“God is doing This – On Purpose with You.”

Sermon outline is available HERE!

Eph 2:7-10

so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Transcript of Sermon:

Pastor Thom Rittichier
(film presentation from oneforisrael.org) Shalom. I’m Erez Soref, the president of One For Israel Ministries, and I want to give you just a glimpse into what God is doing in Israel, and how he’s working through our ministry. Our college and seminary was established in 1990, with a vision of training ministers for the rapidly growing Jewish and Arab churches in Israel. We are in fact, the only accredited Hebrew speaking Seminary in the world. And today, many Jewish and Arab believers come from all over Israel to study Bible, theology, counseling, and practical ministry. And from our programs, thousands of graduates are working in Arab and Jewish ministries, all over Israel, spreading the light of the gospel. Training up ministers and Bible teachers in Israel is a crucial work as we are experiencing an unprecedented awakening, here in Israel, through our media outreach programs. The gospel videos and testimonies have reached over 90 million views globally. In Israel alone, over 27 million views on YouTube and Facebook. Israel is a startup nation, and our people spend more time online and on their phones than almost any other country in the world. The streets ministry today is not in the local square, but online. And with social media platforms, our team is having incredible engagements with over four views per Israeli of our online outreach in Hebrew. One of the most powerful aspects of our media outreach is the fact that we’re also a Bible College. So we have the best theological minds developing content, from apologetics to discipleship and spiritual growth. Our Facebook communities and website platforms are not just a great destination for Jewish seekers, but an enriching resource for the Messianic community in Israel. And from Israel, we are reaching the world with resources in English like, Imetmessiah.com. And we’ve had our videos translated into Russian and many other foreign languages. And being one for Israel, we have a powerful unity with our Arab brothers and sisters as well. Our Bible College is training and encouraging the Arab church here in Israel, and our Arabic outreach team is producing powerful films and daily responding to seekers from all over Israel, Egypt, and the entire Middle East. Also with Agape FM, we are the only messianic radio station in Israel, delivering powerful worship and encouragement in Hebrew 24/7. We’ve also launched an exciting program to disciple the believers serving in the Israeli Defense Forces, providing teaching and conferences to strengthen their faith and encourage them as they serve our country. Our local outreach also blesses Holocaust survivors, and provides for mothers at risk with our pro life and humanitarian aid programs. We’ve seen amazing progress in the last 30 years of ministry. But I’m convinced that the work that God has begun in this day is going to be unlike any others. And we need your prayers and support to see it through. So join us, hand in hand, and become One For Israel.

(pastor begins message) It’s pretty exciting work when you see what’s going on there. And it’s done, I think, in a right way, it’s the nationals. This man came to the United States, went to Dallas Seminary, graduated from there, went to his homeland, and worked to establish this truth, this ministry, this work, that is teaching the word, strengthening the church, doing on the street ministries of support that you saw in this film there for people. They’re reaching this area of the world, Palestine, and I definitely think that this is worthy of support. So I’d like you to think, consider, what you would be willing to give, on a monthly basis, to support a work like this. So we’re calling Heartland, we’ll bring this up again, to launch this support. Let’s pray. Father in heaven, we come to you in Jesus name. And we pray that you will work there. Father, even this week as I’ve had opportunity, I’ve had to do some exposure to giving/supporting and the nature of giving. It’s the personal stories of peoples lives being touched and changed, that call our hearts to be involved in a personal way. And we pray, Lord, that we would join you in what you’re doing, at this point in human history, in bringing Messianic Jews and Palestinians together at a time across the world where there is much hostility, much ethnic and racial tension, being used as a political weapon to accomplish purposes among people. We pray that the gospel of Jesus Christ prevail there, in the homeland and here in our land. In Jesus name, and God’s folk said, Amen. So be that. Greatly appreciate that.

