Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #14901 - Light Shines Brightest in the Dark

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#14901 - Light Shines Brightest in the Dark · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the study of God's Word with pastor and author Ed
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Taylor, recorded live at Calvary Church in Aurora, Co.
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To learn more about the many resources available through
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Abounding Grace Media or to tune into our live stream services,
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visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free
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Calvary Church app. Now.
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Here's Pastor Ed to take us into our study.
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Amen. Amen.
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Open your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 1 is where we are
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Ephesians chapter one we launch into a new book today, the book
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of Ephesians. It is called the book of
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Ephesians because it is written to a group of believers in the
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city of Ephesus and we were just on a footsteps of Paul tour and
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it this is one of our stops that we were at.
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It's there are still remnants of the 1st century there of of the
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time of Roman rule. It's actually known in the Bible
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as an Asia Minor, but it's modern day Turkey.
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This city of Ephesus, Paul, he takes his quill and hand and he
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writes a letter to them in the year 61 AD.
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This is known as one of the four prison epistles and we don't use
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the word epistle very much. The the word we use today is
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letter. This is one of the four prison
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epistles or prison letters. And although it was addressed to
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the believers in Ephesus, to the Ephesians, it was also widely
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shared and read throughout the region of Asia Minor.
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Paul planted this church. We learned this as we studied
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through the book of Acts. He planted this church and
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stayed there for three years. So they know Him and have a
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relationship with Him. We learned that in Acts chapter
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18. This is where an outpouring of
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the Holy Spirit took place and a dramatic work of God and seeing
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many people saved and a church established.
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This is the city. Remember, they were so on fire
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for the things of God that those that left their paganism and
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witchcraft behind brought all of their idols and all of their
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books and burned them right in the middle of the city.
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This is the place where those that were making the idols were
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very upset with Paul and they caused a riot to try to kill him
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and ran him out of town and he took off to stay alive to
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continue the work. And then later in Acts chapter
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20 on the in my latest, this is Paul would call the elders the
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leaders. He didn't make it all the way
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back to Ephesus, but he would call the elders of Ephesus to
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give them one final leadership exhortation in my leaders.
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Now by most accounts, Ephesus was a very large Pagan city.
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Some estimate the population of Ephesus was 350,000 people,
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which reminds us of our own city.
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I mean when you think of Colorado, you have Denver, Co
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Springs and then Aurora as the most populous cities.
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But 350,000 is extremely significant in the 1st century
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because is it is a little different than the large city we
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live in today because 350,000 people set in its own as its own
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isolated city was a big deal. It was where the east met the
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West. For you and I, we live in a
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large city, but we're also connected to another large city.
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Instead of looking at just our city as Aurora, you have to look
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at it as the metro area with millions and millions of people
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here. For them, 350,000 was the
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equivalent. And this is where commerce would
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take place. This is where people would come.
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This is why the city of Ephesus was controlled by sin and
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controlled by evil. Sin corrupted this city and evil
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had its day. There was rampant immorality,
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sexual sin, prostitution there. It was rivaled.
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Ephesus was it was rivaled in sin only by Corinth.
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And those of you that study with us verse by verse the letters
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1st and 2nd Corinthians, we learned what a corrupt city
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Corinth was and how sexually perverse it really was.
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Now, in light of that, it's important to grasp and
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understand the significance of the immorality there, that they
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worshipped the idol Diana. This is the little Pagan idols
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they were making. They worshipped the Greek God
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Diana or Artemis. She was the goddess of
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fertility. In the center of town was a
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large temple, so large it was known as one of the seven
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wonders of the world. And it's interesting as we step
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back, kind of considering Ephesus as a very large city
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corrupted by sin. It's interesting to me that in
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the one of the most wicked of cities, Christianity spread like
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wildfire, right? Like it took off, it was
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welcomed, it was a embraced, lives were changed.
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Which leads us to a very important question.
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And that is why, why did the gospel take off in a large city
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like Ephesus or like Corinth or like Aurora?
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Why would the gospel take off? And I would say this, I believe
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the gospel is very powerful in large cities because light
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shines so brightly in the darkness.
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Light shines so brightly in the darkness.
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Now, when I was preparing for this Bible study, I was thinking
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of doing this little illustration, but it actually
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wouldn't work in the daytime. It would work on Saturday night.
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I was going to have them turn every single light off in this
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room. Everything, TV screens,
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everything. At night.
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It gets very, very dark in here. In the daytime it wouldn't
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happen because we get light through the windows, but I was
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going to have the room completely dark and then I was
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just going to light a very small match.
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Not a lighter, not my phone, just a very small match and show
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you that in a very, very dark room, even the smallest amount
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of light will help you Orient yourself in a room.
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Now it wouldn't give you all the light in the whole room.
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It wouldn't light the whole place up, but with that little
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light, it would give you enough to see and Orient yourself in
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relation to the direction that you need to go.
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And that's what happens when you shine the light of the gospel.
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And I know things are tough right now and I know things are
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getting worse and I know it's very hard.
