WEBVTT 00:00:01.040 --> 00:00:02.959 Welcome to Great City Church Online. 00:00:03.040 --> 00:00:07.519 This is our podcast channel for all sermon content from Great City Church in Wenatchee, Washington. 00:00:07.759 --> 00:00:10.640 We exist to help more people meet, love, and follow Jesus. 00:00:10.800 --> 00:00:14.480 We're praying this message encourages you today, wherever you may be listening from. 00:00:14.720 --> 00:00:15.519 Good to see everybody. 00:00:15.599 --> 00:00:16.559 How are we doing, church? 00:00:16.719 --> 00:00:19.039 Let's go! Let's go! Good to see everybody. 00:00:19.519 --> 00:00:21.679 If you're watching online, thanks for joining us. 00:00:21.920 --> 00:00:22.719 It's good to see you. 00:00:22.800 --> 00:00:28.160 If you're new to Jesus or the church or the faith or checking things out, super stoked you are here. 00:00:28.239 --> 00:00:29.039 Would you please stand? 00:00:29.199 --> 00:00:30.000 I'm totally kidding. 00:00:30.160 --> 00:00:31.039 I'm totally kidding. 00:00:31.199 --> 00:00:32.000 We're glad you're here. 00:00:32.240 --> 00:00:33.359 It's an awesome day to be here. 00:00:33.439 --> 00:00:36.799 If you got a Bible, and I hope you do, you can turn to Ephesians. 00:00:36.880 --> 00:00:37.679 It's in the New Testament. 00:00:37.759 --> 00:00:39.200 If you're new to the Bible, that's awesome. 00:00:39.280 --> 00:00:40.880 Sometimes I got to find book with the index. 00:00:41.039 --> 00:00:42.799 And so you go to the front table of context. 00:00:42.960 --> 00:00:45.759 Ephesians is a letter in the New Testament. 00:00:45.840 --> 00:00:46.960 You can find it there. 00:00:47.200 --> 00:00:50.399 It's on page uh oh, it's not in my Bible. 00:00:50.479 --> 00:00:51.039 Oh, here it is. 00:00:51.119 --> 00:00:54.399 It's in page 1167 of my Bible, and you can find it in yours. 00:00:54.560 --> 00:00:56.240 Ephesians chapter 1 is where we're gonna be. 00:00:56.399 --> 00:00:59.359 As you turn, I'm gonna pray for us, and then we're gonna get started. 00:00:59.520 --> 00:01:08.959 Father in heaven, as we open your word, would you open our hearts to receive from you what you would give for us? 00:01:09.120 --> 00:01:11.439 Father, we don't want to come and hear the words of a man. 00:01:11.599 --> 00:01:14.079 We don't want to come and express our opinion on a few things. 00:01:14.319 --> 00:01:16.000 We don't want to come and hang out at a club. 00:01:16.079 --> 00:01:20.319 We want to encounter the living God through his living word by his Holy Spirit. 00:01:20.400 --> 00:01:29.840 Father, we're asking that you would use this letter as a transformative exercise in molding a people in a local church to change the world. 00:01:30.079 --> 00:01:33.439 Father, as the world gets darker, would we burn brighter? 00:01:33.840 --> 00:01:37.599 As the world gets crazier, would we walk straighter? 00:01:38.079 --> 00:01:59.599 And as fear grows and anxiety rises, Lord, would the people of God being grounded in the Word of God, being filled with the Spirit of God, would we be those who stand out as pillars of salt and light in an increasingly dark and decaying culture? 00:02:00.159 --> 00:02:12.080 Father, we're not here because we want to exercise our intellect in growing our knowledge base on a few ideas for some self-help application. 00:02:12.240 --> 00:02:26.240 We're asking, Father, that by your Holy Spirit you would perform the miracle where the word is read, eyes are open, revelation is given, and sinful people encounter a holy God. 00:02:26.479 --> 00:02:29.199 Lord, would you move and work toward that end we ask? 00:02:29.360 --> 00:02:30.639 In these moments, we pray. 00:02:30.800 --> 00:02:33.280 And everyone said together, Amen. 00:02:33.919 --> 00:02:47.280 The book of Ephesians is a magnificent combination of Christian doctrine and Christian duty, of Christian faith and Christian life, of what God has done for us in Christ and what we must do as a consequence. 00:02:47.439 --> 00:02:56.319 It is a mini course in theology centered on the church, marvelously concise, yet utterly comprehensive regarding the gospel and its implications. 00:02:56.400 --> 00:03:00.240 In less than 200, 2,000 rather and 500 words. 00:03:00.319 --> 00:03:04.080 The Apostle Paul covers no less than 27 core doctrines. 00:03:04.159 --> 00:03:09.439 So if maybe you're new to church or new to Christianity, we got a ton of new Christians at Great City, which is amazing, by the way. 00:03:09.599 --> 00:03:11.039 Can we welcome to the family of God? 00:03:11.199 --> 00:03:11.680 Let's go. 00:03:11.840 --> 00:03:12.719 Let's go. 00:03:12.960 --> 00:03:13.919 We love it. 00:03:15.120 --> 00:03:17.680 If you're new to Christianity, you're like, what's this all about? 