MAY 31 2026 | The Church S1E1 | Four Corners

Sea Change Church · The Church · "Four Corners" Pastor Adam Stadtmiller · May 31, 2026
Ephesians 1:3-14
Automated transcript. Not reviewed for accuracy.

For more information, visit our website. There is a link in the description to your channel. We are here to help you the process. We are here to help you the process. We are here to help you the process. We are here to help you the process. We are here to help you the process. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You still love me. Thank you. You still love me. It's by your blood. It's by your blood. It's by your blood. It's by your blood. By your blood. It's by your blood. It's by your blood. It's by your blood. It's by your blood. It's by your blood. It's by your blood. It's by your blood. It's by your blood.

It's by your blood. It's by your blood. It's by your blood. It's by your blood. It's by your blood. It's by your blood. It's by your blood. It's by your blood. It's by your blood. It's by your blood. It's by your blood. It's by your blood. It's by your blood. It's by your blood. It's by your blood. We love you, love you, love you, Lord. It's why we're here. We love you, love you, love you, Lord. We love you, love you, love you, Lord.

We love you, love you, love you, Lord. All the words. All my words fall short. I've got nothing new. How could I express all my gratitude? I could sing these songs as I often do. But every song I stand and you never do. I could sing these songs as I often do. Oh, hallelujah. I've got one response. I've got just one room. I'll praise you again and again. I'll praise you again and again. All that I have is a hallelujah.

Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. And I know it's not much. But I've got nothing else fit for a king. Except for a heart singing hallelujah, oh hallelujah. Oh come on, oh come on my soul, oh don't you get shy on me, lift up your song. Cause you've got a lion inside of those lions, oh get up and praise the Lord. Oh come on my soul, oh come on my soul, oh don't you get shy on me, lift up your song.

Cause you've got a lion inside of those lions, oh get up and praise the Lord. Oh come on my soul, oh come on my soul, oh don't you get shy on me, lift up your song. Oh come on my soul, oh come on my soul, oh don't you get shy on me, lift up your song. Cause you've got a lion inside of those lions, oh get up and praise the Lord. Oh come on my soul, oh come on my soul, oh no. Oh come on my soul, oh come on my soul, oh come on my soul, oh come on my soul, oh come on my soul.

Oh come on my soul, oh come on my soul, oh come on my soul, oh come on my soul, oh come on my soul. We bring our praise, our praise, our praise. Have all of our praise, our praise, our praise. Have all our praise. Our praise. Thank you. Sing a new song to the Lord today. Thank you Lord. Thank you Lord. Thank you Lord. Thank you Lord. We love you. We love you. So I throw up my hands. Thank you Lord. So I throw up my hands.

So I throw up. So I throw up my hands. And praise you again and again. Cause all that I have is a hallelujah. A hallelujah. Hallelujah. And I know it's fine. But I have nothing else. I know I can tell you. Except for a heart singing. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I remember how you provided. How you held me through the night. And I remember how you sustained me. When you stepped in to save my life.

And if I knew that. What I know now. I would be still. And let you work it out. Jesus. I was tossed in the water. But I never went under. And you were always on time. And Jesus. When I went through the fire. You were right there beside me. Cause you were always on time. You were always. Always. Always. Always. Always on time. You were always. Always. Always on time. And I remember. How you carried. When I couldn't. Take a step.

And I remember. And I remember. How you loved. How you loved me. When I couldn't. Love myself. Jesus. When I was tossed in the water. But I never went under. Cause you were. Always on time. And Jesus. When I went through the fire. You were right there beside me. Cause you were. Always on time. You were always. You were always. Always. Always on time. You were always. Always. Always. Always. Always. Always on time. You were.

You were always. Always. Always. Always on time. You were always. Always. Always. Always on time. Oh. Oh, what a faithful God Oh, how he's kept me and sustained me There's never been a day, never been a minute Never been a moment that you weren't in it There's never been a time when you didn't see me through God So I'll worship you There's never been a day, never been a minute Never been a moment that you weren't in it There's never been a time when you didn't see me through God So I'll worship you There's never been a day, never been a minute Never been a moment that you weren't in it There's never been a time when you didn't see me through God So I'll worship you There's never been a day, never been a minute, never been a moment that you wanted it.

There's never been a time that you didn't see me through, God. So I worship you in Jesus. I was lost in the water, but I never went under. You were always on time. Jesus, when I went through the fire, you were right there beside me. You were always on time. You were always, always, always on time. Yes, you were, Lord. You were always, always, always on time. You were always, always on time. And you were always, always, always on time.

