Ephesians Week 1

Welcome to the North Iron Church Podcast.

Our mission is to take the gospel from the upper peninsula to the ends of the earth.

We pray this message will inspire and encourage you in your faith journey.

Enjoy our Ephesians series where we break down Paul's letter to Ephesus.

Good morning, everyone.

Glad that you're here with us.

Will you go grab your Bibles this morning?

We're starting a brand new series for the summer.

Very excited.

Actually, this is the first time I've preached all the way or taught all the way through the book of Ephesians, a very important book.

So if you need a Bible, raise your hand.

We have a great version for you.

We'll be there in just a moment.

Would you, as a whole, welcome everyone that's watching us online?

We have multiple campuses around the UP.

We're excited that you're here.

We love you guys.

And Lance and Ant and Ogden.

Marquette Ishuman.

Many people follow us and watch us.

I would say a majority of the people who who come even for the first time have been watching us for months online.

It's typical what people do now just to make sure we're not too weird.

And so I guess we're just right up to the edge of being weird.

Enough for that they'll come and be a part with us in-house.

We love that.

God's doing a mighty work across the UP and the North.

And we're so grateful to be a part of that.

It's it's awesome.

And this morning I want to dive into a very important book, the book of Ephesians.

You're gonna find that in the latter part of the New Testament.

There's an Old Testament and a New Testament.

The New Testament will be towards your right, the end.

And it's not a large book, but an important book.

We find that Paul, on his second missionary journey, has arrived there.

And here's the thing that you need to know about Ephesians.

Because oftentimes I've come across people who are kind of shotgunning from Ephesians, as it is a very theological book of not just knowledge of God, but the practice of how to live a Christian life.

But it's always been written in the context of something that is really important.

Matter of fact, with any book of the Bible, if you go into that book and read a portion of scripture or maybe even one scripture without understanding the mission of God, then you're probably misunderstanding or misinterpreting that that scripture.

You have to understand the why of a book and how it was written and to who it was written.

And that's very, very specific in the book of Ephesians.

It's wrapped in the foundation of the mission of God.

Scholars say from the very beginning, from Genesis to Revelation, all the things that were written by all the authors that were written across thousands of years really have to do with the mission of God.

That always has to be your foundation as you're looking at these scriptures and reading through these books of the Bible.

And so that's this is why I'm taking an extended period over the summer to walk through Ephesians as a survival guide.

That's how Ephesians is written.

It's written as a missionary manual, can I say it that way?

For the mission of God.

Now, the mission of God is real simple and it permeates everything.

The mission of God is God is worthy of my worship, everyone.

You've heard me say it before.

Everyone worships something that's true in your life.

You might be worshiping someone other than Jesus, but ultimately, Jesus is the only one worthy of your worship.

And most importantly, he's the only one, the only God who can save you.

Not only is he worthy of worship, he is the only one that can save you.

This is important for you to understand.

It is a survival God, uh, sorry, survival, maybe a survival god, a survival manual for an early church that was birthed in a hostile environment.

That there's a lot of relevance there for you when it comes to our lives too.

I believe that, not that we're an early church or we've been established for more than a hundred years, but we continue to push up against our culture that is preaching the wrong thing.

This is not the right way, this is the right way.

And we believe God has the answers, and because he has the answers for your life, not only can he save you, and because of that, he is worthy of your worship.

It's a missionary manual.

I came across something that I thought was kind of funny.

It was on the internet, and um, which means it's true, and it was a uh heading in a Peace Corps manual about what to do when you are faced with an anaconda.

You know what I'm talking about.

I think most people are are aware of what an anaconda is, and it gives you a 10-step process to live through an anaconda attack, and I just thought it was interesting.

It seems much like the Christian life.

It says, Don't run, which is number one, and they say don't run because the anaconda is faster than you, which I would like to say, hey, I'd like the anaconda to prove that, of course.

And if I'm with you, I don't have to outrun the anaconda, I just have to outrun you, right?

So no greater love.

Anyway, number two, don't run.

Number one, don't run.

Number two, listen, lay flat on the ground and keep your arms close.

Number three, tuck your chin in.

