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Now, here's today's message from Pastor Skip Heitzig. According to the working of his mighty power, which he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead. and seated him at the right hand In the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, these are names of angelic beings. Their rankings like generals, and colonels, and sergeants, etc. Far above all principality, power, and might, dominion.
And every name that is named Not only in this age, but also in the age which is to come, and he has put all things under his feet. and given him to be the head over all things to the church. Which is his body, the fullness of him who fills. All In all. The third request is they might know God's power.
I pray that you'll know God's person. I pray that you'll know God's plan. I pray that you'll know God's power. And notice something about his power. It is according to his To the working of his mighty power, which he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead.
Now, we as human beings respect power. The word, by the way, here for power is dunamin. Dunamin, dynamic or dynamite. Dynamic is a better translation. Too many people are going to pieces already.
So, dynamic. It speaks of capacity. You have a new capacity. With God's calling comes God's capacity. If God's called you to something, God gives you the capacity to do it.
God would never call you to do something you could never do. If he tells you to do something, go do it. Or couldn't do it. You can do it. With the calling comes the capacity.
Lord, help them understand the power that they have. How much power? The same power that raised Jesus from the dead. That's pretty powerful. If you ever went to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and you see those huge launching pads, and if you've ever seen, A shuttle being launched into space or a rocket.
The payload weight upon take off of that contraption, is four 0.5 million pounds. £4.5 million It sounds like they're not getting off the ground no matter what they do with that weight. They're earthbound, man. Gravity has a huge impact on 4.5 million pounds. But what they do is they apply In the rockets, The equivalent thrust of seven million pounds of Pressure.
of thrust. Seven million pounds can take something that weighs four and a half million pounds. Up through Earth's atmosphere, given the gravitational pull, and launch it into space. That's power. What kind of power does it take to raise a dead person back to life?
Much more power. And God is Omnipotent. All powerful. And he displayed his power in the resurrection from the dead.
So, Lord. I'm praying for your church at Ephesus. I'm praying for the church. I'll pray for the church in Albuquerque that they will understand your power. What power.
You wrote when you raised Jesus from the dead, that can work through their life in a new capacity to do what you've called them to do. That sums it up. By the way, Please notice he does not ask God for more power. Just as they were realized. the power they already have.
You know, sometimes, Lord, we need more power. No, you don't. Oh no, I need more power. No, you don't. You would be dangerous with more power.
But you know, we used to sing a song even around here: more love, more power. No, you don't need more power. You just need more of The power God has already afforded you. You need to know what that is and live in that capacity. You have all that you need.
You have all sufficient power.
So he prays for that, prays that they will realize that. And he closes off the chapter. He said, He has put all things under his feet and given him Christ to be the head over all things to the Church. Which is his body, the body of Christ, the fullness of him who fills all. In all, do you realize God's plan is the church?
So, to all those people saying, you know, I'm only not into church very much, then you're not into God's plan, which is the church.
Well, I don't like organized religion. You like disorganized religion. What you're saying basically is you don't want to be accountable to anybody else. You want the freedom to do whatever you want to do, whenever you want to do it. You don't want anybody telling you, God or otherwise, what to do.
Because one of the things the church, the body of Christ, does is in unity keeps us all accountable, keeps that power under control, keeps us all accountable. and in unity spreading the kingdom of God.
So The church is God's plan. Jesus said, I will build my church. And Paul the Apostle says, the church is the pillar and ground of all truth. It is God's plan. in every generation.
So that's chapter one now. We have a few minutes to dip into Chapter 2. And you'll notice that chapter two begins with your favorite subject. You. It says in verse one, and you.
There you go. I take umbrage to that. I'm that's not my favorite subject.
Well, We took a picture, a group picture of all of us sitting here tonight. And at the end of the service, it was displayed in a huge format in the foyer, and you went up to that picture. Who's the first person in that picture you would look for? It's who we are. This is why Jesus said, Love your neighbor as yourself.
It's not as some erroneously say, well, you got to learn first to love yourself so you can love people. No, the implication is you already do love yourself. And because you love yourself, and it's proven by the fact that you get up, look in the mirror, put a comb through your hair, put clothes on your body, feed yourself, love people that much. That's the idea of that.
So he begins, and he begins in chapter 2. Taking us now from the heights of chapter one. The glorious alpine heights of the vista of Ephesians 1 down to the pit of darkness. of your life and my life before Jesus Christ. And he says, You and I, we were dead.
We were dead in our trespasses and sins. If I were to paint a picture of my Life. I'm not a good artist, but if I were a good artist, I can see what it would look like. I would choose All dark colors. Very dimly lit scenes of childhood, teenage years, rebellion, where I grew up.
I'd have those scenes painted, but it would be very dark, very dimly lit. Then In one of the corners up at the top, I would have the brightest white. Tiny little speck of light that shines through the picture and gets bigger and bigger and brighter. And then eventually I would take all the white paint I had and just pour it on the canvas. I went from darkness.
