Submission the High Privilege, Precious and Powerful Attitude Ephesians 5:22-24 July 25, 2021 I. Introduction: A. They did it again! The world has hijacked another beautiful word from the Christian experience and marriage and has turned it into something negative so people avoid it or twist it or try to redefine it. 1. A hijack is when someone unlawfully seizes something that is not theirs and they take it to use it for their own purposes and advantage! 2. Satan, the god of this world, has done that because as the father of lies he will distort anything that will further the glory of God 3. We saw earlier in this series that Satan has hijacked the word helper and tries to use it as something to make a wife feel inferior to her husband and that her role in the relationship is insignificant. 4. He has done the exact same thing with the word submission! He has convinced us it is an outdated concept that needs either to be rejected or redefined! B. This morning my goal is to encourage women who have embraced this glorious attitude but who may be a little battle weary as they have taken a beating from the world and from other women for it. 1. I want you to know from God’s Word, from God’s perspective, from the eternal and heavenly perspective you are on the right path 2. So today, I want to share with you three biblical perspectives about submission that will encourage you in this difficult journey as you walk in a world that is seeking to squeeze you into its mold. • The first is … II. Submission is a high position, a high privilege! A. If you take your lead from the Bible and not from the culture, we see that submission is a high position and high privilege that a wife has in her marriage because it is the unique and important role of picturing for us and the world the response that the church should have towards Jesus! B. Turn in your Bible to Ephesians 5:22 1. As I read this I want you to watch for two things: a) Why a woman should submit to her husband b) How the wife’s response to her husband is modeled off of the churches’ response to Jesus c) Read 22-24 d) Read v 33 – we see here as he summarizes the section himself that submission is an expression of respect! 2. We see right off the bat when he says in v22 “your own husband” that a woman’s submission is directed towards her husband only and not all men. a) We learned last week in v21 there is to be a general attitude of submission every believer towards one another, but here it is addressing the husband wife relationship 3. Next we see that submission is to be as to the Lord - v22 a) This submission that a wife gives her husband is an act of worship to the Lord Jesus Christ b) She places herself under the authority and leadership of her husband ultimately for the Lord’s sake 4. Verse 23 tells us why she should submit to her husband. Read a) The reason is that the husband is the God ordained head, the God ordained leader and authority of that relationship. b) We see that it is the same position that Jesus has over the church. c) Now you may be feeling there he goes – he is telling us wives we are inferior to our husbands, doormats for them to step on and order around! (1) No, we learned a few weeks ago that men and women are absolutely equal in dignity, personhood and spiritual standing before God, but we are gloriously different in makeup and function. (2) If you say that submission makes you inferior or a doormat then you are taking a shot at the trinity and the Lord Jesus Himself. because Jesus lived his whole life in submission to the Father as He did nothing of His own initiative but only that which the Father told Him to do (3) Listen to what 1 Corinthians 11:3 says (a) To say the headship of man over woman makes a woman inferior to man is to say that Jesus is inferior to the Father. (b) And that is a shot at the very core of Jesus as God and the trinity 5. To say that role or function of a wife as being submissive is insignificant or lowly then you miss the whole point of Ephesians 5. a) Read v24. b) In this passage we learn that the wife has the high privilege and high position to picture for us the response that Jesus’ bride, the church has to Him C. I am going to take this high privilege high position idea even a step further – submission pictures for us what true worship looks like. 1. A while back I did a message on worship and explained to you how I define it in light of the Hebrew and Greek words for worship a) The Hebrew word means to bow down and the Greek word means to kiss towards. 2. So the heart of worship is not singing songs but an entire life in submission to God (authority and leading us through His word and will) out of love and respect for Him! D. There is no picture that Satan wants to put his graffiti on more and distort more than the picture of submission – lovingly, willingly and respectfully responding to Jesus in obedience as my service of worship to Him. 1. Wives you have the high privilege of modeling for us what the heart of worship really looks like since things are better caught than taught, better understood when lived out in front of us than preached in a sermon! 2. The world desperately needs that picture, the church desperately needs that picture, marriages desperately need that picture, our kids desperately desperately need that picture, Pastor Pat desperately needs that picture so I can excel still the more in my responses and worship to the Lord. 3. I want to thank you ladies and my lovely bride Kimberly who have embraced that high position and high privilege of submission as a wife for what I have already learned how to better walk with and worship the Lord from your example! • Turn to 1 Peter 3 as the second perspective we learn is that III.A heart of submission is precious to the Lord A. This passage in v1-6 is driven by the idea of submission. Read v1a B. As we go down to verse 3 and 4 he tells us that submission is much more than external obedience but rather is it is an internal quality that resides in the hidden person of the heart. 1. We learned last week that while obedience is an external act that does not require either willingness or a bond with the person I am doing it with, submission on the other hand is a willful and respectful act, which is done towards someone with whom I have a bond. 2. Watch for this heart attitude of submission as I read this. Read v3-5 C. What I want to encourage you wives with today is what it says right at the end of v4 about those wives that have this imperishable quality in their hearts. 1. Read v4c – precious to the Lord. Read again – read again 2. While submission may be looked down upon, be distasteful and considered outdated by the world you need to know that a heart of submission by a wife is precious in the sight of God. 3. Let me encourage you to be like Sarah and do not let anyone frighten or intimidate you from that high position of submission. Read v5-6 • Finally I want you to know that IV.Submission is powerful A. Look back at v1 in this section. Read v1-2 B. Submission has the power to influence! That is all done without a word of trying to convince him with your many words, but rather behavior that wins him over! C. Here is the reality – when a husband and wife are walking with each other, valuing and plugging into their differences as a blessing, which we learned in Genesis 2, and submitting to each other out of respect for each other and the Lord as verse v21 teaches. And here in v22 -33 when a husband is submitting to his wife by loving her by laying down his life for her and she is respecting him by submitting to his leadership then submission rarely becomes an issue but rather is a beautiful dance! 1. When you walk like that – humbly listening to, valuing, and considering the other’s opinion as they seek a win-win decision! 2. Kim’s attitude of respect and willingness to submit opens my heart to listen to her even more. 3. In 43 years of marriage, I have had to pull out trump card of submission because of my position as head in our relationship only two times! D. I think the book of Esther is the strongest example we have in Scripture of the power of submission. 1. In the first chapter, we see king of Persia and Media gave a command for his queen to come join him at the banquet he was throwing and she refused. 2. This made him very angry and was concerned that her behavior would become known to all the women causing them to look with contempt on upon the leadership of their husbands in their homes! a) Read Esther 1:17-18. b) As a result, she was removed from being queen! 3. After a long search for a new queen, Esther a Jewish woman became the queen. She was a beautiful woman who had great favor with the king as she walked respectfully and submissively to her husband the king. 4. Long story short, God used the influence of this woman upon the king to save the lives of the Jewish nation from slaughter and to protect the line of the Messiah. E. Humble, respectful submission carries a powerful influence with a husband that will open a door to influence him. 1. There will be many significant situations in life when that opportunity to influence your husband will present itself. 2. At those times like uncle Mordechai told Queen Esther. Read Esther 4:14d

Moraine Valley Church

The Mystery of Marriage / Week 6 / The Power of Submission

The Grace of Submission Ephesians 5:21 July 18, 2021 I. Introduction: A. Today I want to talk about one of the most beautiful and Christ-like graces, a grace that should be at the heart of all our relationships as Christians 1. I call it a grace because it is a byproduct of being filled by the Holy Spirit of God. 2. This grace is also very anti-North American which goes against the very “independent” “me first” culture we live in. 3. It is a grace that has gotten a bad rap in the church by those who are more influenced by the culture than they are by the Scriptures 4. This grace is submission. B. Turn in your Bibles to Ephesians 5 1. We learned a few months ago when we studied this passage that being filled with the Holy Spirit manifest four specific graces within us and these graces both are the result of and when practiced reinforce us be filled by the Holy Spirit! 2. These four graces are: a) A heart fill with God’s Word and speaking it to one another b) A singing heart of worship to the Lord c) A heart of gratitude d) A submission to one another in the body of Christ C. Our specific concern today is with v21, which is the fourth result of being filled with the Spirit! Read v21 1. We want to focus on that because it is the transitional verse that drives the relationships that follows in the rest of chapter 5 and start of chapter 6, which defines how we each submit to each other. a) Husband – wife (love by laying down your life – respect by submitting to the leadership of) b) Child - parent c) Servant – master, for us employee - employer D. Submission simply means to rank oneself under someone else. 1. A synonym, a word with a similar meaning is: humility. Turn and read Philippians 2:3-9 2. While obedience is a part of submission, submission in this passage has an additional element to it that makes it very different. a) Submission here is a willful and respectful act that comes from within between two people who have a bond with each other. (1) Here it is done out of a motive of love and respect for the Lord. Reread v21 (2) Ultimately, we submit to each other for the Lord’s sake, out of respect for Him and the structures and order that He has set up in our relationships. b) Obedience – can be done as a mere external act only, one that does not require either a willingness or a bond between the people doing it. E. So bottom line, submission is a grace that causes me to put myself below others with humility rather than lifting myself up and fighting for my ways and rights. 1. It goes right for the heart of selfishness which marriage certainly allows us to get in touch with how selfish we can be 2. It upsets our flesh as Romans 8 says the mind set on the flesh does not subject itself to the law of God! • Since submission is right at the heart of the way we relate to one another in marriage, and a life of submission requires a life filled with the Holy Spirit! So our … II. Marriage requires a deep dependence upon the Holy Spirit. A. Remember our context – read Ephesians 5:18-21 B. When you think back of everything we have already talked about with marriage … 1. Building on God’s foundations rather than our own and looking for marriage to make us more holy than happy. 2. Where I study my mate to be able to bless them and accept them and embrace them as they are today, not who we were when we got married 3. Living it like a covenant rather than a contract where I lay down my entire life to live for them. 4. Learning to do the dance of oneness where I see and value their differences as a blessing. 5. Where wives submit to and respect their husbands and husbands love and cherish their wives! 6. Even today’s truth where we live humbly with each other, willingly submitting our lives to each other for the Lord’s glory and each other’s benefit. C. If we are honest with ourselves, we will need God to do a miracle within us to pull this thing off in a way that will be fulfilling to us and a blessing to our mates and others! 1. What is impossible for us is Him-possible! 2. As we said earlier in this series, marital skills are important but depending upon the Spirit of Jesus is essential. D. Walking with and depending upon the spirit of Jesus has to be our number one priority and relationship for the sake of the person we are married to and even our own fulfilment and joy in marriage. But we must also seek to learn more and sharpen our skills as well! • Finally this series is being done III. More as an architect than an engineer. A. An architect makes the blueprints for a buildings appearance and function. An engineer, on the other hand, will help put the architect’s plans into action. They will figure out what is physically possible and what materials will be used. They’ll also make decisions on issues of practicality and safety. B. I know I am giving this series more like an architect as I lay out the biblical blue print for marriage as to how it is to look and function. I have tried to throw in some applications that move us more into the engineer realm. 1. The Holy Spirit is the engineer that takes our real life situations and relationships, brokenness and uniquenesses and shows us how they work out for us practically in our unique relationship and situation. 2. The Holy Spirit uses all sorts of different materials, people and practices to teach us how God’s design for marriage, which we learn in the Bible, is to work out in the streets of our daily life. C. So being fully aware that every marriage in this room needs unique wisdom to apply what they have learned and knowing that some of those are in crisis or heading that way and desperately need help I want to close by giving you a few resources that can help you engineer your marriage D. Three books I have read 1. Cherish – Gary Thomas –teaches us what it looks like and practical ideas on how to love our mates more out of the delight and want to of cherishing than they have to of commitment! 2. You and Me Forever – Francis and Lisa Chan – takes the long view on marriage all the way into eternity and rather than focusing on getting our mates ready for retirement and the last few years here on earth how to get them ready for the time we stand before Jesus. Living our marriage as part of our mission for Jesus! 3. His Needs Her Needs – Willard Harley – his goal is to help us build a marriage that lasts and to affair proof our marriages by helping us understand what are practical ways to meet each other’s unique emotional needs! He helps us understand our love tanks and the five top emotional needs of most men and women! 4. Finally, any book on marriage will do. Read a chapter a week, then together have a cup of coffee, and share with one another how God is speaking to you about you through that chapter. There are hundreds of books and hundreds of areas in marriage that need to be addressed! E. Round table coming up 11:15 on August 22 1. Bottom line, we want to help and resource marriage to either build, maintain, excel or address breakdowns in their marriage through practical, real life, on the streets questions and advice. 2. We hope to have an updated resource list for those who have needs beyond our ability to meet. 3. Take advantage of this, as we will be having two Christians who are professional counselors on this round table as well as Kim and myself! 4. Make your questions super practical and super honest! To place a question text marriage to 708 359 6610 F. Plugging into a mentor is like putting your relationship on steroids. 1. Someone further down the road than you that you can be honest with and they can speak specifically to you right where you are at and what they have learned. 2. Look around and ask! G. A professional counselor may be needed for situations that are in crisis or are just stuck! 1. That professionally trained and biblically knowledgeable counselor can give you great wisdom to get you unstuck and excel in your marriage H. Plug into a class, small group or seminar that will help you grow as a healthy person or in your marriage 1. Emotional resilience on Tuesday nights here. The healthier you are the healthier your marriage can be. 2. We have a series on finances that MVC now has on You Tube and will still be offering more. Money is one of the major marriage stressors 3. Being in a small group and being honest with others about where you are at for counsel, support and prayer is a great resource. I. Prayer – allow us to put one hand on God and the other on our marriage and bring the wisdom and power of God into our marriages! 1. After service 2. Partner or two

