The Spirit of Wisdom & Revelation - Ephesians: Born for War

You're listening to the road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.

Now, men and women, if you're not spending any time in God's Word except on Sunday, you're not changing.

Squat.

You're not.

Because the revelation and the wisdom is not natural.

It is supranatural.

It is super natural.

And so as you are growing in Christ and you start opening up his word, supernatural things start to happen to you.

Isn't that exciting?

I mean, that gets me fired up.

Because I don't like me.

But I like him, and he's in here.

At The Road, our mission is to empower people to change the world.

For more information on the road, visit theroad.org.

We hope you are encouraged by today's message from Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.

So we are talking about being born for war.

Ephesians.

We're in the book of Ephesians.

If you're a guest with us today, the theme from Ephesians is that every one of you in this room were born for battle.

You were born for war.

And the problem is when you think you're born for peace, and that's all you seek after.

But if you know you're born for battle, then when battles come your way, you're going to, well, that's the territory that God's equipped me to win in.

And so that's what Ephesians is all about.

It's a spiritual warfare manual.

That's what it is.

So we're in Ephesians 1, turn in your Bibles to Ephesians 1, and we're going to look at one of the great prayers in the Bible.

There's two prayers in Ephesians, and this is the first one.

And this one is foundational for the second one, which is in chapter 3.

So in Ephesians 1, we have one of the great prayers because he's going to pray for the Ephesian church to have a spirit of wisdom and revelation.

Spirit of wisdom and revelation.

How many of you say you need a little more wisdom and revelation these days?

After the last presidential election, if you didn't raise your hand, you need some help.

Because I'll tell you, man, it's coming from every angle.

It's coming out of Denver, it's coming out of D.C.

It's coming in our educational system.

We are getting hammered.

We need a spirit of wisdom and revelation.

And that's what he's praying here.

So look at Ephesians 1, starting in verse 15.

This is where we left off.

Therefore, I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers.

And then you see a colon there, because the rest is going to be the prayer that he's going to pray for us.

But look at verse 15.

Two things.

Calvin said, and this is not the guy who makes the genes, but John Calvin said that the essence of the Christian life is right here in verse 15.

That really, if you were to sum up the whole Christian life, it's right here.

That is faith in Christ and love for people.

Faith, trust in Christ, and love for people.

Now, what we have a problem with among evangelicals in America is that we think faith in Christ is like a one-time thing.

It's like getting married.

Well, I'm married because I walked the aisle and I said I do, and then he or she said I do, and so now we're married.

Well, how many think that marriage might be a little bit more than a ceremony?

Okay.

All right?

And so marriage is hard.

Marriage is tough.

Marriage is sanctification.

If you can understand that marriage is about sanctification, you'll do great.

If you think marriage is about you getting your needs met, you'll do horrible.

Okay?

And so the Christian life's not that different.

In that faith in Christ, the first time is just the beginning.

That's how it all gets started.

That's just the beginning.

We call that, in a theological term, justification.

Because justification, another simple definition of justification, is just as if you've never sinned.

And that's the righteous Christ.

That's what Good Friday's about.

Good Friday's about justification.

If we didn't have Good Friday, you wouldn't have Resurrection Day, right?

So Christ had to die.

He had to die because of the blood, which we'll talk about on Friday.

The blood is everything.

The blood begins in Genesis with Cain and Abel.

Blood runs all the way through.

And you've probably heard about the Nike shoes, the Satan shoes, about blood.

When you talk about blood, you're talking about what fuels demonic powers or sets you free.

It's the kind of blood that you're believing and trusting in.

And so, first of all, he says faith in Christ, he's not just talking about justification, he's talking about sanctification.

So sanctification is sanctifying.

That's a process that we started when we gave our hearts to Christ.

It just began there.

You were just in elementary school when you first came to know Christ, but hopefully you're more in love with Christ.

You have a deeper trust in Christ now than when you first got saved.

Now, some of you in this room aren't saved yet.

You think you are, but you're not.

And it's okay.

I did too.

I grew up in a home where I was baptized at six weeks old in a gown, a dress.

