IN CHRIST | To You In Christ | Ephesians 1:1-2 | Philip Anthony Mitchell

>> And this same energy you got right now. Carry that into access on October 10th at 7 PM Eastern Standard Time or Central Standard Time. When 80,000 of us cry out to Jesus in AT&T Stadium, thousands outside. And I'm calling on the body of Christ across America and around the world to set aside our differences for the space of our hour to pray from anywhere you are in the country around the world, 7 o'clock Central Standard Time, one hour of prayer to shake heaven and to shake the nation. This is bigger than 2819. [MUSIC] And if you all guess, we welcome you to the sacred gathering and this church will be a serious, I am about the spread of the gospel and the multiplying of disciples in these last days as time is running out. And to all of our digital disciples watching live across America and around the world, we welcome you, you are our family and cities all around this country and to the ends of this earth. We pray for you, you are our family and if you're crept into this room and you are unbeliever, you're crept in at the right season and at the right time and our prayer for you is that by the end of this next collection of messages that you might come to know our Lord and Savior of Jesus Christ, today is the beginning of a brand new series called In Christ, a teaching series through the New Testament letter of Ephesians. Perhaps one of the most profound, Christological documents ever written and recorded for us in the New Testament, it exalts the person and the work of Christ, it exalts the gospel of Christ and the new life we have in Christ, it has powerful teachings about the mind of God and the sovereign work of God and the gospel and salvation and about unity and oneness and wisdom for relationships and calling and marriage and family and spiritual warfare and the unseen realm and what our life looks like in the same realm. This letter so Christological, so theological, so powerful, so perfectly written by the Holy Spirit, the first three chapters, powerful theology, the last three chapters, powerful practicality, the whole letter just powerful in application, life changing, you cannot study Ephesians and remain the same, it is impossible for the one that leans in with

their whole heart and this will be my prayer for us by the time we walk out of this letter some 26 weeks here that you will be a brand new man and a brand new woman, you will not, you cannot remain the same, I refuse by the power of the Holy Spirit, you cannot and you will be a different man and you will be a different woman by the end of Ephesians. Our text today is coming from Ephesians chapter 1, I was going to do 1 through 6 but I can't because chapter 1 is so heavy and it is so loaded, it is like somebody dumping a billion dollars on you in a moment and you have no idea what to do with it, it is like drinking water out of a fire hose, so I can't even do the whole thing, I was supposed to do 1 through 6, can't do it, too heavy, too loaded, in fact chapter 1 of Ephesians is so heavy, so theologically loaded, it pushes the boundaries of human comprehension and language. No sermon will even do it justice and for real, I don't even think a human being can understand it apart from a supernatural act of the Holy Spirit. So today we will just open it. So verses one and two, only today. And then next week we break the seals on the deep theology of Ephesians chapter one. Today we're just appetizing. Just one and two. Eternal God and our wise father. Oh yes, we feel your powerful spirit in this room and across this camera. We, your sons and daughters who have come to sit at your table to feast on your word, not to feast on entertainment or emotional hype. Give us stamina to listen. We will not be sleepy or tired. We will not dishonor you in your presence. We wanna break that bread with the oil on it and eat and be taught and learn.

I pray God, Lord, for just a mighty outpouring of your spirit for this entire series as we break the seals, one of the most profound documents floating around in society. I ask for help, Lord, you know I am weak and tired. I ask for help in the mighty and the majestic and the matchless name of our soon-coming King, the Lord Jesus Christ. And all God's people say amen and amen and amen. (soft music) - My family and I, we have two pet dogs at home in our family and I think that these are wonderful creatures that God has made, that He allows them to have bonds with human beings. One of those dogs, His name is Chance. He is very small, probably no higher than 10 inches off the ground. He is a shizu, a breed of dog that is not known for intelligence. And yet, we acquired Chance when he was only a puppy. And from the time he was a puppy, Chance went through rigorous training. We sent Chance to school and then I put my hands on that dog personally. And I discipled that dog personally from the time that dog was a baby, I treated him like one of my own children. That dog has been paralyzed twice and has received two miracles as God has put feeling back in his legs supernaturally. He is walking on all fours today

