Sermon Tone Analysis

We will have scripture, but we are doing it a little differently, so I will pray for us and you can sit.

Elections 10/10 - list next week of places that you can serve.

My goal for everyone in the church is to be involved in a small group for discipleship and serving in some capacity.

Be praying about where God is calling you to serve.

To help with this, is this series.

Last week we discussed what God sees when He looks at us.

When He looks at us, He sees the blood of His only son, poured out on the cross, and made whole again through the resurrection and empty tomb!

Today we are going to dive even a little deeper into who God says that we are.

In 2 weeks we will look at the question: What has God called me to do!

Then, how has He equipped me to do His call....

Finally, we will answer: are we doing it?

This will be our commitment Sunday where we commit to doing what God has called us to do for the coming year.

So, for this week....

You had homework from last week!

How many of you completed it?

We will see....

Read Ephesians 1&2

Wow!

That is powerful!

The message might as well have been preached!

Unfortunately, it’s not done quite yet!

We are going to look at 5 particular words that come out in these two chapters....they will build linearly.

Wrist bands coming and should be here in the next couple of weeks.

They have the 5 words from this series: Chosen, Loved, Forgiven, Redeemed, Holy, 100% All In.

1. Chosen

Ephesians 1:4 (NIV)

4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.

Before the foundation of the world, you were chosen!

Before you even had the chance to mess anything up, God chose you!

Do you believe that today?

Do you believe that you were chosen?

If you are like me, you liked playing games at recess as a kid.

And, if you are like me, you were often the last person to join a team.

And, that means that you were not picked, that you are just the left-overs.

You see, before the world was even created, God put together His dream-team.

He knew that He was going to create people with a purpose - and, remember from last week, that His purpose is perfect!

So, He put together this dream-team, and He didn’t add any left-overs!

He chose every single one of us, from the beginning, with a perfect purpose in mind!

Tell me anywhere else in life where that is true?

Where else do you have a place where you have a purpose that is perfect, and that you are the first one chosen....

If you are like me, there are not very many...

When God says who you are, He says: “I have chosen you.”

So, before you start looking to other things in life to find out who you are, I want you to understand this:

The perfect God of the universe, who spoke the world into existence, and who rose Jesus from the dead...chose you!

So why?

Who do we try to find ourselves in anything other than the person who created us?

Why do we try to find ourselves in:

The things that we do - our jobs

Our boyfriend, girlfriend, spouse

Addiction

Sin

Self help books

Society

Magazines

Social Media

Or how other people see us?

When the God who chose us, wants us?

And more than wanting us, He loves us!

2. Loved

What is the world?

- Greek word kosmos - which means the created world, the universe, all created things.

Refers to all that exists.

Peach, Michael E. “Creation.”

Ed.

Douglas Mangum et al.

Lexham Theological Wordbook 2014 : n. pag.

Print.

Lexham Bible Reference Series.

“All created things” includes you and I.

Back to the verse.

God loves you so much, that He came, and died on a cross for you.

Jesus gave up all glory and authority in heaven for you....

Similarly to being chosen, He chose to love us before we could mess anything up!

The love that is expressed in the relationship with Jesus is unlike the love that we see anywhere else in the world!

His love always has been, is now, and will always be, perfect!

I do weddings every once in a while and there are typically a few things that always seem to happen.

Vows - "I, _____, take thee, _____, to be my wedded wife/husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part, according to God's holy ordinance; and thereto I pledge thee my faith."

This is a choice....we are choosing, or vowing, to do be with this person....

The difference in God is that His love is not a choice.

It’s not something that He chooses to do! Love is something that God is!

It is His very essence.

God doesn’t choose to love you.

He just loves you.

What’s the implication of that?

It’s that He can’t choose not to!

He is faithful and just!

He will never let you down!

He will always love you!

2. Reading of

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

When God loves, this is How He loves!

His love is perfect!

To understand who God says that you are, is to understand that you are loved!

And, not as the world loves, but with perfect, unfailing love!

I think that sometimes we lose focus on the fact that God loves us!

I know that this week I had a couple situations where I allowed the enemy to tempt me with fear.

Fear of lots of things:

uncertainty in the future

fear of bad health

fear of failure