May 19, 2024 • 39 mins
Join us for #dcnsunday as Pastor Terra and Pastor Scott wrap up our Sermon Series titled "The Church."
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and be sure to visit our website https://defiancenazarene.org/
& did you know you could give online? https://defiancenazarene.org/online-giving
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You know, it's all right to make a little noise
in church, right exactly, it's all right. It's all right.
So this week we're going to be wrapping up this
series on Ephesians that really should have taken five times
longer than what we did. There's just a lot in there,
(00:22):
isn't there. There's a lot in the Book of Ephesians.
It's a short, short six chapters, but there's so much
in there, and it really needs to take a lot
more depth. But we knew that we just needed to
kind of work through it, and we had some things
we wanted to highlight throughout this message this the last
six weeks. And so today we're gonna wrap it up.
(00:42):
And so we're as we head into chapter six. Here,
I'm gonna start us off and we're gonna read some
of the some of the hard stuff again, some of
the hard stuff that's in Ephesians there. And so we're
gonna start an Ephesians six. If you have your Bibles,
hopefully you've been reading this and reading through it. I
have read through the Book of Ephesians, oh, I don't know,
(01:03):
sixty times, probably in the last six weeks, trying to
get a handle on all this, But so we get
to six 's one here, and here's where we go. Children,
obey your parents and the Lord, for this is right.
Honor your father and mother. This is the first commandment,
with a promise that it may go well with you,
and that you may live long in the land. Fathers,
(01:27):
do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them
up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Bond servants,
obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a
sincere heart, as you would Christ. Not by the way
of eye service as people pleasers, but as bond servants
of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart,
(01:49):
rendering service with the good will as to the Lord
and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does this,
he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is
a bond servant or is free. Masters, do the same
to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who
is both their master and yours, is in heaven and
(02:09):
there is no partiality with him. Finally, be strong in
the Lord, in the strength of his might. Put on
the whole armor of God, that you may be able
to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we
do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers,
against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness,
against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
(02:32):
So last week I hit chapter five and we talked
about this mutual respect that people need to have within
the Church of Christ. It was this understanding that men
and women, Jews and gentiles. Again, we have to keep
the context in place that we have these two distinct
(02:54):
groups of people coming from two completely different world views.
And Jesus and Paul and everybody is saying, you are
one people. You are one people in Christ now, and
in doing so, you have to live your life differently
than what the world says. You're living in a world
that is very male dominated. I mean it's it is
(03:16):
male dominated. It is it is. Again, we get into
chapter six here and it says, children obey your parents.
That was a given in that culture. It wasn't even
an option. It was children, obey your parents or get
the wrath right. It was it was a no brainer.
(03:39):
But then he turns it around and says, fathers, don't
make your kids dislike you, honor them. And then and
then this isn't a This isn't a thing about we
should have slavery or not. It's slavery was a given
and slaves bond servants obeyed. Again, there was no option.
(04:04):
But then he turns it around and says, but masters
treat them as equals, treat them as people and have respect.
And so this first section is a continuation of last
week's message. It's a message of this this mutual respect
of of of people, uh, these different groups of people
(04:28):
people in society. And Paul was not saying that we're
going to deal with all of the aspects of society.
But in this part here he's starting us out and
he's telling us that you are different. You are going
to treat your wives again last week, you were going
to treat your wives with utmost respect, to the point
where you will die for her. You will you will
(04:50):
respond to your children with love, not authority, as in
I'm the Iron Fist. You will if you happen to
be in a horrible situation that you were a slave,
that you you will respect your master and your master
you are to respect them. And we start from there.
But then we get to this next section here and
we get down to verse ten, it says, finally, be
(05:13):
strong in the Lord and the strength of his might.
Put on the whole armor of God, that you may
be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but
against rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over
this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in
(05:33):
the heavenly places. See, Paul has been dealing with the
social aspects of all this, and the people have been
dealing with all of these this daily issues in life.
But Paul puts it in perspective, and he says, this
isn't about you, the problems you're dealing with. Isn't about
(05:53):
the Jews and the gentiles. That's not the problem. The
problem's not there. This is a bigger issue. This is
something that is spiritual. This is about powers that are
beyond us. This is this is this is a spiritual battle.
This is something beyond my and your relationship. Our relationships
(06:17):
are the aspect, or are our result, of all these
spiritual forces that are going about us and around us.
In chapter one, it says, as a plan for the
fullness of time to unite the things in him things
in heaven and on earth, and chapter one it continues
in nineteen it says this, and what is the immeasurable
(06:38):
greatness of his power toward us who believe according to
the work of his great might that he worked in Christ,
when he raised him from the dead, and seating him
at the right hand in the heavenly places, far above
all rule and authority, and power and dominion, and above
every name that is named, not only in this age,
but also in the one to come. And Ephesians two
(07:02):
versus two, it talks about this prince of darkness, the
ruler of the air, And you were dead in the
trespassing sins in which you once walked, following the course
of this world, following the Prince of power of the air,
the spirit that is now a work in the suns
of disobedience. Do you see it? Do you see it?
(07:25):
This is a spiritual battle that we're talking about here today.
And Tapastor Terror is gonna share with us what this
armor looks like, what it looks like for that to
come upon us. So let's go there.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
I too, have been reading Ephesians over and over because
there is so much goodness, and there's so much richness
in there for me to honestly some days just make
it through the moment and say God help me here.
And so today, as we conclude this series, Paul is
talking about a believer's journey and Christ and I want
(08:04):
you to see and visualize your journey. If I took
some time to sit down by each of you and
hear your story, unwine, we would see the hand of
God all along the way. But then he stops here,
as Pastor Scott said, and he lets us know, people,
people of God, believers, we are in a battlefield and
(08:26):
I don't like it. Pastor Scott and I this week
we've met several times and we're figuring out just some
vast circumstances that are beyond our control and things happening
within the body of Christ. We are in a battlefield. Now.
Scripture is clear that God is with us. God is
(08:49):
for us, He is our friend, and he is our help.
Can someone say, amen, today you are precious in the
sight of our Father. But today, as Paul shifts gears
and I'm gonna tell you, I've been kind of struggling
and studying and reading it, he says, there is also
(09:10):
an enemy of our souls, who seeks to kill and destroy,
and he is a master of disguise and a schemer.