because of the prayers of the saints who remember that accident and because of the love of Almighty God. Today, Chance shows great signs of intelligence and he understands language and he has emotions and deep feelings. He connects deeply with every person in our home. He is confident, he is brave, he is strong, he is stoked out, he knows who he is, he knows who he belongs to. It gives him confidence, he has swagger in the house and in the street. He protected my daughter, Israel, from the attack of two pit bulls, but no fear in his heart. Chance is a different type of animal. He has been well discipled. But we have another dog, a standard poodle named Orlando who's very tall, big, muscular, who we acquired at two years of age after formation where he was discipled by another person, a chump. Orlando is full of timidity and fear and he's a coward, a sound will make him run. He hides when we open the door. So much of a coward and timity is, he frustrates us because someone that big should not be so, We would corral him with a small gate, no higher than his stomach, and he would never attempt to jump over it, or does not even know he could push it down with his hand. He has a powerful bark that he does not use, because Orlando has no concept of identity.

(audience cheering) And so because he does not know his identity, he has a ferocious animal that cannot be corralled by a gate, that has a powerful bark, that can intimidate anybody if he wanted to, because he has an absence of identity, he walks around limping a beast with no heart. Now that is inconsequential for an animal. It is all the more serious when you have followers of Christ who act like Orlando. (audience cheering) With an absence of Christian identity that bleeds out in the way that you post, it bleeds out in how you show up at work, it bleeds out in how you show up on Sunday, it bleeds out in how you show up at home, it bleeds out in how you talk, and how you live, and how you dress, and how you get down. Believers who claim Christ, and limp around society like cowards, limp around social media like cowards, limp around the kingdom like cowards, with no real sense of identity in Christ, no idea of what God has done for you in Christ, no idea of what you have in Christ, no idea of your inheritance in Christ, so you have no swagger, no spiritual strength, no idea who you are, don't know your ferocious, don't know you're anointed, don't know you blessed, you have no idea who you father, you act like you have no idea who you belong to, you in the room, and you're watching me right now,

and you listen to me right now, so many of you, I'm watching you right now in your eyes, you are Orlando, and what is the remedy for that? Emotionalism, hype, a boring sermon, the remedy for that, I read to you last week, when I read to you about the high, priestly prayer of Jesus, and that in his prayer, he said something very powerful to the disciples, he said, Lord, sanctify them with truth, and then he told us the location of truth, your word. It's truth, the one we don't read, the one we don't study, the one we don't listen to sermons, don't go to squats, don't talk about, the one we never open, never listen to, the one you don't care about, the one you treat like just a devotional, but not like the words of God about you and about him. He said, sanctify them with truth, your word is truth, he did not say your word is a truth, which means there is no other truth except the word of God, and truth has the power to open eyes. Truth has the power to transform hearts, truth has the power to heal, truth has the power to tear down strongholds and lies built up in your mind like Orlando. (congregation applauding) Truth has the power to give you courage, truth has the power to make you bold, truth has the power to give you spiritual swagger. Truth has the power to reveal to you what is happening in this life

and what is happening in the unseen life. Truth makes you informed, truth makes you wise, truth makes you smarter than other people. Truth makes you tenacious, it makes you courage, it transforms your prayer life, your marriage, your parenting, your discipleship, your life. And that is one of the great benefits, look at me, that we have when we come to any New Testament letter, 21 of them, 13 written by one man, and that's the power we have when we approach this particular letter, Ephesians, which is like no other New Testament letter, it is one of the most important documents sitting on your lap. What we wanna do today is just open the document. The year, The writer is a man sitting in prison on house arrest in Rome. It's about 30 years after the resurrection of Christ is written to the people in ancient Ephesus, a city in Asia Minor, a mega metropolis on the coast. The ruins of that city still stands to this day. In modern day Turkey, I have walked the ruins of Ephesus and so has my wife and children. We come to the beginning of Ephesians chapter 1, verse 1, 2 verses Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God to the saints who are in Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. So the letter begins with the sender. The sender identifies himself, Paul the apostle. And because Paul the apostle is well known in history, we understand that the letter of Ephesians does not begin in this moment, but the letter of Ephesians will begin 30 years

