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Ephesians 3:1-12 with Luke Dunnuck · Pursuing the Heart

• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, this is uh Pursuing the Heart and uh we're appreciative of everyone listening to this.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: And uh God pursued me, now I pursue him.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: And tonight I have a repeat guest and uh a lot of requests for him to come back on the podcast.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm in, I've I have I've listened to the people and the people's number one choice, Luke Dunneck.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: What's up, Luke?
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_02: Not much, man.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_02: It's quite the intro there.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: You like that?
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you feel loved?
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_02: I do, I do.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_02: There's two guys that uh recommended me.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_02: That appreciate that.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's more than two people.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so um, but uh uh uh we uh pursuing the heart, um, we uh we try to put a podcast out every week.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: We're going through the New Testament.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we have done uh Colossians and Galatians.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: Now we're in the book of Ephesians, and uh so we appreciate everyone.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: Just remember, um, we're on all streaming platforms.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like, subscribe, and share.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: And uh Luke, tell us uh tell us what you did on the 4th of July.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: I heard this awesome thing that you were doing.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_02: The 4th of July, um, we generally do a river float trip.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_02: We live like right on the White River in Noblesville, and last year I had several surgeries, and uh, so I couldn't go on it, so I set that one out, which was great because I didn't just got hung up by myself, which I enjoy.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_02: But this year we kind of ramped up for uh for a big float, and uh so we we did that and it was great.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_02: It was perfect weather, really hot.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_02: Had a bald eagle fly right over uh river and down the river.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_02: So it wow was amazing.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_02: So, and we had put a playlist together of a bunch of USA uh patriotic type rock and roll songs, you know, it lasted a couple hours.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: So the float usually takes like two or three hours, but man, it was just a moment, and but it was a great time, great time with family, family, kids, their wives, girlfriends, yep, and uh and then your wife and you guys hung out, and then you had a what kind of party that evening?
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_02: We had a disco party.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, that was uh that was a long time in the making, so that was a good night.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_02: The sad part was is everybody was so worn out by the river that there wasn't a whole lot of discoing.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: There was some hula hoop competition.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, my and does a great job of uh party theming, so okay um and my youngest son won by a long shot.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_02: He I mean Jonah gave him a good run, but man, you know how you you spirit spiritual gifts just reveal themselves.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I'm not saying this is a spiritual gift, but that kid's got a gift in hula hoop.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: So you're gonna be able to do that.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_02: Seth man, it's amazing.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: So, how long, how many minutes did the hula hoop stay on your hips?
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: Mine?
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_02: About 40.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_02: No, let's be honest.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_02: 25 seconds.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_02: So I can get it.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: There is video evidence.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: I saw the video, I was laughing hysterically.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it didn't last very long.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: Cool.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: Anything else exciting happening right now in your life?
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: Not really.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, just you know, life is life is busy.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_02: So work's busy, and um, you know, kids are growing up and pretty exciting time.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we got a baby on the way, uh, grandkid.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_02: So that'll make it around first sometime in November, December.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: So it seems like I've set this the bar at four.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: Four grandkids.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: Chad's got three, and you're about to have your first.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm thinking one of you are gonna pass me.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: We're set up for that, I think.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: So grandkids are awesome, and uh they're great because you can spoil them to death and send them home to mom and dad.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, that's um that's how it's gonna work too.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: That's how it's gonna work.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I'm sure that's how it's gonna work.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so uh anyway, uh, would you like to open up in prayer tonight?
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_02: Father, thank you for this time.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for your word, and thank you for your spirit that enlightens us.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_02: What your word says, help us to just listen to you as we talk with one another, process what your word is trying to communicate and tell us, and help us to share that with confidence and boldness.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_02: And uh just as the word that we're gonna cover tonight is big on big themes.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_02: Um, we just pray that your grace uh works in and through us and helps us to testify to the riches of your glory in Jesus' name.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_02: Amen.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um so we've been going through Ephesians.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: We've had a couple different people on, and uh, we finished last week at the end of chapter two, but chapter one laid a great foundation who Christ is, what the accesses we have to Christ, um, and just some like Christ is the foundation you build upon that, and just knowing the principles and understanding, also in the first chapter, it's very it can be confusing.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we went through that as far as who is he, him.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um also verb tenses are very important, especially when reading Paul's letters, and then um also you can be singular, but in that context it was plural, and then uh the two groups he addressed, the Jewish people and then the Gentiles, which is us.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: Same thing, moving in in chapter two, those principles stayed the same, understanding who the we is, the him, the he, and then also verb tenses are very important as well.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: And then the end of chapter two last week, we talked about uh how the gospel came, Christ came, and Christ brought everyone back into the family, and he brought the Jewish people and the Gentiles into one accord.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: If you believe in Christ Jesus, you're in the family.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: No matter if you're a Jew, Gentile, you're all in one.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: And we made the comments last week.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of like there's no room for racism because it's like we're all one in umbrella, uh, there is no distinction.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the distinction is if you is or if you ain't, that's that Southwest Georgia stuff that I talk about.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're a believer, it's awesome.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: And just know that there's gonna be other brothers and sisters that does not look like you, that they believe in Christ, and it's gonna be awesome.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: You got anything to add there, there, Luke?
