Tyler Lynde: Alright, are you guys ready for the Word of God this morning?
Tyler Lynde: I know I am.
Tyler Lynde: Yeah, so let's turn to Ephesians chapter 1.
Tyler Lynde: We're gonna be starting at verse 15 in just a minute.
Tyler Lynde: We are in a sermon series right now called In Christ, and it's all about the book of Ephesians.
Tyler Lynde: And we're this year we're studying the first three chapters, which help us to uh understand more clearly our identity in Christ.
Tyler Lynde: It's only when we understand our identity in Christ that we can then fulfill our purpose in Christ, and we'll be talking about that in the coming year in the last three chapters of Ephesians.
Tyler Lynde: And the t the title of today's message is In Christ, Raised and Seated.
Tyler Lynde: In Christ, raised and seated.
Tyler Lynde: So let's read the word of God together.
Tyler Lynde: Ephesians 1, 15 through 23.
Tyler Lynde: For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might, that he worked in Christ, when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every other name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come.
Tyler Lynde: And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
Tyler Lynde: Let's pray together.
Tyler Lynde: Father, we thank you for the word of God that is rich.
Tyler Lynde: And Lord, we thank you that you have given us this word to encourage us, to instruct us, to comfort us, to correct us.
Tyler Lynde: Father, to give us all the things that we need to be able to live this life the way that you've designed for us to live.
Tyler Lynde: And so we ask that you would help us to have open minds and open ears and open hearts to receive from you what you want to say to us.
Tyler Lynde: And Lord, we pray that the Word of God would be fruitful, that it would produce the type of fruit in each of us that you desire for it to produce.
Tyler Lynde: And we thank you for it in Jesus' name.
Tyler Lynde: Amen.
Tyler Lynde: How many of you are sick and tired of being sick and tired?
Tyler Lynde: Anybody?
Tyler Lynde: Anybody just over being anxious about everything?
Tyler Lynde: Is there anyone that could do with a little bit less distress and depression in your life?
Tyler Lynde: Can we just be real with each other this morning?
Tyler Lynde: These are the kinds of things that we feel oftentimes more than occasionally.
Tyler Lynde: We understand that there are sometimes physiological reasons for these things to occur, but there are other times when the reason that we're experiencing these things is because we are either not, we don't understand the truth from Scripture, or we're not applying the truth from Scripture to our lives.
Tyler Lynde: And so today, my hope is that God will use the words of this passage in Ephesians 1 to remind us of some important things that we can more fully embrace in our lives so that we can walk lives that are more free from anxiety and depression, sickness and disease and trouble and all of those things that uh are difficult, right?
Tyler Lynde: Now we understand that in this world we will have trouble, we will have tribulation.
Tyler Lynde: So I'm not saying that we won't have anything like that's that's happening, but how many of you know when we know that God is in charge and we know that we're serving him and following him and he's watching over us, then we can be okay even in the midst of our struggle, right?
Tyler Lynde: So that's my hope for us this morning.
Tyler Lynde: And last week, Mark did a great job of opening this portion up.
Tyler Lynde: And it's really a prayer that Paul is praying over the Ephesian church, right?
Tyler Lynde: And you remember there were eight things that he gave us that we could pray for our people.
Tyler Lynde: I want to encourage you also, and I found myself this week praying these things for myself as well.
Tyler Lynde: We need this on a continual basis, and also those around us, our family members, workmates, people that are in school with us, strangers, everybody needs these things to occur in their lives in order for them to understand more clearly who Jesus is and what he's done for them, right?
Tyler Lynde: So let's just quickly look over the eight things that he recommended to us that we pray, pulling them from Paul's prayer in that first chapter of Ephesians.
Tyler Lynde: First, that for God to work on the level of the spirit, second, for wisdom, third, pray for revelation.
Tyler Lynde: How about for hope?
Tyler Lynde: Hope's a big one.
Tyler Lynde: To hear the calling of the Lord.
Tyler Lynde: Remember, we believe that God is the one by his spirit that does the calling and brings people to the point of understanding their need for salvation.
Tyler Lynde: Six, to see the incredible riches of our inheritance as believers.
Tyler Lynde: We're going to focus on that more in just a minute.
