Ephesians: Destined to Win In Christ! Part 4 – Lawson and Aaron Perdue – 12/02/2024

Friends, I’m so glad that you’re here today. We are sharing from Ephesians 3 in this broadcast, and we are talking about a new message, the message of grace. And we’re talking about the relationship between Christ in us and us in Christ, and how that relates to us walking out our God-given purpose in this world. So open your heart and receive the Word of God. Friends, I’m so glad that you’re with us today, and we’ve been sharing from the Book of Ephesians, and we’ve been talking about who we are and what we have in Christ. We started by talking about that! That we have a new condition and a new position. Ephesians 2:6 actually says that we are seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And the first three chapters of Ephesians talk about that. It really begins from a position of victory. Now, we talk about in the last part of Ephesians 2, that we have a brand new peace. And again, Paul goes back, he starts Ephesians 2 that way, talking about who we were before we got saved and who we are. And then he reiterates it again in Ephesians 2:11-22, who we were and who we are. So we’ll be sharing about that again. So he says in Ephesians 2:11, “Wherefore, remember that you being in the time past Gentiles in the flesh.” So we weren’t saved, right? That’s what he’s talking about. “Who are called uncircumcision by those who were called the circumcision.” So we had no covenant with God. He said that at that time, in verse 12, “You were, right, without Christ, you were alienated from the Commonwealth of Israel, you were estranged from the covenants of promise, you had no hope, and you were without God in this world.” That’s who we were.

Mm-hmm. And I love that Paul kind of takes this revelation of what Christ has done for us with the relationship with God, and, you know, now applies it to looking at the people of Israel and also the people outside of Israel. You know, Paul primarily ministered to Gentiles, people that weren’t Jewish.

Lawson Right!

And around his time, you know, the Gentile people, they were very heathen, you know?

Right!

Just completely crazy. You know, sometimes we think about how the world is today, how crazy things are, what people think is normal today. And it was just as bad, you know, in the first century church. When my wife and I were married 5 1/2 years ago, we went on a honeymoon to Italy, and towards the end of our honeymoon, we went to Pompeii, which, you know, is a city that was buried, destroyed, and buried under ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted. So this happened around the same time that Paul was ministering to different Gentile places. So, but Pompeii was preserved by ash, so you can see what was normal, you know, in a Gentile city. And it was very filthy. It was very ungodly, you know? There are brothels everywhere. It’s just complete, complete hedonistic. If it feels right, do it. And that was culturally normal. And these are the people that Paul is ministering to, and that are coming to Jesus. And he’s showing them, you know, how this relates to Israel, to these Jewish people. Like he was Jewish. He didn’t do those kinda things growing up as a Jew. Like, they, you know, these Jewish people probably thought these Romans soldiers in their towns were just complete heathen, complete ungodly, complete going to hell, complete. But now God’s getting them saved, you know? Like, when Peter went, God sent him to Cornelius’s house. God had to really show him that, “I have a plan for these people too, even Cornelius.” Even, you know?

Right! Now, Cornelius was a different type person.

He had a heart for God. He was still very much a Gentile though.

Yeah. He wasn’t saved. And so you have to realize there’s really two kinds of flesh. And we talked about this a little bit in yesterday’s broadcast, right? You have this worldly, ungodly, just heathen flesh, but you also have religious flesh, right? Because you have people like Cornelius. He prayed to God, he gave alms, and God heard his prayer, but he wasn’t yet saved.

No one had to preach the Gospel to him.

Peter came and preached the Gospel, and he got saved! And so he said, “This is who you were without Christ. You were alienated from the covenant of people of Israel. You were estranged from the covenant of promise. You had no hope, and you were without God.” You were talking about that in a worldly sense. But my mom, actually, I was raised in a Christian family, but she prayed for me as a young man. I received Christ when I was eight, but I wasn’t living that way. And she said, “God, could you help me with Lawson? He is hopeless. I can’t do anything with him.” And I was 14 years old. And, you know, then she invited me to go to Andrew Wommack’s Bible study, and I got baptized in the Holy Spirit. You know, the scripture came alive to me and I began to change dramatically to where my parents worried about me. Because after that, all I wanted to do was go to church, right? Go to work and go to church. And my life just changed. And so, where I was hopeless, now I had hope in Christ. He said-

So having no hope and without God in the world, you know, I’ve read, I like to read different historical things, and I’ve read a lot about people who’ve been, you know, placed in very difficult situations, maybe prison camps. You know, these sorts of things during World War II. But as long as people had hope, they could keep going. They could stay alive as long as they could see a future.

Lawson Right!

But the moment people lost hope is the moment that they just deteriorated and even died.