Jesus, I was lost in the water. Come on, let's sing it out. You were right there beside me. You were always, always on time. Jesus, when I went through the fire, you were right there beside me. Because you were always on time. You were always on time. When peace, like a river, attended my way. When sorrows like sea billow fall. Whatever, my Lord. Whatever, my Lord. Thou hast taught me to say. It is well. It is well. It is well.

It is well. With my soul. It is well. It is well. With my soul. It is well. Let's sing it as well. It is well. It is well. It is well. It is well. It is well. It is well. It is well. With my soul. It is well. It is well. It is well. It is well. It is well. It is well. It is well. It is well. It is well. It is well. With my soul. It is well. It is well. It is well. It is well. It is well. It is well. It is well. It is well.

It is well. It is well. It is well. It is well. It is well. It is well. It is well. It is well. with my soul. Amen. Father, thank you. Thank you for this day. Thank you that we have things to be grateful for, Lord, that we can trust in your perfect timing. Father, be with us today as we listen to this message, Lord. May our ears be ready to hear what you have to say. We love you, and it's in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Amen. Amen. You may be seated. Awesome. Thank you so much, worship team. Man, that was great. Loved it. Man, how was your week? It was great, Josh. How was your week? It was good. It was good. I'm trying to recover from not getting too much sleep right now because Gabriel is on 10, but it's okay. It's cool. It's cool. Man, well, look, guys, if this is your first, second time here with us at Sea Change Church, I am Pastor Joshua.

I'm Pastor Harry. I'm the family's pastor. Yes. And we just want to welcome you and say, hey, look, if you want to get plugged in, in your bulletin, there's a connection card that's just like this, and you can fill that connection card out, and we will definitely get in touch with you, get you plugged in, learn what you are looking for, what you need. And we have a lot of different things going on here at our church, so we want to make sure that you are just engaged for sure.

And on top of that, if you guys didn't know, we are almost about to go into our summer calendar, so I'm looking forward to that. Yeah. It's a lot of things going on here at our church. One thing in particular in your bulletins, there is a little pullout right there that has a QR code, and if you want to know more about what we have going on this summer from our different classes, all of that, please scan that QR code, or you can scan the one on the television screen right now.

But tomorrow, we are starting men and women skills. Now, if you haven't signed up for this class in particular, look, it's a great class. Gives you the tools you need to kind of overcome some of the things you may be going through. I've been through it twice. I probably should go through it again. I've never done it, and you can tell when you're around me. You're like, hmm, he hasn't gone through skills, has he? Skills is lacking right now.

It's good. No, definitely not. But, man, look, if you are trying to learn more about that, come and see myself at the service or scan that QR code. We still have a few more spots, especially for the men, so definitely get engaged with that for sure. Yeah, and today is our Youth and Family Sunday, and so we're going to talk about all going on for the youth summer calendar as well. And even today in our second service, we're graduating about 12 seniors in high school.

Man, let's clap for that. Yes, yes. Sending them off to college. That's awesome. So for those coming to that, they're going to receive these beautiful Bibles that are customized for them, and I'm really excited about that. That's happening next service. We have summer camps happening, so middle school and high school summer camp. Middle school is going to Hume-SoCal June 14, and then high school is also going to Hume-SoCal on July 5.

Hume puts on the best camps in Southern California. I've heard. We keep trying to, like, separate. So middle school goes to a different camp, but they're just too good. So we're like, you know what? You're all going to Hume. And so that's going to be an amazing time. If you have middle schoolers or high schoolers, send them to Hume-SoCal. We also, at the end of the summer, it's more like early fall, we have family camp.

Yeah. Yeah, family camp has been so rad. Raise your hand if you've been to family camp with us. Yeah, there we go. I'm ashamed I haven't been yet. You've got, like, the biggest family, bro. Up my numbers. Let's go. What are you doing? Yeah. Yeah, family camp is so much fun. So join us for fall family camp. It's always Labor Day weekend, so that is September 4 through 7. If you have questions about signing up for that, talk to me.

That is in all the newsletters, though, and you can sign up there. We also, this summer, have, where is it? What do we have? The video. Oh, the video. There it is. VBS. I'm all out of place. See, I told you I didn't take skills. VBS. VBS is, so we did our biggest VBS last year. We're going to show you a quick highlight video from it. Yes. Thank you, Jesus. Welcome to the Garden World. Oh, gather rock. Gather rock. Oh, my goodness.

Yay. I love you. Oh, my goodness. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you.

I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. mana you. I love you. Thank you. Thank you. We did sign up for VBS last year. This year, the theme is wildlife, and it is July 20th through the 24th. And then on that Friday of that week, we're taking the kids to the zoo. And so, man, sign up for VBS. If you got kiddos, tell your friends about it. It's just going to be an amazing time. It's only $75 for the week.

