Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] As we've been unpacking this book of Ephesians, where we started is just saying that this is God's North Star for the church. This is who he wants us to become. And that's why this series we're calling it Becoming who We Are, Becoming who God has called us to be. Last week we talked about one of the places where we need to start is that we need to understand who we are and whose we are in Christ, that we are actually we belong to Him. We are his children.
[00:00:33] You ever wonder if you really are God's child?
[00:00:40] You ever wonder, is that actually true of me?
[00:00:46] I mean, do you ever have any doubts about that? I mean, what could cause us to doubt what God says to be true about us?
[00:00:55] Something that I've seen in my own life and in the lives of others is sin and failure in our life. As we continue to walk through life in our sin and our brokenness, and we just start to look at, like, why isn't it that I can't get over this? Why doesn't it seem like my life changes at a pace?
[00:01:11] Why do I keep doing this?
[00:01:15] Feeling distant from God? Some of us just feel distant from God. We can hear all these great truths, but if we're honest, it feels like God is a million miles away. It feels like I'm praying, but sometimes it just seems like my prayers are bouncing off the ceiling.
[00:01:33] Sometimes when we're walking through suffering and hardship in this life, we can start to doubt and wonder, like, if I was really his child, if he really loved me the way that it seems like the Bible is trying to tell me that he loves me, why would he allow all this to happen in my life?
[00:01:53] Sometimes it can just be comparison with other people.
[00:01:58] We look at their spiritual life, and some people, it just seems like everything is just up and to the right.
[00:02:04] And we know that that isn't our life.
[00:02:07] And we're just thinking. It just seems like for me, the train left the station and I'm not on it. What's wrong with me? Maybe I'm not a child of God.
[00:02:17] For some people, it's just as simple as a shameful past.
[00:02:24] Because we know all the things that we've done and we know that God knows all the things that I've done. We just think, maybe other people, they can be forgiven, they can be a child of God. But I don't know. I'm not confident that God could forgive me.
[00:02:41] And sometimes it's the flip side of that. Ironically, sometimes people wonder if they're really a child of God because they don't really have a lot of a past. They kind of grew up in and around spiritual things. They don't have this testimony where they were killing people and on drugs and then their life radically changed.
[00:03:01] And so they wonder, am I really a child of God?
[00:03:08] And then there's the voice of the evil one, the voice of our enemy, who the Bible calls the accuser.
[00:03:16] And he wants for us to think that the awareness of sin in our life somehow equals a conclusion about our identity, about who we are and whose we are.
[00:03:31] He's really good at that. He tempts us, brings us into a place where we disobey and.
[00:03:38] And then brings condemnation and then accusation. You can't be a child of God because of what you've done.
[00:03:46] So many things that can happen in our life that create these kinds of doubts.
[00:03:51] And doubt creates distance. We start to think, I need to step back, I don't feel close to God.
[00:04:01] And that creates more doubts and more distance.
[00:04:05] Paul wants us to understand who we are and whose we are.
[00:04:11] But he also wants us to understand, as we continue in the first chapter of the book of Ephesians, he wants us to understand who is in us.
[00:04:21] He wants us to understand the practical outworkings of the power and presence of the indwelling Spirit in our life, the Holy Spirit picking up in verse 13 where we left off, Paul says this. He says, and you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, when you believed, when you put your faith and trust in Christ, not your faith and trust in yourself and what you do to make yourself pleasing to God, but what Christ did on your behalf, when you put your faith in that, it says you were marked in him with a seal.
[00:05:11] The promised Holy Spirit, God's Spirit, comes into our life who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession to the praise of his glory.
[00:05:28] Things we need to understand.
[00:05:30] The Spirit living in us is the defining possession of all people who are truly followers of Jesus.
[00:05:39] And Paul says we were marked in him with a seal.
[00:05:43] That seal means ownership, that seal means own authenticity. Think about a king that's got a signet ring. And when there's wax on a letter or something that belongs to him, he puts his signet ring into it, saying, this belongs to me.
[00:06:02] And anyone who messes with this possession is messing with me. That's the imagery Paul wants us to have.