Tyler Lynde: Seven, to experience the power of God.
Tyler Lynde: And eight, to see Christ as he truly is.
Tyler Lynde: How many of you in your own lives have experienced all eight of those?
Tyler Lynde: Not a lot of hands going up.
Tyler Lynde: Hopefully, we all have at different times in different ways, right?
Tyler Lynde: And in ever-increasing measure.
Tyler Lynde: That is that is what God intends for us as followers of Jesus Christ.
Tyler Lynde: It's a helpful way, again, just to kind of build a framework around your prayer life.
Tyler Lynde: And I uh have I use a tool called Prayer Mate, which is just a prayer app.
Tyler Lynde: And you're able to kind of type in your own prayers in that, and it will pull that pull them up each day or every other day so that you don't forget to pray over those things.
Tyler Lynde: And so I popped these into my um algorithm, talking about a positive algorithm.
Tyler Lynde: And so prayer mate has been presenting me with these eight prayer things, uh prayer points, and I've I've really enjoyed this week tapping into that.
Tyler Lynde: So just want to encourage you to continue that.
Tyler Lynde: So as we pick up today, Paul moves into preach praying.
Tyler Lynde: You guys know what preach praying is?
Tyler Lynde: Have you ever experienced that?
Tyler Lynde: Praying is talking to God about something, about others, and preach praying is talking to others about God.
Tyler Lynde: So there's sort of a flip-flop that happens.
Tyler Lynde: I experienced this as a teenager many times when I heard my mother praying.
Tyler Lynde: She would start praying rather relatively quietly over on her side of the house, but depending on my brother and I's uh particular mode of operation at the time, in other words, our level of sin or temptation to sin, she would find her way over into the kitchen and finally into the living room.
Tyler Lynde: And my brother and I hiding out in our bedrooms that were just adjacent to the living room.
Tyler Lynde: And as she prayed, she would pray things like, Oh Lord, don't let my son settle for counterfeit women.
Tyler Lynde: This is her word.
Tyler Lynde: She would say, Don't let him settle for any floozies, okay?
Tyler Lynde: For young people, you may not know what a floozy is.
Tyler Lynde: It's uh it's it's a flozy is a young lady that you don't want your son to end up end up with.
Tyler Lynde: It's so anyway, I am so grateful that my mom preach prayed uh because it was really important to me, and I am so grateful that as part partially because of her prayers, I am married to Amy Lind, and we've been married for 32 years.
Tyler Lynde: So grateful.
Tyler Lynde: Amen.
Tyler Lynde: Thank you, mom.
Tyler Lynde: So uh I don't know if you've ever engaged in preach praying.
Tyler Lynde: Some of you preach pray when you're uh praying over the food.
Tyler Lynde: I just want to say for all those relatives out there that have been wanting to say this for a long time, that's not the time to have intercessory prayer or to preach pray.
Tyler Lynde: That's the time to pray over the food and and let's see.
Tyler Lynde: And then we can talk during the meal.
Tyler Lynde: Afterwards, we can have a whole prayer session later.
Tyler Lynde: We can even fast, but just not right.
Tyler Lynde: Don't don't just don't do that right before the meal.
Tyler Lynde: Anyway, I digress.
Tyler Lynde: Okay.
Tyler Lynde: Um, so Paul, uh as is his way, seems to be overwhelmed by the goodness of God.
Tyler Lynde: He's overwhelmed, as we see Paul often being, by the goodness of God.
Tyler Lynde: And so he's expressing it like the words, he just can't stop the words.
Tyler Lynde: They're just coming out of him, they're just flowing out of him like a river.
Tyler Lynde: Uh, it's like he's freestyle rapping in a way, he's just letting it all come out.
Tyler Lynde: And we know that he's inspired by the Holy Spirit, right?
Tyler Lynde: So he's in he's expressing in glowing terms the pathway to the incredible riches of our inheritance as believers.
Tyler Lynde: Did you know that we as believers, that God has set aside for us an inheritance that is beyond compare, that is better than anything this world has to offer by far.
Tyler Lynde: He has set those things aside for us and he has provided them for us.
Tyler Lynde: And we'll find out in just a few minutes that we don't have to wait until the sweet by and by to begin to live inside of that inheritance.