So you know that some of our folks today are over ministering in an outreach that went on yesterday and this morning, The Downtown Campout. But it was our intent to that we meet here to carry on the work. And so that’s why we’re here, appreciate you being here. And for those who are online with us, great to have you involved, as well. Well this morning, we’re going to talk about something that needs to be echoed. Let me start here…You did that on purpose! Did what? You tripped me so that I was looking clumsy in front of all my friends and laughed that. You did that on purpose. Did what? You invited that newcomer to come over and sit with you so they felt welcome and not so weird, so odd….Kids do things on purpose, we kind of all know that, right? Ever had anything done to you on purpose? Schools have been known for that, a craft gets “accidentally” damaged, smashed. I’ve seen that, an art project, smashed, on purpose. And then I’ve seen this too, where a heart tug on one child concerning the case of another and they go out of their way to do some kind act. Ever experienced any of those kinds of things as a kid? Let me add this, adults do things on purpose too. This is a picture of a guy in the military who did something to be different, when they’re trying to conform everyone and sometimes it’s suspect. Let me give you a couple of others things, done on purpose. Authors who write a books and then launch a campaign to buy up a bunch of their own published books, so that they become a best selling author and they can boast, it’s a best selling book! Does that happen? Yes, even with Christian authors that happens. An exercise promo person has several plastic surgeries to show what their exercise program can do for you…done on purpose. Does that happen? That’s happened! You know, even the Bible records for us adults doing some things on purpose. King David sends a letter to his general Abner, by the very hand of Uriah, that he back away, that Abdur in the Israeli forces, back away from Uriah when he’s in the heat of the front line battle…done on purpose, 2 Samuel chapter 11 describes that. And Abigail, when her husband foolishly, foolishly, denies any kind of support to David’s army when he’s out fighting and protecting them. Abigail, wisely sends abundant provision on purpose. As a matter of fact, the Bible tells us without her husband’s knowledge, Abigail made haste and did this on purpose. Listen to these provisions: 200 loaves, 2 skins of wine, 5 sheep already prepared, 5 seahs of parched grain, 100 cluster of raisins, 200 cakes of figs, and laid them on donkeys and delivered them to David…on purpose…to appease David’s anger. And she did appease his anger. And David praised God, that he didn’t act in anger, 2 Samuel 25. Doing things on purpose. There’s many other illustrations that even God’s Word points out to us about actions done.

The Bible tells us these actions that are done on purpose, are not only done by people but by God Himself. And that’s what we’re going to take up this morning. God is doing this, on purpose, with you. We are going to look in Ephesians chapter two, on what God is up to, on purpose, with you and with me. And the purpose, God not only has as he does this, but he clearly makes it known to us. This is the purpose and it’s clearly made known to us how this purpose of God is to play out in our lives. Ephesians chapter two, that’s where I want you to turn with me this morning. We have already, last Sunday, looked at the situation in which God is doing this, carrying out his purpose. The situation is that the entire world is a graveyard. It reads like this, Ephesians two, “And you were dead in trespasses and sins.” What you were, once you were dead, dead to God, “following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, Satan, the spirit that’s now working in the sons of disobedience, we all once lived in the passions, the desires of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature, children of wrath as the rest of mankind.” The whole world is a graveyard. And this world,as a graveyard, doesn’t have distinction between a senator and a murder, a professor and a drug abuser, all are dead. And there is just different degrees of decay in this deadness to God, different degrees of damage that is done. That’s the condition in which God takes purpose. Verse four, “But God” intervenes “because of his great love” while we were dead. Notice with me, verse five, “even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ-by grace you have been saved-and raised us up with Christ, with him, and seated us with him, with Christ, in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” There’s a clarity here, it’s in Christ. And then he begins to state his purpose, which is the passage we come to, God has purpose and plan. There’s a song like that, God never moves without purpose or plan with his servants, with man, he never moves. There is purpose. And this is the purpose. And the purpose plays out in our life, not only now, on September 26 2021, but for all time to come. This purpose plays out.

I’m not fabricating this. I’m not coming up to sound grandioso with this, that is what God tells us. One person, RC Sproul’s said, What you do matters for a long, long time. Forever, it matters. God’s purpose and how it plays out in our life matters, now and forever, and here’s his purpose. Notice with me beginning in verse seven, “so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing.” It’s not out of yourself. “It is the gift of God”, the sacrificial gift of God, “not as a result of the works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for the good works, which God prepared beforehand”, he made in advance, “that we should walk in them.” God, on purpose, is doing this with you. And here’s what we’re going to look at. There is this show that God has in mind, it’s a coming attraction, and it is an attraction, it will be an attraction and it’s coming and it’s coming for a long, long time, as a matter of fact, from what he says, it’s coming forever. There is a show that God has in mind for you. And there is this part that God has designed for you in it.