I mean, that's not right, but that's what they did, you know, and then I went through my life.

I went to catechism class, I did all that stuff, and I had a lot of head knowledge.

Okay?

But my freshman year is where I got saved.

Well, you know, within a year I was different than the year than that year before.

So hopefully, so when he talks about faith in Christ, he's saying it's an ongoing journey.

It's a road less travel, it's the million-dollar highway.

That's what it is.

Have you seen pictures of the million-dollar highway?

I mean, that's scary.

How many have been on the million-dollar highway?

All right.

I mean, you're talking about no guardrails sometimes on the left, and then there's no guardrails on the right, and you look down 100, 200 yards down to a river.

It's scary stuff when you do the million dollar.

That's Christian life.

I mean, it's Christian.

Some people think the Christian life is like zoom up the mountain, and everything's gonna just start going your way, and it doesn't work that way.

It's actually very windy and sometimes very difficult.

So he's saying, first, faith in Christ, ongoing, growing faith.

Second, he says you've got to love people, love for the saints.

It's interesting that here we have a letter, one of the few letters in the New Testament, where Paul says nothing negative to the Ephesian church.

He doesn't give any admonition for anything that's wrong.

It's all complimentary all the way through.

But yet, some 15 to 25 years later, in the book of Revelation, one of the seven churches, he condemns them.

He comes after them for losing their first love.

And so, men and women, some of you in here, would not be a surprise, have lost your first love.

At one point, you were fired up.

You were excited, but you've lost your first love.

Guess where we lose our first love most of the time?

It has nothing to do with Jesus, it has to do with people.

People mess you up.

People mess me up.

And you get and you get hurt by the church, you get hurt by Christians, you get you get hurt by your family.

Every family's weird.

It is.

And if you don't think your family's weird, then ask ask your spouse.

Or ask your kids.

They'll know our family, the whole family's weird.

Your family's weird.

You got weirdos in your family.

And you think it's not you, but it is you, because you're weird too, you know?

Just a bunch of weirdos.

So, so listen now.

Every family's weird.

Every church is weird because it's a family.

So, so people at this church are going to hurt you.

We are going to hurt you.

That's why we have a covenant of harmony that you heard about, and we train you in to work on stuff.

Because that lobby in there, you realize how many people are servant leaders out there in that lobby having coffee and pastries and all the stuff that's going on, and then downstairs, all the servant leaders that are serving our kids and all that, you think we don't get cross with each other sometimes?

And then we don't like get mad because the person said they were gonna do something, they didn't do it, they said they're gonna come time, they come on late, all that stuff.

And they don't even get paid, they just do it because they love Jesus and they love the church.

But it's awesome.

That's what it's all about.

We work these things out around here, and so and so he means it when he says, look, there's two things that make up the whole Christian life.

It's what John Calvin's talking about continuous trusting in God and loving people.

It's really hard.

Jesus said, everything summed up.

Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength, your neighbor as yourself.

This is not easy stuff.

And that's why he now gives us this very powerful and unique prayer.

So look at this prayer.

I'm gonna read it in its entirety, and then we'll go verse by verse through it.

Verse 17.

That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation.

So underline that or highlight that or star that or check that.

In the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he worked in Christ.

So he's the first fruits of this power, when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come.

And he put all things under his feet, and he gave him to be the head over all things, the Lion of Judah, over all things, to the church, which is his body, in the fullness of him who fills all in all.

So there's three things he's talking about here.

Three things.

One is that God would give us a spirit of revelation and wisdom to know him.

To know him.

That's the first point.

Number two, that he would give us a spirit of revelation and wisdom to know the hope of his calling.

Number three, that he would give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation to experience his power, his resurrection power in our lives.

So let's look at the first thing he says.

He says this in verse 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him.

Stop right there.

So, intellectual knowledge in the Greek is the word gnosis, G-N-O-S-I-S.

It's where we get the word Gnosticism.

Gnosticism was a cult.

Gnosticism was a sect out of Christianity in the first century that elevated knowledge because gnosis in the Greek is knowledge.