We'd love to have your kiddos there. I'm all on that for sure. Let's go, Josh. Give me a nice little break. Yes. Yes. Yep, for sure. So at this time, man, we're going to kind of transition to the next part of our service. That is our GPS. That is Give, Pray, Serve. And we are a church that truly believes in prayer. So if you have any type of prayer request at all whatsoever, at the end of the service, we have a prayer team that comes up here to pray for you.

But then also on Tuesday, if you fill out this connection card right there, pitch your prayer request there. And on Tuesday, a group of people get together, and we pray right over here in our fellowship hall at 12 p.m. So definitely want to take advantage of that for sure, because I truly believe that God answers the prayers of the righteous. So with that being said, let's go ahead and get ready for the word. Let's bow our heads in prayer and go from there.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day. We thank you, Father God, to be able to come into this place of worship, Lord God, to give you praise, honor, and glory, Lord Heavenly Father. Prepare our hearts to receive the word, O Lord God. Prepare our minds to focus in on what you have to say to the congregation today, O Lord God. And let us apply the word of God to our lives so that it may transform us and bring forth fruit that's pleasing to you.

For we thank you and we praise you. For in Jesus name we pray. Amen. Well, good morning. Welcome to Sea Change Church. I'm Adam Stapmutter, lead pastor here. It's great to have you on this Sunday. If you have your Bibles, open up to Ephesians, if you would. Ephesians chapter 1. We're starting a brand new series. Ephesians chapter 1. And on the purpose of the church. Four weeks in Ephesians. I have my cool leather Bible backstage, but I left it.

So we'll do this also cool Bible that is paper. And if you go to verses 3 through 14, and as you're finding it, especially if you're online, if you're finding it, the reason I'm doing this series, I was with a friend of mine recently, and he was asking a really good question. What's going on with the church? And I think he was asking a more global question. What's going on with the church in America? What's going on with the church in the world?

But the church in the world is made up of the local church. Every believer needs to be part of the local church. Even if you're part of a parachurch missionary society or some kind or young life or whatever it is, all of these people need to be part of the local church. And it is the local church on earth made up of individual believers who understand their part in the local church that changes the world. I believe if the church was doing its job well enough, you might not need to have separate mission organizations because the church would be fulfilling that.

That might not be true completely, but I think when the church is in mission, it is most active. But in order to get into mission, it needs to understand who it is. And so they asked me that question. And I began to ask the Lord, Lord, what do you want me to do? And how do you want me to go? Because I was going to get ready to move into another series. We were going to do the epistles. We always do the epistles every year.

We take you through every type of biblical literature at this church, Old Testament narrative, New Testament narrative, prophecy, psalms, the poetry, and the epistles and the prophetic as well. So you'll get through all that every single year in like a Netflix type of series. We'll drop it every single year. You can go back the years before and follow and catch up. Otherwise, we would be in the book of Genesis for, what, two years?

I was at a church once. My head pastor did 57 weeks in Revelation. Oh, let's go. Let's go. Yeah. But I began to ask myself. And I felt like the Lord said, hey, this is what I felt like the Lord said to me. You're doing an adequate job preaching the word and testifying. And I feel solid that our pulpit teaches biblical sound truth. And you're being fed the word of God, not just a bunch of milk, but you're getting meat.

But at the same time, I felt like the Lord said, I want you to do a little better at casting vision. So people know why you're here. Why do you come to see change? Why do you go to captivate? Why do you go to light? Why do you go to rhythm? Why do you go to College Avenue? Why do you go to the church that you go to? Do you understand your part in that church? And what the purpose is in that church? What I see too often is people not seeing the church as the family of God that they belong to, a specific family, but picking and choosing according to their likes.

Well, I like this worship. Well, the worship leader left. I'm leaving that group of people that I've been with for however long. And I'm going to go over here. And then, oh, the teaching, it's just not. I'm kind of bored with the teaching. So I'm going to go here. Or as opposed to investing somewhere in a family and staying for the long haul. We were at a church for, I think, 25 or 30 years. I grew up at Skyline Wesleyan Church.

It was fantastic. I was there with Orville Butcher before John Maxwell became the pastor. And in the heyday of the youth ministry, it was amazing. The first time I walked up, there was a band. And Roger Knowlton, the son of the pastor, was playing. And they were playing Message in a Bottle by the police, right? And this was a bunch of high schoolers. And they said, here's a stage. Now, this is 1980, right? This is like 84.

And I walk up. And I was like, what is going on? I was coming out of a Catholic tradition. And there's all these high schoolers playing Message in a Bottle. And then mixing in a little bit of worship here and there. And I was like, this is so relevant to me and where I was at, no matter what you think about Sting and the police. It worked for me. We had 300 to 400 kids in our youth group. Went to camps. I was part of a video team where we would shoot videos every week.

