Ephesians 4: 7 – 10
Paul mentioned that there are certain areas that the church is to be unified in their beliefs
- We are one body
- The Holy Spirit lives in us
- We have a hope which is a destiny of heaven
- One faith in Jesus as the only way to heaven
- One baptism into Jesus.
Vs 7 However he has given each one of us a special gift through the generosity of Christ.
We are going to look at these gifts more next week
1. God fills the universe with himself.
We have looked at the universe before, but we want to look at a few little facts.
Our own Milky Way Galaxy is 100,000 light years across
Light travels at 186,000 miles a second. A beam of light could travel around the world seven times every second. Knowing this, a light year is 5.88 trillion miles
What is a trillion
a million seconds ago was 12 days ago
a billion seconds ago was 32 years ago
a trillion seconds ago was 31,709 years ago
We have sent up voyager 1 on September 5, 1977 traveling at 35,000 miles an hour. This spring it will leave our solar system but that is still.2% of a light year
Psalm 8: 3, 4 When I consider the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have ordained; what is man that you take thought of him and the son of man that you care for Him.
2. God descended
Ephesians 4: 9 this clearly means that Christ descended to our lowly world.
Psalm 62: 9 Men are only a vapor; exalted men an illusion. On a balance scale, they go up; together they weigh less than a vapor.
Colossians 4: 9 for in Christ all the fullness of God in human body
Why did he descend? This word is also used in Luke 4: 18 The spirit of the Lord is upon me…proclaim that the captives will be released. (this is descended)
We are released from sin and have an inheritance to be released from the captivity of this world.
3. Turn and See
How can we know him who is beyond comprehension. There are three stories that help us.
Acts 3: 1 – 5 A lame man is begging at the temple and he sees and asks Peter and John for a hand out. Peter stops and asks the man to look at him.
Is it possible that we can be looking at someone and not really see anything. We are not expecting to receive anything.
We have to turn and expect God to show Himself.
2. Moses and the burning bush turned. God told him to take off his shoes.
- Shoes carry the residue of where we have walked before.
- Without shoes we have to be careful where we walk in the future.
- We have to rid ourselves of the flesh so God can do the miraculous.
3. John and the Island of Patmos turned to the voice of God and saw Jesus in His glory.
Hebrews 4: 15 – 16 We serve a God who understands our weaknesses, but we can come before Him and receive mercy and grace in times of need
Carl Sagan wrote how we are alone on this planet and have no hope except it. He mentioned that all the accomplishments of man are worth nothing because we are just a small dot in the universe. I agree with some of what Carl Sagan wrote, but overall, we have a hope because God recognized us and came to us to set us free.