We were once spiritually dead due to our sins, but God's rich mercy and grace brought us new life. This emphasizes the transformative power of God's love and the undeserved nature of our salvation.
Notes for this sermon: https://bit.ly/4f2xk4c
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LIFE Church
Ephesians, The Radiant Church Part 2
We were once spiritually dead due to our sins, but God's rich mercy and grace brought us new life. This emphasizes the transformative power of God's love and the undeserved nature of our salvation.Notes for this sermon: https://bit.ly/4f2xk4cWebsite | https://lifechurchww.comFacebook | https://facebook.com/lifechurchwwInstagram | https://instagram.com/lifechurchwwVida Music | https://vidamsc.com
- Duration:
- 46m
- Broadcast on:
- 14 Jul 2024
- Audio Format:
- mp3
(upbeat music) - Thanks for listening to the Life Church podcast. We hope you enjoy this message. For more information about Life Church, visit lifechurchwww.com. - Are you glad to be in church today? Who's glad to be in church today? I'm glad to be in church today. You know, yesterday we witnessed something that as a nation that will be marked in our thinking for our lives. Watching the attempted assassination of President Trump. And it's something that the church responds in two ways. And I thought that we could do that today. And that would be that we respond with a spirit of prayer and faith for our nation again. And we're gonna pray today. We're gonna pray for the continued safety of President Trump. We're gonna pray for the continued safety of President Biden. We are going to pray for the families and the victims of those who are either in critical condition or lost their life yesterday. And we're gonna pray for revival in America again. (audience applauds) It's one of those things to witness that it takes me back to high school when President Ronald Reagan was shot. And that was marked in my mind at that juncture. And some of you are older and you go back even farther. And you remember when Kennedy was shot or you remember Martin Luther King Jr. And these marked our nation and they marked you. And this is one of those moments that marks our nation and my prayer is wakes up our nation. And that we get awakened again. And I think of scriptures like this, before I get into God's word, I want us to pray. But I want us to respond to what happened in our nation yesterday with these couple of scriptures, second chronicle seven. If my people, so he talks to us first, and you know, we're joining literally millions of other Christians in our nation and around the world, my expectation is, are being led in prayer by their pastor today. And that's at least my hope. And he said, my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways. So where does God point the finger first? He shines the light first on his church. And he says, how about you guys turn from your wicked ways rather than point your finger? And he said, then what I'm gonna do is, is if my church will be humble and she'll repent, I'll hear from heaven and I will forgive their sins and then what will he do? I'll restore the land. I'll restore the land. And Paul wrote to Timothy in the New Testament and he said, I urge you first of all to pray for all people. So that's what we're doing. And ask God to help them intercede on their behalf and give thanks for them. Pray this way for kings. So you pray this way for those who are in leadership and all who are in authority. So that be locally and state and, you know, and our federal government. So that we can live, why? So that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity. So this is how I would like us to start today. I wanted us to pray with our family online as well and in this room. And if you'd be so willing to stand with me as we pray and let's pray for these things that I've mentioned and let's pray for the healing of God on our nation again. Will you, will you pray with me today? Father, we lift up America to you and God, we read these scriptures and we start by just saying, God, we humble ourselves before you. And we ask God forgiveness upon your church. We ask for repentance upon your church that we would turn from our wicked ways, where we have bought into the spirit of the age and played by the enemy's rules rather than by yours. And God, we ask for your continued safety over President Trump and over President Biden. We ask that the angels of heaven would guard around and about them. And we pray for the victims' families, those who are either in critical condition or the loss that I last have heard of one person's life. And we ask for the comfort of God. We ask for people to turn to you. We ask that God that you would do something in America again that would bring a peace to our nation and would destroy every plan of the enemy that has been in works now for quite some time. We're asking that God that you would use this situation to awaken America again to their need for God. We pray for revival, we pray for repentance, we pray God for the church to be awakened, we pray for reformation