Allen Jackson - Ephesians, Faith Under Pressure (02/07/2026)
The sermon digs into the intense backstory of the Ephesus church from Acts 19, showing it born amid spiritual warfare, miracles, confessions, and riots over economic threats to idolatry. Linking this to Ephesians 6 and Paul's prison pleas for courage, the preacher challenges modern diluted faith, insisting true salvation demands full discipleship, fearless gospel proclamation, openness to God's power, and refusal to stay silent on cultural evils—culminating in a mutual prayer of Ephesians 3:16-21 for strength and fullness in Christ.
Introducing the Backstory of Ephesians
I want to begin a new talk. I really wanted to take some time with you and look at some of the spiritual principles that are given to us in the book of Ephesians. But as I began to work through that, it occurred to me it would be beneficial if we understood a little bit of the back story, how that church at Ephesus came to be and the things that they had to face before Paul wrote the letter as a part of our New Testament. So that's our goal today.
Ephesians is a church that emerged from great pressure. And I think that is meaningful for what we're doing these days. I think of the book of Ephesians really as a recruitment letter, not really for people just to the Christian faith, but to become disciples. And it's a bit of a false distinction. I don't think there's any such thing as a Christ follower who's not a disciple.
But I believe we have been immersed pretty deeply in a presentation of the gospel that says you want to be born again, you need to get saved. But that after you've done that, you're kind of good to go. And I believe, honestly, that's a false gospel. I think there's no such thing as like a hyper-disciple or a super-disciple. I think if you're born again, you become a disciple of Jesus. Or your new birth is incomplete. And so I want to see if we can understand that a little bit.
Acknowledging the Spiritual Conflict in Ephesians 6
Ephesians 6 and verse 10 is one of the familiar passages from the book. It's an invitation to acknowledge a conflict in our world. It says, finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. That's an awkward sentence. Can you imagine that the devil has a scheme with you as a part of it? That really is uncomfortable.
I think the contemporary church tries to imagine we're a little too sophisticated to believe in the devil. Jesus believed in him. We're going to switch up microphones? Okay. Pray for that man. He just... You know how frightening that is? Is that better? Do I need to start over? I know I don't for you, but nobody's looking at me back there, so I'm not going to get any clues. Okay.
That the devil has a scheme and you're a part of his scheme. He wants to, if he can't keep you from the Christian faith, he'll be content with diminishing you, doing anything he can to withstand you, to delay your progress, to minimize your impact. See, I believe that should matter to us.
If the devil schemes to try to minimize your impact, do you understand how fundamentally inappropriate it would be to think, it's really not my problem. If I'm going to go to heaven, the impact of my life doesn't matter. That's a bit like imagining you, you made a sports team. Football season's getting ready to crank up. Maybe you made the football team and they put you on the offense or the defense and you say, well, it doesn't really matter how well I play. I made the team. That misses the point.
The purpose of our initiation into the kingdom of God through that new birth, conversion, salvation is that we might yield our lives to the lordship of Jesus, that his purposes could be accomplished through us. And I assure you that Satan wants to diminish that. That's what Paul's writing to this church. He said, our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Paul is describing this spiritual struggle that I've talked to you about. We've looked at this verse before. In fact, we've looked at it in some detail. In that same chapter, in verse 19, he says, pray also for me. These people know Paul. He helped bring this church into existence. He lived in Ephesus for two years, teaching them on a regular basis.
Paul's Repeated Plea for Fearless Proclamation
He said, pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, pray that I may declare it fearlessly as I should. He repeated a statement in those last two verses. And I think it's worth taking just a moment with. He said, pray for me that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel. And then he concludes it by saying, pray that I may declare it fearlessly as I should.
Two times, Paul asks for the reinforcement of his courage, that he may fearlessly tell the truth. Now, most of us know a little bit about Paul, his character, his journey, the circumstances of his life. It has to be something pretty intimidating. Circumstances must be pretty dark for Paul to be saying, my courage is waning. Meaning, I'm concerned that I might flinch. Pray for me that I will be fearless. Because at the moment, I'm not fearless. If he was fearless, he wouldn't be asking for the prayer.
