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Ephesians Week 5
Welcome to the coastline podcast. We exist as a church to help connect you to God and the people around you, to help you grow in your faith, and to challenge you to go into your community sharing the love of Christ. Three things. Connect, grow, go. If you'd like information on what is going on at coastline, follow us on Instagram and Facebook, or email us at hello@coaselinensb.com We're finishing off a series we started a few weeks ago called Ephesians, in which we discussed this letter that the Apostle Paul sends out to the early church. And he sends it in such a way as it's supposed to be an encouragement as they're being built up as they're starting out. There's some adjustment along the way, and there's a charge in how to live. Not even as a church, but also as individuals in our families. It's this beautiful letter of a good, loving, and caring coach, trying to help out the church that's to be. And it comes from a place from a guy, Paul, you got to understand, where he didn't have it together before. He was actually going the wrong way when it came to his faith. He was persecuting Christians. But one moment, Jesus creates such an adjustment in his life that he goes from persecuting to promotion of. And he tells people about if I can make this 180 degree change, because of Jesus, what can Jesus do in you? And so my hope is that through this series you've maybe felt that charge or felt that freedom to be able to make the changes in your life. That maybe there's been some things that the Holy Spirit of God's been working on you and adjusting in you and setting up in you for your purpose and for what's ahead. Today as we finish up this, as we finish up this message, I'm reminded that sometimes the things that you say last matter, the final part in the chapter matters. How you finish, how you finish matters. And so we're going to jump into this last part of this last chapter in Ephesians, chapter six, we're going to start in verse 10 I believe. But before we do that, I want to address something. One of the things that I fight very hard to do at Coastline is to not communicate about politics from the stage. And mostly because I don't feel that charge from Christ himself. I feel a charge to talk about sin. I feel a charge to talk about the direction of your life. I feel the charge to go make disciples and build the church and encourage one another. But I don't ever see in the Bible where Jesus tells me to pick one side or the other or attack another side. I think that the church should be in unity when it comes to following Jesus. You guys agree with this? I don't say this next out of any picking a side, but yesterday as I'm watching my television and seeing what's happening in the world, my heart, my heart is saddened and broken because of seeing the brokenness in our world. Today, if you look at the news, it doesn't matter which side of the aisle you sit. I think we can all be unified under one thing that we live in a world that is broken and that needs Jesus and that evil is very much at work. And I know and I hope that the Lord will use us as followers to shine a light of love into a dark world that we're in and that he would use us to fight the evil strategies of the enemy. And so under that, my hope is as we jump into this last part of this letter to the Church of Ephesians that we would be unified under the fact that all of us are at war and fighting in a spiritual fight, in a spiritual battle. And as much as I love living in this country where we feel like we're at peace and we feel like we're free, I know spiritually there's still attacks of the enemy that are happening. I think as one Church, as one body, my hope is to let Paul speak to us and prepare us for what's to come. Under that, let me pray for us. Jesus, I thank you so much for what you've done. Jesus, above any political affiliation, above anything, politics at all. God, I know you are the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. And you have the ability to affect and the ability to lead beyond anyone could. As Joshua says, we must choose today who we're going to serve and Jesus, we choose you. So show us the way during this difficult time. We've got to pray for those who lead our nations and the people that will lead here in the up-becoming election. We've got to pray for protection. We've got to pray that something spiritually would be adjusted in this country and that we would be a country that continues to not just be founded in a pursuit of you but to continue pursuing you. And I thank you for what's coming. Jesus, let me pray. Amen. Amen. Yeah. Before we jump into this book of Ephesians, I mean reading of the word, I do want to take a quick second and dismiss the middle schoolers. Middle schoolers, thank you so much for hanging out with us and doing worship with us. I think it's important for young people to experience worship and see what's about but I think it's also good for them to go away and kind of connect with one another and learn on their own. Also, if you're here today and you've got a small child man, we're a family church and so, man, if there's disruptions, it's no big deal. But I do want to let you know that we've got a kick butt kids ministry in the back. We've got