Time to Shine 1
Notes
Transcript
Ephesians 1:18
It's time to shine!
Bible Verse
Ephesians 1:15-23 (NIV)
15For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people,
16I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.
17I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.
18I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people,
19and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength
20he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,
21far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.
22And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church,
23which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Illustration
1:17 a spirit of wisdom and revelation The Greek text here may refer to an attitude or disposition that the Holy Spirit brings to a person’s life: one willing to receive and communicate the things of God. Alternatively, the text may refer to the Holy Spirit and attributes that characterize the Spirit.
Illustration
1:18 hope The Greek word used here, elpis, refers in this context to the fullness of salvation that believers will experience at Christ’s return (see Eph 1:14 and note). Paul highlights three blessings the believers can expect: hope for the future, God’s claim on them as His inheritance, and the great power of God Himself at work on their behalf.
Bible Verse
Judges 6:1-16 (ESV)
1The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hand of Midian seven years.
2And the hand of Midian overpowered Israel, and because of Midian the people of Israel made for themselves the dens that are in the mountains and the caves and the strongholds.
3For whenever the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them.
4They would encamp against them and devour the produce of the land, as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance in Israel and no sheep or ox or donkey.
5For they would come up with their livestock and their tents; they would come like locusts in number—both they and their camels could not be counted—so that they laid waste the land as they came in.
6And Israel was brought very low because of Midian. And the people of Israel cried out for help to the Lord.
7When the people of Israel cried out to the Lord on account of the Midianites,
8the Lord sent a prophet to the people of Israel. And he said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I led you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of slavery.
9And I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land.
10And I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.’ But you have not obeyed my voice.”
11Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites.
12And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.”
13And Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.”
14And the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?”
15And he said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.”
16And the Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.”
1. God See Us Differently Than We See Ourselves
Bible Verse
Numbers 13:32-33 English Standard Version
32 So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. 33 And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.”
2. God Has Already Placed The Power In Us
Bible Verse
Ephesians 3:14-21 New King James Version
Appreciation of the Mystery
14 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father [a]of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— 19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, 21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Illustration
Paul prays 2 prayers for the Ephesian Church – The first is the one we read in Chapter 1. This is the second in Chapter 3.
3. To Know The Power of God, We Must Separate Ourselves From the gods of the Age
Bible Verse
Judges 6:25-32 (ESV)
25That night the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s bull, and the second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it
26and build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of the stronghold here, with stones laid in due order. Then take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah that you shall cut down.”
27So Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the Lord had told him. But because he was too afraid of his family and the men of the town to do it by day, he did it by night.
28When the men of the town rose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was broken down, and the Asherah beside it was cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar that had been built.
29And they said to one another, “Who has done this thing?” And after they had searched and inquired, they said, “Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing.”
30Then the men of the town said to Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die, for he has broken down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah beside it.”
31But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Will you contend for Baal? Or will you save him? Whoever contends for him shall be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because his altar has been broken down.”
32Therefore on that day Gideon was called Jerubbaal, that is to say, “Let Baal contend against him,” because he broke down his altar.
Illustration
Throughout the Old Testament, we see the words “Asherah pole” often in conjunction with the practices of foreign religions. God appears to hate these objects, but what exactly are they?
Borne out of Canaanite religions, these objects tempted the Israelites throughout their history to stray after foreign gods instead of the one true God.
In this article, we’ll dive into the origin of Asherah poles, where they play a role in Israelite history, and why this matters for us today.
What Are They?
These poles, or sometimes stylized trees, stood as a sacred monument and tribute to the Canaanite goddess, Asherah.
According to Canaanite myth, this mother goddess created several gods in the Canaanite pantheon with the other creator god, El. The Canaanites often worshipped her via trees (Asherah poles) because of her association with the tree of life. She gives life to 70 other gods in the Canaanite pantheon.
She’s most famously the mother of Baal, another god who shows up throughout the Old Testament when the Israelites stray after other idols. She also has ties to fertility, hence 70 gods emerging from her union with El.
An Asherah pole, like the ones found here, often represented trees associated with this mother goddess, but some archeologists believe they used living trees for these objects of religion.
In their mythology, the Canaanites (or Israelites of a certain Canaanite cult) sometimes paired Asherah with Yahweh, as though she was Yahweh’s wife. Especially since El and Elohim have similar roots in name, it is suggested that maybe the Israelites formed a separate religion from a Canaanite one.
Some archeologists say that when the Israelites cut Asherah out of the picture, they moved from a polytheistic religion to a monotheistic one, but Scripture clearly indicates the opposite.
God condemned the worship of Asherah poles (Exodus 34:13 makes it clear that he is one and not one of a pantheon of gods, Deuteronomy 6:4) and condemned the Israelites engaging in pagan worship. The Canaanite religion fell under the umbrella of “pagan worship.” Any connection between God and Asherah is a perversion of the truth. God does not have a wife.
Illustration
Too often we mingle the Word of God with the doctrines of the world:
Everyone becomes and Angel in Heaven
Many Paths leading to the the same place
Individual Ethics – Which is really just putting yourself in the place of God. You are better, wiser, smarter than Him. It’s the tree of knowledge – we know better than God – all over again.
4. To Know The Power of God, We Must Seek His Kingdom First
Bible Verse
Matthew 6:26-33 (ESV)
26Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
27And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
28And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin,
29yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
30But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
31Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
32For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
33But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Bible Verse
Deuteronomy 28:1-14 (ESV)
1And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.
2And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God.
3Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field.
4Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock.
5Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
6Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.
7The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you. They shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.
8The Lord will command the blessing on you in your barns and in all that you undertake. And he will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
9The Lord will establish you as a people holy to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in his ways.
10And all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you.
11And the Lord will make you abound in prosperity, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your livestock and in the fruit of your ground, within the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give you.
12The Lord will open to you his good treasury, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hands. And you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow.
13And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, being careful to do them,
14and if you do not turn aside from any of the words that I command you today, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.