October 19, 2025 • 44 mins
In Raised and Seated, part of the In Christ series, Tyler Lynde opens Ephesians 1:15–23 and invites you to trade frantic self-management for a truer posture in Jesus. Tyler traces Paul’s breathtaking sweep: God raised Christ, God seated Him at the Father’s right hand, and God gave Him as head over all things to the Church. From that foundation, Tyler shows how union with Christ reshapes identity and daily practice: if Jesus is raised and reigning, then in Him we can stand, sit, and serve from a different center.
Walking through Paul’s prayer, Tyler urges us to keep asking God for a fresh work of the Spirit—wisdom, revelation, enlightened hearts, real hope, responsiveness to God’s call, a true sense of our rich inheritance, lived experience of God’s power, and a clearer vision of Christ Himself. These are not abstract ideals but a framework for formation. When the same Spirit who raised Jesus dwells in us, repentance becomes possible, courage begins to grow, and hope stops sounding like wishful thinking.
Tyler speaks honestly about anxiety, depression, and the weariness many carry. Without dismissing medical or situational factors, he calls us to anchor our perspective in Christ’s supremacy. Diagnoses, divisions, and threats have names; Jesus’ name is higher. Believing this doesn’t minimize pain—it aligns our hearts with reality and steadies our speech, posture, and prayers.
The message centers on resurrection and enthronement. Jesus rose never to die again; that matters because the Spirit who raised Him lives in believers (Romans 8:11). Jesus is seated far above every rule, authority, power, and dominion (Ephesians 1; Philippians 2), and all things are under His feet. In Him, we are seated with Christ in the heavenly places—a present spiritual reality that fuels humble confidence. From this seat we approach the throne of grace, make braver choices, and carry a quieter peace into noisy spaces.
Tyler also emphasizes that Jesus is head of the Church, His living body—not a brand or product but an organism joined to its Lord. Joined to Christ, we manifest His fullness through ordinary faithfulness: mutual care, honest correction, generous service, and resilient love that make the gospel visible. If you’re tired of living like you’re losing when Jesus already won, this message will help you realign your mindset, renew your habits, and remember your place in His story. Watch and share with someone who needs courage today.
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Episode Transcript
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Tyler Lynde (00:02):
Alright, are you guys ready for the Word of God
this morning?
I know I am.
Yeah, so let's turn toEphesians chapter 1.
We're gonna be starting atverse 15 in just a minute.
We are in a sermon series rightnow called In Christ, and it's
all about the book of Ephesians.
And we're this year we'restudying the first three
chapters, which help us to uhunderstand more clearly our
(00:22):
identity in Christ.
It's only when we understandour identity in Christ that we
can then fulfill our purpose inChrist, and we'll be talking
about that in the coming year inthe last three chapters of
Ephesians.
And the t the title of today'smessage is In Christ, Raised and
Seated.
In Christ, raised and seated.
(00:42):
So let's read the word of Godtogether.
Ephesians 1, 15 through 23.
For this reason, because I haveheard of your faith in the Lord
Jesus and your love toward allthe saints, I do not cease to
give thanks for you, rememberingyou in my prayers, that the God
of our Lord Jesus Christ, theFather of glory, may give you
(01:04):
the spirit of wisdom andrevelation in the knowledge of
him, having the eyes of yourhearts enlightened, that you may
know what is the hope to whichhe has called you, what are the
riches of his gloriousinheritance in the saints, and
what is the immeasurablegreatness of his power toward us
who believe, according to theworking of his great might, that
(01:27):
he worked in Christ, when heraised him from the dead and
seated him at his right hand inthe heavenly places, far above
all rule and authority and powerand dominion, and above every
other name that is named, notonly in this age, but also in
the one to come.
And he put all things under hisfeet and gave him as head over
(01:51):
all things to the church, whichis his body, the fullness of him
who fills all in all.
Let's pray together.
Father, we thank you for theword of God that is rich.
And Lord, we thank you that youhave given us this word to
encourage us, to instruct us, tocomfort us, to correct us.
Father, to give us all thethings that we need to be able
(02:14):
to live this life the way thatyou've designed for us to live.
And so we ask that you wouldhelp us to have open minds and
open ears and open hearts toreceive from you what you want
to say to us.
And Lord, we pray that the Wordof God would be fruitful, that
it would produce the type offruit in each of us that you
desire for it to produce.
(02:34):
And we thank you for it inJesus' name.
Amen.
Amen.
How many of you are sick andtired of being sick and tired?
Anybody?
Anybody just over being anxiousabout everything?
Is there anyone that could dowith a little bit less distress
and depression in your life?
(02:56):
Can we just be real with eachother this morning?
These are the kinds of thingsthat we feel oftentimes more
than occasionally.
We understand that there aresometimes physiological reasons
for these things to occur, butthere are other times when the
reason that we're experiencingthese things is because we are
(03:17):
either not, we don't understandthe truth from Scripture, or
we're not applying the truthfrom Scripture to our lives.
And so today, my hope is thatGod will use the words of this
passage in Ephesians 1 to remindus of some important things
that we can more fully embracein our lives so that we can walk
(03:38):
lives that are more free fromanxiety and depression, sickness
and disease and trouble and allof those things that uh are
difficult, right?
Now we understand that in thisworld we will have trouble, we
will have tribulation.
So I'm not saying that we won'thave anything like that's
that's happening, but how manyof you know when we know that
(03:59):
God is in charge and we knowthat we're serving him and
following him and he's watchingover us, then we can be okay
even in the midst of ourstruggle, right?
So that's my hope for us thismorning.
And last week, Mark did a greatjob of opening this portion up.
And it's really a prayer thatPaul is praying over the
Ephesian church, right?
(04:19):
And you remember there wereeight things that he gave us
that we could pray for ourpeople.
I want to encourage you also,and I found myself this week
praying these things for myselfas well.
We need this on a continualbasis, and also those around us,
our family members, workmates,people that are in school with
us, strangers, everybody needsthese things to occur in their
(04:43):
lives in order for them tounderstand more clearly who
Jesus is and what he's done forthem, right?
So let's just quickly look overthe eight things that he
recommended to us that we pray,pulling them from Paul's prayer
in that first chapter ofEphesians.
First, that for God to work onthe level of the spirit, second,
(05:03):
for wisdom, third, pray forrevelation.
How about for hope?
Hope's a big one.
To hear the calling of theLord.
Remember, we believe that Godis the one by his spirit that
does the calling and bringspeople to the point of
understanding their need forsalvation.
(05:24):
Six, to see the incredibleriches of our inheritance as
believers.
We're going to focus on thatmore in just a minute.
Seven, to experience the powerof God.
And eight, to see Christ as hetruly is.
How many of you in your ownlives have experienced all eight
of those?
Not a lot of hands going up.
(05:46):
Hopefully, we all have atdifferent times in different
ways, right?
And in ever-increasing measure.
That is that is what Godintends for us as followers of
Jesus Christ.
It's a helpful way, again, justto kind of build a framework
around your prayer life.
And I uh have I use a toolcalled Prayer Mate, which is
(06:08):
just a prayer app.
And you're able to kind of typein your own prayers in that,
and it will pull that pull themup each day or every other day
so that you don't forget to prayover those things.
And so I popped these into myum algorithm, talking about a
positive algorithm.
And so prayer mate has beenpresenting me with these eight
prayer things, uh prayer points,and I've I've really enjoyed
(06:31):
this week tapping into that.
So just want to encourage youto continue that.
So as we pick up today, Paulmoves into preach praying.
You guys know what preachpraying is?