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And I, I know what the Bible says.
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I know what it says in the newspaper.
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I see it. But I'm here to tell you as your
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friend, as your brother, as your pastor, that light shines in the
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darkness. And it's important as the church
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that we shine the light of the gospel in and through our lives.
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Now, I was reading the news recently and there was a survey
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they did and they actually use this phrase.
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That's what caught my eye. They did a survey and gave in
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the article the top ten sin cities.
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They use that phrase sin cities in the United States.
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So I'm going to give you a quiz and I want you to respond to it.
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So I'm going to test you right now.
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I'm going to ask you a question. I want you to answer you guys
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with me so far. OK, good.
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So far you've done better in every service.
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I'm getting another chance. So I'm going to ask you a
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question and I want you to answer.
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Are you ready for that question? OK, when I say the phrase Sin
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City, what city do you think of? Vegas?
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Las Vegas? You're right, Vegas is known as
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Sin City. I was just there not too long
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ago. I taught at a Calvary Chapel at
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a church in Henderson, NV, suburb of Las Vegas.
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Marie and I went down in some of our free time.
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We went down to the Strip. It was daytime, so all sin was
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in bed, but we went down. We hadn't been there in a very,
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very long time. We grabbed a cup of coffee, just
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kind of drove around, went back to our hotel in Henderson and
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there wasn't much to see. But what I did learn in
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Henderson and in the Vegas community is there a lot of
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vibrant, strong, wonderful bodies of Christ.
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The light is shining brightly in Las Vegas, which is commonly
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known as Sin City, of course. But in that article, I'm sure
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some of you read, it was in a local newspaper here or in a
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news outlet, Did you know that Denver ranked as the 6th Sin
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City on that list? Denver, 6th Sin City, just
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behind Atlanta and just ahead of Miami.
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And Philadelphia was on that list as well.
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So I have a pastor friend in Philly that I took out my phone
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and I sent him and I said, look, you're worse than us.
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You got us beat, but I haven't used this illustration for
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years. I didn't have the survey, but
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I've used this for years and that's this.
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I believe every city is Sin City.
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It's unfortunate that some cities get a bad reputation and
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others don't, but every city is Sin City.
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Some cities get a bad reputation, like Aurora.
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You live here. You know, it seems like there is
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a slant in all of the news reporting here that wants to
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make sure everybody knows that the only crime and the only
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difficulty and the only bad thing that ever happens in the
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Denver, all of Colorado is Aurora.
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I mean, every single day they find something to say, Aurora,
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oh bad and Aurora oh bad and Aurora oh bad and Aurora.
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Recently, just within the last week, a headline caught my eye
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and it said, Sir, I forget the actual crime, such and such a
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crime happened in a city east of Aurora.
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It was Strasbourg. Just say it out loud.
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Strasbourg is a Sin City, and so is Bennett.
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So is Watkins, so is Highlands Ranch, so is Cherry Creek.
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Every city is a Sin City. Sure, when there's a larger
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population there will be a larger occurrence of sin and
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crime, of course. But just because things don't
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get reported doesn't mean they don't happen.
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Some areas just can hide it better for some reason.
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Whenever I travel, the big question when they find out I'm
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from Aurora is this. Is it really as bad as the news
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says it is? Which I love the question.
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It's a great open door conversation.
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And my answer is pretty simple. It's no, it's not as bad as the
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news portrays it, but it's not good either.
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Of course there's crime here. Of course there's difficulty.
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Of course there's hardship. Men and women in our police
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force put their lives on the line every day and every night
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in hopes to keep our city safe. Yes, of course.
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But it's not exclusive to our city.
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And what it does, what it does is it causes, causes some to
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just like I got to get out of here now.
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I don't know if it's God's will for you to get out of here or
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not. I don't know.
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I got to escape. Let's go.
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But I do know this. Wherever you go, send will be
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there. No head.
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We got it all figured out. Well, really, What?
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What do you have to figure out? Well, we were all hiking and
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they were selling caves in the Rocky Mountains and we bought a
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cave. I hope you didn't buy a cave.
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But we bought a cave and we're going to move and we're going
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to. It's going to be a sin free
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cave. Are you going to live there?
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Yeah. You got ripped off bro, that's
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not going to be sin free because there are issues in our own
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hearts that we carry. Jesus said this in John chapter
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8 verse 12. Jesus spoke to them again saying
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I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk
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in darkness but have the light of life.
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That's your testimony. Every single one of you that are
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born again. You've chosen to follow Christ.
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You are not walking in darkness anymore, you are walking in the
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light. I think of the world in which we
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live. You know, when you think of sin
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cities. Another article I read recently
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is Denver ranked in the top 10 of homelessness, not due to a
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lack of housing as it's portrayed, but rather this
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article said it was due because of rampant drug use.
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But that makes sense, doesn't it?
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It's so different than those that might make be making policy
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for us thinking that the legalization of gateway drugs is
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actually a good thing. Those are the folks that
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oversee, those are the political, those that have been
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voted into office by a select group of people that oh, yeah,
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let's just make, let's go ahead and make marijuana legal.