prior when a young man named Saul of Tarsus emerges on the world stage. He is born in an aristocratic home to well-do family. He is educated in some of the best schools in the land in Israel. He excels beyond his counterparts in his education. He becomes jealous in his education and Judaism. He enters into the Phariseeical order. He becomes a Pharisee of Pharisees. He is born of the tribe of Benjamin, maybe named after the king, Saul. He is aggressive, he is spogged out, he is violent, he is very, very focused and determined. His zeal for Judaism will now have a target when his zeal for Judaism sets his sight on a brand new religion called The Way, the rise of the church in the first century. His little organism that started with 120 disciples and rapidly grew to 3,120 disciples and then rapidly grows to 5,000 and rapidly grows. It doesn't mean something that is growing fast, that doesn't mean it's up the devil. Sometimes God does bless certain things that grow fast. And now Paul, this radical, violent man, young in nature, sets his focus on this embryonic organism called the church. And he begins to go after the church with everything in him. In fact, he writes in the letter to the Galatians and Galatians chapter 1 and verse 13, he writes his own resume about how he felt about the church. This is what he said about himself. He said, "For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God, what word, violently, and tried to destroy it." So he has a man that did everything he can to try to destroy the church, persecuted the church. He was standing when they killed the very first Christian martyr, a man named Stephen, Saul of Tarsus, who was standing right there holding the jackets and the cloaks of the men who was killing Stephen, stoned in him as he's preaching the Gospel, Paul, Saul with his head nodding, consenting, kill him, take him out, put him to death. This was Saul's life, watching Christians be put to death, putting them in prison, and

doing everything he can to destroy the church he was, where Jesus said how a day will come when people will persecute Christians thinking they're doing the will of God, oh, family, we live in that time right now. For there are people right now who won't call their names who persecute Christians. Jesus said this time will come, this time is here, because Jesus is a prophet who does not lie. And so Saul thought that he was doing God's will by trying to kill the Christian church. One day as he's traveling to an ancient city named Damascus, a bright light shines around him from heaven. He is knocked down to the floor, and then he hears a voice speaking to him in a language he knows, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It's hard for you to kick against the goats." A goat was a stick with a sharp object on the end, and they were using it to hit oxen to make the move when it was stubborn. In essence, he was saying, "Saul, Saul, why are you not listening to the conviction I've been trying to hit you with?" He says, "Who are you, Lord?" He says, "I am Jesus, who you persecute. You're not persecuted my children, you're persecuted me," because every time Christians are persecuted, it's not just they persecuted human beings, they're persecuting the body of Christ, so he feels that, and his soul, the Lord does. And Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And Saul has a conversation with Christ, and right there on the floor with that bright light, he is converted to Christianity, not with a choir, not with a preacher. He is converted to Christianity by Jesus himself. He is blinded, he is carried into a city, he is fasted for three days. A man lays eyes on him, hands on him, he sees. His name is changed to Paul, immediately he begins to testify of Jesus. He goes away to a place called Arabia for three years. He understands process and preparation before a platform like we don't in this generation.

