The Prisoner of the Mystery

Good morning, everybody. Thankful to be able to do this for you tonight or this morning, excuse me. I just wanted to preface this message that's just a reminder that I'm a weak vessel and what I hope to give to you today is not my own word but the word of God. A word of encouragement and a word of exhortation as well. And that my prayer is that God would be glorified. So I'll pray for us. Father, thank you for this morning that we get to gather and get to sing and rejoice in the glories of the sun. Give me the strength to preach your word and I pray that you would open our hearts to your word and to your spirit and the heart and the man and that you would use me in Christ's name. Our text for this morning is Ephesians 3, 1 through 13. But before we get there, we have a little bit of groundwork to lay first. And so we'll work through the context of where we are by doing a little refresher first on the book of Ephesians. Starting with Ephesians 1, I want you guys to see that we have the eternal plan for the church. Paul explains to the Ephesians and Ephesians 1, 3 through 4, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing and the heavenly places in Christ, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before him in love." Verse 11, "In him we also have been made in inheritance, having been pre-dustin according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will." In Ephesians 1, what you see here is the eternal purpose for which you have been called. That God sets you apart, chose you, elected you before the foundation of the world to be blessed with every spiritual blessing, to be made in inheritance of in Christ and to be made displays, trophies of God's grace for all eternity. In Ephesians 2, I want you to see that we have the present outworking of that plan for the church. Paul explains in Ephesians 2, "And you were dead in your transgressions and sins, and that we were enslaved to Satan, enslaved to our sinful nature and the desires of the flesh, and were by nature children of wrath." Paul explains that we came into this life as sinners, and if life were to just go on, we would breathe our last as sinners, dead in our trespasses, enslaved to a cruel master, consigned to an eternal flame. But God, verse 4, "Being rich and mercy because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive with Christ by grace you have been saved." And so even though you who were formerly once far off, you who were Gentiles in the flesh, uncircumcision, verse 11, you have been brought near by the blood of Christ, reconcile to God no longer strangers and sojourners, but now fellow citizens with the saints. And let me just sum up chapter 2 in one sentence that you were once without grace, and now you have received a bounding grace. And so we come to Ephesians 3, and Paul has laid out all the magnificent truths of God's grace and Ephesians 1 through 2, and I want you to see that when you get to Ephesians 3 1, what we have is a prayer. What we have is a prayer, verse 1, "For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles, and notice he cuts himself off. And a lot of your Bibles there is a dash for good reason." He begins in verse 1 about to pray, but notice he doesn't actually return to the prayer until verse 14. "For this reason I bow my knees before the Father." And that's what we have in Ephesians 3. It's essentially this a prayer. And we know this prayer, he prays, "I pray God would give you power, the power to verse 18. Comprehend with all the saints what is the breath and length and height and depth to know the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge, and that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God." He's essentially saying in chapter 3 in this prayer, "I pray you would understand all the grace that I've written, all the grace that I've given to you and revealed in chapters 1 and 2 that every single marvelous and magnificent spiritual reality of the church would be imprinted upon and grasped by your hearts." Why? Because what comes after chapter 3, Ephesians 4, 1, "Therefore I the prisoner in the Lord exhort you to walk worthy of the calling with it you have been called." Paul knows that what they have in front of them is a ginormous task, a large responsibility to walk worthy of Jesus Christ. And that the only way they can hope to accomplish such a task, the only way that the church can have unity in the Spirit, chapter 4 verse 3, the only way husbands can truly love their wives as Christ loved the church, chapter 5, 25, the only way the church can wage spiritual warfare against the spiritual forces of wickedness is if they understand the breadth and length and height and depth of the love of Christ. The only way that you church can hope to do chapters 4 through 6 is if you first understand more and more the full depth of chapters 1 and 2. And friends, really quickly, let that be a lesson for Christian living, that in order to bear fruit, in order to walk worthy of the calling of God, you must lay first and foremost as your foundation the grace of God. The depths of the love of Christ is what you need to understand. If there's anything chapters 1 and 2 in Ephesians, teach us about the character of God. What is it? It's that God is a God full of grace. And what you and I need for Christian living is to understand the fullness of God's grace. A love that has loved you since before the foundation of the world, a love that would spare no expense to have you, not even his own son, and a love that has raised you up with