If he was overwhelmed with food, he wouldn't say, pray for me that I don't go hungry. When he's saying, pray for me that I can fearlessly proclaim the gospel, you know for certain there is tremendous pressure on him to do something else. Now, this is the man that was beaten to death minus one lash multiple times. He was stoned and left for dead. I mean, he's not easily intimidated. I wouldn't call Paul shy or reluctant to confront a situation. Is that fair?
Misunderstanding Fearless Proclamation in Modern Times
You see, we have so confused the message that we imagine fearlessly declaring the gospel is sharing our testimony with a co-worker. We've peeled those verses out of their context, not of any real meaning in which they were addressed to the community they were given to. So we read them and, you know, we think fearlessly proclaiming the gospel is that we got to church a little late and we had to park further away from the building, so we fearlessly walked all the way to the building. But we didn't like it. And we were a little late and somebody was in our seat and we're trying to fearlessly forgive them. But we are giving them the stink eye from four rows back.
I would submit to you that we truly have very little imagination for what it meant to be an advocate for the gospel or an advocate for Jesus in the first century. We've taken the chapters and the verses and massaged them into kind of a comfortable faith of convenient blessings. So we pull the verses out where Paul says, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Even if it means I have to traverse the parking lot.
Or we'll take the passage from Ephesians and we'll say, we'll take the sword of the Spirit. You know, and we'll give pictures of medieval armor and knights in armor. And we'll imagine we're putting on the armor of God. We look at that and it's clanky, it's cumbersome. It doesn't provide any real defense. It's completely symbolic. I don't think it has very much meaning to us.
I assure you it had meaning to that first century audience. A sword was a weapon of violence. And if you picked up a sword, it's because you recognized a close quarters adversary that you were under threat. It would be roughly the equivalent of, we used contemporary language, saying I'm taking up the assault weapon of the Spirit. That'd make you uncomfortable, won't it? We're against those.
But the imagery that Paul was using was the instrument of violence they were most familiar with. And he said the threat to you is so real, the spiritual threat is so real to you, you need to know not how to use some symbolic means of defense. You need something powerful to turn back the adversary. Is it safe to say that we live in a generation where we need to understand the power of God so that we can turn back the adversary?
Clearly, Ephesians 6 is not about physical violence, but it's equally graphic that the spiritual conflict is a matter of life and death. Not some polite prayer lifted up with no emotion or no real intent of outcome.
Paul's Isolation and Real Threat in 2 Timothy 4
Now, the passage right beyond that in your notes is 2 Timothy chapter 4. It needs perhaps a bit of explanation. Paul wrote 2 Timothy from prison. As well as he wrote the Ephesian letter from prison. So it provides some insight into why Paul is asking for help to overcome fear as he declares the gospel.
In 2 Timothy, he gives us a bit more personal information about his condition. He says, At my first defense, no one came to my support. Everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them, but the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. Then I was delivered from the lion's mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Now, this isn't some theoretical threat that Paul is asking for help with. The threat was real enough that he says, Everyone deserted me. He has companions. People who have traveled with him from city to city. Place to place. They faced great threats and great persecution. And he said, When I was called to give an account for myself, No one dared to present any support for me. No one was willing to stand with me. That's some pretty significant pressure.
Nobody on my contact list. Nobody that had been a part of the entourage. The pressure was so great. The only time I think of a scenario quite like that is in the Garden of Gethsemane when they came for Jesus. And there just wasn't much support. Even Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, the three of them stood together.
To be imprisoned, just for clarity, you've been influenced by and engaged with the political system. Paul isn't in prison without bumping into the political system. He's demonstrated behavior that powerful people believe is inappropriate, and he's being punished. His life has been threatened.