We get saved and then we start ministries. Not just because you have a gift to teach, that don't mean you got saved on Wednesday, you should be starting a church on Thursday, that is dangerous and irresponsible. Don't start a small group teaching people in your home until you have been discipled in the things of God first, that is dangerous and irresponsible. But you're in the Bible and leading people straight, saved on Monday, you have a whole church on Tuesday. Paul went away for three years. We have no idea what he did, but he was probably being discipled spending time with God, comes back, goes up to Jerusalem to meet Peter, goes back into ministry, 14 years later he meets the other apostles. He goes out on his first missionary journey with other men, planting churches and preaching the gospel. He is sent out as a missionary gospel preacher to non-Jewish people all around the Mediterranean room planting churches and winning non-believers to Christ. The apostles have gone to the Jews, Paul is sent to the non-Jews. He goes out on a second missionary journey, pay attention and on that second missionary journey he plants a church in the ancient city of Ephesus, leaves that church and then some three years later he's on a third missionary journey when he comes back to Ephesus and then he stays with that body of believers for three years, teaching, preaching, discipling them, loving them, bonding with them. Now listen to me carefully, 28, 19 is only three years old. Do you love me? I'm asking you a real question, this is not for sure, I'm asking you a question. I'm asking you, do you love me? Listen, I love y'all like you are my real brothers and sisters. I will take a bullet for this church, I will, I pray, I bruise my knees, I love this church. I feel love when I come here, I enjoy being in the gathering of the saints, I don't even know how people stay home, I want to be here if I live in Atlanta, I want to be in the room, I don't care if I'm in overflow, I want to just be in the building, I want to be on the

line, I want to be in the lobby, I just want to be amongst the brothers, I want to be in the gathering of the saints, especially if I live in Georgia. God help us plant more campuses if that's your will, but I love you and I know you love me. There is something deep that we have together that God has formed in just three years. so you understand what can happen between a shepherd and-- the families that he knows by name, the people he probably married, the people he baptized, the funerals that he did, the homes he sat in, the kitchen tables he was at, the bread that they ate, the wine that they sipped, the laughter that they had, the jokes that they cracked, the streets that they walked, when they was deep in the street, when neither of them was outside, but not outside. (audience laughing) And you understand in three years what kind of bond could be formed in three years. And at the end of three years, he feels the calling of God to leave them. And he writes about that emotional exit, Luke does in Acts chapter 20. I wanna read to you about Paul's emotional exit from Ephesians, from Ephesus. (audience cheering) I hear pages turning.

Thank God for a Bible teaching church. (audience laughing) In Acts chapter 20, Luke, who traveled with Paul, who also wrote the Gospel, Luke writes about the emotional exit of Paul from the Ephesian church. And I need to read this to you before we even jump into doctrine. Ephesians, Acts chapter 20 and beginning in verse 17, this is Luke writing. Now from Melitis, he sent to Ephesus and called the elders talking about Paul of the church to come to him. And when they came to him, he said to them, now these are Paul's words, it's in quotations. You yourselves, he's talking to the leaders of the church. Listen to his emotions. No, how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials. Is that not the Christian life? Not the fake life in Western Christianity, but the real life I preach to you. Tears and trials. So I might try to rebuke me on social media the other day, like why are you always crying so much? Maybe I got a real faith. Maybe I got a real walk.

Maybe I'm really out here grinding for my church. Maybe I'm dealing with real warfare and real threats and real challenges. Maybe I'm not afraid to weep before my savior or shed tears over the people I love, like my wife, children and church family, local and digital disciples. Maybe you don't cry enough. The Lord rebuke you. It's crazy how people persecute servants for things in the scriptures that they don't read. Some of people's attacks expose their ignorance and makes their illiteracy of the Bible palpable. I know by some of your posts you don't read the scriptures. God help us if Jesus was alive and had an IG following, he wouldn't even last in our society. We'd be persecuted for things that he's the son of God. Imagine they called him a devil and a demon. How 'bout that? Verse 20. How I did not shrink wasn't afraid, wasn't a coward. He didn't afraid if he had to, how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable and teaching you in public and from house to house, testifying both to the Jews and to the Greeks of repentance towards God and of the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, man, that is a faithful preacher. I don't hear no entertainment in there. I don't hear no TED talks in there. I don't hear no trying to keep people comfortable

and sin in there, but what church you attend and what preachers you listen to and what podcasts you have in your ears. Do they sound anything like this? What verse are we on? [ Pause ] Twenty-two. And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem. This is like if I told you on next week I have to step down as the pastor of 2819. God is moving me to New York to start a new 2819. And just imagine what that would feel like for you in a moment, like when you read the Scriptures, read it with your heart and with your mind. People would cry, it would send emails. Some people would say, "Pastor, don't go." Others would say, "Go, man, or God, we got you." It would be an emotional day. That's what this is. It is an emotional day. And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem constrained by the spirit that is out of obedience. Not knowing what will happen to me there. What is your five-year vision for the ministry? Not knowing what will happen to me there. What is your 10-year vision for the ministry? Not knowing what will happen to me there. So don't condemn yourself if you don't have the five-year vision for your ministry. Maybe your vision is to just be faithful