Have you ever experienced that?
Praying is talking to God aboutsomething, about others, and
preach praying is talking toothers about God.
So there's sort of a flip-flopthat happens.
(06:53):
I experienced this as ateenager many times when I heard
my mother praying.
She would start praying ratherrelatively quietly over on her
side of the house, but dependingon my brother and I's uh
particular mode of operation atthe time, in other words, our
level of sin or temptation tosin, she would find her way over
(07:14):
into the kitchen and finallyinto the living room.
And my brother and I hiding outin our bedrooms that were just
adjacent to the living room.
And as she prayed, she wouldpray things like, Oh Lord, don't
let my son settle forcounterfeit women.
This is her word.
She would say, Don't let himsettle for any floozies, okay?
(07:37):
For young people, you may notknow what a floozy is.
It's uh it's it's a flozy is ayoung lady that you don't want
your son to end up end up with.
It's so anyway, I am sograteful that my mom preach
prayed uh because it was reallyimportant to me, and I am so
grateful that as part partiallybecause of her prayers, I am
(08:01):
married to Amy Lind, and we'vebeen married for 32 years.
So grateful.
Amen.
Thank you, mom.
So uh I don't know if you'veever engaged in preach praying.
Some of you preach pray whenyou're uh praying over the food.
I just want to say for allthose relatives out there that
(08:22):
have been wanting to say thisfor a long time, that's not the
time to have intercessory prayeror to preach pray.
That's the time to pray overthe food and and let's see.
And then we can talk during themeal.
Afterwards, we can have a wholeprayer session later.
We can even fast, but just notright.
Don't don't just don't do thatright before the meal.
(08:43):
Anyway, I digress.
Okay.
Um, so Paul, uh as is his way,seems to be overwhelmed by the
goodness of God.
He's overwhelmed, as we seePaul often being, by the
goodness of God.
And so he's expressing it likethe words, he just can't stop
(09:03):
the words.
They're just coming out of him,they're just flowing out of him
like a river.
Uh, it's like he's freestylerapping in a way, he's just
letting it all come out.
And we know that he's inspiredby the Holy Spirit, right?
So he's in he's expressing inglowing terms the pathway to the
incredible riches of ourinheritance as believers.
(09:25):
Did you know that we asbelievers, that God has set
aside for us an inheritance thatis beyond compare, that is
better than anything this worldhas to offer by far.
He has set those things asidefor us and he has provided them
for us.
And we'll find out in just afew minutes that we don't have
(09:46):
to wait until the sweet by andby to begin to live inside of
that inheritance.
Does that make sense?
That's what the scriptureteaches us.
In verse 19, he uses the phraseaccording to, according to, in
order to express the fact thatChrist's followers are also
beneficiaries based on thatwhich God did in Christ Jesus.
(10:09):
In other words, in Christ, weare positionally, our position
is that we are co-heirs with himin that which he has been given
by our heavenly father.
Did you hear what I just said?
We are co-heirs with Jesus inthat which he's been given by
his heavenly father and by ourheavenly father.
(10:30):
That sounds too good to betrue, right?
Hello?
It's the gospel.
It's actually, it actuallymeans the good news.
This is the good news of thegospel of Jesus Christ.
We didn't earn it, we don'tdeserve it, but he gives it.
What's the next part of thatsong?
(10:52):
Anyway.
He gives it anyway.
I was gonna say willingly orjoyfully.
We experience some of thisamazing reality now, and we know
that one day we will experienceit fully.
So let's talk about this.
What is the inheritance thatwe're talking about here that
Paul is bringing up in thisEphesians 1 passage?
(11:15):
It starts out, I believe, bythe fact that God raised Jesus
from the dead.
Remember his words here, theworking of his great might, that
he worked in Christ when heraised him from the dead.
Now I feel it's necessary, eventhough I would I would hope
that most of us understand orknow this story, but we know
that Jesus went to the cross andin so doing took upon himself
(11:40):
the sins of the world, and hewas crucified, he was nailed to
the cross.
And we know that the wrath ofGod was poured out upon him, and
for the first time in all ofeternity, there was a
separation, a relationshipbetween Father and Son.
And Jesus cried out, Father,forgive them, for they don't
know what they're doing.
(12:00):
And then in the end, he said,It is finished.
So the work of redemption orsalvation was completed, but
there was something else thatneeded to occur.
There was something else thathe had promised and that had
been prophesied in the OldTestament.
And what was that?
He was laid in a borrowed tomb.
(12:22):
I don't know how many of youhave been to Israel, but I've
been to Israel and I've been tothe garden where they suspect
that Jesus may have been laid ina borrowed tomb.
And I walked inside of thattomb, and there was one thing
that was very obvious to me.
He wasn't there.
Jesus was not there because onthe third day, guess what?
(12:43):
He rose again.
He rose again by the power ofGod and the work of the Holy
Spirit.
You see, God proved hisunstoppable might when he raised
Jesus from the dead, provingthat he had defeated death,
hell, and the grave.
When are those things defeated?
(13:04):
They were defeated at thatpoint in time.
Now we're going to experience,like I said, levels of
understanding this experience aswe move on.
According to the scriptures,the resurrection of Christ was
the first such event in humanhistory.
And you might say, Well,haven't you read your Bible,
Tyler?
There were other resurrections.
(13:24):
I think of Lazarus.
Remember, Jesus said, Lazarus,come out of that their grave.
I'm sorry, that was the that'sthe Kentucky version, but
Lazarus, come forth, come forth.
And what did what happened?
Lazarus came out.
Right?
But how many of you know thatLazarus died again?
(13:47):
He passed again from this lifeinto the next.
All others died after they hadbeen resurrected, except for
Jesus.
Jesus was the first to rise inthe power of everlasting life.
Alive, alive forevermore.
My Jesus is alive, aliveforevermore.
(14:10):
Now, that's good news just initself.
I feel like I'm doing aninfomercial this morning, but
wait, there's more.
Because Jesus lives, we canlive.
Because Jesus was raised fromthe dead, we can be raised from
the dead.
Because Jesus is alive, we canexperience the life of God.
The Bible says it like this: the same power that raised (14:36):
undefined
Christ from the dead is at workin all believers.
That's amazing.
Paul expresses this concept inthe book of 1 Corinthians very
well.
Let's look at chapter 15, verse20.
But in fact, Christ has beenraised from the dead, the first
(14:58):
fruits of those who have fallenasleep.
For as by a man came death, bya man has come also the
resurrection of the dead.
For as in Adam all die, so alsoin Christ shall all be made
alive.
We were born dead in our sinsand trespasses, children of
Adam, and yet when Jesus Christcame and he rose from the dead,
(15:20):
how many of you know now we havethe ability to be raised from
the dead as well, and to believeon the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is a gift from God.
Colossians 2 says it like this: having been buried with him in (15:30):
undefined
baptism, in which you were alsoraised with him through faith in
the power powerful working ofGod who raised him from the
dead.
And you, say that's me.
Okay.
There's a delayed response thismorning.
That's okay, don't worry aboutit.
(15:51):
This is being translated aswe're going.
And you who were dead in yourtrespasses and the
uncircumcision of your flesh,God made alive together with
him, having forgiven us all ourtrespasses by canceling the
record of debt that stoodagainst us with its legal
demands.
This he set aside, nailing itto the cross.
(16:15):
My friends, this is the goodnews of the gospel of Jesus
Christ.
Because Jesus lives, we livealso.
The same spirit that raisedChrist from the dead lives
(16:47):
inside of all believers in JesusChrist.