in America. And we pray God that you God would provide really a covering over our nation and over all its leaders. And that God that they would be led by you. We pray God that the leaders in America, that God that they, even if they believe something different than what you want them to believe somehow, they'll be led by you, they'll vote differently that we're asking God for a move of God in America again. We pray for another great awakening. And we thank you that you say in the scripture that when we will pray that you will hear from heaven and you will restore the land. So we pray for peace in America. We pray peace in America. We pray that the violence will end. And we pray that the people of God will pray. And we'll pray a sweeping in of revival in this nation again in Jesus' name. And oh God's people said amen, amen. Go ahead and high five somebody and you may be seated. God's not done with America. God's not done, God's not done. Thank you for praying. Well, I have the great privilege of continuing in a series that we are doing in the book of Ephesians. If you're new to church, welcome to this series. We just started it last week. Ephesians is a book in the New Testament and it is six chapters long. And so we are taking it chapter by chapter over the summer and we are looking at one chapter a week. And last weekend I've had the privilege of beginning the series in Ephesians with chapter one and giving its backdrop. If you were not here or were unable to listen to that message, I would encourage you to go and hear all the history in the backdrop and the context of this book so that you understand all of what we are reading together and talking about chapter by chapter. But just for a matter of recap really quickly, a guy by the name of the Apostle Paul wrote this letter in a prison house arrest in Rome. It was a city that he was very familiar with, that he had went to on a couple of different occasions in Acts chapter 18 and 19. You see him going there on his second missionary journey and with a couple by the name of Priscilla and Aquila. And then you will see him go there again on his third missionary journey where he will spend three years of his life in this city. This city is modern day Turkey. There was about a half a million people there at that given time. Would be a city similar to Los Angeles today, very beautiful city, a city that people wanted to frequent. And this was a modern day picture of it. Let's all go on vacation together here. And this is a city that Paul absolutely loved. But a great move of God happened here when you see the church being birthed where people, because they worship so many different gods, 50 different gods by the way, in this area. In fact, one of the most well known was worshiped at the Temple of Diana or Artemis. It's another way that you could say it. And so because of all of the sorcery and the darkness and the different worship of wrong gods, Paul had a revival there. He confronted wrongful worship and people brought all their dark, dark, sorcery, magic books and they had a bonfire and it totaled in what today's numbers would be millions of dollars. So there was a lot of wrong worship and Paul begins to speak the truth of God's word to these people. And so I'd like you to see with me the beginning of Ephesians chapter two. And here we begin in verse one. Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. I love how the Apostle Paul begins chapter two because he just pulls no punches and he just lets you know right now, you were really good sinners. You were really good sinners. You used to live in sin just like the rest of the world obeying the devil, the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. All of us used to live that way following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature, we were subject to God's anger just like everyone else. But God, will you say those two words with me? But God is so rich in mercy and he loved us so much that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. It is only by God's grace that you have been saved where he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us. As shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus. God saved you by his grace when you believed and you can't take credit for this. It is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done. So none of us can boast about it. For we're God's masterpiece. He's created us anew in Christ Jesus so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. Are you grateful for the word of God today? I am grateful for God's word. Here's what I need you to do. I pointed out two words there. I had you repeat them, but God. He talks about how dead we were, how sinful we were. And then he said, but God is rich in mercy. I'm gonna title this message today, but God, go ahead and give some hope to somebody around you and just tell them, but God. But God, my two favorite words when put together in scripture are but God. So the scriptures tell us, listen, all kinds of bad things go to happen, but God came in the midst of the situation. Paul