Tyler Lynde: Does that make sense?
Tyler Lynde: That's what the scripture teaches us.
Tyler Lynde: In verse 19, he uses the phrase according to, according to, in order to express the fact that Christ's followers are also beneficiaries based on that which God did in Christ Jesus.
Tyler Lynde: In other words, in Christ, we are positionally, our position is that we are co-heirs with him in that which he has been given by our heavenly father.
Tyler Lynde: Did you hear what I just said?
Tyler Lynde: We are co-heirs with Jesus in that which he's been given by his heavenly father and by our heavenly father.
Tyler Lynde: That sounds too good to be true, right?
Tyler Lynde: Hello?
Tyler Lynde: It's the gospel.
Tyler Lynde: It's actually, it actually means the good news.
Tyler Lynde: This is the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Tyler Lynde: We didn't earn it, we don't deserve it, but he gives it.
Tyler Lynde: What's the next part of that song?
Tyler Lynde: Anyway.
Tyler Lynde: He gives it anyway.
Tyler Lynde: I was gonna say willingly or joyfully.
Tyler Lynde: We experience some of this amazing reality now, and we know that one day we will experience it fully.
Tyler Lynde: So let's talk about this.
Tyler Lynde: What is the inheritance that we're talking about here that Paul is bringing up in this Ephesians 1 passage?
Tyler Lynde: It starts out, I believe, by the fact that God raised Jesus from the dead.
Tyler Lynde: Remember his words here, the working of his great might, that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead.
Tyler Lynde: Now I feel it's necessary, even though I would I would hope that most of us understand or know this story, but we know that Jesus went to the cross and in so doing took upon himself the sins of the world, and he was crucified, he was nailed to the cross.
Tyler Lynde: And we know that the wrath of God was poured out upon him, and for the first time in all of eternity, there was a separation, a relationship between Father and Son.
Tyler Lynde: And Jesus cried out, Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they're doing.
Tyler Lynde: And then in the end, he said, It is finished.
Tyler Lynde: So the work of redemption or salvation was completed, but there was something else that needed to occur.
Tyler Lynde: There was something else that he had promised and that had been prophesied in the Old Testament.
Tyler Lynde: And what was that?
Tyler Lynde: He was laid in a borrowed tomb.
Tyler Lynde: I don't know how many of you have been to Israel, but I've been to Israel and I've been to the garden where they suspect that Jesus may have been laid in a borrowed tomb.
Tyler Lynde: And I walked inside of that tomb, and there was one thing that was very obvious to me.
Tyler Lynde: He wasn't there.
Tyler Lynde: Jesus was not there because on the third day, guess what?
Tyler Lynde: He rose again.
Tyler Lynde: He rose again by the power of God and the work of the Holy Spirit.
Tyler Lynde: You see, God proved his unstoppable might when he raised Jesus from the dead, proving that he had defeated death, hell, and the grave.
Tyler Lynde: When are those things defeated?
Tyler Lynde: They were defeated at that point in time.
Tyler Lynde: Now we're going to experience, like I said, levels of understanding this experience as we move on.
Tyler Lynde: According to the scriptures, the resurrection of Christ was the first such event in human history.
Tyler Lynde: And you might say, Well, haven't you read your Bible, Tyler?
Tyler Lynde: There were other resurrections.
Tyler Lynde: I think of Lazarus.
Tyler Lynde: Remember, Jesus said, Lazarus, come out of that their grave.
Tyler Lynde: I'm sorry, that was the that's the Kentucky version, but Lazarus, come forth, come forth.
Tyler Lynde: And what did what happened?
Tyler Lynde: Lazarus came out.
Tyler Lynde: Right?
Tyler Lynde: But how many of you know that Lazarus died again?
Tyler Lynde: He passed again from this life into the next.
Tyler Lynde: All others died after they had been resurrected, except for Jesus.
Tyler Lynde: Jesus was the first to rise in the power of everlasting life.
Tyler Lynde: Alive, alive forevermore.
Tyler Lynde: My Jesus is alive, alive forevermore.
Tyler Lynde: Now, that's good news just in itself.
Tyler Lynde: I feel like I'm doing an infomercial this morning, but wait, there's more.