to whatever the Holy Spirit is saying to you. We put too much pressure on people to have your five-year vision and your 10-year vision. And we put too much pressure on people to know. What if you don't know? The best vision is just faithfulness and obedience. And the Holy Spirit will reveal to you as you obey. Somebody asked me the other day, "What is your five-year plan for 2018-19 to be obedient to the Holy Spirit?" I don't know. It's not the one with having a vision. I know you're going to come with me and have a cook. It's not the one with having a vision and writing it down and making it plain. But if you don't have one, you don't have to be condemned. Just follow the Holy Spirit. (audience applauding) Not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. Yeah, I know that life very well. But I do not account my life of any value. That's why I'm not afraid of men. Nor as precious to myself. That's why I'm not afraid of men. If only I may finish my course, that is success. Success is not money, it's not a bag, it's not a platform, it's not the same. Success is to finish the work that God has given you.

As a mother, as a father, as a minister, as a servant, as an employee, as a fill in the blank, we get to the end and said, "We finish our race." That is Christian success. I finished my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. And now, behold, I know none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again. Y'all will never see me again. Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all. You know what that means? I did not preach to you lies, so their blood would not be on his hands when they died. He told them the truth, where they convicted them, confronted them, where they made them uncomfortable. They didn't like it. He told them the truth, so he can have a clear conscience. That's a loving preacher. For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God, pay careful attention to yourselves. Pay careful attention to yourselves. You worry about everybody else's business. What about yours? What about your prayer life? What about your marriage? What about your children? Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock

in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. I know that after my departure, fierce woes will come in among you and not spare the flock. That is the most dangerous thing attacking the church. It's not the devil, it's false teachers. That's why I said that the most dangerous thing to the American pulpit, the American church is the American pulpit. False teaching is your biggest enemy. [BLANK_AUDIO] I know that after my departure, fierce wolves will come in among you, not spearing the flock. And from among your own selves will arise, men speaking twisted things to draw away disciples after themselves. You better watch people that's always starting something to draw other people away. They come in churches, they stir up strife, they get into discord, gather 25 people, go and start their own thing down the street. Some of that is demonic and it's people who are insecure and don't know how to be submitted to leadership. So rampant in our generation, everybody got to be a chief and not called. Paul will deal with that in Ephesians about callings. And I did not cease, he said for three years, night and day, to admonish you, every one of you with tears. And now I commend you to God, he's turning them over to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. That's what the word does, it builds you up. I taught you that last week, it makes you sanctified, read it, listen to it, read it, listen to it, read it, listen to it, don't just depend on sermons and podcasts.

Don't depend on me, read it and listen to it, read it and listen to it. I coveted no one silver or gold, that's me, I ain't paying attention to another man, I don't want nobody else ministry. You yourselves know that these hands minister to my own necessities and to those who were with me. In all things, I have shown you that by working hard in this way, we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said it is more blessed to give than to receive. You have a portion of your income, you should be leaving your house, everybody, a portion of your income should be leaving your home, supporting gospel ministry. How do you come and take of what God has given and not support what he is doing? A portion of your income should be going into gospel ministry that helps to plant churches and spread the gospel and support missionaries and raise up disciples and put your children in formation. A portion of your income should be leaving your home. See, notice you don't say amen, because you want to be entertained, but you don't want to be built up in your holy faith with the truth of God's word. That money should not be an idol or a god to you, a portion of it should be leaving your house to support gospel ministry, that's why Jesus has more blessed to give than to receive. It's a shame that Christians hoard everything that you get. You clutch a check like you don't know who it came from. And then somebody has to manipulate you to give, I will never do that. Because God loves, washes word, cheerful givers. People who understand the bigger picture and say, "I can't keep all of this. I keep giving away a percentage to help gospel ministry." You ain't taking none of it with you when you die anyway. That's why Jesus taught us, "Use it to make friends for yourself in heaven." Use money to make friends for yourself in heaven. That is, some of your money should be supporting gospel ministry that's winning souls, multiplying disciples, putting people in heaven.