the Apostle wants us to know that God came with rich mercy and with rich grace. So I'm talking on this subject, but God, here's the first thing that the Apostle Paul wants us to know is that God only saves dead people. God only saves dead people. Chapter two of Ephesians starts with some very offensive language. He does not start by saying, hey, God saved you because you were good. You were, you just, you grew up in church. No, no, no. He said, whether you grew up in church or not, you were dead. You were dead people because of your many sins. Not because you had a few sins or because you had a white lie one time or because you cheated on a test. You had all kinds of sins. No matter where you think you came from, he just lets us know God only saves dead people. Isn't that encouraging? It actually is because that means the worst of us, there's hope. It means the best of us have hope because whether you're the best of us or the worst of us, we were all dead, all right? So the only way to fully appreciate the grace of God is to fully understand how dead you are, is to fully understand our sinful nature and the justice of God. So there is one benefit of messing up your life royally. You appreciate the grace of God. You know that, man, I'm a pretty good sinner. God used, hear this, listen, God used a former racist slave owner to pin the words to, I believe, the most well-known, if not the most well-known, one of the most well-known Christian hymns of all time, amazing grace. Everybody knows amazing grace. Whether you're saved or not saved, people can sing amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a, tell your neighbor, you're a wretch, you're just a wretch. You're a wretch, but tell him, but God, but God. Find it interesting that God would use a former racist slave owner, and that man's ink. God, a song written in our hearts. And I'm not so sure we won't sing in heaven. In fact, that kind of thing we might. We get there and we just begin to sing. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found was blind, but now I see. He called it amazing. Now listen, if grace doesn't amaze you yet, you haven't had a clear view of your wretchedness yet. If you're not absolutely dumbfounded, amazed by the grace of God, thanking God on a regular basis, God, you're so amazing, your grace is amazing, then you really didn't understand how dead you were. We have to know, you know what? It's only by the amazing grace of God that I am what I am. The author of that, great hymn, penned these words at the end of his life because he was losing his memory, this is what he said. He said, "Although my memory's fading, "I remember two things very clearly. "I am a great sinner, and Christ is a great savior." Come all, say him into that today. (audience applauds) So God only saves dead people, and I don't mean like mostly dead princess bride dead. I mean fully dead people. He only saves fully dead people. What am I saying? He only saves people who actually know they need it. So if you're religious and you grew up in church and you think I'm a pretty good person, and God's gonna save me because I'm good. I'm not as bad as everybody else, which studies have been done. Everybody thinks they're not as bad as everybody else. Then you actually miss the grace of God. The grace of God is available to everybody who actually knows they need it. And the guy who penned this scripture in the book of Ephesians who also penned much of the New Testament writings, the Apostle Paul, he wrote this to a disciple of his by the name of Timothy. And he said, this is a trustworthy saying and everyone should accept it. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners and I'm the worst of them all. Now when Paul said it's trustworthy, he's letting you know I'm not exaggerating. I'm a pretty bad sinner. In fact, the way I view it, I'm the worst of everybody. Now, I don't know if that's actually true. I know that Paul was a religious guy and he was all about assassinating Christians or being behind Christians, being persecuted because that's what he believed was right, wrong, obviously, killing Christians, not a good thing, not really for that. But he believed, listen, I'm the worst of them all. And when he said everyone should accept it, I'm not so sure he was saying everyone should accept that I'm the worst of that all. I think everyone should accept this kind of thinking. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of which I'm the worst of them all. Every born-again believer in Jesus that receives the grace of God should be the most thankful and say, I'm the one who almost bankrupted heaven because I took almost all the grace for myself alone. I'm the worst of them all, but I'm grateful. That I think is what the Apostle Paul is attempting to let and to communicate and convey to us. So Ephesians begins in chapter two to help us see clearly how lost we were and how amazing the grace of God is. Say these words, but God, but God. All right, so but God only saves dead people. Here's another thing I want us to see out of Ephesians chapter two that he is letting us know in response to the but God, but God is merciful and gracious. Thank you, Jesus for that. Ephesians chapter two, again, verse four and eight. God it, but God is so rich in mercy. And mercy is God not giving us what we deserve. And if you had siblings when you grew up, you know that there were moments in time where somebody else got blamed for something you did, you didn't fess up, you didn't get what you deserved and you were grateful for the mercy of God or your little sneakiness, whatever it was. God's rich in mercy, which is not giving us what we deserve and what he loved us so much. He loved us so much. God saved you by his, what, I want you to say the word I got highlighted here. God saved you by his, what, by his? God saved you by his grace when you believed. All right, so here's what I want to talk about just for a moment, but God is so rich and mercy and he's gracious, not giving us what we deserve. Have you ever received something that you didn't think you deserved? I have for sure. I remember when I was in graduate school and I was taking one of my, it was the hardest class in graduate school for sure for me. In fact, all the way through the entire class, I'm trying to process the words that I'm reading to see if I can actually understand what I am putting in my sentences because I'm reading it. I'm having discussions online about it and I'm finishing my last paper. I'm finishing one of my last exam, finishing up reading the last stuff I need to read. It's around midnight. I have completed my assignment and I've written this paper, but I don't think I understand what I've written. You remember that in school? It's like, I used the words and I think I used them in the proper sentences, but I don't think I really fully understand what I wrote, so I'm pretty sure my professor's gonna say, "Bob, you don't have a clue what you're talking about. "You flunk the class, take it again." That's pretty much what I'm thinking. I hit sinned around midnight or a little after midnight, go to bed, pretty much figure tomorrow, I'm gonna hear from my professor, "You flunked, you need to take it over again." Well, I wake up the next day or two and go to my portal and check out and I'm like, "What is going on?" I got this different response from my professor. He's saying, "Listen, you did a great job on your paper. "Bob, Bob, Bob, great job on your test. "You get an A in the class." I'm glad it was online 'cause I'm going, I'm blushing, I don't deserve this grade. I don't deserve, I didn't cheat, but I didn't understand. I didn't understand it. I didn't get why my professor was saying what he was saying and I, to this day, still don't understand that class, but glad I didn't have to take it again. I'm like, "Man, I'm glad I didn't have to take that class again." I'll leave that level to the doctorate level people. I mean, like, you guys have had it in those kind of discussions. That class made me feel like I got something I didn't deserve. I think that's how we should feel about the grace of God. I don't fully understand it. I know I don't deserve it, but I'm so grateful, I got a passing grade. Is anybody grateful for the grace of God? I'm grateful, I didn't deserve it. Don't fully understand it, but I'll take it. I'll take it. I'm gonna give you a couple of quotes about the grace of God. Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones, the ultimate test of our spirituality is the measure of our amazement at the grace of God. Here's why, because the longer you live and the longer you have a relationship with God, the more you read about who God is, the more you discover the wonder of who God is, and the more you figure out how really wretched you are, the more you will be amazed at the grace of God. Hebrews says this out of chapter 13, do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines, but it's good that your heart be established by grace. You see, church, our hearts need to be established by the grace of God, not established by religion, not established by man-made rules, not established by you better buck up and try a little bit harder, but our hearts need to be established by the grace of God, which is an amazement on the goodness of the Lord and who he is, I don't deserve it. And then a Ephesians says that, or I'm gonna get to Ephesians right here on my next butt, God, and check this out in Ephesians chapter two. God saved you by his grace when you believed and you can't take credit for this. It is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we've done. Paul, this is as clear of a definition of what it means to be saved and grace. It is not a reward for the good things we've done. So none of us can boast about it. Here's another butt God that we need to get out of Ephesians chapter two. That the grace of God is a gift. It's a gift, you don't earn it, I don't earn it. It's a gift from God. Now, some of you are really amazing gift givers. That would be your language of love. When you wanna show love to somebody, you just think, oh, I wanna buy them this