Number four, the snake will come and begin to nudge you and climb over your body and smell you.

Number five, don't panic.

Number six, after the snake has begun to examine you, it will begin to swallow you feet first.

Feet first, and it always swallows from the feet first, and allow the snake to begin to devour you up to your knees.

Number seven, do not panic.

Number eight, the snake will begin to suck your legs into its body.

You must lay perfectly still.

This will take a long time.

Number nine, as the snake begins to suck your body into its mouth and cover your knees with your with your well, cover your knees with its mouth, very quietly take a knife from your sheath, put it in your hand, and as the snake begins to devour your groin area, take the knife and jam it up into the snake's brain and kill the snake.

Number 10, make sure that you bring a knife.

Sometimes I feel like that's what it's like to follow Jesus.

But Ephesians is written as a missionary manual.

So, what I want to do is I want to give you a little bit of theory in how you should look at this book by looking at the start of the birthing of what's going on in Ephesus or Ephesians.

Uh, we're gonna look at the city that that eventually Paul arrives at.

So I want you to turn to Acts.

We're not gonna be in Ephesians.

I want you to know where that book is.

We will be there next week.

But we're gonna start in this incredible story of Paul and his second missionary journey moving into this area.

People are getting saved.

It's changing the culture.

It's a powerful time.

And we find in chapter 18, and that's where we're gonna start, Acts chapter 18.

Acts 18 · chapter mention

You're gonna find that right after the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John.

You're gonna find the book of Acts, chapter 18, verse, I believe it's 24 or 25.

Acts 18 · chapter mention

We find a very interesting gentleman, a a Jewish gentleman who who comes into the city of Ephesus and he begins to preach the word of God.

His name's Apollos.

And Apollos is, well, scripture says that he is a great speaker, he's a great preacher.

I don't know if he's a great teacher, because as he begins to preach about Jesus, we find that he gets some things wrong.

Well, it just so happens that some of the disciples of Paul, who's in a different city, uh, Priscilla and Aquila, it's hard for me to rhyme that.

Priscilla and Aquila, uh a husband and wife, are in the city and they hear Apollos preaching.

He's fervent, he's excited, he's passionate about God, but he's preaching things like Jesus is going to return with eight shiny reindeer, or something like that.

And they're like, well, like you're getting some of that right, but but you you don't have a strong foundation in the gospel, and so they take Apollos and they they have a home Bible school with him and begin to teach him the things he doesn't know about the gospel and Jesus that they received from the apostle Paul.

Well, we we find that Ephesians is changing.

Ephesians is an incredible city that uh was really one of the main ports in Asia Minor minor, modern-day Turkey.

It's a very rich area, much like Marquette would be for us.

I always kind of determine if a city is rich by how many Starbucks they have, if it's over two Starbucks, this is a pretty rich place, right?

Because there's more than one person that will spend$5 or$10 on a cup of coffee.

Anyway, Ephesians or Ephesus probably had two or three, maybe five different Starbucks there.

And uh it's influential, it's a port city, uh, much like the places in UP, and we find that many different kinds of people kind of land in this very influential Roman city.

All the all of them bring the gods that they're worshiping.

There's over 50 different temples to different gods in the area, and there's a lot of spiritual and demonic spiritualism, which is just demonic, a lot of demonic activity with what's going on in this city.

And that's important for you to understand.

And Paul arrives, if you go over to the next chapter, chapter 19, we find that Paul arrives.

He comes into the city and begins to teach about the gospel, and we find that people even ask this question that are listening to Paul, they kind of raise their hand and say, Paul, you're talking about Jesus, but then you're you're also talking about this Holy Spirit person.

Who is this Holy Spirit?

And Paul is like, You don't you don't know who the Holy Spirit is?

And they they're like, No, we we we we haven't heard about him.

So Paul just automatically is like, Okay, I got some teaching to do here.

Obviously, Jesus is moving, people are getting saved, but they need to be firmly rooted in the gospel and what God's word says.

So he spends two years building up this church in in Ephesus to the Ephesians people.

This is this went on for two years, speaking of Paul, so that all the Jews and the Greeks who lived in the province of Asia or Asia Minor heard the word of the Lord.

