Person and Work of the Holy Spirit Lesson 22 end, 23 begin
Courtney Hemenway · Mar 20, 2022
Holy Spirit (2021-23), No. 54
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/49261926203589

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Well, I have two questions. We're going to finish up on lesson 22 today, and then I'll pass the baton off to Courtney. We've been talking about baptism, right? What it is, and we're going to spend a little bit of time talking about, this morning, what it isn't. One of the things that we left off class with last week was what does, so you said, why are, let me just find the, sorry, I'm looking for my, oh, there we are. We were talking about what does spiritual baptism accomplish? It was question number four. What does it accomplish? And we said that, we've used the definition that baptism is an introduction. into something, right?

And that the Israelites were baptized into Moses. And he said that's not the same thing, but what we did see is that it placed those that were baptized, it placed them into a relationship with Moses visually, right? Outwardly. Of course, they trusted Moses to have received the Ten Commandments and all the other laws from Yahweh on the mountain, but yet they still placed trust in, ultimately, what it was that the Mosaic Law, for those Jews that were baptized into Moses, they were not necessarily fully trusting the Lord as Abraham did, right? That they were trusting in Moses and the law, and therefore they were baptized into Moses, right?

That's not a salvation baptism, but it's a place of an introduction to a place. And so we distinguish between the church and Israel. We said that there's also another baptism that comes up, not only from the crossing of Egypt into the land through the sea, and that baptism of Israel, but we also see John the Baptist performing baptisms as well, right? And we said, what did that baptism introduce those followers of John's message into?

Remember? These are disciples that are getting baptized. John's saying, here he is, the one who takes away the sin of the world, the Messiah, the one you've been waiting on. Be baptized. So they walk down to the river, they get baptized. What do they get baptized into? What was the introduction into the place of those disciples during the life of John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus through those years before he was crucified? Didn't they call it a baptism of repentance? A change of mind? I think all, yeah, so what was the change of mind for those folks that were baptized in the Jordan? at that time.

So we use the term, I think Rideout says it was a badge of discipleship. Yeah, Rite Out uses the term badge of discipleship. They were baptized as a badge of discipleship. What were they saying? What were they identifying with when they were being baptized by John? As his disciples were. That's right. We believe what you're saying. And while baptism, as we fully know it today in the church, death, burial, and resurrection is what this symbolizes.

Did the disciples know what that meant? No. Not a clue. Later on they were frustrated with the idea of it, right? So they weren't being baptized as a symbol of salvation as we are in the church. They were being baptized as an outward identification with the discipleship to follow John's message and ultimately the Lord Jesus. Right? But for us, what does spirit baptism mean for us?

Oh boy, we've got a half an hour. What have we talked about so far? Let's use the analogy that Jamie Stoney used. You're sailing into new land. You're an immigrant. You're coming in. You're welcome into the new land. And the first thing you're told is, you've got to burn that ship. You're stuck here now. It's not in a bad way. It's a good way. But you are going to have to burn that ship, right?

So the idea there is that there's no backwards symbol of baptism. Do you ever see in the scripture where they walk back through the Red Sea, they go back to the Jordan, you go back to that, you know, swimming pool or the baptismal in the church? Do you see where you have to go back and reverse that if you change your mind? So we talked about the fact that it places us into an entirely new status. Right? And what is that status? Water baptism is a symbol, but what does spiritual baptism place us into? What's the status? Because you're going to burn that old status. So what are you burning, and what are you given?

We're baptized into the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. That's absolutely right. The body of Christ. And the interesting thing is, with the ship analogy, What's the first part of baptism that we symbolize? The donkey, right? You go under. That's the death part. That's the burning the ship. You're not coming back from that, right? But it's not the end. The ship doesn't just burn. You're buried and you're risen again with Christ. So our status has changed. You went from the old man to the new man, and you don't go back.

You say, well, wait a minute, I got all this temptation and the sin, and yeah, yours are different than mine, and blah, blah, blah, and we put them in boxes in nice little bows, and they represent all the different kinds of things that each of us have that are different from one another, but what are they? They're still the sin nature working. You say, well, I've been baptized. I've been death, burial, resurrection. Surely that means, you know, what about this sin nature thing? Now you were separated from the consequences of sin, were you not? You were, you were given a new life.

