Scripture referenced 6 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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Ephesians 2:1-10 main passage read in full and expounded throughout the sermon
1 You were made alive when you were dead in transgressions and sins,
2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the children of disobedience;
3 among whom we also all once lived in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
4 But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us,
5 even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
6 and raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
7 that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus;
8 for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
9 not of works, that no one would boast.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Keep this verse
Ephesians 1:13
cited to show believers are sealed with the Holy Spirit at salvation
13 In him you also, having heard the word of the truth, the Good News of your salvation—in whom, having also believed, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,
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John 15:18-19
quoted to show the world hates believers as it hated Jesus
18 If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you.
19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, since I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
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1 John 5:19
cited to show the whole world is under control of the evil one
19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
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Galatians 5
referenced for its list of the works of the flesh
1 Stand firm therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and don’t be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.
2 Behold, I, Paul, tell you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will profit you nothing.
3 Yes, I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.
4 You are alienated from Christ, you who desire to be justified by the law. You have fallen away from grace.
5 For we, through the Spirit, by faith wait for the hope of righteousness.
6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision amounts to anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith working through love.
7 You were running well! Who interfered with you that you should not obey the truth?
8 This persuasion is not from him who calls you.
9 A little yeast grows through the whole lump.
10 I have confidence toward you in the Lord that you will think no other way. But he who troubles you will bear his judgment, whoever he is.
11 But I, brothers, if I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted? Then the stumbling block of the cross has been removed.
12 I wish that those who disturb you would cut themselves off.
13 For you, brothers, were called for freedom. Only don’t use your freedom for gain to the flesh, but through love be servants to one another.
14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
15 But if you bite and devour one another, be careful that you don’t consume one another.
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you won’t fulfill the lust of the flesh.
17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, that you may not do the things that you desire.
18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
19 Now the deeds of the flesh are obvious, which are: adultery, sexual immorality, uncleanness, lustfulness,
20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousies, outbursts of anger, rivalries, divisions, heresies,
21 envy, murders, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these; of which I forewarn you, even as I also forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit God’s Kingdom.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith,
23 gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
24 Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts.
25 If we live by the Spirit, let’s also walk by the Spirit.
26 Let’s not become conceited, provoking one another, and envying one another.
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John 3:36
quoted to show the wrath of God remains on those who reject the Son
36 One who believes in the Son has eternal life, but one who disobeys the Son won’t see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”
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Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
Todd Lampa covered for Pastor Ray while he and others were in Guatemala. He preached from Ephesians 2:1-10, walking through what Paul says about where humanity stands before God, what God does about it, and why that matters for how Christians live and talk to the people around them.
What was said
Todd opened by asking whether people have a worldview, explaining that everyone answers four basic questions whether they have thought about them carefully or not: where did we come from, what is the purpose of life, how do we know right from wrong, and what happens after we die. He read responses he had received from Facebook friends, responses that described human beings as the accidental product of chemistry and time, morality as a survival mechanism, and death as simply returning to elements. He noted that Jackson tends toward a humanist, naturalist outlook, and that understanding where people are coming from at that root level matters far more than arguing over any single social issue.
He then turned to Ephesians 2:1-3 and the first of three things he wanted the congregation to see: before becoming Christians, every one of them was spiritually dead. He pushed back on the idea that God is in the business of making bad people good, saying the real picture is God making dead people alive. Sin, he said, is the one biblical doctrine that can be observed directly, and C.S. Lewis's point in Mere Christianity about the law of human nature applies even to people who reject the idea of God entirely. The lifestyle Paul describes in those verses, walking according to the course of the world and under the influence of the prince of the power of the air, does not require someone to be involved in obvious evil. It simply describes life lived in rebellion against God, which Todd said was exactly where he himself was in high school and college, chasing the next high and knowing something was missing.
He also pressed on the difficulty of telling people that judgment is coming. He cited John 3:36 and said that however hard the message is to deliver in a place like Jackson, where people move specifically to enjoy life in a beautiful setting, it is an essential part of the gospel and not something Christians can quietly drop.