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Are you out of your mind? Yes, they are.
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Oh, not, not just marijuana. How about we do some mushrooms
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now let's really mess them up so they can drink, they can smoke
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pot, they can do shrooms. And where's that going to lead
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them? Well, it's going to lead them to
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harder stuff because sin is never satisfied.
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You see, you'll never learn. You'll never learn that in the
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Bible. The Bible doesn't say ruin your
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life. The Bible says you have a better
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life in Christ. But when you live in a culture
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that kind of panders to that, then you're going to have
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rampant homelessness. You're going to have a lot of
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crime. You're going to have people that
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are lost. You're going to have people that
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are lost that you work with, that you live next to.
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You're going to have people that are lost like, well, perhaps
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like you and me. And that's why God has spread us
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all throughout Aurora and Denver.
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And we happen to be a church that draws from all over the
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metro area. So no matter where you live, God
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has you there so that you might shine the light of the gospel.
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Because a lot of people are worried because of where they
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live and where they're shopping and where they're doing life.
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Very scary and hard at times. You work in a place today, no
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one knows the Lord. They're always dropping the F
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bomb making fun of your Jesus. People can be cruel and mean,
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but in a way that's why God has you there.
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He has either be a light. You know, Jesus said in John 8
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that He's the light, but then as He's training His disciples and
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training you and me in Matthew chapter 5 verse 14, you know
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what He says? You are the light of the world
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and the least smallest amount of light will shine greatly in the
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darkness. And like I said, I don't know
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what God's will is for your life, whether you need to get
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out of here or not. A lot of people do that.
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I got to get out of here. I'm going to move to this place.
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I'm going to move to this place. And they soon find out that that
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place is just like this place. It might be a little different,
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might be a little, but the issues of sin is everywhere.
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We can't outrun it. It's part of life.
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Paul writes to a Sin City, not an exclusive Sin City, Ephesus,
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but a Sin City nonetheless. It's a Sin City because it's
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filled with men and women that hate God and live life separate
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from God. Now in chapter 1, verse one, as
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we jump into the text over the coming months, when you read
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through Paul's letter to the Ephesians, you can't help but
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notice that Jesus is the central theme.
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So as we're studying, I want you to pay attention to the movement
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of Jesus in the body of Christ. That's a big theme in this
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letter. The body of Christ you're going
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to see. And we're going to learn how
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Jesus takes Jews and Gentiles and makes them one, how he
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blesses believers with every spiritual gift, how He provides
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for all of our needs, for all of our needs, for work, for home,
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for marriage, for singleness, for church life, for parenting,
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for everything. We're going to learn about
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spiritual warfare. We're going to pause and
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consider some of the spiritual gifts.
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We're going to learn why God has pastors and teachers and what
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His goal is in the leadership of the church, and rightly so.
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The book of Ephesians has been commonly called the Alps of the
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New Testament. It's such a beautiful, beautiful
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view from the height of the book of Ephesians.
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You come to Jesus and you're blessed with all that He has.
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You get to see what a beauty it is to know how breathtaking and
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how inspiring and how motivating it is to know the Lord.
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Now let me talk about the football game yesterday.
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Did you know there was a football game yesterday?
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Pretty dramatic one. The weather, by the way, was
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amazing. Amazing.
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No snow, clear skies, Unbelievable.
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I'm loving this weather. No more snow forever.
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Can I get an Amen? They can have it in the
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mountains. We don't want it down here.
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So so they they've got this new technology.
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I'm watching the game. I got to watch it a little bit
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before I came in and then I had to leave and then I was
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listening to it and then I had to wait to the end of service to
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find out what happened. And so I'm watching the game and
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they've got this drone technology now.
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And so the drone is coming around on the other side of I-25
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and coming around the stadium there, and it's got this
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absolutely stunning view of the Rocky Mountains of the city of
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Denver. I mean, I sat there and was
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thinking, you know what? People are going to move here
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because of that. They're going to see it.
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They're going to move here by the the view.
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We're not even up in the mountains.
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We're just seeing the landscape of it.
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And what a beautiful, beautiful day it was.
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Yeah, it was unbelievable. Ephesians will be like that.
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Ephesians, the book of Ephesians will cause you to fall in love
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with Jesus all over again as you focus on like, it's not going to
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be like the drone shots that make you fall in love with
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Colorado. I love this place.
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I love living here. I love serving here.
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Unbelievable. But I love Jesus more.
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And the Vista that you see, it's such, so rich and grasping what
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Jesus has done for us. And when we see what Jesus and
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reminder what Jesus has done for us, it melts our heart and we
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choose to follow even closer and stronger in our dedication to
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him. Now looking ahead just a little
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bit, there are 6 chapters if you're taking notes to the book
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of Ephesians, and it splits nicely in half.
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So the first 3 chapters of this book are very doctrinal, and we
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will take our time through the depth of doctrine of Ephesians.