gift. In fact, some of you are already thinking about what you're gonna buy people for Christmas. Can I get on your list? That would be great. Gift giving is not my language of love. Since I have a gift of exhortation, words of encouragement is my number one language of love. So I like to encourage people, let people know that I love them by what I say to them and say about them. My wife, I don't know if it's her. I don't think it's her primary gift, but she definitely has it, the gift of giving. And my kids are eternally grateful because they get presents for Christmas and their birthdays. In fact, it's so obvious that mom is the gift giver that now when they open their gifts and it says from mom and dad, they go right to mom first 'cause they know you picked it out. Dad's just as surprised as I am right now when I open this gift. Come on brothers, how many of you are with me? You're like, oh yeah, I knew you wanted that. Some of you are amazing gift givers like that. Listen, our God's language of love is gift giving. It's gift giving. For God so loved the world that he what? That he gave, that he gave his one and only son. So God's love language is gift giving and that gift is salvation. Salvation is a gift. You cannot earn it. You don't get it because you deserve it or because you've somehow, you know, you're better than somebody else. Let me give you another, another quote. Grace ceases to be grace if God has compelled to bestow it in the presence of human merit. Grace ceases to be grace if God has compelled to withdraw it in the presence of human demerit. See Samuel Stones, yeah, storms, I love that. So don't buy the lie. Oh, I gotta give you a check out this. Don't buy the lie that cultivating condemnation and wallowing in your shame is somehow pleasing to God or that a constant low grade guilt will somehow promote holiness and spiritual maturity. It's just the opposite. God is glorified when we believe with all our hearts that those who trust in Christ can never be condemned. It's only when we receive his free gift of grace and live in the good of total forgiveness that we're able to turn from old sinful ways of living and walk in grace motivated obedience. C.J. Mahaney. Come on, say amen, amen, amen, amen, amen to that. (congregation applauding) So like any gift, gifts have to be received and gifts have to be opened. God will not push grace on anybody. He doesn't push grace into anybody's life. Universalism is not true. Everyone is not saved. Grace is available for everyone, but you have to receive the gift. You have to receive the gift. And if you receive the gift, you have to open up their gift. And so my question then is this. Can you know if you've opened the gift? Can you know? Can someone know if they're saved? Paul begins to address that in Ephesians chapter two, I believe. Is there a way to know if you are saved? Have you opened the gift of grace? How do I know? I wanna show you in Ephesians chapter two that there is a way to know that you're saved? Just like, let's say this. If you're not an Enneagram six and you're prepared for every disaster that can happen in life and you cross bridges on a regular basis, you wouldn't have a little hammer in your car to break out a window in case you fell into the river, right? But let's say that you did and you fell into the river and you're like, I can't get out of the car. And all of a sudden someone jumps off the bridge or jumps into the river and breaks out a window, opens the car door or whatever and gets you out right about where you can't take it. You can't stand it any longer and you are saved. How many of you know that if you were saved from that car sinking in the river, you would know that you're saved? You'd be like, I don't know if I was actually saved from my car, no, you'd go like, I know I'm saved, right? I think you can know like that. I think you can know that you are saved in any kind of teaching or religion that is like, well, you could never know if you're saved. It's not true. It's not biblical. You can know if you're saved. Let's look at Ephesians chapter two and verse eight. God saved you by His grace when you did what? - Believe. - God saved you by His grace when you believed and you can't take credit for it, get from God. Here's the one I'll tell you. What comes with the package of grace is this. Faith comes with grace. So you know if you've opened grace when faith enters your heart. When faith enters your heart that God can save you, that God is real, that you have a faith in God, I'm here to tell you, that is one of the ways signs that you know that you're saved because belief came where belief was not before. In fact, look at the guy by the Apostle Paul, what happened when he became a believer, when he became saved, check this out, in the book of Acts. Saul stayed with the believers, by the way, just think about that for a minute. When you're saved, you become a Christian, what are you called? Listen, I'm not the, I'll be a good professor, I'm not trying to trick you. Like, Saul stayed with you, what's the word? Believers, Christians