The second point moved to the good news. God, described in verse 5 as rich in mercy, made believers alive together with Christ while they were still dead in sin and still in rebellion. Todd pointed to the account of Stephen being stoned in Acts 7, praying for the people killing him, as a picture of the kind of love God puts in people once they grasp what He has done for them. He also noted verse 7, that in ages to come God will show the riches of His grace toward believers in Christ Jesus, meaning what He has done through the church in this life will resonate into eternity.
The third point came from verse 10: "We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." Good works follow salvation; they are not the means of it. God has prepared a specific path for each person, and He has also given general directives throughout scripture, including loving God with all one's heart, making disciples, forgiving as one has been forgiven, and walking in the Spirit. Todd closed by asking whether the congregation was actually stepping into those prepared works, particularly with the friends and neighbors they see every day.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- Todd described a worldview as how a person answers four big questions: where did we come from, what is the purpose of life, what is right and wrong, and what happens after we die. Before today, had you ever consciously worked through your own answers to those questions? How did becoming a Christian shape those answers for you?
- Todd shared responses from Facebook friends who said life has no inherent meaning and that morals are simply a product of evolution. How would you respond to someone who holds that view, and what would you want them to understand about the Christian alternative?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Read the full transcript 7,014 words
0:00
Speaker 2Church family, will you please stand up and let's worship God. I'm thankful. I'm you know what? This morning, I'm thankful for God's grace. Because by God's grace, I can stand here in front of you and worshiping God together.
0:14
Amen?
0:15
Speaker 1Amen. Amen.
0:15
Speaker 2I'm planning to have a great time this morning, and I wanna inspire you to the Holy Spirit. Let's have a good time in the name of Jesus. That's why I'm here, honestly. Otherwise, I'll be sleeping right now. But it's it's good to be here together as a family, as Christians ready to serve our savior.
0:32
Amen? How great is our God. Sing with me how great is our God. Amen. Amen.
4:24
Praise God. Please have a seat.
4:41
Speaker 1Can you hear me now? Okay. How are you doing? Good morning. Isn't it great to see the snow on the ground out there?
4:46
No. No. It's not. You know how depressing it is when I took my boys on a road trip. We went down to Nevada.
4:54
It was 85 degrees down there and had some pool time and just good time with my boys while my wife and daughter in Guatemala. But we got in the car Friday morning in a shorts t shirt and we got out of the car up in Victor at 08:30 at night and was snowing and raining and didn't pack a jacket, you know, cold and and it's a fast track to being kinda depressed and that's okay. Summer is on its way and it'll be 75 and sunny here in a few months. But real quick, my name is Todd Lampa. Ray, I'm covering for Ray, Carl.
5:30
Both those guys are in Guatemala and they'll be coming back. A lot of that team is in The States now. They, landed this morning and so we look forward to hearing about their trip. But I'll be covering for Ray and obviously Florine's covering for Carl and, you can tell that we definitely don't have, the height and the the hair as our pastors, but that's okay. So going through the announcements, Monday night's gonna start back up, tomorrow and so we look forward to that.
5:59
Also the Awana's will be starting back up so we look forward to getting back into the routine. The youth group was that on Tuesday, yep 06:30 to eight. Also the the upcoming event called the Secret Church. It's on April 20. So, see Samantha McVeigh about that for registration and then, I think that last slide was about Guatemala and so if there are any other announcements, please raise your hand and let me know.
6:32
If not, let's go ahead and read one another and we will get going with song in a few minutes after that.
7:50
Speaker 2Holy holy holy, Lord God Almighty. Let's sing together. Heavenly father, thank you so much for giving us the privilege to be here and worshiping you as a family, as a church family. Thank you for salvation through Jesus Christ. Thank you for the grace.
10:28
Thank you for your love. Please bless us and help us to understand more of who you are. Oh, God, this process sometimes is easy, sometimes it's not easy, but you are the savior. You are our savior, and you are with us. Would you please give us the strength to keep going with you and always spread the good news to our neighbors, to our coworkers, and wherever we are to spread the love that comes from you.
10:52
Please bless the rest of the day. In Jesus name I pray, amen. Amen. This is one of my favorite song. Your love never fails, never gives up, never runs out of me.
