David [00:00:01]:
You know, over the last few weeks, we have been studying what it means to be in Christ. Also that could be referred to as being in Him.
David [00:00:30]:
Sometimes you’ll see that Paul did a great job of giving us insight into our place of being in him or in Christ in the first three chapters of Ephesians. And we’ve been working our way through Ephesians. A couple of weeks ago, we began by starting with Ephesians chapter one. And last week we studied the first half of chapter two and learned in him. We have been made alive by his rich mercy, great love and free grace. We drill down into what all of that meant. We also saw that we’ve been restored to our place or our our position in Christ with all power and authority and rights and privileges of that position. All Domin that God gave us in the beginning is ours.
David [00:01:28]:
And today we will finish our journey through chapter two and begin looking into chapter three. So, are you ready? Let’s get started. Ephesians 2:18 in the Amplified Classic. For it is through him that we both, whether far off or near, now have an introduction access by one Holy Spirit to the Father so that we are able to approach Him.
David [00:01:59]:
Hallelujah.
David [00:02:01]:
In him, in Christ. We now have access by the Holy Spirit. Praise God. You see, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are all working together in our behalf because they want to be in relationship with us. Praise God. We don’t have to go find Him. We don’t have to go look for Him. He is always with us.
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He is always close by. Think about that every day when you get up. God is right there with you. Jesus is right there with you. The Holy Spirit is right there, living in you.
David [00:02:43]:
Hallelujah.
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You’re not without Him. He was always close by. So we have access because we are in Christ. We have access. And access is that relationship with God whereby we are acceptable to him and have assurance that he is favorably disposed toward us. Praise God. We are his children, his kids. He accepts us.
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He favors us. He loves you. He likes you. Praise God. You have access, the right of access. You can come before him at any time. You don’t have to schedule an appointment or wait for your turn. You can talk with him throughout your day.
David [00:03:47]:
You have his favor all around you at all times. Praise God. You have access. Romans 5:1:2 in the Amplified, Paul said this. He said, therefore, since we are justified, acquitted, declared righteous, and given a right standing With God through faith. Let us grasp the fact that we have the peace of reconciliation to hold and to enjoy peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One. Through him also, we have our access, our entrance, our introduction by faith into this grace, the state of God’s favor in which we firmly and safely stand. And let us rejoice and exalt in our hope of experiencing and enjoying the glory of God.
David [00:04:53]:
Praise God. I encourage you to go back and and reread those two verses, Romans 5:1 and 2, and spend some time studying them and meditating on them. Paul is telling us, here we have been declared righteous. You are in right standing with God. Then he says, I want you to grasp the fact. I want you to know this. I want you to understand it. I want you to get it deep in you.
David [00:05:22]:
Get this rooted inside of you. You have the peace of reconciliation. You can get up every day and go, I’m one with God. I’ve been reconciled to God, my Father. I’m in right standing with Him. You have been made one with God again in Christ. We have been made one with God again. You don’t have to earn it to buy it, to work for it.
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All you have to do is simply receive it and enjoy it. Praise God. Praise God again, He says, you have access by grace, God’s favor, God’s favor, God’s favor in Him. This is where we firmly and safely stand.
David [00:06:21]:
Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
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We have all the right to rejoice, to experience and enjoy the glory of God. Wow. We’re going to talk more about that probably the next time. But we have all the right to rejoice, experience and enjoy the glory of God. Praise God. Being in him brings strength and peace. It encourages us. Our confidence increases.
David [00:06:59]:
Even in the midst of a storm or a challenge, you. You still feel steady, not shaken, fixed and firm in your place. You see, this isn’t about emotions or feelings. It’s about knowing who we are in Christ. So I encourage you, get this down deep inside of you.
David [00:07:26]:
Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
David [00:07:30]:
Because of his free grace, like we talked about last week, we have access. Being in him gives us access to approach him whenever we desire. Not only do we have the right to come into his presence, to come into his court, we have the right to approach him whenever we desire. We live in his presence every day, and we can approach him and come close to him every day. Approach means to cause, to draw near, to bring near, to admit someone into a place, to receive someone into A place to bring together. God is drawing us to himself. He gives us admission freely. He receives us.
David [00:08:36]:
He brings us together. He sees us and says, oh, come on in here. Let’s hang out. God wants to hang out with you every day. I remember a while back I was praying and God said, david, over the next few weeks, I just want you to come and sit with me. I don’t want you to ask me about anything or for anything. I want some time just to sit with you. Wow.
David [00:09:13]:
Wow, wow, wow. And so I’d come and sit with my journal, and I would capture everything he said to me. And sometimes we just sat together, but the peace of God would just wrap me and surround me. God wants that with you, too.