So one of the things that we've talked about is the fact that you are, this is identification, this is part of what Holly Hills is talking about all the time. The identification truths, baptism sums it up in large part. Death, burial, resurrection, we have the ascension and the seating which are very important. But the large portion of identification happens as a result of having been spiritually baptized by the Holy Spirit. So we're talking about the person and the work of the Holy Spirit.

What is water baptism not? So what is not water baptism is how I should say it. These are our last bit of a question here. What isn't? It's not a way to be saved. You can't be saved by getting baptized? Okay? What else is it not? It's not a requirement. It's not a requirement for what?

For being saved. For being saved. Okay, how many of us... Now, there's, I think, in a large part, and at least in believers that I've hung around, there's one of three things. One is you were properly taught what baptism was growing up, and that would be great. Or you've confused a little bit of what water baptism means by way of associating the ritual with something. We'll talk about what that might be.

Or you fully embrace the entire concept of baptism as in relationship to what it means to be baptized into the church, so joining the church, right? So you've grown up with either a confusion or a fully notion that when I'm baptized, I'm being placed into something physical, into a church body or something of that nature, but there's likely some confusion around baptism. And the reason is because it's associated with church membership oftentimes, right? So is water baptism the same as joining a church? No. But it's confusing a little bit, right? Growing up, we kind of got confused with that. It's like, oh, okay.

Some churches have this really drawn out membership process. Also not something I could find in the scripture, but nonetheless, you know, we're trying to put some organization to things, and so we write down a few things, and those few things lead to quite a bit of other things. And by the end of it, you've got the entire body of Christ, meaning the local church body, committing themselves to you. and growing you up, and the first step is often baptism. Let's get you baptized, and then we'll promise, and we'll raise our hands, and we'll promise that we'll support you to do everything you need to do to be a walking believer, mature, probably in, you know, the course of some odd time.

Have we not experienced that, or been confused around that scenario? Yeah, I think, uh, I think my parents were, or my mom and I were Episcopal, and I think, if I remember right, it was the water baptism. when I was a baby or something, they'd drip a little bit of water on my forehead, and I was baptized. That was baptism in the Episcopal Church. Again, the confusion between what really is the baptism that we talk about versus baby baptism, because that was to make my parents feel that I was safe at that point.

Yeah, it's a ritual, right? But the thing is, is it can take on a different type of ritual for a lot of people. Some, it's associated with church membership. For others, it's associated with salvation. If you're not baptized in water, before the church, and it doesn't have to be in the church, but maybe it's at camp, or maybe it's at something like that. But oftentimes, even in our mind, we associate that time where we were baptized with our salvation.

Could it have happened that way? Does it matter, the distance between when you first believed and when you were baptized? Does that time period matter? No. No, it doesn't. No. Because if it does, it becomes a ritual, and it doesn't find its evidence in scripture, right? So scripture doesn't talk about water baptism placing us into the church.

What placed you into the church? And I'm talking about the body of Christ, not your local church or the global church. I'm talking about what place you went to the body of Christ. The Holy Spirit. What's that? The Holy Spirit. You being reborn spiritually. Okay, you being reborn spiritually, and then Russ, you said the Holy Spirit. Aren't those the same? Right? Same agent. Same agent. And the agent is the Holy Spirit. That's right.

So the last question here, what isn't spirit baptism? It's not water baptism. We have to distinguish between when you were placed to death, buried, and resurrected, that was a spiritual situation that the Holy Spirit walked you through and applied you into the life of Christ. That could be 10 months or two years or five minutes from when you get baptized. But baptism does what?

It communicates to all those around us what has happened inwardly. So I think that when it comes to this class and what we're trying to understand is that baptism is a very It's a wonderful thing to be placed into the identity of Christ. And it's even more wonderful, or just as wonderful, that you don't go back. You're safe in the status of who you are. And who you are, that's what the process of illumination and the Holy Spirit's role in enlightening us to, or illuminating, rather, us to the very words of God. Beholding Him as in a mirror.

And so I think that oftentimes baptism gets very confused with some kind of ritual, even if it's a personal ritual for you. You know, there's sometimes, whether it's the christening or the immersion, or like you get a Bible after you get, you know, baptized, or there's some kind of a ritual that we often attach to it.

But what's wonderful about it is not what happened in that little tub of water or whatever, it's what happened to the death of the old and the life in the new. And that changes everything for now. It's not just an event that happened at some point in time in the past. Yeah, Mike.