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The second-half, the last three chapters are all about our duty,
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our response. It's important to grasp this
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because in churches all around the country, even around the
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world, they're filled with pastors that are really pounding
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the pulpit of what you have to do and what you must do, and do
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this and do it now, and just really trying to motivate
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through strong words. But the true motivation for
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serving the Lord is knowing how much He loves you and how much
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He's done for you. It's our response.
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What we give to God is so much greater when we respond to what
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he's done. And so you'll see that Paul
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doesn't even get to what's required of us until he reminds
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us of what God has done for us. And you can pay attention to
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that. I would encourage you through
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the the sum of our Bible study, which will take a while to get
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through the entire book of Ephesians, that you just commit
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to read the whole book 6 chapters once a week.
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Just read the whole thing once a week and you could do it more if
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you like, but once a week is doable.
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And maybe once a month because I mean, we probably will be in
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Ephesians for at least a year studying through and just soak
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it in. And each time you read it, God
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will give you another direction and another angle.
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But for very least read the chapter that we're in.
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So you prepared. By the time you come to Bible
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study, you'll be prepared because you've already been
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reading it. The Holy Spirit's already been
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speaking to you. Chapter one, verse one.
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There's a few things I want to draw out.
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Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ.
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By the will of God to the Saints who are in Ephesus and faithful
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in Christ Jesus, we see right away that Paul is the author.
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We don't meet Paul as Paul. We actually meet him in the
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Bible as Saul of Tarsus. But this is a changed man, and
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he identifies himself. Notice as an apostle.
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Circle that word. You can write next to it, the
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Greek word. It's the Greek word apostolos.
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So what they did was they took a Greek word and just made an
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English word out of it. And there's a technical phrase
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for you to know. What they did with the word
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apostolos is they transliterated it.
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That's what it means when you take a Greek word and you use a
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very similar word, apostle. They took the word Greek word
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apostolos, and they just said apostle.
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And out of that word there are two definitions.
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There is a little A and a capital A.
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This word is used in two ways. The first one is little A and
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it's a generic word and it's a word in the 1st century in the
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Greek language that refer that refers to a messenger or someone
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that is sent. So this is just a messenger,
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someone that's sent. Originally it referred to a
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representative of a king that would leave with a message from
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the king. So in a very generic and broad
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sense, it describes A believer, you and me.
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We can look at ourselves as apostles, little a because we
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have been sent with the message. We have a message from the king
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where where someone, a woman, a man sent out by God with his
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message. But Paul was not just once sent,
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he was someone that was sent out.
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So he is little A, but I believe Paul was also capital A in a
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very strict sense. We study this in depth when we
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were in Galatians. You can go back and listen to
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the study there. But in a very strict sense, a
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capital A apostle refers to 12 men, technically 13 because
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Judas was there. But when Judas died, someone
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replaced Judas. And I suggest to you with great
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biblical evidence that I believe Paul is the apostle that
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replaced Judas. You'll remember in the book of
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Acts, the believers were told to wait.
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That's all they were told to do. They said wait.
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Jesus said wait till the Holy Spirit comes upon you.
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They weren't told to do anything else.
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But instead of waiting, they decide, oh, we should.
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While we're waiting, we should choose another apostle.
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There was never in the indication that they needed to
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do that or they should do that. But they cast lots, chose
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Matthias, and he was counted by the leaders as one of them.
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But we never really read of anything that Matthias ever did.
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But the whole Bible is focused on the apostle Paul.
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And while you may disagree with that, that's fine.
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I can see great biblical evidence that Paul is both a
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little case and a capital. A none of us today can be
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capital. A apostles that is over, but all
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of us are little a apostles. And he defines himself that way.
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But you know, this is not the regular way that he would define
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himself. He does in Galatians, but in
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Galatians chapter 1, he calls himself servant.
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In Romans chapter 1, he calls himself servant.
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In Titus chapter 1, he calls himself servant.
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He actually calls himself servant, which is the Greek word
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doulos. That's truly how Paul saw
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himself. He saw himself as a bondservant
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of Christ, a person who voluntarily gave himself up to
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another service. Paul was keenly aware that his
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life existed not to please himself, but to please his
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master and to follow God. This is how we have all started.
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We see God as our All in all. Many of us came to Christ in a
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moment of desperation. If you didn't come to Christ in
24:03
a moment of desperation, certainly in your lifetime you
24:07
have had desperation where you are leaning on and clinging to
24:11
God. I told you later in the year,
24:14
I'm teaching a conference. I'm very excited because they
24:17
have enlisted the Scripture. I, I really want to teach.
24:20
They gave it to me and I'm very excited.
24:22
So I've been thinking about it. I'm thinking about it every week
24:25
so I can saturate myself and, and I have an opening that I'm
24:28
thinking about with this Bible study that I think applies very
24:31
good today. And I don't know if it's going
24:33
to be the opening or I use it later.
24:34
I'm not sure yet, but I'm going to ask the question, what
24:38
happened to you? What happened that you are not
24:43
following the Lord like you used to.
