0:00
You probably met or known someone who thought much higher of him or herself than they should.
0:13
This is the Lifespring Family Audio Bible coming to you from Riverside, California.
0:18
And podcasting since 2004, I am your OG Godcaster, Steve Webb.
0:23
This is the Daily Podcast where we're reading through the entire Bible in a year.
0:28
I'm so glad to see you today.
0:30
Our reading today is Ephesians 1-3, and after reading, of course, I'll have some comments.
0:35
The title of today's episode is United.
0:38
The show notes page is LifespringMedia.com slash s12e165.
0:44
There's a place there where you can comment on the show.
0:53
From Paul, chosen by God to be an apostle of Jesus, to God's people who live in Ephesus
0:58
and our faithful followers of Christ Jesus.
1:01
I pray that God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ will be kind to you and will bless you with peace.
1:08
Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for the spiritual blessings that Christ has brought us from heaven.
1:14
Before the world was created, God had Christ choose us to live with Him and to be His holy and innocent and loving people.
1:22
God was kind and decided that Christ would choose us to be God's own adopted children.
1:27
God treated us with undeserved grace because of the Son He dearly loves and so we should praise God.
1:34
Christ sacrificed His life's blood to set us free, which means our sins are now forgiven.
1:40
Christ did this because of God's gift of undeserved grace to us.
1:45
God has great wisdom and understanding, and by what Christ has done, God has shown us His own mysterious ways.
1:52
Then when the time is right, God will do all He is planned, and Christ will bring together everything in heaven and on earth.
2:00
God always does what He plans, and this is why He appointed Christ to choose us.
2:05
He did this so we Jews would bring honor to Him and be the first ones to have hope because of Him.
2:11
Christ also brought to you the truth, which is the good news about how you can be saved.
2:17
You put your faith in Christ and were given the promised Holy Spirit to show you belong to God.
2:23
The Spirit also makes us sure we will be given what God has stored up for His people.
2:28
Then we will be set free and God will be honored and praised.
2:33
I've heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God's people,
2:37
so I never stop being grateful for you as I mention you in my prayers.
2:41
I ask the glorious Father and God of our Lord Jesus Christ to give you His Spirit.
2:47
The Spirit will make you wise and let you understand what it means to know God.
2:52
My prayer is that light will flood your hearts, and you will understand the hope given to you when God chose you.
2:58
Then you will discover the glorious blessings that will be yours together with all God's people.
3:04
I want you to know about the great and mighty power that God has for His followers.
3:09
It is the same wonderful power He used when He raised Christ from death
3:13
and let Him sit at His right hand in heaven.
3:16
There Christ rules over all forces, authorities, powers, and rulers.
3:20
He rules over all beings in this world and will rule in the future world as well.
3:26
God has put all things under the power of Christ, and for the good of the church He has made him the head of everything.
3:33
The church is the body of Christ and is filled with Christ who completely fills everything.
3:42
In the past, you were dead because you sinned and fought against God.
3:46
You followed the ways of this world and obeyed the devil.
3:49
He rules the world and His Spirit has power over everyone who doesn't obey God.
3:55
Once we were also ruled by the selfish desires of our bodies and minds,
4:00
we made God angry and we were going to be punished like everyone else.
4:05
But God was merciful, we were dead because of our sins, but God loved us so much He made us
4:11
alive with Christ, and God's gift of undeserved grace is what saves you.
4:17
God raised us from death to life with Christ Jesus, and He has given us a place beside Christ in heaven.
4:24
God did this so in the future world He could show how truly good and kind He is to us because of what Christ Jesus has done.
4:32
You were saved by faith in God who treats us much better than we deserve.
4:37
This is God's gift to you and not anything you have done on your own.
4:41
It isn't something you have earned, so there's nothing you can brag about.
4:45
God planned for us to do good things and to live as He has always wanted us to live.
4:50
This is why He sent Christ to make us what we are.
4:54
Don't forget that you were Gentiles.
4:56
In fact, you used to be called uncircumcised by those who take pride in being circumcised.
5:03
At that time you did not know about Christ.
5:06
You were foreigners to the people of Israel, and you had no part in the promises God had made to them.
5:11
You were living in this world without hope and without God, and you were far from God,
5:17
but Christ offered His life's blood as a sacrifice and brought you near God.
5:22
Christ has made peace between Jews and Gentiles, and He has united us by breaking down the
5:27
wall of hatred that separated us. Christ gave His own body to destroy the love Moses
5:33
with all its rules and commands. He even brought Jews and Gentiles together as though we were only
5:38
one person when He united us in peace. On the cross Christ did away with our hatred for each other.
5:45
He also made peace between us and God by uniting Jews and Gentiles in one body.
5:51
Christ came and preached peace to you Gentiles who were far from God,
5:55
and peace to us Jews who were near God, and because of Christ, all of us can come to the Father by
6:01
the same spirit. You Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens with
6:07
everyone else who belongs to the family of God. You are like a building with the apostles and
6:12
prophets as the foundation, and with Christ as the most important stone. Christ is the one who holds
6:19
the building together and makes it grow into a holy temple for the Lord, and you are a part of
6:24
that building Christ is built as a place for God's own spirit to live. Ephesians chapter 3
6:32
For this reason, I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles, if indeed you have heard of
6:38
the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, how that by revelation He made
6:44
known to me the mystery, as I have briefly written already, by which when you read you may understand
6:49
my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men,
6:55
as it has now been revealed by this spirit to his holy apostles and prophets,
6:59
that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ
7:06
through the gospel, of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to
7:11
me by the effective working of his power. To me, who am less than the least of all these saints,
7:17
this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,
7:23
and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages
7:29
has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ, to the intent that now the
7:35
manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church, to the principalities and powers in the
7:40
heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord,
7:46
in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in him.