are called believers. So you know that you're saved because you weren't a believer and now you are a believer. One of the signs of salvation is, I'm a believer. I believe in God, I believe in Jesus Christ. I believe that He came to save me, that He died and on the third day He rose again, I believe. Christians were called believers. So Saul, before he was called Paul, that is kind of the same name. Saul stayed with the believers in Damascus for a few days. Now look, Saul was not a believer previously and he persecuted Christians, did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah. How did Paul know he was saved? He began preaching about Jesus in the synagogue saying, "He is indeed the Son of God." Here's what he's saying. Jesus is real, Jesus is real. Jesus is truly the Son of God. He did not believe that before. He persecuted people who thought that and now how did he know he was saved? He's like, I'm here to tell you Jesus, it's all about Jesus. I remember this happening in my life. I remember in my 20s, I was already born again, but then I just had a revelation of Scripture where it's all about Jesus and not all about me. And the devil and religion has a way of turning everything about us, like we're the focus of Scripture, we're not. We're the focus of God's attention, but I'm here to tell you the Scripture is actually about God, not about you. And sorry, I thought it hurt your feelings. And I'm actually not sorry, 'cause everything hurts everybody's feelings anymore. Get over it. (congregation laughing) Well, people in a pray for you at the end. (congregation laughing) What happened with Paul? Paul's like, man, I believe now. I absolutely believe in. I remember what this happening to me and I just, I felt like a kindergartener. I felt like a kindergartener. I was just like, it's all about Jesus. I just, all my faith is in Jesus. I put every, all my faith is in Him. And what He did for me, I just, I just kept saying it over and over and over and over again. Everybody, I talked to it. She was like, Jesus, Jesus, it's all about Jesus. And I know I'm not saying anything new because it's all about Him. And I see the apostle Paul doing that, like he gets saved and he goes, "He is indeed the Son of God." It's Jesus is real, He had a faith. How can you know you're saved? You believe, you didn't believe before. And now all of a sudden you believe and you know that Jesus is real. You, where there wasn't a faith before, there is a faith now. And here's what I want you to get with me. Is that grace is protected. The devil can never touch grace. He can't touch it. It's untouchable from, by the devil. It's, God created it, it's a gift. And he's like, you're not taking it. The devil can't even touch grace. But what comes with grace is this faith and the devil goes after the faith. He tries to steal people's faith. If you, okay, I don't have time to go over that. Okay, here we go. Another thought, how do I know if I'm saved? How does Paul let's us know that we're saved? Ephesians chapter two. He brought this good news of, what's the good news of? It's good news of, it's good news of peace. He brought a good news of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him and peace to the Jews who were near. Now all of us can come to the Father. All of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of Christ has done for us. So how do I know I'm saved? How do I know if I've opened this gift of grace? Is a faith comes with it? But there's another thing that comes with it and it's peace. Peace, I have peace with God and I have peace with others. I just had a conversation with the gentleman who's been coming to our churches recently just between services. And he said, thank you for saying this. It gave me another confidence because I know this. I have peace with God. I can sense it. And it was helpful for him to be able to see this in Scripture that this is what comes with grace. It's what comes with the package when you open the grace package is you just know, I'm not at war with God anymore. It's like, I mean, God, we're good. I have this sense of eternal peace with God. And you'll see that grace and peace are found often in Scripture together. Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus, our Lord. This word, peace is this Greek word, which means to join. So it's literally not just like, hey, peace, bro. It's not just that. No, no, no, it's, it's joining. It's, there's this unity. That's why you see Paul using these terms, united with Christ. You have peace with God. You have peace with God because you have been united with him. You are one with God. The dividing wall and the hostility between God and mankind is now destroyed. It is gone. You can have peace with God. If you will open the gift of grace, there will be a peace that will come in your heart and you will know God and I are good. All praise to God. (congregation applauding) Well, I'm preaching better than you're amen today, but I'm gonna let have at it. (congregation applauding) So peace comes and lets me know. Grace comes and lets me