Christ and even seated him, seated us with him in the heavenly places. We are made co-airs with Christ. He is for us and not against us. And so back to Ephesians 3, 1. We know Paul wanted to pray in verse 1 and now we know why he wanted to pray. But notice that before Paul can continue to pray in verse 2, he cuts himself off. He digresses. And that's the context of our text this morning. The entirety of chapter 3 is a prayer. And in these verse 13 verses, what you need to see is that we have a digression of thought. A digression, not because it's unimportant or an aside, but because Paul realizes before he can pray for them to be filled with the power they need, they need to understand one more thing first. The apostle needs to give one more lesson to his students, in addition to chapters 1 through 2. And that's what verses 1 through 13 of chapter 3 is. Before he can pray, he realizes I need to tell you one more thing first. And what is it? What is verses 1 through 13? What is this digression? And we'll begin to unpack that. But I want you to notice a few things. Look down at the text. Notice that Paul talks a lot about the mystery here in chapter 3. Look at verse 4. The mystery of Christ. Mystery in the Greek is the Greek word "mustereon." And across the New Testament it simply means this something that was previously hidden and has now been revealed. And that's all verse 5 is saying is that the Old Testament prophets, the previous generations didn't know what the church, what this mystery was. But now the New Testament. Now Paul has revealed this mystery. And there's a lot of different mysteries across the New Testament. In chapter 3, Paul talks about the mystery of Christ and you, the hope of glory. That Christ is literally in you. In 2 Thessalonians 2, 7, Paul talks about the mystery of lawlessness. In Matthew 13 you have Jesus revealing mysteries of the kingdom through parables. In Romans 11, Paul talks about the mystery of the partial hardening that has come upon the nation, Israel. And here in Ephesians 3, Paul reveals us what he calls the mystery of Christ. Verse 4. And what is that mystery? It's simply this. It's very simple. Verse 6, "That the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body, fellow partakers of the promised in Christ Jesus through the gospel." You see, previously before Christ, before the church, only the nation is real. Had access to God. We had to be in Israel to hear from God in those days. And only Israel had the Word of God and only Israel had the promise. promises of God. And as Pastor Matt has been teaching us what is required for faith, a promise, because faith comes by what? Hearing and hearing by the word of Christ. And so there was a great advantage to being a Jew in those days and a great disadvantage to being a Gentile. And then there was such a great distinction between the two groups. In fact, even inside the temple, there was a dividing wall, a separating barrier that didn't allow Gentiles from even coming into the inner courts. And as a result, the two groups didn't like each other that much. And it shouldn't have been this way, but there was hostility, contempt, pride, and division between the two. But it is exactly that hostility, that division, that makes this mystery in chapter 3 so great that in Christ, both groups have been made one. And the dividing wall of partition has been broken down. That Jews and Gentiles have been reconciled unto God. The two have been made into one new man. That is in one body, that is the church. Jew and Gentile are now on equal footing, equal standing before God in the church. And that's the mystery. That's the grace of the church. This new revelation of the church and how Jew and Gentile are reconciled and unified and equal in the church. But I want you to notice something. Notice that the content of this mystery that we just went over noticed that that is exactly what Paul has already explained at the end of chapter 2. In fact, everything I just said was basically straight from chapter 2. Look at chapter 2 verse 11. Remember formerly you, Gentiles and the flesh were uncircumcision. Look at verse 13. But now you have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Look at verse 14 through 16. He himself is our peace who made both groups one and broke down the dividing wall of the partition abolishing in his flesh the enmity. So that he might create the two into one new man and reconcile them in one body to God. Paul already explained what the mystery was in chapter 2. Do you see that? So what his focus here in chapter 3 is not the theological content of the mystery. Although he clarifies that in chapter 3 verse 6. Rather get this, he is sharing his personal testimony, his personal stewardship of this mystery of Christ that has now been revealed. And what we have here in these first verse 13 verses of chapter 3 is a personal example from Paul in his life as to how we should live in light of the marvelous grace that is the church. We see here how Paul views the church, how he feels about the church, how he lives for the church, and even how he would suffer for the church. Look at verse 1 of chapter 3. He says he is a prisoner for the sake of the mystery. He says I have endured chains, beatings, and imprisonments. And in verses 1 through 13, Paul is essentially saying let me show you why. Let me show you why this is worth it to me. Why the mystery of Christ is worth suffering for. Why I have given my entire life and ministry to the church. And how much I treasure the marvelous grace that the church is. So here