Waters Church

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The antidote to spiritual amnesia. The antidote to spiritual amnesia.
We are in Ephesians Chapter one, verses fifteen to twenty three.
I'm gonna read that in the past. I'm gonna read
that passage in just a moment. But I want to
talk to you about forgetting. Forgetting.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
I'm in my forties now, I'm approaching forty five.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
I'm mid forties, and I want to tell you that
I hated turning thirty. I don't know what it was,
but I hated turning thirty. But I loved turning forty.
There's a saying out there life begins at forty.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
I resonate with that. I like that.

Speaker 1 (00:42):
I don't know where you are in your age range,
but at forty four, I feel like my life is
finally where you know, it's starting to roll in a
positive direction, and I kind of know what I'm doing.
I don't know if that's the case for everybody, but
that was it for me. But I want to say
one of the things that I hate about my forties

(01:03):
is forgetting. I think it's what the four in forties
stands for. You're gonna be forgetting in your forties. Come on, somebody.
I forget names all the time, and if they've done
that to you, I'm so sorry. I don't mean that,
but there are people that I will run into in
our churches and they'll say hey, pastor Tim, and I'll say, oh, hi,

(01:23):
nice to meet you, that we met you like three
times already. I am so sorry for that. It's the forties.
It's not me, Okay, blame the age. I remember when
I was young, people would tell me I walk into
the worst thing about getting old is you walk into
a room for something. By the time you get there,
you forget what you went there for. Anybody know what
I'm talking about. Yeah, yeah, I do that all the time.

(01:46):
I'll walk into a room and Lord help me if
I have to go upstairs, because then it's over. Like
I don't have any idea why I just climbed that
flight of stairs. I have to go back down and
try to pray. God show me the way and leave
me back to my memory. I forget names. I forget
my kids' names.

Speaker 2 (02:03):
So if I forgot your name, don't worry about it.

Speaker 1 (02:05):
I forget my kid's names. You know, parents, you ever
do this like you want to? You want to mention
or talk to one of your family members and you
just go through the list of names you don't you
don't have their name when you're texting, just let me
throw The whole list is vomit, the list of names
of my family.

Speaker 2 (02:20):
So I'll just be like Cheryl, leave your cotta shake Zoey, Cheryl.

Speaker 1 (02:24):
You know, That's what I'll do, is like bullet list
them until I hit the one, and maybe I have
to circle back and hit it again because.

Speaker 2 (02:30):
I forget who I'm talking to.

Speaker 1 (02:32):
And and it's by God's grace that I remember even
when I'm preaching to you what I'm gonna preach about.
That's why I got my notes here to help me.
But sometimes forgetting can also be a good thing. Like
I think about what Mark said last week about marriage.
You know, the older that you get, the more you forget.
And so in marriage that's a good thing because you
forget all the hurts, all the things that you caused

(02:54):
each other pain over. And so you know, sometimes if
you're going through a hard marriage season, just just remember
that sometimes you'll someday you'll forget everything that they.

Speaker 2 (03:04):
Did to you and you'll live happily ever after.

Speaker 1 (03:07):
In fact, that's God's way of helping you get there.

Speaker 2 (03:09):
He helps you forget.

Speaker 1 (03:10):
But here's the thing forgetting in life, forgetting names, forgetting
you know what you want to say, forgetting what you
want to get in life.

Speaker 2 (03:18):
That's one thing.

Speaker 1 (03:19):
But can I tell you that one of the worst
things you can forget is who you are in Christ.

Speaker 2 (03:23):
That's one of the worst things that you can forget.
Forgetting who you are in Christ.

Speaker 1 (03:28):
It's called spiritual amnesia. And that's what we're talking about today. Hey,
last week I gave you the outline for Ephesians. It's
the two part outlines, very simple. Ephesians one to three
is who we are. Ephesians four to six is what
we do. So don't forget the outline. And that's why

(03:50):
we're doing only Ephesians one to three in this series.
Instead of talking about what we need to do, we're
gonna talk about who we are. And who we are
is more powerful than we realize. So we talked about
this in week one. What do we say in week one?

Speaker 2 (04:07):
We have a past, a present, and a future.

Speaker 1 (04:10):
Given to us by God the Father, God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit.

Speaker 2 (04:15):
So we have a destiny in God the Father from
eternity past.

Speaker 1 (04:18):
He chose us when before the foundations of the world.
Don't forget that in the present we have intimacy with
God in the sun, that we are in Christ and
He holds us and he's never.

Speaker 2 (04:32):
Gonna let us go.

Speaker 1 (04:33):
So we have this intimate personal relationship with God in
Christ Jesus in the present and then in the future.
The spirit roots us in the fact that we have
glory ahead of us. No matter how bad life is.
Right right now, you've got glory ahead of you. If
you are in Christ, you've got a glorious future a

(04:57):
waiting for you. The Bible says that I not seeing
iras not heard, nor has it entered into the mind
of man what God.

Speaker 2 (05:03):
Has prepared for those who love him.

Speaker 1 (05:07):
But He has revealed this to us by the Spirit.
The Spirit is like the magnetic force drawing us further
and further ahead to Heaven, so that we don't get
caught up in our problems.

Speaker 2 (05:22):
And our challenges and our setbacks.