Now I’m going to pause here for a moment because I want us to have a word of prayer. To do exactly what the Lord has asked us to request of him when we have opportunity in an assembly to look into his word, I’m going to ask him to show us great and marvelous things. Father in heaven, we come to you in Jesus name, and we are grateful for an access to you. We’re grateful to live in a time in history, when the nation of Israel is having a growing number of what are called Messianic Jews. And they are not inwardly focused, as Messianic Jews, but touching other Israelis and the Arab world, which is in such dispute there. We thank you that we’re on the planet here at this point in time. We thank you that you have purpose for us to be in on and that you are doing this purpose now, for us to engage in and Lord, I pray that by your spirit, you might open our eyes to be hold this great and wonderous thing in your instruction, in your law, that you’ve given to us. And that by this Jesus purpose would be accomplished, that we would be sanctified, we would be set apart more intentionally, and determinately, to your end, to your direction, to your purpose in our lives. God thank you, that we can assemble this morning, thank you that we can hear this truth which is so so needed in our age, so needed to be carried in our hearts, so needed to be lived out in our time. I pray that you grant us grace to see these great and marvelous things. In Jesus name. Amen.

We’re going to talk about that there is a show that God has in mind, a show that is his purpose. It’s stated here in Ephesians 2, with a clause, it’s called a hina clause, a statement of purpose clause. God did this. God made us alive together with Christ, when we were dead. He didn’t only bring us up out of the grave of being dead to God and to his ways and to his works, but then he raised us up with Christ. He gave us an exalted position in Christ, an exalted position, that is an enthronement with Christ, in the heavenly places, in the very place where over all of creation, both in this universe, and whatever else is in the Milky Way galaxy and beyond, the place where God, in his counsel, determines everything after his own will, after the council of his will. And in this council, there are many, many players. The Book of Psalms talks about this council, the council of these principalities and these powers that are in the heavenly place. And God there, as the leader, makes decisions on what’s coming down and plays this out on purpose. Everything that transpires, everything after the counsel of his will, goes through this council, and he plays it out. It transpires on Earth. That’s the nature of his purpose. He made us alive in Christ, he raised us to this exalted position, and he enthroned us in Christ in this heavenly council. That’s where we are. That’s what we have been given here. And for his purpose, now stated, he states it this way, “so that”, this is yet to be realized, “in the ages to come”, plural, “in the ages to come”, verse 7.

You know, that is an amazingly interesting statement. There are ages to come. You know, there are ages that we live through here on Earth. Some that we didn’t particularly live through though. I visited my son in Boston this week. And we spoke about this quite frequently, especially since where he is working, in that academic environment that he’s in. We spoke about this frequently, the Dark Ages and how the Dark Ages changed in the Reformation. And in the Enlightenment. As a matter of fact, he was speaking to one of the people in academia about the Enlightenment, he was actually talking to him about the history because that was the guy’s focus. And my son asked this guy about Martin Luther. And what was the significance of Martin Luther. And he said, he was the spark of the Enlightenment. Martin Luther, in bringing in the Reformation. The point that I’m making here is that there is purpose, God working through purpose in ages, the earth has experienced ages, there were the Dark Ages, the Reformation and the Enlightenment. We are in what’s called the computer age, which means it’s very wise that you expose your kids to the use of, to become very fluid in, and very easily adaptable to changes with what’s happening in this computer age. As a matter of fact, in our homeschooling, I have been teaching my grandkids about science. And the next thing that they take up is computer science. And their mom was talking to me that now it’s required curriculum that they get all this. It’s only wise that kids get exposed to that because of the duration of time we’re in, the computer age. We carry them around all the time, some people on their wrist, and in their pocket. The computer age, it’s the age that we’re in. There have been other ages like the industrial age. And when you’re talking about God working out his plan on Earth, there’s the church age. There was a time when he had his chosen people Israel, and now he has this called out assembly of people that’s called the church, the believers in Jesus Christ and we follow him, the church age. And the church is spoken about by Jesus directly in the last book of the Bible, the book of Revelation, as he begins to unfold what comes next in Revelation. He talks first to the church in this church age, but the Bible tells us here that there are ages, there are durations of time which have characteristics to come. What is that? What is this coming age? Just so you realize I’m not coming up with this on my own. I brought a couple of books written by men I’ve studied under. This one is by Dr. Homer Kent, the president of the seminary that I went to. And he says the “ages to come is a reference to the eternal ages which shall be ushered in at Christ’s return.” When Christ returns, we move into a new age, not the Age of Aquarius, but it’s the age of the kingdom of Christ here on earth, and his rule and his reign. And that’s the beginning of these ages to come. There is a new age, that dawns. Then there’s this book written by Curtis Vaughan, when talking about this said, “ages to come are those that follow the second coming of Christ. Paul had in mind the grand display of God’s wonderous grace in eternity. The plural, ages to come, suggesting a succession of ages.” Age after an age after an age, it begins with the kingdom called the millennium, by believers over the centuries, the kingdom age when he reigns here on earth. And there are ages to come. God’s purpose for a show, yet to be realized, is in these ages to come.

