Ephesians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.
The center and source of all of our spiritual blessings are in Christ. They are made possible by the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, our Father, by His grace and not our merit. We have a blessed position in Christ not just for when we get to Heaven but for living on Earth now. It is God’s grace that makes all of our spiritual blessings possible and it was not done by Him by chance, an afterthought, or something He recently decided to do. It was His intention and design according to His eternal purpose before the foundation (creation) of the world.
According to Ephesians 1:4 the end goal for our living in His sight or God’s end game as some would describe it is that we would be HOLY and WITHOUT BLAME (unblemished, unblameable, faultless) before Him in love. The object for which God has given us His grace, blessed us, and chosen us is not just to go to Heaven one day, and not that we may live in sin, but that we should be holy and without blame before Him. This is how we should live in His sight or before Him. This is made possible and only possible by the grace of God given to us.
C.H. Spurgeon, pastor, preacher, author, and known as the “Prince of Preachers” in the 1800’s said, “Holiness is not the way to Christ, but Christ is the way to holiness.” It is grace (Christ in you and you in Christ) that makes this holiness possible.
It seems, though, that some preaching on grace today make grace the end in and of itself instead of the means. They make the end goal grace instead of what the end goal God has always had in mind which is holiness Ephesians 1:3, 4.
Pastor John Rasicci is the founder and Pastor of Word of His Grace Church in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, where we are building people who are building the Church. Pastor's ministry mission is to help people discover God's dream for their Life, the Local Church, and the Last Days' Harvest. With a strong emphasis on the grace of God and with a prophetic voice, Pastor John preaches and teaches in churches, conferences, and crusades both locally and throughout the world. He has produced books, tapes, and other teaching materials to empower, enable, and equip Believers with the Word of God. Pastor John is married to his wife Candy who with their three children, Krista, Joanna, John Anthony, and two son-in-laws, Matt and Doug, serve together in the ministry. After graduating from Kent State University, Pastor John pursued a career in professional baseball before accepting the call to the ministry. He and his wife, Candy, received their ministry training from Rhema Bible Training Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
John Rasicci 
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