Speaker 1 (05:25):
Right now, we know that every setback is really a
set up for the glories that are to be ours.

Speaker 2 (05:31):
In Christ Jesus. Amen. So we talked about that in
week one. But here's the problem.

Speaker 1 (05:38):
We forget here's the problem about our identity in Christ.

Speaker 2 (05:41):
We forget who we are. We do.

Speaker 1 (05:45):
So I want you to write this down, and you know,
if you're taking notes, write it down. If you're not
taking notes, write it down. We can hear who we
can hear about who we are, but life can cause
us to forget.

Speaker 2 (05:57):
So right now, you're in waters.

Speaker 1 (05:58):
Church, you're at Water's Church's location, or you're watching online
on our YouTube channel. By the way, if you are
watching on YouTube, click that subscribe button. Make sure that
you get subscribed to this channel so that we can
lead you forward in Christ. But nonetheless, you're sitting in Waters'
Church right now, you're in the locations, you're hearing the
word of God. But let me tell you what's waiting
for you outside those doors today. What's waiting for you

(06:21):
out the side those doors is the system of this world.

Speaker 2 (06:23):
And I like to have this picture in your head.

Speaker 1 (06:25):
And it's this gigantic straw that the devil just wants
to stick inside your heart and just suck, suck everything
out of you that God wants to put in you. Today,
it's the system of this world. It sucks, Okay, it
sucks the life out of you. And while we can

(06:47):
come to a church like this and rejoice and celebrate
and worship, the world is set up to suck the
life out of you. And there has to be a
game play in your life for how to remember who
you are in Christ. And we're in the Book of Ephesians,
and I think about this, even the first century church

(07:10):
in Ephesus which saw signs, miracles and wonders, Act chapter nineteen.
If you want to see what happened, signs, miracles, and wonders.
Paul the Apostle brings the gospel there. Many people get
say the Bible says, they burned their sorcery books, they
burn their idols. It's a massive amount of money that
they just torched because they found Christ.

Speaker 2 (07:31):
And that's what happens when you find Christ.

Speaker 1 (07:33):
Everything that you loved you no longer loved, because the
love of Christ compels you and grabs you and holds you.

Speaker 2 (07:38):
And this church is born in.

Speaker 1 (07:40):
The first century, in the midst of a pagan culture.

Speaker 2 (07:43):
And then years go by, Paul has to write this
letter to the Ephesians telling them, listen, this is who
you are.

Speaker 1 (07:49):
This is what God has done for you, This is
what God.

Speaker 2 (07:50):
Has for you. In the future. And then I think
about this.

Speaker 1 (07:55):
There are seven churches in the Book of Revelation, the
last book of the Bible, there are seven churches. Meant,
Jesus writes a letter to seven churches. The first church
on the list is the Church of Ephesus, and Jesus
writes a letter to them. You know what he says
in Revelation too, He says, I know verse three, you
are enduring patiently and bearing up for my namesake, and

(08:18):
you have not grown weary. But then he says, but
I have this against you. You have abandoned the love
that you had at the first. Some people some translations
that you abandon your first love. In other words, Ephesians,
you got a great church, you got great programs, you've
got great works, and you're standing strong. But you forgot
what this faith is all about. And this faith, this

(08:40):
faith is not about having nice buildings, having a nice life,
having a nice program called Christianity. This faith is about
loving Jesus Christ, knowing Jesus Christ. And if we forget that,
we will lose our spiritual power. So to that, and
we go to Ephesians chapter one, verse fifteen, Hey, at

(09:03):
all of our locations stand with me. We do this
every week. We stand for the reading of God's Word,
at least every week I'm preaching, and we read God's
word because this is not the writing of men.

Speaker 2 (09:13):
This is the writing of Almighty God. Amen. So stand
with me.

Speaker 1 (09:17):
Verse fifteen Ephesian Chapter one. Here's what Paul says. For
this reason, what reason for the reason of all the
things that we talked about in week one, all the
things that God has done.

Speaker 2 (09:27):
To make you who you are?

Speaker 1 (09:28):
For this reason, because I have heard of your faith
in the Lord Jesus and the love toward all the
science that you have, I do not cease to give
thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. Somebody say, prayers, yeah,
that God, that the God of our Lord, Jesus Christ,

(09:50):
the Father of Glory, may give you a spirit of
wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of him, having the
eyes of your heart enlightened, that you may know what
is the hope to which He has called you one
of the richest of his glorious inheritance in the saints,
and was the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us
who believe, according to the working of His great might,
that he worked in Christ when he raised him from

(10:10):
the dead and seated him at his right hand in
the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority, and
power and dominion, and above every name that is to
be named, not only in this age, but in the
age to come. And he put all things under his
feet and gave him as head over all things to
the Church, which is his body, the fullness of Him

(10:32):
who feels all in all. And this is the reading
of God's word. Let's pray together at all of our locations.
Heavenly Father, thank you that we have this moment to
remember and to receive the tools to remember beyond this
moment who we are in Christ.

Speaker 2 (10:55):
Jesus Father.