And he goes on to tell us that these ages to come, it’s to be a show and an exhibit, a demonstration, an exhibition if you would. Now, my wife and I went, we don’t often do this, but I had wanted to go to the State Fair this year before COVID came out, I’d been wanting to go there, never seem to work out in our schedule. So in August, we had decided to go to the State Fair, we took some of the kids with us. And we went through some of the demonstrations, the buildings that they put up. One was a merchant building, we never do this. As a matter of fact, I am kind of always, you know, those infomercial things that go on and I’m always kind of definitely negative from the start on them. Okay, yeah, all these new gadgets and widgets and all that kind of stuff. Well we were going through this merchant building, and this guy had this handy, dandy, chopper, dicer glazer, and it did all this stuff, everything that you ever wanted to do. And you know me, I am negative on this stuff. But for some reason, at this particular moment, it caught my wife’s attention. And this guy, on this slice r, dicer, grinder, grater, shredder fabulous machine that had extra blades, was going on and showing this to us. And, she thought, you know, I could really use that in the kitchen. And beyond my negativeness, I ended up carrying out of this merchant building one of these wonderful dicer, slicer, shredder, wonderful machines. Okay, from this demonstration that he had given to us, this exhibition. Now I don’t think we use that machine anymore. I’m not even sure it’s around anymore. But it’s an idea of what God’s doing in these ages to come.

There’s an exhibition, there’s a demonstration of something that is to be greatly utilized, for a long time, forever. It’s to be utilized that he might show, that he might demo, exhibit his grace toward us in Christ Jesus. And what he’s demonstrating, what he’s exhibiting here is the exceeding riches of this grace. He’s talked frequently about the wealth that God has, the wealth of his mercy, the wealth of his inheritance, the wealth, but here, he adds to it. And he says, this is the super wealth, the exceeding riches of his grace, in kindness towards us, in Christ Jesus. What’s being demonstrated? What is being demonstrated is you. What God’s purpose gets out of what he’s doing is you, as a person being impacted by His grace. The exceeding riches of his grace, in kindness towards us, in Christ Jesus is being put out as a demonstration for age after age after age after age to come. You see, you can’t pick up in an instant, because it’s so vast, it’s so rich, it’s so inclusive, you can’t pick up in an instant what God’s grace has accomplished. It takes age after age after age of it being demonstrated. To quote Homer Kent again, “This future display will demonstrate clearly the exceeding riches of God’s grace. The wealth of God’s provision has been mentioned. Now Paul’s point involves the idea that it will take the unending ages of eternity itself to display adequately” the very great abundance of this grace, the exceeding riches of it. “Such grace toward sinners is inexhaustible and infinite. It can never be fully revealed to finite creatures in an instant. Both men and angels will marvel throughout eternity at what God has done”, in his purpose, from his counsel, by his will. And you know, the Bible tells us that, 1 Peter chapter one, angels desire to look into what God has done in the lives of believers who are saved by grace. This is his purpose. And I’m not putting this together in a fabricated manner, to make this sound grandiose, that is what Paul is saying here. “In the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus”, that is purpose. That’s the show, the exhibition that’s coming up here.

