The source of all that you need is already on deposit. Dr. Tony Evans says God is ready for you to put His provision into practice. You don't need to ask for what you already have. What you need to do is act on what you already have. This is the alternative broadcast featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans.
When you want to make a big purchase, the smart thing to do is to check your bank account to see what you can actually afford. Well today Dr. Evans points out that believers have access to a heavenly account that's overflowing with God's blessings. And he says it's time to start drawing from it. Let's join him in the first chapter of Ephesians as he explains. The first thing I want to talk about is the author of the book of Ephesians, the Apostle Paul. Paul, as we have come to know him, was not his original name. His original name was Saul. He was from the tribe of Benjamin, we are told in Philippians chapter 3. So there's a great possibility that he was named after another great man named Saul. Look for example at Philippians chapter 3. Let's look at Paul, before he was Paul, as he recounts his life when he was Saul. He says in chapter 3 verse 4, although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh, if anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more.
In other words, if anybody's got a reason to brag, don't come next to me because your braggadociousness would be made into nothingness when you stand next to me. I was circumcised the eighth day. That means my mother and father were religious. They got me down to the temple on time. I was of the nation of Israel, the elect people. I was of the tribe of, guess what, Benjamin. Now that's very important because the Benjamites were one of two tribes that stayed faithful when the other ten tribes were renegades and the first ones out to battle were the Benjamites.
So they were viewed as the bravest ones. He says, I was a Hebrew of the Hebrews. In other words, some people were Jews, but I was a Jew of the Jews.
I exceeded the average Jewish young man of my day. As to the law of Pharisee, but when they went looking for the creme de la creme of the Jews to put in the highest position, highest ranking position a Jew could reach during that time, guess who they chose? They chose me.
As to zeal, we'll talk about this in a moment. He says in verse 6, I was a persecutor of the church. When they looked for who would be the most committed Jew to get rid of Christianity, guess who they chose? They chose me because I was at the top of my game. And as to righteousness, which is in the law, I was found blameless.
In other words, when they went looking for faults, they found no fault in me. What he is insinuating here was that he had reached the top. He had much to be proud of or to put it in the framework of Saul, he stood tall. He had reached the pinnacle, but then one day he ran into the lion of the tribe of Judah and he was reduced to size.
And by the way, God can reduce you to size. So this Paul, who used to be Saul, the author of this book, participated in the punishment of Christians. Having been converted on the Damascus Road, God not only saved him, but look at what the book of Ephesians chapter 1 verse 1 says God did to him. It says he was an apostle.
God not only saved him, but God's grace reached out, raised him up, and gave him a high position. That's as high a position as you could get an apostle. That meant you were a writer of Scripture. He says he was an apostle noticed by the will of God. He wasn't going around looking for apostleship, but God called him. He gave him a calling that he could not renege on. By way of application, sometimes people ask me, how do I know my calling?
How do I know what God's will is, what he wants me to do? Let me read to you 1st Corinthians chapter 9 verse 16 in conjunction with what I just said about Paul's call to apostleship. 1st Corinthians chapter 9 verse 16 says, for if I preach the gospel I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion, for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel. You see Paul's calling was tied to his compulsion, or to use another word his passion. Now that leads to a second item and that is the audience. We talked about the author, he's Paul.
Let's talk about the audience. He says in verse 1, to the who? Saints who are at Ephesus. The Greek word saint means to be set apart for God's holy use. It's from the word that we get holy ones from or sanctified from.
It means to be set off as special. A saint became a saint when they became part of the family of God. In the middle of Ephesus was the Temple of Diana, the goddess of fertility. As such they banked on this female goddess to bless their crops and bless their money and bless their activity and their business and their kids and make everything productive.
The economy revolved around the Temple of Diana. When you read Paul coming to Ephesus a riot broke out because when folks started becoming Christians they stopped buying the Diana merchandise. Now as you recall in Revelation 2 this church will have a great problem.
The great problem it's going to have is that they will leave their first love. That was written to the church at Ephesus. When you back up a few years you can see Paul is already dealing with this issue of love because he says at the end of the verse 4, in love, he predestined us to adoption his sons. He ends the book in chapter 6 with a concern about their love, verse 23 and 24. So love is a major concern.
The noun and the adjective of the word love is used some 28 times in this book. He is concerned that they maintain their love for Jesus Christ because it is possible for a church to keep on being religious and not be in love with the Savior. Chapter 1 verse 22, he put all things in subjection under his feet and he gave himself his head over all things to the church which is his body the fullness of him who fills all in all.
So the church is the completion of Christ. You know why Jesus Christ said he had to leave? Because greater things we would do than he has done.
How can that be? Because we would be his body. But guess what that means? That means that the saints, the body of Christ is scattering all over this area to be lights of Christ. When Jesus was here he was only in one place at a time, but he has called us to be the church. The church in this section of the community has called us to be that we might be the fullness of him, that we might keep him being blown out all over the place.
Guess what we are? We are a temple or the dwelling place of God. You know what the temple was? It was where God hung out.
