You're Alive in Christ [Part 1]

Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright. He could demonstrate His grace in you, His immeasurable goodness and kindness.

In other words, He makes you a trophy of His grace, and He shows you off. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series called Ephesians as presented at Reynolda Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program today, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It can be yours for your donation this month to Alan Wright Ministries. So as you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you today's special offer.

Contact us at PastorAlan.org, that's PastorAlan.org, or call 877-544-4860. More on this later in the program. But now, let's get started with today's teaching. Here is Alan Wright.

Hey, are you ready for some good news? There's a problem on the island. That's what the aviation head at Ucarumpa in the eastern highlands of Papua New Guinea at the SIL Wycliffe Aviation Headquarters told us. There's a huge... You know how your mind can go to a hundred different places in about one-tenth of a second?

And that's what happened with me. This aviation manager, he said he'd just gotten off the radio with the people on the little island, and he said, there's a delay, there's a problem. He said, because a huge... And I was just going, a huge what? Huge storm? Huge tidal wave? Huge crash?

Huge engine failure? If you haven't heard me talk about it yet, you'll get to over the next six months. But my daughter and I just got back from a mission trip of a lifetime to go to a little island in the Medang province of Papua New Guinea, a little 15-mile wide island that has no electricity, no roads, no cars, no phones, no running water.

People grow their gardens, a few of them raise some pigs, and they live in leafy huts down on the beach, and that's it. And we went because after 27 years of work, beloved missionaries that we've supported, that we've been able to support over the years, Jeff and Cissie Dejournis, had completed their work with Wycliffe of translating a New Testament, the first Bible for the Arab, low-cap speaking people, about 3,000 people that speak that language. And when we heard a couple years ago, Jeff, up on this platform, say that they nearly finished the work, held up a thumb drive of the rough draft of the New Testament, and said that the people were growing their gardens and raising their pigs and getting ready for the biggest party for the Bible dedication. My daughter, my 15-year-old daughter, who I'd said, you get to take a special trip sometime during your teenage years with Daddy, she came and she said, I want to go on that trip. And everything within me just exploded with joy. I was so touched.

I said, I do too. Well, we didn't know at the time that it would be 12 different plane rides. So there we sat, having flown from Raleigh-Durham to Los Angeles, and then the 16 hours from Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia, and then being at the wrong airport in Sydney and having to get over to the domestic airport and running down the corridor to make our flight so that we could get it to Brisbane, Australia, and in Brisbane almost missing our flight as we waited in customs and running down that corner to hear them calling our names, last call for passengers right, and getting onto the plane to Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, and then from there the next day getting the missionary plane to make it through the weather and the clouds and the mountain peaks from Port Moresby to Ucarampa, these eastern highlands. So all that was left after these five plane rides was a 45-minute little shuttle flight from Mission Aviation Fellowship to take us over to the island where the celebration was going to be taking place. And so we were there. The fog had been heavy that morning, and so everything was delayed, and we were waiting for our turn because they'd already taken one group over to the island on the little plane. And then the manager comes out and he says, I've just gotten off the radio, there's a problem on the island, a huge, and my heart was just sinking.

I mean we'd come so far. And what he said next, I could have never guessed in a million years, he said, a huge celebration has taken place at the runway. He said, all of the locals have come out to greet the plane, and they're dancing and they're singing at this grass runway, and the pilot has radioed and said we can't get them off the runway. And so we can't safely take off, and he said it's probably going to take at least 30 minutes before we can clear the runway because these people are so excited that the Bible has come to their little island, and it's going to take us a while before we can come back over and pick up the next group. And I didn't know if I was going to just laugh out loud and fall over or just weep for just the sheer joy that somebody in the world was getting their first Bible and was so excited that they danced around the plane and wouldn't let it take off again. So that's my new standard. I'm going to so that's my new standard for when I say, are you ready for some good news?

All right. Because when you open up the Word of God, there ought to be a holy riot in your heart if you realize that the God of the cosmos who created everything spoke, and it was by the unction of the Holy Spirit put into a written word. And I got about 17 English translations sitting around my house and about 40 of them on my computer. But I got to go see a people who had their first Bible in their language, and I don't think I'll ever look on the Word of God the same. Ephesians chapter 2 has some of the greatest news that you could ever hear. You have been made alive together with Christ.