True believers.
He lives inside of us.
Is there anything too difficultfor God?
That's a good answer.
Let's confess that tomorrow aswell, right?
And Tuesday and Wednesday.
God raised Jesus from the dead,first of all, but how many of
(17:10):
you know he also seated Jesus athis right hand?
It says in Ephesians 1, again,he seated him at his right hand
in the heavenly places.
Now we can probably relate tothe phrase right hand man or
right hand person, right?
What does that mean typically?
That means somebody who'strusted, who has shown
themselves faithful, somebodywho understands all of the
(17:33):
processes, all of the systems.
If point A person wasn't ableto perform for whatever reason,
point B person could step in anddo most of everything that
point A person could do.
Does that make sense, right?
So we think of things in thatterms.
There was a time in my life andministry, a couple times in my
life and ministry when I got toplay this role.
(17:54):
And I'm telling you, I enjoyedit so much.
It was an amazing gift that Godgave to me to be able to serve
others in that way.
But how many of you know whatGod did for Jesus is far
superior to that concept?
Following Jesus' resurrectionand ascension, God seated him at
(18:16):
his right hand in the heavenlyplaces.
If you think of the throne roomof heaven, where God is, the
seat that's very closest to himat his right hand was prepared
for Jesus Christ.
And when Jesus entered intoheaven after having defeated
death, hell, and the grave, hewas seated in the place of
(18:38):
highest honor at the rightplace, the right hand of his
heavenly Father.
What does the right hand of Godsignify?
It signifies a place ofprivilege and distinction.
It says that he was seated farabove, far above, a place of
privilege, a place ofdistinction.
There's only one Jesus.
(18:58):
Please don't let the worldconvince you of anything other
than that.
There's only one Jesus.
And our Heavenly Father madesure to let all of eternity know
what he thinks of his Son,Jesus Christ.
He seated him at his righthand.
Philippians 2 says itbeautifully.
(19:20):
And being found in human form,he humbled himself.
Jesus humbled himself bybecoming obedient to the point
of death, even death on a cross.
Therefore, God has highlyexalted him and bestowed on him
the name that is above everyother name.
I added other in there, butevery name.
(19:40):
Do we believe that?
(20:19):
I don't know.
Do we act like we believe it?
Do we think like we believe it?
Do we speak like we believe it?
Do we live like we believe it?
I feel like the man who broughthis son to the disciples and
they couldn't cast the demon outof him.
He brought him to Jesus, andJesus basically said, Do you
(20:40):
believe?
And the man said, Lord, Ibelieve.
And then he paused for aminute, I think, and said, Help
my unbelief.
That's a beautiful prayer topray.
God makes us at that point ofneed, doesn't he?
He put all things under Jesus'feet.
It's interesting thatdelineation of rules, all rule,
(21:02):
all authority, all power, andall dominion, anything that can
be named within the spiritualrealm, Jesus has been given
power and authority over.
Go back to Philippians 2 andfinish that portion up in
chapter in verses 10 and 11.
So that at the name of Jesus,every knee should bow in heaven
(21:24):
and on earth and under theearth, and every tongue confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord to theglory of God the Father.
Every tongue, every knee shouldbow, and every tongue confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord.
Jesus has been made King of theuniverse.
(21:48):
He is King of kings and Lord ofLords.
And he rules and reigns, andhis rule and reign will never
end.
He will rule and reign foreverand ever and ever.
How many of you are glad thatthere will be a day?
(22:11):
And here's the problem that welive.
We live in this world whereSatan isn't yet convinced that
he's been defeated.
He still, somewhere in histwisted mind, thinks that
there's some possibility that hemight still be able to win.
And so he does everythingwithin his power to try to mess
(22:33):
with the world, with the worldsystem.
He's the God of this worldsystem.
He tries to do everything hecan to dissuade people away from
Jesus Christ, to keep them awayfrom truth, to deceive them, to
cause them to get involved inall kinds of controversial
thinking and and uh I almostsaid conspiracy theories, but I
(22:54):
didn't I didn't mean to gothere.
But he he wants to distractthem in any way that he possibly
can.
Why?
So that we won't live as ifthese things are true.
I'm here to tell you that yourBible and my Bible tells us that
(23:15):
there will be a day when Satanhimself will have to acknowledge
the defeat.
He will have to own his defeat,and he will bow his knee to the
Lordship of Jesus Christ, andhe, along with everyone in all
of creation, will confess JesusChrist is Lord to the glory of
(23:39):
God, our Father.
And then he will be cast intothe lake of fire.
Because he's not confessingthose things as a believer in
the sense that we have theability to do in this world.
Right?
He's a defeated foe.
So let's start living.
Can I start living?
(24:02):
I'm asking myself.
Can I start living differently?
Can I start thinkingdifferently?
Can I start believingdifferently, speaking
differently, walkingdifferently?
Is there any name that'sgreater than the name of Jesus?
Depression is a name, but howmany of you know the name of
(24:24):
Jesus is higher than depression?
Anxiety and fear and worry andstrife and division, sickness
and disease and all of thosethings have names.
But how many of you know thename of Jesus is greater than
any other name?
And if we as believers can geta hold of this reality and
(24:47):
believe it and change the waythat we think, our lives here on
earth could be a lot betterthan what they are right now.
And I'm not just talking aboutour experience, like things
instantly improving from anexperience standpoint, but how
many of you know a perspective?
Our perspective can changeconsiderably if we really
believe that Jesus has alreadywon the war.
(25:11):
You see, our Father God has putall things under the feet of
Jesus Christ his son.
He uses them as a footstool.
Now, that's great news, and wecould just stop there.
But again, there's more.
(25:33):
We are seated with Christ inheavenly places.
What?
This is radical.
This is revolutionary.
This kind of thinking is hardto wrap our minds around.
And I'm not going to get intothis in detail because in a
couple of weeks, in Ephesians 2,there's an entire passage about
what it means to be seated withChrist in heavenly places.
(25:56):
And so I don't want to stealthe thunder of whoever it is
that's going to be sharing thatmessage.
But I'll just give you a littletaste.
Suffice it to say, to sit inheavenly places is more than a
figure of speech, like a term ofendearment or something that we
look to as like a fancifulthought.
It's more than that.
(26:16):
It is a spiritual reality forbelievers.
We are seated with Christ inheavenly places.
And why is that?
Because of our union withChrist.
Remember, Christ is in us andwe are in Christ.
We are in union with him.
And so the things that heenjoys, the things that he
experiences, we have the abilityin and through him to
(26:40):
experience those same things andto know those same things.
We reap the benefits of hisposition of divine authority.
We are more than conquerorsthrough Jesus Christ who gives
us the victory.
Almost feel like this is thefirst time we're hearing this.
(27:03):
It's not, is it?
I hope.
Neil and I okay?
Are we on track with the Wordof God here?
Okay, I'm just making sure.
We are more than conquerorsthrough Jesus Christ.
Our spiritual seat in theheavenly realms is a position of
(27:23):
high honor, much like beingseated at the VIP table.
You ever had an experience likethat in your life when you got
called up to a table that youdidn't expect to ever get to?
Being able to talk to certainpeople that you didn't ever
think that you'd be able to talkto.
This is what this is like.
We've been called up to that.
We have been given the royalprivilege of being enthroned
(27:45):
with the Son.
And one day, one day, we willpartake of his glory.
We will be glorified as he isglorified.
Now make no mistake, there'sonly one Jesus.
We're not a bunch of littleJesuses, not saying that.
There's only a need for one,right?