We are. We are God's hangout. The Bible says our body is the temple of God, 1st Corinthians 6, but here he says the corporate gathering of believers is God's household or God's family with God's collective hangout. Chapter 3 verse 10, in order that the manifold wisdom of God might be made known through the what? The church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. Verse 20, now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we can ask or think according to the power that works in us, to him be glory in the what?
In the church. The church is where God manifests his glory and it is the church which God uses to manifest his will to the angelic world. What he calls in verse 10 the rulers and authorities and the principalities.
That's the angelic world. That God lets the angels know what to do based on the activity of the church. In chapter 4 he says that the saints might be equipped, verse 12, to do the work of the ministry to the building up of the body of Christ. What we just saw, the body of Christ is the church. Guess what God wants the church and wants the church to be a place where people are built up, where people are developed. People may come in here weak and bent and broken and bruised, but because of the church they are to find healing for their wounds, help for their struggles, problems or solutions for their pain, encouragement for their discouragement. They are to be built up by what? By verse 16, that which every joint supplies. So that means everybody's got to be involved in building everybody else up.
In other words this must be an environment, an environment where people are developed and enhanced. That's the church. He says in chapter 5, look at chapter 5, he said husbands love your wives, your wives submit to your husbands and then in verse 32 he says this mystery is great but I'm speaking to you with reference to Christ and the what?
The church. He says marriage isn't about marriage. He says marriage is about the church. Marriage is about understanding that there's another husband and another bride. Christ is the husband, the church is the bridegroom. You and your wife don't march into eternity. Marriage is over when your time on earth is over. Why?
Because when you have the real thing you don't need the illustration anymore. Jesus will have his bride. Dr. Evans will have more on the blessings that come with being part of Christ's eternal family when he returns with the second part of our message in just a moment.
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tonyevanstraining.org. Explore the kingdom anytime, anywhere. When life feels too routine to be remarkable, the book of Ephesians reminds us that God does some of his most powerful work in the everyday. And that's the important reminder Tony gives us in his current 16-part study in the book of Ephesians called Ordinary Holy, Finding God in the Mundane. In this collection he explores how our faith can thrive in the middle of life's most commonplace moments. When you make a contribution to help us keep Tony's teaching on this station, we'll say thanks by sending you this complete two-volume series on either CD or USB flash drive, as well as instantly downloadable mp3s. And as an added bonus, we'll also include Tony's powerful book, Kingdom Living, full of practical insights on how to grow stronger in your walk with God. Get the book and the Ordinary Holy audio collection along with our thanks. Just request them when you make your donation online at tonyevans.org or let one of our resource team members help you by calling 1-800-800-3222 any time of the day or night. That's 1-800-800-3222.
I'll repeat that contact information for you after part two of today's message. Let's rejoin Dr. Evans in Ephesians chapter 1. Thirdly, the aim of the book, verse 3.
Now this is a verse you should memorize. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. First of all, he wants you acquainted with the source of your blessings. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Everything you need to be and become, all God wants you to be, has been placed on deposit in your bank account with your name on it. God is saying the source of all that you need from the time of your new birth to the time of your death and entrance in the glory is already on deposit. Please notice the word blessed, the second time the word blessed is used, ED.
The tense there means it is already taking place. Now why is that important? It's important because you don't need to ask for what you already have.
What you need to do is act on what you already have. The Bible says in Colossians 2, 10, you are complete in Christ. That is, all the things you need have been deposited in your spiritual bank account to deal with everything you will face.
He's not talking about giving you everything you want about everything. He's talking about giving you everything that's on deposit. There's another thing you need to know if you're gonna withdraw from a bank. You do need to know one little minor detail, where the bank is located.
Wouldn't that help a little bit? Well let's show where the bank is located. Here it is. It is located where? In heavenly places.
There it is. This is where the bank is. This is where all your spiritual blessings are located in a certain location. Heavenly places. Now that sounds a little ethereal.
We don't know what to do with that. That's kind of way out there. Well let me give you another phrase that may help a little bit. All your spiritual blessings are located in the spiritual realm. Heavenly places is another way of saying the spiritual realm. You cannot go to the physical earthly secular realm and wind up with spiritual withdrawals. The better you know the spiritual the more victorious you're gonna be in the physical because the spiritual precedes the physical.
A Christian is a person with two relationships. We are earthbound because we live in this body so we have the limitations of earth. But when you met Jesus Christ and were adopted into his family you were heaven-bound because you were seated with Christ in heavenly places. The Bible declares that when you became a Christian, Philippians 3 20, you became a citizen of heaven. The Bible says our citizenship is in heaven.
Yet we know we still live on earth. Even though we live on earth the Bible says you are to live on earth with the values of your new citizenship. With the thinking, the perspective, the orientation, the vantage point of your new citizenship don't become earthbound. Many of you travel and some of you many of you have passports and you travel out of the country. No matter where you go you are an American. You are an American no matter where you go because that is your your nation. Every place else is where you are but it is foreign to your ultimate citizenship.