Lawson Right!

And, you know, without Jesus, people really are without hope. We need hope. And hope comes from Jesus.

Right! So he goes on and says that in verse 13. He says, “Now, in Christ Jesus, you who were afar off, you who were alienated, are now made near by the blood of Christ.” Thank God for the blood of Jesus. You know, the Bible says this in Hebrews 10:19: Having boldness now, therefore, brethren, by the blood of Jesus, that we enter the holy place with full assurance of our faith. Thank God! Our condition and our position has completely changed. And we who were separated, who were alienated, who were estranged, are now in the family. And he talks about that as we go through these scriptures. He says in verse 14, “For He is our peace who has made both one and broken down the middle wall of partition between us.” Now, he begins to talk about something here. He’s bringing in this aspect. Both Jews and Gentiles have been accepted into God’s family. So two things. Jesus came to tear down barriers. When He died on the cross, the veil in the temple was torn in two between God and man. Talks about that in Matthew 27. That veil was torn from the top to the bottom, and it was signifying that God did this work. God said, “Listen, I don’t wanna be just locked up in here. I wanna come live in the hearts of men. And you don’t have to be alienated and estranged on the outside. You can come and be in my presence.” So both of those things happened. So He tore down the barrier between God and man, but He also tore down a barrier, what? Between Jews and Gentiles. And he says, “He’s made both one, and broken down the middle wall of partition between us having abolished in His flesh that which made us enemies of God, even the law of commandments, contained in ordinances for to make peace in Himself of two.” Both Jews and Gentiles. One new man. And he says that, “He might reconcile both to God in one body by the cross, having slain that which made us enemies of God.” Colossians 2:14 said: He blotted out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, nailing it to his cross, taking it out of the way. The law was against us. It showed us our failures. That He might reconcile, restored a right relationship, both to God, both Jews and Gentiles, in one body by the cross having slain that that made us enemies and came and preached peace to you Gentiles, who were afar off, who were alienated and estranged, and to those who were near to Jews. For through Him, through Jesus, both Jews and Gentiles, we both have access by one spirit to the Father. Praise God. So it’s no more, you know, Jews and Gentiles. It’s not Catholics and Baptists and Methodists and Presbyterians and Pentecostals. Praise God. If you know Jesus, you’ve got life. If you don’t know Jesus, you’re separated, right? So if you don’t know Jesus, you need to get to know Jesus. So then he says in verse 19, and Aaron, go ahead and read verse 19 through verse 22.

It says: Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building being fitted together grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

Amen! So he says, “This is who you were,” in verse 12, right? You were without Christ, you were alienated from the people of Israel, estranged from the covenant of promise. You had no hope, and you’re without God. But He changed all that. And he says, “Now, therefore, you’re no more strangers. You’re no more foreigners.” Right? “You’re fellow citizens with the saints. You’re of God’s house.” God is our Father, and we are in His family. And he says, “And you’re built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets.” So we’re being built together, the Body of Christ, for a habitation of God through the Spirit.

Well, and he’s writing to the believers in Ephesus, so they’re probably primarily Gentile believers. People who had to be taught, you know, the Old Testament promises, had to be taught about Abraham, had to be taught about Moses. They had to be taught about how they are now integrated into the promises of God.

Lawson Right!

So all these promises are now “Yes and amen,” through Jesus.

Amen!

So even the promises made to Noah, the promise made to Abraham, the promises made, you know, through the Jewish prophets.

Lawson Right!

They’re now available to you. And it says you’re really fitted together with myself, Paul included, with Jewish believers. We’re one dwelling place. When we come together and worship God, there’s one dwelling place where His Spirit dwells in that body of believers.

Right! There’s not a Jewish Gospel and a Gentile Gospel. It is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

There’s neither now, there’s therefore now, no longer Jew and Greek.

Lawson Right!

Male and female, slave and free. You’re just one in Christ Jesus.

Yeah. Jesus is everything. Either you know Jesus, you have Jesus, you’ve received Christ, or you haven’t! And if you have Jesus, all the promises of God are yours.

It’s all about faith in Jesus.

Lawson Amen!

In the realm of the Spirit, the only thing that God sees is faith.

Lawson Amen!

He doesn’t see race, He doesn’t see gender, He doesn’t see…

Lawson Class!

Your class. He just sees faith.

Amen! So if you need prayer, be sure and give us a call during this break. We’re gonna be right back in a minute, sharing more of who we are and what we have in Christ. 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!

You can have nothing better than the Word of God. Your ways are not better than His ways! Your thoughts are not better than His thoughts. Your morals are not better than His morals. Your righteousness is not better than His righteousness. I don’t care how many people vote a certain way or think a certain way about a certain issue. If God says it, that settles it. You don’t get a vote on truth.

