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00:00There are more than 45,000 self-help books published each year, over 200,000
00:07podcasts in the personal development category. But what if I told you all pale
00:12in comparison to the spiritual development one small book can have on
00:16your life and faith? Just six chapters, 2,000 words and 20 minutes of your time.
00:22Yet its impact lasts a lifetime. It succinctly and powerfully explains what
00:29it means to believe and how to discover God's calling for you. How to find
00:34purpose, overcome obstacles, connect with others, claim a life you love, endure
00:40difficulty, experience the fullness of life, love without limits, and ultimately
00:46be the follower of Christ you've always wanted to be. Join me in God's Word as we
00:52find the proven way to build a belief that thrives, impacts, and endures. A
00:58belief that behaves. It all starts with the book of Ephesians.
01:06Coming up on Turning Point. I don't know how you were called, but we're all called.
01:11You say, well I'm not equipped to do anything for the Lord. Let me tell you
01:15what I've learned. God does not call the equipped. He equips the called. Amen?
01:23Discover a belief that restores, relates, rejoices, and behaves in Dr. David
01:31Jeremiah's new book, Belief That Behaves, the book of Ephesians. In this rich study
01:36of Paul's beloved epistle, Dr. Jeremiah explores what it means to be a follower
01:40of Christ in practical terms and how we should act or behave as believers.
01:44Through 19 chapters, you'll discover God's how-to guide to the Christian life,
01:49including resolving conflict with others, successful marriage and parenting,
01:53finding purpose, overcoming spiritual attacks, and praying effectively.
01:57Ephesians has the power to change your life at home, at church, and at work.
02:02Request Belief That Behaves by Dr. Jeremiah when you give a gift of any
02:06amount in support of Turning Point. Or if you give a gift of $75 or more,
02:11Dr. Jeremiah will send you in appreciation the Belief That Behaves set,
02:15which contains his new book, his complete two-volume teaching series on your choice
02:19of CD or DVD, and two correlating study guides. From the first verse to the last,
02:24the truths contained in Ephesians will fill your heart with joy and strengthen
02:28your relationships with others. Request the Belief That Behaves book
02:31or study set, new from Dr. Jeremiah, when you contact Turning Point today.
02:35Thank you for watching Turning Point. And now, here is Dr. Jeremiah with his
02:44message, The Secret to Spiritual Power.
02:47While Ephesians 1, 3 to 14 is one of the longest sections in the Bible,
02:54Ephesians 1, 15 to 23 is one of the longest prayers in the Bible,
02:59one of the most important prayers in Ephesians. There's two of them.
03:02Paul spelled out the occasion for that prayer in verses 15 and 16, and this is what we read.
03:10Therefore, I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints,
03:17do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers.
03:24Now, as always, you need to pay attention to the word,
03:27therefore. Paul is saying, for the things that I've told you in verse 1 through 15,
03:34for all those things that you've been given, because of all of that,
03:37because of what God's already done for you, therefore, here's some things you need to take
03:42note of. As we learned about the object of Paul's prayer, we learned that the God of our Lord Jesus
03:49Christ, the Father of glory, was to give to us the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge
03:55of him. And because the Ephesians had received this myriad of relationships and blessings through
04:01Christ, Paul wanted to make sure that they maintained their connection. Without the
04:07connection, the gifts are worthless. Paul talks about the priority of knowing Christ in verse 17.
04:17The first way Paul sought to empower followers of Jesus through his prayer was by reminding them
04:23about the blessing of knowing Jesus, not knowing about Jesus, but knowing Jesus. I'm sure you
04:30understand that knowledge has its limits. This is especially true when it comes to knowing other
04:37people in the context of relationships. Here's a quick example of what I mean. There are sports
04:43fans all over the country who can tell you everything about their favorite athlete. They
04:49know how many touchdowns a person has scored, how fast he or she can run, how much they are being
04:54paid on their current contract. And now, because of social media, they can research the types of
05:00clothes they wear. They find out what they want to eat. They want to eat what they eat. But the
05:05vast majority of these fans have absolutely no connection to the athletes. They've never met them.
05:13They've never been in their personal presence. They collect statistics, but they have no personal
05:19knowledge, no intimacy, no relationship. And why is that important? It's important because
05:24God is a person. Our God is not a conglomeration of doctrines and dogmas for us to memorize.