The gospel that Paul lived out brought him into consistent conflict with the prevailing standards of his day. That's why in city after city, in place after place, there are riots. He's frequently arrested. He's often beaten physically. He's in multiple prisons. Because the message he's delivering is understood to be in conflict with the prevailing standards of his generation. And they want him to shut up. So they do their best to intimidate him, and if they can't intimidate him, to break him physically.
Does that feel like an accurate presentation of what we've read so far? Paul didn't change his message to accommodate the godlessness of the first century.
Neither Can We Change the Message Today
Now here's the punchline. Neither can we. Neither can we. The assignment isn't to huddle in our churches and review what we believe so adamantly, and then leave here and go into the mute mode. We don't have to be angry or belligerent, and we certainly don't need to be violent, but we have to tell the truth. That's the assignment to be salt and light.
Ephesians is a prison letter. So is 2 Timothy. He didn't write those from a resort. He wrote them from a prison cell abandoned by his people. Because the pressure on them was so great, they said, we don't know him. We're watching things happen around us on a daily basis for which I don't believe we can afford to be silent.
Whether it's the sacrifice of our children, I believe in the freedom of choice, but I also believe in the responsibility of life. And there are some choices we are not entitled to make. You don't have to be particularly discerning. You don't even have to spend much time in the news. In fact, it's better if you don't. A few minutes a day is plenty. If you're on a 24-hour news cycle, stop. Get your Bible out. Start praising the Lord. Pray more. Ten minutes a day, you can know what's happening.
But the theater of the absurd is remarkably generous in continuing to make presentations. And week after week, they seem to exceed their previous releases in their ridiculous assertions. It's quite stunning. The courage they have to present to us the just patently absurd. This week, we were the recipients of a new economic plan. Don't get ahead of me. It was unveiled with the goal of reducing inflation. That's a worthy goal. Inflation at the end of the day is a tax. And seeing inflation reduced is a worthy objective.
The revealed plan included a desire to stop price gouging by food producers. And the suggested pathway was price controls as a core part of the plan. They said it with a straight face. They used a lot of big words, lots of sentences, and great enthusiasm. Powerful people with lots of letters at the end of the names looked with serious faces at the cameras and said, this is the way.
Well, I grew up in the barns of Tennessee. But I have a simpler, more direct suggestion. And I honestly believe it would be far more effective, far more quickly. What if, just suppose, what if the federal government should balance their budget and stop flooding the markets with printed cash and pushing deficit spending? I'm just thinking that price controls, further government control, and punishing the food producers might not be nearly as effective as a little bit of physical responsibility on behalf of those that are handing out cash.
Or if we really wanted to get crazy with it, we could produce our own energy. That would effectively lower cost on almost all our goods and services. We could stop pushing the myth of the current renewable energy sources making a dramatic shift in climate change. They may at some point in the future, but the technology doesn't support it. And our infrastructure won't support it.
Or maybe we could do something really bizarre like close our borders, stop empowering cartels. And the trafficking of children on our border. We get pretty heated up about slavery in our past, and that's appropriate to do so. But we have a current slave trade taking place on the borders of our nation, and the churches are silent. That is tragic.
The True Assignment: Heart Change, Not Just Political Power
Now, Paul wrote the Ephesian letter from prison. And I want to give you just a bit more of the back story because I think it'll help us understand the message so that we can make a spiritual impact in our generation. Paul wasn't advocating for a change in power in Rome. He was advocating for a change in the hearts of the people of faith.
And I understand our assignment to be for a change in heart of the people of faith. The anxiety around current events and the conversation is we've been engaging in ungodly practices and behaviors, and so we don't want to be reminded of it. I believe you should participate in the process, but the process is not going to yield better outcomes until we have a fundamental change of heart.
So let's look at 2 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 9. Again, this is... Paul wrote this letter from the same prison where he wrote Ephesians. He said, Do your best to come to me quickly, for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me. And he's gone to Thessalonica, Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus is in Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you because he is helpful to me in my ministry. I sent Tychicus to Ephesus.