Somebody says, "Use worldly money to make friends for yourself in heaven." Never read that. So you clutch everything and say, "I got too much debt and I have too much." You can't afford not to be generous. Some of you will be shocked what God would do when you take little and start giving it away. Support your ministry, support your church, support your mission, it will shock you what God would do when you start being generous. You think He only needs your job to provide for you? You have no idea the doors He opened or the handshakes you have when you start being faithful and being generous. You have no idea how the God who owns everything will support you in supernatural ways when you commit yourself to being faithful and given. (audience applauding) [BLANK_AUDIO] What verse are we on? I'm checking you. I can't hear you. I can't hear you. And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. And there was much weeping on the part of all. They embraced Paul and kissed him, being sorrowful, most of all. Because of the word he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. And they accompanied him to the ship. How about that for a life, a conversion, a ministry, faithful in a story? That is the man who wrote Ephesians. That is the man who some ten years later, as a prisoner in Rome, remembers them. Look at me, look right at me. That is the man who a decade later, a prisoner in Rome remembers them and sits down with a pen and parchment as a prisoner and writes this letter that we are about to study and

sends it with tickets and some other men send it back to, he remembers them. Then God fought texts from people you love in times of need. That is the man that sits down and writes this letter. And now I just want to repeat to you how he started. Everybody pay attention now, lock in. I need you to lock in to what we are about to read, lock in two verses. Just lock in to the words of the first two verses, lock in. This is school for the next 26 weeks. Now you know who he is, Paul, lock in an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, by his own will. Not a man who loved titles that just take a will, take a title for himself. I'm an apostle, I'm a pastor, I'm a teacher, I'm an evangelist, Paul an apostle by the will of God. So we should be scared of titles that God did not give us. And we should not want offices that God did not give us. You should not put yourself in an office and you should not put yourself in a title. Take stuff upon you that you don't have the strength to carry. You don't have the character to carry. You don't have the anointing to carry. We see how much of an apostle you are when hell comes, how much of a pastor you are, when hell comes, how much of a evangelist you are, when hell comes, how much of a teacher you are, when hell comes, how much of a prophet you are, when there don't put titles on you that you don't have the character, the anointing and the calling to sustain, that Christ did not give you, Paul will get to that in chapter 4. Paul, pay attention, an apostle of Christ you buy the will of Christ Jesus, who's will, Christ, who called him, Christ, who gave him that title, Christ, apostle, special messenger. Paul an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God and then he writes the letter to now watch to the recipients, everybody pay attention, lock in, who are the recipients to the saints, oh my gosh, I'm about to jump off this stage, lock in, lock in, lock in, lock in, lock in to the saints who are in emphasis, this is so powerful, and who are faithful in Christ

Jesus, so in the greeting he addresses the recipients with two titles and two positions He gives them two titles and two locations. Title one, saints, title two, faithful, first location, in Ephesus, second location, in Christ. (congregation cheering) He addresses them with two titles for identity. He will unpack identity in chapter one. And two locations, in Ephesus and in Christ. They're in two places at the same time. (congregation cheering) And he gave them two titles, saints and faithful. I'm almost done. Look at me. Every time you hear the word saint, you only think about people who the church has venerated as super holy, super human. Like they are above you, like Peter and Mary. And see if people are above you. But Paul ascribes the word saint to the people in Ephesus. Watch who you don't know their names. So that word saint can't just be for people we venerate as super humans. No, the word saint means set apart once. The word saint means holy ones. He calls them set apart from the world that they're living in. Identity. He calls them holy identity. He calls them saints. That this is for people who are poor.