To light.
So he gives us a picture of you and I. When we were dead and in darkness. and stepped into the light of the gospel. And he says this. And you.
He made alive.
Now, in your Bible, is Is that little phrase he made alive in italics? It is in mind. You know what that means when it's in italics? It's not there. It's not there in the original.
It is supplied by the translators of this version. It is a phrase lifted up from verse 5 where it says, We were dead in trespasses. He made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved. The translators. Lifted that phrase out of verse five and stuck it into verse one.
Probably because this is such a dark scene. They want to give you a little jolly up as you get into this darkness of your old life and let you know where it's going. But it really reads this in the original, and you who were dead. in trespasses and sins. The translators have added, and it's true, he did make you alive, but you don't get to that till verse 5.
This is your past life. You were dead. Let's just start there. You were dead. You were born Dead.
You were born, you were stillborn. Spiritually. you were when you entered this world, even though you look so pink and so cute. That's only on the outside. You had a sin nature.
You were born D O A dead on Arrival. Separated from God. You weren't just, the unbeliever isn't just sick. The unbeliever is dead. And because dead uncapable of change.
It does take God's revelation and conviction. Before a person can change, and regeneration, which is a work of the Holy Spirit. But you were dead. in trespasses and sins. So, you and I live, we have spiritual life, but around us are zombies.
We live in a world of zombies. The Walking Dead. All around us. This is Connect with Skip Heitzig. Your support helps reach people every day with biblical truth that speaks into real life, bringing clarity, purpose, and hope.
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Now here's more from Pastor Skip. You can put An unbeliever In the best schools and give him the best education. And in the end, you'll have an educated sinner. You can send that unbeliever to the best counselor and psychiatrist and psychologist. And in the end, you'll have a well-balanced center.
You can make that person successful and gain a lot of wealth, and you make him a wealthy sinner. We are dead. Apart from Christ. That is our condition. That's how dark the scene begins.
In verse one And you were dead in two things, I want you to notice. What are those two things? Trespasses And since I know you're thinking, is he repeating himself? Isn't one the same? No, they're two different things.
The word sin or sins is the Greek word harmatia. And it literally means to miss the mark. It was a term in ancient Greek archery. If you would shoot at a target, if you missed that target, You send, you're a center. You missed the mark, you missed the target.
So let's say there's 20 arrows. And I have my 20 arrows, and there's a target in front of me. And I've got Pastor Eric up there, he's got 20 arrows. And Pastor Antonio on the other side of me, he's got 20 arrows. Eric goes up first.
Eric, you're pretty good. Right at archery?
Okay, so you fire your arrows and you hit. Bullseyes. Pretty awesome. But his last shot doesn't quite nail it, and he's shaken a little bit, and he misses the target.
So he's missed the mark. Antonio's up next. He fires the first one. Hits the bullseye, second one bullseye, third one, bullseye, fourth, fifth, bullseye. Six missus, seventh misses, eight.
And then hits a few more, misses a few more.
Now both have missed the mark. I get up. With my bow and my arrow. And I miss every single one of them. Who has missed the mark?
Out of all three of us. All of us have missed the mark.
Some have missed the mark more than others. And it just shows I'm a better sinner than they are. They still sin, they still miss the mark, but I also have missed the mark. in every shot. That's what it means to sin.
We have missed God's mark. All have sinned and have fallen short. of the glory of God. That's the word sin. We've missed the mark.
Now the second word which is first in the list, But the second word I'm bringing up is the word trespass. And that means to cross a known Border or line. To cross over into something. You can sin even though you want to hit the mark. We all want to hit the mark.
We're really trying hard to hit the mark, but. None of us Was perfect at it. A trespass is different. You don't want to hit anything. You just want to do what you want to do, and it is a willful, deliberate act.
You know better, but you do it anyway.
So, the first time you wax your floors, your kitchen floors, and you tell Junior don't walk on that floor, the first time he does, oh, I'm so sorry, that's a sin. Once he's been told and he has a gleam in his eye. waits when you're not looking and starts walking across the wax floor. That's a trespass. That's a willful, deliberate act.
You and I, we were dead, separated from God at birth. By two things: sin nature, we've all missed the mark. Endemic in Adam's nature, passed on to us, and Trespasses. We are sinners by nature. We are sinners by birth, we are also sinners by choice.
Trespasses and sins. Not only that, it gets worse. Verse 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 suns, of disobedience, Yeah.
The word walked in that verse is the Greek word peripateo. It means to walk about, to walk around. To stroll. To meander. You can tell if somebody's walking somewhere or if somebody's.
Just sort of Kell in time meandering. You and I, we meandered through this world. We were just sort of. We had no purpose. It's a purposeless going about.