Say that three times really quickly. It's noteworthy because when you read the letter to the Ephesians, which you have in your Bibles, I put you a passage from chapter 6. Paul says, Tychicus, the dear brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will tell you everything so that you may know how I am and what I'm doing. I'm sending him to you for this very purpose so that you may know how we are and that he may be encouraging to you.
The letter of Ephesians that you and I hold in our Bibles is a letter written from prison. That adds a significance to it. An intensity to it. It's not some random theological musing that Paul wrote from a beach while they were preparing his omelet. And I'm not opposed to any of the above. But there's an intensity to it.
How the Church in Ephesus Actually Began – Acts 19
He's writing to a community of people that we're going to get to know a bit. In Acts chapter 19, it's the story of how that engagement began. Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God but some of them became obstinate and they refused to believe and publicly maligned the way.
So Paul left them and he took the disciples with him and he had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. This went on for two years so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord. That's the beginning of Paul's engagement with the believers in Ephesus.
He went into the synagogue as was his habit. It's where the Jewish community gathered and he is a Pharisee very well educated in Jewish law and tradition. He has credentials the equivalent of graduate degrees in our modern academic system. So he has status and standing with those groups. and he goes there and he begins to show them from their Hebrew Bible that Jesus is the Messiah.
And the outcome wasn't particularly unusual. It said that some became obstinate and they refused to believe and they publicly criticized the way, the message that Paul was sharing and those who were agreeing with it. Now that pattern is still prevalent in the world.
The synagogue is a gathering of religious people. They gather to worship. They gather to read Scripture. But they don't always gather to seek the Lord. That's not a 21st century condemnation. That was a challenge in the 1st century in place after place where Paul went. Some would believe and many would not. And in Ephesus it says they became obstinate. They refused to believe.
Please don't ever forget that belief is a choice you make. Unbelief is a choice we make. We either choose to say we will believe the Lord, believe the Scripture and we will move forward with it or we stubbornly say I don't believe that.
Now we're typically a bit more sophisticated. So you know that's just not how me and my family believe. Or that's not the way I grew up. Or you know the church I grew up in the denomination I grew up in that wasn't the way we read it. And every subset within the community of faith the larger community of faith have verses that we champion and passages that we're more familiar with.
That's not really what I'm talking about. I'm talking about those places where we draw lines and we say we don't really care what the Bible says. That's just not I'm not going to believe that. That's a dangerous choice to make. That's a dangerous choice to make.
So the answer was it said Paul left them. I don't believe we no longer have the luxury of staying in churches that will not honor the authority of Scripture or the redemptive work of Jesus. I don't technically understand them to be churches. I understand the signs and the architecture and the religious meetings. You know it doesn't the style of worship the things that we've argued about are secondary.
Which translation of the Bible is better? The best translation is the one you will read. There are merits there are strengths and weaknesses to most translations. I'm happy to have those dialogues from time to time but not to divide the body of Christ over them. Folks if we can disagree on a point and both go to heaven I will extend a hand of fellowship. If we disagree on a point that would keep us out of the kingdom that's not fellowship. That's accommodating sin and I won't do that. I won't lend my strength and my energy and my effort to do that.
The Message Goes Viral Through Supernatural Power
Paul left them and for two years in the city of Ephesus there were daily lectures in this hall. And then something happened. We're not really given we're given a part of the story we'll look at it in a moment but Paul went viral. I mean not an infectious disease the message. All the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord. That's the message we just read it.
The whole region heard what Paul was saying. The message got communicated it gained momentum it caught fire it gained advocates it started influencing places and people and their behaviors. there was supernatural assistance. Look at Acts 19 verse 11 it says God did extraordinary miracles through Paul.
I've always thought that was an interesting phrase. Miracles are pretty remarkable. A miracle is something you can't do on your own. An extraordinary miracle. that's like a super duper miracle. said God did extraordinary miracles through Paul that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick and their illnesses were cured and evil spirits left them.