Friends, I’m so glad you stayed with us. We’ve moved through Ephesians 2 talking about who we were and now who we are, that we were lost, that we were without life, and now we’re saved. We have the life of God. We were separated from God, alienated from God, but now we’re members of His own family, and we have His promises. But we move into Ephesians 3, and he begins to talk about, “We have a new message.” Again, it’s the message of grace. And we have brand new revelation. And when you get this revelation, it will change the way that you live life. You’ll begin to live with a new authority. Praise God. So it just completely changes how we live. And so, Aaron, why don’t you read Ephesians 3, and read here these first three verses.

Yeah! I love what Paul says, “For this reason.” so just kind of finishing out of Ephesians 2, he is talking about how these Gentile believers are now fellow citizens.

Lawson Right!

You know, with the saints and members of the household of God. So he’s saying, “You’re on equal status with other people of faith.”

Right!

Even from the Old Testament saints, like Abraham, Moses, Enoch. You’re fellows with them.

Right!

And Paul, you know, he grew up as a, you know, Jewish person. He said, “For this reason, I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles.”

Lawson Right!

He’s saying, “Jesus sent me, and I’m a prisoner.”

Lawson Yeah!

Like, I’m an offering to you. I’m a drink offering for you Gentiles. This is what I’m called to do, is to minister to the Gentile people.

Lawson Amen!

Said, “If indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God, which was given to me for you, how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery, as I have briefly written already, by which you read, you may understand the knowledge in the mystery of Christ.” It says, “Which in other ages was not made known to the sons of man, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets.” So he’s saying that there, Paul talked a lot about this mystery.

Right!

That was hidden.

Right!

You know, before, but now revealed. He talks about that in several different writings.

Right! Well, he explains in Colossians 1 what this mystery is, this mystery that’s been revealed to us through the grace of God. And in Colossians 1:26, he says, “Even the mystery, which has been hidden from ages and generations, which is now revealed to His saints, to whom God would make known, what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” So every born again believer, doesn’t matter whether you’re a Jew, whether you’re a Gentile, doesn’t matter whether you’re a man, whether you’re a woman, whether you’re rich or whether you’re poor, every believer, right, is now has the Spirit of Jesus Christ in them. Christ in you, the hope of glory. The hope of the manifested presence, power, and purpose of God in your life. The hope of the glory of God. And the glory of God can be defined as the presence of God, the power of God, and the purpose of God. In different aspects of the scripture. The hope of that is Christ in you. So when you have Christ in you, you have the presence of God in you. When you have Christ in you, you have the power of God in you. And when you have Christ in you, you have the ability to fulfill God’s purpose in Christ Jesus.

And I wanna say this right now too. That that Spirit of Christ in you, Jesus is God, Jesus is Lord. There’s actually kind of an idea going around, just a stripping away of major doctrine, where some people think that Jesus wasn’t God. They might say, “Well, He was the Messiah, that He performed miracles, but He wasn’t God.” And these people claim to be Christian. But really that’s the cornerstone confession of a believer, is that you believe that Jesus is Lord.

Amen!

And if He isn’t Lord, then what? His Spirit!

Right!

It has no effect in you if it’s…

Right.

But His Spirit in you, it’s because He is God. That’s what enables. That’s what gives you that eternal life.

Amen. So when we move on through this, he said, “You know, when you understand the Gospel, you begin to understand Christ in you.” He says, “In other ages, this was not made known to the sons of man, but it’s now revealed.” When you read in the, you know, letters of the New Testament, you begin to understand that Christ is in every believer, the same Spirit that raised up Christ from the dead. Paul says this in Romans 8:11. He says in verse 10, “If Christ be in you, the body is dead. But the Spirit is alive because of righteousness.” He says in verse 11, “But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Christ from the dead dwell in you, He will quicken, He will strengthen your mortal body by His Spirit that dwells in you.”

‘Cause your body is a temple of the Spirit.

Of the Holy Spirit! Yeah! Every born again believer is a temple of the Holy Spirit.

God gave me some fresh revelation concerning that recently. I was dealing with a lot of back pain and…

Lawson Amen!

Kinda coming back to, you know, just this back pain thing. And, you know, part of my mind was thinking, “Man, is this gonna be forever?” And God just told me, “Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.”

Lawson Amen!

That means like, “I care about your body.” You know? Just like you care about, you know, the building you live in, the home you live in, God cares about His temple.

Lawson Amen!

And your body is! So He cares about your feet, the foundation of that temple. He cares about your back, the framing of that temple. He cares about it. He wants to heal you. He wants to give you strength. He wants to, you know, He wants you to be able to walk in the plans that He has for you.