24:45
Now we all know we all I can answer that question If you ask
24:48
me that question in certain areas of my life, I could tell
24:51
you what happened. I experienced this trauma, this
24:53
difficulty. I've got this circumstance I
24:55
started. I can answer the question, but
24:58
it's important that we ask it because what happened for some
25:02
of you today that don't see yourself in that master servant
25:05
relationship with Jesus anymore, even though that's how it
25:08
started. You were desperate for your
25:10
family, desperate for your marriage, desperate for your
25:12
prodigal kids, desperate for your fight like whatever you
25:15
were. And you just like, Oh, I, I, I
25:17
have lived my life and, and here I am at rock bottom and Lord, I
25:21
give you my life and you start living that way.
25:23
You start living that way. And then I don't know exactly
25:26
what happens. You have to answer it for
25:27
yourself where? Well, you know, I'm not so
25:30
desperate anymore, so I'll start drinking again.
25:33
I'm not so desperate anymore. I'll start flirting again.
25:36
I'm not so desperate anymore. And whatever it may be, and Paul
25:41
understood this is one of the areas that made him so
25:44
effective. It wasn't being an apostle.
25:46
It was being a doulos. It wasn't titles.
25:50
It wasn't the things that maybe we think are important today.
25:54
What made him effective was he lived his life to please Jesus.
26:00
He rolled into Ephesus with a desire to please the Lord, and
26:05
God used him greatly. Notice not only is he an apostle
26:10
of Jesus Christ, but in verse 1, he is an apostle by the will of
26:15
God. Don't miss that circle, that
26:18
circle that so you don't miss it when you're reading through.
26:20
He knows that he's doing what God has ordained for his life.
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I'm an apostle by the will of God.
26:29
Paul's calling and apostleship came directly from Jesus.
26:33
You have your Bibles open. Just turn a few pages to the
26:35
left. We were just in Galatians and
26:38
remember what he wrote in verse one.
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In Galatians chapter one verse 10 is where he calls himself a
26:44
doulos. But in verse 1 he says Paul an
26:48
apostle. And then notice what he says.
26:50
I have mine in parentheses. Not from men, nor through man,
26:55
but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from
26:58
the dead. Now remember, the letter to the
27:00
Galatians was a little strong because he had to convince them
27:03
not to follow false teachings. Say, hey, look, I'm coming to
27:06
you in the authority apostle, but I'm not an apostle.
27:09
Nobody gave it to me. I didn't take it upon myself.
27:12
I'm an apostle by the will of God.
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Which leads us to an important truth here in your own church
27:19
family. I don't believe that man can
27:24
ordain anyone for the ministry. I don't believe man or a church
27:31
or a group of leaders or overseers or elders or some
27:35
council or some organization can ordain anyone in to the
27:42
ministry. Although I have met quite a few
27:45
men that have ordained themselves into the ministry and
27:48
called it upon themselves where there's no evidence of their
27:51
calling at all. All that we can do as pastors
27:55
and leaders in this church when it comes to ordination, the
27:58
affirmation of God's calling on a person's life, all leaders can
28:02
over overseers. All they can do is say yes and
28:05
Amen to the ordination of God. Do you know a piece of paper
28:09
doesn't make you a pastor or going through school doesn't
28:13
make you a leader? God makes you a leader and God
28:17
makes you a pastor and God puts you where he wants.
28:21
And this is a whole Bible study in and out in and of itself.
28:24
But here's the scripture. Just one simple truth.
28:27
It's all over the Bible. But this one simple truth makes
28:30
it plain. Psalm 75 verse 7 says but God is
28:34
the judge. He puts down 1 and exalts
28:38
another. It's God that does the placing
28:42
and the gifting and the ordination.
28:46
You want to be able to say in your life that you are who you
28:49
are by the will of God, not your own will.
28:53
And I watch these guys, they they ordain themselves.
28:55
They put up their website, they get their cards, they call
28:57
themselves titles. But there is no outward evidence
29:00
whatsoever of humility and servanthood, but rather just
29:04
pride and arrogance. And you're like, OK, but you
29:08
can't ordain yourself, and you can't run to have someone ordain
29:11
you. You need to follow the Lord
29:14
whether he puts you down or exalts you on a personal level.
29:18
What confidence we have when we know that God has called us
29:23
where you see the affirmation of what God is doing in your life.
29:27
Where where like today, you, you might say, why I think I have
29:30
the gift of teaching. Well, that's a great that's a
29:32
great desire to have. Here's how you affirm that
29:35
calling. Ask the people you're teaching
29:38
if they're learning anything because I will make you a
29:41
teacher and ask the baby, you know, if you're teaching and you
29:44
go, well, how's it going? You know, you got this little
29:46
Bible study going on and you how's it going?
29:48
Well, you know, people come one week but they don't come back.
29:52
You might want to step back and go, hey, I wonder if I really
29:54
have the gift of teaching. Because if you don't, you don't
29:58
want to be in a place where God has not called you.
