The beach, we're actually in the hills behind my house
where I often go mountain biking and road biking.
Glad you could be with us today.
We'll be in Ephesians chapter one, verses seven through 14.
And I'm really glad that you can join us today.
Now Paul's letter, we pick it up in verse seven.
He says, since we're now joined to Christ,
we've been given the treasures of redemption by His blood,
the total cancellation of our sins,
all because of the cascading riches of His grace.
You know, God literally washes away
every bad thing we've ever done in our life,
every sin we've ever committed against God
and against others.
God washes it all away.
I don't know about you, but I'm very, very thankful.
There's things I've thought, things I've said,
things I've done.
And God literally says,
as far as the East is from the West so far,
have I removed your transgressions, Ryan.
I'm glad that God's done that.
Has God done that for you?
It's as simple as saying, hey, God, will you forgive me?
Please come into my life, take away my sins.
Help me to quit doing things that keep me far from you.
Help me start doing things that keep me close to you
and help me follow you and fill me with the Holy Spirit.
In Jesus' name, if you do that, God says,
you've turned away from living life your way
and you've started to turn towards living life my way
and I'm now for you.
And that's exciting.
And in verse eight, it says that this super abundant grace
is already powerfully working in us,
releasing all forms of wisdom and practical understanding.
God gives us not our thoughts,
but when we get into His word and we pray,
we're led by the Holy Spirit,
He starts to give us His thoughts.
That's wisdom.
Wisdom is the practical application of knowledge
in God's way and God's timing.
That's wisdom.
We need to pray every day.
God, give me wisdom for each situation
that I find myself in.
And practical understanding, not theory, not philosophy,
but literally advice to make it day by day
as you serve the Lord.
God will show you how to do it.
He says, and though the revelation of the anointed one,
He unveiled His secret desires to us,
the hidden mysteries of His long-range plan,
which He was delighted to implement
from the very beginning of time.
Did you know that God has a today plan for you
and a long-range plan for you?
You see, God is strategic.
He is working in your life today
to accomplish His purpose in your life 20 years from now.
Only God can do that.
And so we trust Him each and every day
that He will show us the way.
He says, and though the revelation of the anointed one,
He says, and because of God's unfailing purpose,
this detailed plan will reign supreme
through every period of time
until the fulfillment of all the ages
finally reaches its climax,
when God makes all things new
in all of heaven and on earth through Jesus Christ.
So the Bible teaches not a flat point of history,
but a linear view where we started in the book of Genesis
and we're moving towards the climactic moment
where God will redeem us and the world,
and He'll make a new heavens and He'll make a new earth.
And so in this life, in this body, we do waste away,
despite our best attempts at nutrition,
our best attempts at living forever,
our best attempts at organic eating and living and farming,
the maximum capacity really for human beings,
about 120 years.
And so God has a plan.
It's culminating to a moment in our life,
and we're to keep that in mind.
And that should put the fear of God in us,
where we literally say,
God, every breath that I have of every day
is a gift from you, and I'm gonna appreciate it,
and I'm gonna maximize it to the best of my ability.
He says, through our union with Christ,
we too have been claimed by God as His own inheritance.
Before we were even born, He gave us our destiny.
You see, God had a destiny in mind when He created you.
There are accidental parents,
but there aren't accidental people.
And God has a very specific plan and outcome
that He wants to accomplish in your life.
If He told you all of it right now,
it would probably scare you off,
because God usually does many, many things in our life
that we don't expect.
That's the adventure of serving Him.
We just have to get comfortable with trusting
more and more and more in our life.
He says, before we were even born,
He gave us a destiny that we would fulfill the plan of God
who always accomplishes every purpose and plan in His heart.
God's purpose was that the Jews
who were the first to long for the Messiah
would be the first to believe in Him
and bring praise and glory to Him.
And because of Him, when you who were not Jews
heard the revelation of truth,
you believed in the wonderful news of salvation.
Now we've been stamped with the seal
of the promised Holy Spirit.
God says, if you have the Holy Spirit, you're my kids.
If you have the Holy Spirit, you're in my kingdom.
If you have the Holy Spirit,
I'm working in you and through you in your life,
and I'm gonna help you even today to live for me.
He says, now in verse 14,
He has given to us like an engagement ring
as the first installment of what's coming.
He is our hope, promise of a future inheritance
which seals us until we all have redemption promises
and experience complete freedom,
all for the supreme glory and honor of God.
Now God gives us the Holy Spirit in our life
so that we can have total freedom in our life.
Great freedom comes with great responsibility.
The wise person uses the freedom that they have in Christ
to be disciplined, to have more freedom,
to see more people come to Christ.
That is what God wants us to do in our life
each and every day.
I believe the Bible is God's word to us.
I believe the Bible is like a lion waiting to roar
to change our thinking, to change our heart,
to change what we hear, to change what we see,
to change how we feel each and every day.
We just have to invite God to speak to us
and then ask the Holy Spirit to give us the courage
to act based on what we've heard.
That's what I try to do every day.
That's why I do Bible on the Beach.
Last two times it's been Bible in the Hills at the beach
here in San Clemente where I live.
I wanna thank you so much for tuning in.
I believe this is the 167th episode of Bible on the Beach
as we're on a journey to teach the whole Bible
one part at a time so that God can speak to us
exactly what he wants to say.
Until next time, thanks for joining me.
Hope you have a blessed day.