Ephesians chapter 2 verse 1, And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work, and the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which He loved us, 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 Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

It's the best news imaginable that you once were dead, but now through Christ you have been made alive with Christ, that the resurrection life of Jesus is also your life, your life has been resurrected. All right, I want to start, I want to approach this text, and we're going to be here this week and next, and I want to approach it by going to the end of the text first to show you that there's a purpose behind all of this rich affirmation that Paul is giving, because he says at verse 7 that the purpose of God raising us up with Christ, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace and kindness towards us in Christ Jesus, and he says at verse 10, we are His workmanship, and we're created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. In other words, there are two things that are being highlighted here that are in a sense the reasons that this great crescendo of praise and glory for what God has done in making us alive, there's a reason for all of this, and it's really twofold, and the first is to say that He could demonstrate His grace in you, His immeasurable goodness and kindness. In other words, He makes you a trophy of His grace, and He shows you off, and that secondly that you are His workmanship, and that you have been made to do wonderful things, and because of both of these things, God has done this amazing work of taking us from death into life, raising us up with Christ, and seating us in the heavenlies positioned with Christ now. This is where the first place you understand that God's affection and inclination towards you is like a parent who's really proud. In other words, to show you off, the heart of God in the very best sense of the word is delighting in showing off the wonderful gracious transformation that's taken place in your life.

In other words, what I'm saying is your Father is proud of you. Anyone can learn to speak life and empower the people they love. Contact us today to get your copy of the Amazon best-selling book, and when you do, for a very limited time, we will send you four additional resources to help you discover the power to bless. Along with the beautiful hardcover book, you'll receive Pastor Alan's video masterclass called Speak Life and its corresponding study guide. Also, we'll send you Pastor Alan's brand new video course, The Power to Bless, perfect for small groups or individual devotions.

It also comes with a study guide. Everyone, needs to be blessed, and anyone can learn to bless others. So, contact us today to get the Power to Bless bundle, Pastor Alan's book, two video courses, and two study guides. Today is the final day we're offering this special product. Learn more at pastorallen.org. That's pastorallen.org, or call 877-544-4860. Today's teaching now continues.

Here once again is Allen Wright. God's affection and inclination towards you is like a parent who's really proud. In other words, to show you off.

The heart of God, in the very best sense of the word, is delighting in showing off the wonderful gracious transformation that's taken place in your life. In other words, what I'm saying is your father is proud of you. And any parent can understand this, because parents, you know, are just any decent parents proud of his or her kids. It's just something in you, and it's hard to explain, because you know you shouldn't go around and just talk about your own kids, and let me tell you about what my kid just did, and, you know, but you show them pictures of your kids, you have a baby, here's, you know, we show you the pictures. Why are we proud of our kids? Well, in the first place, we're proud of them because, let's be honest, there's a little part of us that says, well, I got something to do with the fact that they just made an A on that test. You know, they got that from somewhere.

You know, it was a little bit like that. So there's a little bit, we're proud of them because if they do something good, it's a reflection on us, whether you're a biological parent, or adoptive parent, or a foster parent, or a spiritual parent. If you invested in somebody, and then something good happens, it's okay to say there's a little part of you that's just happy about that, because you see that you had a role in that, and God is like that. God is like, he's proud of, he's proud of what he's done. He's like, he's just like in the creation, when he created light, and he said, that's good. So God looks at you, and he did something amazing by taking you out of death into life, and he's got you on display.

So that's good. He brings the angels around and says, look at that, look at that, look at that, that's good. But they're also, the heart of the parent is to be proud of the kid, because this is the nature of love. Oh, that we could see this. It shows up with our kids, and our love for them, but it shows up in your love for anybody. When you love someone, and something good happens to them, you are delighted.

In fact, have you ever felt this before? You can love someone so much, that you'd rather something good happened to them, than it happened to you. In other words, the more pure and undefiled your love for someone, the more delight you take in any good thing going on with them. Now imagine perfect love. God is love.

And I want you to know his heart towards you, is that he loves you so purely, that anything good that goes on in your life, he is delighted. So God, in the best sense, is a show-off, and he's showing off his kids. But secondly, he says that all of this has been done towards this purpose, that you, being God's workmanship, were created for good works ahead of time. They've been prepared for you.

This only follows after him making the point three times. It's by grace that you've been saved, and not by your works, that he finally then can say, you're not saved by your works, but you are saved unto works. And listen, good works are not just the big spiritual things.

It's not you needing to be a deacon or an elder or a minister or a missionary, although if you're called, be that. It's changing a diaper in the middle of the night. It's listening when your friend is down and needs a listening ear. It is walking the neighborhood on a beautiful afternoon, and something in you decides to pray for this family in this house, and you don't know them. It is picking up a piece of trash because you want it to be prettier.

It is a little thing. It is a big thing, and everything in between, this is all part of good works. Wonder if it would change your outlook on life if you began to think that when you get up in the morning, God has already prepared some really good things that you're going to be involved in, and you're just going to walk it out and recognize it being in tune to the Holy Spirit and realize that you were created for this. You were born again for this.