00:03:17.840 --> 00:03:19.680 I give you Ephesians. 00:03:19.919 --> 00:03:32.000 But not only does Ephesians unpack mind-blowing doctrines that anchored the Christian in the great Christian faith, it also gives remarkable instructions for how we are to live. 00:03:32.159 --> 00:03:37.759 There's a reason that Ruth Paxson called Ephesians the Grand Canyon of Scripture. 00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:45.840 It's inexhaustible in its grandeur and breathtaking in its scope for anyone who stops to take it in. 00:03:51.599 --> 00:03:52.800 Oh, I'm proud of you guys. 00:03:52.879 --> 00:03:53.199 Okay, good. 00:03:53.280 --> 00:03:53.520 You get out. 00:03:53.599 --> 00:03:55.120 You leave, you leave when I answer you once in a while. 00:03:55.199 --> 00:03:55.439 That's good. 00:03:55.520 --> 00:03:55.840 That's good. 00:03:55.919 --> 00:03:56.400 We travel. 00:03:56.479 --> 00:03:58.719 We're a cultured bunch here at Gray City. 00:03:59.439 --> 00:04:10.400 One of the things you notice about the Grand Canyon is unlike Mount Rainier or Mount Everest, if you've been to Mount Everest, like I have in Nepal, unlike those mountains, you don't see it coming. 00:04:11.520 --> 00:04:12.800 You're like, where is it? 00:04:13.599 --> 00:04:16.079 What's this big wonder of the world I keep hearing about? 00:04:16.160 --> 00:04:17.519 This thing they call grand. 00:04:17.920 --> 00:04:21.920 And in your mind, you're kind of like, you're kind of getting snooty about it the closer you get. 00:04:22.000 --> 00:04:24.079 At least maybe that's maybe that's just me. 00:04:24.399 --> 00:04:26.160 Maybe I'm the only self-righteous one in the room. 00:04:26.240 --> 00:04:28.560 But you but you're like, you're like, how big could it be? 00:04:28.720 --> 00:04:29.600 I mean, I can't see it. 00:04:29.680 --> 00:04:31.360 The map says we're like three minutes away. 00:04:31.439 --> 00:04:32.879 That can't be possible. 00:04:33.120 --> 00:04:35.040 I think this whole thing is drummed up a little bit. 00:04:35.199 --> 00:04:37.920 In fact, I I I'm not so sure it's that great grand. 00:04:38.480 --> 00:04:39.680 Holy cow. 00:04:39.920 --> 00:04:41.759 And then you see it, it's like, ooh. 00:04:42.639 --> 00:04:50.720 But what hit me was you could be like a mile away from the Grand Canyon and never even know it. 00:04:52.720 --> 00:04:56.959 You could be in proximity to greatness and never feel it. 00:04:57.199 --> 00:05:11.439 You've got to walk through the trees, you've got to get out of the car, you gotta get through the visitor center in the parking lot, and you've got to walk out on the edge of that thing and feel the wind in your face and feel the size of that thing for it to move you. 00:05:11.680 --> 00:05:13.040 Reading about it doesn't cut it. 00:05:13.120 --> 00:05:14.240 Looking at pictures is great. 00:05:14.319 --> 00:05:17.360 But until you go there, you haven't seen the Grand Canyon. 00:05:17.680 --> 00:05:21.680 And when you stand on the edge of the Grand Canyon, it changes you. 00:05:22.240 --> 00:05:27.600 It changes you because all of a sudden you feel about this big and it's glorious, and you can't figure out why. 00:05:27.839 --> 00:05:31.759 I've never felt smaller, yet never have I felt so alive. 00:05:31.920 --> 00:05:33.519 This thing is amazing. 00:05:33.680 --> 00:05:35.680 That's a bit like Ephesians. 00:05:35.920 --> 00:05:54.720 Because in Ephesians, Paul's gonna unpack for us the marvel that is the glory and the beauty of all that God the Father has done for us in Christ, applied through the power of the Spirit, the Trinitarian nature of both our salvation and the life we are now called to live. 00:05:55.040 --> 00:05:57.519 We're not gonna just drive by this, you know. 00:05:59.120 --> 00:06:01.439 Four Sundays in Ephesians, boom, boom, boom, boom. 00:06:01.920 --> 00:06:02.639 There's a grand can. 00:06:03.199 --> 00:06:14.000 No, we're gonna stop, we're gonna get out, we're gonna walk to the edge, and we're gonna ask God, through the grandeur of his glory, as unpacked by Paul, to change us in our inner being. 00:06:18.079 --> 00:06:20.160 John Calvin considered it his favorite letter. 00:06:20.319 --> 00:06:22.560 William Barclay termed it the Queen of the Epistles. 00:06:22.720 --> 00:06:26.000 And Armitaj Robinson described it as the crown of St. 00:06:26.160 --> 00:06:26.959 Paul's writings. 00:06:27.040 --> 00:06:33.279 The English poet Samuel Taylor termed it the most divine composition of man ever. 00:06:33.680 --> 00:06:33.759 F. 00:06:33.920 --> 00:06:34.000 F. 00:06:34.160 --> 00:06:46.560 Bruce regarded it as the quintessential of Paul's letters because it in large measure sums up the leading themes of the Pauline letters and sets forth the cosmic implications of Christ in the gospel. 