I think it's difficult for believers to... You're coming along as a young believer in your Christian life, and you're coming up through Romans 3 and 4 and 5, and then you get into 6, and you read this 6-6 that says, don't you realize when you were baptized, you were baptized into Christ's death? And when you read that, you think, what does that mean? And that really is the crux of what baptism is. That the Holy Spirit grabbed me and put me in Christ at the point in which he died.

Well, that's not an experiential event. And it's like a guy said to me one time, he said, well, I don't remember that happening. I didn't feel it when he did it. Was I on the cross with him? And I said, well, that's what the word says, that you were there. He baptized you, or he placed you into Christ at the time in which he died. And I said, that's one of the problems that you have as a believer in walking by faith. You have to take God at his word. He says it. It's not an experiential event. And then here comes this thing, water baptism, and we're looking for an experience.

If you understand what baptism represents, that I was baptized into Christ's death and I was buried with him and when he rose again, so was I. And you're not going back because you were identified with him. The boat burning is a great metaphor for that. But it's an assurance thing, I think, after a while that, wow, not only was I saved, but I was recreated. I'm a whole new creature now. Yeah.

And one of the things I did want to say is that baptism can be very special. And it should be. What it shouldn't be is confusing. And that's where I'm going with this last question, is that we should know what it is that we're being baptized into and how this symbolism of our physical baptism represents what happens spiritually. It should be a wonderful thing. It's not meant to be something, but when we get it confused with a ritual of some kind and we attach something to it that it's not, then it becomes confused with what our status is truly based on our spirit baptism and our water baptism.

All right, Courtney, you ready to go? All right. Well, we're going to piggyback on several things that you've gone over. We're going to get a little bit of overlap here. So question one, what does it mean to be in the body of Christ? And again, I have no idea where mine is as far as page numbers and all that. I have one of the old transcripts I think Peggy did years ago, so I have no page numbers. It's page 53, second paragraph. Is that the book, or? That's the PDF. PDF, OK. The book is 122. Oh, I did it backwards. 102 to 111, I think. OK. Yeah. So what is the body of Christ? We were just talking about that. What is the body of Christ? Crickets again. We just talked about that. It's the church. in the church, those who believe. All right, we did this back in lesson 20. I went over several of the verses that tell about the body of Christ, what that is, and we'll go over those real quickly.

We begin by associating Christ with church in Ephesians 1, 22 and 23. And he put all things in subjection under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church. which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. So again, direct correlation, the church, which is his body. And then we also looked at Colossians 1, 18 and 19.

He is also head of the body, the church. And he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he himself will come to have first place in everything. For it was the father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in him. And again, I think that's a real key verse. I think I mentioned that Nick had a coworker who He didn't think that Christ was fully God and fully man, and it's all the fullness dwell in him.

So, in Colossians 1, 24, now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of his body, which is the church, Paul speaking. So behalf of his body, which is the church. So we also see indirectly the church is about a price and acts 93 and through five. So first of all, we had all these direct correlations that say the body is the church, the church is the body, and Christ. So we see it indirectly in Acts 9, 3 through 5, where Paul, this is at his conversion, and he, Paul, was traveling.

It happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. And he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And he said, who are you, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, whom you're persecuting. So who was Paul persecuting at the time? Christians. So he's persecuting, and he says, who are you? I am Jesus, whom you're persecuting. So there's a direct correlation between believers and Jesus. that he's persecuting Christians, here's the Lord saying, you're persecuting me.

So again, an indirect correlation of the Christians are Christ, the body of Christ. So what is that now? So we know that body is us believers. So that's the church, the body of Christ, that's us. So what does it mean to be in the body of Christ? And then the other question is, how do we get there? So what does it mean to be in the body of Christ? You never know how you got there. You're all in there, but you have no clue how you got there. You're on a road and you don't have a map, huh? How did you get there? How did we get in the body of Christ? Accident?

Through belief. Belief. Okay. I would say what Cheryl was saying is the Holy Spirit placed us and sealed us in Christ and the Holy Spirit again is the one who got us into him and we're part of the huge body that have placed their faith in Jesus. What's the word in me? That's it. It was gonna get to that. That's that.