11:05
And when even when I feel weak and tired and my mind runs everywhere, I have to remember that beautiful statement, your love never fails. Never. No matter what happens. And that's why I'm standing right here to praise this God, amazing God, because his love never fails. Hallelujah.
11:23
Amen. Amen to that. I came last night to practice the songs around 11:30, and just me in this beautiful building. Oh, it was such a good time, honestly. And I pray for every single person that is here this morning because I said, God, please bless every single person that will step in this building with a purpose to worship you.
15:00
You know them. You know me. Besides that smile, besides the the appearance, you know what's the struggle, the battle. Please bless us. Reach to us through the Holy Spirit and find a way to our hearts, into our mind.
15:15
Find a way that we can understand who you are and singing this song, how deep the father's love for us, how vast beyond all measure. That he should give his only son to make a wretch, Florin, his treasure. Oh, I was really, really blessed last night to be here just by myself. Of course, sometimes when you hear the building moving a little bit, that can be scary. But the presence, the Holy Spirit was in this place last night.
15:44
So please let's worship God. And if you feel like if you feel like you don't wanna sing, just close your eyes and have a have a good conversation with your savior. Have have a good conversation with God.
19:48
Speaker 1God, as we take the offering, we realize that all things that you've given us, they're all yours, everything, our houses, our cars, all the money that we might have. Lord, anything, it's all yours. God, we give some money back to your ministry. God, we pray that you'd use it to further the gospel in this town and throughout the world and where we know that you're faithful and good and and you'll you'll work mighty things through this God and so we just pray that use this this offering and these funds to further your destiny. Jesus name.
20:23
Amen. Thank you, Florine. The children are now dismissed to Junior's Church, Junior Church. Do you have your Bibles? You can turn to Ephesians chapter two.
23:07
We'll be looking at the first 10 verses of Ephesians chapter two. My message will probably seem somewhat simple with with us reviewing a familiar passage but I don't think complexity is always a sign of a good sermon And I'm hoping that's the case today. I found in my own life when I'm just reading the Bible, maybe in the mornings or or some point, the thing that impacts me the most isn't something that's novel or new, but it's maybe some some truth that I've known and heard many times over but just so happens that at that time in my life, that's when it it's the most impactful and I I often think that reading the Bible is kind of like looking in the mirror. We need to do it often. Need to reflect on ourselves spiritually and and take a take an account of where we're at and where where we're going and and sometimes daily maybe looking in the mirror might be a good idea maybe more than daily but scripture is very relevant and and very practical and even if we're reading our Bibles every day and nothing new comes up, it is just something that is good to have a refresher and a constant reminder of of the truth of God's word.
24:28
So, let's read the first 10 chapters of Ephesians first 10 verses of Ephesians chapter two. I'm sorry, I don't have it on the on the prompt there but there are some Bibles in the pews. So, chapter two verse one, and you, he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience. Among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lust of our flesh, filling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God who is rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us.
25:17
Even when we are dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you have been saved. And raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace, you have been saved through faith and that not of yourself is selves, it is the gift of God.
25:43
Not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Before we get into the text, let me just ask you a question. Do you have a worldview? So some of you might be saying, well, I never heard of that before.
26:07
World is a worldview. And others might be shaking your head. Yeah. I of course, I do. Well, what is a worldview?
26:13
Basically, a worldview is your overall perspective or philosophy of everything that exists in the world. The what's, the how's, the why's, the quest the answers to these questions. I've also heard it explained that your worldview is formed by answering four big questions. So the four big questions, where did we come from? Addressing our origin.
26:34
What is the purpose of life? What is what is the meaning of life? What is right and wrong and how do we decide? What what's moral? What are what are the morality?
26:44
What are the ethics of our world? And what happens after we die? Ultimately, what what's our destiny? So, these are the four big questions that everybody has to answer and everybody has an answer for whether they've thought about it or not. Some people might address these things fairly casually.
27:02
Others maybe have really thought through these things and and and have have a well thought out answer. But have you ever formally asked yourselves these questions? And I think in order to have a meaningful discussion with people regarding any issues in today's world whether they're hot topics or just anything. It all comes back and it all comes from a person's worldview of how they answer these questions, where their root belief system is, and what what they hold to be true. You know, I looked up RC Sproll's ministry is called Ligonier Ministries.