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_02: No, I think that sums it up.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_02: And I I think uh honestly, that's that's where unity lies.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_02: If we're talking about uh I like to use a word that's kind of a big word as it relates to logic and thinking, uh, is ontological, which is a state of being versus say a state of doing, or you know, there are different cultures, you know, but when someone comes to Christ, they become new in nature, they become a new creation.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_02: So ontological, which is that study of being, so ontology, that study, and then ontologically made new, is you're made new into Christ.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_02: So you're you're in Christ, in covenant with Christ, one with Christ, and anyone else that enters into that covenant is now one with Christ as well, and one with you by his doing, not our own.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_02: And so it's it's something that it's something that happens.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_02: You get placed into the body of Christ, and therefore you get placed in the true unity.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_02: And so, um, and again, I think that's the only way it happens on that level.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_02: Like we can all get be like-minded, and we can all be um see the world the same way, but true unity is in Jesus Christ.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_02: Anything else is uh your best efforts.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: And we've talked about this in the past, uh, Luke.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's belief, faith, trust into the unseen, and you believe in Christ, you have faith in Christ, and then you trust.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: And neither of us have seen Christ.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: We didn't see him die on the cross, but we have belief that we believe that he did die on the cross, raise it from the dead, is now seated in the uh heavens at the right hand of the Father.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: We believe in that, and I will I mean I will die for that.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, so that is um that's that's basically it in a nutshell.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: I like what you said.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, and I can tell you, we're we're talking about a letter written by Paul, and Paul has seen Christ, he did see Christ.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_02: He had a he had a physical experience with Christ.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_02: Like he he was there on the road to Damascus and had a had a altercation with with the risen Jesus, and got knocked out of his saddle, blinded, physical, um physical uh I would say I don't know if it would be ramifications or even um any type of penalty, but it was a to get his attention and it was bodily.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_02: So and then he obviously restored his sight.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_02: So Paul Paul Jesus was a offense to him, and now when we read today, listen to the words he says, and looks how look how he positions those words, and look look how he elevates what some consider another man, but he knows is way more than that.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: So last week we ended chapter two.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: So chapter two, the back part of that is talking about say verse 19, it says, So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow cr uh citizens with the saints and are of God's household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole building being fitted together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: So, first off, I just wanted to say that because in verse one it'll say, For this reason.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: Well, what reason, Paul?
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's uh it if you just pick up verse one, you'll be like, Okay, for what reason?
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um well the reason is that reason is the foundation is Christ, and through him you have you are being you're a temple of the Lord, holy temple, and then you have a dwelling for the Holy Spirit.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: And that is this reason, I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus, for the sake of the Gentiles, and there's like a little dash there.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: It says, If indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace which was given to me for you.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: You want to unpack that a little bit, Luke?
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I I think it's interesting.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_02: Um I think or strategically, how how is Paul the right man for the job?
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_02: And to me, it's obvious where I think when I first started in my faith, I thought it was a neat story, and it was like, you know, somebody that gets derailed from a a lifetime of serving, you know, God in the Jewish context.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_02: But God choosing the most, I would say, zealous Jewish um enemy of of Christianity, and I mean just volatile, violent, committed, and and for for with a with a true heart towards Judaism and thought he was serving the Father, finds out Jesus was who he says he was.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_02: And he has to now he be the primary minister to the Gentiles, which if if you know Jewish culture, back then, you know, the Jews were the chosen people, the Gentiles were less than, they were looked at differently and to be avoided.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_02: Um and now that's his primary audience.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_02: And but in the same sense, he's not going to be he's not gonna be fooled on any retractors that came come from the Jewish side either, because he really understands Judaism.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_02: He understands it, I would say, better than anyone.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_02: And so he's in a unique position to have all the background, to be able to say, I was appointed by Jesus Christ, understanding, and uh as he says that through the apostles, which so he acknowledges the the new, you know, the new way, Christianity, and the leaders of the church.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_02: But he also says, and the prophets, which would be really, you know, acknowledging his heritage and that this is a Jewish religion, this is a Jewish fulfillment.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_02: And and and I think he covers both.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_02: He covers he's very credible to the Gentiles because he's bringing the Jewish Messiah that was really, I think, surprising that to Gentiles would say, Oh, this applies to us now?
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_02: Well, that that's surprising and new.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_02: And but also he can say, Hey, I can tell you why, too, because I have the background, I have the receipts on the prophets and you know the the law and all of the Jewish customs.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_02: He he knows the history.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_02: So he's really going to have an answer to anyone.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know what a Gentile could do to possibly argue with him, but if a Jewish Jewish rabbi wants to argue, come and talk, he can he can handle that as well.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_02: So he's uniquely qualified, and he's saying that he's been appointed for this very purpose and acknowledges prophets and apostles.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_02: So there's there's his credo, you know, yeah, his credibility is yeah, his yeah, his bona fides, as you would say, bona fides or whatever they could say there.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, in the first verse, he's establishing that it is it says the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you gentiles.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: He's coming, he is the minister to the Gentiles, he knows the Jewish faith backwards and forwards, probably better than anyone at the you know, smart, smart.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: And he is saying that uh basically, like you said, Christ has appointed him for this position to the Gentiles.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: He is supposed to be the minister to the Gentiles.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: We know in a previous book, Peter was the minister to the Jews.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: He was going out, supposedly talking to the Jewish people, and Paul was ministering to the Gentiles, and it says, You've you've heard of the stewardship of God's grace, which was given to me for you, meaning God told him about the grace upon grace upon grace upon grace that the Gentiles, the new covenant has for the Gentiles and anyone who believes.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: We've compared that.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Woody had a great comparison, Luke.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's like when you're eating biscuits and gravy, and they just keep on pouring the gravy on the gravy, more gravy, more gravy, more gravy.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: There's so much grace there.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: God's grace.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: And it is he is passing that to the Gentiles, to the believers, and bringing them into the family.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: And just like you said, it's amazing.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: And he picked the right Jesus picked the right person to do this too.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I I think it's interesting.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_02: We're, you know, if you have been dabbling into Christianity or you figure what would what was it like, you know, before I really got to the point of faith that I'm in right now, you could be asking yourself that question.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_02: I I think about those things.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um one thing is I've heard a lot of teaching, you know, over the 30 years, you know, uh, that I've been a Christian, and a lot of, I would say, intellectual approaches and a lot of reasoning.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_02: And but there's one thing that I think gets everyone's attention, and this is why I love Paul so much, is he's not casual.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_02: He is passionate and he is sold out to Jesus Christ, and he's a prisoner by his own will.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_02: He like he wants there's it's a humility that's it's actually it's it's a passion and a intensity level, and you're gonna see how he how he communicates about this situation, right?