some great ladies that have got lots of experience. We've got some ladies that have got more experience than I've got years of my life. And so, if you think you've got a difficult kid or whatever, I promise you, they've seen it all. But if you want to, this is a good time for you to allow your kids to be minister and you come in and kind of be minister too as well. Today, I'm excited for this because as we finish up, as we conclude this series in Ephesians, I'm reminded about the last words that we say in any message. I think that, like I prelude to a second ago, the things you say last matter. And sometimes, for me, this can be a foot in the mouth moment, right? I'll have conversations with some people and important people in the world. People in our community, people like even the principal here at the high school, like I'm conducting business and trying to hold myself to be a professional. And it doesn't matter that in everything that you sit in the front end, if you finish it poorly, that's what they're going to remember, right? I heard a comedian say a joke something like this one time where, and I know this to be true because that's happened to me, but you ever get to that point where you finish the conversation and you go to say something like, "Take care." But your mind, all of a sudden, switches and says, "No, I'm going to say good luck." But you mess it up because you end up saying something like, "Take luck and care for it." Right? Just completely messing it up. And that's the thing that people are left with. Well, the Apostle Paul, he is very thoughtful in his last words to the Church in Ephesus. After all this communication, after all this encouraging and charging and changing, he chooses his words very carefully in this last part of the chapter. In Ephesians chapter 6, verse 10, he starts out with this. He lets Moses, then he says a final word. Be strong. Look at your neighbor say, "Be strong." Now look at your other neighbor, the person that you chose second, that wasn't most important in the moment. Look at them and say, "Be strong." Say it like you're strong. Say it with some boldness. Be strong, right? Yeah, like that. I kind of felt like the Rick flair. Be strong. Be strong. He's encouraging them one last time. He said, "Be strong." And then he stops and he says, "In the Lord and in his mighty power." In one sentence, he communicates this like, "Have confidence, but know where your confidence comes from." Then it comes from being in the Lord and the power that you have access to is based off of the power that he has. This morning, I woke up and you guys ever wake up and you feel like you're just a little bit weak, like things just aren't, like you don't have the energy that you once had, right? I talked to a guy earlier and he said, "Yeah, Brian, that's called getting old, right? Don't feel like it's there anywhere, right? You don't have to have that second gear." At some point, I feel like I'm losing power a little bit, right? Try to get some caffeine or some C4 or some ghost energy drink or whatever it is you got. At some point though, we got to understand as Christians that when it comes to the thing that can get us through life and get us through what we're going through, the power doesn't come from us. The power doesn't come from our meditation or our planning or finances. The power comes from God most high. So he tells him, he says, "Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power." He says, "Put on all of God's armor so that you will be able to stand firm." It gets all the strategies of the devil. If we were not fighting against flesh and blood enemies, but against evil and rulers and authorities of the unforeseen world, it gets mighty powers in the dark world and against the evil spirits in the heavenly places. One thing I felt like Holy Spirit was telling me while I was reading that is that for some of you, you and your spouse need to hear this. Hear the apostle Paul is telling the church that sometimes the things that you fight, they're not the physical. They're not each other. Sometimes when you and your spouse are fighting or arguing about something, it's not what you think it is. But that it could be maybe the enemy coming in and trying to create division in your home because he knows if there's division, there's a lot more that he can come in and do. So for sometimes I think what we need to do as husbands and as wives, we need to stop in the moment and ask ourselves like, "Wait, I'm on your side and you're on my side." And the Bible says that we're united into one. And so what are we really fighting about? If it's finances, let's fight about our finances. If it's something else, let's fight about that, let's be on the same team and fight it together. But here specifically, the apostle Paul is saying that when it comes to the fight to stand firm against the battle that's waging in the spiritual world. I love where we live right now. We've been in a time of peace. It's one of the things where there's not a lot of chaos necessarily going on in the world of what there could be. I think sometimes in time of peace, it's easy to get a little comfortable with how things are. And here I think the apostle Paul is trying to communicate to the church. He says, "Hey, don't get comfortable. Be on guard. Get