know. You and God are friends now. You're, you're, you're friends with God. Peace tells me that grace wants to be close to me. So don't allow sin to separate you from God. Run to God when you sin because you have an advocate with the Father. Don't wallow in shame. Don't wallow in guilt. Repent and run to God because he paid the price so that we could have peace with God. Look at this out of 1 Corinthians. It says grace to you and peace. You'll see it again and again and again and again in Scripture because when you open the gift of grace, faith is always near and peace is always near. Faith will enter your heart and peace will enter your heart. It comes as a package. These are gifts that come with grace. And so not only do I have peace with God though, check this out. I have peace with others. I have peace with former enemies. And so those that I would not have normally got along with all of a sudden, there's this ministry of reconciliation that works in my heart and brings down a dividing wall between me and other people. What an important message and truth for us as Americans living in the United States of America in this culture today. Christians, let us be reminded that we have been given gifts with grace, friends, cousins, however you want to say it, called faith and peace. And the peace is not just peace with God, but it is peace with others. It is peace with others. Now listen, racial bias, prejudice and the like have been around since the beginning of time. Jews and Gentiles were enemies with one another. But when Jesus enters the scene, his heart to unite mankind with God and to unite mankind with each other is released upon the earth. And that's why God says this in Psalm 133, where brethren dwell together in unity, God commands a blessing. So how many of you know that the devil is not for the blessing of God on people's lives? So what the devil is always about trying to do is to divide and to destroy. That's why the Bible says God hates divorce because of what it does in division and the breaking of covenant. God is all about unity, God is all about bringing people together and he's all about breaking, dividing walls. And the devil is all about the exact opposite. He's the betrayer, he's the slanderer, he's the gossiper, he's the liar and he's the one who builds walls and fences to get between people. And listen, we've been, I'm just gonna go off for a few minutes if you don't mind. But not off, it's on point. But there's been a spirit from hell released upon our nation over the last several years actually across the world to wreak havoc among mankind to divide families from one another. Do you know that people got divorced over Black Lives Matter? They were already a black and a white married together? But because of the spirited division, they all before that, they were all together. But because of the spirited division and lies, families were divided. But yet the Bible lets us know, listen, y'all were Jews and Gentiles and you weren't, you weren't a peace with one another, but the peace of God came. So what is our response to God's grace and God's peace and his faith that he puts in our hearts? Look at this out of Ephesians two. Don't forget that you Gentiles used to be outside outsiders. You were even called names. You were called uncircumcised heathens by the Jews. But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ. Listen, Jews, Gentiles brought together in Christ by the power of the grace of God. So we are called upon in scripture to remember that we were far away once, but we are not far away anymore. And not only are we to have peace with God, but we are to learn to do our best, not that everything depends on you, but Romans teaches us as much as depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Now I know everything doesn't depend on you 'cause some people ain't gonna be at peace with you, no matter what. But in your heart, don't play by the devil's rules. Do you hear me today? (audience applauding) And so it is important that like on this weekend, where we watched violence try to have its way against former President Trump and in our nation, is important for the church to go back and just go, what about my heart? What about my heart? And my heart needs to not see someone of a different political party as an enemy. Now listen, I'm gonna talk in the future. I'm gonna go through much of the book of Daniel this fall and Daniel was a righteous man living in an unrighteous culture and we can talk about how about Jesus and politics in the church and what is our role and how do we choose, how do we make choices about values and voting and biblical values, things like that? I wanna address some of that scripturally and let you hear what the Bible has to say on some of those topics. So I do think it's important to address as a church through scripture what the Bible has to teach us on how do we respond like that. But for today, I think it's important that we look at our current cultural climate through the lens of scripture and say, God, you've commended me to be at peace as much as depends on me, to not see people as enemy. Now I see ideologies as demonic. I see philosophies of culture as straight from hell but not an individual. Did you hear me? 