27:36
RC Sproll has recently passed away but he he is such a great thinker and and his ministry has affected impact a lot of people but his ministry had this to say about worldview. What a person thinks about abortion, euthanasia, same sex relationships, environmental ethics, economic policy, public education, and so on will depend on his or her underlying worldview more than anything else. So, I'm going to read through some worldviews or philosophies and I want you guys to be thinking, what what is Jackson's kind of consensus? What's their worldview? What what do you kind of sense is the is the ongoing worldview of those around us?
28:20
So naturalism. Naturalism believes there is no god. Humans are highly evolved animals. The universe is a closed physical system. Postmodernism, there are no objective truths and moral standards.
28:33
Reality is ultimately a human social construct. Pantheism, God is the totality of reality. Thus, we are all divine by nature. Pluralism, the different world religions present equally invalid perspectives on the ultimate reality. There are many valid paths to salvation.
28:54
Islam, there's only one God and he has no son. God has revealed his will for all people through his prophet Muhammad and his eternal word, the Quran. And then the last one is moralistic, therapeutic deism, which I've never heard this before, but God just wants us to be happy, nice to other people. He intervenes in our affairs only when we call on him to help us out. So, which one is most Jackson?
29:21
I mean, you probably could could pick a little of each of those out of there but I kind of think that Jackson is is more of a humanistic, naturalist type of a mindset where where people really believe that man is the center of all things and and you live your life to its fullest and you know, we are all basically just going to return to the elements from which we came. So I posed this question to my Facebook friends. So I had taken a class and it was a worldview class and it said, well, should really try to ask people these questions. So, part of it was I'll I'll throw this out Facebook and I'll see who is brave enough to answer. Well, the bravest people were the ones that I did have a a Christian friend that responded and I was thankful for that but here's some of the responses that I got.
30:11
We are the result of high of the right combination of ingredients in environment among hundreds of trillions of planets, hundreds of trillions of planets and cause and effect of time plus cellular replication. Our purpose is a creation of self awareness and does not actually exist. Morals are simply the manifestation of evolution of a social species and a survival mechanism. We evolved compassion because we had not. We never survived as long as a species.
30:40
And destiny, we returned to elements that combined in other ways to form everything from rock, trees, stars. There is no us as separate from the universe. Another one, what is our origin? Where do we come from? I don't know the answer to this.
30:54
I believe that human beings evolved from other life forms over many years. But how life began from non living matter, I don't know. Interesting. What is the purpose meaning of life? I don't think that life has a peculiar purpose or meaning.
31:08
There are ways to make life meaningful but life in and of itself is just there's no meaning. Where do we derive morals? How do we know right from wrong? I find morals to be terribly subjective as our concepts of right and wrong. I personally try as much as possible to try not to harm or do damage to other creatures, places, beliefs, etcetera.
31:29
Aside from that, I find too many gray areas and complexities that go further into the abstract. What is our destiny? What happens after we die? I like to believe that the life force continues whether that is through reincarnation or simply being the basis for another being to survive. Personally, I hope to be food for someone, for something when I die, thus have my life force continue in another, so I guess my destiny is to be some something's dinner.
31:58
So I really did appreciate their responses. And this is where people are at. This is what people believe. And just as crazy as what we think maybe their belief system is, You got to imagine if we were to tell them what our belief system is, they might think we're just as crazy. You know what I mean?
32:19
But it's important that we know where people come from. What are their core beliefs? If we're talking about just a topic in in society that's you know, take abortion or something and that's all you're talking about, you're really not going to ever have an impact on a person. I think it really those type of conversations are entries into deeper relationships with people. And it's important to know what we believe so that we can defend and have a biblical basis to talk to people.
32:52
And so our goal here today isn't to talk about how we're going to develop into you know, be able to answer all these. We're going to talk about a simple gospel worldview and God didn't make it complex. He made it rather simple and I do believe that the power of the gospel can change lives as it did mine and and I'm sure it changed many of yours. So as we look in the passage today, we're going to see some of these aspects of the worldview addressed and the importance of what we believe is vital. Know, the gateway to the heart is through the mind and I believe that there's a battle that rages in our minds on a personal level and the enemy the enemy is very wise and very wily and and he kind of knows what buttons to push in each one of us and we need to be the Bible says for us to be wise as serpents and this and as doves.