Tyler Lynde: Because Jesus lives, we can live.
Tyler Lynde: Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we can be raised from the dead.
Tyler Lynde: Because Jesus is alive, we can experience the life of God.
Tyler Lynde: The Bible says it like this: the same power that raised Christ from the dead is at work in all believers.
Tyler Lynde: That's amazing.
Tyler Lynde: Paul expresses this concept in the book of 1 Corinthians very well.
Tyler Lynde: Let's look at chapter 15, verse 20.
Tyler Lynde: But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
Tyler Lynde: For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.
Tyler Lynde: For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
Tyler Lynde: We were born dead in our sins and trespasses, children of Adam, and yet when Jesus Christ came and he rose from the dead, how many of you know now we have the ability to be raised from the dead as well, and to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Tyler Lynde: This is a gift from God.
Tyler Lynde: Colossians 2 says it like this: having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the power powerful working of God who raised him from the dead.
Tyler Lynde: And you, say that's me.
Tyler Lynde: Okay.
Tyler Lynde: There's a delayed response this morning.
Tyler Lynde: That's okay, don't worry about it.
Tyler Lynde: This is being translated as we're going.
Tyler Lynde: And you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands.
Tyler Lynde: This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
Tyler Lynde: My friends, this is the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Tyler Lynde: Because Jesus lives, we live also.
Tyler Lynde: The same spirit that raised Christ from the dead lives inside of all believers in Jesus Christ.
Tyler Lynde: True believers.
Tyler Lynde: He lives inside of us.
Tyler Lynde: Is there anything too difficult for God?
Tyler Lynde: That's a good answer.
Tyler Lynde: Let's confess that tomorrow as well, right?
Tyler Lynde: And Tuesday and Wednesday.
Tyler Lynde: God raised Jesus from the dead, first of all, but how many of you know he also seated Jesus at his right hand?
Tyler Lynde: It says in Ephesians 1, again, he seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places.
Tyler Lynde: Now we can probably relate to the phrase right hand man or right hand person, right?
Tyler Lynde: What does that mean typically?
Tyler Lynde: That means somebody who's trusted, who has shown themselves faithful, somebody who understands all of the processes, all of the systems.
Tyler Lynde: If point A person wasn't able to perform for whatever reason, point B person could step in and do most of everything that point A person could do.
Tyler Lynde: Does that make sense, right?
Tyler Lynde: So we think of things in that terms.
Tyler Lynde: There was a time in my life and ministry, a couple times in my life and ministry when I got to play this role.
Tyler Lynde: And I'm telling you, I enjoyed it so much.
Tyler Lynde: It was an amazing gift that God gave to me to be able to serve others in that way.
Tyler Lynde: But how many of you know what God did for Jesus is far superior to that concept?
Tyler Lynde: Following Jesus' resurrection and ascension, God seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places.
Tyler Lynde: If you think of the throne room of heaven, where God is, the seat that's very closest to him at his right hand was prepared for Jesus Christ.
Tyler Lynde: And when Jesus entered into heaven after having defeated death, hell, and the grave, he was seated in the place of highest honor at the right place, the right hand of his heavenly Father.
Tyler Lynde: What does the right hand of God signify?
Tyler Lynde: It signifies a place of privilege and distinction.
Tyler Lynde: It says that he was seated far above, far above, a place of privilege, a place of distinction.
Tyler Lynde: There's only one Jesus.
Tyler Lynde: Please don't let the world convince you of anything other than that.
Tyler Lynde: There's only one Jesus.
Tyler Lynde: And our Heavenly Father made sure to let all of eternity know what he thinks of his Son, Jesus Christ.
Tyler Lynde: He seated him at his right hand.
Tyler Lynde: Philippians 2 says it beautifully.
Tyler Lynde: And being found in human form, he humbled himself.
Tyler Lynde: Jesus humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Tyler Lynde: Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every other name.
Tyler Lynde: I added other in there, but every name.
Tyler Lynde: Do we believe that?
Tyler Lynde: I don't know.
Tyler Lynde: Do we act like we believe it?
Tyler Lynde: Do we think like we believe it?
Tyler Lynde: Do we speak like we believe it?