I can imagine that would begin to shake up a city in a region. People that had problems that could not be resolved and illnesses that couldn't be addressed and God begins to supernaturally heal them. I would submit to you that from a biblical perspective particularly from a New Testament perspective a necessary component of transformation is the demonstration of God's power.
We're not going to outthink evil or outorganize evil or outstudy evil. We're not going to outvote evil. I believe in voting. I'm not telling you not to do that. If you're not voting you're a coward. But we fundamentally need a display of the power of God.
So here's my suggestion. We've got to begin to prepare ourselves. We've gone to seminars on miracles. We've done Bible studies and small group studies ad nauseam on whether God still does miracles. Whether they ceased here or whether they ceased there or we were more than willing to engage in the discussion.
We're going to have to recognize that we are completely dependent upon God's power or we will be overwhelmed. What was it we read in Ephesians 6? We'll come back to it in the weeks ahead. But Paul said we're in a wrestling match. Not with persons with bodies, but with principalities and powers and spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
If you're in a spiritual struggle and you're only using physical resources, you will not succeed. Let's establish in our hearts that we have an openness to the power of God. That we recognize our need for a power beyond ourselves, for an authority beyond that that we can marshal.
If we can establish that, it will put in us a hunger and a willingness to grow and learn and change that has largely been absent. We've been rather smug and self-righteous. We've pointed either our history or our accomplishments or our achievement or our personal spiritual resume. We'll talk about all the things we've learned and we know how to spell Nebuchadnezzar.
You may be able to rattle off the 12 tribes of Israel and you may be able to know how to spell them in Hebrew letters. All good stuff. I appreciate the study and the investment of time and the concern and the compassion, but is it sufficient to say that we desperately need the power of God in this season? Our children are being sacrificed. Our families are being targeted. Our wealth is being thrown into the sea.
Supernatural Resistance and Public Repentance
Well, if there was a supernatural assistance in that same chapter in verse 17, there is a supernatural resistance. And I think it's a fair recognition that where you see one, you typically find the other. That where God is moving, the enemy and the kingdom of darkness will do their best to engage.
And if you can bear one more sports analogy, you don't game plan for an athlete who presents no threat. You don't game plan for the worst athlete on the opponent's team. You have a game plan for the one that could disrupt what you want to do. How about you decide you become someone that requires the attention of the adversary?
Where you work, in your neighborhood, in your school. Some of us have thought the goal is to stay under the radar, not to draw any attention to ourselves. I'm not asking you to be weird or obnoxious. I'm telling you to begin to occupy a place spiritually. Those other things are physical expressions. Those aren't necessary. But you begin to pray. You begin to invite the Spirit of God into your home, into your neighborhood, wherever it may be. We've been passive long enough, folks.
Verse 17 says, When this became known to the Jews and the Greeks living in Ephesus, in the New Testament, that's everybody. There's the Jews and everybody else. Something happened. It was the aftermath of a demonic demonstration. There were seven sons of the Jewish high priest that were emulating what they'd seen Paul do when he said, in Jesus' name, and he rebuked an unclean spirit, so they took Paul's pattern and they used it.
Some of you remember the story, the demon and the man said, well, Paul I know, and Jesus I know, but who exactly are you? And that one man overpowered those seven men. And they fled from that encounter naked and bleeding. Yeah, I'm thinking that would make the news.
So that's what is being recorded here. It says, when this became known, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed their evil deeds. And a number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly.
And when they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to 50,000 drachmas. A drachma was a coin about equivalent to a day's wage. So you decide whatever your day's income would be and multiply it by 50,000. It's a chunk. In this way, the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.
Well, that's not the way we want it to happen. We want a marketing plan. We want a revival week. We want something to go viral. This one's kind of messy. The spiritual conflict becomes visible. It's taking place in the streets. We've seen some spiritual conflict in the streets. We haven't yet seen the name of Jesus held in high esteem. We've seen some other things held in high esteem.