[00:06:10] We are sealed with the Holy Spirit, and he is a Deposit guaranteeing what is to come, like a first installment, a down payment, a foretaste of what we will experience in eternity. The presence and the power of God in our life.
[00:06:30] We need to understand that God is not just telling us something about the future.
[00:06:36] God wants us to understand that he is bringing something from the future into the present so that we may taste it. He is bringing his presence and his power to our lives today.
[00:06:49] And Paul prays.
[00:06:51] Paul begins to pray for us because he wants us to get that.
[00:06:55] He wants us to understand that more than anything, that's what he wants us to get.
[00:07:03] So Paul says as we continue verse 15. He says, for this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God's people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.
[00:07:24] And now Paul's going to break into prayer for them. And here's what I want you to take notice of.
[00:07:32] Paul doesn't pray anything related to their circumstances.
[00:07:39] He doesn't pray for their health, doesn't pray for their jobs, doesn't pray that they would have good relationships, that their finances would be in order. He doesn't pray about circumstances.
[00:07:53] He prays about things that cause us to lift our eyes up above our circumstances, the things in this life that can't be taken away. He's talking about spiritual blessings of knowing God.
[00:08:07] He wants us to know more than anything, the intent of his prayer is that we would know, that we would know that we know that we know what we have in Christ, who we are and whose we are.
[00:08:21] Paul prays verse 17.
[00:08:24] I keep asking, keep asking over and over that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Glorious Father, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation. That's what he wants the Spirit to provide in our life, wisdom and revelation. Why?
[00:08:45] So that we may know him better.
[00:08:51] Ultimately, that's the point of Paul's whole prayer, is that we would know God better. And I want to remind you of this. Last week we talked about that word wisdom.
[00:09:02] Wisdom is much more than just knowledge.
[00:09:06] Wisdom is knowledge that is experienced knowledge that is applied in our life.
[00:09:13] You can know a lot about God but never know him the way that Paul is talking about here in experience, in our life. That's what Paul longs for, that we would experience Him.
[00:09:28] Then he continues, what do we need to know if we're gonna experience who it is that God tells us that we are in Him? He says, I pray that the eyes of your heart, the eyes of your heart. He's Talking about spiritual eyes, our ability to be able to see with spiritual eyes through the power of the Spirit. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you.
[00:10:04] Paul saying, that's what I want you to have. Spiritual eyes to see. I want you to see hope.
[00:10:11] I want you to understand who God is and what it is that he has prepared for you.
[00:10:18] I want you to be able to see beyond the circumstances of your life. I want you to lift your eyes and what will give you hope is remember.
[00:10:26] Remembering what it is that God has prepared for you.
[00:10:32] I'm gonna say it again. He's not asking in any way that God would alter our circumstances.
[00:10:41] Not once does Paul pray for that. But what he is praying is that as we look at our circumstances, that we would see them with spiritual eyes. And those spiritual eyes see our circumstances through. Through the eyes of hope.
[00:10:57] Because friends, you can't live without hope.
[00:11:01] You can't do it.
[00:11:03] We are creatures of hope.
[00:11:07] Let me get you to think about it this way. Let me imagine that I could tell you that over this next year I've got a job for you.
[00:11:17] And here's what that job entails.
[00:11:20] It is long hours, 80 hour weeks.
[00:11:24] It is back breaking.
[00:11:27] You know what your boss is like, ungrateful, unthankful for the things that you do. You know what your co workers are like.
[00:11:35] They're mean and they don't like you.
[00:11:38] You know how much time you're gonna get off?
[00:11:42] Zero.
[00:11:43] No time off.
[00:11:46] But at the end of that one year, I'm gonna give you $10,000.
[00:11:55] You're like, whoop.
[00:11:58] I mean in other parts of the world that could be a lot of money for a year. But for us, that would be challenging to live on. And it's this horrible job. But let's just say this.
[00:12:12] Play that same scenario forward, same job, same everything. But at the end of that job, I will give you $10 million.
[00:12:25] Does that change anything?
[00:12:28] I bet you could figure out how to whistle while you work.
