'm saying, well, God started to work, like he promised in Philippians 1.6. You know, being confident is the very thing that he that begun a good work will perform until the day of Jesus Christ. But he stopped for 40 years. God works in my life and saved people's lives constantly. Constantly. So this teaching that goes on in our churches about backsliding It's not true. So then we see in Ephesians 2 verse 11, wherefore remember that you being in time past Gentiles in the flesh who walked uncircumcised by that which is called the circumcision and the flesh made by hand that at that time you were without Christ being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise having no hope and without God in this world. And if you looked at man for 40 years, you would think that man has no hope. He's without God. And he is. That's the bottom line. And verse 13, but now in Christ Jesus, we sometimes were far off and made nigh by the blood of Christ, for he is our peace. who hath made both one and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for to make in himself a twain one new man, and so making peace, and that he might reconcile both under God by one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby, and came and preached peace. to you which are far off and to them that were nigh. For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father." And see, that's what happens when you get saved. It's a totally different world. And the Bible tells us that we have peace through the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 19, 22, made fellow citizens saints of the household of God. Notice chapter 3. And I'm not going to read the whole chapter. The Lord desires to bless us, and use us, and teach us, and make us like the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's the goal. We've been predestined, been predestined to be like Jesus. If that's not happening in a person's life, there's a big question mark. So the verse is the same as Romans 12, 1 and 2. Paul reminds us early in chapter Romans that concludes that God's people need to be living sacrifices. The same idea is found in Ephesians 4, 1. He's reminding us of all that the Lord did for man to save him because of that he was, we are to walk worthy of his vocation. So he says, I beseech you. and means to call aside, to exhort, to summon, to walk on the right path, to comfort, to comfort us and to lead us. Now notice these verses, let's go to John chapter 14, please. John 14. And the Bible says in John 14 verse 17, the Bible says, even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because seeth him not, neither knoweth him, but ye know him. For he dwelleth with you and shall be in you. Notice verse 16 of the same chapter. The Bible says, and I will pray the Father that he shall give you another comforter. that you may abide with you forever. And then we see Hebrews chapter 13 and verse five. Let's turn there, please. Hebrews chapter 13. And notice verse five of the chapter, let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with such things as you have. For I, he said, for he has said, I will never leave you, leave thee nor forsake thee. So again, God tells us, beseeches us to, to, you know, be summoned, to walk the right path, to be what God wants us to be. Second of all, go back to our text in Ephesians 4, and the Bible says in verse 2, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering from bearing one another in love. So the characteristic of the worthy walk. There are five characteristics that speaks of our worthy walk. First of all, lowliness. That's humility. It's always a foundation of Christian virtue. It's the right way. It's the right place to begin. and we cannot be saved without it. We cannot serve the Lord without it. The Bible speaks very, very important that we put on humility. Notice Philippians chapter 2 please. Philippians chapter 2 and notice verse 7 and 8 speaking of Christ, but made himself of no reputation. took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in the fashion as a man, he what? He humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. So that's what Jesus did. He humbled himself before God and before man. And thank the Lord for that. Jesus needed to be humble himself. How much more should we be humble? I mean, think about our arrogance, our pride. I mean, really, it's against God. We should walk humbly. Humility should be highly sought after, but never uh but uh we must never say I'm I'm perfectly humble. We don't do that because once you do you forfeit your position. And Matthew 11 and 29, take my yoke upon you, learn of me for my the Bible says my what was it to say am I? Thank you. Very good. And uh salvation must include humbling ourselves before the Lord. And pride and self-exaltation are part of the gospel. It's against the Lord. And so it's very important that we learn this as a young Christian and learn to walk humbly with God. Adam's sin in the garden was pride and trusting in his own understanding above God. And pride is the greatest tool of the devil. That's what he uses many times. And how does he do it? The lust of the flesh, lust of the eye, pride of life. Because