Speaker 1 (10:57):
There's people who are listening right now. They're overwhelmed by
their circumstances. They're confused about the age. They wonder if
they're even saved. I pray that today you'll speak into
their hearts through your word to give them assurance, to
give them peace and most importantly, power to overcome everything

(11:22):
that's coming against them. Help us to hear you, and
may we see Jesus him and him only in his
mighty name. We pray, and everybody said, Amen, God bless
you have a seat at all of our locations. What
we just read in Ephesis chapter one, fifteen twenty three
is a prayer by the apostle Paul for the believers

(11:48):
of the First Entry Church in Ephesus. And I think
you have to understand something that Paul the apostle was
committed to two things, as all apostles were supposed to
be the pridging of the word and prayer. See, that's
my primary responsibility, preach the word and pray.

Speaker 2 (12:04):
Yeah, acts chapter six.

Speaker 1 (12:05):
The apostles say it's not right for us to wait
on tables. We need to give ourselves to the preaching
of the word and prayer. You need leaders who are
committed to those two things. And one of the things
that I see in Paul here is a radical in
his life, is a.

Speaker 2 (12:19):
Radical commitment to praying for believers.

Speaker 1 (12:22):
I mean he's praying constantly. Look what he says in
verse sixteen, I do not cease Ephesians one sixteen. I
do not cease to give thanks to you, remembering you
in my prayers. Two chapters later, in Ephesian three fourteen,
he's gonna say, I bow on my knees to the Father,
and I pray that you might know. And we're gonna

(12:43):
get to that prayer later, but think about it. In
the first three chapters of Ephesians, Paul praise two long
prayers for the believers, because it's that important that he
pray over those who believe. In Ephesians chapter six, he
tells them to pray, you know, put on the art
of God, who love the armor of God, how many observation,
first of righteousness, shield of face, sword of spirit.

Speaker 2 (13:04):
But then he says, pray in all this, pray in
the spirit on all.

Speaker 1 (13:07):
Occasions, with all prayers and supplications.

Speaker 2 (13:09):
And then he says, pray for.

Speaker 1 (13:11):
Me the words may be given to me. Let me
just tell you, one of the best things you can
do for me is pray that I can preach the word,
and the Word gets into your heart and strengthens your
faith and builds you up in Christ so that you
can conquer and live mightily and victoriously in this world.
Here's what I want you to write down if you're
taking notes. Prayer is the key to truly living in

(13:34):
the reality of Christ. Do you pray over your salvation
like think about this. If Paul prays twice in three chapters.
I mean, he doesn't just load them up with theology.
He gives them theology. And I'm praying that you understand this.
I'm praying that this is a reality in your life.

(13:57):
And if Paul the Apostle needed to pray that much
in three chapters of writing the scriptures, how much more
do we need to be active in praying that we
will understand who.

Speaker 2 (14:09):
We are and what we are and what we have
in Christ.

Speaker 1 (14:14):
Jesus, oh man, I'm telling you, I'm fired up about
this because prayer is the key.

Speaker 2 (14:19):
Prayer is the king.

Speaker 1 (14:21):
Years ago, my wife and I we actually went on
our first vacation without kids, and you know, when you
have kids, those are few and far between. I remember
we traveled up to the beautiful green mountains of Vermont.

Speaker 2 (14:36):
And we got this resort location.

Speaker 1 (14:38):
It was through a timeshare through a friend, so we
got a great price and the listing said resort accommodations
for your stay. And it was a long weekend and
I remember we traveled up beautiful scenery and we made
it to the resort. We got there, we checked in,
he handed me the key, handed me a piece of paper.
I didn't look at the piece of paper. I just

(14:59):
took the key and he said, Okay, here's your here's
your room key. And I just looked quickly and I
went up. We went upstairs to get into the room.
We got into the room and I walked in the room.
I was disappointed.

Speaker 2 (15:09):
I looked at the room. It's basically a hotel room.

Speaker 1 (15:12):
There's a bed, there's a TV, no mini fridge, and
then like a window to the outside. I'm like, you know,
this is not what I thought I was signing up for.
And sharylh she's much better sport than I am, and
she's like, don't worry about it, just enjoy it. You know,
you just gonna relax. And I gotta spend time here. Anyway,
I said, I know, but it's resort combinay, this is
not a resort ac combination.

Speaker 2 (15:32):
This is holiday inn express. I mean, let's be honest, right,
So so I just kind of miffed.

Speaker 1 (15:38):
Anyway, we went to lunch, we went around town, spent
about five hours, came back right before dinner.

Speaker 2 (15:45):
We were gonna get dressed and ready for dinner, and
I just so miffed.

Speaker 1 (15:48):
I decided I'm gonna I'm just gonna talk about this
with the front desk. So I went up to the
front desk. I said, listen, you know, no offense. But
I I purchased resort accommodations. That's what I signed up for.

Speaker 2 (15:57):
And I went up to the room and I the key.
It's it's a hotel room. It's a bad TV. I
can get that anywhere and I'll never forget what the
guy said.

Speaker 1 (16:07):
He said, mister hatch, I understand, but you you are
aware that your key opens the door to the room
next door as well. And I'm like no, He's like,
it's on the paper I gave you. I whip out
the paper and there it is five oh one C
five oh one D.

Speaker 2 (16:27):
So I said, thank you very much.

Speaker 1 (16:30):
Yeah. So I walked over to the hotel lobby, into
the elevator, went up to the fifth floor with Sheryl
into I opened the door to our original room, saw it,
and then I went right over to five oh one
D and.

Speaker 2 (16:43):
I slid the key. I slid the key.

