![]() I don't know about you but that, that's kind of awe inspiring to me, that God is going to get to other people through us, through me, through you. And listen to this, that God is making his appeal to the world through us. Now, 2 Corinthians 5:20 says that we are ambassadors for Christ, that we are his direct representatives in the earth. Amen? "I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, appeal to and beg you to walk and (lead a life) worthy of the divine calling to which you have been called with behavior that is a credit to the summons to God's service". And until we take responsibility for where we're at, and where you're at may not be your fault, but if you stay there, it is your fault. And I remember all the years when I wasn't doing what God wanted me to do and I was unhappy and blaming everybody else, and blaming Dave, and blaming circumstances, and blaming, blaming, blaming. I mean, there's some choices I made I wish I wouldn't have made but I feel like I'm doing what God wants me to do, but it takes a sacrifice to do it. I can stand here right now and tell you that I don't look back and regret anything. You know what? I could die tonight and say, "Man, I have had a great ride. But you know what? You know what God gives me back? Man, I got peace. You think it doesn't cost me anything to do this? It absolutely certainly does. Anytime you want to do something good, now listen to me, anytime you want to do something good for somebody else, it's gonna cost you a little something. And I guess if he's saying it that often, we should take notice that Paul was willing to suffer in order to bring us the messages that we hear today. Now, why is this so important? Well, in Ephesians chapter 4, verse 1 Paul said, "I therefore the prisoner for the Lord," and we've already noticed that he keeps saying that over and over. Amen? God's goodness should provoke me to want to be good for him. God is good and the fact that he is so good should make us also want to be so good for him. ![]() He came and got in the middle of our mess and he offered us a relationship with him. God loves, he chose us while we were still yet in sin and so far away from God that it was absolutely pathetic. We have to go back to chapters 1, 2, and 3. What it says is, "If you love me, you will obey me". Now, this scripture does not say, "If you obey me, I will love you". Let me say it again, you can't have what you want and also keep everything you've got. You can't have what you want and keep everything ya got. You gotta give up something to get something. ![]() And how many of you have figured out that many times if you're gonna obey God, it's gonna require some kind of a sacrifice on your part to be able do that? But here again, God's not trying to take anything away from you. Now, I believe that our love for him can grow and as it grows, we will find new levels of obedience in our life. And I think it's even proper to say to whatever degree we are obeying God, it's to that degree that we love him. "If you really love me, you will obey my commands". "If you really love me," Jesus said, this is Jesus talking. "If you really love me, you will (obey) my commands". John 14:15, very simple little scripture, but so powerful. ![]() I'mma keep throwing that in there so everybody can just stay comfortable. And he doesn't let up in chapter 5 or chapter 6 so if you really want to grow, this is the place to be, this morning, tonight, tomorrow morning, but remember, God loves you. Now, we may get all 16, we may only get 12 but thank God for tonight. Now, I was pretty astounded this morning when I counted them, but just in Ephesians chapter 4, he deals with 16 different behaviors, 16. How many of you want to really grow up, mature, and be the person that God wants you to be? Well, good, you're in the right place this morning. If we teach people right, then they can have a great deal of success and growth in their relationship with God. I teach a lot on behavior, do this, don't do this, but I always work in who we are in Christ because if you try to teach people how to behave without them knowing how much God loves them and that his love for them is not based on their behavior, if that's all we teach people, which a lot of religious organizations are very guilty of that and it just frustrates people no end. And so, I try in my teaching to keep a good balance of that. Before we ever get around to teaching people how to behave right, we must teach them who they are in Christ. And the first three chapters of Ephesians are all about how much God loves us, the grace of God, his mercy, his forgiveness, our inheritance in Christ, who we are in Christ, and that has to be the foundation of our walk with God. I really want people to study the Bible, not just read it, but study it.
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