It says that the community was seized with fear and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. And the outcome of that was many believers, not the pagans, not the ungodly, many believers came and openly confessed their evil deeds. This is that heart change thing again.
The people of faith came and said, we've been living in the shadows. We've been occupying the gray area. And they publicly said it. Again, that's a threshold that we have not seen broadly. Many practiced sorcery and they publicly renounced their participation. In fact, there were millions of dollars. Whatever number you plug in for that drachma, if you make it pretty simple, is $100. It becomes millions of dollars of paraphernalia were destroyed in public.
We have been engaged with wickedness and ungodliness and spiritual things that we knew were not right. And we want to separate ourselves from it. And we will say it in public. We don't care who knows. And there's going to be a financial cost to it. You see, we've been very reluctant to let our spiritual life intrude on our financial lives.
I mean, we'll tolerate some conversations on giving and perhaps even engage in that. But the thought of our faith truly impacting our economic momentum, our economic plan, we've withdrawn from that for the most part. And then we point at our children and say, well, it's on their behalf. Right. Right.
It says, because of that, the word of the Lord spread widely. But the spiritual resistance doesn't stop there.
The Riot Instigated by Economic Threat
Two verses later, it says, about that time, about the time of this public repentance and the acknowledgement of all the momentum in the wrong direction. See, it's beginning to pull at the fabric of the city. We're not going to continue to go with the values we've had and the morals that we've had and the behaviors that we've had. We're going to walk a new way.
See, when I've imagined revival, I think it's going to be like running a 5K with lots of applause and free food. And everybody gets a ribbon or a medal or a tag. When you get to the finish line, no matter when you get there, as long as you get there, there's people cheering. That's revival.
Well, in Ephesus, that's not how it played out. About the time there's this big public repentance session and the whole community is being stirred by it, there arose a great disturbance about the way, about these people. And a silversmith named Demetrius who made silver shrines for Artemis. Artemis is the god of Ephesus. Artemis is the spiritual principality in charge of Ephesus.
Do you believe there are spiritual authorities over cities, regions, nations? That's another discussion, but it's certainly alluded to in scripture. They made silver shrines for Artemis brought in no little business for the craftsmen. And he called the craftsmen together along with the workmen in related trades and said, men, you know we receive a good income.
And you see and hear how this fellow Paul has convinced and led astray large numbers of people here in Ephesus and in practically the whole province of Asia. He says that man-made gods are no gods at all. Paul is challenging the current culture. He's not doing it quietly. He's not doing it subtly. He's doing it every day for two years.
There is danger not only that our trade will lose its good name, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited. And the goddess herself who is worshipped throughout the province of Asia and the world will be robbed of her divine majesty. He could care less about the divine majesty of Artemis. He cares a great deal about the bottom line of Demetrius.
I find that the opposition to the biblical worldview, a Judeo-Christian worldview, an opposition to the lordship of Jesus. And I've had to learn this from observation. I didn't understand it always. They want to diminish our voice. They want to diminish our place because they want another power in its place.
And what you represent and what you stand for and the values you hold are a threat to the opportunities they perceive. And if they can silence you or remove you or diminish you, they can pursue their ungodly objectives and gain the benefits they imagine are there.
And when we coalesce, when we yield, when we go silent, when we withdraw, we abandon places and people and institutions to wickedness and godliness. Demetrius is practicing deception. The best deception has some truth and some fiction. He has little concern for Artemis. He has great concern for his financial stability and opportunity.
In verse 29, same chapter says, soon the whole city was in an uproar. The people seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul's traveling companions, and they rushed as one man into the theater. I don't believe you can adequately understand a city-wide riot unless you imagine there is demonic agitation.
This started with the seven sons of Sceva and a demon speaking through a man challenging something. And it continues with this presentation that the spirit that presides over Ephesus is threatened. And now there's a stirring through the whole city. I don't believe you can understand what's happening in our current world without some spiritual awareness. It's too bizarre. It's too separated from the truth. It's too separated from logic or reality.