Pastor Scott read in verse eleven of chapter six, be
strong in the Lord and in his mighty power, his
(09:33):
mighty power, thanks me to God. It does not say
be strong in terror. It says to be strong in
the Lord. This is where our strength comes from today.
You see, I want to be an encourager today. As
I prayed and prayed and thought I had my sermon done,
(09:55):
I thought, Lord, I don't want to put people down.
Courage your soul today that we are in a battlefield.
And it's hard to understand, but our battle is not
with flesh and blood. It is not with people, It
is not with each other. But there is one who
is greater. There is one whose power nothing can stand
(10:17):
against it. The word power that Paul uses here is
actually krados in the Greek, which means sovereign, unlimited power, might,
and dominion over all. May your heart be encouraged today
that Jesus Christ has dominion over temptation, he has dominion
over sin, he has dominion over thoughts, He has dominion
(10:41):
over death.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Death.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Where is your stain today? Your strength today is found
in a living, dynamic personal relationship with Jesus Christ. And
if you're going at it on your own, and I've
probably tried to do it again this week because you know,
I'm just get real honest with you, and then I
go home and beat myself up. I didn't make it
one step on my own. We have to have the
(11:04):
power of a living God. But the good news is
He paid it all so we can. As Pastor Scott
preached about, the veil has been torn and we are
co heirs with Jesus as we travel along. I think
that was an old song we used to sing too.
Now he says here we do not wrestle with flesh
(11:24):
and blood. Take heart, there is an overcomer now the
word Paul when he's talking about wrestling. I pictured. I
know Matt and Lisa are doing junior church today and
Raydine's back there. All of you know raydin.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
He's the best.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
He's one of our little guys. And one day, I mean,
Pastor Lisa was full on teaching and the kids were
listening and I'm standing in there, and all of a sudden,
Raydean looks at Matt Kech and he goes w W
and he just flattens him. And I thought, oh my,
I come from a house with two sisters. But Matt,
(12:00):
he just he had it going on. He's the dad
of two boys, and I mean he just went wrestling
WWE with redeem right in the middle of the lesson.
So when we're reading wrestling in scripture, we have to say, Okay,
it's not WWE, but what is Paul talking about here?
You see wrestling match of that time, the connotations the
(12:21):
losers in the Greek let wrestling contest they would have
to gouge their eyes out and result in blindness for
the rest of their lives. So when Paul says we
do not wrestle with flesh and blood, I think the
people took listen because it was serious. Defeat was serious.
They knew it would be faithful and desperate because darkness
(12:42):
in the Bible means an ignorance of truth. But light
is knowing God and his son Jesus Christ. It is
knowing who and who you are. That's why that Ephesians
chapter one, I just wanted to stay right there. You're redeemed,
You're a You're chosen, know whose you are today? Thanks
(13:03):
be to God. He gives us the victory, a song
I've been clinging to for the last couple of weeks.
I don't know if you've heard it. I'm fighting a
pad You've already won. No matter what, cos my way,
(13:25):
I will overcome. I don't know what you do in
but I know what you've done. Let's stop today in
the church fighting battles that Jesus Christ has already won.
And he tells us to put on take up the
(13:46):
full armor of God Romans twelve to that powerful scripture,
be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind. Because
Christ can do that, He renews us. He gave him.
The reason we take up the full armor is because
he says we can. We don't need to pick and choose.
(14:11):
God says, take up the full armor. Allow it to
cover you, to clothe you, to fully stand. Now, in kids,
we use lots of visuals. I don't think my waist
has ever been this small, So just go with me.
But I wanted to give you visuals today of the
Roman of the army, of what he was talking about,
(14:32):
and he says, to take on the belt of truth. Now,
the belt was used to support the soldier. It was
also used to hold the clothes down so they didn't
get into the way when they were in battle. I
don't know about you, but sometimes when I wear a
kimono and I'm walking through my kitchen, my arm gets
caught on the rail and I fall backwards. This is
(14:53):
just my life. You're probably thinking, how in the world,
so you can see how important it is to strap
someone ever done? See some laughs? Anyone else ever had
that happen, or belt loop or anything? Okay, I'll go on. Never,
of course you haven't, pastor Scott. So we put on
the belt of truth because it equips us and he
gets us ready, and it gets the things out of
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our life that don't need to be there, and it
makes us rely on the truth of God's word. We
are too put on Christ. He is the truth, and
wear it like a belt. The breastplate of righteousness. Now
the breastplate. It covers the whole body of a soldier
from the neck to the thighs. And what is behind
(15:33):
it It is our heart. Oh, we need to protect
our hearts. Here's the great news. When Christ died for
our sins, God imputed his perfect righteousness in us. He
cleanses us. We need to have the continual response of
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putting it on and part detecting our heart, because unrighteous
living opens us up to attacks. It does. The word
of God is truth. The breastplate protects our heart. We
are to live righteously in this world. That is what
Scripture says, and that is why Christ came, because He
(16:24):
wants you on this glorious journey hand in hand with
him all of the days of your life. Now it says,
be ready with the sandals of the Gospel. Now, as
I was studying the sandals of the Roman army, the
sandals were made with like nails that gripped the ground
coming out of the bottom so they would not slip.
So I went to an analogy that I could picture.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
Cleats.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Anybody ever played softball, baseball, football, soccer. Cleats are something
I do. I put them on when I was five
years old and hardly ever took them off. They were
made with a purpose. They readied me from the base
to spring off. They kept my feet from slipping as
a fast pitch pitcher. For years and years and years.
Coaches and my dad did research and they taught me
(17:11):
how my cleat and how my toe could actually impact
the force of the ball going towards the plate, believe
it or not. And so they taught me they must
have done pretty well, because my senior year, half of
my shoe fell apart and flew when I was pitching
a pitch.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
It was great.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
It's fantastic. And because it was my senior year, and
because I was the third and last child, and because
my dad had bought one thousand and fifty two pairs
of cleats in his lifetime, he said, I'm done buying them.
Give me your shoe, and he took it to his shop.
He took great tape, taped my shoe. Then he took
(17:49):
white paint and he painted it so no one would know.
Then he took another paint with the emblem. I mean,
he was determined not to buy another pair of plate.
