Ephesians: Destined to Win In Christ! Part 10 – Lawson and Aaron Perdue – 12/09/24

Praise the Lord, friends, and welcome to the broadcast. I’m so glad that you’ve tuned in today. We’re gonna conclude the Book of Ephesians, where we talk about the weapons of our warfare. God has equipped us as believers to stand against all the works of the devil, against all the deception of the devil, through the armor that he has given us. So, open your heart and receive his word today. Friends, I’m so glad that you’re with us today. We are in Ephesians 6 and we’re gonna finish up during this broadcast. You don’t wanna miss this broadcast. And Paul just shares in here talking about, “Finally, my brethren.” He’s really talking about, this is where we end up. And we end up here because we started, right? Ephesians starts that we’re seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That’s the first three chapters. That’s the context. And then chapter four and chapter five talk about how we walk it out. Walk worthy of your vocation. God has a job for you to do. Walk like it, right? Renew your mind. Don’t walk like the rest of the world. He says, then, “Walk in love, walk in the light, and walk circumspectly. Walk like a person who has a covenant with God.” And then he says, “Here’s where you walk it out.” You walk it out in relationships. Husbands, love your wives. Wives, respect your husbands. Children, obey your parents. Parents, don’t exasperate your children. But now, he comes, and this is where we’re gonna jump into the Word today, talking about employers and employees. You know what, we need to have the right kind of employer-employee relationship.

And I wanna say this, too, about relationships. And even, I know some people might be watching this and you’re more independent. Maybe you’re just like an independent contractor or entrepreneur. But in that case, your customers are your employers, in a sense. But God cares that there’s honor in relationships, that both sides of the relationship is benefited. He likes mutually beneficial relationships. Even in the husband and wife, he wants both people to be benefited from that relationship. Children are a heritage from the Lord, and parents and children, he wants both side of that relationship to be rich.

And it’s good for us, right?

And same thing with employees and employers. God cares that both sides are benefited, that both sides are getting a good end of the deal. And one way to really honor your boss or honor your customers is to go beyond what they deserve, go beyond what they’re paying you for, go beyond. And when you do that, it honors God and it’s gonna bring promotion. So, if you’re always looking for the corners to cut and to punch out early and what you can get away with, that’s not honoring in that relationship. But when you honor people that God’s brought into your life, whether it be your family or people at work, and the work relationships are important. When you’re a person of honor, God loves that, and he brings promotion.

Amen, and here’s the deal. I was talking to my brother-in-law the other day, and he’s worked for the same company for years and years and years. He’s an engineer. He’s kind of a quiet person, maybe doesn’t know how to present himself in the best light. But I said, “What you need to do is see how you can add value to your company.”

And that’s honor. So, another, that’s how I actually define honor, is by adding value to people’s lives and going beyond

Right, because if you can add value-

Honor goes beyond.

They’ll value you, in most cases. And if God can’t promote you where you’re at, he’ll promote you somewhere else.

There’s a man about my age here at church. He helps me on the youth team. His name’s Raul. He is from San Francisco, and he moved out here to go to Bible school in the evenings, but he’s been able to work remote for his company, and it’s an investing company. And he said when he was there in San Francisco, he was not very high on the totem pole. They gave him an office in the basement and just, people would go to him with technical problems, if they had little glitches.

I’ve been there.

But he said God has really brought promotion to him. He said, initially, he was overlooked, but God, he’s really tried to honor people, honor, he’s very honoring at the church, very honoring towards pastors and people. But God has brought him tremendous promotion, and he’s one of the higher-ups in that company. But he’s always looking how he can honor and add value to people’s lives.

Right, so we’re gonna jump right into the word here in Ephesians 6:5-9. We’re talking about servants and masters. Or we could say, in today’s terminology, employees and employers. I think it fits so well. Employees or servants, “Be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh.” Do what your boss asks you, again, as long as this doesn’t cause you to sin against God. “With respect, with fear and trembling and singleness of your heart as unto Christ.” So, if you can do it without sin, then you need to do it, and you need to do a good job. He says, “Not with eyeservice as menpleasers,” not just when the boss is watching, right? “But as servants of Christ doing the will of God from the heart.” It is the will of God for you to do a good job at your workplace. “With goodwill,” you want the best for your boss. You want the best for those who are over you, right? “Doing service as unto the Lord and not unto men, knowing that whatever good thing that any man does, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he’s bond or free,” or whether he is an employee or an employer. If I do the right thing as the employer to my employees, I believe God will do the right thing for me. If I do the right thing as employee to my employer, I believe that God will reward me. Now, God can reward me in other ways. God can reward me in other places. And we’ve seen that happen as a church when people have come to work for us. Some people have taken pay cuts where they could have got more other places, and yet, God has rewarded them much more in other areas. But as time went on, they’ve been raised and done more than they would’ve ever got before. So, he says this. He says, “You masters,” or you employers, then, in verse nine, “Do the same things to them, forbearing threatening.” You don’t want people to work out of a sense of fear or intimidation. “Knowing that your master,” like, I’m the boss here, but I have a boss in heaven. Jesus is the big boss, right? “Also in heaven, neither is there any respect of persons with him.” In other words, if you do the right thing, I believe, ultimately, if we do the right thing, in eternity, we’re gonna be rewarded. But I believe, ultimately, on Earth we’ll get rewarded if we keep the right attitude about it.