it's the very heart of his own evil nature. True humility begins with a proper self-awareness. And beloved, I have to tell you, Charles Spurr, I'm not going to say it right, but he said, that someone had said, who was being accused of, he said, trust me, you're far worse than that. It's true. You accuse me of whatever you want to say, but we're worse than that. Because man is not humble, he refuses to see these things. But the first thing unsaved man needs to see is his own simpleness. And it allows man to remove his rose-colored glasses, and allows one to see their sinfulness. We're not adequate in ourselves. A second thought, humility, involves Christ's awareness that the Lord is the standard which we judge ourselves. And that's the real key. If we would judge ourselves, not among ourselves, but to Jesus Christ, that's where the victory lies. We've got to compare ourselves to Christ. And meekness speaks, second of all, of gentleness, which speaks of a mild spirit, self-control, meekness, power under control. Martin Luther King Jones said that to be meek means to have finished with yourself altogether. And it's hard, because lots of times, We're enthralled with ourselves. Hang on. Third of all, we see long-suffering. And this is the outward growth of humility and meekness and patience. Forbearing one another in love. And that's important. The Bible clearly speaks about this. Let's go to 1 Peter 4. Marcus, Jr., would you read that, please? 1 Peter 4, verse 8. And Marcus, Sr., would you read Proverbs 10, verse 12? Amen. So we see forbearing, you know that word forbearing means to put up, be patient, put up with it. You know, there's lots of things we put up with and we need to put up with one another. Letter E is unity. Verse three of the Bible speaks of endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. Now the idea is to be preserving with all diligence and constant concern of each other and every church member. And spiritual unity is not something that we bring to the church, but rather it is already created by the Holy Spirit. And let's look at some verse here. James, would you go to 1 Corinthians 1 and read verse 10 and 11? Bernie, would you read Philippians 1, verse 27? And Nick, would you go to Colossians 3, verse 14? Thank you. And then, brother, would you read Philippians 127? only let your conversation be as it is becoming the gospel of Christ, that whether I come and see you or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel. Very good. And then with Colossians 3, 14, Nick? And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. Very good. And that's what we need to do, put on charity. So these are three or four verses that instruct us about the importance of charity, love, et cetera. So let me say this, the cause of the worthy walk, in verse three, unity, which was spoke by Paul, must be sought after by believers. And this is important. We must, as a church member, We must seek after unity in our lives. So, Bruce, you have a responsibility. I know that you're head usher, but you can't have hard feelings towards certain people in church. You know, shaking hands all of a sudden, someone shows up, you turn, don't shake their hand. I mean, what kind of head usher would that be? James, very important. You got to make sure things are right with everyone. And Nick, it's important that you're right, Brian. And we go on throughout the church holy and so on. You can't have issues with people. You say, well, most guys don't. Ah. Who's left? I know there's Mia. She has issues. And Hannah. But there's someone else we're missing. Women. I have to tell you, ladies, it's so important that you remove issues out of your heart. It's important for this reason. And you don't have to raise your hand, but I know you've done it. People have accused other people of things that they did that's not true. You're not talking to me because I said this and it's not true. I wasn't talking to you, I haven't seen you. And it's very important that women speak honestly with each other. Don't read the crowd. Don't think, oh, that person, they got issues with me. Find out, go up to them and say, can I ask you something? Do you have any issues with me? I think it's important. That's how guys usually do it. They go up to each other, they got a problem, or you have an issue, please let me know, because I don't want to have any issues. I want to maintain the unity in the church. And if someone says, well, you know, I don't like the car you drive. Please, just drop the subject. What's wrong with you? I think you should buy just American. You know, if you're driving something and it works to get you from point A to point B, drive it. Don't worry about, you know, we're not going to have any other, you know, car on the road, but American built. Maybe God gives you another car. It happened to me. So, you know, just don't be narrow minded like that. So there's a couple of things I want to point out that will be done. First of all, the passion. in the pursuit, endeavoring to keep, to make haste, to do one's best. It involves passion and zeal in pursuit of holiness, of unity, I'm sorry, in pursuit of unity. So he's got to work at it. It's