The Mystery of Marriage / Week 5 / The Grace of Submission

The Original Marriage Genesis 2 July 11, 2021 I. Introduction: A. We are living in a time when the very foundations of marriage are being questioned – questions like: who is marriage for, what is its purpose, how should it operate; then add to that so many different people speaking into it as if they are authorities on this. 1. Our culture no longer seeks to find truth but rather constructs its own subjective personal truth, which results in great confusion about marriage. 2. We as Christians believe there is an objective truth outside of ourselves regarding marriage that we discover in God and His Word. 3. So let me ask you right at the start – where or who do you look to in order to get your answers about marriage! B. So this morning I want to go back to the original marriage where this whole thing of marriage began with Adam and Eve, so we can see the original design and purpose for marriage. 1. A design and purpose that is still true today because it is built into the very nature of marriage! • So turn in your Bibles to … II. Genesis 2 A. In chapter 2, He goes back and gives us more detail about what happened on the sixth day when He created both man and woman and the institution of marriage! 1. Read Genesis 2:18a 2. As we go on in this section God comes up with the solution to this problem of man’s aloneness – being separated from others in isolation. B. So the structure to this passage is simple: 1. Problem: aloneness - v18a 2. God’s solution: suitable helper - v 18b a) Search for a suitable helper - v19-20 b) Creation of suitable helper - v21-23 3. Creation of institution of marriage – v24 C. Read – remember 1. V 19 – earlier in day 6 God had created the animals and now He was bringing them before Adam 2. V 23 – read this as my Hebrew professor taught us the way the Hebrew actually should read this – wow! I still have the wow! • So let’s start by looking at the III. Woman created as the suitable helper A. Reread v18 B. We learn in this passage that man and woman are the God created perfect fit and help to each other. C. That is what the word suitable means – something that fits another perfectly, the counter-part, the complement, the answer to what the other needs, the one who corresponds to, the one who is just right for, the one who harmonizes perfectly with the other! 1. So it is someone who is different enough to supply what the other lacks but is similar enough to fit smoothly! They are the perfect answer to what the other one needs 2. Illustrate with the hands D. Let’s take the cultural steroids out of the word helper as many have been jacked up feeling that the word helper means women are inferior to men and just are their sidekick helpers! 1. If that is your case, it shows you have been more influenced by the culture than you have been by the Scriptures. 2. Because this word for helper is often used in Scripture of God helping man and helping Israel, it clearly is not a position of inferiority, it is just a fact that man needs help! E. What does he need help for? We learn back in Genesis 1 that God gave man and woman together the responsibility to subdue the earth and rule over His creation. We also learn that in Genesis 2 he was to cultivate the garden. 1. Bottom line –marriage is God’s gift to man and woman to have someone to help them live out all the responsibilities, someone who is an equal who is similar enough to him yet different enough to provide the help needed. 2. What if you are single? God has given the gift others in the body of Christ to come along side of you with their differences to support you. Marriage is just a very unique way God does it. F. God created the woman to be man’s the suitable helper! 1. We learn in Genesis 1-2 that men and women are absolutely equal in their dignity and personhood but gloriously different on purpose in order to help each another. • All of this drives us into the very IV. Purpose of marriage A. Read v24 1. For this reason – that man and women are the perfect complement to each other and that woman was taken out of man. 2. For this reason... read rest B. Marriage is all about two absolutely equal but gloriously different people, a man and a woman, leaving their family of origin to form a brand new family unit, called “one flesh.” 1. Marriage is all about these two different people blending their entire life together into one harmonious unit. 2. Unity is not about being the same, or acting alike or even losing your individual identity. 3. It is quite the opposite. Unity is the blending together in perfect harmony that which is different. 4. The beautiful dance of two becoming one • I want to leave us with one key application today V. God designed our differences to be a blessing! A. Our differences as male, female and individual human beings are designed to bless and provide what is lacking for our mate. But Satan uses our differences to create conflict and separate us! B. We need to learn to appreciate and tap into our mate’s differences for our own good! 1. Kim and I are as different as they come! Learning to appreciate and be blessed by our differences was clearly a long slow difficult process. 2. One area in particular was in the way we think – I am very logical, analytical, theoretical and internal processor. Kim also is logical but she is more intuitive, practical, and an external processor. 3. Early on, I thought my way of thinking and processing was superior to Kim’s and that God wanted me to help her learn a better way to think! As you might imagine, this was a source of frustration and tension in our relationship. 4. Long story short - God humbled me many times by showing me often Kim way of thinking was in the end right and mine was not! a) I learned that Kim’s way was not inferior but different and I needed to learn how to gain value from her way of thinking. Learning how to bring together the two different thoughts and find the better thought, we can have together as we value and listen to one another! b) Now I recognize I need Kim’s perspective so I pursue and respect it before making major decisions C. Men and women are gloriously different in so many ways and while there are some generalities that are true of many in each of the two genders, it is not true of all. Our responsibility is to study and know our particular and unique husband and wife! 1. We have different personalities, different strengths and weaknesses, different energy levels and likes and dislikes. 2. We have personal histories that are different, as Kim said a few weeks ago we are all living a one of a kind story that has never been lived by anyone before! 3. Our families of origins have deeply affected the way we handle money, conflict resolution, attitudes towards sex, friendships, recreation, religious beliefs etc. 4. All of these differences can either bless or frustrate! D. The two becoming one can be like going on a rafting ride together. You get in the raft together and at the start, it’s just a lot of fun as you move with the current. But at some point two different and mighty rivers merge together 1. When they first merge, there is great turbulence and disturbance but once the two different rivers finally blend and run together it becomes one new mighty river. 2. The same is true of our marriages – once we learn to navigate and benefit from the great turbulence and disturbance that our differences bring our marriages can become a mighty force for God’s glory, blessing each other and blessing others! E. So if you are struggling with these differences or the two of you blending together as one let me encourage you with two things: 1. First, reframe the way you look at your differences, a) Change the way you think about your differences from something that is bad, inferior, wrong or needs to be changed, b) To something that is valuable, a blessing to appreciate and designed to make you even better! 2. Secondly, live by the truth of 1 Peter 2:25. Read a) Trust Jesus to point out, sort out and guide you through the hundreds of things deep within that must be addressed. So you can dance well the dance of two becoming one and so you can be a blessing to each other and those around you!