[00:12:33] Just a little bit.
[00:12:35] It goes from a place where it's like, I don't want to do this.
[00:12:39] I don't want to be a part of this. I want to give up to why, what changes?
[00:12:49] Nothing changes but hope.
[00:12:54] What we're going to see at the end of it.
[00:12:57] Because when we understand what it is that God has prepared for us, we have hope.
[00:13:05] God is going to restore all things. He's going to redeem all things in this world. We're going to experience heaven, come to earth, we're going to be resurrected, renewed, live life in and around earth like this, with everything restored.
[00:13:23] Is it worth it?
[00:13:25] Paul says yes. It doesn't matter what your circumstances are like. As difficult as they are, when we have our eyes on, on the future, we have hope.
[00:13:37] There shouldn't be a more hopeful group of people on the planet than genuine followers of Jesus.
[00:13:45] Do Christians always sound like they have hope that everything is going to turn out well?
[00:13:57] I don't think so. There are so many times, friends, that I listen to Christians look at the circumstances of the world and there are things that are not good in this world. They look at things, how they're unfolding morally in this world, how things are unfolding spiritually, how things can be unfolding financially, how things can be unfolding politically. And you know what I hear? People, they are afraid, they are anxious and they're angry. They don't communicate as people of hope.
[00:14:32] That's why in First Peter, scripture says that we should always be willing and ready to give a reason for the hope that we have in Christ Jesus. Do you have that kind of hope?
[00:14:49] Are you speaking that kind of hope and life into, into the world?
[00:14:54] Because what we've been talking about is this church, this thing called the church is to be a difference maker in this world, to be salt and light. We can't do that unless we are people of hope, that we can actually speak into this life and world and let people know this is what's to come.
[00:15:19] Question I want to ask you if we're always to be ready to give an answer for the hope that we have, Can I just ask you, does anybody ever ask, does anybody, anybody ever ask you?
[00:15:36] Man, you seem so hopeful in the midst of difficult things in this life. What gives you your hope? If friends, nobody ever asks us, we might want to ask ourselves, do we have that kind of hope? Are we living in that kind of hope?
[00:15:57] A second thing that Paul talks about, he talks about this idea of an inheritance.
[00:16:03] Earlier when I read that scripture about the Holy Spirit said that he is the deposit guaranteeing our inheritance.
[00:16:11] That isn't what Paul is talking about here. He says the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people.
[00:16:21] What's different here? Whose inheritance are we talking about here? We're talking about his inheritance. Who is his?
[00:16:31] That is God.
[00:16:33] Paul is talking about God's inheritance. What God is looking forward to life.
[00:16:40] What is the inheritance? Inheritance in his holy people.
[00:16:47] Who's that?
[00:16:50] That's us.
[00:16:52] That is the church.
[00:16:56] Friends, is that not at least a little bit mind blowing?
[00:17:01] When God thinks about what he's excited about for the future, what his inheritance is, it's that he has chosen, he has redeemed, he has adopted and he has sealed ownership of this group of people that are his own, these sinful wretches that we are.
[00:17:23] But he says, you are my children and you are going to be a future bride for my glorious son.
[00:17:36] He's so excited.
[00:17:38] He's so excited for us, so excited to see us and to be with us. It is his inheritance that's got to go to the deepest places of us. That's how God sees us.
[00:17:52] That's why the writer of Hebrews, In Hebrews, chapter 12, he says, this writer relating to Jesus, it says, fixing our eyes on Jesus, we fix our eyes on him. More than anything else in this world, we lift our eyes up not to circumstances. We lift our eyes up on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. And now listen to this. For the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the of the throne of God.
[00:18:26] I got a question.
[00:18:29] As he's looking at the cross, what's the joy?
[00:18:34] Think about it for a second. Think about what Jesus did in the garden as he is praying to the Father.
[00:18:41] He's like, is there any other way?
[00:18:45] Is there any other way through this? Then the direction that I know that this is going to. He was sweating blood.
[00:18:54] But the writer of Hebrews tells us that he did that with joy. What was the joy, friends? The joy was us.