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_02: But it's wrapped in a humility too.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: I like how he said he's a prisoner because he is when this when this letter is being written.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: So he they know that he's in jail, prison right now, and a letter's coming from him, and when they get it, they know that hey, okay, yeah, you are a prisoner because you are man, and it's only because of Christ Jesus he's in there because he's spreading Christ to all the the towns, and it's he's he's pushing that out, you know, and so they put him in jail for it.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I don't I don't think he's as impressed by his own imprisonment as you know he is by the sufferings of Christ.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_02: And and he called he says he starts a lot of his letters out as saying, I'm a fellow bondservant, like a willing slave, a willing servant to Jesus Christ.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_02: And um, yeah, he's actually physically imprisoned, and but again, I I think he knows that his life is is laid out for him, and he's he's following, he's following the leading Jesus Christ still.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_00: So in verse three it says that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery as I wrote before in brief.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: Hmm.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: I might have an idea what this mystery is, Luke.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: Mm-hmm.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna look at Isaiah.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: Isaiah might give us a glimpse.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: I want to read uh a couple of passages from there.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: Isaiah might give us a glimpse as far as what he might be talking about here.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: So in Isaiah chapter two, uh verses two through four, he said this is what Isaiah says, It shall come to pass in the later days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted above the hills, and the nation shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways, that he may walk in his paths, or we may walk in his paths, for out of Zion there shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_00: He shall judge between the nations and decid and decide disputes for many peoples, and they shall beat their swords into the ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, and neither shall they learn war anymore.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: Hmm, maybe that.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: Or we'll see in chapter 25 what this mystery might be too that Isaiah is talking about.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_00: He talks about it several times.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: I just pointing out some scripture passages that might tie this in, because Paul's already Paul knows this.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_00: So looking at 25 of Isaiah, starting in verse 6, says, On the mountain of the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a bl a feast of well aged wine, of rich food, full of marrow and of age wine, well refined, and he will swallow up the mountain, the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Spread over all nations, he will swallow up death forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people, he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_00: It shall be said on that day, Behold, this is our God, we have waited for him that he might save us.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: That this is the Lord, we have waited for him.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: Let us be glad and rejoice in this salvation, for the hand of the Lord will rest on the mountain, and Moab shall be trembled trampled down in the place, and the straw is trampled down in the dunghill.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_00: One more.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: Isaiah might there might be another nugget here in Isaiah.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: Isaiah 56.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: And what I'm trying to share to you guys is this mystery that I think Paul is talking about is the mystery was that at a certain point in time, God was going to bring all nations back to him.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_00: There was not going to be a separation.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_00: That was the mystery.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_00: And the Messiah brought those two people groups back together through the death, burial, and resurrection of the Savior, the Messiah.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: And if you believe in that, this is what this I have a I have an idea.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_00: This is what Isaiah is talking about.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_00: And it says, and the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone who keeps the Sabbath does not pervain in it and holds fast my covenant, that I'll bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_00: Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar, for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord God who gathered the outcast of Israel declares, I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_00: This is happening in the spiritual.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_00: This is what's going on in the spiritual.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_00: This is the family we're in.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_00: We're in the spiritual together.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_00: Isaiah was talking about this time where we as believers, I'm my hair, my hair on my arms are standing.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_00: We have this moment in time where now us Gentiles can, there is no separation.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like we talked about, the Gentile court's been done away with.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: That those scripture passages I share is I believe what's going on today.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to look for a future.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_00: It's happening today.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_00: We have access to the Holy Mountain.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's true.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and that was a hard pill to swallow for the Jews.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_02: And it was also a hard pill to swallow even for the apostles when they first, you know, were trying to figure this out.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_02: Because culturally, there was a separation at the time, you know, until that day, until that new covenant came.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and even Paul, like I know in Romans 11, talks about, you know, as there was a partial hardening, you know, because as the the world starts to open up to the new covenant, which is the church, you know, it's right, there is a new people of God, there is a new chosen people, and it is the church.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, in in order for it to grow on both sides, whether it would be Jewish, you know, believers at the time or obviously the Gentiles as he's building, you know, and through his missionary trips and his his churches and the churches he's establishing, especially, you know, with the one here in Ephesian and Ephesia, uh, Ephesus.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, sorry, Ephesia, Ephesus.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_02: You're fine.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, those questions, it's like, who's better?
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_02: You know, there they were still this, you know, there was still that tension.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, as Paul, I would say, with a boldness and almost just a colorful explosion of language of what it means to be in Christ, is uh is that mystery being unveiled.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_02: He is revealing the mystery, which which really there's another verses, the mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_02: And it's the fulfillment.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_02: So you you go back and he mentions the prophets, you know, prophet, that was Isaiah, right?