The shoes are important. A Christian believer does not wear
(18:10):
the same shoes as the world wears. Because we are
to be ready to present the Gospel of peace to
a mixed up, confused, lost world. Because He is the
Prince of peace. We have the shield of faith. Now
this shield I read. They dipped arrows inflammable materials, so
(18:31):
when they would shoot the arrows off, they would have
fire coming at you. Well, if you live in this
world very long, you've felt the fire come at you,
haven't you. The shield of faith protects us. We take
the battlefield with complete and perfect trust in a God
who will do what he said he's going to do.
(18:54):
And then lastly he mentions this helmet of salvation. Now,
I loved this beautiful picture to study and know what
does something on your head mean about salvation? Salvation comes
the moment we place our trust in Jesus' death and
resurrection adds the payment of our sin. But then we
allow the Holy Spirit to do the work. The helmet
(19:17):
covers our mind and transformed our mind. We learned in
Ephesians chapter two that is not by works we are saved.
Jesus Christ did at all. But then if Philippians Paul says,
we're to work out our salvation, what here's the thing?
Christ did it all. He works it in. We get
(19:39):
hit when we get saved, we get all of Him.
Then we get the joy and honor and privilege of
working it out. And as we work it out, his
Holy Spirit comes in and dwells in us. And we
need the Holy Spirit. We have to have the Holy
Spirit and then this God supplies us the willingness and
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the power and the joy through the working out, because
we know that we are not taking one step alone,
because we have the helmet of salvation. So when you're
walking along and you're trying to be all that God
wants you to be, and then one of those arrows
comes flying at you and you say, can we just
(20:23):
get real right here on a Sunday morning. God, I
don't know if I can love that person. The helmet
of Salvation says, oh, yes you can, because I'm gonna
work it out in you. And you keep working with
him and let him work it out, and step back
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as he gives you the joy and the desires of
your heart. See, I believe Christ came today not to
just leave a few chains left on us. We sing
the song My chains are gone. I've been set free,
my God, my Savior has ransomed me. But then we
(21:08):
start to entangle ourselves, and we leave a little chain here,
and we leave a little chain there, and then we wonder, God,
where are you? God? Why can't I get out? He
came to loosen every chain. He has dominion over the darkness,
(21:30):
and we have access to put on the full Armor
of God Today.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
So when I was a teenager a couple of years ago,
there was this series by Frank Praireti I think it
was his last name, and in one of the books
was called This Present Darkness. And I don't read a
lot of fiction quote unquote fiction books. You guys know
(21:57):
me well enough to my imagination is too who vivid
it really is, So I stay away from I stay
away from fiction books because I can live through that
and uh, and so I don't read fiction books for
that reason. It stays with me. So I read this
when I was a teenager, and I still picture the
spiritual battles that Frank h described in those books. I
(22:24):
still I can still see the battle that that that
there's this church and there's these people and these and
these forces that come in with them, and then there's
these forces who are battling against them, and and and
I could picture that as if as if it were real.
So that's why I stay away from fictional books. I
(22:47):
just again, this was a long time ago. I can't
even remember what I did yesterday, and so these things
stick with me. But it comes that it's literally says
here what I just read is this present darkness. That's
what brings us up. That's where the title came from
for those books. And so we get to Ephesians chapter six,
(23:08):
starting with verse eighteen, and it says, praying at all
times in the spirit, with all prayer and supplication to
that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for
all the saints and also for me, that words may
be given to me, and opening my mouth boldly to
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proclaim the mystery of the Gospel for which I am
an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly
as I ought to speak. And so we look at
this battle, this battle that's happening in our culture, not
just not just in the culture of Ephesians here, but
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if you read the Book of Colossians, it is almost
a mimic of Ephesians. The vast majority of Colossians is
almost written exactly the same.
Speaker 3 (24:03):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
The message that or the history and and research has
has said that basically it was most likely that Paul
wrote the Book of Ephesians and then immediately sat down
and wrote the Book of Colossians. And so it was
it was two different areas. And it was it was
this idea, UH, that that we were dealing we're living
in this culture. We have this culture that we live in,
(24:26):
each and each of us. We have our culture that
we live in, and we have these battles that were
going through. We have all these things that are going
on in our lives that every that that happened to us.
Just like the Gentiles and the Jews, they were so opposite.
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We had the freedom to do whatever they want to
the the restrictions of the law. And Jesus broke down
those barriers and said, I get it. You need to
lay down all of this sinful stuff, and you need
to lay down all of this lost stuff, and you
(25:07):
need to come and understand that we are saved by
grace and we are both part of this inheritance, and
so you need to stop this battle that we have
that you're dealing with within the culture. Live within the culture,
don't adopt the culture. Live within the culture, but be
(25:27):
such a light in the midst of the darkness. The
people begin to see Jesus as you take on the culture.
Too many times we're spending our time and we're trying
to fight the culture. And that's okay, I guess, but
we're taking it at wrong time. We're coming at the
(25:47):
wrong way again. This is a spiritual battle. This is
a spiritual battle. This is a battle that goes beyond
what I can do. I can do so much. I
can only do so much. I can come up with
(26:08):
my plans, I can lay my plans before you, and
I can say, well, this is what I'm gonna do,
this is what i'm gonna do, this is what I'm
gonna do. And all that goes to a side when
I realize and recognize that this is a different level.
Everything that happens is in a spiritual realm that we
can't see and that we can't get a hold of.
(26:30):
We can't get ourselves to the place that I can
win somebody to Christ. I can't. I can be the
light that shows people Christ, but I cannot win somebody
to Christ. All I can do is be the example.
(26:53):
I can be the conduit that somebody can see the
light in the midst of the darkness of this world
so that they can come and maybe see Christ. And
so it says that we are supposed to bring ourselves
in prayer. Now, I'll be honest, I'll be straight up
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with you that that is not always my first move.
It's not always my first move. I'm a capable person
most of the time. If I run into a problem,
I think I can fix it. If I run into
an issue, I think I can get it figured out.
If I have a relationship issue as we're talking about
and the Jews and the Gentiles, I think that I
(27:36):
can work it out and talk it through and kind
of get that all smoothed doubt, as Paul talks about
here in Ephesians. So it's not always my first step
to say, God, this is something beyond me. And so
it says that we are to bring our prayers and
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supplications before the Lord. In Revelations five six through eight,
it says John the revelator is saying, then I saw lamb,
looking as if it had been slain, standing at the
center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures
and the elders. The lamb had seven horns and seven eyes,
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which are the seven spirits of God sent out into
all the earth. He went and took the scroll from
the right hand of him who sat on the throne,
And when he had taken it, the four living creatures
and the twenty four elders fell down before the lamb
each one had a harp, and they were holding golden
bowls full of incense, which were the prayers of God's people.