ready for a fight. Get ready for the battle." He says, "Stand firm and put on all of God's armor." When I was studying this this past week, there was a picture that came to me of this mighty warrior in armor. And specifically when he's talking to the people in Ephesians, he's communicating about this armor. He's talking about six pieces of armor that would have been seen by people in that day as what the Romans would wear. The Roman soldiers, the Roman centurians, the Roman guards, they would wear this armor specifically to protect and to help them in time of battle. And when I thought of this picture, there's a picture that came up to mind. It kind of reminds me a lot of myself and it was this picture right here. You can go ahead and hit it. Yeah, it's Brad Pitt in Thor, right? Brad, thanks for letting us use your image. This will be on YouTube later. Please don't sue me. I don't have any money. Me and Brad, we got, I mean, it's pretty much spinning image. Like we could pull this, well, maybe not. We got eyes and arms and a great physique. But these parts of the armor, this chestplate that they would wear and this helmet that they would use to protect their heads in time of the shield that they would carry and how they would wield it. The sword that they would pull out and use in offense, even all the way down to the shoes that they would wear and the shin guards that would help them in times of battle. The Apostle Paul uses this to communicate how we spiritually should be bolstering ourselves, preparing ourselves for the fights that we face in the spiritual world. So he says, put on and stand firm. In Ephesians chapter 13, he says, therefore, put on, look at your neighbor, say put on, put on every piece of God's armor so that you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle, you will still be standing firm. So he tells him, he says, put on all of the pieces. He doesn't say just pick one. He doesn't say pick your favorite, pick the two that are best for you. He says, put on all of the armor of God and prepare for what's to come. This idea of putting on, I got an illustration from another pastor. He was talking about how every one of us this morning, as we go to prepare ourselves to come to church, we've got to put on our clothes, right? None of us just stood in front of the closet and says, okay, I'm here and ready. There was some effort that you had to do. For me, I walk to my dresser and I pull out the one pair of jeans that I wear because I only wear jeans on Sundays. I'm not wearing jeans anywhere else because I live in Florida and it's dang hot. The one pair of jeans I have and I go to my closet and I look at this sea of colors of Columbia shirts, whole spectrum, whatever you just feel whatever you pull. Pull one out, put it on. I look in the mirror, do my hair. I've put in some effort for today. I think when it comes to this, the apostle Paul is trying to communicate, he says, hey, what comes next? When it comes to the preparation of this battle, when it comes to the wars that you're facing spiritually, there's going to require some effort. You're not just going to be able to like, boom, magically make it happen. You're going to have to take action and step up, put in some effort daily. Verse 14, he goes on, he says, stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God's righteousness. Here specifically, he's talking about two parts of the armor. He says a belt, communicates a belt. This would be the belt that would hold the tools that the warrior or the Romans would wear. It would also hold their clothing together. I wear a belt every day. I'm in the midst of going through a little bit of a diet right now trying to lose a little bit of weight. I do not have the butt to keep my pants up all the time, so I've got to wear a belt. If I had a dollar for every time, my kid said, dad, you've got to pull up your pants. We'd be buying a church right now. We'd have property, it'd be great. So anytime something happens, I really got to do something. My honeydew list is getting longer, and I've got to work it out. What do I do? I step up, pull my pants up, I tighten my belt, and I get ready. I bring it all in for what's ahead. I think specifically in this, when he's talking about the, he says, putting on the belt of truth, some of the other translations say tightening the belt of truth. The truth is understanding that man, you are a child of God. The truth is understanding that when it comes to this war that we're going to fight, when it comes to eternity, the battle is already one that Jesus already paid the price. Amen? There's something about the confidence of tightening in and drawing in closer in relationship to Jesus. The truth is remembering that he's in control. So he says, tightening the belt of truth and pulling in the body armor of God's righteousness. Paul talks about righteousness, and I think that sometimes when I went to church when I was younger, I mistook righteousness for rules. Anybody ever get that a little bit? I don't know about you, but maybe it's living in Florida and Florida people. We're just naturally rebellious, right? We're not really like, we're kind of go with the flow of whatever our flow is, but when people tell you, it's like, I don't know about that. And so I remember being on the fence