Paul was actively preaching as well as his disciples.

The church was growing extensively, and God did, and this is important, I would underline this if I were you, extraordinary miracles through Paul.

So that even handkerchiefs and aprons, people were getting healed, demon-possessed, people were getting released, miracles after miracles after miracles were happening, extraordinary, not just ordinary miracles, extraordinary miracles through Paul.

So that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched Paul were taken to the sick, and their illness were cured, and the evil spirits left them.

We find that I believe it's chapter 19, uh, verse 15, that some of the spiritualists or people involved in spiritualism or mysticism, healers and shamans, see what Paul is doing and the incredible miracles that are that is just rocking all of Ephesus.

And we find that the seven sons of Skeva want this power, and so they go around and they begin to try to cast out demons in Jesus' name as it was preached uh by Paul.

And it's interesting that we find that the demons respond to these sons of this spiritualists.

They say this, Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?

Well, that'll shake you.

And we find that the demons go after these seven sons of Skeva and a battle, they get beaten like whoop trash or I'm telling you, to the point where they fled naked.

Whenever a demon beats you so badly that you lose all your clothes, you've been taught a lesson, everyone.

But because of all these things, people getting saved, people being healed, the word of God being preached, it rattles this city.

It rattles them.

And because of all that the scene, even the people in Ephesus are saying, Man, God is doing.

We're not even sure what this means, but there's something, there's something going on.

And when it came to be known by the the Jews and the Greeks, if you could hit that, Nathan, uh, living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear.

What I translate that as that word, fear is the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

And the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor.

And many of those who believed now came and openly, because they believed it it demanded something of themselves.

I've told you this many, many times.

It's one thing to believe, it's another to repent.

Repentance is when you walk away from your former life and say, I'm not gonna live this way anymore.

I'm a new creation because God's word says I'm a new creation.

My mind has been transformed, my thinking or my belief system has been transformed, my my culture, my family has been transformed.

I'm repentance, and that's what's going on here.

And we find that people came in and told Paul all the things that they were up to that were ungodly.

And then even warlocks and witches and shamans who practice sorcery begin to bring in their scrolls and they burn them publicly as a declaration that I am Jesus and Jesus alone.

Scripture even says that when they they calculated the value of the schools, it it it matter of fact, scholars say six to eight million dollars they burned.

Woo! You know that Jesus has done something in your heart when you've just burnt six million dollars, everyone.

So the word of the Lord continued in this atmosphere these two years, three years.

So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail to move the kingdom of Satan farther and farther, and establishing the kingdom of God.

And this caused a lot of problems, everyone.

This caused an a riot.

There was a gentleman who was not excited about any of this, and he had a tourist business.

You understand also, and I maybe didn't mention this, but there is a major temple just aside, or it was a part of Ephesus.

It was one of the seven wonders of the world.

It was the temple of Artemis.

And Artemis was a female virgin fertility god, a huntress, if you will, that was worshipped in a mighty way.

Matter of fact, uh scholars have uh historical scholars had written about the beauty of this temple.

It was a demonic place with prostitution and all these sexual uh worship acts that were demonic that were going on.

It was a major draw for the Turkey area that you would come into this temple.

It was even the central bank, if you will, where all the wealth was being held.

And so everyone in the city was profiting by this incredibly large temple that everyone was coming and traveling to kind of as a pilgrimage to worship this fertility god in sexual acts.

And so we find that this is with everyone getting saved and everyone's lives changing, the importance of this temple is dropping.

And the taxi drivers, the bus drivers, the restaurants, those who are selling trinkets and all kinds of crystals, this guy was uh Demetrius was selling little silver statues, he begins to complain to all the other merchants in the area that because of Paul's preaching, because people's lives are turning away from the Greek and Roman gods and towards this living God that Paul's talking about, Jesus, their lives are being changed and they're no more interacting in the cultural ways of our city.

And if we don't do something, our businesses are going to die.

So we find this.

But most of Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people saying that the gods made with hands are not gods.

Can you imagine the logic of that, everyone?

What do you mean, this?