Tyler Lynde: Do we live like we believe it?
Tyler Lynde: I feel like the man who brought his son to the disciples and they couldn't cast the demon out of him.
Tyler Lynde: He brought him to Jesus, and Jesus basically said, Do you believe?
Tyler Lynde: And the man said, Lord, I believe.
Tyler Lynde: And then he paused for a minute, I think, and said, Help my unbelief.
Tyler Lynde: That's a beautiful prayer to pray.
Tyler Lynde: God makes us at that point of need, doesn't he?
Tyler Lynde: He put all things under Jesus' feet.
Tyler Lynde: It's interesting that delineation of rules, all rule, all authority, all power, and all dominion, anything that can be named within the spiritual realm, Jesus has been given power and authority over.
Tyler Lynde: Go back to Philippians 2 and finish that portion up in chapter in verses 10 and 11.
Tyler Lynde: So that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
Tyler Lynde: Every tongue, every knee should bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
Tyler Lynde: Jesus has been made King of the universe.
Tyler Lynde: He is King of kings and Lord of Lords.
Tyler Lynde: And he rules and reigns, and his rule and reign will never end.
Tyler Lynde: He will rule and reign forever and ever and ever.
Tyler Lynde: How many of you are glad that there will be a day?
Tyler Lynde: And here's the problem that we live.
Tyler Lynde: We live in this world where Satan isn't yet convinced that he's been defeated.
Tyler Lynde: He still, somewhere in his twisted mind, thinks that there's some possibility that he might still be able to win.
Tyler Lynde: And so he does everything within his power to try to mess with the world, with the world system.
Tyler Lynde: He's the God of this world system.
Tyler Lynde: He tries to do everything he can to dissuade people away from Jesus Christ, to keep them away from truth, to deceive them, to cause them to get involved in all kinds of controversial thinking and and uh I almost said conspiracy theories, but I didn't I didn't mean to go there.
Tyler Lynde: But he he wants to distract them in any way that he possibly can.
Tyler Lynde: Why?
Tyler Lynde: So that we won't live as if these things are true.
Tyler Lynde: I'm here to tell you that your Bible and my Bible tells us that there will be a day when Satan himself will have to acknowledge the defeat.
Tyler Lynde: He will have to own his defeat, and he will bow his knee to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and he, along with everyone in all of creation, will confess Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, our Father.
Tyler Lynde: And then he will be cast into the lake of fire.
Tyler Lynde: Because he's not confessing those things as a believer in the sense that we have the ability to do in this world.
Tyler Lynde: Right?
Tyler Lynde: He's a defeated foe.
Tyler Lynde: So let's start living.
Tyler Lynde: Can I start living?
Tyler Lynde: I'm asking myself.
Tyler Lynde: Can I start living differently?
Tyler Lynde: Can I start thinking differently?
Tyler Lynde: Can I start believing differently, speaking differently, walking differently?
Tyler Lynde: Is there any name that's greater than the name of Jesus?
Tyler Lynde: Depression is a name, but how many of you know the name of Jesus is higher than depression?
Tyler Lynde: Anxiety and fear and worry and strife and division, sickness and disease and all of those things have names.
Tyler Lynde: But how many of you know the name of Jesus is greater than any other name?
Tyler Lynde: And if we as believers can get a hold of this reality and believe it and change the way that we think, our lives here on earth could be a lot better than what they are right now.
Tyler Lynde: And I'm not just talking about our experience, like things instantly improving from an experience standpoint, but how many of you know a perspective?
Tyler Lynde: Our perspective can change considerably if we really believe that Jesus has already won the war.
Tyler Lynde: You see, our Father God has put all things under the feet of Jesus Christ his son.
Tyler Lynde: He uses them as a footstool.
Tyler Lynde: Now, that's great news, and we could just stop there.
Tyler Lynde: But again, there's more.
Tyler Lynde: We are seated with Christ in heavenly places.
Tyler Lynde: What?
Tyler Lynde: This is radical.
Tyler Lynde: This is revolutionary.
Tyler Lynde: This kind of thinking is hard to wrap our minds around.
Tyler Lynde: And I'm not going to get into this in detail because in a couple of weeks, in Ephesians 2, there's an entire passage about what it means to be seated with Christ in heavenly places.