David [00:09:33]:
Hallelujah.
David [00:09:34]:
He wants to hang out with you. This is our reality. This is not something to hope for the future when we get to heaven. No, this is right here and now. We are in Christ and we have the right of access, the right to approach God anytime, any day. Paul goes on to say this about the access we’ve been given him in Ephesians 3:12, the Amplified classic, in whom, because of our faith in him, we dare to have the boldness, the courage and confidence of free access and unreserved approach to God with freedom and without fear, we come before God. And so he’s saying, here, we come before God and we dare. It’s like a toddler.
David [00:10:42]:
They come into your prayer. They’re not afraid. They coming in there. We dare to come with boldness. Boldness means come with trust to make secure and carefree. God wants us coming before him, trusting him, not coming in, going. Oh, I’m sorry. I’m here.
David [00:11:05]:
I don’t mean to disturb you. Is it. I. I hope I’m not disturbing. Is it okay if I’m here right now? God’s going, come in here. You’re my child. Talk to me. Hallelujah.
David [00:11:22]:
Paul says we dare to come. Do we dare to have the boldness which is the courage and confidence of free access? Courage means to be brave, strong and secure. I come in with courage before the Father, God, and confidence. The word confidence means this in the Latin. It means faith for today. With faith for today. The word C O n there means with. Fi means faith.
David [00:11:54]:
And the D in that word confidence there, if you take it back into the Latin, it means faith. And the de means today. So with faith for today, God wants to come, wants us to get up and come into his presence with faith for today, not yesterday’s faith, not tomorrow’s faith. For Today. So we come before him with boldness, courage and confidence. We have the boldness, courage and confidence of free access. Free access means this. It means an unreserved approach.
David [00:12:37]:
We’re not reserved in our approach. It’s an unreserved. I love it. We go to see our grandkids and they come. Papa. And they come running and jump up in my lap and hug me and. And I just enjoy it. I love it.
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They’re coming. Like it says here, another definition of free access is freedom from fear. They’re not afraid. They just come jump up in my lap. No reservations. Freely coming into the throne room and approaching our father God, knowing that he’s there waiting for me. Psalm 65. Four new King James Version says this.
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Blessed is the man you choose, Lord, and cause to approach you, that he may dwell in your courts. We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, of your holy temple.
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Wow.
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See? Blessed is the man you choose. You are chosen. Ephesians 1:4 tells us. Paul told us in Ephesians 1:4, before the foundation of the. Of the earth, he picked us out and chose us as his own. Peter said in 1st Peter 2:9 that you are a chosen people, a chosen generation, a purchase, possession treasured by God. You are chosen and you are invited. Calls to approach.
David [00:14:27]:
You were invited to dwell. The word dwell there means to live, to settle down, to abide, to be established. You’re just not coming and going from God’s presence. God says, no, come, come, be here with me. Be in my presence. Be with me all the time. I’m right here, available to you all the time. Come dwell with me.
David [00:14:54]:
Come live in my courts. Courts was that place of entry. It was an inner walled enclosure before you enter the throne room or enter in a palace. That’s the way it was. It was a place of reception to be received, a settled abode. It’s a place where everybody comes and just hangs out. God says, come into my courts. Come dwell.
David [00:15:29]:
Dwell in my courts.
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Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
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Come, dwell in my courts.
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Hallelujah.
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And be satisfied. Satisfied means to be fulfilled. Have one’s desire satisfied, to be enriched. And so Paul or the writer is saying here in Psalms, we will be satisfied. We will be fulfilled. Our desire will be satisfied. We’ll be enriched with your goodness, Lord. The goodness of your house.
David [00:16:15]:
And goodness means pleasant, excellent, rich, valuable, prosperity, bounty, the fullness of who God is. His goodness, same word, translated, his glory.
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His.
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His goodness is all he is. If you come dwell in my Courts. You will be satisfied with all that I am, because I will make all that I am available to you. If you come live in My presence.
David [00:16:53]:
Hallelujah.
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Seek me. Jesus said in John 10:10 that he came that we may have and enjoy life. God is life. Jesus is life. When we’re in his presence, when we’re seeking him, when we understand where we stand, we are in him, and he is in us. We may have and enjoy life. Abundant life to the full and overflowing, because we are in Him. Our Father God is inviting us to dwell in his courts and enjoy his goodness.
David [00:17:42]:
You have full access to the courts of our Father God. You have full rights, a full relationship with the Lord. Welcome home. That’s what it’s like in God’s house. Praise God. Not only do we have access and an invitation to approach God’s throne, we are fellow citizens and members of the Lord’s household. This is where we live. Ephesians 2:19 in the Amplified classic.