Well, they believe the Artemis was, the statue of Artemis was actually fashioned out of a meteorite.

So they worship this meteorite, and so of course, Paul is saying to them, listen, you're just worshiping a piece of stone.

In a way, he's mocking them, he's calling out their false gods, and it's having an impact.

And so this tradesman gathers the people and the merchants of of Ephesus and creates this riot.

And they all begin to grab, matter of fact, they grab a couple Christians and they go to the amphitheater and they fill this amphitheater.

And we see what goes on here uh in the next portion of scripture, and there is a danger not only to the trades of what's going on in the temple of a great goddess, Artemis uh may be counted as nothing, and that she is even disposed from her magnificence as a as a statue.

The early church had a significant impact on the city of Ephesus, to the place where 25,000 people come into an arena and begin to chant Diana, Diana, which is a nickname for this God, Diana, two hours.

They're screaming in this auditorium, this arena, this amphitheater.

25,000 people it filled.

The church had an impact.

The church changed the culture.

And we see this, and maybe you're just new to this idea, but I'm I'm here to tell you if you're consistently consuming the gospel and placing it in your heart and making a step towards Jesus and his righteousness, its promise to you, will come in and begin not only to transform your spirit or how we like to say it, but transform your heart.

It'll change the way that you believe.

You'll look at sin differently, you'll look at your actions differently, you'll look at the people around you differently, and and your heart will change, your mind will change, and listen to.

The outcome of that, the byproduct of that, in your family, in your business, in your street, in your neighbors' lives, in the town you're in, is that the culture changes.

Can you imagine?

That Paul begins to preach the gospel and it uproots everyone's life.

And the things that were upside down are turned upright.

And begin to, people begin to follow Jesus and surrender their lives.

And the byproduct of that is that their culture just begins to change, that it's so dramatic, it it changes the economics of that city.

We even have Roman citizens or leadership who begin to write about Ephesus and the impact that people had, Christians would have on their communities, in their giving, in their miracles.

Can you imagine if Hollywood would have such a revival that they would stop producing garbage, cultural garbage, and begin to make movies that glorified God?

Can you imagine if Las Vegas had such a revival that they began to close down casinos because no one was gambling with their lives, but they were giving, as we'll see in just a minute, in an extraordinary generosity.

Can you imagine in Green Bay that people's lives would be so changed that the Green Bay Packers would just want to love on the Detroit Lions?

No.

Jesus can do it! This is the basis for America.

This is the basis for the United States.

The United States is a Christian nation, everyone.

And the reason that it's a Christian nation is not that they were thrust, or that was their focus as much as it was just a byproduct of the men who started this thing.

Deeply rooted were all of these families who took a chance and moved to a nation because they were being persecuted by the religious wars in Europe.

And so out of that came the teachings and the basis of God's word that were the foundation of our nation, everyone.

So we're at a low culture right now spiritually.

And the reason that is, and I've told you again and again and again, it's it's evident, it's it's nothing is hidden anymore.

All sin is out on everyone wears a t-shirt or a bumper sticker.

We know what team you're either on team Jesus or you're not.

And what happens to a culture like this is when Christian men do not lead.

When Christian men are lazy, when Christian men say it's not my problem, when Christian men don't walk into the government or our school systems or our businesses and don't stand up for the word that they have been given by God to not only lead their lives but lead people around them.

When Christian men do not care, then evil men step in.

This is why, well, Mike, Pastor Mike Murray, who's a little bit smarter than me, he said, the world is led by those who show up.

And some of you aren't showing up.

Oh, it's too hard.

Pastor Mark, it's too risky.

Pastor Mark, I'm I'm too tired.

Pastor Mark.

So the anthheater, the arena is filled by people chanting.

Diana of the Ephesians.

Diana of the Ephesians.

And the reason that is, is because the mission of God or the mission of the church is to expose everyone, to expose the false gods, the powerlessness of the false gods in their culture.

When you preach the gospel, when you live the gospel, you're calling out false gods around you constantly.

And people get upset at that.

Matter of fact, if the culture of this world is not upset at you, you're probably not living the way you should.

Well, Pastor Mark, they they were they were they were worshiping a meteorite.