33:46
So, we need to know what are the deceits? What are the the lies that are entering our mind? What are What are these world views that are contrary to reality, to our belief system? How can we talk to people about these things? If we don't know what we believe, then we're bound to believe anything.
34:03
In a pluralistic society, we're bound to believe everything. So, I think a lot of times people don't even know what they believe and they just end up agreeing with or whoever they're talking to. So, so let us be let us be wise as serpents as Jesus commanded. So, looking at the scripture in Ephesians chapter two, I think we we can see three different areas, three things that I would like us to see from this. First, that we were dead and we deserved God's judgment.
34:33
That was prior to becoming Christians. So, this is a passage that's retrospective. It's looking back and saying, this is what we were. We're Christians now. He's writing to Christians but this is what we were.
34:42
This is where we came from. Two, we can see God's unwarranted mercy and grace that they were freely bestowed on us and third, that God has a plan for our lives, that there's purpose. As a brief summary, chapter one, as for some context, Paul discusses that God's eternal plan is choosing those who are predestined to become Christians that all believers on earth and in heaven will be brought together under Christ who is the head of the church as pastor Ray would say, the big seed church. So, the church is all believers worldwide throughout the ages. In the chapters two and three, Paul explains the execution of God's eternal plan in detailing how sinners become saints and form the church.
35:30
So, in chapter two verse verses one through three, we see the human condition of sin and the depravity of humankind detailed here and ever since Adam sinned way back in the garden, we have been born. Everybody's born into a world. We've inherited the fallen nature of sin and we have been dealing with the consequences of sin ever since. I've heard it said that sin is the only doctrine of the Bible that is empirically proven or can be proven empirically. Meaning, you can observe and see it and and prove it.
36:11
And you know, if you come over to my house at bedtime and with my kids, you will definitely see the sin pattern in humankind. Not just in my kids, but also me. And and I believe this is true. I think sin is it's apparent. It's pervasive.
36:35
It's obvious. Whether you read the newspaper, whether, you know, you have a a little scuffle with your Not scuffle. But a tiff. I don't know. Or you react to respond to your kids in the wrong way.
36:52
Or you're driving down the street in summer traffic in Jackson and somebody's going 20 miles an hour under the speed limit, you know, and you don't respond, right? Sin is evident. It's obvious. It's observable and it it doesn't it doesn't take necessarily God's special revelation even though, you know, the Bible does and explains and shows us sin but CS Lewis talks about it in his book, Mere Christianity that sin is obvious to everybody. So, you can try to explain it away but but it's it's evident.
37:27
He calls it the law of human nature just like gravity is a law that no one can say. It doesn't exist. No, it it's there. Just like the law of human nature, it's obvious even if you don't believe in God, even if you're an atheist, you still have to give an answer of some things are just wrong and some things you just say, nope, somebody shouldn't do that and whether they try to argue that away as something that is like a social construction that you know, we've just adapted those things. It goes beyond that and throughout time and throughout history, throughout cultures, there are certain things that are just not right and not not not to be done.
38:08
Where does the atheist get his morals? He has a sense that there's a right and wrong and justice should be served but where does that come from? So what what does the Bible tell us about sin? And we can see that in the first three, verses of chapter two. What does the Bible tell us about sin?
38:26
Well, the effects of sin is that it makes us dead. Interesting. Dead. So, without Christ, you're dead. You're spiritually dead and the the verse says that you would you and you he had made a life who were dead in trespasses and sin.
38:47
When we before we knew Christ, no matter what age you came to Christ, whether it was five years old or 20 or 30 or or 80. There was a time in your life that you were dead in your sins. And and it's also we're going to see that you also lived a lifestyle that was consistent with that. And and that is going to look different for each person. Obviously, how that manifest itself but but we were all dead.