But he, in his goodness and inhis kindness, wants to share
(28:09):
with us what he's been given.
What a loving Savior.
What a kind Jesus.
If we will let the spiritualtruth sink in, it will change
the way we think and live.
It should give us theinspiration to serve God from a
place of confidence.
Not arrogance, but confidence.
(28:32):
We can approach the throne ofgrace with confidence, with
boldness.
Because we've been grantedentrance by Jesus Christ in the
price that he paid.
And we get to experience thebenefits of the inheritance that
he fought and died for.
Even here in this life.
(28:54):
Even now.
See, God raised Jesus from thedead, he seated him at his right
hand, and God made Jesus thehead of the church.
Here he goes.
Pastor Tyler talking about thechurch again.
Kind of over the church talk.
(29:15):
Well, you got to deal with theHoly Spirit, with Paul, and with
Jesus with the book ofEphesians.
Like it or not, the book ofEphesians reiterates over and
over and over again the reasonwhy God developed the church in
the way that he did.
It says again in Ephesians 1that he gave him as head over
(29:36):
all things to the church, whichis his body.
God made Jesus the head of thechurch.
We are a part of his body.
Can you wrap your mind aroundthat?
Make no mistake, Christ is thehead of the church.
It's not the Pope, it's not adenominational leader, it's not
(29:58):
some pastor that.
You see on TV, it's not apodcast host, it's not anywhere
of the elders here at Trinity.
And you can say amen.
I'm saying amen to that.
God made Jesus the head of hischurch.
It is Jesus.
He isn't just the head of thechurch, but he's also in charge
(30:19):
of everything in the universe.
One of the hardest questionsthat God ever asked me was,
who's in charge?
Because somewhere down deep onthe inside of me, if I was to be
completely honest, I wanted tosay, you and me, Jesus, you and
me, Jesus.
(30:40):
I wanted to slap that bumpersticker on my car that says
Jesus is my co-pilot.
Because I have some really goodideas on how God should do
things.
Anyone here suffer with thatsame issue?
I don't know what that would becalled, but I get what is it?
unknown (31:02):
Delusion.
Tyler Lynde (31:03):
Delusion.
That's the Bible word for whatwe're talking about here.
It is delusion, right?
To think that somehow, oh mygoodness.
The way we think sometimes iscrazy.
Crazy.
We need to stop the crazytrain, the crazy bus, right?
And get off of it.
He isn't just the head of thechurch is in charge of
(31:26):
everything.
He lives to represent believersand he governs the universe for
believers' sake.
The fact that this world hasn'timploded yet is a miracle.
As many people that have theirfingers close to those nuclear
buttons that God has protectedor preserved until the right
(31:51):
time for things to betransformed and for God to make
all things new again.
It's a miracle.
Let's look at Colossians 1.
This is another one of Paul'srun-on sentences, and I love it.
(32:11):
It gives some greater detailinto this.
He is the image of theinvisible God, the firstborn of
all creation.
For by him all things werecreated in heaven and on earth,
visible and invisible, whetherthrones or dominions or rulers
or authorities, all things werecreated through him and for him.
(32:33):
And he is before all things,and in him all things hold
together.
And he is the are you gettingthe point?
And he is the head of the bodyof the church.
This is Jesus, the head of thechurch.
(33:08):
We can trust him.
Christ is the head of allthings in order to benefit the
church.
How many of you realize that wehave a part to play in this
whole equation?
Even this passage that istalking about the preeminence of
Christ and the fact that he israised from the dead and that he
(33:28):
is seated in heavenly places,it ends with declaring to the
body of Christ the partnershipthat we have with Jesus.
We are the body of Christ.
Church is not an institution,it is an organism.
It exists and functions onlybecause of its vital
(33:50):
relationship with the risenLord.
Any church that moves itsfoundation away from Jesus
Christ will not last, will notsurvive.
Because we are believers, weare in the church which is
Christ's body, and he is thehead of that body.
That means that there is aliving connection between us and
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Christ.
We are connected to him.
The life that he lives, we getto experience as well.
Through the Spirit, we areunited to him as the members of
his body.
This means that we share hisresurrection, we share in his
ascension, we share in hisexaltation, and someday we will
(34:33):
be united with him throughglorification, when we will be
made like him.
This is the good news of thegospel of Jesus Christ.
This is what the Ephesianchurch was going to need to hold
on to when they were going toface persecution and tribulation
and turmoil and trouble.
This is how they had to settheir minds and set their wills
(34:56):
and choose to believe.
It was the only thing that wasgoing to sustain them.
To close, we are meant todisplay the fullness of Christ
because we are being filled byChrist.
We are meant to display thefullness of who Christ is
because we are being filled byChrist.
(35:18):
It says the fullness of Him whofills all in all.
See, we have the privilege ofmanifesting Christ to the world.
(37:33):
You and I and us together asthe body of Christ, we have the
privilege of showing the worldwho Jesus actually is.
By the way we love each other,by the way we prefer one
another, by the way we build oneanother up and encourage each
other, by the way we confronteach other in loving ways when
(37:56):
we're we're uh going in thedirection that we shouldn't go,
by the way we support each otherand help each other.
We have the privilege ofmanifesting Christ to the world,
but we can only do so if wecontinue, if Christ continually
fills us with Himself and withHis gifts of grace.
(38:18):
I'll just finish with thisthought.
2 Corinthians 5 tells us thatwe've been made new creatures,
old things have passed away, andall things have become new.
And so what is what does Godsay after that?
Our job is we get to beambassadors for Christ.
We get to express to the worldthe inheritance of Christ that
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is living and expressing itselfin us, in our lives, and through
us, to a world that has nounderstanding of who Jesus
really is.
Our friends, you are the Bible,you are the only Bible today
that some people are reading.
Let's represent Christ the waythat he deserves.
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Amen.
Amen.
If you want to just come andwe'll we'll close with just a
little song of worship, and I'mjust gonna pray over us that the
Lord would help us to live likewe really believe this.
I just want to encourage you.
The gospel is not intended tobe preached on Sunday morning.
(39:32):
The gospel is something thatyou should preach to yourself,
to your children, to yourgrandchildren, to your
grandparents, to anyone anywherewho will listen, because it's
the power of God to salvation.
The power of God comes throughthe gospel of Jesus Christ.
(39:56):
What I proclaim to you thismorning is a portion of the
gospel.
And I just want to encourageyou, let's begin to think
differently.
Can we lift up our heads?
Can we lift up our heads out ofthe clouds?
Can we start focusing in againon Jesus, the author and
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finisher of our faith?
Can we stop getting so much inturmoil over what the news is
saying or not saying?
All those things, it's not thatwe don't need to be informed or
or be relevant, but if itstarts to affect the way that we
live in relation to who Jesusis and what he's done for us and
(40:36):
what he's doing in us and whathe wants to do through us,
that's a problem.
So can we just take a fewminutes this morning?
And whatever you wherever youfind yourself, and I know that
in preparation for this, theLord's been doing a number in my
soul, my own heart.
I'll just say at times I havefelt fairly dull and a little
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bit hard in my heart.
And I believe that God isattempt is desiring.
We talk about, Kelly wastalking earlier about God doing
something.
One of the things that I want,that I believe that God's going
to do is He's going to revivethe church.
(41:21):
The world doesn't need revivalin that sense.
Do you know what I mean?
The church is somebody that weneed to be revived.
We need to be reawakened.
If there's a reawakened churchand a live church, how many of
you know the world is gonna seethat and say, what is going on?
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What is different about them?
How in the world do they havepeace in the middle of that
storm?