Speaker 1 (16:47):
Into the door. I opened it boo, like I was
blown blown away. At this room, living room, dining room, chandelier,
there's an outdoor patio with seats and a view of
this amazing golf course. And that's just blew me away.
Walked in Minie bar oh man, look at this place.

(17:09):
We were like in heaven. And then I saw that
there was a door that opened to connect our original
room to the suite.

Speaker 2 (17:15):
And I didn't even realize. This is what I'm trying
to tell you.

Speaker 1 (17:19):
I didn't even realize that I had the key to
so much more than I was experiencing. Ladies and gentlemen,
hear me today, believers in Christ, you got a key,
but you gotta understand it's not gonna happen just automatically.
You gotta know, you gotta read the paper God's given you,

(17:43):
and then you got to apply it through prayer to
understand what is yours in Christ. She's I wonder who
here today? You're sleeping in a bed and with a
television and no real view to the real world that
God has given you, and you got the key in
your pocket, and God's assigned so much more. That's what
today is about. That's what this prayer is about. Look

(18:05):
what Paul says in verse seventeen. What does he pray for?
He says, I pray that the God of our Lord,
Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, may give you the
spirit of wisdom and of revelation in.

Speaker 2 (18:18):
The knowledge of Him.

Speaker 1 (18:21):
Somebody say, knowledge of Him having the eyes of your
hearts enlightened. And by the way, the Greek understanding for
heart is not the emotional seat of your being, but
the intellectual understanding of your being.

Speaker 2 (18:35):
I want you to know.

Speaker 1 (18:38):
In other words, I want God, and I'm praying for
God to open your mind to perceive and receive and
understand everything God gives you in Christ Jesus.

Speaker 2 (18:50):
And what I love about this.

Speaker 1 (18:51):
Prayer in Ephesians one, is this a prayer we can
pray over ourselves.

Speaker 2 (18:56):
Like some of you said, I don't know what to
pray for. Okay, here's what you pray for.

Speaker 1 (19:00):
Go to the Bible, and when you see in the
New Testament, especially when you see someone say I pray
you pray.

Speaker 2 (19:08):
You pray that prayer. So a great prayer for you
every day to.

Speaker 1 (19:12):
Recover from spiritual amnesia is to say, Father, I ask
that you give me the spirit of wisdom and revelation.
Sometimes you're just gonna open the Bible. Just do it.

Speaker 2 (19:22):
If you can't remember the words, just go to Ephesians one.

Speaker 1 (19:24):
I pray that you give me the spirit of wisdom
and revelation in my knowledge of You, that my heart
might be enlightened, that my mind might be enlightened, that
I might know, that I might know the primary aim.
I won't you write this down? The primary aim in
Paul's prayer. Here's what it is, that believers might know
Christ and his resources available to them. I want you

(19:50):
to pull out the key. I want you to understand
what is yours in Christ Jesus. Can I tell you first?
He says, I pray that you might have the spirit
of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.

Speaker 2 (20:04):
Knowing Christ. Listen.

Speaker 1 (20:06):
Knowing Christ is the greatest blessing of your life. It
is the greatest thing you can know, the greatest person
that you can know. We know this from Paul's own
testimony Philippius, chapter three eight.

Speaker 2 (20:21):
He says, everything that I thought was.

Speaker 1 (20:23):
Gained, I consider rubbish compared to the surpassing knowledge of
knowing greatness of knowing Christ, Jesus my Lord, for whom's sake,
I have lost all things, And he says, I give
everything up that I might know Christ. There's nothing better
in life than to know Christ. Why Because He's the
one who gave you your life. He's the one who's

(20:44):
holding your life, and he's the one who redeems your
life and.

Speaker 2 (20:47):
Protects your life and guides your life.

Speaker 1 (20:49):
There's nothing better than knowing the author and the finisher
of your salvation. Or Colossians chapter one, when Paul unpacks
the spiritual riches of Christ for us, the preeminence of
Christ Colossians one point fifteen. He's the image of the
invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. By him, all
things were created in heaven, on earth, visible invisible thrones, dominions.

Speaker 2 (21:12):
Rulers, authorities.

Speaker 1 (21:12):
All things were created through him and for him, And
He is before all things, and in him all things
hold together.

Speaker 2 (21:20):
Oh, there's nothing better. No waterstreks, listen to me. There's
nothing better than knowing Christ. Or Colossians two, verse three.

Speaker 1 (21:30):
In Christ are hidden, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
In Christ are hidden, all all the treasures of wisdom
and knowledge, which means everything apart from Christ is living
in ignorance and foolishness.

Speaker 2 (21:49):
In Christ, wisdom and knowledge.

Speaker 1 (21:52):
Outside of Christ ignorance and foolishness. When you see unbelievers
acting ignorantly and foolishly, they are living a into what
they know.

Speaker 2 (22:01):
But believers, you have been given in.

Speaker 1 (22:03):
Christ all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Speaker 2 (22:09):
That's our blessing.

Speaker 1 (22:10):
And sometimes we forget, and we start forgetting.

Speaker 2 (22:13):
When we start acting like this world.

Speaker 1 (22:16):
We start forgetting when we start fearing what this world fears,
when we start behaving like this world behaves, when we
start trying to get the world to like us.