The Mystery of Marriage / Week 4 / The Original Marriage

The Mystery of Marriage / Week 3 / Marriage as a Covenant

Waking Up to Your Mates World June 27, 2021 MVC I. Our Relationship A. Let me start by saying that Kim and I have had a very good marriage relationship but we definitely hit a wall about 20 years into our marriage where things were not too pretty! 1. Today we want to share with you that story and some lessons we have learned along the way hoping that you will be able to find something that connects with and helps you! B. Kim and I had become what I call “professional husband and wife” and “professional parents.” 1. By that I do not mean that we have become so great in those areas that we are in a higher category than others but rather that we have learned the routine well, we know what we need to do and we were doing it well. a. We have learned well how to juggle all of the different responsibilities and schedules and we are doing what we need to do. 2. But also by professional I mean that we have learned to do it in a way that all the external things were done (kids to school and events, bills paid, house taken care of, meals were made), but internally our hearts were getting more and more dry and distant from each other. 3. Somehow, with all the busyness and responsibilities of life we were not intentional nor gave the time needed to keep the internal fire going in our relationship. a. By internal fire, I am referring to that thing that the Scripture calls “cherishing.” b. That is the heart disposition that holds the other person as dear. It is those tender affectionate feelings that cause you to treasure the other person, to hold them as a special prize, to esteem and admire. 4. We found ourselves set into some patterns in our relationship that over the long run were deadly. 5. Some years ago, the Saturday Evening Post ran a humorous article that traced the tendency for marriage partners to drift from a height of bliss into the humdrum of routine attitudes. That article perfectly described the drift in our relationship! The article was called the “seven ages of a married cold.” The article likens the state of the marriage to the reaction of a husband to his wife’s colds. Year 1- “baby girl, I’m worried about you. You have a bad sniffle and there is no telling about these things with all this strep around. I am putting you in the hospital this afternoon for a general checkup and a good rest. I know the food is lousy, but I’ll bring your meals in from Rossini’s. I’ve already got it arranged with the floor superintendent.” Year 2- “listen darling, I don’t like the sound of that cough and I’ve called Doc Miller to rush over here. Now you go to bed like a good girl, please. Just for papa.” Year 3-, “maybe you’d better lie down, honey; nothing like a little rest when you feel punk. I’ll bring you something to eat. Have we got any soup?” Year 4- “look, dear, be sensible. After you feed the kids and get the dishes washed, you’d better hit the sack.” Year 5-, “why don’t you get yourself a couple of aspirin?” Year 6- “if you’d just gargle or something, instead of sitting around barking like a seal!” Year 7- “for Pete’s sake, stop sneezing! Whatcha trying to do, gimme pneumonia?” 6. Back then Pat and I found our marriage to be somewhere between year 6 & 7. It became a wakeup call for us. C. We were beginning to be very short with one another and I was getting to the place where I was not that excited about coming home at night and she was pretty happy to see me leave in the morning. 1. To me it felt like our relationship was on two different tracks. We were like two trains heading the same direction but each on a separate track next to each other! 2. For a few years, I had been struggling with my health to the point that I was close to bedridden for many months. My doctors could not determine what was going on so we went to Mayo Clinic. I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder called fibromyalgia. It is a muscle/neurological disorder, which causes chronic pain & fatigue. a. There is no cure for this, but rather you learn to live with it by managing it through various lifestyle changes. There are medications to help ease the pain but the side effects are not worth it to me. b. I was always a very active & athletic person with a high energy level. I found myself restricted with many limitations in what I could do. In the beginning this situation left me very incapacitated, discouraged and grieving the loss of the person I had become. I was wrestling with embracing and accepting these limitations and struggling with figuring out how to live my life in light of them. 3. Pat found himself picking up much of the load of what I had to let go of. At first he picked it up with joy because we finally had a clear diagnosis, but as time went on it became a huge burden and Pat found himself resentful and angry with me for the person I had become. 4. How do you tell your wife that you are not sure that you even like your wife any more, especially when you are the senior pastor of a church and you have been preaching a series on becoming lovers of God and people? 5. We went to bed one Saturday evening after another hard day with one another. We had a rough exchange of words a couple of hours before and had spoken little to each other. I finally turned to Pat and said, “Pat, I want to apologize for the person that I have become. I know I am not the person you married 20 years ago and I don’t like the person I’ve become either. In fact, I’m grieving the person I once was, full of energy and life.” a. You do not know how that freed up my heart. What I was feeling was true, she has changed and even she knows it. I had the best night of sleep that I had had in months 6. The next morning I was able to share with Kim how I was feeling and that I had been deeply disappointed in the person she had become and the changes that had taken place in our life. E. My sharing with Kim the disappointments that I was feeling allowed her to come in touch and freed up to communicate to me the disappointments that she had with our relationship and me. 1. Her primary disappointment was that a. I had not provided for her a very exciting life, b. The church had become the “other woman” in my life and she and the girls were pushed to the side. c. She was dying on the inside and now battling her physical health 2. I did not defend myself because instantly I knew that she was right. You see an exciting date in the Peglow household is going to a small group meeting, or assisting me in a counseling session, or going to some ministry activity or to a child’s sporting event or school activity. Other than that, there is not much going. 3. I put no intentionality or creative energy into our marriage relationship. F. We knew we were in trouble and God in His grace put in our path a marriage retreat that was just for couples in ministry with the unique struggles they go through. We got three major take aways from that conference that put us back on track and relaunched our marriage. II. Lessons Pat Learned 1. Start all over – get remarried … – to the same person! 1. We heard Ray and Ann Ortland at a conference speak about this very thing of us not being the person we married! 2. They said we need to renew our marriage vows with the people we have become today. 3. And we need to remarry the person they have become over and over again throughout the years. 4. Kim and I received that as God’s word for us and we did and have done that repeatedly since then! B. Secondly, while walking with Jesus is essential to a healthy relationship, marital skills are very important too! 1. I felt if you just meet with Jesus regularly and walk with Him that is all you need and that everything else in the marriage will fall in place supernaturally! 2. Yes, it is true that Jesus is essential to give you the heart you need for marriage but the skills are very important to make you that much more effective and less combative and stressful in your relationship. C. Enter into, appreciate, and value your mate’s world! Kim had entered into my world (my interests, my activities, my loves, etc.,) but I never entered into hers! Remember I am serving God – I am a pastor I need to focus on the more important things! 1. Read 5:25. Emphasize, "Gave himself up for her…" a. That phrase "gave himself up for her" explains how a husband loves his wife. He sacrifices himself in order to do what is best for her. 2. What God was challenging me to do was to "lay down or leave my world in order to enter into her world." One of the things that Ephesians 5:25 is calling husbands to do is to lay down their world, the things that come natural to them, the things they are comfortable and familiar with and enter into their wife’s world that is just as important and valuable as yours!" 3. All I had ever done was invite Kim to enter into my world of ministry and my interests rather than entering into her world of responsibilities and her interests. 4. Therefore, my new mission from God was clear. Meet my wife’s practical needs that I had neglected for years and the only way that I was going to meet it was by stepping outside of my world and entering into hers. 5. Not only is her world important but she is actually my number one ministry even above the church and my number one relationship priority outside of Jesus! ¨ A few other lessons God has taught us! III. Lessons learned - Kim A. It is important for a married couple to work as a team as a practical outworking of what it means to be one. Ecclesiastes 4: 9-12 “Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up. Furthermore, if two lie down together they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone? In addition, if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart.” 1. Responsibilities: we work as a team and share in household duties and raising & parenting our children according to our time schedules & commitments. 2. Decision making – we’ve learned to listen and hear each other out when making major decisions and not act on a decision until we have both prayed about it and are unified in it. 3. One area that I hear now and then with couples is the “mine and yours” mentality regarding finances. You have become one and your names both need to be on the bank accounts, credit cards, mortgage and car titles. B. Take time to study your mate 1. Do you realize that God made males and females different? In fact, in Psalm 139, it says he made each one of us unique and different in our mother’s womb, whether male or female. 2. Listen to this quote from Gary Thomas from his book “Cherish”… “Your spouse has a unique history, so cherish your spouse by treating them according to their reality. They are living a life that has never been lived before. They have a personality that has never existed before. They have a unique blend of strengths and weaknesses, temptations and gifts, as well as a once-in-a-universe calling. Your role is to help them complete their one-of-akind story.” 3. Take time to discover one another. Men, is she a verbal processor? Does he need down time when he comes home from work? What are your spouse’s hobbies, favorite flower, candy, food, types of movies, books, activities, places they love to go? What energizes or depletes your mate? What are their love languages (physical touch, receiving gifts, acts of kindness, words of affirmation, quality time? What language(s) fill their love tank up? 4. What are their inner quality traits & characteristics? What areas are their strengths & weaknesses? 5. Study your mates so you can begin to practically cultivate a relationship where you both can express and cherish your love to each other according to your knowledge of one another. Some ways to do this are: a. Begin to and practice praising and affirming their inner character and personality traits and strengths. i.e... smart, kind, funny, great sense of humor, parent well, loyal friend, athletic, good listener, uses their time wisely, great cook/griller/baker, creative, good provider, heart for God and His Word, good listener, wise, teachable, or good teachers, live within their means. b. Pray often and regularly with them. c. Lovingly exhort them to work on their areas of weakness and to excel still the more physically, spiritually, emotionally and intellectually. d. Pat with sils; love notes/candy bar under pillow/ in restaurant Pat said I was kind and beautiful 6. Simply - come along side each other, support one another in becoming the personal story that God has written for them, and created them to be. 7. Why this is important: your attentiveness and interest in one another will deeply convey and communicate your undying, unwavering love for each other. It will demonstrate that your spouse is the most important person in your life other than Jesus. It will warm their heart toward you in such a way that they will begin to naturally respond back to you in like manner. 8. It doesn’t take being a rocket scientist to study your mate and get to know them. IV. Final take aways A. Of the things we heard today, which area needs the most attention for you to improve your marriage? a. Maybe you need to be remarried to the same person. Either publicly or privately renew my vows with the person who my mate is today! b. Study your mate and appreciate their uniqueness and unique needs! c. Maybe it is another area we mentioned today C. Conversation starter – You know what baby, ________________ is the area I believe I need to give attention to in order for our marriage to excel still the more. Is there an area God has spoken to you about? D. You may have hit walls that are way more serious or bigger than mine and Kim’s – remember as I said “skills are very important but turning to and trusting Jesus is essential 1. We have people here to pray with you. 2 Corinthians 1:10b-11a 2. The song we are going to close with today is “there’s nothing that our God can’t do” and that is true with your marriage and mine. One word, one touch from Jesus and the power of heaven will be in your marriage– there is no power like the power of Jesus! Jeremiah 32:17 E. As we sing this song this morning, sing it out in faith and your prayer to the Lord regarding your life and marriage. F. Pray for marriages!