[00:19:04] The joy was his church.
[00:19:07] The joy was his people.
[00:19:09] Jesus looked at the cross where he was going to bear the wrath of God for the sins of the world. And he said, I will do it with joy to. Because it's accomplishing life forever with my kids, with my people, my holy people.
[00:19:31] That's gotta move us, friends. If we really understand this, that should move us.
[00:19:38] See, it's not this picture, friends, that when we think about eternity and we look at our broken life, that we just think, I, I'm just gonna try to sneak into heaven in the back.
[00:19:49] I'm gonna try to just get into the way back part, hope that nobody notices. Nobody's like, what are they doing here?
[00:19:57] I'm just gonna hide in the shadows. That's not the picture God wants us to know. You are my inheritance. You are my children. I'm excited to see you. There is a banquet table set for you. There is a place with your name on it.
[00:20:13] You don't have to hide in the back. You're my kid.
[00:20:18] You are my inheritance.
[00:20:22] Paul is just praying over and over again the eyes of our heart would be opened to actually grab ahold of that and the implications of that. What does that mean for my life that God sees me that way?
[00:20:40] No fear.
[00:20:42] No fear.
[00:20:43] No fear of seeing him because of what he has done for us, because of who we are and whose we are.
[00:20:51] And lastly, Paul wants us to know his incomparably, incomparably great power for us. Who believes we have power, power in this life to battle against the things that we're gonna battle in this life.
[00:21:15] Battles against worry, battles against temptation, battles about doubt and who we are and whose we are, battle against accusations of the evil one as he tries to tell us what he thinks we, we should think about who we are and whose we are.
[00:21:33] But no, no, no. This indwelling spirit has raised us to life with power. Here's how Paul said it in Romans, chapter eight in a different place, he says, and if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, meaning that if you are one of his children, if God's spirit indwells you, you are sealed with him. He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his spirit who lives in you.
[00:22:11] What Paul is trying to help us to understand about the power of the spirit of God in us is that it raises us to new life.
[00:22:22] The exact same power that raised Jesus from the dead lives in you. And yes, we can be raised to new life in the same way.
[00:22:33] It's like God is giving us again that foretaste that picture of what he's going to do. When we look at Christ's resurrection, what God did, raising him from the dead, it guarantees our resurrection.
[00:22:47] And in the same way we will be raised by physically, we will be raised personally to experience and live forever with God in a renewed and restored heaven that's come to earth.
[00:23:03] This might be a funny way to say it, but God actually kind of, he practiced resurrection with Jesus and he nailed it.
[00:23:14] He got it exactly right.
[00:23:18] And so Paul wants us to understand, friends, he did it before and because you're his kid, he's going to do it again.
[00:23:29] You know, that we take it to the bank.
[00:23:33] And then Paul describes again, as he continues to the end of this chapter, again talking about, what is that power?
[00:23:43] That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at the right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked not only in the present age, but also in the age to come.
[00:24:03] And God placed all things under his feet and, and appointed him to be head over everything for the church that's us, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.
[00:24:21] Paul's just saying over and over, lift your eyes, lift your eyes and see what has been done in you and through you. And for you, the hope that you have eternity, the inheritance that you are to God and the power of living a resurrected life. He's praying over and over, open the eyes of their heart. Give them spiritual eyes to see it.
[00:24:49] Okay, now I want to get practical because it's. You can look at these theological things that Paul says and they're all beautifully true.
[00:24:59] But if you're like me, you're asking the question, how do I actually live this out in my day to day life? What are the things that are actually gonna make these truths part of the fabric of my life day in and day out?
[00:25:14] I'm glad you asked.
[00:25:17] There's a picture that I want you to have of how God speaks these things into our life. The first thing we've already talked about as God sends to live within you His Holy Spirit.
[00:25:32] I just want to remind you some of the things that the scriptures tell us about what the Spirit does when he comes into our life.
[00:25:40] In John 14, it just talks about, the Spirit teaches us all things. He reminds us of all things. He speaks things into our heart and mind.