It's mainly speaking of intellectual knowledge, but that's not the word used here.

The word used here, the knowledge of him, is epinosis.

Epinosis.

It means experiential knowledge.

It's more than just knowing about something, it's truly intimately knowing something.

He's saying, I want you to intimately know Christ.

So I trained with a gymnastics team called Athletes in Action many years ago while I was still in college, and we were at Anaheim, California training there, and I got invited to go to a to a California Angels baseball game.

So I go to the baseball game, after the game, we go out to eat, and you can see the stadium from the restaurant, and we're standing there.

And I had the program in front of me, because I'd never been to an Angels game, and I was just looking at stuff, and that's the way I am.

Most of the time when I go to baseball games, I take a book.

But um, I've had a lot of kids that play baseball, so when they come up to bed, I wake up.

But um, unless I'm with Mark, if I'm with Mark, he keeps me entertained.

But at this one, there's a picture of Nolan Ryan.

So I'm looking at Nolan Ryan, I'm reading about Nolan Ryan.

You know, the great strikeout pitcher.

I think he still holds the record of most strikeouts in Major League Baseball.

I'm looking at it.

I look up, and there's a guy about 15 feet away who looks just like Nolan Ryan.

So I said to the guys on the team, I said, You guys, look at that.

That guy looks just like him.

You think that could be Nolan Ryan?

He said, No way, man, he pitched tonight, which he had pitched.

I said, There's no way he could have gotten done, gonna come and have his family there.

He wouldn't do that.

I mean, you know, I said, I think it's Nolan Ryan.

He said, No, he's not Nolan Ryan.

Don't embarrass this man.

And I'm thinking in my head, I'm thinking, okay, if it's not Nolan Ryan, he's gonna be honored that I thought he was.

Right?

And if it is, yeah.

You know, home run, baby.

So I walk up to this guy, in typical Steve Holt, you know, shy, kind of fearful of people, kind of guy that I am.

And I said, You know who you look like?

And he goes, No, who?

He said, like that, kind of, no who.

And I said, You look like this guy.

You ever heard of Nolan Ryan?

Are you Nolan Ryan?

He goes, You never know.

You never know.

I said, dude, you're Nolan Ryan, man.

So I come back, you know, and I tell everybody, I'm like, whoa.

So then when we're leaving, you know, we're getting ready to leave and everything, and we're coming out, and right in front of me is Nolan Ryan and his family.

So I just, you know, had to make some comments.

I'm from Georgia, right?

So I said, I said, man, Nolan Ryan, he didn't look very good tonight, did he?

He just couldn't find the strike zone, his curve wasn't working, and he turned around and we just had a great laugh.

All right?

Well, I I knew about Nolan Ryan.

It didn't mean I know Nolan Ryan.

It just means I know what he looks like.

And he's kind of average, he's about six feet, and he's kind of average building everything.

But that's it.

Never saw him again.

I I could probably pick him out of a crowd of two.

But the point is, is that we know a lot about the Lord, but you know, some of you in this room don't know the Lord.

You know doctrine, you know church life.

Maybe you can remember the date when you got saved, but he's saying here, I want you to have wisdom and revelation and epinosis of experiential knowledge of God.

How much he loves you, how precious you are in his sight, how much he can take you through hard times.

You can depend on him when it's not going your way.

With your weird family, or your weird church, or your hang ups, or your addictions.

Have revelation and knowledge from him.

That's what it's all about, church.

It's growing in that.

It doesn't all happen overnight.

It's it's it's getting into the word and it's asking God to speak to not just your head, but to your heart.

Literally praying that.

God, as I open your word this morning, speak to my heart.

I want to have a conversation with you.

I don't want it to be, I don't want to be a one-way track, just you speaking to me or me talking to you.

I want to I want to hear your voice and I want you to hear my voice.

It's a head and a heart on fire.

That's what epinosis means.

It's it's your head on fire.

In other words, have you ever had your head on fire?

And what I mean by that is you discover something, you discover something from the Lord you never saw before, and you're like, oh, and it just fires up your mind.