Tyler Lynde: And so I don't want to steal the thunder of whoever it is that's going to be sharing that message.
Tyler Lynde: But I'll just give you a little taste.
Tyler Lynde: Suffice it to say, to sit in heavenly places is more than a figure of speech, like a term of endearment or something that we look to as like a fanciful thought.
Tyler Lynde: It's more than that.
Tyler Lynde: It is a spiritual reality for believers.
Tyler Lynde: We are seated with Christ in heavenly places.
Tyler Lynde: And why is that?
Tyler Lynde: Because of our union with Christ.
Tyler Lynde: Remember, Christ is in us and we are in Christ.
Tyler Lynde: We are in union with him.
Tyler Lynde: And so the things that he enjoys, the things that he experiences, we have the ability in and through him to experience those same things and to know those same things.
Tyler Lynde: We reap the benefits of his position of divine authority.
Tyler Lynde: We are more than conquerors through Jesus Christ who gives us the victory.
Tyler Lynde: Almost feel like this is the first time we're hearing this.
Tyler Lynde: It's not, is it?
Tyler Lynde: I hope.
Tyler Lynde: Neil and I okay?
Tyler Lynde: Are we on track with the Word of God here?
Tyler Lynde: Okay, I'm just making sure.
Tyler Lynde: We are more than conquerors through Jesus Christ.
Tyler Lynde: Our spiritual seat in the heavenly realms is a position of high honor, much like being seated at the VIP table.
Tyler Lynde: You ever had an experience like that in your life when you got called up to a table that you didn't expect to ever get to?
Tyler Lynde: Being able to talk to certain people that you didn't ever think that you'd be able to talk to.
Tyler Lynde: This is what this is like.
Tyler Lynde: We've been called up to that.
Tyler Lynde: We have been given the royal privilege of being enthroned with the Son.
Tyler Lynde: And one day, one day, we will partake of his glory.
Tyler Lynde: We will be glorified as he is glorified.
Tyler Lynde: Now make no mistake, there's only one Jesus.
Tyler Lynde: We're not a bunch of little Jesuses, not saying that.
Tyler Lynde: There's only a need for one, right?
Tyler Lynde: But he, in his goodness and in his kindness, wants to share with us what he's been given.
Tyler Lynde: What a loving Savior.
Tyler Lynde: What a kind Jesus.
Tyler Lynde: If we will let the spiritual truth sink in, it will change the way we think and live.
Tyler Lynde: It should give us the inspiration to serve God from a place of confidence.
Tyler Lynde: Not arrogance, but confidence.
Tyler Lynde: We can approach the throne of grace with confidence, with boldness.
Tyler Lynde: Because we've been granted entrance by Jesus Christ in the price that he paid.
Tyler Lynde: And we get to experience the benefits of the inheritance that he fought and died for.
Tyler Lynde: Even here in this life.
Tyler Lynde: Even now.
Tyler Lynde: See, God raised Jesus from the dead, he seated him at his right hand, and God made Jesus the head of the church.
Tyler Lynde: Here he goes.
Tyler Lynde: Pastor Tyler talking about the church again.
Tyler Lynde: Kind of over the church talk.
Tyler Lynde: Well, you got to deal with the Holy Spirit, with Paul, and with Jesus with the book of Ephesians.
Tyler Lynde: Like it or not, the book of Ephesians reiterates over and over and over again the reason why God developed the church in the way that he did.
Tyler Lynde: It says again in Ephesians 1 that he gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body.
Tyler Lynde: God made Jesus the head of the church.
Tyler Lynde: We are a part of his body.
Tyler Lynde: Can you wrap your mind around that?
Tyler Lynde: Make no mistake, Christ is the head of the church.
Tyler Lynde: It's not the Pope, it's not a denominational leader, it's not some pastor that.
Tyler Lynde: You see on TV, it's not a podcast host, it's not anywhere of the elders here at Trinity.
Tyler Lynde: And you can say amen.
Tyler Lynde: I'm saying amen to that.
Tyler Lynde: God made Jesus the head of his church.
Tyler Lynde: It is Jesus.
Tyler Lynde: He isn't just the head of the church, but he's also in charge of everything in the universe.