Speaker 2 (22:25):
We aren't here to be liked.

Speaker 1 (22:27):
We're here to know the love of God and what
is ours in Christ Jesus. We are strangers who have
been blessed by God. So I want to unpack three
points about the prayer from Paul that I want you
to pray. I want you to consider this is your
spiritual key right here.

Speaker 2 (22:45):
This is your key. Three things, and then we're done.

Speaker 1 (22:48):
Pray and to know, Pray to know and understand Number one,
the hope of my calling.

Speaker 2 (22:52):
Write it down. Pray to know and understand the hope
of my calling.

Speaker 1 (23:00):
What does Paul say, having the eyes of your heart
and lightened that you may know these are the resources
now the hope to which he is called. Now, we
Christians love to talk about our calling. Oh, I got
a calling to be a mom. I got a calling
to be a business leader. I got a calling to
be a teacher. I gotta call. I got a calling
to be whatever. Those are material callings, and they don't

(23:22):
last forever. They are temporal, and there's nothing wrong with them.
Paul himself knew that he was called to be an apostle.
I know, I knew at a very young age I
was called to be a pastor. But your temporal calling
is not what's in view here, because he mentions the
hope of your calling and four and in chapter four

(23:43):
he's gonna talk about.

Speaker 2 (23:44):
The calling to which he has called you walk according
to that call. Here's what the calling is.

Speaker 1 (23:49):
The call is that God has taken you out of
the world, sets you apart for His purposes eternally. In fact,
I want you to write it down.

Speaker 2 (24:00):
God's call on your life is eternal and purposeful.

Speaker 1 (24:06):
It's an eternal calling. Here's what I mean by that.
Here's what Paul means. Here's what the scripture means. Life
is filled with great unknowns. I don't know what tomorrow holds.
You don't, I doubt, But I know who holds me
and who holds tomorrow in Christ Jesus. I know that
I am in his hand and no one will ever
snatch me out of his hand. And this is an

(24:28):
eternal calling. That God knows me and has a plan
for me for eternity, which means that my temporary problems
and troubles are not the end of me, and they
don't define me, which means that my weakness is and
my shortcomings are not the ultimate definition of who I am.

(24:49):
It is what God has called me to you. I
think there is no better place to go for this.
To unpack this idea. Scripture interprets scripture. I want to
bring in a Psalm one thirty nine. Look at some
of these verses P. One thirty nine. Verse one, Oh Lord,
you search me and you know me. You know when
I sit, you know when I rise. He discerned my
thoughts from before. You search out my path and my

(25:10):
lying down, and you are acquainted with all my ways.
Verse seven he says, where shall I go from your spirit?
In other words, You're always with me? Where shall I
go from your spirit? Where shall I flee from your presence?
If I send to heaven, you're there. If I go
into the bed of shield, you are there. Let's skip
down to verse thirteen. Saw on one thirty nine. For
you formed my inward parts. You knitted me together in

(25:32):
my mother's womb. I praise you for I am fearfully
and wonderfully made. In other words, God put me together
before anybody ever saw me. That's my eternal calling in God.
And then verse sixteen from the New Living Translation, Oh
I love this verse.

Speaker 2 (25:48):
I love this.

Speaker 1 (25:49):
Somebody, you gotta circle it underlife. You saw me before
I was born. Every day of my life was recorded
in your book. Every moment was laid out before a
single day had passed. Who man, I love that because

(26:09):
it means that God knows what he's up to, and
he knows what he's up to in every moment of
my life. I wonder, who's come to a moment in
your life and you're just freaking out. You're just confused,
you're scared, You're wondering what's gonna happen. Can I tell
you God knows what's gonna happen. And God's not been
caught off guard by what's going on in your life

(26:31):
right now. And God is going to lay out the
moments ahead of you according to his calling on you.
I want you to write down it's the truth. That
I'm trying to get to. My life is God's idea
in God's hand and will be worked out for God's plan.

Speaker 2 (26:49):
That's what he's talking about.

Speaker 1 (26:50):
And here's what Paul says, I'm praying for this for
you. You know, Christians, sometimes we're guilty of having a victim
compleat that some people in the world don't even have.
Sometimes you're like to say, oh, you know, I'm just
a Christian.

Speaker 2 (27:06):
Oh you know, I'm just no wrong.

Speaker 1 (27:08):
You are God's chosen, you are God's elect you are
God's people.

Speaker 2 (27:14):
And I think you gotta get an attitude.

Speaker 1 (27:16):
You got an attitude because if you don't, you will
drive yourself nuts. That whatever is happening now, God is
working it out for what's gonna happen later for my good.
That's the eternal, that's the hope of our calling in Christ.
If we don't have hope, we lose everything. The Bible says,

(27:36):
hope deferred makes makes a heart stick.

Speaker 2 (27:38):
That we have a hope.

Speaker 1 (27:40):
That makes us healthy in our heart to know whatever
is happening now, it's gonna be used. It's gonna be used,
and God knows the end from the beginning. He's the
author of the finisher, and I don't have to freak
out right now. I think about a young man in
South Africa. You had a weird name, kind of lanky,
kind kind of strange kid. And in his own testimony,

(28:02):
he was beat up every day in school.

Speaker 2 (28:05):
He says it was perpetually horrible.