The Mystery of Marriage / Week 2 / Waking Up To Your Their World

The Mystery of Marriage Ephesians 5:31-33 & Matthew 7:24-27 June 13, 2021 I. Introduction: A. Marriage is a great mystery! 1. Turn in your Bibles and read Ephesians 5:31-33 2. By mystery it does not mean it is something that is very strange and cannot be understood 3. But what it does mean is that it is a truth that cannot be known or understood apart from the Bible revealing it to us. 4. Here in this context we learn that the mystery of marriage is that the deep oneness that happens when a man and woman become husband and wife is actually a picture of the oneness of that Jesus and the church experience in their relationship. B. This summer we are going to look at what the Bible says to us about marriage. My hope is to lay a foundation for us regarding marriage that is based on the Bible so we can stand the storms of what this culture is bringing against marriage today. The storms that can come just by two people, who are equal in dignity as persons but gloriously different as male and female living really close to one another. 1. You know that when the foundation is off and weak the rest of the building becomes vulnerable when stress and pressure is put on it. 2. That foundation has to be built upon God and His Word because God is the creator of male and female, He is the one who instituted marriage as the pinnacle of His creation! Everything God created up to that point was good but after He created male and female in His image and instituted marriage He said it is very good 3. God as the creator and designer of male and female along with marriage has written an owner’s manual, the Bible. In the Bible He gives us wisdom about many things that relate to marriage and how they were designed to work – love, forgiveness, how to relate to one another, sex, parenting, communications, how to handle conflict, money, what to do with our weaknesses, etc. 4. When we ignore God and His Word when it comes to marriage, we do it to our own hurt! C. Turn to Matthew 7:24-27. Read 1. Let me illustrate that with the swing set we got when our daughters were real young and I was new at MVC a) Started with the owner’s manual then Roger, my next-door neighbor came over with a better idea, “since pastors do not last long you can take it with you…” b) After setting it up, the next day, I am at church and Kim calls – there is a problem… c) Next day back to owner’s manual, and I followed it instructions and it worked perfectly for over 30 years. 2. So many people are building their marriages in light of the ideas they have heard and seen from “the Rogers” in their lives (experts in the world, parents or friends) rather than by the instructions of the one who created male and female and marriage. • Today I am going to be speaking in a very general sense and in weeks to come we will look at greater specifics from God’s Word. Let me start with two II. Myths about marriage that make poor foundations! A. Marriage was designed to make me happy! 1. I love the story Dr Henry Cloud told about a friend who told him “when I was single, I was unhappy and insecure. Then I got married and I became married, unhappy and insecure! 2. God is not against our happiness but there are much greater purposes for marriage than that! 3. When we build marriage on happiness, when it starts to wane, and it will wane, then we either blame our mate or ultimately leave our mate looking for someone who will make me happy! B. The second myth is marriage will complete me! 1. Sometimes people feel like they are not whole or like something is missing until they find that soul mate and get married to them. They think they have found that better half and now will be complete! 2. The Bible teaches us that a mate or any other person (for those of you who are single) was never designed to complete us instead; they were designed to make us better! 3. When we look to them to complete us, that is do something for us that only God can do, we make them an idol and frustrate both them and ourselves. 4. When I get my completeness from God then I can move towards my mate to give them blessings rather than to get from them something I need! III. Now I want to share … IV. Four counter cultural Bible truths that have shaped the foundation of Kim’s and my marriage A. First, marriage was designed to make me holy not happy 1. I first learned about this truth when I was reading the book by Gary Thomas called Sacred Marriage. 2. It makes sense when you look at marriage through the lens of God’s ultimate purpose in our life. a) Romans 8:29 tells us that God predestined us to be conformed to the image of His Son Jesus Christ and Romans 8:28 essentially tells us that God causes all things to work together for this purpose. b) Read Romans 8:28-29 3. This turns most North American perspectives about marriage upside down and changes everything about the way I approach and respond to both the good and tough parts about marriage! a) So God is even going to use the things that make me unhappy in marriage as part of His process to make me more like Jesus. 4. There is something going on in marriage that is bigger than my happiness! B. Second marriage is a covenant not a contract. 1. Many may not know this but our whole relationship with God and His program in this world is based upon covenant 2. I am going to spend a whole message on this but let me say one thing about this now. Death and covenant are tightly tied together as the death both ratifies and pictures for us the heart of a covenant. 3. So the one picture of death that I want to remind us of is that I have died to myself and now I live for Kim and Kim has died to herself and now she lives for me! a) Everything I do, every decision I make should be for her benefit and not mine. b) I am laying down my life to bless her! 4. This is no different from our new covenant relationship with the Lord where we no longer live for ourselves but we live for Him while at the same time He commits himself to care for us! 5. There is something going on in marriage that is bigger than I am! a) So let me ask you men – the last time you kissed your wife did you do it to get a blessing or to give her a blessing? C. The third cherishing is the driver of love, commitment is the spare tire 1. I hear people often say love and marriage is all about commitment. I disagree with that 99%. 2. While commitment is an aspect of love, it is not the driver. Cherishing your mate should be the driver in your marriage. To cherish them means that I have a soft and tender heart towards them that values them highly and I care for them with a tender love. 3. Commitment is more about I have to do it because I promised her versus the I get to do it because I delight in her that comes from cherishing. 4. Ladies, let me ask you this – would you rather have your husband hold your hand and kiss you because he delights in you and wants to or because he has to because he married you? 5. Commitment is a part of love but it is the part that comes when the cherishing is not going well, then I pull out the spare tire of commitment and use that until the cherishing is restored. 6. The Song of Solomon is clearly a picture of a couple that cherishes one another! D. Fourth, marriage models our relationship with Jesus 1. It is my opportunity to model how Jesus loves us to Kim, my kids and the rest of the world! 2. That is where we started today in Ephesians 5 and we will be back to that passage at least four times in this series. 3. But simply the way that I treat my wife and the way she treats me becomes one of the greatest visuals God has given to us in our witness to a lost world and to help grow other believers in this. 4. The love and respect that should be there between a husband and wife and the kind of love that Jesus has for us and the kind of respect His people give Him is better caught by couples who model it than taught by preachers who preach it! V. Conclusion A. What if I discovered this morning that my foundations are so far off that I need an overhaul in my marriage? Good news – that is what Jesus is all about! 1. He not only saves us from the penalty of sin but also from the power of sin in our lives and marriages! 2. He gives us the Holy Spirit to dismantle sin in our lives and to build the life and heart of Jesus into us! B. I think many couples need to have a very honest conversation this week 1. To see how closely their marriage is built upon the foundations that can face the storms of this world and this life. 2. And how deeply they are depending upon the Holy Spirit to transform them and their marriages into something that matches the instructions in the owner’s manual! C. Pray

The Mystery of Marriage / Week 1 / The Mystery

The Unseen War / Week 7 / The Word, Our Offensive Weapon

God’s Double Whammy Defense Various Passages May 23, 2021 Introduction A. No soldier would ever go to battle without their defensive armor or their offensive weapons 1. Today we are going to look at our defensive armor 2. Next week we will look at our key offensive weapon! • This morning I want to share with you two strong defensive resources that God gives us in standing firm against Satan’s attacks to hold our ground. The first is… I. The armor of God A. God has provided His armor for the very purpose that we might be able to stand firm against Satan’s attacks turn to Ephesians 6 1. Read v11 put on the full armor … “that” you may be able to stand firm. 2. Read v 13, take up the full armor …“that” you may be able to resist... and... Stand firm. B. What is the armor? 1. Read v14-17 2. Bottom line - truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation, and the Word of God. C. I want to share with you in a very practical way, how I put on the armor! 1. I put on the armor through believing prayer. 2. I start by thanking God for the foundation that by His doings, I am in Christ and Christ is in me. When I pray about: a. I in Christ I am claiming all the gifts and rights that God has given to me in Christ. b. Christ in me I am praying that the life of Jesus within would grow in me and take greater possession of my life in these particular ways! 3. You will note as I describe what I do that when it comes to what I am in Christ it is always in the context of thanking God for that because it is already done. But when it comes to Christ in me, I am always asking for something because it has to do with what God needs to do in my life. D. Describe what the armor is like that we wear. 1. Belt = truth – the belt is so important because it is the piece of the armor that holds all the other pieces in place. a. Satan’s primary tool is the lie. He was a liar from the beginning, he is the father of lies and he works through the lie. Much of spiritual warfare rages in the mind and it is a battle between the truth and lies. b. In Christ – thank Him that I am in the truth and associated with the truth. c. Christ in me – ask 1) His spirit to move the truth from my head to my heart. That He would cause truth to fill the innermost part of my being. 2) Holy Spirit to shine His light of truth on and expose any darkness, lies, ground, denial, deception, doubt, strongholds (mindsets contrary to truth) strategies that Satan is working against me, my family and MVC. 2. Breastplate = righteousness a. Satan is constantly attacking believers in this area. 1) He accuses us of sin and tries to convince us that deep inside there is something wrong with us, and that we are dirty and not good. He also is looking for ground in our life from which he can work! 2) We need to stand firm in the truth that we are righteousness in Christ. b. In Christ – thank that in Christ I am righteousness. Nothing to do with my performance or any righteousness of my own. Thank you that I stand before you today with Jesus righteousness and not my own. c. Christ in me – ask Jesus to fill me with His righteousness in such a way that I live a righteous life. Would He make righteousness the delight and desire of my heart? And make me more righteous so Satan has less he can grab onto! 3. Shoes = peace a. I believe this applies to both the peace with other brothers and sisters in Christ and proclaiming of the good news to the lost of peace with God through Jesus. b. When we are under attack by Satan, we feel like God is displeased with us because not everything is in order in our lives. In the midst of the battle, you need to stand on firm on the fact that you are at peace with God. c. A key theme in Ephesians is the peace that comes between the believing Jew and Gentile and that Jesus has already broken down the dividing wall. 1) Nothing that I know of better causes a place for Satan to attack than in the area of divided relationships between believers. When we have something in our hearts against one another, Satan notices that and causes it to come out in such a way as to ruin relationships and churches. 2) We need to be ready to make peace with one another. d. So when I pray I pray regarding both peace in my relationships and spreading the gospel of peace. 1) In Christ – thank Him that I am one with Him and we are at peace with one another! 2) Christ in me • Ask Him to grant me every grace that I need to be at peace with those who struggle with me and I pray for blessings upon those with whom I struggle. • I also ask Him that as an ambassador He would give me the heart of Jesus towards the lost and a readiness in my heart to share the gospel. Pray that He would open a door for me to share the gospel 4. Shield = faith a. When Satan’s lies, doubts, and temptations come flying over at us, it will require the shield of faith to extinguish them. 1) Without faith then Satan’s flames begin to burn and destruction of our lives is the result; and we are distracted from the real enemy as we are busy putting out the fires that Satan has started. 2) Like the Roman soldier, we must also at all times crouch behind that shield when we are fighting. Whenever we take on the enemy from a stance other than by faith we leave ourselves open to be struck by his arrows. b. In Christ – thank Him that I am in the faith. c. Christ in me – ask that His Spirit would fill me with His faith, His expectancy and His dependency. I ask that my faith will not come from me but from Him. And that He would make me sensitive to the flaming darts coming my way! 5. Helmet = salvation a. In Christ – thank Him that I am already saved, already a new creature, already dead to sin and alive to God, already delivered from authority of Satan and transferred to kingdom of His son. That I am no longer a victim but now a victor! I declare that I am fighting today from a position of victory and not trying to get victory b. Christ in me – ask Him to work in particular strongholds in my life. Break, transform and control. I also ask Him to work in areas of sin and ground in my life that I am not even aware of. I particularly ask Him to make me aware of my own thoughts and that by His grace I would bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ 6. Sword = word - a. We will look at this one next week in more depth as part of our offensive weapon. b. It is sufficient to say today that I pray the Spirit of God will speak the word to my heart, bring the word to me through others, and through me to others! • So the first defensive gift that God gives us is the armor of God. The second one is … II. God himself as our refuge! A. Read Psalm 18:30 1. A refuge is a place that provides shelter or protection from danger or distress. 2. Illustrate it by running to Kim’s porch during a rainstorm when we were dating. 3. God is saying here that His word is tried, proven and certain. If you trust Him to be your protection from danger, He will be a shield to you. 4. Remember in Job 1:10 Satan complained to God that he could not get at Job because God had put a hedge about him, his house and all that he had. B. Turn and read Psalm 91:9-11. 1. By faith, he trusted God to be his refuge as a result God gave his angels a charge/command concerning him to guard him in all his ways. 2. Picture this for them. Me praying and God calling the angels at the café. C. Does this really work? I wondered that myself and began to ask God if this was real or was I just making it up in my head. Within 2 weeks 1. Story of Courtney and the school kids egging her on to involve herself in a séance. Felt like something one was telling her no in her heart. 2. Story of me working for Dave and painting a front window when woman came out fully naked. 3. Did not think but rather God whispered that into my heart • So III. Application A. Simply start daily and at special times of trial or ministry to pray on this armor through believing prayer, declare to God you are trusting Him to be your refuge, your spiritual protection, then ban Satan from your life and ministry by the blood, authority and name of Jesus B. Resource of my warfare prayer C. Pray