Tyler Lynde: One of the hardest questions that God ever asked me was, who's in charge?
Tyler Lynde: Because somewhere down deep on the inside of me, if I was to be completely honest, I wanted to say, you and me, Jesus, you and me, Jesus.
Tyler Lynde: I wanted to slap that bumper sticker on my car that says Jesus is my co-pilot.
Tyler Lynde: Because I have some really good ideas on how God should do things.
Tyler Lynde: Anyone here suffer with that same issue?
Tyler Lynde: I don't know what that would be called, but I get what is it?
unknown: Delusion.
Tyler Lynde: Delusion.
Tyler Lynde: That's the Bible word for what we're talking about here.
Tyler Lynde: It is delusion, right?
Tyler Lynde: To think that somehow, oh my goodness.
Tyler Lynde: The way we think sometimes is crazy.
Tyler Lynde: Crazy.
Tyler Lynde: We need to stop the crazy train, the crazy bus, right?
Tyler Lynde: And get off of it.
Tyler Lynde: He isn't just the head of the church is in charge of everything.
Tyler Lynde: He lives to represent believers and he governs the universe for believers' sake.
Tyler Lynde: The fact that this world hasn't imploded yet is a miracle.
Tyler Lynde: As many people that have their fingers close to those nuclear buttons that God has protected or preserved until the right time for things to be transformed and for God to make all things new again.
Tyler Lynde: It's a miracle.
Tyler Lynde: Let's look at Colossians 1.
Tyler Lynde: This is another one of Paul's run-on sentences, and I love it.
Tyler Lynde: It gives some greater detail into this.
Tyler Lynde: He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
Tyler Lynde: For by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him.
Tyler Lynde: And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Tyler Lynde: And he is the are you getting the point?
Tyler Lynde: And he is the head of the body of the church.
Tyler Lynde: This is Jesus, the head of the church.
Tyler Lynde: We can trust him.
Tyler Lynde: Christ is the head of all things in order to benefit the church.
Tyler Lynde: How many of you realize that we have a part to play in this whole equation?
Tyler Lynde: Even this passage that is talking about the preeminence of Christ and the fact that he is raised from the dead and that he is seated in heavenly places, it ends with declaring to the body of Christ the partnership that we have with Jesus.
Tyler Lynde: We are the body of Christ.
Tyler Lynde: Church is not an institution, it is an organism.
Tyler Lynde: It exists and functions only because of its vital relationship with the risen Lord.
Tyler Lynde: Any church that moves its foundation away from Jesus Christ will not last, will not survive.
Tyler Lynde: Because we are believers, we are in the church which is Christ's body, and he is the head of that body.
Tyler Lynde: That means that there is a living connection between us and Christ.
Tyler Lynde: We are connected to him.
Tyler Lynde: The life that he lives, we get to experience as well.
Tyler Lynde: Through the Spirit, we are united to him as the members of his body.
Tyler Lynde: This means that we share his resurrection, we share in his ascension, we share in his exaltation, and someday we will be united with him through glorification, when we will be made like him.
Tyler Lynde: This is the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Tyler Lynde: This is what the Ephesian church was going to need to hold on to when they were going to face persecution and tribulation and turmoil and trouble.
Tyler Lynde: This is how they had to set their minds and set their wills and choose to believe.
Tyler Lynde: It was the only thing that was going to sustain them.
Tyler Lynde: To close, we are meant to display the fullness of Christ because we are being filled by Christ.
Tyler Lynde: We are meant to display the fullness of who Christ is because we are being filled by Christ.
Tyler Lynde: It says the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
Tyler Lynde: See, we have the privilege of manifesting Christ to the world.
Tyler Lynde: You and I and us together as the body of Christ, we have the privilege of showing the world who Jesus actually is.
Tyler Lynde: By the way we love each other, by the way we prefer one another, by the way we build one another up and encourage each other, by the way we confront each other in loving ways when we're we're uh going in the direction that we shouldn't go, by the way we support each other and help each other.
Tyler Lynde: We have the privilege of manifesting Christ to the world, but we can only do so if we continue, if Christ continually fills us with Himself and with His gifts of grace.
Tyler Lynde: I'll just finish with this thought.
