Ephesians: Destined to Win In Christ! Part 6 – Lawson and Aaron Perdue – 12/09/24

Praise the Lord, friends, and welcome to the broadcast. I’m so glad that you’re with us. We are in the book of Ephesians and we’re going to be moving into Ephesians chapter 4, where Paul begins to talk about walking it out. You see, Jesus lives in us. We need to let him live through us. And when we understand who we are and what we have in Christ, we can walk in a brand new way. Stay tuned and be blessed. Hi, friends. It’s so good to have you with us today. We’re sharing again this week on the book of Ephesians. And we began last week talking about the first three chapters of Ephesians, where we talked about that the focus here is that we are seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. So we begin from a position of victory. A lot of the church thinks that we have to stand against the devil so we can walk our Christian life out and gain a position of victory. However, when you understand the true gospel, we begin from a position of victory, we begin… Jesus finished the work. And Jesus is seated in heavenly places, and we are seated with him. When we understand that, it changes how we walk this out in the world.

I think it’s really important to remember that Jesus has already defeated the devil. And a lot of people feel like they’re always just fighting against the devil. And there is a devil, there is an enemy, but he is already defeated. So whatever he’s trying to do, we’re already in a position of victory.

Lawson Amen.

The Bible says that we’re actually more than conquerors, through Jesus, through him who loved us,

Right. Jesus said three beautiful words on the cross, “It is finished.” He completed the work. He did it. And he is seated and he’s waiting for us to rise up and take our God-given authority and live like we’re in a position of victory. And a lot of people just don’t understand that. So Paul talks about that. He prays from that position in Ephesians 1 and Ephesians chapter 3. He talks about how we’re saved in Ephesians 2, by grace through faith, that not of ourselves, it’s a gift of God, and how that we’re this new creation in Christ Jesus and we’ve come to peace with God. And where we were estranged from the covenant, now we’re members of the family of God, we’re included in the covenant, joint heirs with Jesus. And it just changes how we live life when we begin to understand that. Years ago, I remember a denominational leader asking me this question. He said, “How you doing, brother? Are you hanging in there?” And I said, “No, I’m walking in there. Praise God.” Because I had this picture that we are already victorious in Christ. We’re not trying to gain a position of victory. Jesus did for us what we could never do for ourselves. And he put us in victory. And when we began to understand that, again, it just changes how we live our life.

Yeah. And you need to be careful ’cause that’s not… Today a lot of Christians just have this constantly kind of begging, stuck, defeated-type mentality. Very whiny, defeated. Even, some time I was listening to Christian music on the radio, not necessarily like worship music but just different Christian artists on the radio, their music can be more whiny than other types of music. My wife’s from Tennessee and there’s a lot of country music around there, and every now and then she’ll be playing country music. And sometimes it’s a lot more positive and faith-filled even than… There are Christian country artists too, and some of them write some good songs, but sometimes I prefer to listen to that than just some of this Christian art, music where the words are like, “I’m so confused.”

That’s not the truth. If you know the truth, the truth will make you free. And it’s the truth that we know that makes us free. And Jesus said if we continued in his word, right, we would be as disciples and we’d know the truth, and we would be made free. So we’ve got to know the truth of the word. So the truth of the word is this. The victory has already been one. Jesus has already conquered the enemy. Greater is he that’s in you than he that’s in this world. We can do all things through Christ who strengthen us. We are more than conquerors through him who loved us. That is the gospel truth.

And I love that we’re going through Ephesians.

Lawson Right.

It’s such a powerful book of the Bible. And man, I think it’s great to spend a lot of time here. I’m really glad that you’re with us just going through the book of Ephesians. And if you’re just joining us for the first time, I’d encourage you to go back and watch our other episodes. We went through the first three chapters of Ephesians already. My dad has a great book on Ephesians.

Right.

So I’d encourage you to call in and get that book, and read it yourself. The good thing about a book is you can actually pass it along to someone. When you’re done reading it, you can give it to a friend or a family member. And just the revelation that comes from studying out Ephesians, it’s really powerful. So I’m glad you you’re watching today. We’ll go ahead and dive in here in chapter 4.

Amen. So Paul switches directions in chapter 4, and he begins to talk about this. He begins to talk about our walk. Because we begin from this position of victory, seated in heavenly places in Christ, it changes how we walk. And so he says in chapter 4, verse 1, “I, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you’re called.” When we think about a vocation, we think about a job. And he says, “I want you to walk worthy of what God’s called you to do in the body of Christ.” How do we do that? We do that with humility. We do that through unity. And we do that through the power of the Holy Spirit working in us as the body of Christ.

And your position in Christ, it’ll affect your walk here on this earth. Some people think that having an understanding of God’s grace or his love for you will give you a license to live like a heathen. But that’s not what real grace does. God’s grace, it sets you free, it transforms you, it also empowers you, it gives you purpose.