Now, I want to tell you, when you shoot a video in 1984, it's different than shooting a video now where AI will just make the video for you. It was a VHS cassette tape that you put in. We recorded it. On Tuesday afternoons, we would make a movie. And then we would get two tape decks, two VHS tape decks. Some of you guys know this, right? If you're my age, you know this. And then you record and you spice and edit. It's really, really difficult.

I was discipled. I was part of that ministry. I went to Mexico. I built houses. Every single Wednesday, Beardsley's Backsliders. That's Mrs. Beardsley. She was 80 years old. She sat in the back with all of her senior friends. She was one of the most godly people. And she was called the Beardsley's Backsliders. And they sat in the back. Every Wednesday, for $2, you would come to church. And I'd like to replicate this.

They had a giant commercial kitchen and the space to do it. And everyone would come on Wednesday. Everyone went to church on Wednesday. We all did church together. There was no Tuesday, Thursday groups. We weren't trying to build it around your schedule. You were building your schedule around your church, which is a little different today, right? Very different. And so we would go Sunday morning to church. We'd come back for Sunday night for Sunday church.

Some of you remember this. And then the youth group would go to Afterglow. We'd go to someone's house, hang out and have Afterglow, where we'd sing some more and do some stuff. Wednesday, I was back at church. Miss Beardsley would make food for $2, and the entire church would eat together. There was about 1,500 people at that church at that time. That is what you call in 1984, that was like a legit mega church. There were many churches at 1,500.

But it was awesome. I went to camp. I accepted Christ at least 17 times at camp. And I was going up and down, and my life was going up and down because of all the things in it. But I had people around me. Doug Swink, who discipled me as a kid. He sat with me, and that group of young men that we sat with, it was an incredible time. That was my experience. I am desperate to create that type of experience for Jesus, but for you.

I think about it as much as I think about anything else in my life other than my family and how to care for my wife and my family. I think about it constantly. I think about it at 2 in the morning. I think about it at 3 in the afternoon. I constantly am committed to a passionate understanding of wanting to create something that you will look back and say, that was one of the best. If you leave or move, that was one of the best experiences that I have ever been a part of.

And so we try to do that. And so what I want to do is let you know why you're at SeaChange. And I think there's some other churches that are doing some great jobs at this. And we're doing a pretty good job, and we have not reached what I would like to see, the zenith of where I think we're going. But it comes out of this series, and we're going to look at four things. Now, you can break the church up into more than four or less than four, but I found four very simplistic primary understandings of the church, and we're going to read it right now.

So we will read it. Go to verse 3. We're going to read about 12 verses here, 11 verses. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. You can just circle the words that hit you here. Who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace which he has blessed us in the beloved.

In him we have redemption through the blood, the forgiveness of trespasses according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in Christ in heaven and things on earth in him. Verse 11. Verse 11. Verse 11. Verse 11. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of the works, all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.

In him you also, when you heard the word of truth of the gospel of your salvation, believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit who guaranteed our inheritance until he acquired the possession of it to the praise of his glory. That is a theological mouthful, right? You can, the rest of this week, this passage is so eternal, I would say if the New Testament was just the gospels and this and maybe revelation, you might be able to manage.

There's a lot, you know. It is so good. It is so rich. It is a passage you need to understand. Ephesians is one of my favorite books in the scripture. And it talks about the church, the purpose of the church. And in Ephesians you're going to see four purposes. You're going to see four purposes happening on four corners. Four corners is language we used here for a lot of years. We've kind of stopped using it. And people have been asking me, where is the four corners?

Bring it back. And after I heard it enough times I thought, I'm bringing it back. It's making a tour. And those four corners are these. Number one, the corner of your heart. You want Jesus to put a territorial claim on the corner of your heart. Then he might indwell it all. Then he might have his whole heart, your whole heart. The corner that you live. We want your home to be changed with the atmosphere of the spirit of God.

That it's not influenced by what's on your TV. It's not influenced by outside forces. It's influenced by the spirit of God, your marriage, your children. Or if you're single, just the home that you live. The church corner where you go. I want you to be an active part of the church. Caring about that church as a family, like a family. Being an active part in seeing that place change the corner and the city that it is.

And then the last is the four corners of the earth. This is the four corners that we work on. And it works in that progression. From your heart to your home to the church, the local church where you dwell. For the local church is the hope of the gospel around the world. And then in mission to the rest of the world. You're going to see these four corners happen in four different places. Like I said, you could expand. You could contract this.