(28:43):
The prayers matter, The prayers go to the throne room.
The prayers that we put up are not just bouncing
off the ceiling. They're not just words we say. They
are the incense, they are the fragrance in the throne room.
They ufill the room of which Christ acts upon. And
(29:08):
so Paul talks about this mystery, this mystery of the gospel.
What is this mystery of the gospel. It is the
mystery is that we all of us can know the
saving grace of Jesus. All of us can know this grace.
All of us can know this saving grace of God
(29:33):
that works in our lives. But as Pastor Terara just
showed us, all of this has to be in play.
We have to take on this spiritual aspect of our lives.
We have to have this helmet of salvation. We have
to know Jesus. We have to know Jesus. We have
(29:57):
to have this truth, in this righteousness. We have to
defend ourselves with the shield. We have to have the Word.
We have to have all of this in our lives.
We have to have all of these. I wrote them
down so I get it. The truth, righteousness, We have
to have the Gospel of peace. We have to have faith, salvation,
(30:22):
the Word of God, prayer. How many of us are
not trying to do that? How many of us are
not taking up this armor that we have and trying
to make this battle that we are living in our
daily lives and trying to do it on our own strength.
(30:43):
How many of us are doing that? How many of
us are are just trying to make it through our
own strength. I'm gonna come back to that in a second.
I'm gonna give you a quick summary of the last
five weeks. Chapter one we titled that Believe and Belong.
(31:09):
We used this main verse chapter one thirteen, and him
you also when you heard the Word of Truth, the
Gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, you were
sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee
of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to
the praise of His glory. Chapter two we said we
(31:30):
are alive in Christ verses four. But God being rich
and mirthy mercy because of the great love for which
He loved us even when we were dead in our trespass,
made us alive together in Christ. By grace you've been
saved Chapter three. Rooted and established Pastor don verse seventeen.
(31:57):
So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith,
that you being rooted and grounded in love. Chapter four.
Unified and growing verse thirteen, until we all attain the
unity of the faith and in the knowledge of the
Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of
(32:18):
the statue of the fullness of Christ, so that we
may no longer be children tossed to and fro by
the waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine,
by human cunning, by craftiness and deceitful schemes. And last
week chapter five, living in the light. They're not therefore
verse seven. Therefore, do not become partners with them, For
(32:39):
at one time you are in darkness, But now you
are the light of the world. Walk as children of light.
And that today we're talking about the armor of God.
Can you see the progression here we are in this
battle that we tend to We need to stop focusing
on each other and start focusing on Christ. I'm gonna
(33:07):
be to this place we don't always see eye to
eye do She's always right? But I don't like that.
We don't. You and I don't see eye to eye
on everything. We've done some things in the last year
(33:31):
or so that you have really questioned, but you've given grace.
We appreciate that. We need to get to the place
where we're just looking beyond that. Right. You know, the
old argument is I don't like the color of the carpet.
(33:51):
You know that's the old argument. Right, that's irrelevant. We
don't like everything that each of us do. We don't.
We don't always agree. The Jews and the Gentiles definitely
did not agree. Paul said, stop living in the sinfulness
of your life, the darkness of your life. Gentiles, if
(34:13):
you have any hints of these things, get rid of that.
You've been living by the law, and you think you
earn your righteousness by following the law. Both of you
have been saved by grace, not by the works. Look
(34:33):
beyond that and understand that we are all in this
place of respect and honor for each other. Get beyond
that and recognize that this is a spiritual battle. This
is beyond everything else. And I know this feels kind
of chopped up a little bit right here. And I
(34:55):
understand that I didn't know quite know how to do
a whole lot of this right here, But I want
you to think of something right now. Who's the person
that is your biggest problem or worry or concern right now,
right in your head? Think about it? You know it,
(35:16):
You know that person. What's the biggest problem that you're
dealing with right now in your life? Think about it?
It popped in your head right now. What is the
issue that is holding you back? And maybe you've got
a sin in your life? What's the sin in your
life that's stopping you from being everything Christ wants to be?
(35:36):
You just thought of it. What's keeping you from maturing
in your faith? What's stopping you from figuring out all
of this in Ephesians. I would bet that the reason
(35:57):
that a lot of those things are our problems is
because our step is not towards the spiritual side of it,
but towards what I would tend to do is how
can I fix it? How can I fix it? See,
we need to become a We probably are to some degree,
(36:19):
but we really need to become a praying church. We've
got some prayer groups and I'm extremely thankful for those.
I have people who are specifically send me an email
each week and say, how can I pray for you
this week? Every Monday morning or every Monday I get
this email, how can I pray for you this week?
(36:42):
So we have prayer happening. But until we get to
the place we hear people always say, oh, we need
a revival. Yeah we do. Absolutely. Do you think that
Tara and I can just muster that up on our own?
I mean, we can get real fancy, we can get
(37:03):
some you know, we're got to get in there already, right.
Speaker 3 (37:07):
I mean we're getting kind of fancy here. I mean
Zach has been wanting to put the strobe lights in.
These lights will do it. These lights can flash, we
can get.
Speaker 1 (37:21):
Smoke machines out. Seriously, we can go all out if
you want. If you want us to get loud, we
can get loud. If you want us to get excited,
we can get excited. But that will not bring revival
upon this church or this community. The only thing that
(37:43):
will bring revival in our hearts is won those things
that I just had to pop in your head, you
begin to pray about, stop trying to do them on
your own. The second part is is putting our prayers
in these bowls. They become the incense for the throne
(38:05):
and they begin to fill the temple that God can
begin to work. Some of you are hurting deeply today
and we need to be praying for each other today.
Some of you are struggling today with something and you
(38:28):
won't seem to give it up because that sin is
just too good or too hard to get rid of.
Until we become a church who regularly use our altars,
who regularly bow down at our chairs, who regularly get
fined our spaces within our homes, who regularly take up
(38:51):
all of this armor and have the shield and the
breast probably and the belt and the sandals and all
of that in place. Until we start using the tools,
the spiritual tools that we have that have been given
to us. Until we use that, we will never see
revival here. Wow, that's pretty harsh, But we're here today
(39:18):
in order to experience Christ. We want the Holy Spirit,
don't we. I'm glad one person said amen to that
that saw some pet's naddy. We want the Holy Spirit
to work
You know, it's all right to make a little noise
in church, right exactly, it's all right. It's all right.