So it is. You are a Christian wherever you go and while you may be living in America or wherever you happen to live the values of heaven must dominate. To the degree that the values of heaven, heavenly places, the spiritual system or to put it here you need to read this Colossians 3 1, if then you have been raised up with Christ and we just saw we were raised up with Christ keep seeking the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. We just saw he's seated at the right hand of God. Verse 2 Set your mind on things above and not on the things of the earth.
You have died and your life is hidden with God in Christ. It's a mind thing. See that verse 2?
It's the mind thing. God wants you living on earth but with a heavenly mentality. Now spiritual blessings automatically brings in the role of the Holy Spirit. The job of the Holy Spirit is the channel.
He is the link between the bank. He channels this stuff to you. That's why walking in the Spirit is going to become a very important part of the book because he wants you to be in this mindset. That's why he calls being spiritual and 1st Corinthians chapter 2 verse 16 having the mind of Christ. It is a mind thing. It's not the power of positive thinking. It's a real mind because of living where you really are because you really are in heavenly places. You're not make-believe there.
That is where you are spiritually. You really live there. No matter what country you go to any major country has an American Embassy. You have a problem in that country you go to the American Embassy. Do you know what happens when you walk into an American Embassy? You in America.
Did you know that? You know when you walk into an American Embassy because embassies are sovereign territories belonging to the country. Embassies belong to the country that has the embassy. It does not belong to the country in which the embassy is in.
So even though you're in England when you step into the American Consulate, you step into the American Embassy you're in a piece of America. Yep you're on earth but God wants you to step into the heavenly embassy. He wants you to develop a mindset that thinks in terms of your heavenly status not your earthly status. And this is a transforming concept. God told Joshua in Joshua 1 3 & 4 every place you set your foot I'm going to give it to you.
He didn't have to go ask for it he just had to set his foot. God had already taken care of it. I said I would give you the land but yeah there are giants in the land. I know that. Don't worry about that. Just walk. You just do what I say and develop my mindset.
Don't let my words pass out of your mouth he said. So when you and I operate out of the spiritual realm he ends verse 3 by saying of chapter 1 the blessings are in heavenly places guess what in Christ. In Christ.
Now why do we have to add this in Christ part? Power of attorney. You know what power of attorney is? Somebody has the authority to sign for you and it's legal. Every time you write a withdrawal slip from the heavenly bank account to get one of your spiritual blessings Jesus has to sign off on it because it's got to be in Christ. He has the power of attorney. You write the check you go to God God says do we do we grant this request? If it's in Christ you got it. If there's the power of attorney where Jesus signs off on it. You have a rich account. It'll cover you from new birth to death.
Now nobody knows how long that is but however long it is God has got you covered. Dr. Tony Evans reminding us that through Christ we have full access to every spiritual blessing God's deposited on our behalf more than enough to cover every need we'll face. But we can't enjoy the benefits of those deposits if we haven't opened up that heavenly account.
Here's Tony to talk about how to do that. One of the things the Bible is clear on is that men are not saved by works. This is so confusing to so many people. Some people say I'm trying to make heaven my home. Some people talk about how they are keeping the Ten Commandments.
Other people talk about they're better than their neighbors. None of that makes you acceptable to a God who demands perfection. Anything less than perfection is unacceptable to a holy God. So guess what God did?
He came up with a perfection program. He took his perfect son, he who knew no sin, let him die for the sins of the whole world. And he will make a credit exchange. He will exchange your sin for Jesus's perfection if you come to Jesus for the transfer. But he will only do it if you come to Jesus.
He won't do it if you try to earn it. So would you come to Jesus right now and ask him to make a transfer? To transfer your sin to him and to say you want his righteousness applied to your account, that you receive that righteousness, you give him your sin in exchange for the gift of eternal life. If you will tell him that now, if you will believe on him to be your Savior, he will give you eternal life, salvation from sin, heaven as a final destiny, and the beginning of a new experience of God operating in your life.
All that for free. Friend, it doesn't get any better than that. As Dr. Evans has shared before, no matter how dire your earthly circumstances are, God has the last say and is in complete control.
Make sure you've aligned yourself with him. And you can find out more when you visit TonyEvans.org and follow the link at the top of the home page that simply says Jesus. Well, as I mentioned earlier, today's message is part of Tony's 16-part series on Ephesians called Ordinary Holy, Finding God in the Mundane. It's available as our gift to you when you make a donation to help support the ministry of the alternative.
You can receive it as an instant digital download as well as on CD or USB flash drive, bundled along with an added bonus, Dr. Evans' powerful book, Kingdom Living. Just visit TonyEvans.org to make your donation and request these resources. Or call us at 1-800-800-3222. That's 1-800-800-3222. Or online at TonyEvans.org. We don't always understand why things happen the way they do, but that doesn't mean they're random. Next time, Dr. Evans takes us behind the scenes of history to reveal God's eternal plan and how each of us fits into it. Be sure to join us.