We have no one worshiping stones here.

What?

Have you been to Marquette?

Have you been to the farmer's market?

I don't I go almost every.

I'm not worshiping, I'm eating.

Jen's buying flowers, I'm eating everything in that place.

Anyway.

But you say, well, you know, overseas they do these kind of foolish things like drag themselves miles and miles, or I just watched a guy on the internet who has never put his arm down because he's worshiping God, you know, foolish stuff like that.

You say, well, you know, if people are doing that around here, we would call that stuff out.

But the frat guy who gets drunk and wakes up in his vomit is still worshiping a false God.

He's giving his whole college career away.

Or the businessman who cuts corners and is dishonest because he wants to get ahead is still worshiping.

Or the wife who decides to have an affair because she's just not getting enough romance in her life, so she lights her family on fire, is still worshiping a false God.

And it's our job, you need to understand, the preaching of God's word is to call out a culture's false gods.

We expose these false gods and proclaim that Jesus is the way.

I don't know if you caught that when I was reading, but the early church was called the way.

It was based on what Jesus says in the Gospel of John, chapter 14, verse 6, where Jesus says to a group of people, I am the way.

John 14:6

It's distinctive.

Listen, it's not maybe a way.

I am the only way.

I'm the truth.

I'm the life.

And no one gets to God the Father except through me.

The other day, yesterday, Jen and I went out to eat for breakfast at a restaurant.

And I was sitting down, there was all these bumper stickers that they were signed.

It said, be kind, eh?

I don't know if you've ever seen this kind of stuff.

Um you're supposed to put it on your car, your water bottle.

It's like a cultural thing.

Be kind, eh?

That's what it said.

What that meant was is be tolerant, Mark.

Be tolerant, Mark.

Mark, can't you just be nice, eh?

Can't you just be complacent, eh?

Mark, can't you just be dignified as we advance the evils of this world around you?

Can't you just be complacent and sit in your little church and allow these things to go on while we advance and move people down the wide path to destruction and hell?

That's what they're saying by be kind, eh?

I'm not against being kind.

I'm not against loving people, but speaking truth is love.

I've said it once, I'll say it a hundred times.

Tolerance is not a Christian value.

And this is what the world wants.

Matter of fact, I am constantly getting kind of hammered.

Pastor Mark, you preach too hard.

Pastor Mark, it doesn't seem like you're you're tolerant or kind or nice.

Pastor Mark, I just can't believe that you're not preaching that Jesus is love.

Of course I'm preaching Jesus is love, but there is a repentance that comes with that.

And it stems with, matter of fact, I just came across uh uh uh an article by Charles Spurgeon.

I I talk about him all the time, but he's this 1800s preacher in London.

He was he was like the Billy Graham of the day.

I mean, he had a church of 10,000 people before they even had a microphone, churches all over London.

He was a major player in the advancement of the gospel, but he was always hammered about being vulgar, using blue-collar language, and one day he responded to all the newspapers that were complaining about him when it comes to the way that he preached the gospel.

He says, I am perhaps vulgar, but it is not intentional, save that I must and will make the people listen.

My firm conviction is that we have had enough polite preachers, and many require of change.

God has owned me amongst the most degraded and outcast.

He's talking about youpers here.

Let others serve their class.

These are mine, and I will keep preaching the gospel in a way that they will understand.

Other pastors say to me, Mark, you would probably never be able to pastor anywhere other than to youpers.

I say, I hope so.

But you understand my point is that I'm going to preach the gospel in the language that you can understand.

It might be blue-collar, it might be a little bit gritty.

But we will always preach the gospel because it's the truth and love of God.

Number two, God demonstrates his power over false gods by doing extraordinary things through us.

Through us.

And he's specifically talking about the miracles of Paul.

That there are things that are going on, and there's really three things that even we find in the book of Acts that really demonstrate those who have been called by God as his followers, call themselves Christian or the way.

But these are the three things that are characteristics of people who actively pursue Jesus and He works through them.

The first one are these incredible miracles that we find.