Why is it that they treat theirwives with such kindness?
How is it that their childrenlisten to them the first time
that they say something to them?
Why is it that their young menrush to open the door when
(42:07):
somebody's trying to go into aplace?
There's something different,something unique, and obviously
it's not just about manners,it's about a transformed heart.
You know, the Bible speaks alot about renewing our minds.
We need to renew our minds byspeaking, thinking, speaking,
(42:31):
and believing the truth.
If all of us would speak outthe thoughts that we have on an
ongoing basis, how would thepeople around us, what would the
people around us think?
What would we think even if wevoiced our thoughts out loud?
Wouldn't it be great if ourthought life matched up with
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what we believe?
This happens by meditating onthe word of God.
It happens by preaching thegospel to yourself, it happens
by really believing that God'sword is true.
It happens by casting your careover on the Lord because he
(43:17):
cares for you.
It happens by getting up whenwe feel like sitting down or
laying down.
It happens by us asking andreaching out for prayer when the
struggle seems too great forourselves to handle.
It happens in a million ways,in a million ways.
(43:37):
So my hope is if I'm doingthat, that each and every one of
you will be doing the same.
So would you just stand with meand let's just spend some time
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asking the Lord.
Alright, are you guys ready for the Word of God
this morning?
I know I am.
Yeah, so let's turn toEphesians chapter 1.
We're gonna be starting atverse 15 in just a minute.
We are in a sermon series rightnow called In Christ, and it's
all about the book of Ephesians.
And we're this year we'restudying the first three
chapters, which help us to uhunderstand more clearly our
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identity in Christ.
It's only when we understandour identity in Christ that we
can then fulfill our purpose inChrist, and we'll be talking
about that in the coming year inthe last three chapters of
Ephesians.
And the t the title of today'smessage is In Christ, Raised and
Seated.
In Christ, raised and seated.
(00:42):
So let's read the word of Godtogether.
Ephesians 1, 15 through 23.
For this reason, because I haveheard of your faith in the Lord
Jesus and your love toward allthe saints, I do not cease to
give thanks for you, rememberingyou in my prayers, that the God
of our Lord Jesus Christ, theFather of glory, may give you
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the spirit of wisdom andrevelation in the knowledge of
him, having the eyes of yourhearts enlightened, that you may
know what is the hope to whichhe has called you, what are the
riches of his gloriousinheritance in the saints, and
what is the immeasurablegreatness of his power toward us
who believe, according to theworking of his great might, that
(01:27):
he worked in Christ, when heraised him from the dead and
seated him at his right hand inthe heavenly places, far above
all rule and authority and powerand dominion, and above every
other name that is named, notonly in this age, but also in
the one to come.
And he put all things under hisfeet and gave him as head over
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all things to the church, whichis his body, the fullness of him
who fills all in all.
Let's pray together.
Father, we thank you for theword of God that is rich.
And Lord, we thank you that youhave given us this word to
encourage us, to instruct us, tocomfort us, to correct us.
Father, to give us all thethings that we need to be able
(02:14):
to live this life the way thatyou've designed for us to live.
And so we ask that you wouldhelp us to have open minds and
open ears and open hearts toreceive from you what you want
to say to us.
And Lord, we pray that the Wordof God would be fruitful, that
it would produce the type offruit in each of us that you
desire for it to produce.
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And we thank you for it inJesus' name.
Amen.
Amen.
How many of you are sick andtired of being sick and tired?
Anybody?
Anybody just over being anxiousabout everything?
Is there anyone that could dowith a little bit less distress
and depression in your life?
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Can we just be real with eachother this morning?
These are the kinds of thingsthat we feel oftentimes more
than occasionally.
We understand that there aresometimes physiological reasons
for these things to occur, butthere are other times when the
reason that we're experiencingthese things is because we are
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either not, we don't understandthe truth from Scripture, or
we're not applying the truthfrom Scripture to our lives.
And so today, my hope is thatGod will use the words of this
passage in Ephesians 1 to remindus of some important things
that we can more fully embracein our lives so that we can walk
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lives that are more free fromanxiety and depression, sickness
and disease and trouble and allof those things that uh are
difficult, right?
Now we understand that in thisworld we will have trouble, we
will have tribulation.
So I'm not saying that we won'thave anything like that's
that's happening, but how manyof you know when we know that
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God is in charge and we knowthat we're serving him and
following him and he's watchingover us, then we can be okay
even in the midst of ourstruggle, right?
So that's my hope for us thismorning.
And last week, Mark did a greatjob of opening this portion up.
And it's really a prayer thatPaul is praying over the
Ephesian church, right?
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And you remember there wereeight things that he gave us
that we could pray for ourpeople.
I want to encourage you also,and I found myself this week
praying these things for myselfas well.
We need this on a continualbasis, and also those around us,
our family members, workmates,people that are in school with
us, strangers, everybody needsthese things to occur in their
(04:43):
lives in order for them tounderstand more clearly who
Jesus is and what he's done forthem, right?
So let's just quickly look overthe eight things that he
recommended to us that we pray,pulling them from Paul's prayer
in that first chapter ofEphesians.
First, that for God to work onthe level of the spirit, second,
(05:03):
for wisdom, third, pray forrevelation.
How about for hope?
Hope's a big one.
To hear the calling of theLord.
Remember, we believe that Godis the one by his spirit that
does the calling and bringspeople to the point of
understanding their need forsalvation.
(05:24):
Six, to see the incredibleriches of our inheritance as
believers.
We're going to focus on thatmore in just a minute.
Seven, to experience the powerof God.
And eight, to see Christ as hetruly is.
How many of you in your ownlives have experienced all eight
of those?
Not a lot of hands going up.
(05:46):
Hopefully, we all have atdifferent times in different
ways, right?
And in ever-increasing measure.
That is that is what Godintends for us as followers of
Jesus Christ.
It's a helpful way, again, justto kind of build a framework
around your prayer life.
And I uh have I use a toolcalled Prayer Mate, which is
(06:08):
just a prayer app.
And you're able to kind of typein your own prayers in that,
and it will pull that pull themup each day or every other day
so that you don't forget to prayover those things.
And so I popped these into myum algorithm, talking about a
positive algorithm.
And so prayer mate has beenpresenting me with these eight
prayer things, uh prayer points,and I've I've really enjoyed
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this week tapping into that.
So just want to encourage youto continue that.
So as we pick up today, Paulmoves into preach praying.
You guys know what preachpraying is?
Have you ever experienced that?
Praying is talking to God aboutsomething, about others, and
preach praying is talking toothers about God.
So there's sort of a flip-flopthat happens.
(06:53):
I experienced this as ateenager many times when I heard
my mother praying.
She would start praying ratherrelatively quietly over on her
side of the house, but dependingon my brother and I's uh
particular mode of operation atthe time, in other words, our
level of sin or temptation tosin, she would find her way over
(07:14):
into the kitchen and finallyinto the living room.
And my brother and I hiding outin our bedrooms that were just
adjacent to the living room.
And as she prayed, she wouldpray things like, Oh Lord, don't
let my son settle forcounterfeit women.
This is her word.
She would say, Don't let himsettle for any floozies, okay?
(07:37):
For young people, you may notknow what a floozy is.
It's uh it's it's a flozy is ayoung lady that you don't want
your son to end up end up with.
It's so anyway, I am sograteful that my mom preach
prayed uh because it was reallyimportant to me, and I am so
grateful that as part partiallybecause of her prayers, I am
(08:01):
married to Amy Lind, and we'vebeen married for 32 years.
So grateful.
