What church comes to mind when you hear the name, Luther, Wesley, Calvin, Smith, Russel? Some you may know and some you may not, but it is certain that the ones you do know you will attribute them to a denomination that was “founded” by them. The name on the building often reminds you of the founder, and such is the case with the Church of Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ is the chief corner stone, builder and head (Eph. 2:20; Matt. 16:18; Col. 1:18) of the churches of Christ. There are no others to point to, and no other leader over the church. All decisions are made by Him concerning the practice of the faith. The manner of worship, the work the church is to do is all predefined by Jesus through His word, our guidebook, the Bible. 

Without doubt the saints in Ephesus have shown great love for the Lord Jesus and for all the brethren. It is that kind of love that every child of God needs to have if heaven is to be our home. “15 Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers:” (Eph. 1:15-16). Imagine what great things can be accomplished by you if that kind of love is your motivation. Paul prays the the Lord will give these saints something else, that is, “17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your [a]understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,” (Eph. 1:17-18).

In this lesson we’ll be discussing what all that means, what is the spirit of wisdom, and what is meant by having they eyes of your understanding being enlightened?

There is one single reason for the tremendous confusion in “Christianity” and that is the avoidance and absence of Bible Authority. Paul pleads for unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace (Eph. 4:1-2), then says, “4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in [c]you all.” (vs.4-5).

The God of Creation, the Almighty, the One who made it possible, the plans of His heart included a sinner like me to be called His own, His inheritance. I mean—WOW! My hope is that when this lesson is over you will all have a wonderful and encouraging painting before you—that will connect your thoughts of what “an inheritance is”, and what it means to you, as God’s child, how we possess this inheritance, and clearer understanding of the guarantee of your inheritance, as Paul wrote, “who[a] is the [b]guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory” (Eph. 1:14).

Many teach that Jesus was overpowered by the Jews in the first century. That Jesus had to fall back, and return to Heaven till the time was right when He could come and finally finish the work He started, set up an earthly kingdom and then reign on earth for a thousand years. If that sounds familiar to you, if that is what you have been taught, then listen in on this lesson, and hear another doctrine that comes from God’s word and is in complete harmony, without holes, without need for explanation. Just simple truth that is contrary to premillennialist teaching.  

We’ll ask and by the word of God answer questions about this subject in this lesson so that we will know the truth, and that truth will set us free from religious division. Join me as we search the scriptures for God’s answers. . . 

Our natural identity is flawed—if it were not—we wouldn’t need redemption. In all of us is the issue of sin, which God through His eternal plan has chosen to lead us to the correction through Christ His Son. Consider all the words that describe man’s state before adoption and the antonyms that correspond to them. LOST, REDEMPTION; CONDEMNATION, DELIVERANCE; FORSAKEN, RESCUED; OPPRESSION, LIBERATION; SLAVERY, EMANCIPATED; IMPRISONED, and FREED. You don’t need Deliverance if you’re not Condemned. You don’t need Emancipated if you’re not enslaved. If you’re not in trouble—you don’t need a way out—you don’t need saved. But the truth is that all have sinned, all have been previously charged (Rom. 3:9) and all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:32) and Paul is telling us that through Christ we have redemption (Eph. 1:7). 

Redemption is God’s way of setting you free from the debt—forgiving the debt through the payment made by the blood of Christ Jesus our Savior. And let’s be real, and let’s be honest—we not only have committed sin, but we have committed numerous sins in our lifetime. Sin is accruing a debt, it just keeps mounting up higher and higher and our sins are…

The question is are children born in sin, or do they learn sin? The truth is every one is responsible for their own conduct. Paul said, Col 3:25 “But he who does wrong will be repaid for what he has done, and there is no partiality”. Gal 6:7&8 “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. 8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.” Fact is that God made man upright “Truly, this only I have found: That God made man upright, But they have sought out many schemes” (Eccl. 7:29), and “You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you” (Ezek. 28:15 ). Babies are beautiful and they bite, but until they learn biting is wrong, they aren’t guilty of sin! Sin happens when we go beyond God’s Word “Whoever transgresses(προάγω) and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son” (2 John 9).  Listen in as we learn from God about children. . . 