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_02: Hey, this is coming.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_02: This is this is the future.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_02: And then the future now is at hand.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_02: And again, you know, there's skeptics out there, you know, some didn't believe and some made it very difficult, but nothing could stop it.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_00: Could not stop it.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_00: There was nothing too late.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_00: It was too late.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_00: It was the the it was out of the bag, dude.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit came, and the Holy Spirit was indwelling the people.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I believe there's several mysteries.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_00: The mystery that you know who the Messiah was.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_00: The mystery of that is going to be for both Jewish and Gentiles.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's just not for the Jews.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_00: Because the Jewish people, if in Romans, you know this book better than I do, Luke.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: In Romans 3 and 4, he's just tearing down the Jewish person.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_00: He is attacking the arrogant, well, it's just I'm a Jew, it's only for me.
• 28:59
  unknown: Yeah.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_00: And he is saying, no, it's no, no, it's for every anyone who believes is credited to them as righteousness.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I I again he at the time when the time was right, Christ came.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_02: So Judaism was being so corrupted, and the the idea of um you know that they were going to be okay just because they were circumcised or they were part of circumcision and and like being Jewish or having the oracles of God or the law, that was that was enough.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_02: And the the the law pointed to Christ.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_02: And so they so you get attached to the delivery mechanism and you miss what was being delivered, and that's that's where there were where we're at.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_02: And it's it's now an opposition.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_02: That that mindset or that thinking and that that resistance is now in opposition uh to the growth of of the church.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_02: But the it seems the opposition creates more growth.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_02: So it's it's necessary, apparently.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_00: So it says but um by referring to this, when you read, you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which in other generations was was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and the prophets in the spirit to be specific that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_00: He's like saying, Hey, I it was not really, it was hidden, not really hidden, because I read you passages out of Isaiah, and that's old testament, yeah, and they it was there, but they were like, Oh, well, that's in the way future, Luke.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's in the way future, it's not now, but it is now because it's he even points it out here.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_00: He says, to be sus specific, if you have any doubts, here Paul's like clearing this up to be specific that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I love the reference that you make because I say this a lot.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_00: Romans 11 is so full of meat, meaning Jesus is the vine, the branches were cut off, the Jewish people were cut off.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_00: The only way to be grafted into the vine is to believe into the Messiah.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_00: It says it right there.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_00: You can go back and read in Romans 11.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_00: And any Jewish person who believes in the Messiah will be grafted into the vine, and they will be partakers with us Gentiles who believe.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_00: And that's basically what he's saying.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_00: He's basically clearing it up again, saying, hey, this isn't just for the Jewish people, it's for everyone.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's a common theme in in all the books, it seems, is the the Jewish Gentile um debate.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, is this are we on equal footing?
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_02: You know, is is something that and again, you you're coming from one way, the old covenant to the new covenant, and Paul's speaks a lot about it.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_02: For someone who's for someone who's a minister, says it right here, he's an apostle and a uh of the gospel, you know, which is the good news of Jesus Christ.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_02: He does a lot of apologetics as it relates to the old the old the old way.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_02: So, but I I do want to make a point here that he says this is revealed by revelation.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, I think revelation is when the Holy Spirit actually interprets, you know, whether it be uh the prophecies or the prophets of old, or whether it be, you know, understanding that Jesus is the Christ.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_02: You know, my father in heaven revealed this to you, he says to Peter, you know, through the Holy Spirit.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, I know it's it's I've learned to be more patient with people because you can't make someone believe.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_02: You can tell them all about this, and it's just not an intellectual exercise.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_02: But when the spirit reveals it to you, it becomes real for you, and it becomes something that you willingly enter into.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, and until there's revelation of the heart and with the spirit, it's it's difficult to really.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_02: I I know when I I when I was uh a non-believer, I remember I would think about these things, and I didn't believe, you know, at a point in my life and before I came in.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_02: And I was like, I just intellectually don't agree.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_02: I just don't believe, you know, and I'm like, and it and I didn't know that, you know, I just knew that was an honest assessment.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_02: But I can tell you, there was a moment when the spirit started to work on me.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_02: And I I I feel like, and I don't know if it was a moment in time.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I know I made a commitment, you know, I had that conversion in 1990 where I I decided to receive Christ, you know, in the in the in the the campus, the campus ministry perspective of receiving Christ.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_02: And it was a legitimate uh decision, but I think I had struggled with belief, but I wasn't struggling that much anymore.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_02: I I was I was getting pulled in.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_02: I used to say it's like a tractor beam in Star Wars, and I was being I was being pulled in, and yet I wanted to be.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I uh that that decision and that sovereignty pull, you know, where God's calling me and I'm a green, you know, somewhere in the middle there, you know.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that revelation for me, I can remember uh going through my divorce and it was being revealed to me as I pursued him more and more of this gospel message and who Christ was.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_00: And that revelation 100% was through the Holy Spirit because just like you, I had accepted Christ prior to that, but it just wasn't, it hadn't been revealed um, just all the stuff.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_00: And as I was pursuing it, he just revealed and on we were I was unpacking this left and right.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, oh, okay, I'd never never seen this before.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so yeah, the revelation, and it's and he's pointed it out to the spirit.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's from this, it's in the spirit, right?
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_02: And I I think you'll see the word grace, it keeps popping up here, and there's a lot of ways to break that word down, but I think it's when the spirit is making a making a move and almost directing a path of a person or or even a group of people, you know, you can see Paul's talking about by the grace of God, I was appointed a minister here.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_02: And by the by the grace of God, um, as a gift, which was he says, which is given to me.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so what to the working of his power.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, what you're saying is so at the end of six, it says through the gospel, and seven it says, of which I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given to me according to the working of his power.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, that is a lot of meat right there.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_00: So he was appointed a minister, he understood the calling, he understood that he was going to be the minister to the Gentiles to spread the gospel, and it's and it says, according to the gift of God's grace, because he received God's grace, now he is given that God's grace and passed it on to all the uh he wants everybody to be, he he he wants everybody because it is a working of the power of the Holy Spirit in him that he receives this, right?