'Cause the Bible said pray for all kings. Now listen, in their situation, when he wrote this, far worse than our culture, they were running out of wood to burn Christians on. So we think we got it bad, we always think we have it the worst. We don't. Is it great right now? No. Is it the worst the world has ever seen? No. What is our response? Humility and prayer and love. That's what we're gonna do. So we are called upon in response in Ephesians chapter two, this, look at this. We are called upon to cultivate intimacy with God. So the wall's down between me and God. And the wall is supposed to be down between me and other people. The cultivate intimacy with God and others. That's my response. In the content, in all of chapter two is basically this. We're all lost, but God, rich in mercy and grace, saved us, gift, didn't deserve it. Because of that, you now have peace and faith that entered your heart, so get along with God and do your best to get along with each other. That's Ephesians chapter two, okay? So praise God, Jesus said it best, like he always does. In Matthew chapter 22, Jesus replied, you must love the Lord, you're God with all your heart, soul and your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment, a second equally important, love your neighbor as yourself. What if my neighbor has a political sign in their yard that I don't like? Love your neighbor as yourself. God bless you, let's stand up together. (congregation applauding) All right, here's what I'd like to do. I would like us to pray for a minute before we leave this room. I know y'all hungry, and you wanna go to the new California burrito restaurant? (congregation laughing) Hold on, just a minute. I would like us to pray again, now that I've kind of walked us through chapter two. I'd like us to pray again, just God, will you forgive us? Kind of a prayer of repentance. God forgive us for any wickedness that I've allowed in my heart. And cleanse my heart because the Bible, remember Chronicles talks about if my people were a pen of their wickedness. So God cleansed my heart of any wickedness. And then God release your love and your grace. Release your love and your grace in my heart so that God I'll be the answer and not a part of the problem. I think that would be a good place to start to pray. Can we do that? Okay, Father, I thank you for your word today. I thank you that your word is a compass. And I thank you that in life, we can all get off a degree or two. Sometimes we can get off 180 degrees, and we can be going in the complete opposite direction that you would have us to go. And so again, we come before you as your church, and we ask that you would forgive us, forgive me for any wickedness I've allowed in my heart. Forgive me for any wickedness I've allowed in my heart. Cleanse my heart of all unrighteousness. And may I open the gift of grace with faith and peace. And may the peace and the love of God flood our hearts. So that we will be the answer and not a part of the problem. May the church awaken in this hour. And God, may you have mercy on America again. Have mercy on us and heal our land. Heal our land. With every head bowed and every eye closed, if you're in this room, or if you're watching online and you're not sure you've opened the gift of salvation, the gift of grace, you're not sure you've opened it. You're not sure that you're born again, or if you were to die today, if you would be in heaven or not. But you would love to be sure that I'm gonna say a prayer in just a moment. And you can have the confidence because faith is coming with it, and peace with God and others is coming with this gift. And if you wanna get your life right with Jesus, then I wanna know who wants to pray this prayer with me. Between you, me and Jesus, I wanna know who wants to pray this prayer. Will you look up at me right now, right now? Catch eyes with me and wave your hand, and you say, "Bob, I'm gonna pray that." Awesome, I see you, I see you, it's great. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. It's great, who else, thank you, thank you. Best decision, thank you, thank you, so great. If I miss you, Jesus does not. We're gonna all pray this together as your church family. So everybody in the house and online, repeat this after me. Dear Lord Jesus, I come to you today in need of your grace. Forgive me of my sins, come into my heart. I wanna be born again. Give me your faith, give me your peace, give me your Holy Spirit that I'll live for you all the days of my life. I pray this now in Jesus' name. And everybody shout it amen. Come on, give God thanks for His grace today. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you for listening to the Life Church podcast. We wanna help you on your journey of finding the life you remain for. Please visit lifechurchwww.com to take your next step and connect with us. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)