00:06:46.959 --> 00:06:53.439 John Mackey, the former president of Princeton Theological Seminary, credited his salvation to the book of Ephesians. 00:06:53.519 --> 00:06:59.120 Of Ephesians, he wrote, To this book I owe my life. 00:06:59.839 --> 00:07:11.839 In Ephesians, I saw a new world, a new everything, a new outlook, a new humanity, a new experience, new attitudes towards other people, new perspectives, new relationships. 00:07:12.000 --> 00:07:12.879 I loved God. 00:07:13.199 --> 00:07:16.240 Christ Jesus became the center of everything. 00:07:16.399 --> 00:07:24.319 I had been quickened, I had been made alive, and I've never recovered. 00:07:26.000 --> 00:07:41.920 In preparing to deliver his lectures at Edinburgh University, John Mackey referred to Ephesians as, quote, the greatest, most maturest, and for our time the most relevant of all Paul's works. 00:07:42.160 --> 00:07:50.959 For here is distilled the essence of the Christian religion, the most authoritative and most consummate compendium of our holy Christian faith. 00:07:51.279 --> 00:07:54.800 This letter is pure music. 00:07:56.079 --> 00:08:03.120 What we read here is truth that sings its doctrine set to music. 00:08:05.759 --> 00:08:10.399 It's to that letter that I want us to turn our attention this morning. 00:08:10.800 --> 00:08:22.399 And what I want to do today, and I know I got you all fired up by the Grand Canyon, today, to stick with my metaphor, today is us more like looking at pictures of and me telling you about the Grand Canyon. 00:08:23.040 --> 00:08:35.840 We're not going to get to the edge of the Grand Canyon yet, but we're going to work our way toward the Grand Canyon over these next several weeks, and then we're going to make our way down into the Grand Canyon, not just stand on the rim and make a few observations. 00:08:36.000 --> 00:08:45.200 I want us to immerse ourselves in the message of Ephesians because in this message is the mission of the church. 00:08:45.440 --> 00:08:52.639 And 20 years in at Gray City, almost 20 years in, we we launched this church preaching through this letter. 00:08:52.799 --> 00:09:04.960 And it feels right to come back and reset our compass and bring all of the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of new believers and new people onto the same page so you know who we are, why we're here, and where we're going. 00:09:05.120 --> 00:09:07.919 And it's not something I thought up on a prayer retreat. 00:09:08.000 --> 00:09:11.039 We're pulling it out of the word of God. 00:09:11.440 --> 00:09:12.960 So this morning's very simple. 00:09:13.200 --> 00:09:15.840 Ephesians, the New Testament Grand Candy. 00:09:15.919 --> 00:09:19.360 I want to look at three things, three things briefly. 00:09:19.440 --> 00:09:24.799 And the first is I want us to look at the church in Ephesians, the church of Ephesus. 00:09:24.960 --> 00:09:34.080 And so if you have your Bibles, I hope you do, Ephesians chapter 1, verse 1, Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God. 00:09:34.960 --> 00:09:36.000 I'm going to stop there. 00:09:36.240 --> 00:09:43.600 Oh, there is so much loaded theology in those few words. 00:09:44.000 --> 00:09:51.039 Paul, you have to understand, when the Ephesians read his name at the top of the letter, because this is a letter. 00:09:51.679 --> 00:09:52.480 In fact, let me back up. 00:09:52.639 --> 00:09:55.600 If you're new to Christianity, the Bible might seem intimidating. 00:09:55.759 --> 00:09:56.559 It's not. 00:09:56.879 --> 00:10:02.159 It's 66 different books all telling one singular story. 00:10:02.320 --> 00:10:10.960 And they do it with different genres, like prophetic genre and psalm genre and narrative genre and uh uh wisdom literature. 00:10:11.120 --> 00:10:14.559 And here we have what's called an epistle, or it's just a letter. 00:10:14.639 --> 00:10:19.679 It's a letter written by a real person to real people in real time and space history. 00:10:19.759 --> 00:10:21.759 It could not get more human than Ephesians. 00:10:21.840 --> 00:10:29.120 And what's wild, and this is the self-authenticating truth of the gospel, if you're new to Christ or you're checking out Christ, I want you to consider this. 00:10:29.279 --> 00:10:30.399 I want you to consider this. 00:10:30.639 --> 00:10:47.120 Consider the self-authenticating power of a letter written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, a God who's outside of time, inspiring this to be written, to a man who is in time, writing to people who are in time about 2,000 years ago. 00:10:48.080 --> 00:10:53.360 Think how irrelevant that letter has the potential to be. 00:10:54.080 --> 00:11:01.840 I mean, think how much has changed in the world since this letter was written. 