30:00
You'll hurt people, you will hurt people, you will harm
30:04
people in the name of Jesus because you've taken something
30:07
upon yourself. It takes time for God to develop
30:11
a man and a woman in the gifting that he has.
30:14
God has a will and a plan and a purpose for your life.
30:18
And even stepping outside of the church, it's important that we
30:20
know the will of God for our lives, how He's uniquely
30:24
equipped and gifted you to be in a particular place to shine the
30:27
light of the gospel. It may indeed be the exact way
30:32
that you make a living and you provide for the needs of your
30:35
family, but it's greater than that.
30:37
God has you where He has you for the gospel sake.
30:42
And the side benefit is you get to make a career out of it and
30:45
you get to provide for the needs of your family.
30:48
Some of you you can say with certainty today, absolute
30:53
certainty. You can say I'm a stay at home
30:55
mom by the will of God. I'm a homeschool mom, a
30:59
homeschool dad by the will of God.
31:01
Or I'm an attorney, or I'm a doctor, or I'm a businessman, or
31:05
I'm a programmer, or I work in a warehouse, or I drive a truck.
31:09
By the will of God. Those are all valid callings of
31:14
God using you in this world. Some of you, you came to church
31:18
today and you have to say I am looking for a job by the will of
31:23
God. And you know why?
31:24
Because you've been praying for a job.
31:26
And what does God have you looking for?
31:28
One. How?
31:29
By his will, he's moving you to the place that he wants you.
31:34
It may be painful and it may be challenging, but you know, I
31:38
used to work with a guy by the name of Larry and in our
31:40
company, they will always threaten layoffs and they would
31:42
layoff and they always try to motivate you.
31:44
Every six months, company's going down, we're going to lay
31:47
you off and you get all and I would get all anxious.
31:49
Not everybody did because I worked with a guy named Larry
31:52
and he never got anxious for anything.
31:54
He was just that steady older guy and and he saw me anxious
31:58
one day goes Ed, what's going on?
32:00
Why you So I said, well, you know, Larry, you saw the memo,
32:02
they got more layoffs and he just stood there, looked me in
32:05
the eye and he said, well, I was looking for a job when I found
32:08
this one like, oh, Larry worry with me.
32:12
We share an office. So he talking about he was an
32:15
unbeliever. Stop convicting me.
32:17
It's like, oh, he was trusting in God more than I was, but God
32:21
is faithful. You got to know that you are
32:24
there by the will of God. And by the way, I never did get
32:27
laid off ever. All those layoffs, I survived
32:29
them all. And it was that job that brought
32:32
me to Colorado. So if I would have known what
32:34
God knows, I would have never worried.
32:37
But that's the anxiety that stirs up, huh?
32:39
We don't quite know yet what God knows.
32:41
So we have to trust him and he'll reveal it to us.
32:44
And that job is how I moved here to plant the church.
32:46
I came with that. It's like God and you're just
32:49
like, I don't know if they laugh in heaven, but you know, the
32:51
angels. That guy's a knucklehead.
32:54
I can't believe God uses him. I know it's amazing.
32:58
So notice one more by the will of God.
32:59
Then notice he's writing to the Saints who are in Ephesus and
33:04
the faithful in Jesus Christ. Now when you hear the word
33:08
Saints, a lot of things come to mind on when you hear Saints.
33:12
Unfortunately, too many unbiblical doctrines have been
33:15
developed that diminish this important word.
33:19
Again, if you're circling words right now, you can circle the
33:21
word Saints. It's the Greek word hagios.
33:23
HAGIOS. It's actually a word that takes
33:27
us back to the time of the temple, that it was a word that
33:31
was described here in the Greek. But also there's a Hebrew word
33:35
to describe the different pots and pans and utensils and the
33:39
bowls that were set apart to be used for worship in the temple.
33:45
They were Hagios in the Greek. They were set apart for a
33:48
specific work. And this word St.
33:52
Hagios is describing the believers in Ephesus.
33:57
And unfortunately, unfortunately, over the years,
34:01
the word St. has become, has come to mean someone special,
34:05
something that's out of reach, someone who's done great things
34:10
beyond the Call of Duty, someone who, well, in Roman Catholicism,
34:15
Saints are untouchable. They're closer to God than
34:19
anyone else. There are Saints and there are
34:22
ain'ts, and you can choose which one you are.
34:25
You'll never be a St. There are special people.
34:28
And in some cases within Roman Catholicism, Saints are to be
34:33
venerated. They're to be prayed to, they're
34:35
to be trusted. And the Bible just teaches
34:38
simply. That is so untrue.
34:41
Here is the truth of God's word and it may be even hard for you
34:45
to receive depending on your background, your religious
34:47
background. But here's the truth of God's
34:49
word. You ready?
34:50
You are a St. Every born again believer is a
34:56
St. someone set apart for a very special work for God.
35:01
No one is left out. Whether you're really struggling
35:04
today or you've had a really good week, you're a St.
35:08
I mean, doesn't that sound great?