You're alive for this. So you're alive, Paul is saying, because God is enjoying showing you off and because you're created as His workmanship to do wonderful things. All of that is where this is headed. Now jump back to the beginning of our text, and you'll see at verse 1 something that is absolutely countercultural, and our culture would be an unpopular thing to say, but I need to linger here for a bit, for he says, you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked. There are essentially three views of how human beings of what condition they are born into.

There is, and I oversimplify these, but I think these are the three main views. The one view is we are born and we're well, or at least neutral. We're okay. You're born in the world and you're not bent towards sin.

You're not bent, and so it's the influences of the environment that make the difference. Basically people are, I'm okay and you're okay. And that is the spirit of the age. The second view is that we're not okay. We are messed up and sick. Now some would say we're a bit sick, and some would say we're very sick and we're on death's door, spiritually speaking, and everything in between, but this view says we're messed up but not hopeless. There's a third view, and this is what I believe is Paul's view.

I think this is the biblical world view, and I think this is what Paul is saying here. And this view is we're not well, and we're not just sick. Spiritually and figuratively, we are dead. Now this is very important for your worldview and for your understanding of this text and for your understanding of everything that makes the good news such good news, because it's not good news to hear the statement you've been made alive together with Christ if you don't have a view of what it means to be spiritually dead. It's important to understand your perspective on this because it will inform your view of the need you have for God.

So if your view is not good news, so if your view is that we're basically well, we come in the world, we're okay, at least we're neutral, then your view of God could either be we don't really need God, we don't know if He exists, and we don't need Him, or your view of God, and this is also part of the spirit of the age, is that we're basically okay, and we just need God to be that inner light that we can look to to help guide us along in life, to help remind us that we're okay, and to comfort us when we go through difficult times. But if your view is that we're sick, then your view is this is what we need God for, we need Him to fix us, we need Him to help us become better, that God is there to help us become better. But if your view is that we are born in sin in such a way that we are spiritually and figuratively dead, shut off from fellowship with God, and dead in our trespasses, then this changes your view of what you really need, because there's one thing that a dead person needs, and that is to be made alive. And this is important also because once you believe that our condition that we're born into is that we are dead, there is no gray area about this.

Now I know that lots of things in life have shades of gray, but some things don't, and this one has no shade of gray. If you are dead, you are dead. There's no such thing as, is that person dead? Well, he's a little, you know, dead, sort of dead. No, you're dead. Your heart's not beaten, you're not breathing, and you are dead. And it's the moment that without Christ, everybody fears their whole life because it's like, that's it, right?

Everything changes when you're dead. Alan Wright, and we're fully much alive here, and we're going to talk more about it here in just a moment in the studio. I encourage you to stick with us. It's our teaching in Ephesians.

That's the big series. Today's teaching, You're Alive in Christ. Back in a moment with Alan. Unlock the power of blessing your life. Discover God's grace-filled vision for your life by signing up for Alan Wright's free daily blessing. If you want to fill your heart with grace and encouragement, get Alan Wright's daily blessing. It's free and just a click away at pastoralan.org. In his newest book, The Power to Bless, Alan Wright leads readers into a deep revelation of how anyone can learn to speak life and empower the people they love.

Contact us today to get your copy of the Amazon bestselling book. And when you do, for a very limited time, we will send you four additional resources to help you discover The Power to Bless. Along with a beautiful hardcover book, you'll receive Pastor Alan's video master class called Speak Life and its corresponding study guide. Also, we'll send you Pastor Alan's brand new video course, The Power to Bless, perfect for small groups or individual devotions.

It also comes with a study guide. Everyone needs to be blessed and anyone can learn to bless others. So contact us today to get The Power to Bless bundle, Pastor Alan's book, two video courses, and two study guides. Today is the final day we're offering this special product. Learn more at pastoralan.org.

That's pastoralan.org or call 877-544-4860. Alan, I've heard it so many times that we are fully alive in His Spirit. And how does that translate to the everyday? What does that really mean?

I mean, does it mean I'm going to be happy all the time and I'm going to be full of excitement all the time? Well, you know, is the important thing to remember, Dana, Jesus didn't die on a cross to make us better. He died so that dead people would become alive again. The image of being alive is not an image of everything being easy all the time.

And it's not an image that says, well, you're never going to have grief or have unhappiness. But to be fully alive means to have the actual life of God in you. You know, He's the author of life. He's the giver of life. That's where life came from. No scientist in the world that can explain where life actually came from. And what we know is it came from God. So when you actually have the life of God in you, it makes you fully alive, fully alive in relationships, fully alive in hope, fully alive with a sense of purpose in this world. We'll learn more, but it is extraordinary good news just to know you're alive in Christ forever. Today's good news message is a listener supported production of Alan Wright Ministries.