00:11:03.039 --> 00:11:26.879 From scientific advances to technological advances, I mean mind-bending changes in cultural and technological and scientific advances and discoveries, which would lead you to think whatever some guy wrote to some people 2,000 years ago could not be more irrelevant to your life. 00:11:27.039 --> 00:11:30.799 And what I challenge you to consider is read Ephesians. 00:11:31.039 --> 00:11:44.320 Consider the message of Ephesians, consider the truth of Ephesians, and test whether or not it doesn't speak to your heart's most deepest longings today. 00:11:46.639 --> 00:11:53.360 Test if it does not speak to the biggest problems you're currently challenged with today. 00:11:54.080 --> 00:12:04.559 Tell me if it does not read the mail of politicians and governments and nation states and demonic ideologies sweeping the world today. 00:12:04.960 --> 00:12:05.600 Why? 00:12:07.120 --> 00:12:14.799 Because God's word is both timeless in its truth and timely in its application. 00:12:14.960 --> 00:12:16.559 It is living and active. 00:12:16.639 --> 00:12:26.159 And one of, I think, the most self-authenticating powers and realities of the Word of God is every time I open it and I read it and I submit myself to it, I marvel. 00:12:26.720 --> 00:12:34.080 It's as if it was written by someone who knows me intimately and personally and was watching me that very day. 00:12:35.360 --> 00:12:39.600 That's what we're gonna discover in the book of Ephesians. 00:12:39.840 --> 00:12:45.919 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, two God's holy people in Ephesus. 00:12:46.159 --> 00:12:47.279 Man, we're gonna unpack that. 00:12:47.440 --> 00:12:48.639 Were they holy? 00:12:51.519 --> 00:12:54.000 Well, it depends on how you measure holy. 00:12:54.559 --> 00:13:05.919 If you read the second half of the letter, apparently they were struggling with greed, selfishness, sexual immorality of all stripes and types. 00:13:07.600 --> 00:13:10.720 They were dealing with all sorts of, and Paul calls them holy. 00:13:10.879 --> 00:13:23.440 Either Paul's dumb or disconnected or tapping into something magisterial in relationship to who we have been made positionally in Christ. 00:13:24.480 --> 00:13:32.399 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, to God's holy people in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus. 00:13:32.639 --> 00:13:35.519 Grace and peace to you. 00:13:36.159 --> 00:13:37.679 Loaded words. 00:13:39.279 --> 00:13:46.240 Grace and peace to you from God our Father in the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:13:51.919 --> 00:14:04.320 One of the things that's hard to maybe understand completely is the kind of emotion that would have been evoked by the people of Ephesus when they read those words. 00:14:05.519 --> 00:14:11.679 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God. 00:14:12.320 --> 00:14:20.480 The reason it would evoke emotion is because all of them had known him personally as a great enemy of the church. 00:14:20.639 --> 00:14:22.159 Oh, we know that guy. 00:14:22.399 --> 00:14:26.799 That guy was killing us and making war on us. 00:14:27.120 --> 00:14:33.519 And when I say persecuting the church, I don't mean Paul wasn't just like making mean comments about you on Twitter. 00:14:33.759 --> 00:14:34.159 You know? 00:14:34.799 --> 00:14:37.759 That's like the American church, like high watermark of persecution. 00:14:37.919 --> 00:14:40.879 Somebody said something mean about me on X. 00:14:42.000 --> 00:14:44.799 That's like high watermark persecution, you know. 00:14:45.200 --> 00:14:45.919 No, no, no. 00:14:46.080 --> 00:14:58.320 Paul wasn't just like trolling people online, he was imprisoning Christians, separating families, murdering Jesus followers. 00:14:58.480 --> 00:15:03.679 He was a terrorist to the Church of Jesus Christ. 00:15:07.039 --> 00:15:08.799 And then he wasn't. 00:15:10.399 --> 00:15:11.919 How do you explain that? 00:15:13.679 --> 00:15:21.279 He went to a conference, he read a book, he watched a YouTube video, and he just had a change of mind. 00:15:23.200 --> 00:15:35.519 Something supernatural happened to Paul that moved him from number one enemy of the church to the number one church planter in the history of the world. 00:15:36.159 --> 00:15:44.480 So much so when they read his name, the emotions it conjured was not fear, but warmth and love. 00:15:44.639 --> 00:15:45.919 So we're gonna see in a moment. 00:15:46.080 --> 00:15:58.960 And so you can't quite understand the letter to the Ephesians unless you understand the Ephesians themselves, which is why I want to take just a few moments on the front end here to look at the church in Ephesus. 