So this week we're going to be wrapping up this
series on Ephesians that really should have taken five times
longer than what we did. There's just a lot in there,
(00:22):
isn't there. There's a lot in the Book of Ephesians.
It's a short, short six chapters, but there's so much
in there, and it really needs to take a lot
more depth. But we knew that we just needed to
kind of work through it, and we had some things
we wanted to highlight throughout this message this the last
six weeks. And so today we're gonna wrap it up.
(00:42):
And so we're as we head into chapter six. Here,
I'm gonna start us off and we're gonna read some
of the some of the hard stuff again, some of
the hard stuff that's in Ephesians there. And so we're
gonna start an Ephesians six. If you have your Bibles,
hopefully you've been reading this and reading through it. I
have read through the Book of Ephesians, oh, I don't know,
(01:03):
sixty times, probably in the last six weeks, trying to
get a handle on all this, But so we get
to six 's one here, and here's where we go. Children,
obey your parents and the Lord, for this is right.
Honor your father and mother. This is the first commandment,
with a promise that it may go well with you,
and that you may live long in the land. Fathers,
(01:27):
do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them
up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Bond servants,
obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a
sincere heart, as you would Christ. Not by the way
of eye service as people pleasers, but as bond servants
of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart,
(01:49):
rendering service with the good will as to the Lord
and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does this,
he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is
a bond servant or is free. Masters, do the same
to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who
is both their master and yours, is in heaven and
(02:09):
there is no partiality with him. Finally, be strong in
the Lord, in the strength of his might. Put on
the whole armor of God, that you may be able
to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we
do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers,
against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness,
against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
(02:32):
So last week I hit chapter five and we talked
about this mutual respect that people need to have within
the Church of Christ. It was this understanding that men
and women, Jews and gentiles. Again, we have to keep
the context in place that we have these two distinct
(02:54):
groups of people coming from two completely different world views.
And Jesus and Paul and everybody is saying, you are
one people. You are one people in Christ now, and
in doing so, you have to live your life differently
than what the world says. You're living in a world
that is very male dominated. I mean it's it is
(03:16):
male dominated. It is it is. Again, we get into
chapter six here and it says, children obey your parents.
That was a given in that culture. It wasn't even
an option. It was children, obey your parents or get
the wrath right. It was it was a no brainer.
(03:39):
But then he turns it around and says, fathers, don't
make your kids dislike you, honor them. And then and
then this isn't a This isn't a thing about we
should have slavery or not. It's slavery was a given
and slaves bond servants obeyed. Again, there was no option.
(04:04):
But then he turns it around and says, but masters
treat them as equals, treat them as people and have respect.
And so this first section is a continuation of last
week's message. It's a message of this this mutual respect
of of of people, uh, these different groups of people
(04:28):
people in society. And Paul was not saying that we're
going to deal with all of the aspects of society.
But in this part here he's starting us out and
he's telling us that you are different. You are going
to treat your wives again last week, you were going
to treat your wives with utmost respect, to the point
where you will die for her. You will you will
(04:50):
respond to your children with love, not authority, as in
I'm the Iron Fist. You will if you happen to
be in a horrible situation that you were a slave,
that you you will respect your master and your master
you are to respect them. And we start from there.
But then we get to this next section here and
we get down to verse ten, it says, finally, be
(05:13):
strong in the Lord and the strength of his might.
Put on the whole armor of God, that you may
be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but
against rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over
this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in
(05:33):
the heavenly places. See, Paul has been dealing with the
social aspects of all this, and the people have been
dealing with all of these this daily issues in life.
But Paul puts it in perspective, and he says, this
isn't about you, the problems you're dealing with. Isn't about
(05:53):
the Jews and the gentiles. That's not the problem. The
problem's not there. This is a bigger issue. This is
something that is spiritual. This is about powers that are
beyond us. This is this is this is a spiritual battle.
This is something beyond my and your relationship. Our relationships
(06:17):
are the aspect, or are our result, of all these
spiritual forces that are going about us and around us.
In chapter one, it says, as a plan for the
fullness of time to unite the things in him things
in heaven and on earth, and chapter one it continues
in nineteen it says this, and what is the immeasurable
(06:38):
greatness of his power toward us who believe according to
the work of his great might that he worked in Christ,
when he raised him from the dead, and seating him
at the right hand in the heavenly places, far above
all rule and authority, and power and dominion, and above
every name that is named, not only in this age,
but also in the one to come. And Ephesians two
(07:02):
versus two, it talks about this prince of darkness, the
ruler of the air, And you were dead in the
trespassing sins in which you once walked, following the course
of this world, following the Prince of power of the air,
the spirit that is now a work in the suns
of disobedience. Do you see it? Do you see it?
(07:25):
This is a spiritual battle that we're talking about here today.
And Tapastor Terror is gonna share with us what this
armor looks like, what it looks like for that to
come upon us. So let's go there.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
I too, have been reading Ephesians over and over because
there is so much goodness, and there's so much richness
in there for me to honestly some days just make
it through the moment and say God help me here.
And so today, as we conclude this series, Paul is
talking about a believer's journey and Christ and I want
(08:04):
you to see and visualize your journey. If I took
some time to sit down by each of you and
hear your story, unwine, we would see the hand of
God all along the way. But then he stops here,
as Pastor Scott said, and he lets us know, people,
people of God, believers, we are in a battlefield and
(08:26):
I don't like it. Pastor Scott and I this week
we've met several times and we're figuring out just some
vast circumstances that are beyond our control and things happening
within the body of Christ. We are in a battlefield. Now.
Scripture is clear that God is with us. God is
(08:49):
for us, He is our friend, and he is our help.
Can someone say, amen, today you are precious in the
sight of our Father. But today, as Paul shifts gears
and I'm gonna tell you, I've been kind of struggling
and studying and reading it, he says, there is also
(09:10):
an enemy of our souls, who seeks to kill and destroy,
and he is a master of disguise and a schemer.
Pastor Scott read in verse eleven of chapter six, be
strong in the Lord and in his mighty power, his
(09:33):
mighty power, thanks me to God. It does not say
be strong in terror. It says to be strong in
the Lord. This is where our strength comes from today.