in Ephesians 3, 1, 13, what we really have in his life is an excellent example of how we can be ministers of the church. Of what it means, how we can and should steward the unique grace of God that is now revealed in the church. How we can steward being members of the church, members of the body in which Jew and Gentile have been made one new man and reconciled to God. To not take for granted these wondrous blessings, but to properly steward the immense grace that the church is and that the church has been given. To serve the Lord faithfully in the church the same way, Paul did. That's what we can learn from Ephesians 3, 1 through 13. We have the opportunity to learn from the man himself, learn from the prisoner of the mystery. And to see what it looks like in a man's life when he has truly understood the gravity, grandiose and graciousness of the revelation of the church. And so with that I would like for us to see three points about the prisoner's stewardship of the mystery. Three things that we can take away to in order to be better church members, better ministers of the church, better stewards of God's grace, better servants of God, and we'll mostly focus entirely on actually verses 8 through 13 from now on. These are the three points. First, the prisoner understood his own gracious calling, the prisoner understood the church's grand centrality, and the prisoner understood the church's grounded confidence. First, his gracious calling, look at verse 8, "To me the very least of all saints this grace was given to proclaim to the Gentiles the good news of the unfathomable riches of Christ." And I want you to notice here the calling of Paul. God's calling of Paul to give him a mission, a ministry, the special task of proclaiming to the Gentiles the gospel of Christ. You see, God had a very important plan in that day, a very critical responsibility that he had to give to the right man and if it weren't carried out would result an absolute catastrophe. Not filling this responsibility would mean the church would not go past Jerusalem and Samaria and all the way to the ends of the earth. It would mean that the Gentiles would be forever stuck and enslaved and darkness and hopelessness and worst of all the Son of God would not receive all the glory that he is due for purchasing for God men from every tribe, tongue, people and nation. Paul had an enormous responsibility to proclaim the gospel to the Gentiles. An enormous weight upon his shoulders to fully carry out the preaching of the Word of God, Colossians 125. But friends, notice here what Paul calls that, he does not call it a liability, he does not call it an incumbrance, know my friends what we must understand from the prisoner is that he considers this responsibility, he considers this ministry, his calling, he considers it, oh what, a grace, a gift, unmarried favor from God. Look at the beginning of the verse, to me the very least of all the saints and I want you to realize this that Paul was just thankful. Paul was just simply thankful to be used of God and given a ministry from Christ. And isn't that amazing? Isn't that an amazing attitude friends to have when it comes to serving the church? And may I encourage us to consider the responsibilities and our lives the same, to consider the responsibilities and our lives as graces, to consider especially serving the church, the calling of God in your life, building and serving the church not as a heavy weights or unwanted burden, not as cissifices rock but as gifts, graces to be stewarded. And friends you know what makes it hard sometimes to see ministry that way? It's a low view of grace, it's a low view of grace because we don't recognize the grace of God as unfathomable riches as he puts it in the end of verse 8. That's how Paul puts it, that's how that's what he sees the grace of God as, it is unfathomable riches. And we and sometimes we're tempted to view the ministry wrongly because we have a low view of grace and a high view of self. You see man's pride sours the grace of God. Laugh the pride brings low the laugh the treasures of God. But what Paul knew deep down in his soul was that he was the least of saints, the chief of sinners. He understood his former life had stained upon stain and so when he was saved on that Damascus groan when he was commissioned by God to become the apostle to the Gentiles, he was absolutely humbled by the unfathomable grace of God in his life. That God would not just save him but turn a fruitless vein life into a life of significance, a life of eternal glory by gifting him a ministry and graciously graciously calling him into service for Christ. That's why it was a grace because he was humble and he understood the weight of grace that he had been given. And friends, in order to view service to God serving the church the same way as a gift. As an opportunity we need to remember this that we were once dead in our transgressions. That we cannot let pride for let us forget that we were once enslaved to the prince of the power of the air. That we had absolutely nothing. We were totally separated from Christ, strangers to the covenant of promise without hope, without God and we had no purpose, we had no future, nothing to look forward to, nothing to truly live for. Amen. Remember your former life that you will wake up, choose some arbitrary way to live. And at the end of the day, you know you're just still here today and God tomorrow. Each day would pass by one after the other without much meaning and without much significance. Why? Because you did not have