But the first is identity. The church needs to know who they are in Christ. They need to understand their adoption. And this passage is all about identity. Ignorance and unbelief are two of the tactics Satan uses to keep you from knowing who you are in Christ. If the devil can keep you in ignorance or unbelief, that's not true about me. It might be true for Pastor Joshua or someone else. But it's not true for me. If he can keep you from living in the empowered life that gives you supernatural power, the every spiritual blessing that it talks about here in Ephesians.

I think it's 1, 3. Yes. We have been blessed with every spiritual blessing. If he can keep you from knowing that, he can keep you walking in impotence and not in power. And there's a big difference. So identity. Unity is another purpose of the church. This is that we are unified together on point, on mission, and not divided. One of the attacks of Satan is to divide the church, to divide your relationships, to divide your mind, to divide your heart.

Satan is in the business of division. God is in the business of multiplication. Exponential multiplication to your hope, to your peace, to your joy, to his kingdom on earth. We are meant to be in unity, and if we are not in unity, we will not have the power to move forward as a church. I want you to begin to see yourself as a member of a local church. Now, it might not be this one. Maybe you go somewhere else, you're visiting.

Find that church and be absolutely committed to that church. I'm not saying you have to drive the golf cart, right? But you are praying for it. You are caring for it. You are providing for it. You are listening for it. You are, in a prophetic way, seeking God what its call might be, that you are a part of the church. That doesn't mean everyone's going to be on the committee to, you know, Beardsley's Backsliders making the food.

But you know the difference when someone is committed and not, and there has to be a unity in that. Maturity. The church needs to be maturing. You need to be a little more peaceful than you were when you got here. You need to continue to see maturity where you're growing and maturing in Christ. And then the final one will be mission. Today we're just speaking about identity. I did say on the Instagram that I was going to rate where I think we are as the pastor.

Okay? So I will tell you my rating. I talked to some of the other pastors. Where I think we are, it might not be true what I think. God might have a different assumption. But here's what I think. In regard to identity, I think we're somewhere in between a four and a six. I believe for this entire year, you might not have noticed, I've been teaching on identity, on glory, on our participation in glory, and our participation in inheritance, and our participation in blessing, and our participation in Christ.

I've been teaching it from the pulpit so I know it's happening on Sunday. That identity. Getting that identity from me teaching it to you using it, to you walking in it, is the more difficult task. I can preach and preach and preach, but until somebody says, I want to understand who I am, and not only understand, I want to activate it. You can understand how bread is made, but until you get the dough together and put the yeast in, it will not be activated.

And we are trying to do our job to activate that. And I do see that on identity, I actually gave us a six on that, but I feel like I would really like to have us understand more so you can walk in power. In unity, I really thought we've done well. I thought, you know, if I had to put it on a one to ten, you know, I would say we have about a nine. I think during COVID, it was incredible. We had complete unity during that.

We just took some votes for the church with the members. We had 87, I think, on five different measures. We had 87 yes votes on all five measures, I believe. We had one no on all five measures. But incredible unity in the body. And unity matters because there's power in unity. Maturing. I say we're somewhere in the middle. Somewhere in the middle there because I know some of you are maturing in Christ, but we want to provide a church where you can be growing in your marriage.

You're a better husband. You understand scripture more. You're doing these things. And finally, on mission, I put somewhere in the middle again, I put us about a six, right? I think we're doing a real, our missions partners are incredible. We have 16 mission partners. We voted to give $100,000 to our mission partners, about $6,000 to each of our partners. That, I believe, I think that one might have been all unanimous to give that.

But that's incredible, and our mission is happening. But I would love to see our local mission increase. What are we doing in La Jolla? What are we doing in Claremont? What are we doing in PB? So these are the things I think about as I want to create a church that is just maxing out on everything that God has for us. And so Ephesians is set up this way. So if you have the book of Ephesians, it's going to be set up into two parts.

And as you read through it, I want to encourage you to read through it this week. Chapters 1 through 3 is your theological identity. It will tell you who you are in Christ. Chapters 4 through 6 are the practical outworkings. How does that actually work? How do you take whom the Bible says that you are and let that affect the way you drive, affect the way that you act in your neighborhood, affect the way in which you live?

And then chapters 4 through 6, like I said, are the practical outworkings. Here's the big idea for the identity portion today. The big idea is this. The church is God's redeemed family, united in Christ, maturing and revealing his glory to the world in mission. In mission. It is the church. And then I put a second big idea. So I guess I have two big ideas today. That's awesome. So we have lots of big ideas. This is a two big idea sermon.

I just want you to know. Like it's, it could not, you know, Ephesians couldn't just be into one big idea. I think I put main point is the church is not a gathering of people attending, but a people God has chosen, adopted, and united in Christ. Chosen and adopted and united in Christ to go about the work of the kingdom. I hope that you're excited about the church you are a part of, whether it's here or some other church.

