Communion Message
Ephesians 1 & 2
November 28, 2004
Pastor Donald Sheley

This is the way the apostle Paul expressed his thanks to God. He says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth--in Him. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.

In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.

Amen? Paul rejoices in his salvation. We says we've been selected, we have been forgiven, we've been made a part of His eternal family, because we trusted in the gospel we've been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. And I like that last verse that says it's going to take all of eternity for Him to express all of His love and His kindness towards us because of Christ Jesus. We have an awful lot to be thankful for today, and as we go to our knees I want you to express your gratitude to Jesus Christ for all that He means to you personally. Would you do that?

Lord Jesus, the apostle Paul has written for us our personal testimony of gratitude and praise. We too bless Your name Almighty God, and even though we cannot comprehend the vastness of Your plan, yet You've informed us that before the foundations of the world were laid we were in Your heart.

You selected us. You gave us the gift of faith to believe, we trusted, we received Jesus as our Savior, and we were made a part of that eternal family. We are forgiven. We've been given an eternal inheritance forever in Your presence Almighty God. So as we bow on this beautiful Sunday of Thanksgiving we say from the very depths of our heart, dear Jesus, thank you for being our Savior, our Lord, and our God. And even though now we may not comprehend the full dimension of the eternal riches that we have in You, we rejoice in the peace, we rejoice in Your provision of forgiveness, we are grateful for Your mercy that surrounds us, and for Your love that overwhelms us. And we take these elements today with deep gratitude because they tell us in a very visible way the price You paid for the salvation that we enjoy. And Lord Jesus, we partake with joy and Thanksgiving. Let's partake of the bread, and then the cup.

We worship You with all of our hearts Lord Jesus. And everybody said, amen. Let's stand and greet one another, shall we?