What's interesting about the way that Paul is preaching in Acts, and we find it really distinctly in two ways that are connected to the incredible miracles that were going on, is that Paul was preaching the kingdom.

It wasn't so much he was preaching forgiveness, he was preaching that God needs to restore us at some point, in some time, Jesus is going to return and he's going to set up his kingdom.

This is why I push kingdom forward all the time, and there will be restoration, there will be healing for us.

When Paul preached that way, it was always followed by something we call in God's word, signs and wonders.

Where Jesus or the Holy Spirit was saying, you need to listen to what Paul is saying, and to get you to listen, I'm gonna heal this person.

The kingdom of God, everyone, is at hand.

And we even see it here at Northiron, where the miracles just keep on happening and happy, extraordinary, where we just sit back and say, I don't know how this is happening in your life and my life, where marriages are restored and relationships are restored, people's bodies are healed, people's finances are healed, God moves people into callings and sets them up and postures them.

It only happens through the power of the Holy Spirit when we establish the kingdom in our lives.

What's interesting that we find though, at least in the book of Acts, is that none of the believers are healed.

It's always outside people.

And I'm not saying that should be a theology of yours.

Well, I don't need to get prayed for because I'm just gonna suffer in Jesus.

No, no, no, no.

I'm just pointing out that the message of the kingdom was always followed by signs and wonders to prove a point to the people who were far from God.

He's here to restore your body, he's here to restore your marriage, he's here to restore your finances.

That's what the kingdom of God is, it's Jesus' presence.

And wherever Jesus' presence is, there's healing for us.

And so we should come, as James says, with our needs to be prayed for, our hands to be put upon you and asked for the presence of Jesus to come in and rectify whatever's going on in your life.

There's also extraordinary uh generosity where people were giving above even their tithe.

And let me ask that is that true about you?

Like the tithe, that 10%, me giving God the first fruits to honor him so that he will supply all of my needs.

Listen, that's just based Christianity.

That's the first level, but there's something above that where you give in such an extraordinary way, you inspire all of us.

We find this was happening again and again and again.

Thirdly, an incredible, just not an ordinary joy, an extraordinary joy.

Where people were suffering within the church.

And so they had this incredible joy, even though they were suffering.

Ordinary joy, by the way, and I see it all the time, ordinary joy is when everything's going really great, and you get that close parking space in Target, and so you're like, praise the Lord, I'm blessed on you know, a hashtag, I'm blessed.

I got the front parking spot at Target.

That's called ordinary joy.

Extraordinary joy we find is always tied to the suffering of the saints, as they call it.

And again, this is not something that is teached often.

That there is an incredible message to the world when you go through something hard and you're not whining on Facebook.

You're not looking for attention, you're just glorifying God and all that He's doing in your life, no matter how hard it is.

We find this again and again that extraordinary miracles, extraordinary giving, extraordinary joy, these are the things that God validates in the gospel in people's hearts and acts that's true, and acts that's true today.

Thirdly, whenever people, the people, wherever the people of God go, they change the entire climate of the city.

This is my prayer.

Whatever street I walk, whatever store I enter into, whatever business I have a meeting in, whatever school or university I walk in, my prayer is God.

I don't know what I'm walking into, it might just seem ordinary, but I want you to make it extraordinary.

And my spirit is open.

You've heard me say it often, God always moves in interruptions, always moves in interruptions, and that's how the kingdom of God moves forward.

Incredible miracles, incredible giving, incredible joy.

And let me say, just some of you live Christian lives that are just ordinary and not extraordinary.

And Paul wraps up this his time in Acts, two to three years, I believe it's two years.

And it begins, he's established a church, and he writes some very important words at the end of chapter 19, 20.

We find that he says this, and now, behold, I'm going to Jerusalem, drained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies that wherever I am going, I'm going to suffer, I'm going to be beat, I'm going to be put in prison.

And eventually at the end, he's beheaded.

So he gives these instructions to the people he loves and has birthed.

And he says this, he goes on, and I do not account my life of any value.

The only value I have is the Holy Spirit within me and the gospel that I stand on.

It's not even, I'm not even precious to myself.