39:13
We were all dead. There's a I think a perception, a misperception amongst religious people, amongst people that might mean well but that God wants to make bad people good and I think this this is a huge air because really what God wants to do is make dead people alive and we're going to see how he does that and it's an amazing transformation and not that God doesn't want bad people to stop being bad. But truly, when a person becomes a a born again Christian, those good works, those deeds change as an effect, as a result of the transformation spiritually from becoming alive and and being born again. You know, the Bible tells us that becoming a Christian, it's based on personal choice of an individual to believe and place their faith in Christ. When this occurs, of course, a person is born again and becomes a new person and it's not like a decision to start an exercise program or to start doing better in an effort to become a better person.
40:32
There's a fundamental change in us spiritually that transforms us and this is referred to back in chapter one verse 13 where it says, in him, you also trusted after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also having believed, you were sealed with the spirit, Holy Spirit of promise. And we'll see later in this passage that our actions are changed as a result of salvation like I said, but God is not looking for people to reform their their lifestyles. He's looking for people to see that we're not good and that we can't be good enough and that we need him. We need to be humbled before him. Verses two through three, as I mentioned, it's the lifestyle of an unsaved person.
41:21
These are general statements on how unsaved people live and not everyone is gonna lead hedonistic lifestyle of just partying and living life to its fullness, seize the day type. Not everybody's going to go out and rob banks and be criminals or or or do, you know, or or or whatever it is that we would stereotype an unsaved lifestyle but each person is going to have, if they're unsaved and do not know, not know the Lord Jesus Christ as their savior are going to have this type of lifestyle. They're going to live according to the course of this world in verse two. What does that mean? Does that mean the course of this world?
42:00
Does that mean you're, if you're going through the daily grind of life, where you work, you head home, you have dinner, tuck in the kids, you go to bed, that you're living the course of this world? No, it it's that does not mean, you know, living the course of the world. In this instance, the world here refers to satanically organized system that hates and opposes all that is godly. And so, if you're an unsaved person, even though you're not Satanist, even though you're not in the occult, but you are still in rebellion against God and you are living according to the course of this world. Before I became a believer, I was I was a lost soul and I was looking for fulfillment of of that hole in me and I didn't even know I had a hole in me.
42:52
I was just living life just where you know the course of this world and to me, that was looking for the next eye, going to the next party, you know, and this was back in high school and into college and I knew I was empty. I knew that there was something in me that was missing and when my dad passed away, God started working in my life and showing me that there's more to this life than just what I see here and and feel and and he started to draw me towards himself but someone else might have a a a life that that is different. Maybe they're more spiritual. Maybe they're trying to appease something in their life and they're trying to be good. You know, maybe they're not the the hedonist but what whatever that is, you know, Satan has a way and and we're naturally going to be prone to leading a life that is contrary to God and to faith in him.
43:47
Jesus spoke of the world in in the world here mentioned in this verse. In John fifteen eighteen through 19 and he said, talked about the world hating him and that'll hate us as believers and interestingly, it says, if you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet, because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore, the world hates you. And as a Christian, I would think, if you live your life according to the course of the world. So, as a Christian, you're born again, you know, you placed your faith in Christ but yet you've kind of led your life back into misleading a life according to the course of this world.
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Maybe just trying to blend in, maybe just trying not to ruffle feathers. The world's probably not going to hate you. But if we live a life that is contrary to this course, Jesus said, the world hates you. They hated me. They'll hate you.
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And to me, it it kind of is convicting. Does the world hate my life? Am I am I getting any opposition? Am I getting opposition from people for the right reasons? Am I putting myself out there?
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Am I am I obeying God's directives? And we'll talk about that in
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Speaker 2a little bit.
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Speaker 1So, the course of this world is the natural way people who do not know God live their lives. So, another lifestyle of the unsaved is talks about the prince of the power of the air that we once walked according to the prince of the power of the air. The devil has power and he's called the prince of the power of the air. He has deceived many angels and he's deceiving many people. First John five nineteen indicates that the whole world is under control of the evil one.