with my faith and just attending church and thinking that, man, sometimes this is all about rules. And now as I get a little bit older, what I look back and see in a different perspective is not so much rules that God is trying to get us to follow as much as righteousness as he's trying to get us to pursue. That holiness, that cleansing, that oneness with him. Because I think if we will commit ourselves to righteousness, to living righteously, when it comes to the enemy trying to attack us, we're going to be a lot more strengthened. Specifically here Paul talks about righteousness being this breastplate, being this armor that covers the core of your body. I think when it comes to us pursuing Jesus, one of the things that we need to remember is when it comes to standing apart and not conforming to the pattern of this world, it's not for the sake of following rules, but it is for the sake of righteousness. We will not conform, but we will be transformed than when we see the attacks of the enemy for what they truly are. Paul says, "Tighten your belts, the belt of truth, understand what's already been promised. Cover your core, you put on the breastplate that is righteousness. Live righteously in preparation for this." In verse 15 he goes on, he says, "For shoes put on peace that comes from the good news so that you will be fully prepared." When it comes to shoes and my wardrobe, I got two looks, okay? One is dad, I mean I've always got dad bod look. But I got like the dad shoes, they look a lot like potatoes. You've seen them before, they're like not flattering at all. You like mow the grass in them, you do chores around the house in them, but you try to get in the car with your wife and she says, "Excuse me, what are you wearing? You guys got those shoes?" But if you don't know if you have those shoes or not, dads go home and if it has an end on this side and says new balance, you got dad shoes, okay? New balance, don't sue me, I don't have any money. I've got that and I've got rainbow flip flops, this is what I got. A couple months ago at the condo I was working on, I managed, they were going through a concrete restoration program. And during that time you had the safety officers for the company that was there that would come on site and they would have a safety meeting. Anybody here working construction you have a safety meeting before? Those are fun, right? Said no one ever. This guy shows up, he's wearing a clear green hard hat and he looks at me as I'm standing amongst all the workers in my shorts and my rainbow sandals. He says, "Sir, those are not OSHA approved." He says, "You're right, they definitely are not." He says, "You're not ready for being on this job site." I look around and every person is wearing steel toed boots, tightened down, ready to do work. Luckily enough, I'm not part of the crew so I was able to get away with it. But when it comes time to do in battle, the foundation of what you are on matters. Having the right shoes matters. Spiritually, specifically here, the apostle Paul equates these shoes, these sandals, these protection of the feet. He equates it to the peace that comes from the good news. Peace is a big deal. I was talking to you earlier when it comes to the people that lead our country. Ultimately, I think when it comes down to it, we need to put our faith and trust and have peace of knowing that God is the one that's going to lead us. That God knows what's coming. And here's the thing, if you don't like what's going on politically, I'm going to tell you, it's okay. It's alright, but don't argue with each other about it. If you think about Jesus when Jesus started his ministry, when the church started to grow miraculously, the world that they lived in wasn't going according to what they wanted. Jews from the Israelites were under Roman control, Roman occupation. It was not even close to what they wanted. But they stopped and they had faith and they trusted and they found peace and knowing that God Almighty was in control. And that God was going to lead them. And that God was going to take them to the next step. And that God was going to show them the way that God had a plan, even when their plan wasn't working out the way they thought it would. Find peace in the good news that as God is in control, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Verse 16, he continues on, he says, "In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil." Man, the shield, when it comes to armor, if I was wearing armor right now, one of the things that would be the heaviest is the shield. It would have taken effort to bring it into battle. There would have been some action that needed to take place, some strength that would have been needed to be, because it's not when you go into battle with the shield and you're not like dragging it behind you, right? You don't see these guys like dragging it on a leash or no, no. They've got it on their arm and they're raising it up. They're putting it into action. Specifically, I think that the Apostle Paul is communicating to the church that when it comes to your faith, you need to put it into action. When it comes to your faith, it's not about identifying saying, "Ah, I'm a warrior. See, I've got a shield. I'm going to put out my back or I'm going to drag it behind me. I'm