text stringlengths 7 443 |
|---|
[1061.04 --> 1065.28] How might Satan work in our lives through demonic activity and the rest to accomplish |
[1065.28 --> 1069.48] his purposes of obscuring the person of Jesus and pulling us away from the flourishing of |
[1069.48 --> 1070.44] life that is in Jesus. |
[1070.78 --> 1072.00] I commend it to you. |
[1072.00 --> 1078.76] Now to summarize, I want to put a really deep, slick slide on the PowerPoint. |
[1079.58 --> 1080.34] There it is. |
[1080.62 --> 1083.02] Whenever I make slides, they look really beautiful like arts and crafts. |
[1083.90 --> 1085.78] But this is Ephesians 2 in a diagram, right? |
[1085.88 --> 1087.40] There is the power of the flesh. |
[1087.56 --> 1088.58] There is the power of Satan. |
[1088.68 --> 1089.80] And there is the power of the world. |
[1089.86 --> 1093.66] And what you need to know about this diagram, why it's there, is that they come together. |
[1093.78 --> 1095.74] They converge in destructive ways. |
[1095.96 --> 1099.24] In fact, there's a lot of writing on how they interrelate. |
[1099.24 --> 1101.72] Some suggest that Satan influences people. |
[1101.98 --> 1103.42] When people come together, there's a culture. |
[1103.60 --> 1109.02] And then there's this cyclone, this compounding of problematic deception that happens in cultures |
[1109.02 --> 1110.68] as Satan is at work in our lives. |
[1111.30 --> 1114.96] However we relate these things, we need to know that they are related. |
[1115.64 --> 1117.58] The flesh by itself is hard to fight. |
[1117.92 --> 1119.68] The world by itself is hard to fight. |
[1119.88 --> 1121.40] Satan by himself is hard to fight. |
[1121.54 --> 1126.64] And they conspire against us as an unholy trinity to destroy our lives. |
[1126.64 --> 1133.34] And maybe it's worth just adding, like even in the last two years, in secular Canada, |
[1133.74 --> 1137.90] I've had conversations with people about politics and sexuality and all the other stuff you're |
[1137.90 --> 1139.40] not supposed to talk about in public discourse. |
[1139.68 --> 1142.90] And I've heard people say to me things like this. |
[1142.94 --> 1143.36] You ready for it? |
[1143.36 --> 1144.24] Maybe you've even said this. |
[1144.34 --> 1147.24] Things like, I don't even know what to believe anymore. |
[1148.08 --> 1149.96] I'm not even sure what's true anymore. |
[1150.02 --> 1155.04] As I take in this podcast or that social media feed or this news on TV, I'm hearing so many |
[1155.04 --> 1157.02] different voices about so many different topics. |
[1157.18 --> 1159.20] I'm not even sure what to believe anymore. |
[1159.36 --> 1164.16] And isn't it interesting that Satan is described as the father of lies? |
[1165.04 --> 1166.16] We'll come back to this in two weeks. |
[1166.24 --> 1168.22] That his currency is deception. |
[1170.42 --> 1171.84] These powers are real. |
[1172.66 --> 1174.22] They are to be reckoned with. |
[1175.00 --> 1179.88] And the more we take them seriously, the better the battle gets for those who follow Jesus. |
[1179.88 --> 1185.06] Now, I want to share with you what hit me very deeply as I wrote this sermon. |
[1186.72 --> 1191.08] When you read Ephesians and you start to study the book and the culture of Ephesus, what you |
[1191.08 --> 1196.12] realize is the church at this time in Ephesus, they believed in the spiritual world. |
[1196.20 --> 1197.92] They believed that there is the powerful flesh. |
[1198.02 --> 1202.40] They believed that there is forces beyond what the eyes could see that influenced humans. |
[1202.90 --> 1204.82] In fact, it wasn't just Christians who believed that. |
[1205.30 --> 1206.04] It was the city. |
[1206.04 --> 1209.46] You know, people wore bracelets and they wore necklaces and little charms. |
[1209.82 --> 1213.66] There's all sorts of stories in Ephesus of how they tried to ward off evil spirits. |
[1214.06 --> 1219.14] And maybe you'll read that and think, man, what a like a early naive culture. |
[1219.84 --> 1221.24] But let me just flip the script. |
[1222.28 --> 1228.08] What if they, along with the global church, as I already mentioned, say to the Canadians and |