00:15:59.200 --> 00:16:04.080 Because we have more data on the church in Ephesus than we do any other church in the New Testament. 00:16:05.200 --> 00:16:08.399 So let's look at when the church was born. 00:16:08.559 --> 00:16:12.720 To do that, you gotta hang a left in your Bible, you gotta go to Acts chapter 19. 00:16:12.799 --> 00:16:15.279 You're like, I thought we were starting Ephesians. 00:16:15.919 --> 00:16:18.000 Sucker, you must be new here. 00:16:18.639 --> 00:16:20.159 We'll get there, we'll get there. 00:16:20.480 --> 00:16:27.679 Acts chapter 19, we have the account of the birth of the church of Ephesus that this letter is written to five years later. 00:16:27.840 --> 00:16:32.320 Very important to understand as we move into this letter. 00:16:33.440 --> 00:16:36.879 There's a few a few things we learn about the church in Ephesus. 00:16:36.960 --> 00:16:40.399 Number one, it was a church born by the Spirit. 00:16:40.559 --> 00:16:43.120 Look at chapter 19, verse 1. 00:16:43.360 --> 00:16:49.440 While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. 00:16:49.840 --> 00:16:55.120 There he found some disciples and asked them, Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? 00:16:55.279 --> 00:16:56.720 This is super funny. 00:16:57.120 --> 00:16:58.799 They answered, No. 00:16:59.360 --> 00:17:02.240 We have not even heard that there was a Holy Spirit. 00:17:02.879 --> 00:17:04.400 That's a lot of churches today. 00:17:04.640 --> 00:17:05.119 Boom-boom. 00:17:08.240 --> 00:17:10.160 Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? 00:17:10.240 --> 00:17:11.279 They answered, no. 00:17:11.599 --> 00:17:14.559 We have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit. 00:17:14.720 --> 00:17:16.160 That's like the most amazing thing. 00:17:16.319 --> 00:17:17.519 You know what I mean? 00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:21.039 Do you like McDonald's? 00:17:21.200 --> 00:17:22.160 Love McDonald's. 00:17:22.400 --> 00:17:23.680 Did you get the Big Mac? 00:17:24.880 --> 00:17:26.880 We didn't know there was a Big Mac. 00:17:28.559 --> 00:17:30.559 Have you been to McDonald's? 00:17:33.119 --> 00:17:34.240 Are you following Christ? 00:17:34.400 --> 00:17:34.799 Totally. 00:17:35.039 --> 00:17:36.000 How about the Holy Spirit? 00:17:36.160 --> 00:17:36.960 Pretty awesome, huh? 00:17:37.119 --> 00:17:38.079 Don't know what you're talking about. 00:17:38.240 --> 00:17:40.640 It's like, oh, well, we need to fix this. 00:17:40.880 --> 00:17:43.759 So Paul asked, then what baptism did you receive? 00:17:44.000 --> 00:17:45.839 John's baptism, they replied. 00:17:46.160 --> 00:17:46.799 Verse 4. 00:17:46.960 --> 00:17:49.839 Paul said, John's baptism was a baptism of repentance. 00:17:50.000 --> 00:17:54.559 He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is in Christ. 00:17:54.720 --> 00:17:58.400 On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 00:17:58.559 --> 00:18:04.079 When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. 00:18:04.240 --> 00:18:06.000 There were about 12 men in all. 00:18:06.240 --> 00:18:08.400 Here's the singular point I want you to see. 00:18:08.640 --> 00:18:15.680 The church at Ephesus did not start with a TED talk to 4,000 people with some self-help advice. 00:18:15.920 --> 00:18:18.799 It started by a work of the Holy Spirit. 00:18:19.039 --> 00:18:21.519 They're like prophecy in tongues, and what does that all mean? 00:18:21.680 --> 00:18:25.759 Pastor Kyle answered all those questions a few sermons ago when we went through the book of Acts. 00:18:25.839 --> 00:18:26.559 It's an awesome sermon. 00:18:26.640 --> 00:18:27.519 You should get it, read it. 00:18:27.599 --> 00:18:28.559 It's free online. 00:18:28.720 --> 00:18:30.319 If you don't like it, well, your money back. 00:18:30.480 --> 00:18:32.400 Acts chapter 19, it's an awesome sermon. 00:18:32.480 --> 00:18:34.240 And we get into all the doctrines of the Holy Spirit. 00:18:34.319 --> 00:18:35.039 Good, good, good stuff. 00:18:35.119 --> 00:18:36.400 But here's the thing. 00:18:37.519 --> 00:18:40.400 You can argue a lot about the Holy Spirit. 00:18:43.039 --> 00:18:44.400 I don't care. 00:18:45.119 --> 00:18:48.559 The question is, do you know the Holy Spirit? 00:18:51.440 --> 00:18:57.680 Ironically, today, there's lots of online chatter and conversations, and I get it. 00:18:57.839 --> 00:19:05.039 There are abuses and there's weird stuff that are done in the name of the Holy Spirit, and I'm not on that team, not cool, no way, no how. 00:19:05.759 --> 00:19:09.200 But just because something's abused does not mean you abandon it. 00:19:09.279 --> 00:19:13.440 I was talking with the pastor a few weeks ago, and he kept mentioning the father and the son, the father and son. 00:19:13.680 --> 00:19:15.680 And literally, I was like, I was just kind of funny. 