That's what I love about Wayne Grudom's systematic theology.

And I give it to all of our staff here.

Systematic theology with Wayne Grudom.

You say, what?

Are you kidding me?

That sounds like the worst thing.

You know?

It's about that thick, and it's powerful.

I challenge you to get systematic theology by Wayne Grudom and just read one page a night.

It will fire up your head.

It will fire up your mind.

If if the church, if pastors would just do that, we'd solve half of our problems in the church.

Some of the crazy stuff doctrinally that's out there is ridiculous.

You know?

So we were talking about it today with the worship team, how there's a difference between the culture that we have by which we transmit the gospel and the gospel itself.

So in Japan, when I would speak to Japanese about Christ, I had different illustrations and different ways of communicating it to a Japanese than I would to an American.

Because culturally, it's just different.

And so we did that so that the gospel would still go forth.

Don't mess with the gospel.

Don't mess with the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

That's non-negotiable.

But how we communicate it is always negotiable.

So we've got this up here now.

And you guys that are old enough to know, you know, you didn't have any of this kind of stuff 50 years ago.

I went, when I got saved, I started going to a Southern Baptist church right there in Athens, Georgia, and I thought it was radical that you sang from a hymnal with a choir, with a guy up there going like this.

Because I grew up in a high church environment where it was just the choir and stuff, and you didn't have somebody going like this.

And then it was OHPs.

Overhead projectors.

Whoa.

That was really moving up, folks.

You slide that little, that little piece of plastic in there and it's going, it's kind of like this, and the person's trying to get it right and everything.

And then usually the worship leader had written in some notes, and then he forgot that that was the one he was using.

That wasn't the one for the crowd.

Anyway, you see, whoa, they do overhead projectors over there.

Okay.

So then we do this.

Doesn't matter.

The point is this that the gospel doesn't change.

Jesus doesn't change, but you do.

You're supposed to change.

So I'm, that's the way I am.

That's the way I am about worship, or that's the way I am about teaching, or whatever.

And it's like, great.

We don't care.

Because the gospel should be changing us.

Right?

So your porn addiction or your alcohol addiction or whatever the addiction is, and everybody's got a few, it seems like, these days, should be getting better.

It should be gradually getting loosening its grip because you're growing in wisdom and revelation.

Now, men and women, if you're not spending any time in God's word except on Sunday, you're not changing squats.

You're not.

Because the but listen, because the revelation and the wisdom is not natural.

It is supranatural.

It is supernatural.

And so as you are growing in Christ and you start opening up his word, supernatural things start to happen to you.

Isn't that exciting?

I mean, that gets me fired up because I don't like me.

But I like him, and he's in here.

And so when I start communicating with him, that's the prayer, we get transformed.

So that's the first thing.

Second thing says, hope of your calling.

He says that you'd have a spirit of wisdom and revelation for the hope of your calling.

Now, men and women, you're in a vocation that you're skilled for.

I hope.

I mean, some of you may not be.

Might need to take a test or something if you feel like you're not in the right place.

There's all kinds of gifts test and talent test and disc test and firo B test and test, test, test.

You can do all that.

But the reality is that I think what he's saying here is that the hope of your caller.

Is that where God's placed you, that becomes your mission field.

That becomes your place.

Your vocation becomes your calling when you become a kingdom revolutionary.

So most people are not going to be called to the mission field.

Most people are not going to be called to be pastors, but you're called right where you're at to make an impact.

You're supposed to change people's lives around you.

You're not here just to exist and take up space.

You're here to make a kingdom difference.

And so he's saying there's a hope of your calling.

You have a hope.

Many of you have said to me over the last few months, I love coming to the road on Sunday morning because I don't have to wear a mask.

Now you can wear a mask, but you don't have to wear a mask.

Other places you have to wear a mask, you don't have to wear a mask.

That's a hope, right?

Well, there's a hope of your calling.

And so I would hope that as you're growing in your relationship with Christ, you look forward to going to work.

It's not just a paycheck.

You're there to make a difference.

There's all these people around you that you work with that are struggling.

And you, by God's grace, are in that relationship.