The Unseen War / Week 6 / God's Double Whammy Defense

Satan’s Favorite Plays Various Passages May 16, 2021 I. Introduction: A. A number of years ago the Chicago Bears were playing the Dallas Cowboys in the playoffs. The Cowboys beat the Bears and frustrated them greatly in the process. Four times the Bears had the ball inside the Cowboy’s 10-yard line but each time they were unable to score a touchdown. 1. I will never forget watching the 10 o’clock news that night. The sportscaster had gone into each of the locker rooms and asked a player from each team the same question. “Why could the Bears not score even though they had the ball inside the 10 yard line four times in the game?” a) The Bears player shock his head in frustration and said “I do not know” b) The Cowboys player said, “We know why, we watched their films. They always do the same thing, so we stacked up against where we knew they were going to go. We were ready for them. 2. Did you know that Satan is much like the Chicago Bears were? He uses the same tricks over and over again. B. God in His word has shown us what Satan’s favorite plays are so we, like the Dallas Cowboys, can be ready for his attacks, stack up our defense against were we know he is going to go. • This morning we want to look at Satan’s three favorite plays that he uses over and over again in his game plan. the first one is … II. Confuse our plays A. When we are in the huddle with God in His word, we get our plays that He wants us to carry out! But Satan seeks to confuse us and get us to question what God wants us to do. 1. We see he did this with Eve. 2. There are three parts to this play B. First part is that he confuses us about God’s word 1. Read Genesis 2:16-17a - This is what God did say – “from any tree except one you may eat freely.” Read Genesis 3:1 - this is what Satan said – “you shall not eat from any tree.” 2. Satan twisted God’s word to try to confuse her as to what God said. 3. Satan will do anything to keep us from reading, studying, memorizing and mediating on God’s word. a) He does not want us to be clear about God’s ways. This play includes keeping us confused. C. Second part is tampers with the consequences 1. Read Genesis 2:17b - God said, “You shall surely die” Read Genesis 3:4 - Satan said, “You surely shall not die!” 2. Now he convinces us that the consequences of disobeying God are really not that bad. 3. Come on, God is a God of grace and love. He understands and forgives. D. Third part is once he has us questioning God’s word and the consequences of sin then he tells us that we are not complete. There is something we are missing. Read v5 1. God is withholding something good from you. Something that you really need. You deserve this. If only you had, then your life would be OK. He gets us preoccupied with what we do not have and what we need. 2. Satan’s goal is to get us to go outside of Christ to find what fulfills us; job, pleasure, person, position, possession, etc. E. So Satan’s favorite play is to: confuse us regarding God’s word; tamper with the consequences of sin; then tell us that we are not complete. 1. Then he gets us to indulge in sin resulting in us destroying ourselves read v6- 8 • That is Satan’s first favorite play that he uses over and over again on us. but he has two more … III. His ground attack. A. Satan is looking for certain conditions that are ripe for his work. 1. Read 1 Peter 5:8 2. What kind of person is Satan seeking to devour? B. I believe that Satan is looking for a place to stand. 1. Favorable circumstances by which he can take hold of and use, a base of operation. Ground to stand on to take advantage of us. 2. Read Ephesians 4:26-27 read; 2 Corinthians 2:10-11 read C. Ways that Satan can find a place to stand in our life 1. Anger Ephesians 4:26-27 2. Unforgiving heart 2 Corinthians 2:10-11 3. Selfishness - Matthew 16:21-25 4. Immorality - 1 Corinthians 5:1,5 5. Pride - 1 Timothy 3:6 6. Worldliness - James 4:4-7 1 John 2:15-16 – playing in his playground all day 7. Unbelief - 1 Timothy 1:19-20 8. Bad conscience - 1 Timothy 1:19-20 9. Anything you love more than Jesus - Revelation 12:10-11 10. Ancestral sin (especially satanic sin) - Exodus 20:4-5 1 Peter 1:18 11. Lack of marital sexual fulfillment - 1 Corinthians 7:2-5 – 12. Idol worship (objects of idol worship) - 1 Corinthians 10:20 Beth with the dream catcher * Exceptions: sometimes God allows Satan to work in our lives - battle point – Job – purposes we cannot understand - sanctification - 2 Corinthians 12:7 – messenger of Satan to keep us humble IV. His goal line defense A. A goal line defense that is when a team is very close to scoring a touchdown. The goal line defense is an arrangement of players, especially big and strong, all stacked up right in the middle so that it is hard to gain even a yard at a time. It is designed to hold the offense right where they are so they cannot move. B. Satan has a play like that and it is called a stronghold 1. A stronghold is a well-secured and guarded position that cannot easily be entered into. 2. Illustrate this on the platform. C. Read 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 1. Note in v4 the “destruction of fortresses.” Note in v5 “we are destroying.” Destruction …. Destroying. 2. In other words, he moves from the general in v4 to the specific in v5. In v4, he tells us these weapons are for the destructions of fortresses. In v5, he gets very specific in telling us what these fortresses are they are destroying! Read v 5 again a) Speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God. It is a battle for the mind. It is a battle of truth b) Has to do with every single thought that passes through our minds. Every single worldview and philosophy that the world is promoting as it is trying to squeeze us into its mold! D. But this battle is not just with individual thoughts that pass through our minds. Strongholds are mindsets, patterns of thinking, ways of thinking, and habits in thinking that are contrary to the truth. 1. We are usually not conscious of these patterns. Our conscious thoughts are usually the fruit of these strongholds. 2. When God destroys a stronghold in our life, He is pulling out a problem by the roots so that the symptom are all dealt with. • How do we respond to all of this information? V. Conclusion A. Read Psalm 36:9 1. The first light is God’s light shining into us 2. The second light is our light in that we see things as they really are. 3. This is not about searching out your life but rather the Spirit of God and the word of God shining light on things I may be out of touch with or are so deeply built into my thinking that I think they are normal B. So pray, God 1. Are there any places in my life where my thinking about your word is confused or lacking? 2. Are there any sins in my life that Satan is using as ground for him to work 3. Are there any ways of thinking that are contrary to your ways of thinking? C. Quiet reflection

The Unseen War / Week 5 / Satan's Favorite Plays

The Unseen War / Week 4 / Jesus Intensely Searches For One

How to Ban Satan from our Lives May 2, 2021 – Communion Introduction: A. So far we have learned that: 1. “There is an invisible intelligent organized army out there whose sole desire is to destroy us.” 2. We also learned that Satan has a game plan to destroy us: Satan will use the world to tempt our flesh so we will destroy our selves by our own sin. B. This morning I want to address the question: “How do we resist Satan as the Scripture tells us to do?” 1. Scripture a) Ephesians 6:13 b) James 4:7 c) 1 Peter 5:8-9 2. Resist means to answer an offensive action by using counter force. C. To do this we need to go back to Ephesians 6:10 where we learned that the spiritual foundation to this whole spiritual battle we are in is for us to be strong in the Lord and the strength of His might. 1. That is all the spiritual blessings, rights, privileges, positions, promises that are now ours because we are in Christ and all the power that comes to us through the Spirit of Jesus being in us! • So this morning I want to share with you the three special rights and privileges we have in Christ regarding our battle with Satan! The first is… I. The blood of Christ A. Turn and read Colossians 2:14-15 B. V15 says that at the cross God did three things: 1. Disarmed the satanic army - stripped away from them their weapons specifically the weapon of using sin against us in v14 2. Made a public display - explain in that culture when a victory was so complete they would strip the enemy and march them right down the center of town to show everyone how totally defeated they are. 3. Triumphed over them through Christ - a decisive and overwhelming victory has already been won at the cross. 4. Note that all of this is already done, already accomplished through the blood of Christ shed at the cross. C. Read Revelation 12:11 • The second spiritual right and privilege God has given us in His grace is … II. The authority that we already have over Satan A. We talked about this a few weeks ago as we learned we do not have the power to overpower Satan but God has given us the authority, the legal right to use the power of Jesus to defeat Satan. 1. Read Ephesians 1:20-21 2. Read Ephesians 2:6 • The third spiritual right and privilege God has given us in His grace is … III. The name of the Lord Jesus Christ A. Read Philippians 2:6-10 1. Acts 16 tells us about a slave girl that had a demon in her and followed Paul around for many days. Listen to Acts 16:18 B. A name is simply a symbol that represents all that a person is and does! God has given us the privilege to use Jesus name in both prayer and warfare! 1. Like the song says – there is power in the name of Jesus to break every chain 2. In Acts 4, Peter and John were arrested and they were brought before the high priest and his descendants. a) Listen to what they asked Read Acts 4:7 b) Note here they equated name with power! C. I remember watching the handover of Hong Kong from Britain to China. 1. Both the British and the Hong Kong flags were raised. In a moment, those two flags would be lowered and China’s and the new Hong Kong flag would replace them. 2. The announcer then said, “Those flags carry great symbolism… as each flag represents all that is behind it.” a) Each flag represents a different political system, different economic systems, different military power, different rulers, different laws, different culture and just different ways in general. b) While at the moment of the changing of the flags it appeared very little really happened but a ceremony. But actually very deep changes took place that have made a great difference in Hong Kong. 3. The name of Jesus is the same! The name of Jesus represents all that He is, does, has given us, authority, power, victory, etc. ; and at the moment that we use it, it may appear that very little is happening but very deep spiritual things take place. D. Whenever Satan comes our way, we need to raise the flag of Jesus name. Satan knows that it is the means that God has given to us to represent that Jesus and all of His authority and power are on our side. 1. When we bring the name of Jesus against Satan, it is like a police officer flashing his badge. 2. He is showing the people that he is a representative of a certain government authority and that all their power is available to back what he says and does. IV. Conclusion A. So when I use God’s gifts to resist Satan I think of this simple little acronym “ban”. Ban Satan by the blood, authority and name of Jesus! 1. Like any gift of God’s grace, we experience them on the basis of faith. 2. We must by faith claim our victory over Satan on the basis of the blood, authority and name of Jesus! 3. Like Peter said, we must resist him firm in faith! B. The best way I can picture what happens when we do this is what I saw in a movie a number of years ago. 1. A mountain lion was devouring all sorts of animals in the wild. 2. One day this lion came across a small bear cub. The camera showed the lion growling at the little bear cub and in a position ready to attack. Then you saw the little bear cub stand up on his feet and growl back at him as if he was not a bit afraid. 3. I thought this bear cub is dead; he has no chance against this lion. I figured the lion would brush off his growl and destroy the bear. However, the next scene you see is the lion backing off. I did not understand it this lion could destroy that bear. 4. Then they showed a completely different camera angle. Something that we did not see first time was shown this time. Behind the bear cub was his mother. Standing up about ten feet tall ready to defend her cub if needed. Not making a sound but making its presence known. 5. When we by faith stand on the foundation of God’s gifts of grace He is standing right there behind us seeing to it that His word will be fulfilled and the His presence will be made known to Satan. V. Communion A. As we go to communion this morning, consider what James 4:7 says, “Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” 1. Is there any area of your life that you must submit to God then resist the devil by banning him from your life with the blood, authority and name of Jesus?