Yeah, what does it mean to be in? What does it mean to be in Christ? Meaning unique unique place Which is that a unique place? That's true. But how do I get that? Yeah, that's all in well, what does in mean? Yeah I Always thought that It was inside his life, inside. Just like before I was there, I was inside my flesh, and I can still feel that daily when I look at it. And now I'm placed inside his life, and I think it's beyond imagination what it really is, but it's inside him. It's like I'm inside my house, and I'm inside Christ. I think that's right. I think the way to express it, his life is our very life. It's a person. We're in a person. We are in his life. And that's kind of, yeah, I mean, in the house or whatever, but his life is our life.

His history is our history, which is kind of interesting. When you think about, you know, this is about kind of election and selection and all that kind of stuff. You knew me before time and all that. Well, in Christ, if we're in Christ, he's known us forever. But it's being in him, we're in a body. And the thing is, we just went over it with JD.

How did you get there? My faith. Reborn spiritually. Reborn spiritually, but how did you get there? Died. Died? Well, you were placed in Christ by the Holy Spirit. That's the key. We were baptized. We were placed into. Baptism means placed into. So the Holy Spirit is one who baptizes or places us into the body. So we're placed into the very life of Christ. That's incredible. The very life we've been placed into. Our view, so we were baptized into it. What does that spiritually look like? We're in Christ, but being in, as you're asking about, also has a view from Father.

So where does he see you? Oh, absolutely. He sees us only in Christ now. Yes. So that being in a place means that you're being seen by the creator of the universe in a person. I'm being identified with this now, and I was seen by God as having identified with that in the past. but now I'm seen by God as being, so you're gonna spend the rest of your life catching up to what God sees you in. I think that's a critical thing, that he sees us in Christ only now. And I think that when we get dragged down by sin or by other things, does he see all that?

Does he really see that, or who does he see? Who does he see? Well, I think he's obviously aware of it. He's aware of it? Yeah. Who's he sees? He sees me in Christ only. He sees me in Christ only. And I think that's where a lot of believers get beat up is they keep thinking about all this other trash that he doesn't see us in anymore. Yes, we're in our consequences to it. There's all sorts of things. But he still only sees us in Christ. Has he paid for all those sins that you did or doing or will do? It's all gone. He now sees us only in Christ, and that's the only way he can see us. I've used this poor analogy before, and I can't think of another one.

It's like, after I got married, I am her husband. And no matter whether we divorce, I'm her ex-husband, I'm always with a husband. That's all I can be identified by, is a husband. And I can't, I can't shirk that, I can't get rid of that, because once I'm married, I'm a husband. Like I said, I could be an ex-one, I could be a dead one, I could be, but I'm identified as a husband only. I can't get rid of that title ever since I'm getting married. It's like in Christ, I can't ever get out of being seen by God as in Christ.

He only sees me in Christ. I think that gives me great comfort in whatever dumb things I do, he still only sees me in Christ. That's amazing. And we get bogged down by all the peripherals, but he sees me in Christ. And that's the first John 1, 9. Let's get back to focusing on him, acting like who we are in Christ. How many times have we said that? Get back to who we are in Christ. That's the first time. Let's get back to who I am and who you tell me I am. So again, this is a key thing about us being placed in the body. The very life we have is in Christ. And the Father sees us only in Christ.

That's awesome. And that's for eternity, not till we die. He sees us for eternity in his son. That's amazing. And that's why we talk about a buying a bottle. Yeah. So position and condition are really important here. If you, and I'll just say this out loud. This will be extremely confusing to you. So maybe we can take that real quick. Yeah, just through the identification and about position and condition. Position is something that cannot ever be changed. So our position in Christ can never be changed. It's a positional truth.

Conditional is what we're going through now. Sometimes we're walking in the flesh, sometimes we're walking in the spirit, all those things. That's conditional. But our position in the 33 things or the whatever number that Lewis Berry Chaffer, those things are true about us regardless. They will not change, that's positional. And that's what gives me and hopefully all of us the comfort.

And going back to what you were saying about baptism and crawling back, ever since, and I've mentioned this 100 times too, ever since I've known the identification truth, I've never doubted my salvation. Because once I realize I've been crucified, how do I get out of that? How do I climb back from crucifixion and death? How do I get around that? I can't. I'm dead. In God's eyes, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.

Galatians 2.20. How do I lose my salvation? I can't. I think when you talk about identification, I think you have to start with when I was conceived, I was identified with Adam. And all that was true of Adam is true of me. I have a sin nature. I got it from my father who got it from his father who got it from Adam. Right? I'm not that old, by the way. I was going to make some comment, but that's it.