I hope that you are passionate about seeing the mission of the church and the things that it is doing to bring the name of Jesus. And I hope you're excited about Jesus. I will tell you that if you're not excited about Jesus, probably not going to be excited about his work in the church. And being excited about Jesus means you have to be oftentimes less excited about yourself. And you have to lay your life down for the work of his kingdom.

This is a big transition. This is a transition that takes a lifetime to do, but there will come a moment where you switch over from being a person that's mostly concerned about what you're about, and you are about the purposes, like he speaks in here. He says he has created it and has purposes, it says in that Ephesians chapter one. And so we see that, we look at identity. Here's the exegetical framework. It means Paul begins with identity before activity.

Before the church does anything, it must know who it is. Before the church does anything, the church has to know who they are in Christ, and that's what we're looking at today. I will tell you that identity is a massive issue in our culture, and people are looking at all different types of ideas to find out who they are in Christ. Now, I have a picture of myself, and I think about 1987, 89, Neva, can you, there I am.

Look at that. Okay. Let's not play around, okay? How's that hat? Right? That's before any hipster, you know, millennial, they weren't even born yet and I was wearing that hat. I see them. That's the worship hat as well. So if you see, you know, female worship leaders, right? Chris, they're wearing that hat. I think I saw the lead singer of Human League wearing that hat, and I thought I'd get one, right? And then I had these, I didn't even wear glasses then.

I'm wearing these glasses. I will say that back in that time, let's take it down, that's enough, right? That's my brother beside me. Actually, no, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. Up until that point, and I was in Christ at that point, I had turned my life around. My entire life from a very young child was finding out what the world wanted me to be, picking a lane, and then trying to be the best at that lane that I could in order to have self-worth, in order to define myself according to that.

I remember when I was 13 years old, I was in high school, and I went, and Mike Housam was the coolest kid at our high school group, and he was a preppy, and he had multiple preppy outfits, and he would, and I don't remember what preppy was. I can't explain the whole thing, but nonetheless, IZOD and the whole thing, and I remember I had my grandma take me, and I said, I was a BMXer, and I thought, in one night, I'm going to become a preppy, because Mike Housam was a preppy, and I wanted to be a preppy.

So I had my grandma take me to some store, I don't remember what it was, and she bought me penny loafers, and I put the pennies in them, okay? And then I had hot pink socks, okay? And I got a hot pink IZOD shirt, okay? And then I had these Bermuda shorts on, and I remember I went over to my friend's house, and I knocked, and it looked like Halloween. I swear, it looked like Halloween. And he opened, this is my BMX friend, he opened the door, and he went, what are you doing?

I looked absolutely ridiculous. I was a preppy for about four weeks until I realized it didn't work for me, okay? Then I decided I wanted to be a mod. I don't know if you remember what mods were. It was a musical scene, and trench coats, and the whole thing. So I became a mod, and started trying to do that. And then the next thing, I became this, and then I became that. And all the while, I was never becoming myself.

I was never stepping into the true identity of who God had called me to be, and understanding that. Ephesians fixes that for you. Because the only identity you have is in Christ. I want you to look at all the different times that the word in is used, in Christ is used in this scripture. You're going to see it over and over again in the entire passage. You're going to see it, first of all, in verse three. He has blessed you, what?

In Christ. That is your identity. You've closed yourself in him. Even if you went down to verse four, it would say, as sons through whom? Jesus Christ. In Christ. Verse six, he has blessed you in what? The beloved, that is Jesus. Verse seven, in him. The beginning of verse seven, in him. Go to verse nine, in Christ. At the very end of verse nine. Verse 10, as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things together in Christ.

This is your identity. You are meant to become like Jesus. You are meant to become conformed to the image of his will. The only purpose that actually matters for your life is not your book you want to write. It's not the business you want to build. It's not the thing you want to do. As a believer, it is to become conformed to his image. Being crucified with him that we might be redeemed and renewed and matured in him.

This is your purpose. The problem is we oftentimes don't want that purpose. And so we don't step into our identity. And when you don't step into your identity in Christ and who Christ is, you will never mature and walk in your authority. When you don't step into your identity, you will never walk in authority. Now one of the things you're going to see is, besides being in Christ, is that you become, in the scripture, a family member of God.

You become a family member. And I want to give you a few verses that actually show that. Because when you start to see yourself as a member of the family of God, and then a member of your local church where you're acting that out, it'll change how you act. If you know God is your father, you will not act like an abandoned orphan. You will not have an orphan spirit. And many of us today have an orphan spirit. Some of the most popular, famous people in the world today, with the most followers, the most social clout, the most respected, you can just see they are walking in a complete orphan spirit.