The Unseen War / Week 3 / BAN Satan

The Sure Foundation for Victory Various Passages April 18, 2021 Introduction: A. Foundations are the ultimate support upon which something stands, whether it be a building or an idea! 1. If the foundation is strong, then the structure that is built upon it will stand the test of time and stress. 2. If there is any flaw in the foundation it will have a direct impact upon the strength or the condition of the building and will become more and more evident over time! B. If we ever need a foundation that is flawless, it is in the area of spiritual warfare since we are facing an invisible army who has thousands of years of experience and their sole goal is to destroy us! ¨ This morning I want to look at the sure foundation for our victory over Satan. In weeks to come we will continue to look at the complete structure of our victory over Satan but we need to get the foundation right or everything else will be off. I. The riches of God’s grace Ephesians 6:10 C. This is one of the strongest passages in the New Testament regarding our battle with Satan, we learn here about the armor that God provides for the battle. But before he goes into the armor, he lays a foundation for us. Read v10 1. He teaches us here that foundational to our warfare with the enemy, even foundational to the armor being effective for us; we must be strengthened by the Lord in two different ways! a) Strong in the Lord - you in Christ b) Be strong … in the strength of His might - Christ in you 2. We need to be strong in all that we are in Christ and we need Him filling our lives with His strength. a) At the core of our beings, we are spiritual beings. “Christ in us” and “us in Christ” is not just a theological phrase but rather a deeply real spiritual relationship that we have with Christ b) This is how God infuses us with life and power of the Spirit of Jesus, shares with us all the rights, privileges, and victories He has already accomplished for us! c) I love the way the TPT says this verse! - “…be supernaturally infused with strength through your life-union with the Lord Jesus. Stand victorious with the force of His explosive power flowing in and through you.” Ephesians 6:10 TPT B. You in Christ and Christ in you are the two major pillars of God’s grace. The foundation of our victory over Satan is God’s grace. If you will, it is the footing to the foundation that upon which even the foundation stands! 1. All that God freely gives us in Christ and all that God freely gives us with Christ in us is the heart of God’s grace. 2. Us in Christ is the way that god sees us and blesses us. a) Remember from Ephesians 1:3 that in Christ we have already been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places! b) That means that God has already given to us as a gift every blessing, every promise, every position, every privilege, every right, and even the victory Jesus has already accomplished over Satan! 3. Christ in us is the way that God changes us and empowers us. a) The Spirit of Jesus within us is the one who transforms us to be people who fight from the right foundation of Gods’ grace and the one who empowers us to live like a mighty warrior of Jesus! C. If we respond to Satan’s attacks by any means other than grace, we are doomed to defeat! It is what Jesus has done and not what we can do that is the basis of our victory over Satan! ¨ So now, with the footing of the foundation in place now let us look at two foundational gifts of God’s grace that we have in our battle with Satan. First, … II. God has already won the battle A. Turn to and read Colossians 1:12-14 B. First note the word “He.” 1. God is the one who has won the battle not us. 2. It does not say that God “will” deliver us “if” we do the right things, or pray enough or obey enough or anything else. Our victory is not dependent upon us but upon God. 3. Much of what I have heard in the area of spiritual warfare makes the victory over Satan dependent upon our performance and jumping through so many of the right spiritual hoops and saying the exact right words in a warfare prayer so you can have the victory. In other words this way emphasizes we must do certain things in order to be set free from Satan’s power in our life. C. V 13 does not say that God “will” deliver us and transfer us … 1. It does say that God has “already” delivered us from the territory over which Satan was ruler exerting his power and authority 2. God has “already” transferred us into the kingdom where His Son is ruler exerting His power and authority. 3. Picture this with two sections on the main floor (neighborhood) as God pulls us out of one and puts us into another. D. I remember the day God turned on the lights inside of me to realize this. 1. It was break time of a seminar, went back to my office with the two speakers at the seminar, and shared the deep struggle I was in. 2. As they prayed for God to work in my behalf the lights went on inside of me as the Spirit showed me that I already have the victory. It is not something I have to get but something I already have. 3. From that day on the foundational way, I did spiritual warfare totally changed as I moved from doing things to get the victory to standing in the victory I already have! ¨ Now that I know in God’s grace that He has already given me the victory over Satan I need to recognize the third foundation and that is that … III. I have authority over Satan. A. To understand this properly we must understand the difference between authority and power because I do not have the power to overcome Satan but I do have the authority to overcome Satan! 1. Power - ability to act, capability of producing an effect or exert force. 2. Authority - the right to exercise someone else’s power. The legal right to command. 3. A good way to illustrate authority is what a police officer has when he directs traffic. A big semi is rolling down the road that is much bigger and more powerful than him. That powerful truck comes to a halt when the police officer raises his hand. a) The police officer had the authority to stop the truck but he did not have the power to stop it! b) By virtue of his authority as police officer, he has the power of the government behind him. They can bring all and every resource they have to stand behind what the police officer is ordering. 4. God has given us the legal right, with all His strength, all His angels and His Son and His Spirit to back it up, to command Satan from using his strength to overcome us. B. Turn and read Ephesians 1:19-22 1. Note first the names of demons here. (Rule - authority - power and dominion) we learned last week that their names indicate that they do have a measure of control, exerting some kind of influence over humans. 2. But note also where Jesus is a) Seated at the right hand of God. God is seated on the throne in heaven (1) A throne is the place where the king rules. b) He is seated “far above” (1) Jesus is in a place where He is not just above but far above all the rule, authority, power and dominion of Satan and his army of demons! c) In other words, Satan and his demons are in subjection to Jesus. C. Now look at Ephesians 2:4-6 1. Where are we right now in Christ? Seated at right hand of throne! 2. We have not only been joined together in the death and resurrection of Jesus but also in the ascension of Jesus Christ 3. God in His grace has shared with us the authority of Jesus Christ and that is the basis of our victory over Satan. IV. Application A. Let me try to illustrate how all this works with flood insurance. I shared this early on in our Ephesians series but it fits perfectly here! 1. Required to buy at $300+ per year – bothered me because no flood at my house since Noah! 2. I had to tell someone just how much that bother me so I called insurance man, bank, surveyor, city – good news – not in zone 3. Called back bank, surveyor but he refused to change (pride) 4. Because it was legally mine I kept calling and kept claiming my right 5. Eventually he gave in and changed it and I got back my $300 6. It happens the same way spiritually as we stand firm in the grace God has already given us with the victory and authority over Satan! As we fight the fight of faith against Satan, he will eventually back down and God’s Spirit floods us with His presence, power, and freedom! 7. 1 Peter 5:9-11