Lawson Amen.

A lot of people screw up because they just don’t have a sense of purpose. And often people screw up too because they don’t really know how much God loves them.

Right.

So grace actually helps you a lot. It’ll help you walk worthy.

Right. Well, grace empowers us. The Bible says the grace of God teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. That’s in Titus chapter 2. So when you really get a picture of the true grace of God revealed in the person of Jesus, it’ll change how you live. I know Joseph Prince. He’s one of the greatest teachers on grace in the world. And he says, “If you’re still just living in rampant sin, you do not have a revelation of grace. If you’re trying to use grace as an excuse to live in sin, you do not have a revelation of grace.” So as we jump on down here, he says, “Walk with lowliness, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another in love. Endeavor to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.” When it says, “Endeavor to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace,” it means it takes work to do that. You don’t just automatically walk in unity and in peace. You have to work at that. You got to let Christ… He’s living in you, but you got to let him live through you. And then he begins to talk about these things that we all have in common in the body of Christ. And he says this. “There is one body and one spirit. Even as you’re called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” So we’ve got to begin to look at what we have. We are the body of Christ. We have the spirit of Christ in us. We’re called in one hope of our calling. This word “calling” comes from the Greek word “klésis” and it means an invitation or calling to the feast. Thank God we have a calling to the feast. Amen. We’ve been called, amen, to celebrate Jesus and one another when Christ comes again. “There’s one Lord Jesus, one faith, the faith of our Lord Jesus, one, baptism.” Now, there’s actually three baptisms of believers. But when he says one baptism, this must be a baptism that’s common to all believers. So I believe what he’s talking about is what’s talked about in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, the fact that, when we’re believing on Jesus, that we’re baptized by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ. And I think that’s 1 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 13.

And what are the other baptism? You said there’s three baptisms.

Well, we’re baptized into the body of Christ when we believe on Jesus, by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ. When we’re baptized in water, we’re baptized in water by another believer. That’s talking about identification. The first one’s talking about salvation. But then when we’re baptized in the Holy Spirit, we can be baptized in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues. And John actually said, “He who comes after me is mightier than me. And when he comes, he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” So there’s those three baptisms. And to understand the difference, you ask, number one, who is doing the baptizing? And number two, what are we being baptized into? So the first one is salvation, right? Baptized into the body of Christ by the Spirit of Christ. The second one has to do with identification. “I’m dead to sin, I live to God.” That’s talking about baptism in water. And the third one, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, is talking about being baptized by Jesus into the Holy Spirit. So he says, “One baptism, one God and Father.” Thank God there is one true God who is above us all and through us all and in you all. And there’s only one way to God. And that’s Jesus. There’s only one way to be saved. That’s to believe on Jesus. That’s what the scripture says.

I like that. These first few verses in Ephesians chapter 4 just talking about how our position in Christ affects our walk here on this earth, a lot of it is dealing with relationships. Having humility about you, gentleness.

Lawson Right.

Patience. Walking in love. A lot of it’s very relational. I remember when I went to college, I went to a secular university, there weren’t a whole lot of believers around. But if I met another believer, I would usually ask them, “Where do you go to church?” And a lot of them say, “Well, I don’t go anywhere.” And to me, that meant they weren’t really serious about their faith, they weren’t really wanting to connect with other believers.

Lawson Right.

And I think that that’s still a good indicator today. If people don’t have that desire to come together with other believers, to walk with other believers, to worship Jesus with other believers, to hear the word taught from a pastor with other believers, I think it’s kind of a red flag.

Yeah, the Bible says in 1 John 1, “If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of His Son Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin.” And if we’re really walking in the light, we’re going to have fellowship with other believers. And we’re going to desire that fellowship. We’re going to desire those relationships. And a lot of times, I think, people in the church get burned out because they don’t have, number one, fellowship with Jesus. Number two, they don’t have fellowship with one another in a body setting. And then they’re just trying to witness to the world or go to the world, and you’ll burn out. But if you have fellowship with Jesus and relationship with Jesus, then relationship with one another, praise God in the body of Christ, you can be strong and not burn out.

That’s true. Well, we’re going to take a brief break. Stay tuned. We have some great teaching ahead. Thanks for joining us.

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 want to get this book, and we’re going to offer this book actually free to anyone who calls in and becomes a new partner this week. Blessings.

You know what, when God tells you to do something, you need to do it. And you don’t need to worry about every Tom, Dick and Harry over here and what they’re going to say or how they’re going to try to manipulate you or treat you. You just keep on plugging on and you keep doing what God told you to do, and he will work them out. You have to let God be God and you have to do what he tells you to do.