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_00: So now you see his passion that we have talked about, Luke pointed out, his passion now is like, hey, I was a minister according to God's grace.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_00: Because you remember who Paul was, he killed stoned, beat Christians all the time.
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_00: He was a the most high.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, he was pretty high up in the Jewish faith.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_00: He was working his way into the Sanhedrin, and he's like, it was God's grace because he forgave me of all that, because I was abusing, killing fellow believers in Christ until God showed up on that road, and I was one.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_00: I became a I believed I was I'm I'm now, and he told me your specific role is to be a minister.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to spread the gospel, and he has this heart and passion for people to hear what he has to say about Christ.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_02: I think about that, I think you know that develops as you as you become a believer, but with Paul it was pretty radical.
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_02: But the one thing he continues to point to is this was given to him, this was appointed to him, this was this was God's doing.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_02: And the one thing it's clear is that he's obviously accepted that that calling, but he has a purpose that is so clear and unwavering, and not not that his life was easy, because it we know it was very difficult, but his purpose is what drives the passion.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_02: So the Holy Spirit is free to roll in through his life because he's clear on his purpose and he's grateful and he's humble, and his his his whole mindset, and and I I I gotta tell you, he's really something that I can relate to as it, you know, I've sometimes I got way more passion than common sense, you know, and it's gotten me in a lot of trouble, you know, in my life.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_02: But you know, when you see somebody that aligns passion with purpose, that's when things really start happening, and that's why Paul's were studying his were his words from 2,000 years ago, you know, and they're still relevant today.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_02: He's so redundant.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_02: Like and I said that in the last one of the last podcasts I was on it.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_02: He's he's gonna repeat all this again, right?
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_02: In another book.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_02: Not even another book.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_02: He's gonna coming up here, he's gonna hit the mystery again.
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_00: He's gonna hit the mystery and he's gonna hit the grace again, and he's gonna he wants you to understand the significance.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_00: If it's repeated two to the three times in the text, it's very important.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_00: And he wants, and that's coming back from his Jewish roots, which in the old testament, holy, holy, holy, is an important thing.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_00: And whatever follows that, you better pay attention because it's like it's important.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_00: But I was sitting here when you were talking, Luke.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_00: Isn't it crazy?
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so Christ had ascended to the heaven, the Holy Spirit came at the Pentecost, Paul is persecuting the Christians, then on the road to Damascus, Christ comes back in the physical to grab Paul and wake him up.
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I need you, you are my guy.
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I think he understands that how radical that was that he actually had to spend time with Christ on that road in the physical, because he they said that he and then the light was so bright uh bright from Jesus that he was blinded.
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like, uh, okay, all right.
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_00: That is just so amazing.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_00: And to us, when we are called, or when we accept who Christ is into our hearts and understand who he is, that same peace, same grace that he gave Paul, he does give to us as well.
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_00: So jumping back in, it says, To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things.
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_00: So is this he's repeating himself again?
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, okay, and then he does he does point out, he's like, Hey, I'm the very least of all the saints, because if you understand what I did, killing Christians, uh, attacking them, beating them, um, arresting them, putting them in prison, he's like, he is when that is, and to me, I think that's weighting him down in this passage, but then it says the grace was given to me, and then now I preach to the Gentiles this unfathomable riches of Christ, which is grace.
• 43:16
  SPEAKER_00: The riches of Christ is grace, mercy, and and he bring and to bring light, what is the administration of the mystery?
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_00: Light.
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_00: We have the light that lives inside us.
• 43:34
  SPEAKER_00: Well, light is Christ, right?
• 43:37
  SPEAKER_00: Says, which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things.
• 43:42
  SPEAKER_00: There's a book out there that's not in the Bible that you if you were to read it, it says people came to God begging God, hey, who tell me who the Messiah is.
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_00: The name, give me the name, give me the name.
• 43:55
  SPEAKER_00: Remember that, Luke?
• 43:56
  SPEAKER_00: Just give me the name.
• 43:57
  SPEAKER_00: And God's like, it's not time.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's not time.
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_00: And Daniel re says at the right moment, the ancient of days sat in in the court, everybody was seated, and he revealed this is the Messiah, it's Jesus.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_02: Amen.
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_02: I think it's interesting the uh the weight of the message.
• 44:27
  SPEAKER_02: So Jesus is all in all, you know, and I some people are like, well, that sounds like a lofty title, and I'm like, it it is.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_02: But if you break it down to the details that matter, um what does all in all mean?
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's he's everything that is required for acceptability, for righteousness.
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_02: He is the Messiah, he is the high priest, he is the atoning sacrifice, he is everything.
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_02: And Paul is delivering the new covenant, which is Jesus Christ.
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_02: And so, and then just so you're not mistaken, I am the least of the apostles.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think he's I don't think he's being um I I I don't like false humility because we know the riches of the glory and the air we have in Christ.
• 45:18
  SPEAKER_02: And if you understand that, then stand on that.
• 45:20
  SPEAKER_02: I'm a big on, I'm not big on, you know, oh poor me, you know, I'm big on, hey, I have been made righteous.
• 45:26
  SPEAKER_02: And I accept that.
• 45:28
  SPEAKER_02: And and I don't try to carry myself as if that ever came from me.
• 45:31
  SPEAKER_02: I knew it where it comes from.