It's a relationship nobody else in this room has but you.

You have a unique group around your cubicle, a unique group around your house or your neighborhood that you're ministering to.

And if you're a mom, you have that unique group of kids.

That snotty, pooping group of kids.

And if you don't see a purpose in that, then it's gonna really be bad.

Right?

It's bad anyway, but and it gets stinky, right?

So, but the reality is, is he's saying, I want you to have a hope to your calling.

I want you to see what your existence in this life, in Ephesus, in Colorado Springs, is all about.

Get revelation for it, get wisdom.

And at aim on Tuesday morning for you men, I'm gonna talk about guarding your heart.

And what I'm gonna talk about in guarding your heart, that the key to guarding your heart, I'll give away my thesis here, is wisdom.

Wisdom is the key to guarding your heart, men.

And this is true for women too, but I'm gonna be talking about men on Tuesday.

But men and women, wisdom is knowledge applied with failure.

That's what wisdom.

Wisdom is failure, learning from failure, knowledge applied, that's how you become wise.

You don't become wise by success.

Success is great.

Usually it makes you arrogant.

But when you fail and you learn from it, that's wisdom.

And so he's saying here, a hope of your calling is that you may have failed, you may have blown it, but you can grow from that.

That's how you grow.

That's how you become a deep person.

Deep people are people who have failed and learned from it.

We welcome failures in this church.

We like failures.

Failures are good because we're all weak.

And the weaker you are in you and the stronger you are in Christ, the more you're gonna have wisdom in the days ahead.

It says hope of your calling.

And thirdly, he says power.

It's about power.

Look at verse 19.

What is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe according to the working of his mighty power?

Not your power, his mighty power.

You may think you're powerful, and that's okay to think that.

But compared to him, there's no power source like his.

And then he says, he gives us an example of how this works.

Which he worked in Christ.

When he raised him from the dead.

Nobody in this room has been raised from the dead like Christ.

Christ was raised from the dead.

That's pretty good power.

And seated at the right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come.

Now, men and women, listen to this.

That's what Easter's about.

That's what the resurrection is all about, is that Jesus, in this spacesuit that he wore, died.

And then something of the combustible energy of God came forth within this spacesuit and blasted forth, and the spirit drive within Christ came forth and he was resurrected.

That's a mystery.

I don't get it.

But he's about to tell us, not next week, because it's uh Easter, but the next week I'm going to talk about chapter 2.

Look at chapter 2 as a little tease for this.

And you he made alive.

Who were dead in your trespasses and sins.

So Christ who took on our sin, he was dead in our sins.

We also have been dead in our sins.

He made us alive.

Now look down at verse 6.

And he raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ.

So he's saying Christ died.

There was this combustible regeneration from the Spirit of God into the Son, and he was raised, never to die again, then sent to be in the heavenly realm with the Father, seated at the right hand.

And what we're going to learn in a couple weeks is you are too.

That some mystical way we've been raised with Christ.

He's raised us up, and we're also seated with the same power and authority if we're in Christ.

We'll talk about that in a couple weeks.

But when you read Good Friday, when you read the story of Good Friday, I encourage you to read it.

When Christ died at 3 p.m., at 3 p.m., darkness across the globe, he says, it is finished.

He dies.

There's an earthquake.

Something happens.

There's tremors across that land there.

And then the scriptures say that men and women who had died of old were resurrected.

So Christ, we believe, went down into Hades.

He announced his dominion even over Hades.

And even the saints of old who were believers were raised up.

And can you imagine that?

I mean, these guys kind of coming in.

It's Uncle Louie.

Uncle Louis, who died 10 years ago.

I swear I saw him.

No, you didn't.

Oh, I bet you, you know.

And they come and say, Uncle Louis's here.

I mean, all over Jerusalem this happened.

What's that?

That's first fruits.

That's you and me.

He wants to resurrect in your life.

He wants to blast in there and blast out of you a new person.

Resurrection power of Christ.

That's what he's praying for.

A spirit of revelation and wisdom and the power and the greatness of Christ.