Amen.
Thank you, mom.
So uh I don't know if you'veever engaged in preach praying.
Some of you preach pray whenyou're uh praying over the food.
I just want to say for allthose relatives out there that
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have been wanting to say thisfor a long time, that's not the
time to have intercessory prayeror to preach pray.
That's the time to pray overthe food and and let's see.
And then we can talk during themeal.
Afterwards, we can have a wholeprayer session later.
We can even fast, but just notright.
Don't don't just don't do thatright before the meal.
(08:43):
Anyway, I digress.
Okay.
Um, so Paul, uh as is his way,seems to be overwhelmed by the
goodness of God.
He's overwhelmed, as we seePaul often being, by the
goodness of God.
And so he's expressing it likethe words, he just can't stop
(09:03):
the words.
They're just coming out of him,they're just flowing out of him
like a river.
Uh, it's like he's freestylerapping in a way, he's just
letting it all come out.
And we know that he's inspiredby the Holy Spirit, right?
So he's in he's expressing inglowing terms the pathway to the
incredible riches of ourinheritance as believers.
(09:25):
Did you know that we asbelievers, that God has set
aside for us an inheritance thatis beyond compare, that is
better than anything this worldhas to offer by far.
He has set those things asidefor us and he has provided them
for us.
And we'll find out in just afew minutes that we don't have
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to wait until the sweet by andby to begin to live inside of
that inheritance.
Does that make sense?
That's what the scriptureteaches us.
In verse 19, he uses the phraseaccording to, according to, in
order to express the fact thatChrist's followers are also
beneficiaries based on thatwhich God did in Christ Jesus.
(10:09):
In other words, in Christ, weare positionally, our position
is that we are co-heirs with himin that which he has been given
by our heavenly father.
Did you hear what I just said?
We are co-heirs with Jesus inthat which he's been given by
his heavenly father and by ourheavenly father.
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That sounds too good to betrue, right?
Hello?
It's the gospel.
It's actually, it actuallymeans the good news.
This is the good news of thegospel of Jesus Christ.
We didn't earn it, we don'tdeserve it, but he gives it.
What's the next part of thatsong?
(10:52):
Anyway.
He gives it anyway.
I was gonna say willingly orjoyfully.
We experience some of thisamazing reality now, and we know
that one day we will experienceit fully.
So let's talk about this.
What is the inheritance thatwe're talking about here that
Paul is bringing up in thisEphesians 1 passage?
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It starts out, I believe, bythe fact that God raised Jesus
from the dead.
Remember his words here, theworking of his great might, that
he worked in Christ when heraised him from the dead.
Now I feel it's necessary, eventhough I would I would hope
that most of us understand orknow this story, but we know
that Jesus went to the cross andin so doing took upon himself
(11:40):
the sins of the world, and hewas crucified, he was nailed to
the cross.
And we know that the wrath ofGod was poured out upon him, and
for the first time in all ofeternity, there was a
separation, a relationshipbetween Father and Son.
And Jesus cried out, Father,forgive them, for they don't
know what they're doing.
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And then in the end, he said,It is finished.
So the work of redemption orsalvation was completed, but
there was something else thatneeded to occur.
There was something else thathe had promised and that had
been prophesied in the OldTestament.
And what was that?
He was laid in a borrowed tomb.
(12:22):
I don't know how many of youhave been to Israel, but I've
been to Israel and I've been tothe garden where they suspect
that Jesus may have been laid ina borrowed tomb.
And I walked inside of thattomb, and there was one thing
that was very obvious to me.
He wasn't there.
Jesus was not there because onthe third day, guess what?
(12:43):
He rose again.
He rose again by the power ofGod and the work of the Holy
Spirit.
You see, God proved hisunstoppable might when he raised
Jesus from the dead, provingthat he had defeated death,
hell, and the grave.
When are those things defeated?
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They were defeated at thatpoint in time.
Now we're going to experience,like I said, levels of
understanding this experience aswe move on.
According to the scriptures,the resurrection of Christ was
the first such event in humanhistory.
And you might say, Well,haven't you read your Bible,
Tyler?
There were other resurrections.
(13:24):
I think of Lazarus.
Remember, Jesus said, Lazarus,come out of that their grave.
I'm sorry, that was the that'sthe Kentucky version, but
Lazarus, come forth, come forth.
And what did what happened?
Lazarus came out.
Right?
But how many of you know thatLazarus died again?
(13:47):
He passed again from this lifeinto the next.
All others died after they hadbeen resurrected, except for
Jesus.
Jesus was the first to rise inthe power of everlasting life.
Alive, alive forevermore.
My Jesus is alive, aliveforevermore.
(14:10):
Now, that's good news just initself.
I feel like I'm doing aninfomercial this morning, but
wait, there's more.
Because Jesus lives, we canlive.
Because Jesus was raised fromthe dead, we can be raised from
the dead.
Because Jesus is alive, we canexperience the life of God.
The Bible says it like this: the same power that raised (14:36):
undefined
Christ from the dead is at workin all believers.
That's amazing.
Paul expresses this concept inthe book of 1 Corinthians very
well.
Let's look at chapter 15, verse20.
But in fact, Christ has beenraised from the dead, the first
(14:58):
fruits of those who have fallenasleep.
For as by a man came death, bya man has come also the
resurrection of the dead.
For as in Adam all die, so alsoin Christ shall all be made
alive.
We were born dead in our sinsand trespasses, children of
Adam, and yet when Jesus Christcame and he rose from the dead,
(15:20):
how many of you know now we havethe ability to be raised from
the dead as well, and to believeon the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is a gift from God.
Colossians 2 says it like this: having been buried with him in (15:30):
undefined
baptism, in which you were alsoraised with him through faith in
the power powerful working ofGod who raised him from the
dead.
And you, say that's me.
Okay.
There's a delayed response thismorning.
That's okay, don't worry aboutit.
(15:51):
This is being translated aswe're going.
And you who were dead in yourtrespasses and the
uncircumcision of your flesh,God made alive together with
him, having forgiven us all ourtrespasses by canceling the
record of debt that stoodagainst us with its legal
demands.
This he set aside, nailing itto the cross.
(16:15):
My friends, this is the goodnews of the gospel of Jesus
Christ.
Because Jesus lives, we livealso.
The same spirit that raisedChrist from the dead lives
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inside of all believers in JesusChrist.
True believers.
He lives inside of us.
Is there anything too difficultfor God?
That's a good answer.
Let's confess that tomorrow aswell, right?
And Tuesday and Wednesday.
God raised Jesus from the dead,first of all, but how many of
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you know he also seated Jesus athis right hand?
It says in Ephesians 1, again,he seated him at his right hand
in the heavenly places.
Now we can probably relate tothe phrase right hand man or
right hand person, right?
What does that mean typically?
That means somebody who'strusted, who has shown
themselves faithful, somebodywho understands all of the
(17:33):
processes, all of the systems.
If point A person wasn't ableto perform for whatever reason,
point B person could step in anddo most of everything that
point A person could do.
Does that make sense, right?
So we think of things in thatterms.
There was a time in my life andministry, a couple times in my
life and ministry when I got toplay this role.
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And I'm telling you, I enjoyedit so much.
It was an amazing gift that Godgave to me to be able to serve
others in that way.
But how many of you know whatGod did for Jesus is far
superior to that concept?
Following Jesus' resurrectionand ascension, God seated him at
(18:16):
his right hand in the heavenlyplaces.
If you think of the throne roomof heaven, where God is, the
seat that's very closest to himat his right hand was prepared
for Jesus Christ.