People who are rich. People who are white. People who are black, brown, yellow, don't matter in color. People who are famous. People who are not famous. It doesn't matter. Saints is for anyone who is saved, you are a saint. If you are saved, you are a. If you are saved, you are a. That's our trained chance. If you are a saint, you are a. It's part of your identity. You are wherever you are, set apart. You are different wherever you are. But you don't act that way on social media. You don't act that way on your job. You don't act that way on your campus. You don't act that way with your home. You don't act that way on the platform 'cause you don't know you are a lander. Paul called you a saint, a set apart one. You should tattoo that to your heart. So start to shape the way you think about yourself in every environment. In every environment, you are a set apart one. In school, in your class, on your job, in the Uber and Target, wherever you are. In the restaurant talking to the waiter that botched your steak. Wherever you are, you are a set apart one.

You are a holy one. And he calls them faithful. At least in this season because there's no load it later on, there will abandon their first love because of false teaching, Revelation chapter two and three. I talk about this in my book because this church was in Turkey, former Asia Minor. The place that gave me the burden that gave birth to my first book content because we're not paying attention to what's happening in the world. We do church but we sleep. He calls them at this time. Washes were faithful. I got a question for you. Could we give you the same reputation? He calls them faithful. You know what a faithful person is? Ten toes down for Christ. That's what they were except that the gospel, not playing church, serious about the scriptures, whatever they had circulated. People who prayed, people who sacrificed, people who give, people who are generous, people who labor, people who live well, suffer well. I got a question for you. Could you put the same title on yourself? Faithful in coming to church. You don't come to church, you are the church. You come to a gathering.

Faithful in coming here, coming here in faithful. This is part of faithfulness. Faithfulness is seen after you leave here and how you govern yourself in Christ every day of your life. Faithful is obeying the Holy Spirit. Faithful is obeying the scriptures. Faithful is being submitted. Faithful is being humble. Faithful is ringing our sin from your heart. Faithful is bringing glory to Christ. And whatever state you find yourself in. You could be a stay-a-home mom, a business leader, a kid in a school, a high school student, a preacher, a singer, a fill-in-the-blank. Are you faithful? And it's a great reputation that he caught. Now look at me, I'm landing the plane. Locking, it is powerful that he calls them faithful because then he tells about their two locations, in Christ and in Ephesus. Now that means nothing to you, except if I would tell you that Ephesus was a mega-metropolis like New York, Chicago, Miami, Atlanta, LA, Vegas, fill-in-the-blank. Ephesus was a crossroads of commerce. Ephesus housed the massive, massive temple of Artemis. The goddess called Diana, that people travel from all around the world to see that massive colossal temple and pay money to a false lowercase god.

It was a city that housed a massive temple watches for financial idolatry. So big was that temple, it was tagged one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Ephesus was full of brothels. Ephesus was ungodly. Ephesus, look at me, was a city entrenched in magic and witchcraft and the occult. Lord help us today, please Jesus. Ephesus was a city that had no shortages of temptation for sin and watch satanic spiritual forces so strong. Paul has to teach them about warfare in chapter six. We read chapter six without understanding where Ephesus was. So you talk about the armor and the breastplate of right. You do all of that with understanding context. So demonic was Ephesus. Paul had to teach them about their spiritual armor. But not only are they in Ephesus, God, Lord help us. They are also in Christ. So they are in two places at the same time. Just like everybody, oh my God help us. Just like everybody who saved. You are in two places at the same time. You are in Atlanta and in Christ. You are in America and in Christ. You are in the Middle East and in Christ. You are in Japan and in Christ. You are in a place that was hostile towards Christianity. So hostile, they're trying to kill Paul with a riot.