And there is your involvement in this. Your involvement, he begins to pick up in verses eight and nine, “For by grace you”. It’s by grace you, he’s just talked about the riches of this grace. And now the grace is you. The grace is for you, “For by grace you”, it’s going to be involving you. He makes perfectly clear. “For by grace”, what we’re going to look at are three very distinctive terms that have been used here. People like John Calvin have highlighted that these are of extreme importance here. “For by grace”, grace is the manner of God’s inner action with us. It has been gracious, it has been goodwill. It has been intentionally kind and favorable towards us. You know, there have been times in my life in situations where I had to go meet a particular leader to talk about some work, a possibility of working for them and my wife and I prayed that I would find favor in the person’s eyes. It’s kind of like, what Nehemiah did. Nehemiah was at a time and age when God’s people were in exile for their disobedience to him. This was the line of Judah. They were in exile from the land that God had promised to them, because they were disobedient to him. They didn’t incline themselves to his word, they push the truth down and away from them. So as a result, they’re in exile. And the time period of the exile was coming to an end. And there were some folks who were still back there, who didn’t come out of the exile, and were living in the place. And Nehemiah finds out about Jerusalem and the condition that it’s in, this very land that we’re praying for this week. Jerusalem, is claimed by the Arab Palestinian territories as being their capital, just like Israel claims that Jerusalem is their capital. And there’s that conflict that’s going on right now today. These are tension and people are at odds and there’s anger and there has been for centuries, and there’s a biblical background to this whole thing that’s going on. It was there, that Nehemiah learns that the walls are broken down of Jerusalem, the gates are burned, Nehemiah chapter one. And then Nehemiah, who is a cupbearer to the king, it sounds like some kind of a butler. But it was actually kind of a bigger position than that because you were kind of responsible for the supplies that were coming in to nourish the king. So Artaxerxes goes in, chapter two of Nehemiah, and Artaxerxes looks at him. As matter of fact, let me let me read this for you, because it’s really fascinating what he says, “In the month of Nisan, in the 20th year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought before him, I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I, Nehemiah, had not been sad in his presence”, because that was kind of a no no to do with the king. You don’t disturb the king with your petty life. “And the king said to me, Why is your face sad, seeing you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of the heart.” There is a depressiveness here, sadness of heart. “Then I was very much afraid. I said to the king, Let the king live forever! Why should not my face be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ graves lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire? Then the king said to me, What are you requesting?” Now listen to what Nehemiah says, “So I prayed to the God of heaven. And I said to the king, If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, that you may send me to Judah, to the city to my fathers’ graves, that I may rebuild it.” King Artaxerxes, the powerful ruler at the time and Nehemiah, a servant in his court with responsibilities, and he seeks favor in the kings eyes. You know how that plays out? Another time, we’ll have to talk about how that plays out.

It plays out like it’s to play out here with this manner of God’s interaction with us. I’m not talking about some petty King Artaxerxes, I’m talking about the one who’s in the Council of Heaven, the one that rules over all of the galaxy, all of everything that exists anywhere. This is the manner of interaction with us. And its gracious, its favor. It’s goodwill, that’s your involvement. By grace, the manner of God’s interaction, you’re saved. I want to read this literally, it’s a little more stiff and it doesn’t flow as nice but listen to what it says because it is so powerfully on point. It says this in verse 8, “For by the grace”, the grace that he’s just talked about, that are the riches that he’s demonstrating in all the ages to come, for by grace the you all are the saved ones, through faith, you are this saved ones, it’s what you are now in the present, from a past action, the saved ones, which means the rescued, the protected, the delivered by God, the taken care of by God, you are the saved ones. And then he adds this purpose, through faith, through entrusting your future life to him, in Christ. This is your involvement, by grace being rescued through faith in Christ. And to make this perfectly clear, he says this, not your doing, verse nine, it’s not of works, there’s no place for you to puff out your chest and pull out your suspenders. Because that’s not the case. It is totally the manner of God’s interaction with us. By grace you are the saved ones, through faith, through entrusting your life to Christ. It’s not your doing.