And again, a lot of things come down to your relationship with God. And he says, “Do it as unto the Lord.” Again, if you’re trusting God, ultimately, you realize that God’s gonna take care of me no matter what. God’s gonna see me no matter what. God’s gonna help me out no matter what.

Amen.

Even if you might be overlooked and not always treated right in different scenarios, different relationships, if you ultimately trust God, he’s gonna take care of you, make things right-

Amen.

And honor you.

Amen. Now, he moves from this. So, the first three chapters of Ephesians, again, Paul is talking about who we are, what we have in Christ, that we’re seated in heavenly places in Christ, that we’re blessed, that we’re forgiven, that we’re redeemed, that we’re accepted, all these good things. The next two chapters in Ephesians 4 and 5, he talks about how we walk this out and where we walk it out through relationships, which he carries in to the first part of chapter six in the marriage with husbands and wives, then children and their parents, and then in the workplace, employees and employers. But finally, when we get down here to the end, he says this. “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the authority of his ability and in the power of his mind.” The literal Greek is the authority of his ability. He says, “Put on the whole armor of God that you may stand against the wiles of the devil.” So, we don’t begin standing against the devil. We begin seated in heavenly places in Christ. We begin from a position of victory so we can walk it out in this world. And as we do this, we stand against the devil. Most believers, most Christians have this wrong. They have it upside-down. They think you gotta stand against the devil so you can walk it out in this world. But we can never stand against the devil, not in our own power, strength.

Yeah, and I love Ephesians 2 talking about your position in Christ. So, you’re seated in heavenly places with Christ. You walk it out here on this earth. And lastly, you stand, so you seat-

Against the devil.

Seated, Sit, walk, stand.

Right, amen. And so, he says, “As you do this, be strong. Your strength is in the Lord. Your strength is in the power of his ability.” He says, “Then, you put on the whole armor of God,” all of it, you need all of these different aspects, and we’ll talk about ’em all in the last part of this broadcast. “Put all on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil.” The devil’s only real power over the believer is deception. If he can deceive you, he can defeat you. “My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge,” Hosea 4:6. “My people are kept in bondage because they have no knowledge,” Isaiah 5:13. “For we wrestle not, our battle is not against flesh and blood.” My battle’s not with you, my son. My battle’s not with my wife. My battle’s not with my employees. My battle’s not with my boss. The true battle is, what? “Against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” Now, I’ve read that verse in at least 20 different translations. And in every one, it says there is a battle. But did you know what? The enemy has been defeated, and this is what we have to realize. Satan is a defeated foe. Jesus is Lord, he’s already conquered the devil, and we win. But we’ve gotta take our God-given authority over the devil. And to do that effectively, we need to use the armor of God. And so, we’re gonna come back in the last part of this last broadcast on the Book of Ephesians and talk about our armor and standing strong against the devil, because there is a devil. He’s real. There is a battle. It’s real. But the good news, Jesus already conquered him. Jesus already defeated the devil, and we win.

That’s awesome. And we have everything we need. We’re fully equipped.

Amen.

Yes, we can put on this entire armor of God. And as we get into it, it’s interesting, ’cause as you notice, all these armaments, that they go on the front part of your body. We’re made to move forward in life-

Not to retreat-

Amen.

Not to go backwards, not to run away from the enemy. We’re to face things head on and not back down.

Lawson Amen.

We have everything we need to live that victorious life that Jesus created us for. So, stay tuned. We’ll be back in just a few minutes. If you’d like to call right now during the break for prayer or to receive product, just give a call. We’ll see you here in just a moment.