If only I may finish the course and the ministry that I receive from the Lord Jesus Christ to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

And now, behold, I know that none of you among you who I've I have been a part of, listen, you're not gonna ever see me again.

Therefore, therefore, listen up, that's what he means.

Therefore, I testify you this day, I'm innocent of the blood of you all.

What that means is it's I've come, I have proclaimed, you've heard my teaching on the gospel, you've seen signs and wonders, you've seen people get saved, and when I stand before Jesus and give an account as a preacher of the gospel, I can say, There is no blood upon me.

I've done what you've asked me to do, Jesus.

Shrink from declaring to you the whole council of God.

Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, pastors, is another word, elder, for to care for the church of God which He obtained with His own blood.

And I know that important words here, I know when I leave, I know that Satan's gonna come in.

And if he can't get at me, he's gonna come after you.

And if he can't get you, he's gonna try to discourage the people around you.

They're gonna come in like fierce wolves, not sparing the flock, and from among your own selves will arise men who will twist things, they'll twist the gospel, they'll deteriorate the word of God, they'll say it means this or that, they'll lie to you, and let me tell you, everyone, that's going on today within our churches, in pulpits, generational churches.

Who have left God's word and put it in their own ways.

If you are a part of a church, listen to me online.

If you're a part of a church that promotes alcoholism or drunkenness, you're in the wrong church, everyone.

If you are a part of a church that says sleeping with someone out of wedlock or living with someone out of wedlock is God's plan for you, it's okay.

God's a loving God, He wants your needs to be met.

They're lying to you.

They're false teachers.

I could go on and on.

If you're a part of a church that says you're not the gender you were born into and you can make it up through your own emotions or homosexuality, they are lying to you.

This demonic.

And listen, you walk into that kind of church, you're partaking.

Pastor Mark, why can't you just be nice, eh?

Therefore, Paul says, be alert.

It's the difference between life and death.

You understanding the gospel.

Paul looks at the mission of what's going on in the city.

Number four, as a matter of intense personal obligation, and so must we.

Therefore, I testify to you that I'm innocent of the blood of all men.

Because I didn't shrink away in telling the truth of Jesus and his love, the way, the truth, and the life.

So let me ask you if that's true about me.

How's that true about you?

Who are you called to?

Whose blood is yours?

Well, Pastor Mark, I'm called to the world.

No, you're not.

It's specific.

You have a group of people around you that I will never that will never hear me.

The core of the gospel is disciples making disciples, making disciples, making disciples, making disciples, making disciples.

I'm up here because of disciples that poured into my life who received from someone else.

And we have to hold fast, as Paul says, to the gospel.

You're called somewhere.

Reminds me of the story of John Patton.

He's a Scottish missionary in the 1800s who felt a deep calling to South Pacific Islands.

The only problem was any foreigners that went to these islands, uh, they they believed in cannibalism, and so they were immediately killed and made into beef jerky.

And yet, he was propelled to go because God was doing something in his heart.

And so he arrived on the island with his wife.

Matter of fact, I don't know if you've ever imagined not understanding the language and trying to introduce yourself to a place where foreigners just were eaten.

But for whatever reason, he was able to not fall into a horrendous situation where they killed and ate him.

He lived amongst them for 35 years, eventually learned the language and preached the gospel.

After 35 years, John said he didn't know anyone on his islands that hadn't made a decision for Jesus.

And it wasn't without heartache.

His wife died with their first child.

He buried her, and then he slept on the grave for four nights, so no one would dig her up and eat her.

Years later, when one of the chiefs got saved, the chief asked John a question.

He said, When you first arrived, we had planned on eating you and killing you every night.

And so we would come to where you were sleeping.

But there was this huge army that was surrounding the hut that you were in.

Who were those guys?

Extraordinary miracles, extraordinary giving.

And yet it's difficult.

John says when he when he began to get ready to go, a newspaper came and asked him, Why are you going to an island full of cannibals?

You know you're going to die.

And his response was, hey man, I'm already dead.

By either worms or by cannibals, it really doesn't matter, we all end up in the same place.

And lastly, I'll end with this, man.

Hey, listen, God the doctrine matters.

Doctrine matters.

