Ephesians Chapter 1: Part 1 Kathryn Kuhlman

The lady writes and says, Dear Miss Guman, you have made the Bible come alive and proved so exciting in the life and world events today. Your heart -to -heart talks are the most precious words I've ever heard. These are things, you know, that are so rewarding. And I mean exactly that. Sure. This thing of living a Christian life is exciting. Oh, it's the most wonderful life in the world. You have really never lived until you have learned how to live the Christian life. It's the normal way of living. It's the natural way of life. Any other life is contrary to this natural... normal way of living that God wanted it to be and planned that it should be. That's the reason we have all the trouble in the world today. That's the why of all the wars. That's the why of all the hate. That's the why of all of the riots. It's because we are living contrary to the Word of God. We are living contrary to the natural way that God ordained that man should live. Well, sir, don't let's get started in that because, oh, we'll never finish it. There'll never be a place for a benediction because it just goes on and on. We're going to have a good heart -to -heart talk today about something that I feel is so vitally important and is, um... Something that concerns every one of us. And that is this wonderful relationship between God the Father and his child. What it really means to be a Christian and live this natural life. I want to remind you that the word becomes so much more personal. if you'll read from your own Bible as I read from mine. The first chapter of Ephesians. I'm going to begin with the third verse. Blessed. Oh, that word blessed. It's thrilling. It's marvelous. And Paul begins with praise and thanksgiving for the great and precious and marvelous benefits Joy through Christ Jesus. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy. and without blame, before him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Christ Jesus in himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, for the praise and of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace, wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one. all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will, that we should be to the Praise of His glory who first trusted in Christ. Oh, this is so thrilling. I wish I had nothing to do for the next month. But bring your heart -to -heart talks on just this portion, the Word of God, because it's loaded. Oh, it's just loaded with good things. And Paul begins, first of all, with praise and thanksgiving unto the Lord for his wonderful goodness, his wonderful blessing. That, my friend, is the key to all things. Praise is the key that unlocks the storehouses of glory. Praise gets a hearing before the Father's throne. Praise and thanksgiving, you've heard me say it over and over again. Five minutes to pray. Not anymore. If that's all the time that you have. And you may be very desperate about something. Spend the first three minutes. In just praising the Lord. Adoring the Lord. Thanking Him for His blessings. Thanking Him. for past answers to prayer. And then the last two minutes in making your request known, you'll get the answer. It works. There are thousands of God's children who never stop to praise the Lord, to thank Him. It's always, give me. Give me. What would you think of a child who would never put his little arms around his daddy and say, Oh, daddy, I love you. Oh, and a child learns quickly. Sometimes I think some of these little children are smarter than God's children. I learned very quickly that I could get anything in the world out of Papa. If I would just crawl up on his lap bar, stand on the top rung of the chair, put my arms around his neck, and say, oh, I've got the nicest papa in the whole world. Oh, I meant it. Listen, I wasn't a hypocrite about it. I meant it. That came easy, believe me. And to this very day, I feel I did have the nicest papa that any little girl ever had or that any big girl ever had. So far as I am concerned, my papa could do no wrong. But I was very young when I learned if I would put my arms around him and tell him how wonderful he was. And always be very grateful for everything that he did for me. Very thankful. And express it and tell him so. Sometimes I didn't even have to ask for that nickel. He'd put his hand on his pocket and the nickel would come up without even being asked for. How much more so with the Heavenly Father. Some of his children... are always there with give me. Give me. They never think about praying. They never think about their Heavenly Father seriously unless they are confronted with a great need, a catastrophe, a tragedy, sickness. And then they turn very quickly to Him. And it's give me, Lord. Give me, Heavenly Father. And you get desperate. The next time you do, pause and check up on yourself. When was the last time you put your arms around him and said, Thanks, Heavenly Father. It isn't that I especially need anything. It isn't that I'm especially desperate about anything. I just want you to know I'm thankful. For your blessings. I'm thankful for your protection. Thanks. And you won't be praising him very long before you're going to find out. His big heart will start giving and giving and giving. I know. I live like that. This is the practical way of giving. I'm telling you the truth. I'm giving you some secret that on the surface seems so simple. And yet, they are some of the greatest truths that any human being could give to you. And it's just like that. Paul understood. Oh, he began, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with... All spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. That's because everything that we receive must come through Jesus. Everything. Everything that you receive. Everything that I receive. Because Jesus is the one who's made all these things possible unto us. He's the one who has made it possible that we are heirs of God. He's the one who has made it possible that you and I can come boldly before the throne of a holy God. We would have no right, no man, no woman has any right to come into the presence of a holy God under any circumstances. except through the perfection and