Amen! You know the Bible, Paul says that we’ve been bought by the blood of Jesus. You’re bought with the price, therefore glorify God, 1 Corinthians 6:19, in your body and your spirit, which are God’s. So your body is the property of God, been bought with the blood of Jesus. So you have just as much right in our body, we do as believers, just as much right in our body to be healed as we do to be forgiven of our sins in our spirit. Praise God for that! When you begin to understand the fullness of the Gospel, that Jesus’ blood not only paid for our forgiveness, but it paid for our peace, it paid for our healing. It paid for all of these things. Our provision was paid for by the blood of Jesus. And so he says, now he says this, “Other people didn’t realize this, but the Gentile should be fellow heirs of the same body, partakers of His promise!” The promise is Christ in you! The promise is the Holy Spirit in you! When you read Galatians 3:13 and 14, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us, for its written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.” So that, right, the blessing of Abraham might come on those who believe in Jesus. Which he’s talking and he explains it. The Spirit of Christ in you. When you understand it. Praise God! It’s talking about the Spirit. That’s the promise of the Spirit. He says, “His promise in Christ by the Gospel, whereof I made a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power.” Thank God, we’re made a minister of the Gospel by the working of the power of Christ, of the power of the Holy Spirit in us. We do what we do through the power, through the strength of the Holy Spirit.

And the Gospel, to be presented in its fullness, needs to have power backing it up.

Amen!

You know, Paul said, “I didn’t just come to you with words only, but I came in the power.”

Lawson Of the Holy Spirit.

And there’s too many people today just trying to push away the power of God.

Lawson Amen!

You know, you need to go to a church where the power of God has been demonstrated.

Lawson Yeah!

Where something miraculous has happened. Some people, they just been going to the same place decades and nothing has happened for decades upon decades.

We’ve had people raised from the dead. We’ve had people healed of cancer, incurable, with no medical. We’ve had people that have went the medical route and been healed. We’ve had people with no medical intervention completely healed by the power of God. One lady who was given less than 30 days to live by her doctor, it was amazing. We’ve had people healed of MS. We’ve had people healed of heart disease. Praise God for the power of God that is real today! You know, the same works that Jesus did, He said, “The same works that I do and greater works shall you do because I go to my Father.” We go on down here. Let’s read verses eight, and on down through verse 13. Listen to what Paul shares.

It says, “To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God, who created all things through Christ Jesus.” So Jesus is eternal. All things were created through Him. “To the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus, our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him. Therefore, I ask that you do not lose heart at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.”

Now, when you look at this, a couple things I wanna bring your attention to. Number one, right here in verse nine, Paul says, “I am preaching to show you the mystery which has been hidden in God until this time, the fellowship.” How does this relate Christ in you and you in Christ? And then he says this in verse 10, “To the intent now that unto principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church, the manifold wisdom of God.” In other words, the church would take their authority in Christ and begin to understand their authority and their dominion in Christ. I wanna submit to you this, and there’s numbers of Bible school scholars that agree with me, that principalities and powers here, the first three chapters are talking about who we are in Christ and who Christ is in us. So I don’t believe right here, he’s talking about demons. Right? And he’s not talking about the devil. He’s talking about angelic authorities. And that we as believers would understand our authority and take our authority. And when we take our authority, that angelic authorities would be at our command.

Aaron Mm!

And he talks about that in Hebrews, that angels are now servants to those who are heirs of salvation. Hebrews 1! And so when we begin to understand who we are in Christ, what we have in Christ, the Gospel, and we get the revelation of Christ in us and the grace of God, we begin to operate in new authority, fulfilling the purpose of God in us by faith in Jesus Christ.

Amen! Well, thank you so much for joining us today. If you’d like to connect more with our ministry, feel free to give us a call. You can go to our website, we’d be happy to pray for you. If you’d like to be a partner, give us a call as well. God love you. See you again soon.

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 them 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.

Friends, it’s great to have you with us today. And I wanna invite you to attend services with us at Charis Christian Center in Colorado Springs. The atmosphere is amazing. Recently in one service, I had people from 10 nations and several states. They watch us on a regular basis online and they said, “This is amazing.” So if you can’t come physically, come and attend online at Charis Christian Center or YouTube. Blessings!

Announcer Thanks for watching “Grace For Today.” This broadcast has been made possible by our faithful partners. If you would like to become a partner, need prayer, or have a question, please call us at 719-418-4000. Or to partner online, go to CharisChristianCenter.com/give. You can write us at PO Box 63733, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 80962. See you next time on “Grace For Today.”