David [00:18:20]:
Therefore you are no longer outsiders. You’re not exiles, migrants and aliens excluded from the rights of citizenship. You now share citizenship with the saints, God’s own people, consecrated and set apart for himself. And you belong to God’s own household. That’s who you are when you’re in Christ. You are a saint, a citizen of the kingdom of God. And you belong to God’s own household.
David [00:18:53]:
Hallelujah.
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Welcome to the family. Praise God. Hey, cuz, how you doing? Praise God. Praise God. Praise God. No matter where you live in the world today, you are a citizen of the United States. So here on earth, you are a citizen of heaven. Not only are you a citizen of heaven, you are a citizen of heavenly influence and standing.
David [00:19:27]:
You have a position, a position in him. You have joint seating with Christ in heavenly places at the right hand of the Father. And in addition, you belong to God’s own household. You are God’s, and He is yours. All the rights and privileges of royalty eternally have been given to you. Praise God. Praise God. Praise God.
David [00:20:01]:
Praise God. Praise God. Then Paul goes on to say in Ephesians 2, and this is verses 20 through 22 in the Amplified you, you were built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone in him. The whole structure is joined, bound, welded together harmoniously, and it continues to rise, grow and increase into a holy temple in the Lord, a sanctuary, dedicated, consecrated, and sacred to the presence of the Lord in him and in fellowship with one another. You yourselves also are being built up into this structure with the Rest to form a fixed abode, a dwelling place of God and by and through the Spirit.
David [00:21:02]:
Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
David [00:21:05]:
Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Thank you Lord. We, we, all of us who are in Christ, we are the church. The church is not some building or some place where we come together. We are the church. Jesus is our chief cornerstone and we are growing together into a dwelling place of God’s spirit. If we say we are going to church, we are coming together to worship, to fellowship and be one with the Lord.
David [00:21:45]:
And guess what? This can happen anywhere. I’ve seen it happen in a building that was designated as church. I’ve seen it happen in a coffee shop. I’ve seen it happen in my living room. Praise God. Wherever the body of Christ comes together, God is there with us. And we come together. And we can worship, we can fellowship, we can be one with the Lord.
David [00:22:11]:
I’ve seen it happen in my car. Several of us would be together and we’re driving and we’re testifying and we’re sharing. And man, the power of God just comes in that car. Praise God. Praise God. He is with us wherever we are. Ephesians 3:10 in the Amplified Classic says, the purpose is that through the church the complicated, many sided wisdom of God in all its infinite variety and innumerable aspects might now be made known to the angelic rulers and authority, authorities, principalities and powers in the heavenly sphere. So as we, the Church, come together in Christ, we are making known God’s wisdom and all of its infinite variety to the principalities and powers in the heavenly sphere.
David [00:23:15]:
And they are looking on in awe of what God is accomplishing in and through us, His Church. Praise God. Ephesians 3:11 the Amplified this is in accordance with the terms of the eternal and timeless purpose which he has realized and carried into effect in the person of Christ Jesus our Lord. M
David [00:23:52]:
Hallelujah.
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The eternal and timeless purpose. Guys, we’re already there. We’re having an eternal impact.
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Hallelujah.
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We’re working and walking with God, fulfilling our purpose. And our purpose is timeless in some way, some form, some fashion. It will continue throughout eternity because we are in Christ Jesus Our Lord. Verse 12. Ephesians 3:12Amplified in whom? In Him. In Christ. Because of our faith in him, we dare to have the boldness, the courage and confidence of free access and unreserved approach to God with freedom and without fear. So in Christ we have free and unlimited access, bold, courageous and confident access to our God anytime in Christ.
David [00:25:00]:
We are fellow citizens of God’s kingdom, members of his household. You are a member of the household of God in Christ. Our foundation is upon the chief cornerstone upon which we are being built up, a dwelling place of God’s spirit in Christ. We are a part of God’s eternal purpose, showing forth his wisdom as we boldly walk with Him. Praise God in Christ. He is working all of this in us and through us, with us and for us. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
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Hallelujah. So you can get up every day and walk with boldness, walk with courage, walk with confidence in who God created you to be in Jesus name.
David [00:26:03]:
Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
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Let’s praise God and rejoice. Hallelujah. Thank you, Father. Thank you for all that you’ve done in us and through us and with us and for us in Christ. We thank you for it. We thank you for it. And we thank you for being here with us today. Praise God.
David [00:26:25]:
Hallelujah. All right, go out rejoicing this way and go be bold, courageous and confident for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Praise God. Pastor Kanye is coming right now with an encouraging word. Have a blessed week.