You see, I want to be an encourager today. As
I prayed and prayed and thought I had my sermon done,
(09:55):
I thought, Lord, I don't want to put people down.
Courage your soul today that we are in a battlefield.
And it's hard to understand, but our battle is not
with flesh and blood. It is not with people, It
is not with each other. But there is one who
is greater. There is one whose power nothing can stand
(10:17):
against it. The word power that Paul uses here is
actually krados in the Greek, which means sovereign, unlimited power, might,
and dominion over all. May your heart be encouraged today
that Jesus Christ has dominion over temptation, he has dominion
over sin, he has dominion over thoughts, He has dominion
(10:41):
over death.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Death.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Where is your stain today? Your strength today is found
in a living, dynamic personal relationship with Jesus Christ. And
if you're going at it on your own, and I've
probably tried to do it again this week because you know,
I'm just get real honest with you, and then I
go home and beat myself up. I didn't make it
one step on my own. We have to have the
(11:04):
power of a living God. But the good news is
He paid it all so we can. As Pastor Scott
preached about, the veil has been torn and we are
co heirs with Jesus as we travel along. I think
that was an old song we used to sing too.
Now he says here we do not wrestle with flesh
(11:24):
and blood. Take heart, there is an overcomer now the
word Paul when he's talking about wrestling. I pictured. I
know Matt and Lisa are doing junior church today and
Raydine's back there. All of you know raydin.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
He's the best.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
He's one of our little guys. And one day, I mean,
Pastor Lisa was full on teaching and the kids were
listening and I'm standing in there, and all of a sudden,
Raydean looks at Matt Kech and he goes w W
and he just flattens him. And I thought, oh my,
I come from a house with two sisters. But Matt,
(12:00):
he just he had it going on. He's the dad
of two boys, and I mean he just went wrestling
WWE with redeem right in the middle of the lesson.
So when we're reading wrestling in scripture, we have to say, Okay,
it's not WWE, but what is Paul talking about here?
You see wrestling match of that time, the connotations the
(12:21):
losers in the Greek let wrestling contest they would have
to gouge their eyes out and result in blindness for
the rest of their lives. So when Paul says we
do not wrestle with flesh and blood, I think the
people took listen because it was serious. Defeat was serious.
They knew it would be faithful and desperate because darkness
(12:42):
in the Bible means an ignorance of truth. But light
is knowing God and his son Jesus Christ. It is
knowing who and who you are. That's why that Ephesians
chapter one, I just wanted to stay right there. You're redeemed,
You're a You're chosen, know whose you are today? Thanks
(13:03):
be to God. He gives us the victory, a song
I've been clinging to for the last couple of weeks.
I don't know if you've heard it. I'm fighting a
pad You've already won. No matter what, cos my way,
(13:25):
I will overcome. I don't know what you do in
but I know what you've done. Let's stop today in
the church fighting battles that Jesus Christ has already won.
And he tells us to put on take up the
(13:46):
full armor of God Romans twelve to that powerful scripture,
be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind. Because
Christ can do that, He renews us. He gave him.
The reason we take up the full armor is because
he says we can. We don't need to pick and choose.
(14:11):
God says, take up the full armor. Allow it to
cover you, to clothe you, to fully stand. Now, in kids,
we use lots of visuals. I don't think my waist
has ever been this small, So just go with me.
But I wanted to give you visuals today of the
Roman of the army, of what he was talking about,
(14:32):
and he says, to take on the belt of truth. Now,
the belt was used to support the soldier. It was
also used to hold the clothes down so they didn't
get into the way when they were in battle. I
don't know about you, but sometimes when I wear a
kimono and I'm walking through my kitchen, my arm gets
caught on the rail and I fall backwards. This is
(14:53):
just my life. You're probably thinking, how in the world,
so you can see how important it is to strap
someone ever done? See some laughs? Anyone else ever had
that happen, or belt loop or anything? Okay, I'll go on. Never,
of course you haven't, pastor Scott. So we put on
the belt of truth because it equips us and he
gets us ready, and it gets the things out of
(15:13):
our life that don't need to be there, and it
makes us rely on the truth of God's word. We
are too put on Christ. He is the truth, and
wear it like a belt. The breastplate of righteousness. Now
the breastplate. It covers the whole body of a soldier
from the neck to the thighs. And what is behind
(15:33):
it It is our heart. Oh, we need to protect
our hearts. Here's the great news. When Christ died for
our sins, God imputed his perfect righteousness in us. He
cleanses us. We need to have the continual response of
(15:58):
putting it on and part detecting our heart, because unrighteous
living opens us up to attacks. It does. The word
of God is truth. The breastplate protects our heart. We
are to live righteously in this world. That is what
Scripture says, and that is why Christ came, because He
(16:24):
wants you on this glorious journey hand in hand with
him all of the days of your life. Now it says,
be ready with the sandals of the Gospel. Now, as
I was studying the sandals of the Roman army, the
sandals were made with like nails that gripped the ground
coming out of the bottom so they would not slip.
So I went to an analogy that I could picture.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
Cleats.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Anybody ever played softball, baseball, football, soccer. Cleats are something
I do. I put them on when I was five
years old and hardly ever took them off. They were
made with a purpose. They readied me from the base
to spring off. They kept my feet from slipping as
a fast pitch pitcher. For years and years and years.
Coaches and my dad did research and they taught me
(17:11):
how my cleat and how my toe could actually impact
the force of the ball going towards the plate, believe
it or not. And so they taught me they must
have done pretty well, because my senior year, half of
my shoe fell apart and flew when I was pitching
a pitch.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
It was great.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
It's fantastic. And because it was my senior year, and
because I was the third and last child, and because
my dad had bought one thousand and fifty two pairs
of cleats in his lifetime, he said, I'm done buying them.
Give me your shoe, and he took it to his shop.
He took great tape, taped my shoe. Then he took
(17:49):
white paint and he painted it so no one would know.
Then he took another paint with the emblem. I mean,
he was determined not to buy another pair of plate.
The shoes are important. A Christian believer does not wear
(18:10):
the same shoes as the world wears. Because we are
to be ready to present the Gospel of peace to
a mixed up, confused, lost world. Because He is the
Prince of peace. We have the shield of faith. Now
this shield I read. They dipped arrows inflammable materials, so
(18:31):
when they would shoot the arrows off, they would have
fire coming at you. Well, if you live in this
world very long, you've felt the fire come at you,
haven't you. The shield of faith protects us. We take
the battlefield with complete and perfect trust in a God
who will do what he said he's going to do.