[00:25:51] When I pray before I speak, I pray that God does that in here, in these moments, that God actually speaks his truth into your heart and mind. That's what the Spirit does.
[00:26:03] The Spirit comforts us because it's a foretaste. The Spirit is a foretaste, a deposit that one day we will fully unhindered experience the presence of God. But we get a little taste of that, his presence living in our lives, lives that brings comfort into the midst of our life. When circumstances are challenging, and circumstances are challenging for many and most of us, probably all of us, the Spirit convicts us.
[00:26:34] The Spirit lives within us and just reminds us when there's things in our attitudes and in our actions that run contrary to the will and to the word of God. He convicts us so that we can turn from those things and turn back to Him. Those are the ways that we know that the Holy Spirit is in our life. The way I like to communicate about it is that we, we sense these nudges.
[00:27:01] We sense these promptings.
[00:27:03] We have these thoughts that go across the screen of our mind.
[00:27:08] We have these convictions about things that we're doing and in and around our life. Those are the Holy Spirit.
[00:27:19] But you might ask this question, how do I know that those nudges, promptings, thoughts, convictions are the voice of the Holy Spirit?
[00:27:33] And they're not just me.
[00:27:35] They're not just what other people around me saying that it's not the voice of the enemy. How do we know?
[00:27:45] We know because the Holy Spirit works with us, in and through us, in conjunction with the Word of God.
[00:27:54] We don't just listen to nudges and promptings and thoughts.
[00:27:58] We sift every nudge, prompting and thought through the Scriptures because here's what we know to be true. The Holy Spirit, he was the one that moved the authors, that created, that wrote the very words that we have here today. The Holy Spirit moved them to write those very words. He is the author.
[00:28:23] The nudges, the prompts, the thoughts of the Holy Spirit that come into our mind will never, friends, they will never be opposed or contrary in any way to, to the Word of God.
[00:28:34] We have to filter everything that goes through our heart, through our mind, through the Word of God. We take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ and his Word.
[00:28:48] That's another way of saying, friends, this book is supernatural.
[00:28:55] It's a supernatural book. Friends, when we approach the this book, this is what I do and I want to invite you to do. When we approach this book, we don't just grab it and read it.
[00:29:06] We understand it. We approach it with humility.
[00:29:09] We approach it with an expectancy. God, speak to me through your spirit that lives in me.
[00:29:17] Illumine to my mind. Give me the thoughts, promptings, nudgings, convictions that come from reading your Word. I want your spirit to, to speak to me. We invite that in our life.
[00:29:30] We come to the Word humbly, expectantly, and we say, holy Spirit, speak.
[00:29:39] You know what? When we do that, day after day, time after time, he will do it.
[00:29:47] That's why the writer of Hebrews in Hebrews chapter four can so confidently say this.
[00:29:53] He says, for the Word of God is alive and active. It is sharper than any two edged sword. It penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges, it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart because of the Spirit's work with the Word.
[00:30:16] We can say this another way. We don't just read the Bible.
[00:30:23] The Bible reads us because the author The Spirit lives in us, speaks to our hearts, speak to our mind. We can trust him.
[00:30:41] That's not enough.
[00:30:43] It's not just the Holy Spirit and it's not just the Word.
[00:30:46] The book of Ephesians is gonna help us understand that if we are gonna know and experience God, we have to do it in the context of community.
[00:30:57] Trust me, that's what that word says, community.
[00:31:01] When I say community, I am talking about the church.
[00:31:06] Why is community so important?
[00:31:09] God wants us to know and experience him, to know and experience his love.
[00:31:18] God's intent is that we would actually experience that through people, his church, his body. We're gonna see that as we get into the later chapters of the book of Ephesians, just how important this is. But I want you to know that you will never experience fully being known and loved by God if you're not in relationship with other people that are full of God's spirit and full of God's Word, that are also making you feel known and loved.
[00:31:47] That is God's avenue, the community of Christ followers. And so around here, when we talk about getting into a group or getting into those kinds of relationships, it's not just about biblical information. You can get biblical information any number of ways in this world. And it's not just about having great friends.