35:09
St. Edwards but the Saint could be
35:14
true for Saint Steve and St. Caroline and St.
35:18
Diesel, our little guy today. The Saint can be true for every
35:23
true believer. You're a St.
35:26
God has done that work and he set you apart for a special
35:32
work. Be careful Church, when you
35:35
learn your true identity, great confidence comes back because
35:39
you might even leave here today. I don't really see myself a St.
35:42
It's not important right now how you see yourself a St.
35:45
It's really just important to believe how God sees you.
35:49
You will believe it soon enough, but if you will just choose to
35:52
believe the truth that God says about you.
35:54
If a letter was written to us today, and I was reading you a
35:57
letter in the 21st century context, it would say to the
36:01
Saints in Aurora, To the Saints in Aurora, Yeah.
36:05
That city that has a bad Rep, that city that everyone thinks
36:08
such and such about, That city that has that slant and that
36:11
angle in the new. Yeah, yeah.
36:13
That city, there are Saints there still.
36:16
Saints to be met as God. His gospel catches like wildfire
36:21
throughout our community. He's still saving people today.
36:24
Church, I had the privilege in our service last night.
36:29
We didn't have a lot of time leftover in the end of the
36:31
service, so I invited, rather than an invitation to the gospel
36:37
at the end where people stand and we pray, I said just come up
36:39
after the service. We'll be up here.
36:41
We'll pray for you. They'll be men and women up
36:43
here. They'll be pastors, men and
36:44
women on the prayer team. Just come up afterwards, if you
36:47
want to talk about your soul, you want to talk about what
36:49
God's doing in your life, you can give your life to Jesus
36:51
Christ. Just come up and talk to us
36:52
about it. So I typically am ministering to
36:55
other people. I typically don't get to, to
36:57
talk to those folks. Other pastors do.
36:59
But last night I got to talk to some.
37:01
I was a young couple and they're talking and we're getting to
37:04
know them. They came with someone else that
37:06
invited them and we're talking to them and I'm, I'm listening
37:08
to them and they go, we just want prayer.
37:10
And I said, what do you want prayer for?
37:12
And in their answer, I'm like, well, are you born again?
37:16
They go, no, I said, do you want to be born again?
37:18
Is that what you're asking? Because they don't have the
37:19
language. They don't know what they don't
37:21
know what to say. I got to help them under.
37:22
He says, yeah, that's it. And I said, oh, this is amazing.
37:25
This is great. And so there we are in a circle
37:27
with their friends. We're all here in a circle.
37:29
I'm praying with them. They receive the Lord Jesus
37:31
Christ right here. They have it right here on this
37:34
piece of carpet right in front of the stage.
37:37
And listen, it's amazing. It's great.
37:39
We we experience it so much here that you just think that's
37:42
normal. And, and in a very real way it
37:44
is normal, but in a way it's not you.
37:47
You've got to step into people's lives.
37:48
And let me just ask you, if two people leave the building today
37:52
born again, don't you think that's going to change the city?
37:55
Don't you think that's going to change their family?
37:57
Don't you just going to change their relationship on their way
37:59
out? When they say I recognize that
38:02
my whole life I haven't been following God, but what you
38:06
said, something I said in the message really caught a hold of
38:08
their heart and they're like, this is the and now God's going
38:11
to change everything about their life if they choose to follow
38:16
Jesus with the same passion they came up with last night.
38:21
True change. God's work in us to work through
38:24
us. When Paul's writing to the
38:26
church, Sin City, Ephesus, 350,000 People living for Diana
38:34
and living for themselves except for this little group of
38:36
believers, like this little group of believers, this little
38:40
church on the corner. I mean, this little church on
38:44
the corner that was just dirt for so many years.
38:48
Folks would come, I hear the stories back in the day with
38:50
their motorbikes and their their mountain bikes and they just run
38:54
the hills where all these houses are and where the supermarket is
38:57
and where this church is. It was one of the last pieces of
39:00
land that was developed in this area.
39:03
And it's just a little church that God had on his heart.
39:05
He knew already what he wanted to do with this piece of land.
39:08
Some people that bought houses up here thought it was going to
39:10
be a park. Another group of people thought
39:13
it was going to be a urgent care center because that's who owned
39:15
it before we bought it. Well, God's heart was there was
39:18
going to be a place of spiritual healing here, a place where God
39:22
was going to change lives, a place where on my heart, I've
39:26
always had this, that I want to pastor a church and I want to be
39:30
a part of a church where a guy like me could walk into it and
39:33
get saved. So you don't understand.
39:35
And no, no will you ever. I won't even try to explain just
39:39
how far I was from Jesus when I walked in the doors of the
39:44
church. It's just I was a sister after
39:47
Thursday. I said you won't believe it.
39:48
She just, you couldn't believe I could tell you story after
39:51
story. You still wouldn't believe the
39:53
depth of darkness that God shined.
39:55
Just a little light. My buddy calling me up, just a
39:58
little bit of light. He had no idea how bad my life
40:01
was. He had no idea Marie was ready
40:03
to leave me for the final time. He had no idea the court case
40:06
that was up ahead in the jail time.