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_02: And I think Paul does a nice job here when he says, you know, I'm the least of these apostles, you know, and because he knows his past and he he acknowledges it because he knows that other people are, aren't you the guy?
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_02: You know, aren't you the one?
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_02: You know, and I think in another other you know passage he says, I'm the chief of sinners, you know, which I mean, which is yeah, you know, you you but there's no I I see this, I can see it in their faces.
• 45:59
  SPEAKER_02: I see older men and and I don't know if women have the same issue, but I know older men are stuck in if you only knew what I they don't think they're redeemable based on a long life of say independent living apart from God, and they they know and I I see it, and it's like I can see they in their face, they think they're too far gone, and I'm like, you know, not that to compare them with the Paul situation, but to say it it everyone is gone until they're not, yeah, they are lost until they're found.
• 46:33
  SPEAKER_02: Paul acknowledges as you know this title, you know, this this least of the apostles.
• 46:39
  SPEAKER_02: He was that.
• 46:41
  SPEAKER_02: I think he's just reminding the the reader.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_00: He is.
• 46:44
  SPEAKER_00: He's just reminding them and it's a good touch, it's a nice touch, you know.
• 46:48
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not false humility or anything.
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_00: He's just he's just saying, hey, yeah, just reminding you, yeah, I'm the least of these, these other dudes that have never done what I did.
• 46:59
  SPEAKER_00: But anyway, he's just reminding me.
• 47:01
  SPEAKER_02: No, I think it's a nice, it's just a humble, it's a it's like I said, the the passion wrapped in humility, um, and and the weight of the message.
• 47:10
  SPEAKER_02: And it it's the that he uses these words as unfathomable.
• 47:14
  SPEAKER_02: You know, the riches of his glory.
• 47:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um it's just it's really a big deal.
• 47:25
  SPEAKER_00: So listen to this, it says that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.
• 47:42
  SPEAKER_00: Whoa, wait, whoa.
• 47:44
  SPEAKER_00: I thought that was what the wisdom of God may might now be made known through the church.
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_00: I would think that would be the next part would be in the physical, but it's saying in the heavenly places.
• 48:01
  SPEAKER_00: So that's spiritually in the spiritual heavens, right?
• 48:05
  SPEAKER_00: So it says made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.
• 48:14
  SPEAKER_00: Do you have like uh some insight there?
• 48:16
  SPEAKER_00: You might be able to help someone on that.
• 48:19
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I have an opinion, you know.
• 48:21
  SPEAKER_00: Well, hey, I have an opinion.
• 48:23
  SPEAKER_00: I think uh people in heaven are amazed by the church.
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and and and they can and that and the rulers and the people up there are looking down and they're like, Oh my gosh, can you believe what someone did you see what they did because of the spirit that lives inside them?
• 48:42
  SPEAKER_02: They're up there eating popcorn, bro.
• 48:46
  SPEAKER_02: I think he's talking about I think he's talking about the uh and I think there's a lot at that at this time, there was a lot going on that we couldn't see.
• 48:57
  SPEAKER_02: But there were um there were rulers of of of different things, what we call the unseen realm.
• 49:03
  SPEAKER_02: And there were there were there was there's a whole economy outside of humans and in the spiritual places, and there was a lot going on with the council of God, there's a lot going on with you know angels and demons and all of the there's order to to all of that because they were that's part of creation.
• 49:21
  SPEAKER_02: And so I think when when the manifold wisdom of God was revealed in Jesus Christ, I think I I think that was a big, big deal.
• 49:34
  SPEAKER_02: I think it affected not only the earth, but it affected first the the spiritual, yeah, the heavenly places.
• 49:42
  SPEAKER_00: I kind of reminds me of like that whole Hebrews 12 thing, you the the cloud of witnesses.
• 49:50
  SPEAKER_00: And they went through the whole faith chapter.
• 49:53
  SPEAKER_00: And anyway, I just that's I don't know.
• 49:56
  SPEAKER_00: I I agree with you.
• 49:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there was a lot of stuff going on during that time, and there was a lot of crazy things, right?
• 50:04
  SPEAKER_02: And I'll be honest, uh it's the we call it the unseen realm.
• 50:07
  SPEAKER_02: There's a book called The Unseen Realm.
• 50:09
  SPEAKER_02: That's kind of what I'm referencing, but there's the unknown realm too, and I'm I'm an it's unknown to me, right?
• 50:14
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I just know that Paul was given some insight that we don't have.
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_02: I know that he was lifted up into that heavenly place before he expired down here on earth.
• 50:25
  SPEAKER_02: So he did have he did have some um, he got a peek behind the the curtain.
• 50:31
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
• 50:32
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 50:33
  SPEAKER_02: So he's saying this is even bigger than what I'm telling you.
• 50:38
  SPEAKER_02: It's bigger than that.
• 50:39
  SPEAKER_00: So it says in in verse 11, I'm gonna stop at the end of 12, and that's where we're gonna end this evening.
• 50:45
  SPEAKER_00: But in 11, it says this was in accordance with the eternal purpose which he carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in him.
• 51:05
  SPEAKER_00: All right, so let's unpack this.
• 51:07
  SPEAKER_00: The he to me is God.
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_00: God carried this plan.
• 51:12
  SPEAKER_00: We talked about the plan.
• 51:14
  SPEAKER_00: The plan is to bring everybody back to the family who wants to be a part of the family, right?
• 51:20
  SPEAKER_00: So he carried out the plan through Christ Jesus, and now because of him, we have boldness and we can be confident because we have access because of our faith to him.
• 51:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of like in Hebrews it says, we can enter the throne room boldly.