And when Jesus entered intoheaven after having defeated
death, hell, and the grave, hewas seated in the place of
(18:38):
highest honor at the rightplace, the right hand of his
heavenly Father.
What does the right hand of Godsignify?
It signifies a place ofprivilege and distinction.
It says that he was seated farabove, far above, a place of
privilege, a place ofdistinction.
There's only one Jesus.
(18:58):
Please don't let the worldconvince you of anything other
than that.
There's only one Jesus.
And our Heavenly Father madesure to let all of eternity know
what he thinks of his Son,Jesus Christ.
He seated him at his righthand.
Philippians 2 says itbeautifully.
(19:20):
And being found in human form,he humbled himself.
Jesus humbled himself bybecoming obedient to the point
of death, even death on a cross.
Therefore, God has highlyexalted him and bestowed on him
the name that is above everyother name.
I added other in there, butevery name.
(19:40):
Do we believe that?
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I don't know.
Do we act like we believe it?
Do we think like we believe it?
Do we speak like we believe it?
Do we live like we believe it?
I feel like the man who broughthis son to the disciples and
they couldn't cast the demon outof him.
He brought him to Jesus, andJesus basically said, Do you
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believe?
And the man said, Lord, Ibelieve.
And then he paused for aminute, I think, and said, Help
my unbelief.
That's a beautiful prayer topray.
God makes us at that point ofneed, doesn't he?
He put all things under Jesus'feet.
It's interesting thatdelineation of rules, all rule,
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all authority, all power, andall dominion, anything that can
be named within the spiritualrealm, Jesus has been given
power and authority over.
Go back to Philippians 2 andfinish that portion up in
chapter in verses 10 and 11.
So that at the name of Jesus,every knee should bow in heaven
(21:24):
and on earth and under theearth, and every tongue confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord to theglory of God the Father.
Every tongue, every knee shouldbow, and every tongue confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord.
Jesus has been made King of theuniverse.
(21:48):
He is King of kings and Lord ofLords.
And he rules and reigns, andhis rule and reign will never
end.
He will rule and reign foreverand ever and ever.
How many of you are glad thatthere will be a day?
(22:11):
And here's the problem that welive.
We live in this world whereSatan isn't yet convinced that
he's been defeated.
He still, somewhere in histwisted mind, thinks that
there's some possibility that hemight still be able to win.
And so he does everythingwithin his power to try to mess
(22:33):
with the world, with the worldsystem.
He's the God of this worldsystem.
He tries to do everything hecan to dissuade people away from
Jesus Christ, to keep them awayfrom truth, to deceive them, to
cause them to get involved inall kinds of controversial
thinking and and uh I almostsaid conspiracy theories, but I
(22:54):
didn't I didn't mean to gothere.
But he he wants to distractthem in any way that he possibly
can.
Why?
So that we won't live as ifthese things are true.
I'm here to tell you that yourBible and my Bible tells us that
(23:15):
there will be a day when Satanhimself will have to acknowledge
the defeat.
He will have to own his defeat,and he will bow his knee to the
Lordship of Jesus Christ, andhe, along with everyone in all
of creation, will confess JesusChrist is Lord to the glory of
(23:39):
God, our Father.
And then he will be cast intothe lake of fire.
Because he's not confessingthose things as a believer in
the sense that we have theability to do in this world.
Right?
He's a defeated foe.
So let's start living.
Can I start living?
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I'm asking myself.
Can I start living differently?
Can I start thinkingdifferently?
Can I start believingdifferently, speaking
differently, walkingdifferently?
Is there any name that'sgreater than the name of Jesus?
Depression is a name, but howmany of you know the name of
(24:24):
Jesus is higher than depression?
Anxiety and fear and worry andstrife and division, sickness
and disease and all of thosethings have names.
But how many of you know thename of Jesus is greater than
any other name?
And if we as believers can geta hold of this reality and
(24:47):
believe it and change the waythat we think, our lives here on
earth could be a lot betterthan what they are right now.
And I'm not just talking aboutour experience, like things
instantly improving from anexperience standpoint, but how
many of you know a perspective?
Our perspective can changeconsiderably if we really
believe that Jesus has alreadywon the war.
(25:11):
You see, our Father God has putall things under the feet of
Jesus Christ his son.
He uses them as a footstool.
Now, that's great news, and wecould just stop there.
But again, there's more.
(25:33):
We are seated with Christ inheavenly places.
What?
This is radical.
This is revolutionary.
This kind of thinking is hardto wrap our minds around.
And I'm not going to get intothis in detail because in a
couple of weeks, in Ephesians 2,there's an entire passage about
what it means to be seated withChrist in heavenly places.
(25:56):
And so I don't want to stealthe thunder of whoever it is
that's going to be sharing thatmessage.
But I'll just give you a littletaste.
Suffice it to say, to sit inheavenly places is more than a
figure of speech, like a term ofendearment or something that we
look to as like a fancifulthought.
It's more than that.
(26:16):
It is a spiritual reality forbelievers.
We are seated with Christ inheavenly places.
And why is that?
Because of our union withChrist.
Remember, Christ is in us andwe are in Christ.
We are in union with him.
And so the things that heenjoys, the things that he
experiences, we have the abilityin and through him to
(26:40):
experience those same things andto know those same things.
We reap the benefits of hisposition of divine authority.
We are more than conquerorsthrough Jesus Christ who gives
us the victory.
Almost feel like this is thefirst time we're hearing this.
(27:03):
It's not, is it?
I hope.
Neil and I okay?
Are we on track with the Wordof God here?
Okay, I'm just making sure.
We are more than conquerorsthrough Jesus Christ.
Our spiritual seat in theheavenly realms is a position of
(27:23):
high honor, much like beingseated at the VIP table.
You ever had an experience likethat in your life when you got
called up to a table that youdidn't expect to ever get to?
Being able to talk to certainpeople that you didn't ever
think that you'd be able to talkto.
This is what this is like.
We've been called up to that.
We have been given the royalprivilege of being enthroned
(27:45):
with the Son.
And one day, one day, we willpartake of his glory.
We will be glorified as he isglorified.
Now make no mistake, there'sonly one Jesus.
We're not a bunch of littleJesuses, not saying that.
There's only a need for one,right?
But he, in his goodness and inhis kindness, wants to share
(28:09):
with us what he's been given.
What a loving Savior.
What a kind Jesus.
If we will let the spiritualtruth sink in, it will change
the way we think and live.
It should give us theinspiration to serve God from a
place of confidence.
Not arrogance, but confidence.
(28:32):
We can approach the throne ofgrace with confidence, with
boldness.
Because we've been grantedentrance by Jesus Christ in the
price that he paid.
And we get to experience thebenefits of the inheritance that
he fought and died for.
Even here in this life.
(28:54):
Even now.
See, God raised Jesus from thedead, he seated him at his right
hand, and God made Jesus thehead of the church.
Here he goes.
Pastor Tyler talking about thechurch again.
Kind of over the church talk.
(29:15):
Well, you got to deal with theHoly Spirit, with Paul, and with
Jesus with the book ofEphesians.
Like it or not, the book ofEphesians reiterates over and
over and over again the reasonwhy God developed the church in
the way that he did.
It says again in Ephesians 1that he gave him as head over
(29:36):
all things to the church, whichis his body.
God made Jesus the head of thechurch.
We are a part of his body.
Can you wrap your mind aroundthat?
Make no mistake, Christ is thehead of the church.
It's not the Pope, it's not adenominational leader, it's not
(29:58):
some pastor that.