God. Friends, we were hopeless. And that would have been the end of the story. But now in Christ Jesus, you who were formerly far off, you who had no hope and no purpose have been brought near by the blood of Christ, chapter 2 verse 13. In other words, you had nothing. And now you have given, you have been given everything. You have received the unfathomable riches of Christ that God has saved you, reconciled you, adopted you, called you his own and rescued you from a life of utility, meaninglessness, and brought you to a life of eternal significance. He is calling each one of us, each one of you, come now out of your life of vanity, come now, serve me, come, serve and build my everlasting church, and receive an everlasting reward. Oh, the unfathomable riches of Christ, that is. That is your gracious calling. That was Paul's gracious calling. And we have a choice, friends, to view the ministry as a gift, to be humbled by the weight of grace that we've been given, to be humbled by the unfathomable riches of Christ, not take it for granted, not think that this was how life was supposed to go all along, but that we are saved by grace along. And more than that, when you are humbled by the unfathomable riches of Christ, what more can you do than just humbly submit and accept thankfully the gracious calling of God, his purpose that he's not given you in your life? That you're not living for vanity, but for purpose, for Christ. God cares about the life you live. Did you know that? He cares about you. Every single decision that we make that is put into this world breaks his heart. He cares that you would receive an inheritance worthy of your calling as stewards of the grace of God. He desires each one of you fulfill the gracious calling he has called you with. It's not a chain. It is a-- it is freedom. It is a gift that you fulfill your gracious calling. You each have one. Did you know that? Every single one of you has a specific calling from God. Now, a single one of you is without a special task, a specific ministry that God has purpose to call you to since eternity passed. And a special task that he declared, I don't want anyone else to do this. No one else is going to do this work, except my servant that I'll give it to. I don't want anyone else to do it. I don't want Peter to do it. I don't want the Apostle Paul to do it. I want you to do it. And I'll prove it. Look at Ephesians 2.10, "For we are his worksmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them." He prepared it before the foundation of the world. And even more than that, he's even given you the spiritual gifts you need, the supernatural empowerment, divine help to do those good works. That's how much he wants you to do that. Did you know that? And it does not matter whether you are young or old, male or female, inexperienced or experienced, pastor or layman, right? Each one of you has a ministry. There are no exceptions. If you bear the name of Christ, you are called by Christ. You have an allotment of grace. To each one a measure of grace was given. To serve and build up the church, the mystery that is now revealed. It does not matter if it's stacking chairs. It does not matter if it's doing worship, setting out the snacks, being a leader. All of it is gracious. And all of it is important. Why? Because God has called you to it. And nothing that a sovereign, thoughtful, intentional God does is just to be ignored, is just to be thought lightly up. He cares about you. And he thought about you. And he specifically, intentionally gave it to you. And so my friends, God has gifted us each one of us so. And so let us consider the calling of God as a grace. The responsibility we've been given as gifts. Divine privileges that have brought us out from a life of meaninglessness to a life of eternal significance. Let us to them, thankfully, and joyfully, and faithfully, and praise God for them. Second, I want you to see that the prisoner understood not just his own gracious calling, but he understood the church's grand centrality. Verse 9. And to bring to light, for all what is the administration of the mystery, which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things. Verse 10. So that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities and the heavenly places. The rulers and the authorities and the heavenly places here simply refer to angelic beings. You can see that in Ephesians 121 and Ephesians 612. And essentially what Paul is giving us here is a purpose statement for the church. He's saying that through the church, through the building of the church, the manifold wisdom is being made known to the angels, both holy and fallen, that God designed the church to not just be a testimony before man, but to be an object lesson to all the cosmos. To teach this, that God is manifestly wise. Now, because you can see in the church that God is a God, this not stymied by division, not stymied by petty barriers, he is a God who can reconcile even Jew and Gentile. He can turn enemies into brothers, division into unity, enmity into peace, and he can turn hateful sinners into loving saints. That's the beauty and the wisdom of God's design into church. But I want you to notice this in verse 10, that the church does not have an empty theater. Rather, everyone in the heavenly realms is watching. And in this age, in this dispensation, all of heaven's eyes are on the church. See, it wasn't always that way. In fact, before Christ, the church didn't even exist. The entity that probably captivated most everyone's attention was the nation Israel. And God