They're walking in a spirit that says, I need more. Two million followers will never be enough. Two hundred million followers will never be enough. Only when we walk in Christ, when you know and you can onboard the fact that you are part of the family of God, will you have that identity. And so in regard to identity, as a church, we need to function as the people of God and the children of God. I'm going to give you a few verses.

Ephesians 2.19, this is from the next chapter. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and the members of the household of God. See what it says there? You're no longer strangers and aliens. You're fellow citizens with saints and members of the household of God. You are part of God's household. You're not a maid. You're not that type of household. You're a member of his family.

1 Timothy 3.15, the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar, a buttress of the truth. Galatians 6.10, so then we have an opportunity to let us do good to everyone, especially those who are in the household of faith. Romans 8.14-17, for all who are led by the Spirit of God are what? Sons of God. And if children, then heirs. And if heirs of God, then fellow heirs with Christ. Now, a few weeks ago, we were in the book of Genesis with Jacob, and we talked about that inheritance.

What is the inheritance of Christ? The inheritance of Christ is available to you now because you no longer have to wait for it, as we said a few weeks ago. So, Jesus died. Inheritance happens after someone dies, right? Well, Jesus died, and because of that, you have an inheritance. Satan wants to keep you from knowing what your inheritance is. He wants to keep you from knowing that you are empowered to walk in truth.

He wants to keep you from knowing that you have a peace that can transcend all understanding, that you have the ability to have faith that will change the way you see your future. Faith changes the way you see your future. Satan loves to, you've heard Jesus loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Well, Satan hates you and has a horrible plan for your life. And he's going to regularly ask you to sit down at the typewriter of your life and type out a story based on his narrative for you.

And it is only faith that is going to affect your feelings about that and your hope about what the truth of your future is. Well, how do I get faith? Happens a couple ways. Jesus says, ask for it. And the second says, faith comes through what? Hearing. Hearing the what? The word of God. If you do not have faith for your future, and we live in a desperate time. One of the spirits of the age right now, and many of you are probably experiencing it.

I know I have to fight it on a regular basis, is a spirit of despair. The future, your future's horrible. There's no hope. Your best is behind you. Or there's nothing good in front of you. Despair, despair. We have a, there is a spirit, a massive undertaking of the enemy right now to use all of his ability to bring despair. That he might bring death. And that's why you see the suicides. That's why you see these things happening.

And we are not immune to his attacks. But we can put out the arrows of the enemy with what? The shield of what? Faith. Faith comes through what? Hearing. And hearing by what? If you do not, if you are not in the word of God, you will not have the tools to build your faith. To tell you, you are not a failure. You are not an orphan. You are not abandoned. The word of God says you are chosen. You are adopted. It says here in these scriptures, you are part of his family.

Jesus himself says that he is a son of God and he will show you that you will also be children of God. Which means Jesus now acts as a brother. He is the son of God. You are children of God. There is God the Father. You see this here in Ephesians who gives you an inheritance. And Jesus spiritually, according to scripture, is your brother. And your brother is that big brother that when you're at school and someone's bullying you, who do you call?

I wanted to say Ghostbusters. I'm so sorry. Why did that show up? Because of the hat. It was the hat. It's because of that and being adopted into his family that you call Jesus who is constantly interceding on your behalf. You speak it out. And I would say this on a regular basis. This is not true. You need to speak. We are saved because we believe in our heart and we confess with our mouth. And so when you get those thoughts.

On the way here, I was doing it in my car. I was confessing that's not true. I am a son of God. I dwell in an enthroned with God himself where he will make us rulers of the entire universe. And we will even judge angels, the scripture says. That is not true, Satan. That is a lie. I'm a child of God. You confess verbally with your mouth. There's nowhere in scripture where the devil can read your mind. Do not rebuke the devil in your mind.

Rebuke him aloud. Speak blessing aloud. It says you are saved by what? If you believe in your heart and what? Confess with your mouth. We need to be confessing with our mouth. A lot of people will get to heaven. I think they'll be surprised and say, I believed in my heart, but you never confessed with your mouth. It says, then you are chosen before him. And so go to verse four if you would. And we're going to come in for a landing here in a second.

Verse four. I'm passionate about this passage today. Even as he chose us in him. He chose you. You are a chosen vessel before the foundation of the world. That we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will. You have been chosen and you have been adopted. You have to realize that God didn't just wake up and find you on the step.

Oh, who's this? Oh, as long as they're here I'll just take them. You were chosen. You were sought out. He sent his son to die on the cross to have access. That he could not dwell with you, to tabernacle with you, among you. But that he could dwell within you. And he chose you. And you can tell Satan, and I would speak it out on a regular basis, I am a chosen son or daughter of God. This is your identity. Do you feel the power of the word of God changing the way you think about yourself in this moment?