But I have an identity with Adam, and I'm going to actually suffer the consequences that the Adamic man, Romans 8.3 says he's been condemned. He wasn't forgiven. His sins were forgiven, but he wasn't. So the idea is, how do I get How do I change positions? How do I get out of this Adam character and get into Christ where it's safe? Because things are not safe in Adam. Right. Well, and everything's still associated with Adam and the flesh and all that.

So the only way to get separated is death. And that's our word death. What does death mean? Separation. So we've been co-crucified with Christ. We have died. Yeah. Positionally, judicially with God, we have been separated from the Adamic history. So I learned that through God's word, especially in Romans. And I find out that I, you know, I really did. The spirit of God, by baptizing me, took me out of Adam and positioned me permanently in Christ.

He did it. Yeah. It was his work. And I think one of the huge issues in Christianity, especially when it comes to behavior, is that if I don't know I'm in Christ, I'm always working on this condemned old guy to get him to act like a Christian by following some sort of methodology or principles or laws or something, rather than just walking my faith in who God says I am in Christ.

Who fosters that and absolutely loves it? Say that again? Who fosters that thought and absolutely loves it? the Adamic man, the flesh. The flesh thrives on us trying to work and do all these things. It's all done. It's a life now. When we're struggling, the world cannot offer us peace or rest. If you're struggling and doing that, are you following the flesh and doing the works and the things and the pain? You know, rest comes through only through Christ. And so the old man thrives on any ability to make us go back to works or something that we have to do.

Is the work already done with us being baptized? Is it all done? Do we need to do anything else after that, after we've been placed into Christ? Do we have to, you know, tithe? Do we have to be at church every Sunday? Well, the point is you don't have to do anything to enhance your position because it's perfect. Now, there is absolutely a life to be lived in Christ. that's consistent with who he is.

Point being, is there anything you have to do? I mean, the life has lived through me. Right. I'm involved in it. Right, but you don't have to do anything. Yeah, I have to walk by faith. You don't have to do anything else to be in the body of Christ. Oh, I agree. That's it. I agree. Zip, zero, nada.

He did it all. The only thing we had to do is the non-meritorious act of faith, believing what he said. That's it. All the work was done by the Holy Spirit and God the Father. You've been saved by grace through faith. Gracious act, allowing us to be saved through faith. That's it.

And then we're in the body. And that growth and all the spiritual growth and all those things, manifestation of, and we'll get into that being ambassadors in Christ and all that, that's the life being lived out through us. But again, the positional part is, that's true of us. A positional truth is something that is absolutely never to be changed. And that's who we're in Christ. That can never change. And because of the death, burial, and resurrection, we have died. Again, how do you get back through that? How do you climb back on the boat? There's no boat. There's no way to get back there.

So again, it's one of those things that we got there by the Holy Spirit baptizing us, placing us in the Christ through our non-meritorious act of faith, believing what is said. If you believe Christ died for you, paid for you all the sins, simple belief in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, that's it. Simple.

But it's hard. I thought on that, Courtney, like, this in Hebrews, it talks about entering into the rest and so forth. And, you know, by position, we have entered into the rest that we have in Christ, but we can enjoy that or not moment by moment, right? That's kind of our condition.

And I often think of Noah on the ark as an example. I mean, he entered the ark by faith, but Throughout that journey, he probably had some fears. Was he always resting in the fact that he was secure in the ark? Same kind of thing with our faith in Christ. We can enjoy it and rest in that. uh... position or not that's kind of condition satellites arrested rest in all that's true that's it i was in order to not only on the boat i think a hundred years or whatever it took him to build a boat. You know how many people have given him credit about that? What are you doing? You had the reindeer and you're building what? You know, it's blocking my view of the mountains. He took a lot of grief for a hundred years or something, you know, and by faith he continued on. So, they can have a boat and a lot more after that.

Yeah, I think it's just such a, like a picture, like Noah was in the ark, you know, and he wasn't getting out of the ark, well, until, you know, God's time, but as far as the, yeah, we're in, we're in Christ, we can't remove ourselves and we can work. But it's the security of that, the position that we have in Christ, that's the thing that gives us peace and rest. Hey, Corey. Yeah. So I was just going to say back to your original question, it's like God put us into Christ as a fact, and we're in Christ.