Friends, I’m so glad that you stayed with us. We’ve been talking about our walk as believers. And when you understand who you are and what you have in Christ, it changes how you walk in this world. And that’s what Paul begins Ephesians talking about who we are and what we have, that we’re blessed, that we’re holy, that we’re blameless, that we’re seated in heavenly places in Christ, that we’re forgiven for every sin, redeemed from every curse, accepted in the beloved, all these amazing things. But then he moves into, in chapter 4, talking about, number one, walk worthy of your calling. How do you do that? Well, we talked about through unity in the body of Christ, through humility. Another way is through the grace of God. He says in verse 7, “But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore,” he says, “he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts to men.” Boy, this is another thing. Captivity has already been taken captive. The devil is not who he used to be. Jesus defeated the devil in his death, burial, and resurrection. Really, when you think of it, the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus changes everything. And so he said, “Now he that ascended is he first that descended in the lower parts of the earth. He who descended is the same that ascended far above the heavens, that he might fulfill, that he might carry out all things.” Man, Jesus is carrying out his work. Praise God.

And I love that it says, “To each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.” Whenever you study grace… I love studying grace. Whenever you see grace, God’s grace given to people, it’s always in abundance.

Lawson Yes.

And it’s saying here it’s given to the measure of Christ’s gift. So that doesn’t sound like a short amount of grace.

Lawson Amen.

A lacking amount of grace.

Lawson Amen.

That means we have all the grace we need to do everything that God has called us to do.

Amen.

And I love your definition of grace too.

It’s, first of all, God’s unmerited favor. Secondly, that’s divine favor. It’s divine influence. It’s the divine influence on the heart and its reflection on our life. But thirdly, and we get this from 1 Corinthians 15, verse 10, where Paul says, “I am what I am by the grace of God,” but it’s God doing for us what we could not do for ourselves, in the person of Jesus Christ, when he died and rose again. That’s really talking about divine ability. And that’s really what the gospel is. Because when you study the Bible, mankind in his own strength failed. He failed in his innocence, his conscience, his ability to govern himself and the human family, and human ability in the time of Lot. Man could not please God in his human strength apart from Christ. But then God came in the person of Jesus and did for us what we could never do for ourselves. And so thank God, it’s the grace of God. It’s the grace of Jesus Christ. And Paul says, “I am what I am by the grace of God.”

And moving on here in verse 11, I actually really love these next several verses here, just speaking about the full-time ministers. People who are in full-time ministry, they should be called by Jesus. It says that Jesus is the one that gives these gifts.

Lawson Right.

So, really, you have to be called by Jesus. I’m sure there’s people that try to step into these roles on their own. But really, it says that Jesus himself gives some, I think it’s not everyone, it’s just some, to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers. So he’s saying Jesus gives these ministry gifts for the equipping of the saints. I like the King James that says the perfecting of the saints.

Or maturing of the saints.

The maturing of the saints. So really, every believer needs to be connected to these types of ministers. Even these ministers themselves. I know you’re a pastor primarily, but you’re connected to other ministers. Just yesterday Andrew Wommack was at our house, Pastor Bobby Crow from Mexico, he’s an evangelist and a pastor. But you’re connected with other ministers and you’re talking to them about what’s happening in your ministry and your church. You’re getting advice from them. You have accountability. You have people who can give you direction. So even people in these positions also need to be connected to other people that can speak into their life. But every believer needs accountability to these ministers.

Lawson Right.

You need a pastor. It’s good also, it’s awesome too if you’re connected to some people who have that apostolic gifting or prophetic giftings, evangelists as well.

Right, 1 Corinthians 12 talks about the gifts of the Holy Spirit in the beginning. But then he makes a statement in 1 Corinthians 12, verse 18. And Paul says this. “God set the members in the body, everyone as it pleased him.” So as members of the body of Christ, we need to be in our set place, in the church, in the body of Christ, where God puts us. And then he talks about, he’s saying here he gave some… He set not only the members in, but he set the ministers, okay, or these fivefold ministers, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. He sets them in the body to fulfill their… And do you know what? I wouldn’t want to be trying to be a pastor without a grace gift from Jesus to be a pastor.

Because you’d burn out.

Right. And I wouldn’t want to be any of these fivefold ministers. In fact, a few years ago, Aaron, they did a study on suicide, and the number two group of people in the nation that committed suicide were pastors. And that’s because they’re trying to be Jesus, rather than let Jesus be Jesus and the Holy Spirit do the work. Because we can’t do this in our own strength and our power apart from Jesus. We need Jesus. So Jesus gave these ministry gifts, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. And I like what you said, some. These are public preaching and teaching offices given by the Lord Jesus Christ to the church. And not everybody is one of these fivefold ministry gifts. And if Jesus didn’t call you to be a pastor, or an apostle, or a prophet, or an evangelist, or fivefold ministry gift teacher, you don’t want to operate in that, try to operate in that place.