I know I do as I preach it. Maybe I'm just preaching to myself. Chosen and adopted. You are adopted. And you are the brother or sister of Jesus Christ in his family. The scripture tells us that with a father who is God who chose you before the foundations of the earth. People ask me, when does life begin? When God thought about you. Well, is it biological? It's not biological. Scripture says before the foundations of the earth, you were in his mind.

You were in his mind. And this is one of the greatest arguments I could think of for the sanctity of life. Is that every soul was known before the foundations of the earth. And you were known. And you were chosen. And not only were you chosen, you were adopted. And not only were you adopted, you were redeemed. Go to verse 7. In him we have the redemption through his blood. The forgiveness of our trespasses, praise God.

According to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight. Satan wants you to believe that your former trespasses cost more than the riches of his grace. Satan wants you to believe, because he's a liar. And he's a father of all lies. That your former trespasses are more costly than God can afford with the riches of his grace. You see, you have been called, chosen, adopted, and redeemed.

And your sins have been wiped clean. You have been sprinkled with his blood, it says in Revelation. He sprinkles you with his blood. And he makes you white. And we put on Christ. We put on the armor of light, the scripture. It says, this is who you are in Christ. And if you don't know it, you won't walk in it. You will continue to say, oh, that thing. Oh, man, I did that thing when I was 19 years old. You're 72 now, but you can't get over what happened when you're 19.

Because you don't think that the riches of his grace can forgive you of that. Or you had that divorce. Or whatever that thing is, the things that are behind you. The riches of his grace will redeem you. I went to a thrift store once. And I went to go find my coat. And like me, I always leave my coats places and then I lose them. And so my favorite coat. I had this really cool coat. And I remember it was there. And I went into the, you ever go into a secondhand store and you get sick from the dust mites, right?

And so I went back there and I found this coat. And it said like, I think it said $100. And then it was knocked down to like $75 and $50, whatever. And it got down to like $2. And whenever I wore this coat, I was like Joseph. People were like, dude, that coat is legit. I love that coat. And I couldn't find it. I got that coat and I redeemed it for $2, right? I took it from that broken down dust mite filling. Just you should have worn a mask.

It was like COVID all over again, but with dust mites. And I'd wear that thing and I was redeemed. You have been redeemed in the same way. The brokenness of our former ways. God has chosen. And he has said, now clothe yourself in me. You have been redeemed through his blood. Through his blood. I believe it is nearing on sin, if not sin, to believe that your sin is greater than his blood. Let me say that again. I believe it is nearing on sin, if not outright sin.

And we do it because we're weak and we don't understand who we are in Christ. To believe that your sin is greater than his blood. You need to have the faith to be built up in your identity. And faith comes through what? Hearing and hearing by what? If you're not into the word of God, you are not going to grow in Christ and know who you are. You will walk in impotence. You will not walk in power. You will not walk in authority.

Your marriage will stumble on. Your relationship with your children will stumble on. Your business will stumble on. God is calling you to something more powerful than that. And then the final one is inheritance. You have an inheritance in Christ that is available now. You don't have to wait for someone to die because Jesus already died. Go to verse 11. In him we are waiting for an inheritance. Oop, oop, wrong. In him we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things together to the counsel of his will.

The Greek word there for inheritance, this is the verb of it, is klerao. This isn't the exact form that it's using, but klerao. And klerao means something that you have now, an inheritance now. You can dip into that inheritance. And the nice thing about that inheritance is it never runs out. It will never run out in him. So here's your practical takeaways. I didn't even get to the sealing of the spirit. You're going to have to do that on your own.

Verse 13 and 14. The inheritance is the Holy Spirit. Pretty good. Better than a house in Miami. Well, anything is better than a house in Miami. But nonetheless, I'm just playing for all you Miami folk. Look at what that is in Christ, what the inheritance is. But I'm going to give you four practical takeaways, okay? And as we are as a church. Because we have to know who we are. And we're going to work really hard to have classes like this summer of freedom in Christ and different things so you can learn more of who you are.

But we have to do this together. Me just preaching will not do it for you. You actually have to go and do it yourself or we won't grow as a church. Here's the first one. You're chosen, like I said, by the Father. You are redeemed by the Son. You are sealed by the Spirit. And then you are gathered into one people. Now imagine, I want you to imagine what this church would look like if we all got a hold of what I just talked about.

You see, that's a different reality. And that is the kind of church that Satan fears. The kind of church that makes a difference in the world. Amen? Stand if you would. Amen. Stand if you would. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it.

Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Take it. mana.