00:19:15.759 --> 00:19:17.920 He's like, hey, you believe in the Holy Spirit too, right? 00:19:18.000 --> 00:19:18.319 Right? 00:19:18.559 --> 00:19:18.880 Right? 00:19:19.119 --> 00:19:20.960 And he was like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. 00:19:21.200 --> 00:19:25.680 We just don't want to emphasize it too much because of so many abuses. 00:19:25.920 --> 00:19:28.079 And I thought, that's the craziest thing. 00:19:28.319 --> 00:19:29.680 Do you believe in sex and marriage? 00:19:29.759 --> 00:19:30.480 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 00:19:30.640 --> 00:19:33.519 We just don't want to do it too much because of all the abuses. 00:19:33.680 --> 00:19:35.200 It's like, what are you talking about? 00:19:36.079 --> 00:19:37.039 Sorry for the kids. 00:19:37.119 --> 00:19:37.599 It's a truth. 00:19:37.680 --> 00:19:38.480 It's glorious. 00:19:38.640 --> 00:19:39.440 Thanks be to God. 00:19:39.519 --> 00:19:41.759 That's why I come here to straight stuff. 00:19:42.000 --> 00:19:42.720 What's the point? 00:19:42.880 --> 00:19:43.759 What's the point? 00:19:44.079 --> 00:19:47.039 Just because something's abused doesn't mean you abandon it. 00:19:47.200 --> 00:19:51.119 It means you step into the reality of the true expression of it. 00:19:51.279 --> 00:19:54.400 And by the way, the Holy Spirit isn't an it, it's a he. 00:19:54.640 --> 00:19:55.599 This is a person. 00:19:55.759 --> 00:19:56.559 This is a person. 00:19:56.720 --> 00:20:01.839 It's ironic that oftentimes in churches, the Holy Spirit is the most unwelcome person. 00:20:02.000 --> 00:20:05.440 Until here we say, Holy Spirit, come, speak, have your way. 00:20:05.599 --> 00:20:08.640 Without the power of God through the Spirit of God, we're dead in the water. 00:20:09.440 --> 00:20:19.200 It's the Spirit of God that is the distinguishing mark of the church that separates it from a club or a gathering or a group or an ideology. 00:20:19.359 --> 00:20:21.759 It's the Spirit of God, the very presence of Christ. 00:20:21.920 --> 00:20:25.359 The gospels are Christ here on earth in the work he did. 00:20:25.519 --> 00:20:31.680 The Acts is the Spirit of Christ on earth and the work he's continuing to do through his people. 00:20:32.240 --> 00:20:36.880 The first mark that you got to see of the Church of Ephesus is it was a work born by the Spirit. 00:20:36.960 --> 00:20:42.559 Number two, it was work grounded on the Word of God, born by the Spirit on the Word. 00:20:42.720 --> 00:20:45.359 Look at chapter 19, verse 8. 00:20:45.839 --> 00:20:52.559 Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. 00:20:52.799 --> 00:20:55.039 Very important to understand the church in light of the kingdom. 00:20:55.200 --> 00:20:58.480 If you're going to do a word study of the church, you'd come up woefully short. 00:20:58.640 --> 00:21:00.240 Not used a lot in the Gospels. 00:21:00.400 --> 00:21:04.880 Kingdom of God, a phrase that Jesus uses over 80 times. 00:21:05.119 --> 00:21:12.000 You have to understand the church in context of the rain and the not, the now and not yet nature of the kingdom of God. 00:21:12.160 --> 00:21:14.799 He came and inaugurated it in his first coming. 00:21:14.960 --> 00:21:19.039 He'll come and consummate it and finalize it in his second coming. 00:21:19.200 --> 00:21:22.720 And the church is not the end game, the coming kingdom is. 00:21:22.960 --> 00:21:36.160 The church is that vehicle and tool by which God is bringing about his kingdom on earth as it is in heaven, as he fills the earth with the fullness of himself, Allah Ephesians, and that fullness is himself. 00:21:38.960 --> 00:21:43.200 In the church, you are a part. 00:21:43.359 --> 00:21:50.720 How you go into your homes and your vocations and the art and entertainment and the sciences and education and business and your family. 00:21:50.880 --> 00:21:58.000 How you go into those things carrying the joy of and the power of Christ and His Spirit. 00:21:58.160 --> 00:21:59.759 That's how you redeem and reclaim. 00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:00.960 Those things. 00:22:01.039 --> 00:22:03.200 It's the fullness of him who fills all in all. 00:22:03.279 --> 00:22:04.079 How does he do that? 00:22:04.240 --> 00:22:05.680 Through the church. 00:22:07.039 --> 00:22:09.359 Paul's teaching, verse 9. 00:22:09.519 --> 00:22:11.519 But some of them became obstinate. 00:22:11.599 --> 00:22:12.079 Who are those? 