You see on TV, it's not apodcast host, it's not anywhere
of the elders here at Trinity.
And you can say amen.
I'm saying amen to that.
God made Jesus the head of hischurch.
It is Jesus.
He isn't just the head of thechurch, but he's also in charge
(30:19):
of everything in the universe.
One of the hardest questionsthat God ever asked me was,
who's in charge?
Because somewhere down deep onthe inside of me, if I was to be
completely honest, I wanted tosay, you and me, Jesus, you and
me, Jesus.
(30:40):
I wanted to slap that bumpersticker on my car that says
Jesus is my co-pilot.
Because I have some really goodideas on how God should do
things.
Anyone here suffer with thatsame issue?
I don't know what that would becalled, but I get what is it?
unknown (31:02):
Delusion.
Tyler Lynde (31:03):
Delusion.
That's the Bible word for whatwe're talking about here.
It is delusion, right?
To think that somehow, oh mygoodness.
The way we think sometimes iscrazy.
Crazy.
We need to stop the crazytrain, the crazy bus, right?
And get off of it.
He isn't just the head of thechurch is in charge of
(31:26):
everything.
He lives to represent believersand he governs the universe for
believers' sake.
The fact that this world hasn'timploded yet is a miracle.
As many people that have theirfingers close to those nuclear
buttons that God has protectedor preserved until the right
(31:51):
time for things to betransformed and for God to make
all things new again.
It's a miracle.
Let's look at Colossians 1.
This is another one of Paul'srun-on sentences, and I love it.
(32:11):
It gives some greater detailinto this.
He is the image of theinvisible God, the firstborn of
all creation.
For by him all things werecreated in heaven and on earth,
visible and invisible, whetherthrones or dominions or rulers
or authorities, all things werecreated through him and for him.
(32:33):
And he is before all things,and in him all things hold
together.
And he is the are you gettingthe point?
And he is the head of the bodyof the church.
This is Jesus, the head of thechurch.
(33:08):
We can trust him.
Christ is the head of allthings in order to benefit the
church.
How many of you realize that wehave a part to play in this
whole equation?
Even this passage that istalking about the preeminence of
Christ and the fact that he israised from the dead and that he
(33:28):
is seated in heavenly places,it ends with declaring to the
body of Christ the partnershipthat we have with Jesus.
We are the body of Christ.
Church is not an institution,it is an organism.
It exists and functions onlybecause of its vital
(33:50):
relationship with the risenLord.
Any church that moves itsfoundation away from Jesus
Christ will not last, will notsurvive.
Because we are believers, weare in the church which is
Christ's body, and he is thehead of that body.
That means that there is aliving connection between us and
(34:12):
Christ.
We are connected to him.
The life that he lives, we getto experience as well.
Through the Spirit, we areunited to him as the members of
his body.
This means that we share hisresurrection, we share in his
ascension, we share in hisexaltation, and someday we will
(34:33):
be united with him throughglorification, when we will be
made like him.
This is the good news of thegospel of Jesus Christ.
This is what the Ephesianchurch was going to need to hold
on to when they were going toface persecution and tribulation
and turmoil and trouble.
This is how they had to settheir minds and set their wills
(34:56):
and choose to believe.
It was the only thing that wasgoing to sustain them.
To close, we are meant todisplay the fullness of Christ
because we are being filled byChrist.
We are meant to display thefullness of who Christ is
because we are being filled byChrist.
(35:18):
It says the fullness of Him whofills all in all.
See, we have the privilege ofmanifesting Christ to the world.
(37:33):
You and I and us together asthe body of Christ, we have the
privilege of showing the worldwho Jesus actually is.
By the way we love each other,by the way we prefer one
another, by the way we build oneanother up and encourage each
other, by the way we confronteach other in loving ways when
(37:56):
we're we're uh going in thedirection that we shouldn't go,
by the way we support each otherand help each other.
We have the privilege ofmanifesting Christ to the world,
but we can only do so if wecontinue, if Christ continually
fills us with Himself and withHis gifts of grace.
(38:18):
I'll just finish with thisthought.
2 Corinthians 5 tells us thatwe've been made new creatures,
old things have passed away, andall things have become new.
And so what is what does Godsay after that?
Our job is we get to beambassadors for Christ.
We get to express to the worldthe inheritance of Christ that
(38:44):
is living and expressing itselfin us, in our lives, and through
us, to a world that has nounderstanding of who Jesus
really is.
Our friends, you are the Bible,you are the only Bible today
that some people are reading.
Let's represent Christ the waythat he deserves.
(39:07):
Amen.
Amen.
If you want to just come andwe'll we'll close with just a
little song of worship, and I'mjust gonna pray over us that the
Lord would help us to live likewe really believe this.
I just want to encourage you.
The gospel is not intended tobe preached on Sunday morning.
(39:32):
The gospel is something thatyou should preach to yourself,
to your children, to yourgrandchildren, to your
grandparents, to anyone anywherewho will listen, because it's
the power of God to salvation.
The power of God comes throughthe gospel of Jesus Christ.
(39:56):
What I proclaim to you thismorning is a portion of the
gospel.
And I just want to encourageyou, let's begin to think
differently.
Can we lift up our heads?
Can we lift up our heads out ofthe clouds?
Can we start focusing in againon Jesus, the author and
(40:16):
finisher of our faith?
Can we stop getting so much inturmoil over what the news is
saying or not saying?
All those things, it's not thatwe don't need to be informed or
or be relevant, but if itstarts to affect the way that we
live in relation to who Jesusis and what he's done for us and
(40:36):
what he's doing in us and whathe wants to do through us,
that's a problem.
So can we just take a fewminutes this morning?
And whatever you wherever youfind yourself, and I know that
in preparation for this, theLord's been doing a number in my
soul, my own heart.
I'll just say at times I havefelt fairly dull and a little
(41:00):
bit hard in my heart.
And I believe that God isattempt is desiring.
We talk about, Kelly wastalking earlier about God doing
something.
One of the things that I want,that I believe that God's going
to do is He's going to revivethe church.
(41:21):
The world doesn't need revivalin that sense.
Do you know what I mean?
The church is somebody that weneed to be revived.
We need to be reawakened.
If there's a reawakened churchand a live church, how many of
you know the world is gonna seethat and say, what is going on?
(41:43):
What is different about them?
How in the world do they havepeace in the middle of that
storm?
Why is it that they treat theirwives with such kindness?
How is it that their childrenlisten to them the first time
that they say something to them?
Why is it that their young menrush to open the door when
(42:07):
somebody's trying to go into aplace?
There's something different,something unique, and obviously
it's not just about manners,it's about a transformed heart.
You know, the Bible speaks alot about renewing our minds.
We need to renew our minds byspeaking, thinking, speaking,
(42:31):
and believing the truth.
If all of us would speak outthe thoughts that we have on an
ongoing basis, how would thepeople around us, what would the
people around us think?
What would we think even if wevoiced our thoughts out loud?
Wouldn't it be great if ourthought life matched up with
(42:56):
what we believe?
This happens by meditating onthe word of God.
It happens by preaching thegospel to yourself, it happens
by really believing that God'sword is true.
It happens by casting your careover on the Lord because he
(43:17):
cares for you.
It happens by getting up whenwe feel like sitting down or
laying down.
It happens by us asking andreaching out for prayer when the
struggle seems too great forourselves to handle.
It happens in a million ways,in a million ways.
(43:37):
So my hope is if I'm doingthat, that each and every one of
you will be doing the same.
So would you just stand with meand let's just spend some time
(44:01):
asking the Lord.
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