going to have it when I need to pull out and look like I'm a warrior." He says, no, he says, "Hold up. Put into effort your faith. Trust in the Lord God." Faith is not a destination or identification. I think faith is a direction and faith is an action. One of the things that we don't talk about a whole lot about here at coastline, or I teach maybe once or twice a year about it, is generosity specifically through tithe and offerings. Tithe is this Old Testament idea of going and taking 10% of what God has provided for you in a week or a time period and returning it back to him by giving it to the church and giving it to allow him to use it the way that he wants to continue to further the church. Jesus, he doesn't talk about tithe and the New Testament. He takes it a step further and he talks about generosity, which I believe is beyond that. He says, let's take the legalistic out of it, but let's be generous. Specifically, the reason that we give opportunity every week though is not to make people feel bad or make people sensitive. This is something that people get very sensitive about. And for good reason, because there's been pastors all over America, all over the world that have taught about it poorly and have used it in a wrong way. But the beauty about it, the thing that I love about it, the thing that even gets me in trouble is I try to communicate teach people like this is a weekly opportunity for you to exercise your faith. This is a weekly opportunity for you to say, you know what, Jesus? I'm going to have bills next week. I'm going to have bills this week, I'm going to have bills next month. This 10%, this could be a big deal. This is something I could put on. This could help me catch up. But I'm going to choose to have my faith in you, not my finances. I'm going to give it to you. It's a physical step of faith. It requires you to take action. You know the funny thing is I would say probably 98% of the people which I don't know who or what or anything like that. But there's some things that I know about 98% of the people at coastline that worship regularly through their generosity. They've been doing it regularly for a long time. Because at some point they understood that, like, if I trust in God first, God will show up every time. If I put my faith into action this week, I know God's going to show up this week and next week and beyond. Hold up the shield of faith. Take action in your faith. When the Holy Spirit tells you to say a kind word or encourage someone that you normally wouldn't and have faith in trusting him and doing step out. If the Holy Spirit puts it on your heart to pay for that lady's meal or that guy's meal and the drive-through behind you, it's not something you would normally do. Maybe that's the Holy Spirit speaking to you. Maybe it's time to put your faith in action to hold up the shield of faith and allow yourself to continue to trust in him even when it doesn't make sense to the rest of the world. Hold up the shield of faith. Lastly in Ephesians chapter 6 for 17, he says, "Put on salvation as your helmet and take the sword of the Spirit," which is the Word of God. That helmet of salvation, understanding that, man, the price has already been paid. No matter what danger you get through if you trust in him, if you have faith in Jesus, if you declare him as your own personal Lord and Savior, he's going to watch out for you, he's going to protect you. But then Paul uses this last thing after talking about this helmet of salvation. He talks about the one part and the tool, the arsenal, the tools that they have that can be used on the offense. And he calls it the Word of God, the sword of the Spirit. I believe this communication, he's talking about the Scripture that they can return to, the Scripture that they can use. For us it would be the Bible, the Old and the New Testament. Ever grown up in church and thinking, "Well, part of being a Christian is I've got to..." It's one of the things I'm obligated to do, I've got to wake up and I've got to read the Bible. It's something I've got to do every day, it's part of the rules. Here the apostle Paul, he says, "It's not the Word isn't about an obligation." He says, "The world is a weapon, or the Word, the Word of God is a weapon." And just like any other weapon, the more you use it, the better you will get at it. The more you exercise it, the better you get at it. We've got a gentleman in the church that he runs a jujitsu school, I think is what it is. I couldn't even spell it if I needed to, but he's a bad man in JAMA. He's the guy where anybody starts getting a little crazy, like I'm going to give him a look and he's going to put that person in a pretzel and that's that, right? But if you were to ask him about jujitsu and about the type of wrestling and stuff that he does, he would tell you this is something that is, that if you don't use it, you will lose it. If you don't continue to train, if you don't continue, it's something that you will get less, you will not be as good as when you first started. You will continue to weaken, but if you stay training, if you stay in it, you stay strong, you can defend yourself, you can do the moves that you need to do. It's the same thing when it comes to the word. If you'll stay in the word, if you'll continue in your time