00:22:12.240 --> 00:22:15.599 Those are those people that were at the synagogue, ironically enough. 00:22:15.759 --> 00:22:19.200 They refused to believe and publicly maligned the way. 00:22:19.359 --> 00:22:22.960 And they're name to call the Christians in the book of Acts. 00:22:23.279 --> 00:22:30.720 So Paul, watch this, argued with them, reasoned with them, stayed with them, blogged about them. 00:22:31.119 --> 00:22:32.319 What did he do? 00:22:33.279 --> 00:22:34.799 He blocked them. 00:22:35.279 --> 00:22:36.319 He left them. 00:22:36.559 --> 00:22:37.920 He moved on from them. 00:22:38.160 --> 00:22:42.000 He took the disciples with him and they had discussions daily in the lecture halls of Tyrannus. 00:22:42.079 --> 00:22:44.079 Now, Tyrannus was a secular institution. 00:22:44.559 --> 00:22:49.680 It was a public hall where they would gather for debate and for public debate and discussion. 00:22:49.759 --> 00:22:57.759 And it was thought that Tyrannis was a name they gave the head master of this kind of like public debate school because he was a tyrant. 00:22:58.000 --> 00:23:02.160 He pushed his students hard, but it was kind of an endearing title, the halls of Tyrannis. 00:23:02.319 --> 00:23:03.440 So don't miss what happened. 00:23:03.680 --> 00:23:09.119 Paul goes first to the Jews in the synagogue, Israel, and they reject him. 00:23:09.279 --> 00:23:10.559 And so then he goes to who? 00:23:10.720 --> 00:23:11.359 The Gentiles. 00:23:11.440 --> 00:23:13.519 And they're like, yeah, let's talk about this some more. 00:23:14.160 --> 00:23:27.119 So don't miss the continuing pattern of the New Testament is that the people who think they know the most actually know the least. 00:23:36.319 --> 00:23:39.839 I went to seminary, they've got a blog, they've got a whatever. 00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:46.400 And all they want to do is argue about the finer points of this or that, completely missing the glory of the Grand Canyon. 00:23:46.559 --> 00:23:47.759 Paul's trying to point them out. 00:23:47.920 --> 00:23:49.200 He's like, he's like, no, no, no. 00:23:49.279 --> 00:23:58.079 Look, look, Grand Canyon, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, salvation, selection, adoption, reconciliation. 00:23:58.160 --> 00:24:01.039 And they're like, yeah, look at this, look at this rock right here. 00:24:01.359 --> 00:24:02.400 I don't think he named it right. 00:24:02.480 --> 00:24:04.640 And he's like, oh my goodness. 00:24:07.599 --> 00:24:09.279 It's such an indictment. 00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:22.559 It's such an indictment on the church that becomes a religion rather than a dynamic expression of the ongoing and ever-advancing kingdom of God through the church. 00:24:23.200 --> 00:24:25.440 Verse 10. 00:24:25.920 --> 00:24:27.359 This went on for two years. 00:24:27.440 --> 00:24:32.880 So that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord. 00:24:33.039 --> 00:24:34.880 This is true also in history. 00:24:35.039 --> 00:24:39.519 Anytime revival, reformation breaks out, it always goes outside the doors of the church, not inside. 00:24:39.920 --> 00:24:44.640 Paul goes here to Ephesus, they're like, yeah, we've got our thing established, we have to go somewhere else. 00:24:44.720 --> 00:24:47.119 He goes to the public square and revival. 00:24:47.279 --> 00:24:52.640 George Whitfield comes preaching to the East Coast colonies, and no churches will have him. 00:24:52.799 --> 00:24:57.119 So he goes outdoors and thousands come and reformation is sparked. 00:24:58.079 --> 00:24:59.200 Why am I saying that? 00:24:59.359 --> 00:25:03.279 Well, I want us to be aware of the context we're currently in. 00:25:05.680 --> 00:25:10.880 Because it seems as if the Spirit of God has been more free to work outside of places like this than inside. 00:25:11.039 --> 00:25:12.319 Now I'm not getting hung up in the weeds. 00:25:12.480 --> 00:25:15.839 I realize it's just a billionaire space and they're good and it's awesome, and churches gather and all the things. 00:25:15.920 --> 00:25:16.799 We use a blessed community. 00:25:16.880 --> 00:25:18.160 Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. 00:25:18.400 --> 00:25:24.640 And let's not settle for safe and comfortable in this place. 00:25:24.960 --> 00:25:34.079 We're asking God to move, to work, to push the boundaries of the kingdom, to use us to be part of disrupting and then redeeming culture at all levels. 00:25:34.559 --> 00:25:44.160 Let's come to this house to worship, pray, get filled up, be convicted, be challenged, be equipped to then go back out into the world. 