was working primarily through the nation Israel. But since Israel rejected Messiah, Paul says in Romans 11, "A partial hardening has come upon the nation so that Israel has been temporarily set aside while God sets up the church." And so God purposely hid the revelation of the church before in the ages past, so that now in this appointed time, in this dispensation, the church would now take center stage. From where she was previously hidden, God has placed her front and center and missed the entire universe. And the church has become the focal point of all the angels' attention. Think about this. The church, quite literally, is the focus of all the universe in this age. Every eye is watching her. She is receiving both the intently curious gaze of the holy angels and both the relentless assaults of the fallen angels. All eyes are on her. Every angelic strategy, every spiritual battle plan is concerned with the church. As God demonstrates to every living creature His wisdom through her. And so why did Paul so heavily labor and strive for the church? Why did he bear upon himself such a pressure of concern for all the churches, second Corinthians 11, 28? Because this prisoner understood. God cares about the church. God cares about it so much. In fact, that in this age, he has placed it as the cosmic center of attention. He has chosen the church to be his special institution. His means of revealing his glory, his kindness, and especially this, his wisdom to all the watching realms. In the angel's eyes, the church is the center of their focus. In the God's eyes, the church is the center of his focus and care. And so to Paul, it would only make sense for him, for the church to also be in the center of his focus. You see, no general puts their energies into the fringes of the battlefield, where the skirmishes and being fought. No boxer puts their efforts into learning how to kick rather than to punch. No soldier and active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier, second Timothy's two-four. Friends, what the prisoner teaches us is that the church is primary. The church is our work. And the church is the focus of not just the universe but our ministry and our purpose. You see, you can't disconnect serving the Lord faithfully, walking with the Lord in this day and age from serving the church. When you think about serving the Lord, the primary means is through the church. And that's why every new Testament epistle is written for who the church is. God has made it clear. The church is central to him. This should be central to us. Get this. Even Satan understands this fact. Even Satan understands this well. Who has Satan shifted most of his attention towards before the church? He was relentlessly attacking Israel and the line of Messiah. You see that in Zechariah 3 where he's berating, accusing Joshua the High Priest. See, Satan's smart. And he knows that ever since Christ, the church has been made center focus, the main strategy of God's plan. And so the church has constantly been under fire ever since. Peter says, your adversary that double prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. First Peter 5/8. And friends, if Satan has the sense to shift his battle plans, can't we have the sense to shift our priorities? To focus on the church. Friends, all eyes are on us. The angels wait to watch and see. God's manifold wisdom is just waiting to be revealed by what we do, how we serve, how we love, and how we build, and how we grow. Other institutions might come and go, schools, governments, campus ministries, nonprofits. They can be nice, but it's not God's focus. Even our hobbies, even our entertainments, even our sports are not inherently bad. And they're good things. Guests from God, but they're not our focus. He has a soldier of Christ doesn't entangle himself, doesn't primarily focus himself with what he's not been called for. The angels don't gaze upon my coating projects or my new app that I built. They don't look at the invention of Amazon two-day shipping with awe and wonder. No, they look at the church. Because in God's divine art gallery, he has hung up front and center the church to magnify himself in this age. Friends, the church, the administration of the mystery verse nine that has now been revealed, it's central. It is at the top of God's list, it is at the top of the angels' list, it is at the top of the prisoners' list. Let it be at the top of ours. Finally, the last point that I would like to cover is the church's grounded confidence, the church's grounded confidence. Lastly, I want you all to see what grounded the prisoner in his ministry of the church, what gave him such a bold confidence and a rooted steadfastness even admiss suffering affliction and chains. That even when life may have tempted him to be anxious, even when life trials seem to get out of hand and cave in on him, what kept this prisoner steadfast, what kept him perseverance and diligent in serving the Lord, serving the church was this. Verse 11, "This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which he carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in him. Therefore, I ask you not to lose heart and my afflictions on your behalf, which are your glory." And I want you to see that Paul's grounded confidence, the church's grounded confidence, our grounded confidence is simply this Christ." Notice in verse 11, look at verse 11, Paul is saying that God's revealing of the church, verse 10, to make known his wisdom was in a cordance, verse 11, with the eternal purpose which he carried out