• 51:43
  SPEAKER_00: I like that word, boldly.
• 51:44
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to come like, oh, I'm so sorry.
• 51:48
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm a I'm a worthless worm.
• 51:51
  SPEAKER_00: No, you can go in there boldly, bro, or sister.
• 51:56
  SPEAKER_00: You have the spirit of Jesus Christ inside you, the Holy Spirit.
• 52:02
  SPEAKER_00: You can you have access to God through Christ, and you can go to Christ boldly.
• 52:09
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to go, okay, I'm so you know, whatever.
• 52:14
  SPEAKER_00: No, you can go boldly and just talk to him, like I would talk to Luke, like I would talk to my mom, like I would talk to my dad, or just talk to a friend, right?
• 52:24
  SPEAKER_00: You have that access, and it says right there, we have boldness and confidence.
• 52:30
  SPEAKER_00: If you know you have the spirit inside you, you are confident.
• 52:34
  SPEAKER_00: I'm confident that I have that.
• 52:36
  SPEAKER_00: Are you confident, uh, Luke?
• 52:38
  SPEAKER_00: You have the spirit inside you.
• 52:39
  SPEAKER_00: I'm settled on it, yes.
• 52:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, there's no doubt in my mind that Luke has it, I have it, and there's other people that I know have it.
• 52:46
  SPEAKER_00: And now we have that access, we can enter that boldly, right?
• 52:51
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I I got asked the question a couple weeks ago.
• 52:54
  SPEAKER_02: A friend of mine said, Do you ever wonder whether you're going to be okay spiritually with God?
• 53:00
  SPEAKER_02: And I said, No, I don't wonder.
• 53:03
  SPEAKER_02: I'm settled on that.
• 53:05
  SPEAKER_02: And I think he was taken aback by the confidence there.
• 53:08
  SPEAKER_02: And I and I said, and I I asked him because I didn't want to pounce on him, you know, with a bunch of knowledge, but I know he was looking at at the possibilities of not being okay with God in light of his own performance.
• 53:24
  SPEAKER_02: Like that's see, that's the biggest problem with a lack of faith.
• 53:29
  SPEAKER_02: But when you see this oldness, confidence, you know, this bravado that we're talking about of being, you know, okay with God, having peace with God through Christ, it's because it's the eternal purpose of God.
• 53:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 53:47
  SPEAKER_02: It's it was his purpose that we have these things.
• 53:50
  SPEAKER_02: It was his purpose that we have this access.
• 53:53
  SPEAKER_02: And he also tells us how to approach it.
• 53:56
  SPEAKER_02: How do how do how do you approach this this reality with confidence, with boldness?
• 54:03
  SPEAKER_02: And otherwise, you're you're just underselling the gift.
• 54:09
  SPEAKER_02: There's no need to do that.
• 54:11
  SPEAKER_02: It's I mean, Paul would have every reason not to do that.
• 54:16
  SPEAKER_02: You know, he throws a bone out there that, hey, I'm the least of these apostles.
• 54:20
  SPEAKER_02: But I guarantee you could run circles around them as far as knowledge, but that didn't matter.
• 54:25
  SPEAKER_02: But his purpose was to reach out to the Gentiles.
• 54:29
  SPEAKER_02: The other everybody had their own purpose.
• 54:31
  SPEAKER_02: You have your own purpose.
• 54:32
  SPEAKER_02: I have my own purpose.
• 54:34
  SPEAKER_02: It's an eternal purpose in Christ.
• 54:36
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, that's settling.
• 54:38
  SPEAKER_02: That's a good thing.
• 54:38
  SPEAKER_02: That's that gives me peace of mind, and I can rest in that.
• 54:45
  SPEAKER_02: I can settle my soul and my countenance on Jesus because He wants me to.
• 54:53
  SPEAKER_02: He wants me to rest in Him.
• 54:54
  SPEAKER_02: He wants me to fulfill my purpose in Christ.
• 54:57
  SPEAKER_02: I don't always know what that is.
• 54:59
  SPEAKER_02: You know, tonight it's being on a podcast.
• 55:02
  SPEAKER_02: It could be different tomorrow.
• 55:04
  SPEAKER_00: So praise God.
• 55:05
  SPEAKER_00: Praise God.
• 55:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um if you listen to this podcast and you don't have a relationship with him, and uh you're just like, man, these principles are so awesome.
• 55:19
  SPEAKER_00: I want to be a part of his family.
• 55:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's real easy.
• 55:24
  SPEAKER_00: There's no magical prayer you gotta say, there's no ritual you gotta do.
• 55:29
  SPEAKER_00: You just pray to him and just say, Lord, I want you to be the Lord of my life.
• 55:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I understand in the past is forgiven, the present and the future is forgiven, and I want to believe in you and make you the Lord of my life.
• 55:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's that simple.
• 55:54
  SPEAKER_00: Did I leave anything out in that?
• 55:56
  SPEAKER_00: Luke, it's just that simple.
• 55:58
  SPEAKER_02: It really is.
• 55:59
  SPEAKER_02: It it I always say it's a s you hit the lottery.
• 56:02
  SPEAKER_02: You you really hit the lottery spiritually.
• 56:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 56:05
  SPEAKER_02: And uh if if you can just keep uh peeling that back, you're gonna see it's gonna take a while to figure out how awesome that is.
• 56:13
  SPEAKER_00: And the crazy thing is, he will accept you the way you are.
• 56:19
  SPEAKER_00: Again, I'll repeat that.
• 56:21
  SPEAKER_00: He will accept you the way you are.