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While this may seem somewhat scary and tenuous, we as Christians are promised that greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world. But there's a spiritual war going on for the people that don't know the Lord. Satan is at work and he's he's in control and he's moving and manipulating. When I was before I became Christian, I had friends that in that whole party atmosphere but some of these guys were into the occult and I wasn't into that but just by acquaintances, you get to to see what's going on or you you just kind of hear things and and let me tell you, there's there's some dark, dark things that people are getting into knowingly, willingly that they they are seeking. Now, I don't say that, you know, to make anybody curious but just that there is a war, there is darkness, there is spiritual darkness, there is a Satan, and he hates us, and he's trying to take us to hell with him.
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And he's he's trying to lead as many people as he can away from faith in Christ. You know, drugs are a our gateway. They're adorable. I mean, it's drugs are not to be messed with. I tell my kids, trying to start to tell them now, just never, never once, don't even try.
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Because, you know, like with meth, they say that once you try it, the the odds are there's just insurmountable odds that your life forever be changed by trying it one time. But as far as the spiritual aspect, yeah, it's it's a dark place and drugs are definitely a doorway into that. So, in Jackson, we're surrounded by naturalist humanists who do not believe in the spiritual realm. It's easy for us to fall into the same mindset, wake up every day, see a beautiful morning, think about where I think about what we're going do on the weekend. Be thinking about just about what we're going to do just like anybody else, you know.
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I think we need to be aware that we don't forget that Satan does prowl like a roaring lion, that that there is people that are dying. There are people that are dying to go to hell. Moving along, I know we're running out of time, but the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience is also related to how the spirit is working in those that are unregenerated. And I think it's an important instance see that part of the unsaved, the characteristic is disobedience. So, they are in a rebellion against God.
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Lust and desires of the flesh and mind. This doesn't necessarily mean that our bodies are evil but that we have a fallen nature and we take what God has given us, our bodies, our mind, and we use em as an unregenerated person, as somebody who's unsaved, they they just naturally use them for their own purposes and for for evil. They're they're slaves to their own flesh and mind, to their own sinful nature. Galatians five talks about the works of the flesh with adultery, fornication, uncleanness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, and so on. Another aspect in closing the first point is that before we became Christians, we were by children.
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We were by nature children of wrath and I think one of the hardest things it is to talk to people about is to tell them that judgment is coming. You know, I mean, that doesn't really that's not an easy conversation to have even if they don't even believe in a spiritual realm but then to put yourself in a position to tell somebody that to warn them that judgment is coming. I think this obviously is best done in the context of a relationship where there's dialogue, there's discussion, there's trust, there's respect, or just go around maybe pointing at people and saying, you're going to be judged someday and how are you going by God and and go to hell, you know, although somebody, you know, might be doing that and God might use that. The street, street corner preacher. But the the fact of sin and judgement is very much a root belief in our Christian worldview and something that we can't underplay.
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It just, to me, it's an essential part of the gospel. John three thirty six says, he that believeth on the son hath everlasting life and he that believeth not on the son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him And again, in our culture, it's it's a hard message to communicate in this in with the way people think here and the and the way that everybody's here, people move here to enjoy life, to get the most out of life. We live in a beautiful place. We live in a place that most people would love to live in, it's hard to preach a message or to tell people that they should be wearing. They should they should be warned but it's something we have to do.
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Something God calls us to do. So, I spent the most part, most of the time on on point number one but we do have two more points but I'll go quickly but point number two is God has unwarranted and unmerited mercy and grace that he's bestowed on us and so this is this gets into the good news and this is it's amazing the God we serve. I mean, he in his mercy, love, he made us alive. He raised us up. He sat us in heavenly places and he did this all without any of our any of our merit.
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We didn't do anything. We were actually in complete disobedience to him and rebellion to him and he did this for us. I mean, how easy is it to love somebody that hates you? You know, I think as Stephen, when he was stoned in Acts, I think it was Acts chapter seven. So, he preached the gospel, warned them, you know, said, here's the good news and here's what you can have too and they stoned him and so as they were stoning him, as he was dying, he's laying there and he says, lord, do not charge them with this account or do not charge them with this sin.
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How how how does a person have that? I I kind of think of my putting myself in that situation. I'd probably be young. This isn't fair. You know, like, stop it.