05:33No, God is a person. We have the opportunity to know him, and he has revealed himself to us
05:38through his own Son, Jesus Christ. Look again at what Paul wrote in verse 17. In his prayer for
05:45the Ephesians, he specifically desired that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,
05:53may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. The spirit
05:59of revelation, Paul mentions, works in two ways. This is really a miraculous thing. Let me remind
06:06you. First of all, God reveals himself to us through his book, the Bible. This is not just
06:13any other book. This is a miraculous book. This book will transform your life. This is God's Word
06:21written down on pages of paper that you can read. How do we get this book? Well, God, through his
06:29Spirit, revealed it to us. It's true that God used personalities like Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,
06:36and that their personalities show up in the book. But ultimately, it was the Holy Spirit working
06:43through these human authors that created a Bible that is so accurate, it is just exactly the way
06:50you and I might use a pen to create a list. God wrote the Word of God so that we would know who
06:59he is and we would know his heart, and he used humanity to do it. He used the personalities of
07:06all the writers so that we would hear his voice through their voice. But that's not the end of
07:13the special revelation. That's only half of it. Get this. He's also placed his Spirit in your heart
07:20and in mine because we're Christians. And what that means is that anytime you and I encounter
07:25God's Word, there's a two-way communication going on. Almighty God has revealed his truth of himself
07:32through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and then he placed the Holy Spirit inside us
07:36so that whenever we read the Word, we can understand it. There is no way to explain
07:43the miraculous nature of that except that we know it's true as Christians.
07:47That's why we joke about how when a person becomes a Christian, the Bible becomes understandable.
07:53Before you were a Christian, you don't have the Holy Spirit. You don't have the way to understand
07:58the Bible, but when you receive Christ, his Spirit comes and lives within you. Now you are able to
08:03comprehend the God-inspired Word, and it begins to make sense to you. I fear that many modern
08:10believers don't appreciate that gift. In today's world, we often approach the Bible primarily
08:19as a devotional experience. I say primarily. We sip at God's Word in the same way that we sip
08:27our coffee, seeking a quick taste of encouragement or truth or inspiration. And there's nothing
08:33harmful about seeking a quick burst of wisdom or encouragement from the Word of God,
08:38but you do not get to know God that way. The Bible can be used as a devotional tool, and that
08:45practice can be helpful in our lives, but look at the word I used early, primarily. We harm
08:52ourselves and our spiritual lives when we approach the Bible primarily as a devotional tool or a
08:59devotional experience, a quick fix, if you will. God wants far more for our experiences from his
09:07Word. He wants us to find more than a sip of inspiration. We briefly skim through the Scriptures
09:14and we move on the rest of our lives. Specifically, God wants us to approach the Bible in a way
09:21that enables us to know Christ. Ephesians is a book about the blessing of God, how God wants to
09:27bless you and use you in a major way, but you cannot get that just by studying a verse. You
09:34need to get the Word of God in your heart. Paul had that as his major purpose. In Philippians,
09:40he said that, I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his
09:45sufferings being conformed to his death. That was Paul's life goal, that he would know Jesus Christ
09:52in that way, and I very much want the same thing for all of us. I've spent a lot of years trying
09:59to study the Bible and how to learn how to study the Bible, but as I get older and I learn more and
10:06more about life, what I covet more than anything else is a deep personal relationship with my
10:12Savior that only comes when the Spirit of God enlightens my heart and opens the Word of God
10:17to me, the priority of knowing Christ. Now, let's talk about the possibility of it.
10:24In verses 17 and 18, Paul writes that,
10:36being enlightened. Now, the word understanding literally can be translated heart. Now, watch
10:45carefully. Paul prayed about the eyes of your heart, and some of you are thinking about a
10:51picture of the human heart with eyes, and it's pretty gross, but Paul's not talking about your
10:58human heart. He's referring to the heart as the center of our intellect and emotions.
11:03Now, is it possible for you and me to know Jesus in spite of our sin? Paul explains it in that
11:09final word in verse 18. He says we become enlightened. Have you been enlightened? I don't
11:16mean it the way most people mean it. I've noticed it's become more common in recent years for
11:22companies to install motion-sensing lights in their buildings. Have you noticed that? You walk
11:28into the room, and the lights automatically come on. You leave, and a few minutes later, they go
11:32off. I've seen them in offices and churches, even in a few homes, and these aren't security features.
