Also let none of you devise evil in your heart against another, and do not love perjury; for all these are what I hate,' declares the LORD." Ephraim will be like a mighty man, And their heart will be glad as if from wine; Indeed, their children will see it and be glad, Their heart will rejoice in the LORD.

God works in us. Jesus said we can do nothing apart from Him (John 15:5). He’s the one who equips and enables us to live in the way He desires. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear (Ephesians 4:29) He will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and of fifties, and some to do his plowing and to reap his harvest and to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. We live in a world where most of the important things of our lives are not visible. They can't be touched or seen or tasted or weighed or otherwise measured. They are not subject to the scrutiny of science, nor are they available to the philosophies of men, but they are there. We must recognize that fact. And it is in this realm that these great spiritual blessings are to be found. It is here that our life can be changed and we can become different people, by God's grace. All this will be developed in fuller detail as we go on into the letter.

Partnership restored

For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Him greater works than these, so that you will marvel. He will also take your male servants and your female servants and your best young men and your donkeys and use them for his work. We need to recognize that David was a devoted and persevering follower of the Lord even though he did fall into very serious sin. When Nathan confronted him with his sins, he repented and grieved deeply for them. He expressed his repentance in beautiful psalms of penitence such as Psalms 32 and 51. His life as a whole was characterized by his faithful keeping of God’s covenant in obedience and repentance. I’ve always cherished this moment, because it reminds me that at the heart of the biblical call to vocation is not just something to work on, but someone to work with . For thus says the LORD of hosts, `Just as I purposed to do harm to you when your fathers provoked Me to wrath,' says the LORD of hosts, `and I have not relented,

America's greatness is going to fade, as is Russia's, and as is that of all the nations of the earth. But one day, when that day comes, the things which will be true are these great facts. Therefore, if we want to endure, if we want to lift our eyes above the plodding, puny circumstances of our own present experience to the greatness of what God is doing, we must give our attention to these great thoughts -- planned before the foundation of the world, begun even before there was an earth, designed to reveal the greatness of God's grace, his compassion, his tenderhearted love, his forgiving ability, his power restore, available through the one Person who in all the scope of history is able to accomplish what no other man could do, Jesus Christ himself, and resulting at last in the healing of all division and the breaking down of every barrier. That is what Ephesians is all about. It is a story of how God is breaking down division. When they came to the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant who was with him, ``Come, and let us return, or else my father will cease to be concerned about the donkeys and will become anxious for us." Do you remember the story in the Old Testament about Elisha and his servant? They were in a small city one day when they were surrounded by the armies of Syria. The servant looked out upon this vast enemy army and he saw the cavalry and the armed chariots. Fearfully he turned to Elisha and said, "Everything's hopeless! Look! We're surrounded, what shall we do?" Elisha said, "Fear not, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them." And he prayed, "Lord, open his eyes," (2 Kings 6:15-17). And the Lord opened the young man's eyes and he saw ringing the horizon all the fiery chariots of God, manned by hundreds and thousands of angels, and he realized the true situation.Last month I was building a new shelf and asked my 5-year old son, Asher, to pull the trigger on the drill for each screw. You should’ve seen his face. I think it was the best part of his year (though it took me four-times longer than if I would’ve done it alone!). But I didn’t invite him to work with me because I needed the help. I invited him to help because I love him. For the teraphim speak iniquity, And the diviners see lying visions And tell false dreams; They comfort in vain. Therefore the people wander like sheep, They are afflicted, because there is no shepherd. In the verses that follow, those blessings are listed for you. We are going to look at them in more detail in subsequent messages, but for now let me just gather them up for you. Notice that: Also characteristic of Paul is to gather everything up in one great prefatory statement, and then break it down into its detail. So I'm going to conclude this introductory message by examining the great statement which Paul makes at the beginning of this letter and which gathers up the great themes of Ephesians to which he will return again and again. And then we'll look briefly at these themes. In Verse3 we have a tremendous summary of the teachings of this letter: So what about you? In whose life do you want to see God at work? What specific outcomes do you want to happen? In which particular project are you asking God to be at work? Where are you looking expectantly to see what want he is doing?