in Christ Jesus. That God has purposed the church from eternity past and decreed, surely I will build the church and surely nothing shall ever change that or thwart that and I will so make sure of it that I will make my son carry it out. Friends, what's the source of confidence that the church has in the face of difficulty, set back and persecution? What's the source of Paul's confidence that he could ask the Ephesians, "Don't lose heart at my afflictions, rather glory in them." It's that God sovereignly ordained the church and the Lord Jesus Christ declared, "He will build it. It is his church, his body, his bride, and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it." God has purposed the plan. Christ is the one who will carry it out. That's Paul's confidence. The church stands not on the foundations of the winds and efforts of man, not on the decrees of governors or rulers, but on the word of God, on the rock of Christ. Christ who is seated above all rulers, authorities, powers, principalities, and dominions. All things were put under in subjection under his feet. Friends, that is the head of the church and that is who has promised to build it. Christ has declared it, so will it fail? No. There are a few things in life that hold such a confidence. 401Ks, jobs, earthly treasures, there's no divine guarantee behind those. You understand that? But friends, do we need to worry about bad investments with the church? No. Understand this. No investment into the church was, is, or ever will be wasted because it is an everlasting body with an everlasting head that holds an everlasting promise. See, there are many Christians at the end of their lives who unfortunately regret putting too much time into the things of this world. But in my estimation, there is no such Christian who ever regret putting too much time into the church. Friends, we don't need to fear bad investments. We don't need to fear the inheritance will pay out. Christ will never fail us. The church will never fail. And more than that friends in the face of afflictions, fears, discouragements in the ministry need we be disheartened in the building up of the body? Christ who is our head has promised that these circumstances are but momentary afflictions. They are all sovereignly appointed by the eternal purpose of God and they by no means thwart it. That they are rather means to an end, even affliction. And that's why Paul can tell the Ephesians glory in my sufferings. Therefore, we are benefit. Therefore, church, we need not lose hearts. But rather with many encouragement, we can continue to grow, continue to serve, continue to press on, even in the midst of trial, affliction, and fear, and discouragement. What might seem like a setback to you is a set up from God. And friends, it's not just that we have, it's not just in the face of afflictions that we don't need to be fearful, but even in the face of our sins, even in the face of our failures, should the church ever waver? No, look at verse 12, "In whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him, that in Christ our great confidence, we need not worry about our sins, our past sins, and failures, because we have such a great high priest who sympathizes with our weaknesses, who avails to us the throne of grace, and says, come. And we need not shy away from His calling. He is our intercessor, He is our mediator, our advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, first on to too." Christ is the church's great confidence by which we can continue to stand, continue to serve, continue to minister even in the face of our sins. Friends, the church has an unwavering, unshakable grounded confidence in the person of Jesus Christ in every area of your life. You don't need to fear a bad investment of time, you don't need to fear a bad investment of time, you don't need to fear a bad investment of time, you don't need to fear a flexion, you don't need to fear the shame and guilt of sin, you have all the confidence you need and all the strength and boldness you need in Christ to do what He has called you to do. When we waver in our work, all we need to do is look at his. And so friends, I hope you see from this short, from this text today that's the prisoner, how the prisoner viewed the church, and that grace that he had been given. He had been graciously called to serve it. The church is the grand central focus of everything, and that he has all the grounded confidence he needs to press on to endure, even amidst chains, afflictions, and imprisonments. Friends, each one of us has a gracious calling to serve and build the grandly central church with unwavering grounded confidence that can persevere till the end, until Christ finishes his mission. Therefore, let us press on to keep doing good, and to keep serving the Lord faithfully, and to make the church our priority and to build it, to grow in number, to grow in maturity, to apply our creative skills to grow the church, build up the ministry, because the angels are watching. God is intently focused, and he is calling you to it. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for the great calling which you have given us. We have been brought out of futility and vanity and into relationship with you, into lives of eternal significance. Let us see the riches in that and be thankful and humbly submit our lives, not holding anything back, but giving ourselves to what you purpose for us. Let us have a high view of the church and be thankful for Christ who has bought it and most secured. And pray in the holy singing of Christ.