40:08
He had no idea. But what he did know was a God
40:11
that knew. And he obeyed that prompting and
40:14
gave me a phone call, invited himself to my house, invited
40:18
himself into my life. I mean, this is a kid I grew up
40:21
with. We grew up.
40:21
I got a picture of us playing Little League together.
40:23
We were six or seven years old, playing baseball together.
40:26
And who would have known when we met each other at that park that
40:30
God would have such a plan for our lives?
40:35
I am no different than you. Every single one of you have a
40:39
story. You have a family, you have
40:43
friends, some of you being reconnected with friends you
40:45
haven't seen in years, reconnected with family, haven't
40:48
seen in years. New people that just come to
40:50
work. Like who's this guy?
40:52
Well, he's like, this guy is for you so you can learn to train
40:56
and love and care for them. Listen, Church, when you think
40:59
of Ephesus, think of Aurora, think of Denver, think of that
41:03
town east of Aurora. There's a lot of towns east and
41:10
South and north and West. You know why?
41:14
Because God loves cities, because cities are filled with
41:20
people. And you and I, we get a chance
41:24
just in the the life of our own little church here to make a
41:27
difference in someone else's life.
41:30
And you pray with a couple of these guys are so young, they're
41:32
just kids, probably in their early 20s, maybe even late
41:35
teens. But to think of just such a
41:38
young age going for it and the things of God.
41:42
God is on the move today. And the posture for the Kingdom
41:45
of God is not pride and arrogance and hyper
41:49
judgmentalism. The posture of the Kingdom is
41:51
always humility. God blesses and is drawn to
41:58
humility, but resists the proud. And maybe that's you today.
42:04
You just feel like God is so resisting you.
42:08
You feel like, man, could it be that you have the wrong posture?
42:13
Could it be that you've never surrendered your life to him?
42:16
Could it be you're in a season where like, I received an e-mail
42:19
this week of a brother that's really wanting to move forward.
42:24
If I sense it in his heart, he wants to get out from the
42:27
bondage of drugs and alcohol, but it's been a battle for him
42:31
and he just isn't seeing the victory that's his.
42:34
And by faith in Christ right now.
42:37
And in his note to me, he says, you know, I'm just really
42:39
disappointed with God and that I stopped.
42:42
I would have waited to answer, but I needed to answer that one
42:45
right away. And I said don't be disappointed
42:47
with God because you need to understand something about God.
42:49
The power to sobriety is over to yours.
42:52
You can walk in the freedom day by day, but don't be
42:54
disappointed at God because God will not do for you.
42:58
It's my exact line. God will not do for you what you
43:02
won't do for yourself. You've got to surrender.
43:08
You've got to lay it on the altar.
43:11
You won't be able to see victory in your marriage or in your
43:14
family or in your singleness or your battle with sin.
43:17
You're not going to see victory in your own flesh.
43:20
You're only going to see it in the Spirit, a surrendered life.
43:24
And God wants to do for you what you can't do.
43:26
That's the flip side. He wants to do for you what you
43:29
can't do for yourself. But he won't if you're proud.
43:35
And isn't that just a trick of the devil to get you and me
43:38
disappointed with God after all that God has done for us?
43:43
It's just not true. God is faithful and reliable.
43:46
Amen. Well, Lord, thank you for the
43:48
preparation for our study in Ephesians and all that you have
43:51
for us. It's going to be so good.
43:52
It's going to be encouraging and building us up as a church.
43:56
Little different than Galatians for sure.
43:59
That Galatians were super heavy. Where Ephesians going to be, you
44:03
know, like that drone footage, It's going to be so beautiful.
44:05
It's like, I want to move there. I want to live there.
44:07
I want to live in the grace of Jesus.
44:10
I want to live in the light and not walk in darkness.
44:13
And so I pour out your spirit on your church today.
44:18
I think of some of the new believers, especially some of
44:20
the young people that couple, but they're young people right
44:23
now that this is not the home they grew up in.
44:26
This is not the kind of parenting they receive.
44:28
This is not what they learned when they were, you know,
44:31
growing up on on YouTube. And this is that they're
44:34
learning something brand new. And I pray you would establish
44:38
them in their desire to follow you young and old.
44:42
Doesn't matter our age. We don't want to have to ask
44:45
that question. What happened to me?
44:47
What happened? I started out so well, but now
44:52
I'm not finishing so well. No God, you are the God who is
44:55
able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can
44:59
think or ask. We are looking to you today.
45:03
Pour out your Spirit upon us in Jesus name, Amen.
45:08
We pray that you've been encouraged by this Bible study,
45:11
delivered live from the sanctuary of Calvary Church.
45:14
For prayer, call us at 87730 Grace that's 877-304-7223.
45:23
To listen to this message in its integrity or to join us for our
45:27
live stream services, visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church
45:32
or download our free Calvary Church app.
45:35
Be blessed as you worship Jesus this week.