Hi, friends, we’ve been teaching from the Book of Ephesians, and I’ve just written a new book from the Book of Ephesians that I’ve wanted to do for years, “Destined to Win: Breakthrough Revelation From the Book of Ephesians”. You’ll wanna get this book, and we’re gonna offer this book, actually, free to anyone who calls in and becomes a new partner this week. Blessings. The word will produce freedom in your life. Psalm 138:2 says, “I magnified my word above all of my name.” Thank God His word is magnified. Praise God! When you honor the word, you honor God. When you honor the word, you honor Christ. You need to let the word of God be the absolute standard for truth, praise God. Praise the Lord, friends, we are finally in the final part of Ephesians 6, where Paul says, “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the authority of his ability.” You see, we have authority to release the ability of God on the earth when we take our God-given authority and live like God wants us to. So, he says, because we’re in this battle, right? There is a battle. Satan is a defeated foe, Jesus is Lord, and we win when we take our authority. Because there is this battle. he says, “Because of this, wherefore take unto you,” in verse 13, “The whole armor of God,” not just pieces of it, you take it all, “That you might stand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” We need to withstand the devil, and if you do all, we’ll stand. And so, he begins to tell us what it is. He says: Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, having on the breastplate of righteousness, having your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And so, he names all this armor. And he says, number one, we need to have our loins girt about with truth. Well, your loins are your reproductive area, so you gotta put on the belt of truth. And if you’re not walking in truth, you’re not gonna produce anything. So, we’ve gotta walk in truth. A lot of believers have a problem with truth, but we need to tell the truth. We need to stand in the truth. We need to live the truth. Jesus said, “Continue in my word and you’ll know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” If you wanna live in freedom, walk in truth.

We can really see this during today’s time in different denominations who’ve just done away with truth. “We’re not gonna preach all of the Bible or believe it for what it says.” They deteriorate really rapidly.

Yeah, there’s a denomination, a few years ago, they printed a New Testament, where, with red letters, where it says Jesus said it, they literally said, “Jesus absolutely said this. Jesus might have said this,” where it’s red letters where the scripture says Jesus said it, and Jesus absolutely didn’t say this. Well, you know what? I’ve read Revelation 22, and it says, “If you take away these things, your part in heaven’s gonna be taken away.” I’m not gonna get into that. I believe all the Bible. I believe all the word of God. Amen.

And again, we talked about how the devil has been defeated, but the only power he really has is that-

Deception.

Deception. And his deception is, it’s slight. When he breaks away from truth, it’s not always just super blatant. So, sometimes he’ll just bend the truth slightly or take a piece of the truth, or take different half truths and put them together, blend things together, you know? But all these things are deceptive. Actually, recently, there’s, President Biden declared a certain day to be a national transgender day. And he declared it to be on Easter, when we celebrated Easter. And he quoted a half-scripture when he did this on social media. He said, like, “We’re created in the image of God.”

No, God didn’t create, God created them male and female.

Yeah, that’s the other half of that verse. So, by taking a half of a verse, that’s actually very deceptive. It’s not truth, it’s deceptive.

Well, we know where he’s going if he doesn’t repent, and I don’t care what church he’s a part of. The church doesn’t save you. Only Jesus can save you. And you know what? When you deny male and female, you deny your creator. And you know what? If all the bulls decided to go homosexual, and all the boars, that’s the male cows and the male pigs decided to go homosexual, and all the ram sheep decided to go homosexual and all the ram goats decided to go homosexual, we wouldn’t have any meat to eat because nobody would produce anything. I don’t care what you feel. You don’t want to deny God who created you in his own image and created them male in and female. In the spirit, there’s neither male nor female, but while we’re on this earth, we’re in a physical body, and that’s how God made it to be.

But there’s an attack on truth, and we have to stand in truth.

“You gird your waist with truth. You also put on the breastplate of righteousness.”

Amen, put on the righteousness of God. So, we are the righteousness of God in Christ. That’s what the Bible says. It says that God made us to be righteous in Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For God made him,” Jesus, “To be sin or a sin offering for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” Jesus became a sin offering for us. He never sinned, but he became a sin offering for us. And we were made the righteousness of God. That’s spiritually speaking. But here, he says, “Put on righteousness. “Put on the breastplate of righteousness.” That protects your life, your organs, your heart, your lungs. Your physical life is protected by righteousness.

“And having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace.”

Amen. We need to be prepared to preach the gospel of peace, and it’s a gospel of peace. I’m not trying to-

In the gospel, the first two letters of gospel is go. The gospel needs to be going somewhere. We need to be going somewhere with the gospel.

Praise God.

“Above all, taking the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. I love that.

Amen.

We always need to have that shield of faith up.

Thank God we have faith. Where does faith come from?

Hearing the word.

“Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:17 says, “Now, then, faith comes by hearing,” or declaration, “And declaration by the mouth of God.” So, faith comes when we hear someone share or we study the word of God, we hear what God says to be true about himself. You see, the Bible is a progressive revelation of who God is. And when you study it out in the Old Testament, there is seven redemptive names of God. He said, “I am your provider. I am your healer. I am your deliverer. I am your sanctification. I am your peace and your provision.” Again, he says, “I am your righteousness and I am your sanctification.” He’s all those things, and, “I’m the Lord who’s there.” So, when you study those things out, when someone comes and declares to to us that God is our provider, that God is our healer, that God is our sanctification, that God is our peace and our provision, that God is our righteousness, and that he is the Lord who is there, when they come and declare that he is our deliverer, do you know what? When they declare that, then that builds faith. If we tell people a lie, then that doesn’t build faith. There’s some preachers that aren’t preaching the truth. When you teach the word of God, the truth of the Word of God, it builds faith in the lives of those who hear it.

Amen.

So important to teach the word, to teach the truth so people can be built up in their faith. And he says this. He said, “Take the shield of faith, which you’ll be able to quench all the flaming lies, all the fiery darts.” Again, the devil’s only real power is deception. But you take faith for what the word of God says. You take faith for who God says he is. “I am your provider. I am your healer. I’m your deliverer. I’m your sanctification. I’m your peace,” again, “And provision,” and that’s tied together again, “I am your righteousness, and I’m the Lord who’s there.” God says he is all those things. Then, Jesus represents all those things in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And then Paul says we have those things in us in Christ. That’s the word of God. That builds our faith. That stops the devil dead in his tracks, I mean it. It puts him in his place, amen. He is a defeated foe. So, he says that. He says, “You’ll quench all the fiery darts of the wicked and take the helmet of salvation.” What do we get out of salvation, right there, the helmet of salvation?

This protects your mind.

Right.

That’s where the battlefield is for the believer, the battlefield of the mind. So, the helmet of salvation protects your mind. Do you have the mind of Christ? God has not given you a spirit of fear.

Lawson Amen.

But of power, of love, and of a sound mind. Salvation protects your mind. And we’re to take the sword of the Spirit, in verse 17, which is the word of God.

Amen.

I love it. The spirit and the word-

Work together. The word is both offensive and defensive. You can use the word, and most people that understand begin to use the word in defense. So, if I’m fighting healing, I use the word, or fighting sickness, I use the word. If I’m fighting poverty, I use the word. If I’m fighting anxiety, I use the word. If I’m standing against sin, I use the word.

But it’s offensive.

But it’s offensive. You don’t have to be in a financial crisis to believe the promises for provision. You don’t have to be in a health crisis to believe the promises for healing and for health. You don’t have to be in an anxiety crisis. You don’t have to be in a sin crisis to believe the promises for righteousness. Start taking the word and go on the offense, and start taking territory for your life. Go ahead and read the next verses, Aaron.

Yeah, I’m gonna read just a few verses, here. Verse 18 says: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end, with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. And for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that in it, I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak. I love that word utterance.

Lawson Amen. When ministers of the gospel speak, it shouldn’t just be their own wisdom, their own thoughts.

Amen.

The spirit of God needs to be speaking through you. That’s what utterance means.

Amen.

We need churches where pastors preach with that utterance. Pray for your pastor there’s utterance, that the word, the spirit speaks through his messages.

Amen. Finally, and so all these weapons are really empowered with prayer, and I like that he puts prayer, here. And finally, he says this in verse 21 to 24. “But that you also may know my affairs and how I do, Tychicus, a beloved brother, a faithful minister in the Lord, shall make known to you all things, whom I’ve sent to you for the same purpose, that you might know our affairs.” Again, Paul was an apostle, but he was relational. And he says, “That he might comfort your hearts. Peace be to the brethren, love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus.” And I love this last verse, “Grace be with all them who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen.” Be sincere in your love for Jesus and you will experience the grace of God.

Awesome.

God’s an amazing God. I wanna remind you, we have literally hundreds of hours of teaching. We’ve got much more teaching on this subject than we could share even in these broadcasts. But we’ve got live versions from church. We’ve got the studio versions, we’ve got audio, we’ve got downloadable video we’ve made. It’s cost me thousands and thousands of dollars to make it free of charge to you. So, go there on our website and come Sunday to Charis Christian Center. Blessings.

Announcer When Jesus saved you, your destiny changed completely. He radically transformed us and brought us from death to life, from sin to righteousness, and from defeat to victory. Discover these life-changing truths in Pastor Lawson’s eight-part teaching, “Destined to Win”. A $40 value, yours free today. Download ’em now at charischristiancenter.com.

Did you know God has good plans for you? I wanna encourage you to save the date for our Rejoice! Women’s Conference. We’ll be meeting February 6th through the 8th. We’re gonna have Cathy Duplantis as one of our special speakers. My daughter-in-Law, Pastor Heather, will be here, Pastor Lawson Purdue. Bring your daughters, bring your granddaughters, bring your friends. Come hang out with us for a special time of worship and teaching how God has good plans for you. Everyone is welcome. See you there.

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