11:38No, no. These are lights that stay off when people are not using those spaces.
11:45That saves energy, and that's a good thing to do, especially now. But as soon as a person
11:51walks in the room, the presence of that person is detected, and the lights come on. Kind of weird
11:58the first time it happens. Well, in our natural sinful state, we as human beings live in spiritual
12:05darkness. We cannot even perceive of spiritual things, let alone connect with God. The Bible
12:12says the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to
12:17him. We know that to be true. We're living in the dark, but when the Holy Spirit enters our hearts,
12:26it's like walking in one of those modern conference rooms, and the lights come on. Because of his
12:32appearance, our hearts are enlightened, and we can know Christ. We can understand and apply his Word.
12:37We can grow and develop spiritually. These are the blessings of unspeakable value,
12:43eyes of your heart being enlightened. So, the priority of knowing Christ and the possibility
12:49of it, what about the purpose of it? Why? Why are we to know Christ? What is the purpose of
12:57continuing to develop our relationship with him after we've been saved? Here's what Paul
13:02communicated about the purpose of knowing Christ, beginning in verse 18 of Ephesians 1,
13:08that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance
13:14in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to
13:20the working of his mighty power, which he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and
13:25seated him at the right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and
13:30might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age but in the age to come.
13:36And he put all things under his feet and gave him to be head over all things to the church,
13:40which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. Now, that's a long sentence and very
13:46wordy, but as believers, we know Jesus has saved us. We know he's forgiven us and redeemed us,
13:53but the verses that we have just read offer us three specific reasons for continuing to want
13:59to know Jesus Christ. Fair warning, these reasons are going to surprise you, because they are not
14:06the typical teachings we hear about Jesus Christ. First, he wants us to know the promise he has made
14:13to us. Ephesians 1 18 says that you may know what is the hope of his calling. Did you know that God
14:21has a plan for your life as he does for mine? And the hope of his calling, as Paul phrased it,
14:27stretches out into the future in a way that is special and amazing. The Bible says God's calling
14:34upon you, the hope of your calling, which may refer to your salvation or perhaps his desire to use you
14:42after salvation, the hope of all of that is what's going to happen. And John said it in 1 John 3,
14:48Beloved, now are we the children of God, and it has not yet been revealed to us what we shall be,
14:54but we know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
15:01The Bible says that this thing that started in our heart when we accepted Jesus Christ
15:06has a place in eternity, and that place is a time when you and I will be like Jesus Christ.
15:12We will see him as he is, and we will be like him. That's the hope of our calling. But what about
15:19your calling between now and then? We've talked a lot about that in recent days, that we're saved
15:24and we're going to heaven, but what do we do in between? How does the hope of our calling affect
15:30who we are here? Did you know that you have a calling from God? Oh, Pastor, I don't have any
15:35calling. I'm just a poor old Christian who got saved years ago, and I come to church all right,
15:41but I don't have no calling. Well, yes, you do. You have a calling. Everybody that God saves,
15:48he gives them something to do. Sometimes it's called a gift of the Spirit. Sometimes it's called
15:53a calling, but we're all called. You say, well, I'm not equipped to do anything for the Lord. Let
15:58me tell you what I've learned. God does not call the equipped. He equips the called. There you go.
16:05Amen. If he's called you, he will show you what to do, and he's got a plan for you. You're not
16:12incidental to the kingdom, and the reason that you're not doing that is because you've never
16:17really sought to find out, how does God want to use me to advance his kingdom on this earth?
16:25To know the promise he's made to you, and then notice, God wants you to know the pleasure he
16:31takes in you. Verse 18, the second reason for continuing to invest yourself in knowing Christ
16:39after salvation is so that you can continue to experience the pleasure God takes in you.
16:44In verse 18, we read, what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints?
16:51We have an inheritance in heaven. We're not really all sure what that is, except we know it's
16:56better than anything we could ever imagine. One day, we're going to get to heaven.