That's the idea of peripateo. We once walked according to the course of this world. Have you ever been in a store? And you walked out of that store having purchased something, and then you get home, you go, why did I buy this? I don't even need this.
Well, it could be that you had a good salesman. It could be that you were. Typically, this is the real reason you were just browsing. You were just browsing, and you browsed yourself into.
Something you don't need.
So now you go, I'm going to take this thing back. I really don't need this thing. It was, you know, you justified it at the time as you were browsing. It says save 40%. You go, man, I'm saving us money.
I need to buy this. This is an investment. But You don't really need it, and so what happened? You browsed yourself into the transgression. You meandered, you browsed.
And notice this. You walked, you meandered, you browsed according to the course. of this world. From my reading, this originally has an idea of Blowing with whatever way the wind blows. The course could be translated weather vein.
Which way does the weather vein point? Whichever way the wind is blowing. If the wind is blowing from the west, it points to the east. And whichever way it goes, it just turns and moves according to that's how we lived our lives. We just were sort of browsing, meandering, being caught up with the current.
Whatever the current is doing, whatever people are thinking, we get caught up with it and we go in that direction. That's how we lived our lives. But notice who's behind it all. According to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit. who works in the sons of disobedience.
Satan is behind all of this meandering, all of these. Currents That are going on in the world today, people get caught up in, you and I were a part of. He's orchestrating that. Among whom also we all once conducted ourselves. In the lusts of our flesh.
Fulfilling the desires of the flesh. and of the mind. and were by nature Children of Wrath Just as others. We were going downstream, we were floating with the current. Remember the old saying, any dead fish can float downstream?
We were dead, and we were floating with the stream, the weather vane, the current of this world. Yeah. We did that because that was our nature. We were by nature the children of wrath. even as others.
The wrath that is spoken of is God's wrath, but we are by nature Children disposed to the wrath of God, even as others, under the condemnation of this world.
So Chapter 2 begins very dark. These are dark colors in the portrait that he is painting of our life, BC. You may recall the fable, the story of the scorpion who. Knew he needed to get across a little river. But he couldn't swim.
So he had a conversation with a tortoise and he said, Mr. Tortoise, I'd like to have you give me a ride on your back. uh to the other side of this river because you can swim and I can't. And the tortoise said, I'm not going to put you on my back. Are you kidding?
Am I are you nuts? You're going to sting me when we're halfway across, and then I'm going to die. I'm going to sink in the water. And the scorpion said, Well, that's highly illogical. Why would I ask you?
To take me across the river only to sting you, because if you drown, I drown. Torda said, Well, you got a point there. Or the turtle rather said, you got a point there. He said, Hop on, and the scorpion gets on the tortoise's back, and they go across the river. Halfway across the river, he raises that stinger, gives it all that he's got, stings the tortoise.
The tortoise starts sinking down into the water, feeling his energy go. And he says to the scorpion, I just have one question. You just said It was illogical. That you would sting me, and here you stung me. And the scorpion said, Well, let me just tell you, Mr.
Turtle, it's not about logic. It's my nature. It's the nature of the scorpion to deliver that sting, to deliver that bite. It has nothing to do with logic. You and I have a nature, a sin nature.
We acted according to our nature. We are by nature separated from God, by nature sinners by birth and choice.
Next verse. Best part of all, best part of the story. But God It's a great, great text. I've preached many messages on this text. But God, who is rich in mercy, Because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were 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 heavenly places, in Christ Jesus. That in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us.
In Christ Jesus. Do you notice that Paul loves that little phrase? In Christ Jesus. 85 times. Paul writes, in Christ Jesus.
In his letters. He loved that phrase. He loved picturing you. In Christ. Jesus died, you died.
Jesus rose, you rose. Jesus ascended, you ascended. Jesus is at the right hand of God, you are there with him in heavenly places. He's knowing you're eventually going there, so he writes positionally that you are already there as if it's already happened. And so he talks about us in heavenly places.
And we mentioned last week it's not just a location. That we're eventually going to go to. But it is a dimension, a dimension, something we can turn into at any moment here on earth. We can connect with. The power, the person, the plan of God in heavenly places.
You see, that's what it means in Colossians. Seek those things which are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. If you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above. Live with that heavenly reality in mind. Live knowing God's power, God's plan, God's purpose, God's person.
Live with that reality at all times. When you do, You won't sink. You won't get bogged down. We're so glad you joined us today on Connect with Skiff Heitzig. Before you go, here's a reminder.
When you give $50 or more this month, we'll send you the Expound Ephesians series along with Pastor Skip's book Beyond the Summer of Love as our thanks. These resources offer biblical insight and encouragement to help you grow in your faith and experience God's design for your life and relationships. Your support helps keep this Bible teaching ministry on the air, connecting more people to God's Word. Give today at connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888. See you next time.
Make a connection Make a connection. Shouldn't Mm. Of the crossing. Castle with perfect Insomnia. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of connection communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.