not going to just happen. And then second of all, we see the protecting and the passion, and the Bible's used the word keep, involving guarding something. Unity in a church is often very fragile and needs protection, guarding, lest something kills it. And if you want to be a unity killer, just mistreat people. Just don't talk to people. Have offenses in your heart. And I'm telling you right now, it's not Christian. It's not. And you say, well, I, that person hurt my feeling. And I say, so what? Who has been, anyone not been hurt here throughout the years? Anyone? How about growing up? Anyone offended here during your growing up years? Come on. Stop it. Someone told me the other night, they said to me, take the next step up. That's a good thought. I came up with myself if I could say that, but take the next step up. Don't be so immature. Don't be so awkward with people. Just love people and be patient with them. God sure has been patient with me. Then we see the peace and the pursuit, and this is so important. The unity, therefore, which is wrought among these Ephesians by the Spirit of God will be theirs in so far as they may peace in the relationship, in the relation they maintain one to another. So it's so important that we have peace. And I love peace. There's a problem, I want to solve it. I don't want issues. And the unity is bound together by peace. So let's look at a couple of verses, we'll close, and I'm going to ask these three men would read this, Ephesians 3.19, James, would you read that for us? Ephesians 4, verse 13 and verse 20, Bernie, and then Ephesians 5.18. Ephesians 3.19, and to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God. That's what we want. fullness of God in our lives. I want to ask you this, and I'm not picking on anyone, just asking, do you have the fullness of God in your life? That's something we have to work at. I'll be filled with God. Ephesians chapter 4 verse 13 and verse 20. So we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Verse 20, but ye have not so learned Christ. All right. Very good. Thank you, brother. And then Ephesians 5, verse 18. And be not drunk with wine where it is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. All right. So this is my thought for our church. You know, we're going to have different people come in and preach. Prime Minister's going to be Brother Scott Kuzel. He's a good preacher. He's sound. And I'm so thankful for him that he would willingly come over and take my place. And then we have different men. Brian's going to be preaching, and then Mark, and then James. I'm kidding, guys. So these men are going to be preaching, and they'll fill the pulpit, and they'll do a good job. I don't know how long I'll be out, but I'll be back as soon as I can. I mean that. And I know it's going to be a while, but I'll be back as soon as I can. And if you want to write to me, you want to call me, don't call me on Thursday. Bad timing. Bad timing. Don't call me on Friday. I don't know what I'll say, and if I say things wrong, don't blame me. my depraved heart, but you can call me Saturday if you like. All right? And I'll miss you all. I mean that from the bottom of my heart, and I'll be praying for you. I'll be praying for that you keep everything together and love each other and be faithful to each other and so on. If I find out that you're the troublemaker, I'm going to have a new heart. I'm teasing. But anyway, I'll look forward to seeing you all when I get back. But let's pray for each other that God's will be done in our lives, in our church, and that we wouldn't miss a beat, we'd have people saved, and victory's won for Christ. All right? Make sure you're all faithful. Don't skip because, you know, the pass is gone, the mice can play. Don't do that, all right? So, I love you all, and remember James and Marcus are in charge. If you have questions, give them a call, and don't hesitate to talk to them. And then also, when Brother Koos gets here, he'll probably give you his number, and you can call him and talk to him, okay? I trust these men with my lives. I really do. And so, I don't know about James. He fools around too much. I'm teasing. I do trust you. Anyway, let's pray. And we'll give an invitation if you need to respond to the message. And let's do God's will for our lives. Father, thank you so much for this time. And Father, we're looking forward to the work you're going to do in our hearts and minds. And Father, we pray that there be no issues, that people get along with one another and be obedient to the scriptures. We pray also, Father, you bless Marcus and James as they take the leadership. We pray also, Lord, for Brother Kuzel as he's coming in on Tuesday. And I pray that you bless him greatly and have your will in his life. And I appreciate it so much. I pray you bless him with spiritual blessings and help him, Lord, to not only be a blessing, but help our church to be a blessing to him. And Father, we thank you, Lord, for our time. We pray, Father, for your help in our church, that we would walk lowly, we'd be careful, we'd watch our lives, our deportment, and I pray we'd be unified in all things. We ask this in Jesus' name, amen.