And the real test of being a Christian is can you be in Christ and in your city and not lose your witness at the same time. I'm in Christ and in this ungodly, perverted city called Atlanta. Ungodly, perverted. Principalities and powers sitting on top of it with their arms folded. That's why they hate 2819. And my question to you is do you recognize that you're in Christ and in your job? In Christ and in your campus? In Christ and on social media? In Christ and in your city? In Christ and wherever you are and can you be faithful in both places? Can you be faithful to Christ wherever you are? Because no matter where ever you are, you are always. (audience yelling) It don't matter where you are, I could be in a restaurant or in an Uber. You are always in Christ and in wherever your feet is at the same time. But when you have no sense of identity when you act like Orlando, so you let demons come in your home in rec shop. Instead of grabbing that oil and getting on your knees

and running demons out of your house. So you go to school and you don't know how to behave yourself at school because you're Orlando and you move around the cities But I wish I just had a couple of thousand chances just rise up a couple thousand I wish I had a couple That was properly discipled in Christ in the word in the spirit in community I'm talking about gangster disciples State-defined disciples holy disciples set apart disciples Praying up disciples demon chasing disciples Come on man Come on What we talking about What we talking about I'm talking about mothers fathers children be natures businessmen athletes. I'm talking to everybody in Christ not doing Christ given praise in this place right now We'll be talking about If you in Christ given praise in this place right now Come on man, what we talking about Don Frank In Christ in Christ In Christ In Christ And before Paul we get to the last three chapters telling you how to live He got to shape your theology first with three straight chapters to teach you who you are in Christ So you try to preach to people love your wife is Christ love the church and wives submit to your husband and church We try to teach all of that without the first half of the of the letter That part becomes easier when you understand who you are All of the back half all of the stuff in the back half that tells you how to live

we've been trying to do that for people first and They get discouraged It'd be easier to know how to live when you understand your identity in Christ So when I say stuff like I'm bringing out my sin I'm striving for holiness and purity or I double down on our staff that we're gonna be a staff of holiness and Purity and we're gonna pray you think this is a game pull up on us during the week You see a staff praying on your face dealing with their sin. I ain't playing those games Ask any one of them what our week look like Ask any one of them what our culture looks like we ain't playing around We doing access to play around We're doing crusades to play around All of my life is flowing out of my identity in Christ How I love my wife how I love my children how I love and lead our church lead our staff How I deal with warfare attacks how I keep preaching the truth no matter who hate me or make videos about me Me knowing that all of that is gonna dissolve in the light of God's glory and the light of his judgment So I'm afraid of no man I'm only afraid of the one who says don't fear Man, not even the ones that can kill your body But fear the one that could throw body and so in hell why I live talk Breathe move like a man in Christ They think they know me you'll know me Meet me in my prayer room and before he gets it to any doctrine He prays for them What they need to embrace everything that's coming next started next week. He says to them grace [MUSIC PLAYING] What is grace? God's unmerited favor

that shows up in His love, His provision, His steadfastness, His generosity, His giving you strength when you are weak, His wiping your tears, His meeting you in every dark season of your life, pulling you out of loneliness. That is God's grace. Him giving you what you don't deserve and protecting you from what you do deserve, which is wrath and hellfire and damn mission. And peace, that don't mean without trouble. That is a supernatural calm you feel on the inside that comes as a result of the Holy Spirit. God's word, truth, that shows up in times of trouble, trial and tribulation that goes beyond human understanding. (gentle music) Are you in Christ? Do you know who you are? Do you have any idea who you are in Christ? You don't know. You really don't know who you are in Christ. But Paul will teach us. Paul will teach us through Ephesians. Who you are in Christ. My prayer for you is that you would just have a curiosity that will lead you to go read the letter for yourself maybe four times this week. My prayer for you, that you'll be sick and tired of the foolishness, that will be sanctified by this word. (gentle music)

As we learn over the next couple of weeks, months, your true identity, Christ, Father in the name of Jesus. I pray this word would not leak from your sons and your daughters. And it would take deep root in them. Would drive them the curiosity to reading, to listening your word. Prayer. We've had enough of entertainment in America. Sanctify us in your truth. Your word is truth. And I pray you would wreck shop in our hearts. During our walk through Ephesians, asking the mighty and the majestic and the matchless name of our soon-coming King, the Lord, Jesus, Christ. And if you receive that, all God's people clap your hands and say amen. (audience applauding) Come on, say amen. Say amen and amen. (applause)