Speaker 1 (28:08):
He got beat up so bad several times his mom
met to take him to the hospital. This is back
in the seventies when they didn't have bullying rules in schools.

Speaker 2 (28:16):
And he was ostracized. He felt like a total loser.

Speaker 1 (28:18):
One day, he's walking by a store and he sees
in the window a Commodore computer and he asks his
mom can I get that?

Speaker 2 (28:24):
She buys it for him.

Speaker 1 (28:25):
He goes home, opens it up, spends an aortament amount
of time alone learning the language basic programming. That moment
launched his career. He eventually would move to the United States.
He founded a company called PayPal, made one one hundred
and eighty million dollars when he sold it to eBay,
took that money and invested it in a car company

(28:47):
called Tesla.

Speaker 2 (28:48):
His name is Elon.

Speaker 1 (28:50):
Musk and right now he's trying to take people to Mars.
I'm a big fan of Elon. I am a big
fan because I think here's a guy who could let
what people we're doing to him and how his life
started become a disaster and the kind of like the definition.

Speaker 2 (29:06):
Of the rest of his life. But he doesn't. He
lets what.

Speaker 1 (29:08):
He could not be accepted and popular in his school
become a vehicle through which God would put him on
a course to change the world. And he is gas shortage.
Anybody get yourself an electric car. Somebody was way ahead
of the curve on that one. And my point is this,
And I don't think Elon's a Christian.

Speaker 2 (29:28):
I'm pretty sure he's not. In fact, I know he's not.

Speaker 1 (29:30):
But I think about, here's an unbeliever who is not
letting what happened to him hurt him and hold him back.
How much more sole believers should we say, I'm not
gonna let what's hurting me and holding me back cause
me to have this perpetual mindset that it will never
work out for me. When I know that I've got
a calling that's eternal in the hand of God and

(29:52):
it will be worked out according to God's plan.

Speaker 2 (29:56):
How much more?

Speaker 1 (29:58):
Come on, somebody that's good, preacher, I don't care what
anybody says. That's good preaching. Here's number two, pray to
no one understand my belonging to God and his belonging
to me. So Paul says, I want you to pray.
I want you to understand, and I'm praying that you understand.
What do you say verse eighteen, what are the riches

(30:18):
of his glorious inheritance in the Saints. Now there's a
debate in this text about what the inherent the what
the words glorious inheritance in the Saints means. Now, some theologians,
and I read this in some commentaries, some theologians mean
that God takes possession of his saints.

Speaker 2 (30:37):
And then there's a whole another side that.

Speaker 1 (30:39):
Says, no, no, no, it means that that, uh God, the
saints take possession of God. So is it God takes
possession of his saints or is it the saints take
possession of God. Here's how you solve dilemmas like that,
when there's equal arguments for both sides.

Speaker 2 (30:55):
It's both. It's both.

Speaker 1 (30:59):
I belong to God and He belongs to me. Now,
there are some precious promises to that from scripture. I
hope you're ready, write these down. I'm gonna go through
them quickly, ABC and D in your nose.

Speaker 2 (31:07):
Letter A.

Speaker 1 (31:08):
I belong to God, Therefore he never loses me. Yeah, Yeah,
he never forgets. I forget where my car keys are.
I forget where my sunglasses are. I forget where my
coat is. I forget where my phone is. Ask my wife,
she's always trying to find my stuff because I forget
it all the time. God never forgets. He never loses you.
Here's some promises. You got to get these in your spirit.
John ten twenty seven. Jesus said, my sheep hear my voice,

(31:31):
and I know them, and I give them eternal life,
and they never perish.

Speaker 2 (31:37):
And listen to this, and no one will snash them
out of my hand. Then, just in case you're.

Speaker 1 (31:41):
Unsure Verse twenty nine, my Father, who has given them
to me, is greater than all, and no one is
able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. You
are in Christ's hand, and you are in the Father's hand, not.

Speaker 2 (31:53):
Once, but twice. Jesus wants you to know no one.

Speaker 1 (31:56):
Is taking you from God John Stix, thirty seven. He
says this all that the Father gives me will come
to me, and whoever comes to me, I will never
cast out.

Speaker 2 (32:06):
I belong to God. Therefore he never loses me. Let
her be.

Speaker 1 (32:10):
I belong to God, therefore he invests in me. This
is a precious promise. So let me read some scriptures
for you. Colossians two ten, And you have been filled
in Him who's the head of all rule and authority.
Now this is not on the screen, but let me
give you a couple other passages. First, Peter four ten,
each of us has received a gift from God.

Speaker 2 (32:32):
Second Corinthia is ninety nine.

Speaker 1 (32:33):
Says he has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor.

Speaker 2 (32:36):
What I'm trying to tell you is God has given
you gifts.

Speaker 1 (32:40):
He's deposited gifts inside of you. Christian two Timothy one
fourteen says this by the Holy Spirit, who dwells in us,
guard the good deposit entrusted to you. In other words,
that to become a Christian is not just to have
your sins forgiven so that you don't go to hell.

Speaker 2 (32:57):
But to become a.

Speaker 1 (32:58):
Christian is to have God poor into your life, gifts
and deposits to birth in your life the things that
God wants to do through you.

Speaker 2 (33:05):
And in you. Okay, now let's flip the script.

Speaker 1 (33:10):
I belong to God, therefore he never loses me, and
he invests me, invests in me.