[00:32:07] You can have great friends in this life. They don't even have to be followers of Jesus. You can have great friends. And it's not even necessarily about accountability.
[00:32:16] You can get accountability in other ways. You can hire a therapist, hire a life coach. They'll hold you accountable to things.
[00:32:26] But that's not what God wants for us.
[00:32:29] Primarily those kinds of relationships are about connectedness.
[00:32:35] That relationships that are close and transparent, they actually Velcro our lives to other people, other people that we are going to need in our life when life gets tough, when life hits the fan, because it is, time's gonna hit the fan.
[00:32:57] Now. You can choose isolation. You can choose like, I'm just gonna do this lone ranger spirituality in my life.
[00:33:05] But here's the thing that's good. That's fine until it's not fine until you need that.
[00:33:14] This is what Paul wants us to understand.
[00:33:16] There are times in your life when to know and experience God, you need to know and experience the, the bear hug of another person.
[00:33:27] Paul knows that if you're gonna know and experience God in your life, there are gonna be times that you're gonna need to have a kick in the butt.
[00:33:38] At the nine o'. Clock. I think I've almost pulled my Hammy doing that took it easy this time.
[00:33:44] But you're gonna need a kick in the butt to get moving.
[00:33:48] And you know this.
[00:33:50] Bear hugs and butt kicks, they're hard to self administer.
[00:33:57] God wants to use other people, other people that are also full of the Spirit and full of the Word.
[00:34:08] And that's how we grow.
[00:34:10] That's how we experience Him.
[00:34:14] I want to go back to the assignment I gave you at the very beginning in Ephesians, Chapter one.
[00:34:21] Some of you weren't here.
[00:34:23] Some of you have started it and you've quit. I want you to start again.
[00:34:27] Some of you, maybe you missed a day or two. I want you to just get back on track. But I want to explain to you that assignment, because it wasn't just some kind of a random assignment.
[00:34:37] It is the actually the application of what we're talking about here.
[00:34:41] That's what I want. That's what Paul wants for you. That's what I want for you. That's what's going to open the eyes of your heart. And I know it's. There's probably no assignment that I've ever given that. There were so many people that got back to me and said, I'm doing it. I'm doing it. I'm going after it. I was driving in my car the other day, I pulled up to a stop sign and there was a car beside me. And the window goes down and I couldn't quite see in and couldn't recognize, but I was like, I think they want me to roll my window. So I roll down my window. Everyone's waving in there. They're like, we're reading Ephesians. We're all reading Ephesians. And I was like, yes, so many people are doing it. Join them.
[00:35:19] Join with them. Here's the assignment. Read one chapter of Ephesians each day. There's six chapters. Monday, chapter one, Tuesday, Chapter two, all the way through Saturday, every week until the end of this series. That'll give you ten more times to. To read through the entire book of Ephesians going forward. Get God's word into your mind.
[00:35:39] But I want to raise the bar a little bit.
[00:35:42] Last time I said write at least one observation and reflection each day. Simply something that grabs your attention.
[00:35:50] I want to define a little bit more clearly what I'm talking about when I say grabs your attention. Here's what I believe.
[00:35:57] Again. We. When we approach God's word, we approach it humbly, and we approach it expectantly, believing that God's spirit has the power and the Authority to illumine things to our mind. That's what I'm asking you to look for.
[00:36:13] Where has something grabbed your attention? You don't have to overthink it. It can be a nudge and a prompting or a thought. You don't have to overthink it. Just write it down.
[00:36:22] Trust that the Holy Spirit is speaking.
[00:36:25] But then I want you to ask two more questions about that observation or reflection. Because this is where our lives start to change and we become who we are. We ask God simply, what is it that you are saying to me? Maybe more specifically, Holy Spirit, what are you saying to me right now through this word? You know everything in my life. You know everything in this world. What do I need to hear from. From you today? And you write it down and then the next question, which oftentimes we want to skip over, but I believe it's actually the most powerful one. God, what do you want me to do about it?
[00:37:05] What's the action step that you want me to take?
[00:37:09] Friends, this is where life change happens.