[1228.08 --> 1231.10] North Americans, maybe you're naive. |
[1231.10 --> 1238.00] Maybe you're the ones who have this naivety to think that only what we can see is actually |
[1238.00 --> 1243.80] real and that there aren't very powerful forces within and around us that influence us in profoundly |
[1243.80 --> 1244.74] destructive ways. |
[1245.22 --> 1248.92] And to blind ourselves to it is to fall into Satan's trap. |
[1250.00 --> 1252.20] Maybe we're the ones who are naive. |
[1252.20 --> 1257.38] And just a little aside, I didn't intend to say this, but I'm going to. |
[1258.32 --> 1262.50] If you're new to the faith, and I praise the Lord that every week we have people who are |
[1262.50 --> 1264.98] just sorting out what they believe, what Christianity is all about. |
[1265.04 --> 1266.90] And this is like, this is crazy stuff. |
[1267.02 --> 1270.60] Like Dave Gruen is on the stage talking about demonic power and Satan. |
[1271.54 --> 1274.88] Bear with us, but also reflect on this. |
[1274.88 --> 1282.08] Every single human being has to account for the brutal oppression and brokenness of this |
[1282.08 --> 1282.38] world. |
[1283.32 --> 1287.04] Every single person has to explain, how did we get here? |
[1287.70 --> 1293.80] How is there war and division and hatred and genocide and so much worse all over the |
[1293.80 --> 1294.90] world at different generations? |
[1295.04 --> 1296.68] Like, how did we get here? |
[1297.62 --> 1302.22] And the older I get, and I listen to Canadian discourse, you know, I admit it in the 9 a.m. |
[1302.22 --> 1305.40] service that I listen to talk radio, which is like admitting that you're an old man. |
[1306.34 --> 1309.64] But I'm noticing as I listen to talk radio, don't you judge me, you'll get there if you're |
[1309.64 --> 1309.92] younger. |
[1311.04 --> 1315.70] So often when something terrible happens, whether it's a shooting or violence or stuff on the |
[1315.70 --> 1319.90] streets in Vancouver, what you hear right away is some public figure, some politician |
[1319.90 --> 1321.10] saying, you know what we're going to do? |
[1321.50 --> 1323.48] We're going to set up an education program. |
[1324.00 --> 1326.78] And we're going to educate people into a better life. |
[1326.78 --> 1332.10] And as much as I'm for education and I want people to learn, I don't think that gets at |
[1332.10 --> 1333.98] the depth of the problem of our world. |
[1334.68 --> 1340.40] I don't think Hitler needed one more class on how to love your enemies to start what he |
[1340.40 --> 1340.70] started. |
[1341.56 --> 1346.18] I don't think the scientists needed one more class on how to build a bomb for the world |
[1346.18 --> 1348.00] to experience shalom, right? |
[1348.70 --> 1350.86] There's something deeper and more profound. |
[1350.86 --> 1357.56] And Paul has the guts to say, do you know that these powers are real, that you must face |
[1357.56 --> 1361.04] them if you want to battle in this world and follow the way of Christ? |
[1361.92 --> 1365.46] And so for that reason, I think Ephesians 2 confronts us. |
[1366.68 --> 1374.22] And my prayer for myself and for our church is that we have the ears to hear and not stand |
[1374.22 --> 1377.66] there with a sort of a resistance to what might be said. |
[1377.66 --> 1382.92] It's either there are powers and principalities that are powerful and destructive or there aren't. |
[1382.92 --> 1388.28] It's either Ephesians 2 is giving us an accurate depiction of reality or it isn't. |
[1388.78 --> 1390.04] And we have to choose. |
[1390.52 --> 1395.40] And I think Ephesians 2 confronts us, maybe makes us uncomfortable, and that's okay. |
[1396.28 --> 1398.20] There's things that we need to wrestle with. |
[1401.02 --> 1404.72] But I want to suggest that Ephesians 2 confronts us at an even deeper level. |
[1404.72 --> 1410.36] Because once you acknowledge that these powers are real, what Paul says about their influence |
[1410.36 --> 1412.42] in our life is very heavy. |
[1412.64 --> 1417.36] And I'm just going to read the most uncomfortable part of this passage again, because we're not |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.