Yeah, and I know sometimes people go to different groups or different settings, different people’s homes, and there’s bible studies and things, and that’s great. But really the church that you go to, there needs to be some accountability. There needs to be a connection. If the person you’re looking up to for leadership, for mentorship, as a spiritual guide in your life, they need to have some kind of connection. If they’re just completely on their own, that could be a very dangerous place to be in.

I brought up something in a staff meeting earlier today when I was talking to our staff, but who can tell you no? We kind of have a realm of people and some of them I’m connected to, but these people kind of are a lot to themselves. And the scripture says that different things were given for reproof. All scripture is given, right, and it’s profitable for reproof, for rebuke, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. This is in 2 Timothy chapter 3, verse 16 and 17, that the person of God may be complete, mature, thoroughly furnished to all good works. That’s what he’s saying right here. These fivefold ministry gifts. And did you know what? I don’t consider myself to be outside of authority. I have people. I told Andrew Wommack, for instance, years ago. And I got baptized in the Holy Spirit and called to preach in his ministry in 1978. But I told Andrew Wommack years ago, I said, “Andrew, you can come, and my door’s open. You can speak to me anytime you want to.” He said, “I already know that.” And I said, “I’m here to listen.” He said, “I already know that.” I said, “How do you know that?” He said, “It’s the attitude in which you conduct yourself.” There’s some people I don’t think anybody can tell them no. They’re kind of out there. They’re kind of renegades. I had a good friend preached a message years ago, called it Bonnie and Clyde. We got some Bonnie and Clydes. They’re kind of just driving around and the world glorifies them, and all they do is destroy stuff. And if that’s all you’re doing, if all you have is a ministry of destruction, it’s not a very good ministry.

Well, and a lot of people just go around criticizing all the time.

Right.

Kind of like that’s actually something that’s very fashionable right now. Just people just criticizing, and they just try to get an audience with their critiques. But that’s not real ministry.

No. It’s not really helping anybody. Dr. Lester Sumrall said this. He said, “Anybody can tear something down. Takes a wise person to build something.” And so, praise God, we need these ministry gifts, apostles. And I’m going to give you a really short teaching that I learned years ago. But an apostle’s like the thumb on a hand. An apostle doesn’t say just, “I’m an apostle. You do what I say.” No, he works with the body of Christ. Right? Paul was an apostle. He wrote different groups of believers, he said, “I long to see you, that I can impart some spiritual gift to you that you might be built up, that you might be mature.” But he works really closely with all the other ministry gifts, and with the body. And then it’s a foundational gift. It means “sent one.” A prophet’s like the pointing finger. And a prophet in the Old Testament was called a seer. And by definition, a prophet will operate in at least two of the three of the gifts of revelation. Those are the gifts that see. The word of wisdom, a specific word of God’s wisdom about the future. The word of knowledge is a specific word of God’s knowledge about something that is currently in existence, right? Or that’s working. The discerning of spirits. Right? To discern the presence or activity of the spirit, listen to this, whether it’s good or evil. If all you do is discern devils, you need to turn that gift around on yourself. You’ll never use it again. Okay? So it’s to discern the spirit. Right? And then the next ministry gift. So a prophet, it reveals things supernaturally, by the spirit, about the future, about something present. Maybe discern spirits. At least two of the three. The evangelist is like the middle finger. Preaches the good news. Goes out and shows people the good news. Right? Reaches out. Jesus was the ultimate apostle. He was the chief apostle. He was a prophet likened to Moses. He was the ultimate evangelist. He preached the good news, he healed the sick. Right? The pastor is like my ring finger. The pastor is married to the church. And then the teacher’s like the little finger. The little finger goes in the ear. And a true Bible teacher will take something very complicated and make it simple, just like I did, so you can understand it. So Jesus gave these fivefold ministry gifts to the body of Christ. And he said he did this till we all come in the unity of faith. So we’re not there yet.

Yeah.

Praise God. So they’re still working.

Yeah, and we’re getting close to running out of time, but this is a great teaching going through Ephesians. I’d encourage you to call in and actually get the entire teaching. We have the entire teaching available. It’s actually a free download on our website. You can go to our website to connect and hear more teachings. Also, Lawson here, my dad, he’s a pastor of a local church. If you’re looking for a good local church, you can connect with us online or even come to a service here, in person, in Colorado Springs. It’s a great church. So we love you. Thanks so much for joining us today. Hope you can join us again soon. God loves 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 want to encourage you to save the date for our Rejoice Women’s Conference. We’ll be meeting February 6th through the 8th. We’re going to 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 want to 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 CharisChristianCenter or YouTube. Blessings.

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