And I'm I'm concerned as your pastor, oftentimes, that sometimes I see what you're watching.

I see maybe you're following certain leaders that maybe not portraying the gospel as it should be.

You need to understand God's word.

You need to understand God's word and lay it the gospel as a foundation.

Because they're gonna come and they're gonna twist it.

They're gonna twist it, they're gonna be wolves, and they're gonna come and say a part of my job as a pastor is a protector.

That's what a pastor does.

I'm a sheep watchdog.

Because I'm responsible with your spiritual lives.

And as Paul says, listen, everyone, this is between life and death for you.

And it's easy to get turned around.

Even one of our founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson, who's quoted in saying this, I don't care what you believe about God because it's deeds and creeds that because it's deeds, not creeds, that counts.

That's a lie.

Matter of fact, the first three chapters of Ephesus is creeds.

Chapters four and six is the deeds.

You can't do right unless you think right.

Get into God's word, ring your Bibles, get into branches, groups, get into CR, be here consistently with your family, and I promise you, things will change in your life, and not only your lives, but everyone around you.

Every decision is a gospel decision.

That's how important every decision you make.

Let me leave you with this, and I'll close.

This last weekend I was gone.

Thank you, Pastor Mark, for preaching, wrapping up our series in Hebrews.

But I was at my daughter's wedding, and of course, it's really traditional to get up and and I guess I didn't know this, but for me to say something and for Jennifer to say something.

Jen had eight pages, I had a paragraph.

But I was very concerned.

What Jen said was wonderful and honoring to Haley, my daughter Haley got married.

But prior to me walking up there and speaking into that microphone, someone came up to me, was watching my family, my sons, my daughter, and they came to me and they said, You should be very proud, Pastor Mark.

And um I said, I'm I'm not proud.

I said, if you really knew my boys and my daughter, you would think that they're probably not normal.

But what I am is I'm grateful.

That Jennifer and I, who as a young couple, we were so foolish.

Did all these things that weren't right.

But the one thing that we were just consistent is Jesus first.

And I got up there and I said that in front of everyone because about half the tent didn't know Jesus and were going to hell.

So, like any preacher, you hand me a microphone, I'm preaching Jesus.

And I said, Haley, we love you, but you were never the center of attention.

Jesus was.

And I said, What you're experiencing is just a byproduct of being consistent in God's word and being consistent in the presence of Jesus.

So I'm grateful in the small obedience of Matthew 6, 33, which Jesus very simply says, Hey, here's the plan for life.

It's the it you're all looking for.

Seek the kingdom of God first and my righteousness and all the other concerns and desires and passions and troubles.

Listen, I'm gonna come in and I'm gonna take care of those things.

Keep me first.

The consistency of that will revolutionize your life generationally.

It's that simple.

Small obedience and the forgiveness of my large disobedience.

For that I'm grateful.

My father handed that to me.

As his grandfather or his father handed it to him when my dad handed it to me when he left for Kyrgyzstan.

I thought I'd never see him again as a missionary.

He said very simply to me, he said, Mark, my mom wrote me a card, two pages.

My dad wrote a sentence.

He said, Mark, as it was asked of James and John by Jesus, I ask you the same thing.

Can you carry the cup?

Can you drink from the cup that I'm about to drink from?

And I ask that of you this morning.

I want you to stand, I want you to ra as I pray, bow your heads.

Father, right now, Jesus, you're moving in a powerful way.

We're not holding back, we're not pulling back, we don't care what the world says, not in fear, not in arrogance do we move forward, but in your love and truth, Lord.

We're here to call out the false gods of this world.

Not in anger, only in love, but we're gonna speak your truth because without it, Father, we are destined to go to hell, Father, and all those around us and so, Lord, whatever is ailing us, whatever is coming up against us, Father, as we move into your presence and your healing presence this morning and ask, Father, to you for you to show up in signs and wonders, because we're preaching the gospel this morning, we're preaching your kingdom this morning, Father, and across our audiences, Father and Lantinovic and the Morgan Republic, wherever anyone is watching us, that your presence would move forward and we ask it in the mighty name of Jesus.

Thank you for joining us for this message.