00:25:47.440 --> 00:25:53.519 The church in Ephesus, born by the Spirit, grounded on, anchored in the Word. 00:25:53.759 --> 00:25:58.319 Two years he teaches, another year will take place in chapters 19 and 20. 00:25:58.559 --> 00:26:00.240 Three years, night and day. 00:26:00.319 --> 00:26:01.920 Well, here's what we need to see. 00:26:02.720 --> 00:26:13.839 The church of Ephesus was born not by a great work of the Spirit, woo, out in the wind, or not by rigorous study of the mind and learning more things about God, but by a combination of word and spirit. 00:26:14.240 --> 00:26:18.400 Where the Spirit of God is moving, he will also be teaching and grounding. 00:26:18.640 --> 00:26:23.279 And where the word of God is taught, the Spirit of God wants to come and breathe life. 00:26:23.440 --> 00:26:27.279 But if you separate or try to remove one from the other, it gets weird. 00:26:27.440 --> 00:26:33.839 One gets just wacky, nuts, ridiculous, the other gets narrow-minded and cantankerous. 00:26:34.799 --> 00:26:50.400 We want to be a church that walks in the power of the Spirit, delightfully, joyfully, growing day by day, hearing the leading of the Spirit of God as we're being instructed by the Word and grounded in this immovable truth. 00:26:51.920 --> 00:26:54.000 One will not contradict the other. 00:26:57.359 --> 00:26:59.839 We want to be a church of the word and the truth. 00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:05.839 But thirdly, the church in Ephesus was an expression of the power of God. 00:27:06.000 --> 00:27:07.839 And I want you to see this, it's very unique. 00:27:08.000 --> 00:27:10.640 Chapter 19, verse 11. 00:27:11.039 --> 00:27:19.680 God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured, and evil spirits left him. 00:27:19.839 --> 00:27:23.039 Now again, when Pastor Kyle preached on this text, a lot of questions up there. 00:27:24.079 --> 00:27:24.960 It's very, very helpful. 00:27:25.039 --> 00:27:26.720 So go back and check out Acts chapter 19. 00:27:26.799 --> 00:27:28.720 That sermon is there online. 00:27:29.440 --> 00:27:30.400 Here's the point. 00:27:30.559 --> 00:27:31.680 Some takeaways here. 00:27:31.839 --> 00:27:36.000 Not all infirmities and sicknesses are physical maladies alone. 00:27:36.799 --> 00:27:37.119 Okay? 00:27:38.000 --> 00:27:41.759 And there are things in Scripture that we don't weigh equally. 00:27:42.400 --> 00:27:43.279 Here's what I mean. 00:27:43.440 --> 00:27:45.119 You're like, oh, heretic. 00:27:45.279 --> 00:27:45.920 Give me a second. 00:27:46.000 --> 00:27:46.880 Just stick with me. 00:27:47.839 --> 00:27:52.400 There are prescriptive things in the Bible and there are descriptive things in the Bible. 00:27:52.559 --> 00:27:59.039 The prescriptive things are those, those, those commands, those moral imperatives where we're being told what to do. 00:27:59.200 --> 00:28:03.519 There are descriptive moments in the Bible where it's just telling us something that happened. 00:28:04.720 --> 00:28:08.480 I had a buddy who was uh newly saved 20 years ago, called me up. 00:28:08.559 --> 00:28:11.839 He's like, he's like, hey, uh I got some questions. 00:28:11.920 --> 00:28:13.039 I'm like, fire away. 00:28:13.279 --> 00:28:19.200 He goes, I thought I was only supposed to be married to my wife. 00:28:20.160 --> 00:28:21.440 I go, yeah. 00:28:22.240 --> 00:28:26.960 And and and he had struggled with this, like porn, and so he wandered and so he repented. 00:28:27.039 --> 00:28:31.920 He'd come back and he's like, okay, well, you told me I could only have one woman. 00:28:32.559 --> 00:28:36.480 And then his next question, is Abraham a big deal to your faith? 00:28:37.519 --> 00:28:38.640 I go, I go, yeah, yeah. 00:28:38.720 --> 00:28:42.559 And he goes, well, that guy had a lot of wives. 00:28:42.720 --> 00:28:44.880 And then and then and then they all have lots of wives. 00:28:45.039 --> 00:28:47.759 He's like, so I'm not arguing saying I want more wives. 00:28:47.920 --> 00:28:54.000 I'm just curious as to why the guys are supposed to be heroes of the faith, had, you know, more wives than Carters got pills. 00:28:54.079 --> 00:28:55.440 This is well, like, what's going on here? 00:28:55.680 --> 00:28:57.119 And I said, Oh, this is a great question. 00:28:57.200 --> 00:28:58.319 And answer his question. 00:28:58.480 --> 00:29:05.279 But the point is, he was looking at something that was descriptive of what was happening with sinful man, not prescriptive for all of mankind. 00:29:05.440 --> 00:29:11.920 So what Paul's going to say in Ephesians is husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church. 00:29:12.640 --> 00:29:14.160 Descriptive or prescriptive? 00:29:14.799 --> 00:29:15.599 Prescriptive. 00:29:15.759 --> 00:29:16.960 You should do that. 00:29:17.599 --> 00:29:20.160