[00:37:12] Jesus said, my kids, my sheep, my sheep, they hear my voice and they follow me.
[00:37:22] He didn't say they hear my voice.
[00:37:25] They get together with other people and talk about my voice. Even sometimes in the original language. They journal about my voice. They memorize my voice. No, my sheep hear my voice and they follow me.
[00:37:39] We hear God's word and we do what it says, whatever it is that he's asking us to do. And then we have courage, courage to do whatever it is that God is asking us to do.
[00:37:50] And then lastly, that you would share it with one person. You would invite your spiritual life to do that with other people, where you're processing those things together, that Velcro of connectedness.
[00:38:03] And I shared with you a couple weeks ago, what I do is I just write through on my journal my answers to those questions. And I take a picture of it and I text it to my wife, I text it to my friends, I text it to my men's group, and they text them back as well. And we respond and we're thinking about, we're seeing what God is doing in the lives of other people.
[00:38:25] It changes our life. Let's think, how do we apply this?
[00:38:29] How do we actually allow ourselves to have spiritual eyes that are opened so that we will know God better? That's the purpose of the assignment. Don't blow it off.
[00:38:41] Do it.
[00:38:45] The last thing I want to say.
[00:38:48] It was kind of a late addition to my sermon, but I just felt like it's easy to talk about these things and say, do this, do this, do this, do this, and everything's going to be okay.
[00:38:59] Everything's going to be awesome.
[00:39:02] I think I might be setting you up for failure if I say that because I love you, because I'm a shepherd of you. I need to tell you, you are in a battle.
[00:39:18] Yes. If you are a follower of God, God's spirit lives within you. He can illumine the Word to you. He can use people in your life. But you have an enemy that hates you, that doesn't want you to know who you are and whose you are. That's why the scriptures call him the accuser.
[00:39:39] Where does the Scripture call him the accuser?
[00:39:43] Revelation, chapter 12.
[00:39:46] This is a text of scripture where John is writing about the ultimate defeat of Satan.
[00:39:52] This is the hope that we have. This is the inheritance that we have, that one day this will be true. But you need to listen to John says.
[00:40:01] He says, then I heard a loud voice in heaven say, now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of the Messiah. John is saying there will be a day when heaven will come to earth. That's what he's talking about. And Jesus will be king over all things.
[00:40:25] But then listen to what he says.
[00:40:28] For the accuser.
[00:40:31] For the accuser. That's the evil one, our enemy. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, that's us, that's God's children. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God.
[00:40:49] Day and day, day and night, day and night, friends. What is that saying? He's not going to let up.
[00:41:00] We've got to give the Holy Spirit access to our heart and our mind and our life and not give up on it. Because the enemy's not giving up. Day and night he accuses. We've got to push back on his voice.
[00:41:17] But here's the ultimate.
[00:41:19] Because the one who accuses has been hurled down.
[00:41:25] Amen.
[00:41:26] There will be a day when he will be hurled down. Today's not that day.
[00:41:33] Today he accuses night and day. We've got to push back.
[00:41:42] Here's a second assignment.
[00:41:45] When the accuser.
[00:41:48] When the accuser tries to tell you who you are and whose you are.
[00:41:55] When the accuser tries to tell you about your past, you tell him about his future.
[00:42:06] He will be hurled down.
[00:42:12] Let's pray.
[00:42:20] Jesus, thank you that you sent your Holy Spirit.
[00:42:24] Holy Spirit, thank you that you live in us, that you speak to us, that we can be confident of that in every.
[00:42:34] In every possible way.
[00:42:37] We put our trust in you, Holy Spirit. We know that you authored the Word. We ask that you would speak to us through your Word as we read it. We come to your word humbly and expectantly, Holy Spirit. Speak as we engage with you, Holy Spirit. Connect our hearts with each other so that we can know and experience what it feels like to be known and loved by God. Because we're known and loved by his people.
[00:43:10] Get us there, Holy Spirit. Move us there.
[00:43:15] Jesus. It's in your powerful and resurrected name that we pray. And all God's people said amen.