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You guys, you know, where's where's the police? Come on, you know, and put these guys in jail and give them the death penalty for doing it. You know, whatever but I would I really have this attitude of forgiveness but this is the God, this is the type of spirit that God puts in us after we realize what he has done for us. I had a friend in college who had gotten saved at a later age and she said that she hated God. She had since become a Christian but at one point, she hated God so much.
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She was so bitter at God for circumstances in her life. She was one time she was said, she was on a beach. She lived in California. She said, she just reached her arms up, shaked her fist at God and said, I hate you and you know, wouldn't you know it? God loves a person like that even in that rebellion, even in that sincerity of hatred and bitterness.
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He ends up saving a person like this and that's the type of love that God has for us even though while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us and I I also really like part of this passage that that says that he has seated, he has made us sit, made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That in ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. There's a plan. There's in heaven, there is going to be a remembrance. I mean, it's not like once this life is over, we go to heaven, we sit in heaven, and everything is forgotten but what God has done here with the church and with individual lives will resonate in heaven ages to come and he will be glorified from it.
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It's it's pretty awesome to think of that. And and the third point, I'll go quick. God has a plan for our lives. So, in verse 10, he says, verse 10, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. So, like we mentioned before, good works comes after salvation.
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He's not looking for us to do good works, to earn our salvation but he has prepared good works for us to do in this life. He has a plan for it. We have meaning. So much of what I hear from from people from these responses, you know, I I get a sense of hopelessness or against a sense of lack of purpose, you know, and I think that's going to be the case with a lot of people. It was for me at at at point in my life where I just felt like, what am I doing?
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What's the purpose? I'm just, you know, this party lifestyle just is leading me nowhere. It's a roller coaster up and down. What am I really, am I here for? And so God has given us that purpose.
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And I I know it's going to be different for each person and I think specifically, some people might get married, some people might not, some people might have children, you know, so specific plans for our lives are gonna be drastically different. But God has given us some general directives. What is God's plan for our life? Well, the Bible is pretty clear on what his plan is for our lives, particularly after we become Christians. He says to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and soul, and love your neighbor as yourself.
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He says, go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. And then he promises, low, I'm with you always. He says, be holy as I am holy. Forgive as you have been forgiven. Walk in the spirit.
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Husbands, love your wives like Christ loved the church. It could go on and on. As you read the scripture, there's plenty of directives. There's plenty of God's will and plan for our lives that are being revealed to us. It's are we willing to do it?
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Are we going to revert back to the course of this world or are we going to obey God? Are we going to be brave? Are we going to step out and warn and say, hey, know, we've talked about things that maybe you got a relationship with a friend and just say, I I need to warn you. You know, what I believe that the Bible says is that there's judgement to come. You know, and and when you do that, you step out.
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God promises he's going to be with us. He also promises that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. We'll see people's lives transformed around us and not by anything we've done. We're just being messengers of that. And so, it makes me think of, you know, my friends, my my my friends, these friends that are across the country that we have relationship over Facebook.
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I'm not going to necessarily do this in a public Facebook post where we're going to discuss this, but we're going to it opens up doors to discuss these things with these friends of mine. But how are we going to address the people around us? Those that we come into contact every day. Are are we going to seek out open doors of relationships with people? Are we going to to walk in those good works that God has prepared beforehand?
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Which have eternal eternal consequences and and and effect eternity. You know, if we are loving people, I'll just go ahead and close with this. If we're loving people and are sharing the basic truths in the scripture, scripture, such as the gospel message, God will God will use us in a mighty Sorry for going over for me. You're you're back.
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Speaker 2Will you please stand up? Such a great sermon. This is what happened when you ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you. Yes. I feel like Holy Spirit is knocking on my mind, knocking on my heart.
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Florin, wake up. Wake up, Florin. Wake up. You're not crazy. There is a war.
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There is a spiritual war. Thank you, sir. Thank you for the sermon. Can I do this, please? To him.
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Thank you. Sorry. But I needed to hear that with all my heart. Thank you so much. And praise God for the good news.
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God sent his son. They called him Jesus. He came to love, heal, and forgive. Amen. Amen.
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Amen. May God bless you. Have a beautiful Sunday, and let's walk with Jesus. Amen.
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