Speaker 2 (33:15):
Let her see, God belongs to me. Somebody needs to
say that right now.

Speaker 1 (33:19):
You need to say because it sounds weird, but you
need to say it ready on account of three letters
see one, two three, God belongs to me. Okay, Now,
therefore you can write this down. I'm provided for in
every situation that sounds strange. I know some of you
are having a hard time with it, but let me
just show you past the scripture to back me up.
Philippians four nineteen. Look what Paul says, and my God.

(33:42):
It love that my God will supply every need of
yours according to his riches and glory.

Speaker 2 (33:50):
I love that he's my God. Letter D.

Speaker 1 (33:55):
God belongs to me. Therefore I'm not anxious for anything. Oh,
I love this one. God belongs to me. So the
glorious inheritance in the Saints is that God takes possession
of you and he never loses you. And that doesn't
mean now that that doesn't mean you won't wander, that

(34:16):
doesn't mean you won't get tempted.

Speaker 2 (34:18):
That doesn't mean you won't stray.

Speaker 1 (34:19):
But if you are in Christ, if you're his sheep,
he goes after the one, he leaves the ninety nine.
He goes after the one, and he goes back and
he gets you, and he pulls you back and he
brings you back into the polte because he's the good
shepherd who loses none of what the Father gives him.

Speaker 2 (34:33):
But then the second part of that is he's my shepherd.

Speaker 1 (34:36):
Yeah, yeah, I'm his sheep, but he's my shepherd Psalm
twenty three, Verse one. The Lord is my shepherd. I
shall not want to see someone. You gotta take possession
of God. You gotta take possession of him. You gotta
say Lord your mind, which means none of the gods
of this world of mine.

Speaker 2 (34:58):
The Lord of heaven and earth lungs to me.

Speaker 1 (35:00):
These are precious promises, and you need to pray this
over your life. Father, help me to remember that I
am yours and you are mine. I'm telling you it's
gonna change your life. It's opening the door to the
luxury suite that has been prepared for you by your

(35:22):
father in heaven.

Speaker 2 (35:24):
Not number three.

Speaker 1 (35:25):
And finally, pray to know and understand the great power
of God available to me. I make this point personal
because it is personal. God wants you to know his power.
He wants you to know He's got all the power that.

Speaker 2 (35:43):
You need in your life.

Speaker 1 (35:46):
In Phesians chapter one, verse nineteen, here's what Paul says.
And remember in the context of I'm praying that the
god Father of a Lord, Jesus Christ, the God of God,
will give you a spirit of wisdom, revelation and your
knowledge of Him, that you might know.

Speaker 2 (36:00):
Third thing, what is the immeasurable greatness of His power?

Speaker 1 (36:06):
And I love these two words toward us who believe
according to the working of His great might.

Speaker 2 (36:13):
Okay, first off.

Speaker 1 (36:16):
Paul is a huge fan of stringing together adjectives and adverts.

Speaker 2 (36:22):
He does this constantly.

Speaker 1 (36:24):
There are synonymous adjectives in this passage.

Speaker 2 (36:27):
The immeasurable greatness.

Speaker 1 (36:31):
You know of his power toward us who believe according
to His great might. And later on, I guess he's
even more synonyms to kind of sell it. I mean
he is he is pouring out the synonyms here to
push the point, to pound the point in us.

Speaker 2 (36:47):
You got more power available than you realize. You have more.

Speaker 1 (36:52):
Power available Christian than you realize and here's the.

Speaker 2 (36:57):
Thought that I had come to my head. Just listen
to this for a second.

Speaker 1 (37:02):
If Paul tells us and it's been inspired about the
Holy Spirit to put it in the scriptures, I'm praying
that you understand the power that is at work toward you.

Speaker 2 (37:14):
It inherently means.

Speaker 1 (37:17):
That there is something at work in us right now
that we aren't even aware of. Here's the point. Let
me I'll be writing down so that you remember it.
Here's the truth. God's power is working in my life
in ways that I may not presently realize. That's the
truth that He's trying to unpack here. Because because the
word is toward us, I want you to understand the

(37:40):
imaginable greatness of His power toward us. There's there's a
power coming from heaven toward you, Christian, Yes, toward you.
This is why scriptures will say we are more than
conquerors through Christ who loved us. This is why the
scripture says, greater is he that is in us the

(38:03):
heath that is in the world. This is why Jesus
said to the disciples in Act chapter one, you will
receive power after the Holy Spirit comes on you.

Speaker 2 (38:12):
Christians you've got power. You gotta take out the key.
You gotta pray.

Speaker 1 (38:18):
Oh God, help me to know the power that I
have available to me in Jesus name.

Speaker 2 (38:25):
So he goes on.

Speaker 1 (38:26):
Let's understand the power that he's talking about verse twenty.
That he worked in Christ when he raised him from
the dead and seated him at the right hand in.

Speaker 2 (38:35):
The heaven places.

Speaker 1 (38:36):
Is resurrection power, the same power that the scripture says
in another passage, the same power that raised Christ from
the dead.

Speaker 2 (38:45):
It dwells in us, and it quickens our mortal bodies.
Romans chapter eight.