• 56:25
  SPEAKER_00: Every other religion says you have to change all these behaviors to be a part of whatever to be part of the family of God, the family, and be part of the church body and Christ is the bride or the bridegroom, and we're the bride, to be part of that.
• 56:51
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have it's an inward, outward change.
• 56:54
  SPEAKER_00: All the other world religions is an outward, inward change.
• 56:59
  SPEAKER_00: So as I grow in my faith and as I pursue him, my inward, the Holy Spirit changes.
• 57:08
  SPEAKER_00: I do not struggle with things that I struggled with when I first became a Christian.
• 57:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's the craziest thing because as I mature and grow in him, I I turn it over to him.
• 57:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's crazy.
• 57:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's weird.
• 57:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's all it's it's all it's not weird, it's awesome because I love him.
• 57:28
  SPEAKER_00: I do things because I understand what he went through for me to have access, and I can be confident in that and be talking to him boldly, just like in that scripture.
• 57:40
  SPEAKER_00: These are principles that are just so I mean, Luke and I, we talk about this, right?
• 57:45
  SPEAKER_00: These things we do not struggle with.
• 57:48
  SPEAKER_00: These principles we talked about today.
• 57:52
  SPEAKER_00: There are people that struggle with this.
• 57:55
  SPEAKER_00: They're in and out, in and out.
• 57:57
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I'm today I'm in, tomorrow I'm out.
• 58:00
  SPEAKER_00: No, you're in, you're in.
• 58:03
  SPEAKER_00: You're in chapter one of Ephesians says you've been sealed with the Holy Spirit.
• 58:10
  SPEAKER_00: Well, if I'm sealed, I couldn't earn it.
• 58:16
  SPEAKER_00: It it's I I can't earn earn it, then how can you lose it?
• 58:22
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 58:23
  SPEAKER_00: And again, I'm not gonna do certain things in my life just because of that love that I have for Christ.
• 58:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's but anyway, I just wanted people to know it's real easy to accept him into your heart.
• 58:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I hope and pray that if you're listening and you have not made that decision, that it's I pray that you would make that decision.
• 58:48
  SPEAKER_00: I also pray if someone is listening and thinking about walking away from their faith because of whatever, I pray that you listen to our podcast and you're like, oh man, I love that passion that Luke has, or I love the passion that you I hear from Scott, or whoever comes on the podcast.
• 59:09
  SPEAKER_00: I want to know Christ.
• 59:11
  SPEAKER_00: I want to know him, I want to grow in him.
• 59:15
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, you then you come back to the family, right?
• 59:20
  SPEAKER_00: You're joined, you decide you want to be, you choose not to walk away from God, or if it's just you need to grow in your faith, and this helps prompt you to go deeper into the word and see how the old testament is intertwined in the new and the new enter to the old.
• 59:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's wild, it's there.
• 59:38
  SPEAKER_00: I shared a glimpse today, tonight, with three different passages that I believe that Paul was talking about the mystery.
• 59:45
  SPEAKER_02: Amen.
• 59:45
  SPEAKER_00: And it's so it's great.
• 59:47
  SPEAKER_00: Like what we do on Friday mornings, Luke, when we unpack this on our Friday mornings or in study, or even when I'm reading, I am so blown away the things that the spirit reveals to me, and it reveals to my brother.
• 1:00:05
  SPEAKER_00: I listen to my brother and he teaches me, and I'm like, oh, that's true.
• 1:00:10
  SPEAKER_00: He's right.
• 1:00:11
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I've never heard that before.
• 1:00:13
  SPEAKER_00: All right, that's awesome.
• 1:00:14
  SPEAKER_00: But if you're not in a group, you probably aren't gonna get that.
• 1:00:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 1:00:19
  SPEAKER_02: It's coming from every angle.
• 1:00:21
  SPEAKER_02: Everyone's teaching everyone.
• 1:00:22
  SPEAKER_02: And when you surrender the spirit, you get revelation, you know.
• 1:00:27
  SPEAKER_02: It might be revelation and rights what's right there in the word, you know.
• 1:00:30
  SPEAKER_02: But again, it's it's a it's a wonderful journey.
• 1:00:34
  SPEAKER_02: It's great.
• 1:00:35
  SPEAKER_00: Great evening, great night.
• 1:00:38
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Luke, for coming on saying yes again.
• 1:00:42
  SPEAKER_00: And hey, in the future, he might come back on if he wants.
• 1:00:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but uh uh hopefully you've listened and you enjoyed the the podcast that you would like it, subscribe and share it on all your social platforms.
• 1:00:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, there is a new button on um the services that you listen to, especially if you listen to Apple or Spotify.
• 1:01:08
  SPEAKER_00: There is on the link link to the podcast, you can click it, and there's a thing now it's called send us fan mail, and it's on mostly all the social platforms.
• 1:01:22
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to send us something, questions, or just talk about how this podcast has impacted you, feel free to do that.
• 1:01:32
  SPEAKER_00: There is a link there on all of them.
• 1:01:34
  SPEAKER_00: It says send us fan mail.
• 1:01:36
  SPEAKER_00: We do get it, we do read it, and we do appreciate it.
• 1:01:40
  SPEAKER_00: So, our little tagline on the way out here is K Y O K Y E O O J.
• 1:01:47
  SPEAKER_00: Keep your eyes on Jesus.
• 1:01:49
  SPEAKER_00: Luke, is that right?
• 1:01:50
  SPEAKER_00: That is correct.
• 1:01:52
  SPEAKER_00: K Y E O J.
• 1:01:53
  SPEAKER_00: Keep your eyes on Jesus.
• 1:01:55
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you come back next week.
• 1:01:56
  SPEAKER_00: Love you guys.