Tyler Lynde: 2 Corinthians 5 tells us that we've been made new creatures, old things have passed away, and all things have become new.
Tyler Lynde: And so what is what does God say after that?
Tyler Lynde: Our job is we get to be ambassadors for Christ.
Tyler Lynde: We get to express to the world the inheritance of Christ that is living and expressing itself in us, in our lives, and through us, to a world that has no understanding of who Jesus really is.
Tyler Lynde: Our friends, you are the Bible, you are the only Bible today that some people are reading.
Tyler Lynde: Let's represent Christ the way that he deserves.
Tyler Lynde: Amen.
Tyler Lynde: If you want to just come and we'll we'll close with just a little song of worship, and I'm just gonna pray over us that the Lord would help us to live like we really believe this.
Tyler Lynde: I just want to encourage you.
Tyler Lynde: The gospel is not intended to be preached on Sunday morning.
Tyler Lynde: The gospel is something that you should preach to yourself, to your children, to your grandchildren, to your grandparents, to anyone anywhere who will listen, because it's the power of God to salvation.
Tyler Lynde: The power of God comes through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Tyler Lynde: What I proclaim to you this morning is a portion of the gospel.
Tyler Lynde: And I just want to encourage you, let's begin to think differently.
Tyler Lynde: Can we lift up our heads?
Tyler Lynde: Can we lift up our heads out of the clouds?
Tyler Lynde: Can we start focusing in again on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith?
Tyler Lynde: Can we stop getting so much in turmoil over what the news is saying or not saying?
Tyler Lynde: All those things, it's not that we don't need to be informed or or be relevant, but if it starts to affect the way that we live in relation to who Jesus is and what he's done for us and what he's doing in us and what he wants to do through us, that's a problem.
Tyler Lynde: So can we just take a few minutes this morning?
Tyler Lynde: And whatever you wherever you find yourself, and I know that in preparation for this, the Lord's been doing a number in my soul, my own heart.
Tyler Lynde: I'll just say at times I have felt fairly dull and a little bit hard in my heart.
Tyler Lynde: And I believe that God is attempt is desiring.
Tyler Lynde: We talk about, Kelly was talking earlier about God doing something.
Tyler Lynde: One of the things that I want, that I believe that God's going to do is He's going to revive the church.
Tyler Lynde: The world doesn't need revival in that sense.
Tyler Lynde: Do you know what I mean?
Tyler Lynde: The church is somebody that we need to be revived.
Tyler Lynde: We need to be reawakened.
Tyler Lynde: If there's a reawakened church and a live church, how many of you know the world is gonna see that and say, what is going on?
Tyler Lynde: What is different about them?
Tyler Lynde: How in the world do they have peace in the middle of that storm?
Tyler Lynde: Why is it that they treat their wives with such kindness?
Tyler Lynde: How is it that their children listen to them the first time that they say something to them?
Tyler Lynde: Why is it that their young men rush to open the door when somebody's trying to go into a place?
Tyler Lynde: There's something different, something unique, and obviously it's not just about manners, it's about a transformed heart.
Tyler Lynde: You know, the Bible speaks a lot about renewing our minds.
Tyler Lynde: We need to renew our minds by speaking, thinking, speaking, and believing the truth.
Tyler Lynde: If all of us would speak out the thoughts that we have on an ongoing basis, how would the people around us, what would the people around us think?
Tyler Lynde: What would we think even if we voiced our thoughts out loud?
Tyler Lynde: Wouldn't it be great if our thought life matched up with what we believe?
Tyler Lynde: This happens by meditating on the word of God.
Tyler Lynde: It happens by preaching the gospel to yourself, it happens by really believing that God's word is true.
Tyler Lynde: It happens by casting your care over on the Lord because he cares for you.
Tyler Lynde: It happens by getting up when we feel like sitting down or laying down.
Tyler Lynde: It happens by us asking and reaching out for prayer when the struggle seems too great for ourselves to handle.
Tyler Lynde: It happens in a million ways, in a million ways.
Tyler Lynde: So my hope is if I'm doing that, that each and every one of you will be doing the same.
Tyler Lynde: So would you just stand with me and let's just spend some time asking the Lord.