16:59We're part of the kingdom. We're in the family. We're in the royal family,
17:04and we have an inheritance coming, but here's another take on that from Paul. Paul says that
17:09you and I are God's inheritance. We are the inheritance of God. God looks at us. We are his
17:17inheritance. He takes great pleasure in us. I know there are many in today's world who struggle
17:24with self-esteem. They wonder if they are good enough, if God loves them. In Christ, the answer
17:30is yes. You are chosen and accepted, and now Paul prays that you would know the pleasure God takes
17:37in you. God takes pleasure in you. God smiles when he thinks of you, when you are in his mind.
17:45We as followers of Jesus are the special treasure of God. He loves us so much that he gave his own
17:52son to die for us. He purchased each one of us out of the market of sin, and he redeemed us with
17:57his precious blood. Psalm 149, verse 4, for the Lord takes pleasure in his people. Can we read
18:05that out loud together? For the Lord takes pleasure in his people. Remember that the next
18:12time you're feeling a little bummed. God takes pleasure in you and knowing you. His love didn't
18:17end when you accepted him. It is growing. You became a part of his family at that moment. You
18:22please him even now, even now at this moment. He loves you, and he takes pleasure in you.
18:30And then to know the power he can release in you. The last part of this is really interesting
18:34because Paul tells us that the experience that Christ had in his death, burial, resurrection,
18:40ascension, and exaltation is transferable to us. He says in Ephesians 119,
18:46and what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe? What is it? According to
18:52the working of his mighty power which he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead,
18:58did you know that the same power that raised up Jesus from the grave is the power you have
19:03because of your relationship with him? We have resurrection power as Christians. We may not use
19:09it very much, but we have it. It's available to us if we stay connected. God says that the power
19:15that took Jesus out of the grave, he rose up of his own power. God brought him back. That same power
19:23is yours and mine. We have resurrection power, and then we have ascension power. The Bible says
19:29God didn't just raise him up to ground level. He raised him up to ground level, and then he took
19:33him all the way to heaven. I don't know what kind of power it takes to motivate somebody from earth
19:37to heaven, but we have that power too. We have resurrection power. We have ascension power,
19:43and then he says he exalted him above all, and we have exaltation power.
19:50Jesus Christ is the source of power in your life as a Christian, and that power is to be
19:56exhibited in your life. He wants you to begin to live your life with the power he has made
20:05available. You say, Pastor Jeremiah, once again, how do we get that power? You stay connected by
20:10knowing Christ. You get into his Word seriously, and you seek God with all your heart. Listen,
20:18there's nobody above Jesus. He's over every name, every principality, every power, every authority.
20:25There's no one to whom he answers. He is the ultimate power in the universe, and we're in
20:29Christ, and his power is available to us. I don't pretend to understand that completely. I just
20:35believe it, and I know it's true. And Paul wanted his readers to see that all these things that God
20:41gave them when they became Christians, they're not just little words on a piece of paper.
20:45Those are wonderful gifts waiting to be accepted, unwrapped, and utilized in your life.
20:53So, you say to me, Pastor Jeremiah, what does all this mean to us today? Let me just
20:56leave you with two thoughts. Number one, that means there's no sinner who is beyond his rescue.
21:03He's the all-powerful God. I've heard people say that they're convinced they could never be saved
21:10because they've done this, that, and the other. I've had people say that to me. Pastor, don't
21:13waste your time on me. I'm beyond hope. I'm so far away from God. There's no way I could ever
21:19become a Christian. The problem with that is I've seen people who are beyond hope become Christians
21:25and mighty for God. Let me ask you this question. If Jesus Christ has been exalted to the right hand
21:31of the Father, and there's no power that is greater than his, and he is our resource, do you
21:36think he can take you out of the mess you're in? Yes, he can. There's no one here who has sinned
21:42away the grace of God in your life. God wants you to be his child. You can come to him and receive
21:47that if you will. You may be here today and you think, I'm not even sure I'm a candidate for
21:53salvation. If you wonder if you're savable, let me just say to you, Almighty God says Jesus Christ
22:00is able to save you. There's a verse in Hebrews that says he is able, he is able to save to the
22:07uttermost those who come from God. I remember an old preacher came to my daddy's church one time
22:11and he preached the verse and he said, he can take you from the gutter most to the uttermost.