Speaker 1 (38:50):
We've got the resurrection power of Christ available to us.
And notice the power of Christ verse twenty one is
far above all rule, authority, power, dominion, every name that
is named, not only in this age, but in the
ones to come. In other words, the power of Christ
is above the powers of this age. Is above the governors.

(39:11):
It's above the senators. It's above the presidents. It's above
the dictators, it's above the fascists. It's above every person
in this world, and beyond them, it's above the demonic powers,
the spiritual forces, the wicked heaven, the principalities that we
don't see which he will get to in Ephesian chapter six.
But don't you see he's building, He's preparing them for
Ephesian six, to war in.

Speaker 2 (39:32):
The spirit against those heavenly realities.

Speaker 1 (39:34):
Here's how you are because you understand that God has
given you power beyond what you presently realize. Go to war, Christian,
because you've got what it takes. In Christ Jesus, don't
don't let the devil. I wonder who, I wonder who
here is listening to me right now? And there are

(39:57):
voices in your head. And I've been there, and I
know there's voices in your head and just telling you
you're no one, You're nothing, You're gonna lose, everybody hates you,
you got nothing to offer the world, and just constantly
in your head. I know it because I've had those voices.
Can I tell you I've had victory over those voices
I have. I used to have a voice in my

(40:18):
head when I was preaching, used to say this all
the time, You're boring them, You're boring them, You're boring.
Can I tell you I got victory over that voice.
I remember sharing that with you very many many years ago.
And uh, and some of you thank you. You came
and you prayed for me, and maybe many of you
more prayed for me.

Speaker 2 (40:33):
Thank you for that. Can I tell you I got
victory over that when I get up and preach, that
voice is gone. I got freedom when I preached. It's
an amazing thing. You know why, because Jesus has given.

Speaker 1 (40:44):
Me power, and I have that power through Jesus over
every authority, over every power, over every.

Speaker 2 (40:52):
Dominion, and every.

Speaker 1 (40:53):
Name that is to be named in this age and
in the age to come. What teenagers among us today,
you need to know this. You need to pray this
over your life.

Speaker 2 (41:02):
God. I pray that I know the power that is
available to me, so that.

Speaker 1 (41:05):
When my friends mock me, or my enemies hate me,
or people shame me or bully me on social media,
I know who I am in Christ Jesus, and their
words have no authority over who I am.

Speaker 2 (41:19):
What Mom at home raising those kids and is a struggle.

Speaker 1 (41:23):
And you're raising them and it doesn't seem like they're changing,
and you think you're a terrible mom.

Speaker 2 (41:28):
You think you're not doing good job. You think that
they're going to grow up to be you know, useless,
or maybe go to prison or whatever, and you need to.

Speaker 1 (41:36):
Hear today that you've got power available to you in
Christ Jesus, that he's greater in you than the devil
that's in the world. And you need to stand in
that authority and go to war over those children, and
go to war over your home, because God is for you,
not against you.

Speaker 2 (41:53):
All.

Speaker 1 (41:53):
I wonder here, who's trying to start a business, who's
trying to get their career going. It just doesn't seem
like it's going to move anywhere, and you feel stuck,
and you feel so.

Speaker 2 (42:00):
So paused in life.

Speaker 1 (42:02):
Can I tell you God's got power for you, power
to help you stay strong in the midst of stuck
moments and then see the stuckness stop.

Speaker 2 (42:13):
In Jesus name.

Speaker 1 (42:15):
Somebody said, I'm just so weak, Pastor, I came today.
I'm barely hanging on. I'm barely I'm barely breathing in
the spirit. Okay, kill Let me just tell you what
Paul heard from God one day in Tewod Corinthians twelfth nine.
He said, Paul, my grace is sufficient for you. My
power is made perfect in weakness. If you're weak, perfect

(42:36):
because God's power is made perfect. There.

Speaker 2 (42:39):
Then Paul says that there, I'll boast about my weaknesses
because that's how I am strong. Amen. Amen, let me
tell you something, friends.

Speaker 1 (42:46):
This is a word that is so important for you
in this generation of blessed strang We're blessed strangers.

Speaker 2 (42:56):
We are not of this world. That's good.

Speaker 1 (43:01):
Take out your key. Take out your key and pray.
It's been written in Holy Scripture. This prayer has been
recorded in Holy Scripture. So that you not only come
to church and hear me speak over your life who
you are in Christ through the truth of God's word
and the power of the Holy Spirit applying it to you,

(43:22):
but that you leave this building, you leave this location,
you walk away from this message, and you open that
door through prayer, pray that you might know what that
you might know the hope of God's calling you're belonging to.

(43:43):
God is belonging to you, and the power available to
you in every situation. So a sermon in the sentence,
I like to do this, write it down, summing it up.
What was the message about today? Here's what it was about.
Prayer is the key that opens my eyes to God's
calling in my life, ownership of my existence and power

(44:03):
in every situation. If you are in Christ. These precious
promises are yours.

Speaker 2 (44:12):
But listen.

Speaker 1 (44:14):
If you're not, if you are not walking in a
relationship with Jesus Christ, if you are not repented of
your sins, if you have not handed your life over
to him, these promises have no bearing in your life.

Speaker 2 (44:25):
But here's the good news. You can know them right now.

Speaker 1 (44:31):
See prayer is important for the Christian to know who
they are, but it's essential for the non Christian to
become what God wants him to be.