That we see as our first fruits in Jesus is now, we'll learn in two weeks, is in you.

Pretty great.

That's what I signed up for.

And then, verse 22, he put all things under his feet.

And he gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Do you realize there's principalities and powers ruling over America?

Based on Daniel chapter 10, with the prince of Persia and a prince of Greece, there's a prince of America.

Daniel 10 · chapter mention

There's a demonic prince that is ruling over our country.

And when you look at Daniel chapter 10, you see 21 days that he cried out to God, and then when the archangel Michael came, he said, From the first day that you sought me, I came, but I was in a wrestling match.

Daniel 10 · chapter mention

I was held up by the Prince of Persia.

But I've now come to you.

Men and women, when we pray against sex trafficking, when we pray against some of the stuff that's happening in our country, and we're going to talk about it at the end of the service, we're going to talk just briefly about what's happening down at the border, it makes a difference.

When the church prays, it releases angels to fight with principalities and powers.

When we pray around here at noonday war room prayer, when we have other special prayer gatherings that we have from time to time, God moves.

And we see answered prayer all the time around here.

Remember the Super Bowl?

Remember that?

At the Super Bowl, we called that prayer meeting.

75 of you guys came over to the chapel and we cried out to God because that's the biggest day of sex trafficking and prostitution in the United States is during the Super Bowl in Tampa Bay, and we had huge arrests happened that day.

I think it's because we prayed.

Not just to us, but others.

But I'm telling you guys that God can bring breakthrough in your life.

You're the church.

That's what he's saying here.

You're the church.

The church is the most powerful.

See, this is what this is what freaks out the politicians.

You got to shut down the church.

You gotta shut down this book.

You've got to.

Because we are the most powerful institution in the world today is a church.

Now, listen, I'm gonna step on some toes, but that's what I get paid to do.

Because Darwinism is very much a part of the landscape now in science and stuff, and I don't have to go into all the details of that.

But I'm telling you, folks, Darwinism is an attack on Genesis 1, 2, and 3.

Because he created them, male and female.

God created us in the image of God.

He did not go from the dude to you by way of the zoo.

Okay?

And if Darwinism was true, if we know, listen, we know microevolution is true.

I've bred dogs.

You can make a dog what you want.

I mean, you can breed it a certain way.

That's microevolution.

But you're not gonna make a dog with all your breeding into a giraffe.

Okay?

So if macroevolution was true, then we'd have, it makes sense.

Well, is it eight billion?

Are we at eight billion people in the world today, or nine billion?

I don't know what it is.

There'd at least be a thousand out of billions that are halfway there.

Now, some of the people that I've met, I think, are halfway there, but that's a whole nother discussion.

But you'd have some people kind of walking out and they're half ape and they're half human, they're in the process of the chain.

But there's none.

They're human, gorilla.

They're human, they're whales.

And I don't care how much you look at it and say the fin looks like a hand and all this stuff.

I mean, this takes some incredible mental gymnastics.

I am, listen, I'm smarter since I became a Christian.

So listen, listen, listen now.

Jesus saved the best wine till the end of the wedding feast.

Because everybody else brings out the crummy wine after everybody's a little bit looped, right?

But Jesus brought out the best wine at the end.

You know what that says to me?

That says to me, if you're gonna follow Christ and you're gonna pray for a spirit of revelation and wisdom and knowledge, and you keep growing in that, your life's gonna get better and better.

It is.

The best wine is yet to come.

But listen, if you don't want to do that and you wanna follow sin, your life's gonna get worse and worse.

Because you're gonna go from flesh to flesh.

And I tell you what, that is a drag.

I did that for the first 18 years.

I want to go from spirit to spirit, not from flesh to flesh.

And I want the best wine.

I want the best wine at the end.

How about you?

Yep.

You've been listening to The Road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.

We hope you have been blessed by today's message.

To connect with us further, visit theroad.org.

If you are walking through a difficult time, we want to pray for you.

Go to theroad.org, click on the ministries tab, and go to our prayer page to send us your prayer request.

Thanks again for tuning in today, and be sure to listen to the next edition of The Road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.