of devotion, it's not an obligation. It's an opportunity. It's not an obligation. It's an opportunity. Don't miss out on the opportunity to continue to hone your skills and use the Word of God. And lastly, he communicates this. I believe this is the way that we apply it all. This is the way that we start the day in putting on the full armor of God. He says in Ephesians chapter 6 verse 18, He says, "Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere." He says, "Pray, stay alert." He goes on after this, not just talking about just praying for yourself, but he also says, "Pray for others." He specifically asks the church after coaching them and teaching them and encouraging them. He says, "Please be praying for me." In Ephesians chapter 6 verse 19, he says, "And pray for me to ask God to give me the right words so I can boldly explain God's mysterious plan that the good news is for the Jews and the Gentiles alike. I am in chains now, still preaching this message as God's ambassador, so pray that we'll keep on speaking boldly for him as I should." He tells the church, he says, "Church, pray. Pray that the armor of God will be placed on you. Pray and continue to draw in tighter and closer in relationship to Jesus. Pray and be in the Word, but don't just stop there. He says, "Pray for those around you." I'm going to challenge you to this church. If you're going to talk about politics to the people around you, if you're going to be passionate about politics, you better be praying for your political leaders. Because prayer will work. Prayer has the ability to affect. The Apostle Paul, he says, "You need to be praying for you because it will charge you to keep you alert, but he also says, "Pray for me. Pray for your leader." Because I know if you pray for me, then God will work through that too. I believe that prayer works. Whether it's local government, whether it's national government, whatever, be praying for those in leadership. Even if you don't agree with them, be praying for them. We live in a country that was founded on the freedom to follow our faith in God Almighty. I think he got us here. He can get us through what we're going through. Be praying. The last thing I want to do is this. There's a term that gets used in churches that I don't use very often. It's something I'm not fully educated on it. It's called liturgy. It's a time in which the church as a whole or as one body come together and communicates in unison. Unison, I don't know what that is. Unison, one message, one call, one prayer. And Paul, he ends his time of teaching and education and encouraging. He sends them off with this that I would like for us to repeat as well. We might not do it as easy in unison. But as the band comes up and as we get ready to worship, I wonder if you guys will stand with me all across this place. And we're going to put this scripture up. It's Ephesians chapter 6 verse 23 and 24. That is not it. You got 23 and 24 up there? This might not work out as well as I thought it was going to do. It's funny how sometimes you got a plan. Sometimes that's not how it works out, huh? Is it there? Ephesians chapter 6, 23 and 24. I was trying to pull it up on the phone. That's 21 and 23. Do we got 23 and 24? Flash me a no or something if we don't. Is that no or is that a yes? No, we don't have it. Okay. Well, I want to read it to you. If you got a phone, I don't know if I ever told you about the Bible app before. But you can pull that up right now if you want to. And I'm going to pull it up right now as before I read it. It's Ephesians. We're going to be in chapter 6. We're going to go all the way down to the bottom. Verse 23. The possepost says this. If you've got it open, you can read it with me. If you don't, just say watermelon over and over people who think that you know what you're talking about. Peace be with you, dear brothers and sisters. And may God, the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, give you love with faithfulness. May God's grace be eternally upon all who love our Lord Jesus Christ. My prayer and hope for you today is that you would experience the love and faithfulness of Lord God Almighty. And that His grace would fall upon you and that you would experience peace that only comes from Him as we go into this next week. Let me pray for you. Heavenly Father, I thank you so much for all that you're doing in our lives. God, we say in every aspect that you are in complete control. And today as we hear about this full armor of God, I pray that when we start the day tomorrow, as we start this week off, that we would wake up each day and that we would understand that there's spiritual war going on. And that we would allow you to step in and show us the way. Help us to hone our skills and be into the Word. Our mind is to stay in prayer always and to be connecting with you. God, I pray that as we do these things, as we battle, God, I pray that you would show us how to be a light and a dark place. When it comes to our leaders, when it comes to the brokenness that's in the world, God, I pray that your love would shine through us and would change the world that we're in. I thank you so much for what's to come. And Jesus, name me, pray. Everybody say amen. As always, coastline, know that you are loved and that the best is yet to come.