The assembly was in confusion. Some were shouting one thing and some another. Most of the people didn't even know why they were there. They sound like the demonstrations we have in our nation. They're chanting things they can't explain.
The Jews pushed Alexander to the front and some of the crowd shouted instructions to him and he motioned for silence in order to make the defense for the people. But when they realized he was a Jew they shouted they all shouted in unison for about two hours. Great is Artemis of the Ephesians.
Just the fact that the man was a Jew incited anger. That sounds spiritual. What's the spirit behind the hatred of the Jews? The spirit of Antichrist. The spirit that hates the Jewish people. The covenant people of God. The people through whom we were introduced to the law. We were introduced to the righteous character of God.
Through whom we received the prophets. Through whom we received the scripture. Through whom we have a Messiah. Our Messiah is an observant Jewish rabbi. Do you think the kingdom.
Jesus Came to Bring Division, Not False Unity
That's the beginning of the church in Ephesus. It was birthed through the teaching of the gospel and the spiritual, the supernatural affirmation of the truth. But he was also challenged in some very profound ways by spiritual opposition. We'll look at a bit more in the sessions ahead.
But it seemed an appropriate point to introduce you to a principle that Jesus introduced us to. That Jesus understood he came to bring division in the earth. It's a message that's been lost largely in the contemporary church. In Matthew 21, Jesus said, I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you. Speaking to the leaders in Jerusalem and given to a people who will produce its fruit.
This was the sentence. He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed. You know, we can stumble on Jesus and in our brokenness find healing and restoration. If you stand in opposition to his purposes and you stubbornly refuse to believe, you'll be crushed. Not in my opinion.
We've been very passive. We've had a very low level of concern for the ungodly and the people around us. We've had a greater concern for what we might forfeit. If we were identified as advocates for Jesus, then we've had a concern for the eternity of those people.
And I don't mean just telling them to get saved so you can put a notch on your Bible. I mean walking with them through a journey of discipleship. If you have regular fellowship with people who are leading ungodly lives, and you don't bother to tell them the truth, you're in a very precarious spiritual place. Not to be obnoxious. But we have to care enough.
Luke chapter 12, Jesus said it even more plainly. Do you think that I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other. Three against two and two against three. They'll be divided father against son and son against father and mother against daughter and daughter against mother and mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.
It's not some subtle point. He goes out of his way to try to help us understand. And this isn't, again, a subtle theme. Paul left the synagogue in Ephesus because of the obstinate unbelief and public criticism. Demetrius instigates an angry mob because of the financial impact of people coming to faith. Habits are changing, and he recognizes it.
And he's a leader. He's visionary enough to recognize the threat to his well-being, and he wants to get ahead of the curve and shut this down. Now, Jesus said, I didn't come to bring unity. I came to bring division. Paul told the Ephesian leaders when he met with them, before he left, he said, I'm headed to Jerusalem, and the Holy Spirit has warned me of prison and hardship.
Not because Paul was disobedient. Not because he was being immoral or ungodly or greedy or doing something inappropriate. He said, I'm going to Jerusalem where I know I'm directed to go, and when I get there, the Holy Spirit has told me that there will be prison and hardship. I don't know what the hardship will be.
Well, the ultimate imprisonment and hardship puts him in Rome, where Paul writes the letter back to the Ephesians. Paul's writing from a Roman prison to this Ephesian group of believers. He was arrested in Jerusalem and accused falsely by brothers in the faith.
Paul spent two years in the prison in Caesarea in Israel before being transported to Rome because of multiple assassination attempts from the religious community. So I have a question. I'm about done. Do we think that we will experience a significant move of God without disruption, difficulty, and determination? Not if we read our Bibles.
We want to elect somebody to go change everything. And we want to stay silent in spiritual camouflage. We don't want to forfeit business opportunities. We don't want to be identified as one of those people. We need to get along and go along. And meanwhile, we watch children being sacrificed and mutilated.