the righteousness of his holy and perfect son. God is absolute perfection. God is absolute holiness. And we are still, beloved, in the old body of flesh, far from perfect. You may think you're perfect. But I'll tell you something. I'll let you in on a little secret. You are the only one who thinks you're perfect. Uh -huh. Sure. Your husband doesn't really think you're perfect. He sees all your faults. And God knows your neighbors don't think you're perfect. Talk to your youngsters. They know you're not perfect. God knows you're not perfect. I don't care what your great spiritual experiences may have been or how deeply spiritual you are at this very moment. In ourselves, there is no perfection. Know that. Therefore, when we come into the presence of a holy God, we must come through Jesus Christ. That's the reason before Jesus went away, he left us his name to use. And he taught us how to pray. We pray in the name of Jesus because Jesus is perfect. Jesus, the very son of the living God, is holy. And God the Father, looking down through the perfection and the holiness of his... perfect Son who is our Redeemer, our Savior, gives us a hearing, knowing that we have been redeemed through the blood of His perfect Son. And it's just like that. That's the reason, this says, we are blessed. with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Now watch this. According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. Now we're getting into something that's ticklish. I know it. We must tread very softly. It's like someone sent me a book the other day and asking me if I would read it, and I read a page or two of it and then discarded it because I saw that in just the page or two that I read, the one was expressing his own purpose. personal opinion his own personal ideas we get on dangerous ground when we do that it's all right to give our own personal opinion if we are very careful to say now this is my personal opinion this is the way i feel about it but if i cannot back it up with the word of god then I'm on dangerous ground. But I am never wrong, and you are never wrong, and you and I will never have to apologize for what we believe if we can back it up with the Bible. Let's stay with the Word of God. There are too many who are going out on a limb by expressing their own personal ideas. That's a very dangerous thing. It's very dangerous. Sometimes I feel like I'd like to do nothing but just give you the Bible, just read the Bible and say, here it is, here it is. And you need to get back to the Bible. You're reading every new thing that comes out. You're reading books and books and books and books. Why in the world? Don't you just stay with the word of God? Then you know that you will not go off in error. You know that his word is truth. Now we come to this thing of predestination. According as he hath chosen us in him, before the foundation of the world. Now, what does that mean? There are those who say that there are some folk who are predestined to be lost, and there are other folk who are predestined to be saved, to be Christians. destined to go to hell and others who are predestined to go to heaven. Do you want to know something? It was never in God's plan that any man or any woman, that any human being from the first Adam to the last person who will ever be born, any... person in this great humanity should ever go to hell. Never. It was never in God's plan. It was never in God's mind. Hell never was made for men and women. Hell was made for the devil and his angels. If you can prove to me from the word of God. that hell was made for man, you have found something that I have never found. When you search the scriptures, there is a hell. There has got to be punishment for sin. God would not be a just God if he did not punish sin. He wouldn't be a holy God if he didn't punish sin. Sin has got to be punished. Know that. There is a hell. There is a time. There is a place for the punishment of sin. A time of punishment for those who have refused the Son of the Living God as their Savior and their Redeemer. What I am saying is that in the plan of God, he did not predestine that any human being should be lost. I like to think that way back there and how many thousands are millions of years it was, I do not know. Not that does anyone know. But way back there when Lucifer fell. You remember Lucifer was one of the most beautiful of three angels that God created. All angels are created beings. There was a time that Lucifer ruled and reigned over this planet that you and I call the Earth. How do I know? One little word gives the key. God told Adam and Eve to replenish the Earth. And you do not replenish something unless there has been something there before. That wonderful word, replenish. Therefore, we know there was habitation here on the earth. Our scientists prove it. There has been habitation here on this earth before God ever created man. Lucifer was the ruler over this earth. And he ruled over... Thousands and thousands, legions of angels. And then something happened one day when he said, I will be likened to the most high God. And he began to ascend into heaven. Ascend from where? From the earth. He began to ascend into heaven with this spirit of jealousy in his heart. And the first sin that we have any account of whatsoever is the sin of jealousy. And it is no secret that the sin of jealousy is still the most prevalent sin in the hearts and lives of professing Christians. It's still there. We find it in the pulpit. We find it in the pew. A very prevalent sin in what we call Christian circles. It was the very first sin we have any record of. And then you know the judgment. Oh, it's all there. You have followed me in a previous message. And God in his wrath and God in his fury literally reached down and turned the earth upside down. That's the reason that which was once on the surface of the earth is now in the bowels of the earth. Our oils, our minerals. All of these things. were once things on the surface. And then it was that God said, I will replenish the earth with free moral agency. And he created man. My goodness, I just forgot. I've got to leave you. But I'll be back. And when I come back, Be sure you have your Bibles out. God bless you.