The Unseen War / Week 2 / Foundation for Victory

Be Prepared to Fight the Right Enemy Eph 6:10-13 April 11 I. Introduction: A. Many years ago Kim and I attended a seminar for pastors and their wives regarding burnout and handling stress in the ministry. It was led by a medical doctor and a pastor. 1. The medical doctor opened up the 1st session with a comment that caught me off guard coming from someone from the medical field. 2. In essence he said “there is an invisible intelligent organized army out there whose sole desire is to destroy us. We have to expect it, we must recognize it, we must be prepared!” Dr. Richard Swenson 3. Did you ever stop to think that you have an invisible intelligent organized army of supernatural evil beings whose sole goal is to destroy you? 4. It’s a war for your soul and a war for your marriage and family, church and nation! 5. It is time for us to wake up from the illusion that being a Christian is like going to a church picnic or a Christian concert but rather it is a war! B. And God warned us about this many, many years ago in Eph 6! Please turn to Eph 6:10-13. 1. Watch for the heart of what God is telling us in this passage which also will become the heart of my message this morning: be prepared to fight the right enemy! 2. Watch for this as I read. • Let’s start by talking about … II. Fighting the right enemy A. Listen again to11b-12 as to who our battle is with. 1. Satan and his army of invisible spiritual angels – called demons. 2. He classifies 4 different kinds of demons here – rulers, powers, world forces of this darkness and spiritual forces of wickedness. 3. To summarize, they are demons, who are wicked and relate to darkness that have some particular role in influencing the activities of human beings. B. And they use schemes to accomplish their purposes! 11c 1. The word schemes shows us that Satan has a strategy to take us down. He uses a method, a technique, he tricks us and deceives us in order to ambush or ensnare us! 2. They want us to take the bait they use to get us to sin so we will drink poison in the Kool aid resulting in the destruction that sin brings upon ourselves and others around us! C. Finally note who the battle is not with. Read 11a 1. That is why I am calling this section fight the right enemy because so many of us think the fight is with other people, flesh and blood, or even with our own flesh and blood, but we are only the pawns – Satan only uses others to further his purposes, he is the real source. 2. Satan’s primary camouflage is other people! Repeat a) And if we do not recognize that and fight with the right enemy we will end up fighting with other people. b) Someone said “snakes do not hiss anymore, they call you babe, bro or friend. D. So there are 2 key implications to this: 1. If I do not learn to recognize and deal with the source/root problem, Satan; he will be glad to feed me his resources/fruits/Kool aid all day long or even more so all lifelong to keep me in defeat and frustration dealing with the fruits one at a time rather than the root problem Satan himself 2. If the one I am ultimately wrestling with is not flesh and blood but spiritual, then I am going to need spiritual weapons to deal with him! • And my next point and the whole series is designed to address this, and that is … III. Be prepared to fight! A. We need to put on the full armor so we will be “prepared” to fight!!!! And we need to be prepared to “fight!!!!” 1. I think one mistake I often make is thinking if I put on the armor then I will avoid Satan’s schemes and he will just pass me by because he sees I have the armor on. B. Note 1. V11 says I need to put on the armor so that I can stand firm against his schemes. – That means his evil and deceitful schemes are going to come my way and the only way I will be able to stand is by having on the armor. 2. V13 says I need to take up the armor so I can resist in the evil day when he does attack me. Resisting means I need to actively oppose that wicked and dark spiritual pressure or power that is coming against me. • “Finally” let’s look at the word at the start of this verse: IV. Finally A. Read 10a. B. This word is very clear that it is not a final thought in a series of unrelated ideas but rather this word indicates that it is the rest of the whole. 1. It directly relates to and completes everything we have learned in the book of Ephesians! What we need to know about our position in Christ and our walk with Christ and yes even in our marriages, parenting and daily work in Eph 5:22-6:9 2. By the way, we will be dealing with marriage and parenting from Ephesians as our summer series this year. C. Position in Christ – Satan, the father of lies will continuously lie to you about who you are at the core of your being! 1. Convincing you that you are still just a sinner saved by grace rather than a brand new creature who has been totally transformed by God’s grace into a saint! 2. As the accuser of the brethren he will constantly point out your failures and inconsistencies and say to you “see this is who you really are!” 3. Or he will work to get us to focus on our performance and activities as a believer to get the blessing God has given us and the victory over Satan in Christ rather than living your life as one who already has the blessings and victory over Satan. D. Walk with Christ – Satan as the tempter will constantly be putting temptations in front of us to side track us from our walk with the Lord. 1. And those temptations can range all the way from pornography to people pleasing and everything in between! 2. He wants to frustrate us, control us and ruin us and he will use anything and anyone in this world system to get us to bite the bait and drink the poisonous Kool aid. E. Marriage and family – God’s most precious gift of a mate or child and for those of you not married – a close friend often becomes the closest, most intimate and fiercest battles we can have. 1. And so often Satan is skillful at causing us to think that our real enemy is that person who lives so close to us who is made of flesh and blood. 2. Young parents you will learn over time that one of the great parenting skills will be learning how to wrestle with Satan for the sake of your children! F. This world - and as we learned in Eph 2 Satan is the prince of this world and is currently influencing the sons of disobedience. We do not have to look far to see that in the time and nation we are living in. 1. Like never before we need to recognize who the real and ultimate enemy is who is using politicians, entertainers, media, etc. as his pawns. 2. And there are no people in this country positioned better than Christians to be part of the real answer when we recognize who the real enemy is and use the spiritual weapons we have! G. We need to be prepared! And we need to be prepared to fight and we need to fight the right enemy. 1. Today was the introduction – the next 6-7 weeks will be the rest of the sermon!

The Unseen War / Week 1 / Prepare to Fight the Right Enemy

“A Story of God’s Transforming Power” Easter Sunday April 4, 2021 I. Introduction: A. Have any of you ever been thirsty before? I am not talking about a physical thirst, but rather a soul thirst! A soul that craves to be satisfied? 1. A thirsty soul is the best way to describe my life before I knew Jesus Christ. 2. All I know is that my life was driven by the need to satisfy this unidentified nagging thirst. a) I found myself doing all sorts of things trying to quench this thirst, but everything came up empty, it only gave temporary satisfaction at best, but the thirst kept coming back even stronger. b) Jesus said in John 4:13-14 B. Today I want to tell you my story about how Jesus Christ quenched the thirst of my soul with his living water. I shared this on Easter Sunday 24 years ago and it is time to do it again. II. Life before Jesus Christ A. As a young boy I thought that I would go to heaven because I was a Catholic and if I lived somewhat of a good life. The problem though was that I was not a very good Catholic nor did I live a good life! B. The real trouble started when I went away to college and all of the parental restraints were off of me! I broke loose. I partied hardy. 1. Beer, wine, whisky, along with marijuana, hash and acid became what I used to quench the thirst of my soul at that time! 2. I would go out and party almost every night, then sleep during the day. Since I missed most of my classes I became a mini expert at cheating my way through the first 3 years of college. C. I remember one night being at a party and I was high on acid. I was walking down the hallway and I ran into another man who I never met before who was also high on drugs. 1. We began a conversation with one another and I discovered that we both felt the same way. We were searching for something and we did not know what it was. 2. We shared the common feeling that if we were at a party on the south side something inside of us felt like we should have been at the one on the north side. If I was with one person, something inside of me felt like I should have been with someone else. I felt like I was always at the wrong place, with the wrong people at the wrong time doing the wrong thing: and to quench the thirst of my soul something had to be different. D. In my junior year of college I transferred to Western IL Univ. A friend of mine there was named Greg. He was the star of the baseball team, was good looking and had a gorgeous girl friend who was a quality woman. 1. I thought “if I could just have a girl like Greg does then I know that I would be satisfied - the thirst of my soul would be quenched.” 2. One night Greg and I went out to drink and talk. 3. As we talked, Greg told me that he had broken up with his girlfriend that day. I was stunned! This guy had something that I thought would make me happy and he was letting it go. 4. I said Greg, “Why did you break up with her?” He said “Pat, I had to do it so that I could have peace of mind.” I said “peace of mind, what is that?” He said “peace of mind is knowing that you are in the right place, with the right people at the right time doing the right thing! 5. That hit my heart like a sledge hammer. That is what I had been looking for, ‘peace of mind.’ This unidentified nagging thirst in my soul was a thirst for peace, contentment and satisfaction deep down on the inside. E. A few months later at what we called a kegger, I got seriously drunk and got in the car and hit a tree on the way home! The car did a complete twirl around in the air and amazingly with 6 of us in the car no one was seriously hurt, just a few bumps and bruises. F. This accident not only sobered me up physically but also in my soul as I became deeply aware something was wrong inside of me and I was trying to fix it in all the wrong ways! 1. First thing I did was go to church and try to be a better person – back to where I started when I was growing up - religion and trying to live a good life. a) The problem was the same this time around – not only was I not good at either of them but I quit my efforts with them within 6 weeks! 2. Then I went to group counseling after that but did not find the peace I needed and still sensed something was wrong deep inside. G. The rest of that year was a downward spin as I could not find peace of mind and heart in anything that I pursued. So I dropped out of college at the end of my junior year. H. That summer I had no idea of what I was going to do with my life. I would go up on many of the weekends to visit my friends in a town in Michigan where I had worked the 2 previous summers. 1. One weekend I found myself sitting in this bar drinking at the counter with a man I did not know next to me who was in his fifties. 2. He was telling me dirty jokes. Sitting in some booths across from us were some people I knew, they were about 10 years older than me, 2 men and 2 women. All of them were married but not to each other as they were trying to pick one another up. Then the 4 of them left together in a car! 3. I think that the 1st time the Spirit of God ever spoke to me was while I was sitting in that bar. It was like someone deep inside of me spoke to my soul to take a look around. Is this what you want of your life? I thought to myself “this is not where I want to go with my life.” a) I do not want to be sitting at a bar at the age of 50 telling some kid the same dirty jokes that have been told for years. b) And I certainly do not want a marriage where my wife or I was out messing around with others. c) It’s like God opened up the eyes of my heart to see where my life was heading, and it was not what I wanted. I was deeply shaken on the inside. I. I had to do something drastic and I only knew of one other option to fix me and that was enlist in the Marine Corps. If anybody could do it, it would be the marines. So the next morning I left town immediately and came back home to Chicago to enlist! III. How I came to Christ A. During boot camp I did great since I was removed from all my old friends and substances and had a drill instructor watching over me 24/7 for 3 months. B. After boot camp, when all the external controls of the drill sergeants were removed, I began drinking again in a heavy fashion. Then I started having flashbacks of a bad trip. 1. My days were full of fear and my nights were full of horrifying night mares. 2. Internally I was a mess. I went and talked to a counselor and he put me on tranquilizers. C. A few weeks later, a Chaplain came in to speak to us men. He said if we ever needed help that he was available. 1. I immediately went and talked to the man. He told me how he could help me and that he would be available to me at any time. I left with a sense of security knowing someone could and would help me. 2. A week later I was having a very difficult time so I went over to the Chaplain’s office. He was not in. They called him at his home but he could not come in. My last hope was dashed. 3. I asked the woman in the office to please call the base drug rehab center to come and get me. She called and they said they would send a jeep for me. D. As I was waiting a different Chaplain came in and asked the secretary what I was doing there. He said that he would talk to me if I wanted. I wanted. 1. Rather than offering himself to me as able to help and always available he told me that Jesus Christ could help me and would be always available to me. 2. He told me of story after story of how Jesus Christ had changed the life of other men and women on the base who had struggled with drugs and alcohol. 3. He told me it was not dependent upon what denomination I was with nor how good I had lived my life nor anything I could do for God. Rather it depended on how good Jesus is and what he did for me. 4. He told me how my sin separated me from God and that Jesus died to pay for my sins. 5. Then he shared this verse with me. Rev 3:20 6. He told me that Jesus wants to come into my life and walk with me and help me with my problems! Then he asked me if I wanted to invite Jesus into my life? a) I asked for time to think about all of this. It was all so new to me. b) Went into the next room and prayed to God. For the first time I did not come to him with some recited prayer that I learned as a child but rather I spoke to him from my heart. I said “God, I do not know if this is some weird religion or what, all I know is that I need your help.” c) And guess what, that same inner voice in my heart that spoke to me about 6 months before in the bar was back. He said “Pat it is ok, this is the right thing to do.” 7. I just knew it was right. I got off of my knees and I went back into the room and told the Chaplain that I wanted to trust Jesus Christ. E. He led me in a prayer that was in essence something like this “God, I know that I am a sinner, thank you that Jesus Christ paid the price for my sin and offers me a brand new life. Right now I transfer my trust from anything I can do and put it all in what Jesus did for me! Right now I invite Jesus Christ to come into my life.” IV. What Jesus has done since trusting Him: A. Instantly my heart was filled with peace. That which I had for so long searched for was now deep down inside my soul like I never knew before. 1. For the 1st time in my life I felt like I was in the right place with the right people, at the right time doing the right thing! For the 1st time I experienced what Greg was telling me about. a) For the 1st time my thirsty soul found the drink that it was craving for, the drink that could satisfy it. b) Jesus said in John 7:37… 2. For the 1st time I felt clean inside. This heart that felt dirty because of the way that I had lived all of a sudden felt clean and filled with joy! 3. The best way I can describe it is that I felt like I had a 2,000 pound back pack on me and someone had cut the strings and I was free of it. 4. My soul felt light and free and clean and joyful and above all full of peace! B. Those were some of the things that God did instantly. Other things God has worked in over a period of time to change, things like attitudes, motives, and mindsets. Many things He is still working to change in my life. V. Conclusion A. Maybe you are here today and you have a thirsty soul. Maybe you find yourself in circumstances that are bigger than you are strong and smarter than you are smart. Maybe you are at the place where you are tired of trying to find the road to peace, or satisfaction or freedom from habits, hurts or hang-ups. Maybe it is something else. B. This is the very hope of the Resurrection. Not only do we celebrate on Easter the historical fact that Jesus rose from the dead, but also the implications of that Resurrection. 1. Without the Resurrection all we would know of Jesus is that He was a man who was executed for claiming to be God himself! Listen to Acts 2:22-24 impossible 2. When Jesus was raised from the dead He proved in the most powerful way to not only be God but also the Lord and our Savior and the Judge of all! 3. The Resurrection also shows us Jesus is the Author of Life and He offers to you and me a brand-new life. a) 1 Pet 1:3 b) John 3:16 C. Today may be the day you are hearing that same voice speaking to your heart that I first heard in the bar and then in the Chaplain’s office telling you “this is the way, walk in it!” D. Pray my prayer “God I know that I am a sinner, thank you that Jesus Christ paid the price for my sin and rose from the dead to offer me a brand new life. Right now I transfer my trust from anything I can do and put it all in what Jesus did for me! Right now I welcome Jesus Christ into my life.”