You know this has no question of uncertainty in it. And I want you to know that most of Christendom lives in an uncertainty. This has no question of uncertainty in it. I was raised in a very large, world wide Christendom church. It was a church that taught that you earn grace by doing good works, that they defined for you. These are works of penance and sacraments that you receive that’s a good work, and you do things like confess your sin, and you earn this grace by the works that you do. And it took me a long time after being saved to go back and unravel that in my head. And it is this passage that did it, this passage right here that helped those in a Christendom church to get the picture. That it’s not, it’s not by works, it’s not by actions that you do. You know, Martin Luther went to Rome and climbing up the stairs at the Vatican, doing these penance of works for grace to be earned with God. And it was there that the book of Romans came home to him, that it’s not this, it is not this. Now, it’s not just that church. But much of Christendom has adopted the idea that if you be good, you get to go to heaven. You have to be good to get to go. I want you to know that that is not the way it goes. It’s not by your doing. It’s not by your works. And you can not, you can not identify, here’s what I’ve done to make me good. And I want you to know that most of Christendom, not only the ritualistic system I was raised in but much that bears the name of Christendom, has the same notion. You be good. You go to heaven. Sorry. It doesn’t work that way. I’m not sorry. Because nobody could get there that way. It’s by grace you are the saved ones now, by what has happened in the past through faith. Not of yourself. Not of works. Not one iota can you add to this. It’s through faith. And he took great time to make it certain and it is certain. And the certainty, the certainty has a boldness to us, but no boasting arrogance about it. It has a boldness to us. So what God is doing is he’s saying trust me, trust me. Will you trust me?

Wow, how did it get so late?! This was such a good time. So let me wrap up with this. There is a part that God has designed for you. The part that God had designed for his involvement, by design, is that we are his workmanship. We are his handiwork, his craftmanship, what he has made. We are created in Christ Jesus, as new creations, any man be in Christ, this is a new thing. All things are passed away, new things have come. We are created in Christ Jesus, his involvement is his handiwork to create you in Christ Jesus, not your doing and he made it unto a direction. For, he says, in the direction of the good works, that he He made ahead. God not only made our salvation by grace through faith, and offers it to us, but he also in this gives us a direction of good works, that he’s laid out ahead that we, well, this becomes a very important part. Let me pause here just for a moment and say personally, personally, to you, personally, are you personally growing and changing to reflect being a new creation in Christ? Are things impacting you, so that he’s growing you to reflect Christ? You know, over this past week, as I mentioned, I had been in Boston, and I had some time to look into this thing of giving, as we’re looking at taking on supporting One For Israel. Here is a book, The Hole in Our Gospel, by Richard Stearns, president of World Vision, and he talks about this involvement of believers, and they’re giving, they’re growing. And as he did this, he gave the report from the Barna Group. Do you know what the Barna Research Group is? It’s a group that researches where people’s thinking is at. And they went to people, some who are outside of the church, and some who are church goers. And they ask a question, I want you to listen to this question. “Here are some words or phrases that people could use to describe religious faith. Please indicate if you think each of these phrases describes present-day Christianity.” Here is what the survey showed: Antihomosexual-outside the church 91%, churchgoers 80%. Judgmental-outside the church 87%, churchgoers 52% Hypocritical-outside the church 85%, churchgoers 47% Old fashioned-outside the church 78%, churchgoers 36% Too involved in politics-outside the church 75%, churchgoers 50% Out of touch with reality-outside the church 72%, churchgoers 32% Insensitive to others-outside the church 70%, churchgoers 29% Boring-outside the church 68%, churchgoers 27% Not accepting others faiths-outside the church 64%, churchgoers 39% Confusing-outside the church 61%, churchgoers 44%

It’s how they were perceiving us, how those in the church preceive us. What if it’s not true? We still have to work with how they see us. So how does God want us to be seen? As demonstrating his grace through the ages to come and your involvement, that you might walk in the good works, the good works that he has beforehand ordained. You know, there is an interesting thing here at the close of this, that we might walk in these good works, that he might show his grace. Those two go together, as we walk in these good works of growing and changing. Folks, in our time, what is more important? That we are earnest in our opposition to things that we don’t like in our society and make it known, give ’em a piece of our mind or that we demonstrate the fruits of the Spirit. And what’s more important, what is more important? We have to decide that. We have a political system where we can make our opinion known. And what is more important? That we operate in this by showing how much it irritates us or by showing the fruits of the Spirit. Which is more important? Now I get a lot of texts, and it’s constantly this anti, to involve, expression from believers. What’s more important? I want you to know that what we do matters for a long, long time. It matters in God showing the exceeding riches of his grace, it matters in how we might walk in showing his riches of grace.