(18:54):
And then lastly he mentions this helmet of salvation. Now,
I loved this beautiful picture to study and know what
does something on your head mean about salvation? Salvation comes
the moment we place our trust in Jesus' death and
resurrection adds the payment of our sin. But then we
allow the Holy Spirit to do the work. The helmet
(19:17):
covers our mind and transformed our mind. We learned in
Ephesians chapter two that is not by works we are saved.
Jesus Christ did at all. But then if Philippians Paul says,
we're to work out our salvation, what here's the thing?
Christ did it all. He works it in. We get
(19:39):
hit when we get saved, we get all of Him.
Then we get the joy and honor and privilege of
working it out. And as we work it out, his
Holy Spirit comes in and dwells in us. And we
need the Holy Spirit. We have to have the Holy
Spirit and then this God supplies us the willingness and
(20:02):
the power and the joy through the working out, because
we know that we are not taking one step alone,
because we have the helmet of salvation. So when you're
walking along and you're trying to be all that God
wants you to be, and then one of those arrows
comes flying at you and you say, can we just
(20:23):
get real right here on a Sunday morning. God, I
don't know if I can love that person. The helmet
of Salvation says, oh, yes you can, because I'm gonna
work it out in you. And you keep working with
him and let him work it out, and step back
(20:47):
as he gives you the joy and the desires of
your heart. See, I believe Christ came today not to
just leave a few chains left on us. We sing
the song My chains are gone. I've been set free,
my God, my Savior has ransomed me. But then we
(21:08):
start to entangle ourselves, and we leave a little chain here,
and we leave a little chain there, and then we wonder, God,
where are you? God? Why can't I get out? He
came to loosen every chain. He has dominion over the darkness,
(21:30):
and we have access to put on the full Armor
of God Today.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
So when I was a teenager a couple of years ago,
there was this series by Frank Praireti I think it
was his last name, and in one of the books
was called This Present Darkness. And I don't read a
lot of fiction quote unquote fiction books. You guys know
(21:57):
me well enough to my imagination is too who vivid
it really is, So I stay away from I stay
away from fiction books because I can live through that
and uh, and so I don't read fiction books for
that reason. It stays with me. So I read this
when I was a teenager, and I still picture the
spiritual battles that Frank h described in those books. I
(22:24):
still I can still see the battle that that that
there's this church and there's these people and these and
these forces that come in with them, and then there's
these forces who are battling against them, and and and
I could picture that as if as if it were real.
So that's why I stay away from fictional books. I
(22:47):
just again, this was a long time ago. I can't
even remember what I did yesterday, and so these things
stick with me. But it comes that it's literally says
here what I just read is this present darkness. That's
what brings us up. That's where the title came from
for those books. And so we get to Ephesians chapter six,
(23:08):
starting with verse eighteen, and it says, praying at all
times in the spirit, with all prayer and supplication to
that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for
all the saints and also for me, that words may
be given to me, and opening my mouth boldly to
(23:29):
proclaim the mystery of the Gospel for which I am
an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly
as I ought to speak. And so we look at
this battle, this battle that's happening in our culture, not
just not just in the culture of Ephesians here, but
(23:52):
if you read the Book of Colossians, it is almost
a mimic of Ephesians. The vast majority of Colossians is
almost written exactly the same.
Speaker 3 (24:03):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
The message that or the history and and research has
has said that basically it was most likely that Paul
wrote the Book of Ephesians and then immediately sat down
and wrote the Book of Colossians. And so it was
it was two different areas. And it was it was
this idea, UH, that that we were dealing we're living
in this culture. We have this culture that we live in,
(24:26):
each and each of us. We have our culture that
we live in, and we have these battles that were
going through. We have all these things that are going
on in our lives that every that that happened to us.
Just like the Gentiles and the Jews, they were so opposite.
(24:46):
We had the freedom to do whatever they want to
the the restrictions of the law. And Jesus broke down
those barriers and said, I get it. You need to
lay down all of this sinful stuff, and you need
to lay down all of this lost stuff, and you
(25:07):
need to come and understand that we are saved by
grace and we are both part of this inheritance, and
so you need to stop this battle that we have
that you're dealing with within the culture. Live within the culture,
don't adopt the culture. Live within the culture, but be
(25:27):
such a light in the midst of the darkness. The
people begin to see Jesus as you take on the culture.
Too many times we're spending our time and we're trying
to fight the culture. And that's okay, I guess, but
we're taking it at wrong time. We're coming at the
(25:47):
wrong way again. This is a spiritual battle. This is
a spiritual battle. This is a battle that goes beyond
what I can do. I can do so much. I
can only do so much. I can come up with
(26:08):
my plans, I can lay my plans before you, and
I can say, well, this is what I'm gonna do,
this is what i'm gonna do, this is what I'm
gonna do. And all that goes to a side when
I realize and recognize that this is a different level.
Everything that happens is in a spiritual realm that we
can't see and that we can't get a hold of.
(26:30):
We can't get ourselves to the place that I can
win somebody to Christ. I can't. I can be the
light that shows people Christ, but I cannot win somebody
to Christ. All I can do is be the example.
(26:53):
I can be the conduit that somebody can see the
light in the midst of the darkness of this world
so that they can come and maybe see Christ. And
so it says that we are supposed to bring ourselves
in prayer. Now, I'll be honest, I'll be straight up
(27:15):
with you that that is not always my first move.
It's not always my first move. I'm a capable person
most of the time. If I run into a problem,
I think I can fix it. If I run into
an issue, I think I can get it figured out.
If I have a relationship issue as we're talking about
and the Jews and the Gentiles, I think that I
(27:36):
can work it out and talk it through and kind
of get that all smoothed doubt, as Paul talks about
here in Ephesians. So it's not always my first step
to say, God, this is something beyond me. And so
it says that we are to bring our prayers and
(27:56):
supplications before the Lord. In Revelations five six through eight,
it says John the revelator is saying, then I saw lamb,
looking as if it had been slain, standing at the
center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures
and the elders. The lamb had seven horns and seven eyes,
(28:17):
which are the seven spirits of God sent out into
all the earth. He went and took the scroll from
the right hand of him who sat on the throne,
And when he had taken it, the four living creatures
and the twenty four elders fell down before the lamb
each one had a harp, and they were holding golden
bowls full of incense, which were the prayers of God's people.