And sometimes it's hard to believe that He only sees us in a perfect way. But he did it, and we believe it. The problem is, is that from our side, it's like, wow, that's amazing. How could that be? Because I see all these bad things that I do, and God must see that too. So the problem is, he did it, he believes it.

We don't believe it sometimes. We don't see it sometimes. And it's not that God doesn't see the bad things we do, he does. But he only sees what he's done in his creation. He put us in Christ, and that's where we are, and that's who we ultimately are right now. Well, I think one of the things in that, too, is when you say about all the bad things and what you're... Who's the one pointing you to all the bad things?

It's the flesh, the old nature, trying to convince you and trick you that you're not seen by God as a new creature. So when you see that, you realize that. And that's how you... by faith overcome those those attacks of you doing something bad you're doing all these things in the end the old man is going man you really need it step up your game you really need to do something you really need to oh man look you are a poor poor critter and all along it's not you and christ it's not you that's the flesh it has everything you've done sinful that is not of god has that been paid for Yes. Absolutely. Why are you worried about it then? And the flesh is the one that's going to keep pointing you back at it. Man, you really got to worry about it.

You're an idiot. Did you see what you did? Man, you really need to work a little harder. You need a few more spiritual push-ups. And when you realize that, that's the flesh. That is the flesh. You know, this is first in one night, and we just confess, I'm not acting like who I am in Christ. That's not the manifestation of my life in Christ. I gotta get back to being focused on you, Lord, and the life I have in you.

Life is about knowing your sources. Yeah, knowing sources, yeah. But I always think, you know, if it's not restful, is that, does the Holy Spirit and God make you work, or not provide peace through things, through your trials. I say he does, and I think the more we have less rest, the more we're relying on the flesh.

Because, I mean, consider all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials. It's not like, okay, suffer through this, and we'll pick you up at the bottom of the heap over here. It isn't that way, and the Romans 8, at the end of Romans eight where we can't be separated from his love. Is he gonna just beat you up with a stick? He may take you through trials, absolutely, he says he is.

But the rest and the peace through that trial is knowing who you are in Christ and the source. That's the source. So when you start worrying and you're working and you're doing, you're struggling, that's out of the flesh. Peace and rest are realized through Christ, our life in Christ. Hey, Courtney, can I add one thing? Yep. I was going to say, the Holy Spirit enters us never to leave. That is very simple but helpful, good for assurance. And we can never get out of the body or the life of Christ. That's an assurance.

It's a good thing it is that way, because if it was left up to me, I'd screw it up. One of my verses that were from Security and Salvation, it's Matthew 8, 28, or whatever it is, and it says, God has you in his hand. Somebody check it, but it's one of those. It was like, God has you in your hand. I thought, man.

If I'm fast enough, I can get out of his hand, you know? And I always thought, maybe, did I climb out of that hand? Was he looking the other way and I kind of climbed out of the hand? And I always kind of had a doubt, you know, that I'm in his hand, but, you know, is that a secure position?

Yeah, you're in God's hand, but ever since identification, I've never questioned, because I've died. I'm died. I can't go back. The ship is burned. And so, you know, like I said, that is not part of my salvation security. My security is that I've been placed into Christ. He's my very life. So, I wonder if we have... I didn't even get through question one. We have some more. We'll finish up question one when we get to next week. So, all right, let's close.

Heavenly Father, we thank you. We thank you, again, just that we've been studying, and just the joy of the positions, those eternal positions that will never change, that we've been placed into your Son. And there's no getting out of that, and what a joyous position that is. And the Holy Spirit will eternally be with us and in us. we just uh... we thank you for that but that's your plan and what a wonderful plan that is that it doesn't rely on anything of us other than simple faith in what you what you've told us and uh... it's the death, burial and resurrection of your son and the ascension and seeding and the seeding that we now have as Ephesians tells us we're seeded in heavenly places and that we have been blessed with all spiritual blessings That's incredible. That gives us a peace and rest in this turmoil of a world.

And we just thank you for that. We thank you. It's nothing of our efforts. It's the Holy Spirit placing us into Christ, baptizing us into his death, burial, and resurrection. And we thank you for that. We thank you just for your eternal love for us, eternal love for us, never to end. And we thank you for that. And we thank you for the peace and rest that are only found in you. We can't find it in the world. We can only find it in you. So we thank you for that. We thank you for all these wonderful truths that are true about us now in Christ. We thank you again for your word and the indwelling Holy Spirit. We thank you for all these things. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.