Easter at MVC | April 4, 2021

Walking by the Spirit Various Passages March 28, 2021 I. Introduction: A. I have a concern that too many Christians are trying real hard to live for Jesus and too many preachers are calling people to commit more and give their all for Jesus. 1. Now those are not bad things but they are not the basis for the Christian life, but actually they are outcomes when someone lives from the right starting point. 2. It is the difference between me living for Jesus and Jesus living for me! It is the difference between trying and trusting! It is the difference between the power for the Christian life coming from me or coming from the one who lives in me! 3. Listen to 2 Cor 4:6-7 a) Treasure of the glory of God in the face of Jesus dwelling inside our bodies, our clay pots b) The power for the Christian life is supposed to come from God and not from ourselves. 4. Simply to walk by the Spirit means I am trusting the One who lives in me and not trusting myself so that the surpassing power in my life might be from God and not from myself! B. All Christians trust in the substitutionary death of Jesus for their salvation, but few are trusting in the substitutionary life of Jesus for their walk. 1. So for many of us, we get saved by trusting Jesus Christ’s death for us but then we move on to our own working hard for spiritual growth. a) The North American culture has engrained into us that we are self-made people! The American dream has convinced us that if we work hard enough we can achieve anything we want! b) So there is always a feeling that there is more for me to do, even if I do not know what that more to do is! 2. We are saved by faith in what Jesus did for us on the cross and we are to walk by faith in what Jesus is and will do in my heart 3. I love the way Bob George says “Jesus gave His life for us; so He could give His life to us; so that He could live His life through us.” • Let’s start with the: II. Series of slides regarding walking by the Spirit! A. The truck will be dumped on you today but I am putting these slides with the verses on the website along with my notes by the end of this coming Wednesday. It will take time for these truths to sink in and it will be worth the review and study on your own and even re-watching this message a few times on YouTube. B. Slides 1. Humans/creation– original design (Adam and Eve) a) This slide speaks to the way we were created as 3 part beings and how each part is connected to that around them! b) Turn and read Gen 2:7 c) I Thess 5:23 d) Body – relates to the environment; soul – relates to others and our unique personality. Spirit part of us that relates to God 2. Lost/fall - this is what happened to mankind at the fall and the state we were in before we were saved. This shows our depravity a) At the fall man was depraved, that means he was corrupted from his original design. Man has been totally depraved! (1) Total depravity does not mean that man is as rotten as he can be. (2) Total depravity means that every part of man’s being (his body, soul and spirit) has been touched by corruption. b) Turn and read Gen 2:16-17 – something died that day and it was not their bodies or souls but rather their spirits. (1) Death does not mean the cessation of life but rather separation from life! (2) Listen to Eccl 9 description of the dead, read 9:5-6 (a) Simply they no longer share or participate in what is taking place here on earth. (b) We know physically when a person dies their body stops functioning but their life (soul and spirit) does not cease but continues on either in heaven or hell. (c) And the same way when Adam died spiritually and we were born spiritually dead, that meant we are separated from God and unable to share and participate in the things of God. c) Turn and read Gen 5:1,3 – since Adam, everyone that has been born has been born in Adam’s image – that is the image of God but corrupted in every part of his being. (1) Sin entered into man’s body and began the process of death in his body. Rom 6 teaches us that the body is the place where sin operates and dwells. Rom 7 teaches us that this body is dead when it comes to doing God’s will – unable to obey God. (2) Sin impacted his soul so that man’s mind, will and emotions have been corrupted. Note on slide (3) Man’s spirit is dead and is at heart a sinner. (a) Read Rom 5:12 - because of Adam - all died (b) Rom 5:19a - because of Adam - all became sinners (4) The Bible calls that our old self/man and who we are in Adam d) Remember we just learned in Eph 4:17 that the lost have a futile mind that operates apart from God and His Word. 3. Saved a) This slide speaks to the way we are as a new creation in Christ. Read 2 Cor 5:17 b) To be saved, a person’s spirit must be born again – read John 3:3. Gospel opportunity c) Rom 5:19b -because of Jesus - all believers became righteous! d) Now our spirit is made holy and righteous - read Eph 4:24 e) Eph 4, Rom 6 and Col 3 calls this our new self f) You are no longer just a sinner saved by grace but rather a saint transformed by grace. g) But as saved people, our bodies and souls stay the same. h) And this defines our core problem – we are saved people living in an unsaved body! We are brand new creatures at the core of our being who are separately linked to a fallen flesh! 4. The ministry of the Spirit is simply to make me holy – that is called sanctification. Listen to Gal 5:16 a) Dismantle sin in me, that is in my body, that is my flesh! Turn and read Rom 8:13 - keep open because we will come back b) Fill us with resurrected life to overcome the deadness of our bodies and give us the ability to obey God. Turn and read Rom 8:10-11 c) The Spirit also is the one who defeats Satan in our lives. Read 1 Jn 4:4 d) And the Spirit of Jesus is the Guardian and Shepherd of our souls! Read 1 Pet 2:25 5. Walk by the Spirit a) Read definitions on left side of slide b) We already learned that we do not have the ability to do God’s will. Death is the ultimate weakness, impotence, inability, emptiness, powerlessness! c) So when I depend upon everything that I inherited from Adam – body and soul to overcome sin or do God’s will I am walking in the flesh and I fail every time. d) But when I depend upon the indwelling Spirit of Jesus He overcomes sin and can do God’s will in and through me! Turn and read Rom 8:2-4. e) I need to transfer my trust from myself to the One who lives in me! My dependence is not upon myself but the One who lives in me. Read Gal 2:20 f) But to be clear I am not talking about being passive. (1) We should not consider the engagement of my soul and body as in opposition to walking by the Spirit but rather as complementary! (2) We tend to go to extremes in either depending upon Spirit and not engaging our soul and bodies or depending upon our souls and bodies but not engaging the Spirit. (3) This is depending upon the Spirit as the source and I engage my soul and body as the resource to dismantle sin and empower me to do God’s will! g) If we are to trust Christ will work in us, why are there so many commands in the Bible telling us how we should live? When I read command verses, I take it that is my responsibility to obey. (1) Yes it is my responsibility to obey those verses but the way I do it is by turning to and trusting the Spirit of Jesus to enable me to obey in a manner that is pleasing to Him. (2) Phil 2:12-13 (3) Heb 13:20-21 • Now let me close by just directly quoting some of the things III. Watchman Nee says about these things! A. Love the way he starts the book where he lays out his premise for the normal Christian life: 1. What is the normal Christian life? 2. We learn it is something very different from the life of the average Christian. 3. Indeed a consideration of the Word of God – of the Sermon on the Mount for example – should lead us to ask whether such a life has ever in fact been lived upon earth, save only by the Son of God Himself! But in the last saving clause lies the answer to our question. 4. The Apostle Paul gives us his own definition of the Christian life in Gal 2:20. It is “no longer I, but Christ” I live no longer, but Christ lives His life in me. a) In all of God’s dealing with us, He works by taking us out of the way and substituting Christ in our place. The Son of God died instead of us for our forgiveness and He lives instead of us for our deliverance. b) So we can speak of 2 substitutions – a substitute on the cross who secures our forgiveness and a substitute within us who secures our victory! B. Listen to just a few more key quotes from his chapter on the Spirit! 1. To live in the flesh is to do something “out from” myself as in Adam. It is to derive strength from the old natural sources of life that I inherited from him. Living in the Spirit means that I trust the Holy Spirit to do in me what I could not do myself! a) It is not a matter of trying but of trusting! 2. We think of the Christian life as a “changed life” but it is not that. What God offers us is an “exchanged life” a “substituted life” and Christ is our substitute within! 3. Now what is the law of sin and death? a) If someone passes an unkind remark about me, at once something goes wrong inside of me. That is not the law of sin, that is sin. But if when different people pass unkind remarks, the same “something” goes wrong inside, then I discern a law within – law of sin! Like the law of gravity, it is something that is constant and always works the same. b) Now as to the law of death – death as we have said, is weakness produced to its limit. Weakness is “I cannot.” Now if when I try to please God in this particular matter I find I cannot, and if when I try to please Him in that other thing I again find I cannot, then I discern a law at work. c) There is not only sin in me, but a law of sin! And there is not only death in me but a law of death! How can I be delivered from the constant repetition of weakness and failure? d) The law is there, but another law superior to it is operating to overcome it, namely the law of life. e) God delivers us from one law by introducing another law. The law of sin and death is there all the time, but God has put another law into operation – the law of the Spirit of life in Christ, and that law is strong enough to deliver us from the law of sin and death! f) The law of life in Christ – the resurrection life that is in Him has met death in all its forms and triumphed over it! 4. Let me close with this one – why do men use willpower to try to please God? a) They may be born again and the life is there, but they have not learned to trust in that life! b) It is no longer a question of our will but of His life! C. This is me now and not Watchman - you have heard me say this before – the way we are saved is the same way we walk with Christ! We are saved by transferring our trust from ourselves to what Jesus did for us on the cross. We walk by transferring our trust from ourselves to what Jesus will do in my heart. 1. Whether we walk by the Spirit or walk by the flesh is all the difference between: joy and frustration, fruitfulness or bareness, praise or discouragement! Between rivers of living water flowing out of your heart and just a drip of the Spirit, experiencing the surpassing greatness of the power of God or constant defeat!

hubhopper

Moraine Valley Church

hubhopper