(28:43):
The prayers matter, The prayers go to the throne room.
The prayers that we put up are not just bouncing
off the ceiling. They're not just words we say. They
are the incense, they are the fragrance in the throne room.
They ufill the room of which Christ acts upon. And
(29:08):
so Paul talks about this mystery, this mystery of the gospel.
What is this mystery of the gospel. It is the
mystery is that we all of us can know the
saving grace of Jesus. All of us can know this grace.
All of us can know this saving grace of God
(29:33):
that works in our lives. But as Pastor Terara just
showed us, all of this has to be in play.
We have to take on this spiritual aspect of our lives.
We have to have this helmet of salvation. We have
to know Jesus. We have to know Jesus. We have
(29:57):
to have this truth, in this righteousness. We have to
defend ourselves with the shield. We have to have the Word.
We have to have all of this in our lives.
We have to have all of these. I wrote them
down so I get it. The truth, righteousness, We have
to have the Gospel of peace. We have to have faith, salvation,
(30:22):
the Word of God, prayer. How many of us are
not trying to do that? How many of us are
not taking up this armor that we have and trying
to make this battle that we are living in our
daily lives and trying to do it on our own strength.
(30:43):
How many of us are doing that? How many of
us are are just trying to make it through our
own strength. I'm gonna come back to that in a second.
I'm gonna give you a quick summary of the last
five weeks. Chapter one we titled that Believe and Belong.
(31:09):
We used this main verse chapter one thirteen, and him
you also when you heard the Word of Truth, the
Gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, you were
sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee
of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to
the praise of His glory. Chapter two we said we
(31:30):
are alive in Christ verses four. But God being rich
and mirthy mercy because of the great love for which
He loved us even when we were dead in our trespass,
made us alive together in Christ. By grace you've been
saved Chapter three. Rooted and established Pastor don verse seventeen.
(31:57):
So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith,
that you being rooted and grounded in love. Chapter four.
Unified and growing verse thirteen, until we all attain the
unity of the faith and in the knowledge of the
Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of
(32:18):
the statue of the fullness of Christ, so that we
may no longer be children tossed to and fro by
the waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine,
by human cunning, by craftiness and deceitful schemes. And last
week chapter five, living in the light. They're not therefore
verse seven. Therefore, do not become partners with them, For
(32:39):
at one time you are in darkness, But now you
are the light of the world. Walk as children of light.
And that today we're talking about the armor of God.
Can you see the progression here we are in this
battle that we tend to We need to stop focusing
on each other and start focusing on Christ. I'm gonna
(33:07):
be to this place we don't always see eye to
eye do She's always right? But I don't like that.
We don't. You and I don't see eye to eye
on everything. We've done some things in the last year
(33:31):
or so that you have really questioned, but you've given grace.
We appreciate that. We need to get to the place
where we're just looking beyond that. Right. You know, the
old argument is I don't like the color of the carpet.
(33:51):
You know that's the old argument. Right, that's irrelevant. We
don't like everything that each of us do. We don't.
We don't always agree. The Jews and the Gentiles definitely
did not agree. Paul said, stop living in the sinfulness
of your life, the darkness of your life. Gentiles, if
(34:13):
you have any hints of these things, get rid of that.
You've been living by the law, and you think you
earn your righteousness by following the law. Both of you
have been saved by grace, not by the works. Look
(34:33):
beyond that and understand that we are all in this
place of respect and honor for each other. Get beyond
that and recognize that this is a spiritual battle. This
is beyond everything else. And I know this feels kind
of chopped up a little bit right here. And I
(34:55):
understand that I didn't know quite know how to do
a whole lot of this right here, But I want
you to think of something right now. Who's the person
that is your biggest problem or worry or concern right now,
right in your head? Think about it? You know it,
(35:16):
You know that person. What's the biggest problem that you're
dealing with right now in your life? Think about it?
It popped in your head right now. What is the
issue that is holding you back? And maybe you've got
a sin in your life? What's the sin in your
life that's stopping you from being everything Christ wants to be?
(35:36):
You just thought of it. What's keeping you from maturing
in your faith? What's stopping you from figuring out all
of this in Ephesians. I would bet that the reason
(35:57):
that a lot of those things are our problems is
because our step is not towards the spiritual side of it,
but towards what I would tend to do is how
can I fix it? How can I fix it? See,
we need to become a We probably are to some degree,
(36:19):
but we really need to become a praying church. We've
got some prayer groups and I'm extremely thankful for those.
I have people who are specifically send me an email
each week and say, how can I pray for you
this week? Every Monday morning or every Monday I get
this email, how can I pray for you this week?
(36:42):
So we have prayer happening. But until we get to
the place we hear people always say, oh, we need
a revival. Yeah we do. Absolutely. Do you think that
Tara and I can just muster that up on our own?
I mean, we can get real fancy, we can get
(37:03):
some you know, we're got to get in there already, right.
Speaker 3 (37:07):
I mean we're getting kind of fancy here. I mean
Zach has been wanting to put the strobe lights in.
These lights will do it. These lights can flash, we
can get.
Speaker 1 (37:21):
Smoke machines out. Seriously, we can go all out if
you want. If you want us to get loud, we
can get loud. If you want us to get excited,
we can get excited. But that will not bring revival
upon this church or this community. The only thing that
(37:43):
will bring revival in our hearts is won those things
that I just had to pop in your head, you
begin to pray about, stop trying to do them on
your own. The second part is is putting our prayers
in these bowls. They become the incense for the throne
(38:05):
and they begin to fill the temple that God can
begin to work. Some of you are hurting deeply today
and we need to be praying for each other today.
Some of you are struggling today with something and you
(38:28):
won't seem to give it up because that sin is
just too good or too hard to get rid of.
Until we become a church who regularly use our altars,
who regularly bow down at our chairs, who regularly get
fined our spaces within our homes, who regularly take up
(38:51):
all of this armor and have the shield and the
breast probably and the belt and the sandals and all
of that in place. Until we start using the tools,
the spiritual tools that we have that have been given
to us. Until we use that, we will never see
revival here. Wow, that's pretty harsh, But we're here today
(39:18):
in order to experience Christ. We want the Holy Spirit,
don't we. I'm glad one person said amen to that
that saw some pet's naddy. We want the Holy Spirit
to work
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