7:51
Therefore, I ask that you do not lose heart at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.
7:58
For this reason, I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family
8:03
and heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory,
8:09
to be strengthened with might through his spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your
8:14
hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend
8:20
with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height, to know the love of Christ
8:25
which passes knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
8:30
Now to him who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all we ask or think,
8:35
according to the power that works in us, to him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all
8:41
generations forever and ever. Amen.
8:46
Well, I don't know how you were brought up, how your parents and extended family and others
8:51
around you treated you, but I've been around long enough to know that when a child is taught
8:56
from his earliest years that he's really something special, well, that child begins to believe that
9:02
he really is above everybody else. He believes that he is better, that he's entitled.
9:08
You know, over the years I've met and gotten to know a few people who were famous,
9:12
who had adoring fans all around the world, and some of these people began to believe that they
9:18
were as special as their fans thought they were. And by the way, for those of you that have listened
9:23
to my podcasts for many years, don't even try to guess who I might be talking about.
9:28
The artist I've had on my shows are friends of mine, and each one of them are wonderful human
9:33
beings. You've probably met or known someone who thought much higher of him or herself than they
9:38
should. Well, in chapter 2 of Ephesians today, Paul was talking to the Gentiles. Now, Paul himself
9:44
was raised as a Jew, and it was common then for Jews to believe that they were better than non-Jews
9:50
because they were God's chosen people. And it's easy to imagine how that might cause one to think
9:57
pretty highly of oneself, right? Their attitude is God gave us the promise. God speaks to our
10:04
prophets, and on and on. But Paul explained in verses 11-22 of chapter 2 that anyone who believes
10:11
in Jesus can be reconciled to God and become fellow citizens with the saints and members of
10:18
the household of God. This idea was a hard pill for some of the Jews to accept, and it was a glorious
10:25
revelation for many Gentiles of which I'm one. There is no longer Jew in Gentile, no longer the
10:33
privilege to end outcast, no longer black and white. In Christ, we are all one. And in this day of
10:40
such great division, isn't that a good thing to know? I'd sure like to know what you think about
10:45
that. Go to LifeSpringMedia.com, slash S12, E165, and leave a comment. Tomorrow we'll begin the
10:52
book of Leviticus. We'll read chapters one through three.
11:23
So that was from the latest podcasting 2.0 podcast. I'm just showing you that I'm practicing what
11:30
I'm asking you to do. That was, of course, Adam Curry and Dave Jones, and what they're doing with
11:36
a podcasting 2.0 project is really, really important, and it's important to support them. So I
11:42
send them some treasure from time to time. Plus, Dave Jones has been helping me with my Raspberry
11:47
Pi this week, so I feel like the right thing to do is to send some value his way. So what about
11:53
you? Are you finding value from the LifeSpring Family Audio Bible? You know what to do. Go to
11:58
support.lifeSpringMedia.com for details.
12:12
On this date in church history, February 13th, 1919, Ernest Jennings or Tennessee Ernie Ford
12:20
was born. He was a Christian country entertainer, and he hosted his own television show from 1955
12:27
to 1965, and he's remembered for his many sacred musical recordings. Here's a little of one of his
12:33
gospel songs. Nobody knows the trouble I've seen. Nobody knows but Jesus. Nobody knows the trouble
12:49
I've seen. Glory, Hallelujah. I happen to have some of his gospel albums in my vinyl collection.
12:58
They used to belong to my grandma. But the song he's best known for is 16 tons released in 1955.
13:05
Some people say a man is made out of mud. A poem man's made out of muscle and blood. Muscle and blood
13:15
and skin and bones. A man that's a weak and a back that's strong you load 16 tons. What are you
13:23
getting? Another day older and deeper and dead. St. Peter don't you call me cause I can go. I owe my
13:31
soul to the company store. This has been a favorite of mine for as long as I can remember.
13:38
The song spent 10 weeks at number one on the country chart and 7 weeks at number one on the
13:43
pop chart so it was a crossover hit. The record sold over 20 million copies and it earned Ernie
13:49
a gold album. 16 tons became his signature song and when I was just a little guy I used to watch
13:55
his TV show with my grandma. Yep, good memories. Tennessee Ernie Ford.
14:12
Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father we worship you and we praise you for who you are.
14:17
There is none above you. You are the creator of all that is and you are worthy of our worship.
14:23
We thank you for being our provider, our protector, our healer, our counselor and our Savior.
14:29
You are all we need and more. In Lord I thank you for the life spring family. Bless each and
14:35
everyone who's listening right now and draw each of us closer to you than we've ever been.
14:40
Where there are needs I ask that you provide. I pray this in Jesus name. Amen.
14:46
Beloved, send in your prayer request and praises at prayer.lifespringmedia.com
14:53
You can comment on the show at lifespringmedia.com slash s12 e165 or you can email me at
15:05
steve at lifespringmedia.com. Support the show at lifespringmedia.com slash support and
15:11
until tomorrow may God bless you richly. Thank you for being here. Thank you for sharing your
15:16
time with me. My name is Steve Webb. Bye.