22:17He was absolutely right. And then the second thing I want to tell you is there's no saint
22:21who is beyond his recovery. That's really important to me. Sometimes after being redeemed
22:27and forgiven, the life of a Christian can get messed up. Maybe that sounds strange to you.
22:34It's just true. And I've seen it. And you say, well, maybe they weren't real Christians. No,
22:39I know they were real Christians, real Christians whose lives get messed up.
22:45And they think because of that, that there's nothing available to them. They can't come back
22:49to God. I've already burned it up. I burned up my opportunity, pastor. I can't come back to God.
22:54But God wants you to come back. He stands ready to receive you. And he's already done the biggest
23:00thing by forgiving your sin, not just your past sin and your present sin. Let me ask you this
23:05question. How much of your sin was future when Christ died on the cross? All of it. He didn't
23:10die for your past sin because when he died, you didn't have any past sin. All of your sin was
23:15after the cross. And the Bible says he died for all of it. Everything you've done up until now,
23:20everything you're doing now, everything you will do that's sinful, Christ has paid the penalty for
23:25it. And if you will repent and ask his forgiveness, you can be restored to fellowship with him.
23:31In his book, The Divine Conspiracy, the late philosopher Dallas Willard told this story,
23:37kind of summarizes what I've been talking about. He said, as a child, I lived in an area in southern
23:43Missouri where electricity was available only in the form of lightning. Now, that's really
23:50impoverished. We had more of lightning than we could use. But in my senior year of high school,
23:56the REA, Rural Electrification Administration, extended its lines into the area where we lived,
24:03and electrical power became available to households and farms.
24:09When those lines came by our farm, a very different way of living presented itself, he said.
24:14Our relationships to fundamental aspects of life, daylight and dark, hot and cold, clean and dirty,
24:22work and leisure, preparing food and preserving food, they were vastly changed for the better.
24:33But we still had to believe in the electricity and its arrangements. We had to understand them.
24:38We had to plug in, take the practical steps involved to make it work. We had to turn away
24:45from kerosene lamps and lanterns and iceboxes and cellars and toward all that electricity could
24:53provide for us. Power that could make our lives far better was right there in front of us. And
24:59then he said, strangely, some of our neighbors did not accept it. They just did not want to change,
25:07and they continued to live with kerosene lamps and all of the things that you had to live with
25:13before electricity came. In the same way, God's power is available to us all. The big question is,
25:21will you pour your life into believing it and understanding it and taking the steps
25:27you need to take to make it work in your life? Will you plug in to the power of God?
25:33Thank you for watching Turning Point. When you give a gift of any amount in support of this
25:38program, Dr. Jeremiah will send you in appreciation his new book, Belief That Behaves, The Book of
25:44Ephesians. And if you give a gift of $75 or more, Dr. Jeremiah will send you The Belief That Behaves
25:51set, which contains his new book, his complete book, and a free copy of the book of Ephesians.
25:57Dr. Jeremiah will send you The Belief That Behaves set, which contains his new book,
26:02his complete two-volume teaching series on CD or DVD, and two correlating study guides.
26:08Thank you for your support. Request these resources when you contact Turning Point today.
26:16Thank you for joining us on Turning Point as Dr. Jeremiah taught from the book of Ephesians
26:21and shared the many blessings that believers have through Christ.
26:25But if you have never put your faith in Jesus Christ before, Dr. Jeremiah would like to help
26:29you take your first steps by sending you two resources. The first is a booklet called Your
26:35Greatest Turning Point, which will help you begin your relationship with Christ. And the second is
26:40our monthly devotional magazine, Turning Points, to give you encouragement and inspiration throughout
26:45the year. These resources are yours completely free when you contact Turning Point today.
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27:21Next time on Turning Point. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved
27:28a wretch like me. Paul helps us understand what that wretch thing means. He tells us that's what
27:34we were before we came to Christ, but it was the amazing grace of God that came into our lives and
27:41lifted us up out of that mire of sin and set us on a solid rock.
27:47Thank you for being with us today. Join Dr. Jeremiah next time for his message,
27:52salvation, pure and simple. Here on Turning Point.
28:01Dr. David Jeremiah is delivering the unchanging Word of God every month to more than half a
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