When I was a little boy, I had
some great Sunday school teachers. One of them was Joe Bixler. He
was a deacon as well at Grace Baptist Church in Warren, Michigan.
But he made the Bible come alive for me in Sunday school. And
when I acknowledged that I felt like God had called me to preach,
One Sunday after service, he said to me, hey, I found a passage
that I think you could preach from that you would really like
if you can find out what it means. And I said, well, okay. And he
said, it's Ephesians 2.10, for we are his workmanship. created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained."
He said, Kent, I think if you'll find out what that means, you'll
have some preaching material. And for years, that became my
mainstay. I studied Ephesians 2.10, preached
at Bible conferences from Ephesians 2.10. You got thrown out of the
Baptist church because of Ephesians 2.10. For by grace are you saved
through faith. And that faith is not of yourself.
It is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should
boast. For we are his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works. I wish you and I could just get
lost today in that truth, that I truly am the poema, the Greek
word workmanship, poema. I am the masterpiece of God. I am God's masterpiece. I am God's poem. Say, well, I
don't know about that. I have so much mess in my life. Well, God's still writing the
poem. He's not finished with you yet. You know, you are still
under construction. Did you know that? God's not
through with you. What a mess we all are in our
flesh. There's nothing good in the flesh,
correct? You know why we are told that
we are His workmanship? Because God wants us to clearly
know that we're not saved by our works. So, Pastor, we all
know that. Really? Do you? Then why so much
boasting and bragging? Do you really know how bad you
were? Do you know how far away from God you were? Do you know
what a mess you were? You know, God didn't find you
all cleaned up nice and neat. He found you in a pit. Don't
ever forget where God brought you. He's brought you a mighty
long ways, hasn't He? A mighty long ways.