We are told constantly in the community of faith to be kind and to work for unity. I agree with the assignment, but there's no unity with those who oppose the gospel. There is no unity with those who oppose ungodliness, who practice ungodliness. There's no unity with those who deny the truth.
Paul talked about those folks in 2 Timothy. He said, they have a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof, have nothing to do with them.
A Final Call to Full Discipleship and Prayer
Folks, we are at a pivot point. I don't know what the future holds. I truly don't. The Lord could return. That would be wonderful. I think we're still a bit away from that. It could simply be the end of an empire. If that's the case, there's tremendous suffering. If that's the case, it isn't primarily a political issue. It will be because the people of faith turned their back on God, and he brought judgment.
I do know this, that I believe the central characters, the most important players in this unfolding drama, are the people of faith and who we decide to be. I want to invite you simply to begin to say to the Lord, Lord, I want to follow you more completely than I ever have before. Give me an understanding heart. Forgive me for my indifference. Forgive me for my self-righteousness. Help me to understand you and your kingdom better.
I completely trust the Lord. He is faithful. And I have great concern for the people of God. I spent my life in the church. In the last couple of years, I've been in many places with different cities, with people who are leading in the church. It's a very important time.
We don't have to have a majority. There's an authority in the truth that reflects the power of Almighty God. If we will choose the Lord. David had zero chance against Goliath. None. He was an awkward teenager who happened to know an Almighty God. And the story worked out really, really well.
I brought you a prayer. It's a prayer Paul gave to the church at Ephesus. And it seems appropriate for us this weekend. I'm going to ask you to do it with me as a proclamation. In fact, it's a prayer that I want us to pray over one another.
Part of what we have to do is learn to pray more effectively, to treat it as if it's more serious. It's as serious as any medication you would ever take. It's as serious as any currency you would ever accumulate. It's one of the most powerful opportunities that you've ever been entrusted with.
So this is what I'd like to do. I'd like part of us to offer this prayer for another part of us, and then we will reverse it. So we will both say the prayer, extend it to someone else, and then we will receive it back. Are you up for that? I've quit. We've got enough time to do this. All right?
I'm going to do this even on campus. So I'm going to start with those of you that are on the floor in Three Crosses. If you'll stand with me. And now turn around. That way. We're going to pray for all those people that are looking at you. But there's also some cameras back there, which means you're also looking at the people who are in New Harvest, Sanctuary, and All Nations, and Fellowship Square, all over this campus, but all across the nation that have joined us today.
We're going to bless all those people. So we're going to read that prayer together, those of us standing. You with me? Please don't do it in your quiet church voice. They will not hear you in Colorado. They're a little distracted there anyway. All right.
You ready to receive back there? You're going to believe? Believing is an active choice. It's not a passive choice. I believe there is a God. I believe He has something for me. I believe He's at work in the earth. I want to join Him in those purposes.
No matter who I've been, or where I've been, or what I've done, that if I will come in humility and repent, the blood of Jesus is sufficient to cleanse me, to justify me, to sanctify me, to write a new future for me. This is not a religious exercise. It's a mobilization service.
We're going to invite the Spirit of God into our midst, our homes, our communities, our schools, our cities. Let's pray this together. I pray that out of His glorious riches, He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the saints to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ. And to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us. To Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Hallelujah. That's pretty good. Now, if you're in Fellowship Square, New Harvest, all nations, in the stadium seats in three crosses, you stand. You're going to say that blessing back over the rest of these folks. And wherever you're watching from, you say it right into your phone. I hope you're in a crowded bar. They'll think you're weird. No, I don't really hope you're in a crowded bar. I like it. All right.
Those of you on the floor, are you going to receive? Amen. Okay. Let's pray it together. Father, I pray that out of His glorious riches, He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the saints to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ. And to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Hallelujah. Give the Lord a hand.