We are saints—we are chosen, and we are the ones “Predestined For Adoption”. 
Paul wrote, “having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He [a]made us accepted in the Beloved” (Ephesians 1:5–6). Before we get to the concept of adoption let’s take a moment and explain the term Predestined which has been so twisted and misused by the majority. The word “predestined” [προορίζω] is a verb and is defined by Thayer’s as : “to predetermine, decide beforehand”. Literally—from PRO which means to “before” and HORIDZO “to mark out the boundaries or limits”. It means just what it sounds like — to decide something to be – before it is.  Just like God decided that He was going to have a people for Himself and first that was Israel. The church exists because it was predestined – thought of in the mind of God before it was. Friends—this simply means God determined, decided ahead of time that the church would exist at some future point in time. Nothing more. 

Simple Example: A group of people are meeting in one family’s home as a church. Because of their evangelistic efforts they begin to outgrow the home where they meet. So, they predetermine—that is decided to build a building that is larger than they currently need. Why larger? Because the also predetermine that they will grow in number, that by sharing the gospel, others will obey and be added to their number. So, as they say, that my friends is that! There isn’t a supernatural, super-spiritualized, or mystical meaning attached – it just means God determined ahead of time as the New Living Translators put it, “God decided in advance”.

As for this lesson we want to focus on what God decided in advance…namely our “Adoption” and on the five basic truths. 1. Adoption is not cheap! 2. You cannot make someone adopt you. 3. Adoption is decidedly permanent. 4. God wants to adopt you, and 5. To the praise and the glory of His grace.  Join me in this study as we learn about who, when and how one is adopted into the family of God. . . 

We the question asked, is a person continuously saved, no matter what, which is what the majority of religious leaders promote, you’ll likely hear the cry, “Once Saved Always Saved”, which is their teaching of  religious error called “Continual Cleansing”. The bottom line—they say—you can’t loose your salvation, nor your place in heaven no matter how “bad” you are. One example: Sam Morris, deceased, once Pastor of the First Baptist Church, Stamford, Texas, wrote in his Bible tract, “Do A Christian’s Sins Damn His Soul?” “We take the position that a Christian’s sins do not damn his soul! . . . and all the sins he may commit from idolatry to murder will not make his soul in any more danger. . . . The way a man lives has nothing whatever to do with the salvation of his soul”. Another is Mr. Bill Foster a Baptist preacher in Louisville, KY who commented, “If I killed my wife and mother and debauched a thousand women I couldn’t go to hell—in fact, I couldn’t go to hell if I wanted to.”

If you have been taught this, you’re not alone, and you have been taught wrongly. Let’s examine the God breathed scripture (2 Tim. 3:16) on this subject a bit, and listen to what the Creator, and Almighty God has to say. Then, if what you have believed is not according to truth, then throw it out. If what you hear taught is according to God’s authoritative word, then you have no choice but to obey. 

God chose beforehand to build a church that would be filled with saints, who have become saints through obedience to the faith, by the blood of Christ. Therefore, every soul that obeyed the gospel becomes one of the chosen.  Great imagery of being chosen comes from the Old Testament. Israel was chosen by God. Listen to how Moses describes the selection of Israel in Deuteronomy 7. “6 “For you are a [a]holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. 7 The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; 8 but because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of [b]bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt” (Deut. 7:6–8). 

Chosen because God wanted them. Not because they were great in number—not because they were particularly holy. Nothing Israel did warranted their deserving of being chosen—to be God’s special treasure. Imagine: A very short youth named Michael who has a strong passion for basketball: How broken hearted he would be—never chosen to play by his school’s team. . .because of his stature, and because of his perceived lack of ability. Now imagine Michael moves to new school and the team captain calls out his name. Chosen despite his stature—regardless of his ability—chosen just because they wanted him—they call out Michael, Michael come and join us. 

A million times more would the feeling be to know that God wants you to be in His family, so much more than that is how especially honored you should feel—knowing…