But God!

(audience cheering) Come on now. Big shout out to Lakeville Maple Grove Elk River Spring Lake Park and those joining online. Hey, we should be a little bit hyped about serving Jesus and we've got baptisms on our locations today and just watching the transformation of a life and seeing the family members observe what God is doing. And of course, the church family as well. Such a great experience to be together in the house of God and coming in and getting to worship and to spend time with God in His presence, you plus God plus His people is we is greater than me. We need each other in an isolated world. Together is better than alone. Say that with me. In an isolated world, together is better than alone. We're looking at Ephesians. If you have your paper Bibles, go ahead and pull them out. If you have your electronic versions, do that as well. We have our Emmanuel MN app. We're gonna be going to Ephesians chapter two in just a moment. First of all, though, I wanna just take you back into this past week as we started a series both in Sunday morning as well as in groups. And we began to look at the ancient experience of the church in Ephesus, paralleled with our experience in 2026. And recognizing that Paul wrote a letter,

the Apostle Paul, to the church. And the church was gathered together in homes all over the city. Somebody would get up and they would read the text. And it was meant to inspire, to correct, to discipline in some ways. But give kind of a roadmap for how do we figure out how to live this life right now? And today you and I are right in the middle of that type of experience. And I just want you to know, learning to live the Jesus life is gonna require more than just hearing a sermon on Sunday morning. It's gonna mean you're gonna need to be in relationship with other people. Kind of talking through the challenges of life because the pressures in our society are very significant. They're right on our phones. They're everywhere we look. And as the pressure comes in, how do you follow and hear the voice of Jesus? And in the middle of that, we're in transition where people get their advice from. I read a Barna report this past week that said that over 40% of millennials trust the spiritual advice given by chat GPT more than they do the pastor on Sunday morning. Now, you might go, oh, you're not a millennial. So, but I would tell you the greatest challenges,

and by the way, we should utilize tools and we should use the information that's available. But if that becomes your leader, you're in trouble because chat GPT didn't die in the cross for you. You know what I'm saying? Like he doesn't, in the middle of the night, when you're battling whatever your thoughts are, you're feeling anxiety or fear, just putting that question into your AI isn't gonna give you an answer that changes your soul. They might medicate you, tell you what to do something different. But only Jesus knows how to set us free. Only Jesus knows how to walk us through the valley of the shadow of death. And so it's important for us to really think about where we're going for our help. This week, I got a phone call from a young adult in our church and he really inspired me as he was sharing some of his questions. He loves God, he loves the words, he's been coming from our church for several years. But he had some genuine questions where he thought maybe I was on a different page than he was theologically. And so he was brave, set up a phone appointment, we had the conversation and I loved it as we talked through the word and talked through his questions

and I listened intently to what he was saying and he listened to me as I kind of gave my response. And I wasn't dogmatic in trying to shove anything down his throat, but I can tell you this, that kind of environment, at the end of it, neither of us hated each other. He didn't have to leave our church. We were working on the word of God together. That's what I'm talking about today with Ephesians because listen, when it comes to the world around us, it's like if you disagree with somebody you cancel them and they're out of your life, but we can't live that way as a church. We can't live that way. together we've got to say what does the word say about this and what does God's insight to this and a world where up is down and down is up and evil is called good and good is called evil. We have to do the work beyond just passive listening on a Sunday morning. Now you hear what I'm saying today? We have to do that. We don't just need more monologue. We need dialogue. So Paul is helping the church process and we're going to go to Ephesians chapter 2 and in Ephesians chapter 2 the title today's message is but God. But God. I'm going to go back here into our little setting because remember when the letter was read they were in a living room, now the living rooms in ancient Ephesus were a little different than this but there's something that happens when you set down and you are in a room and you're talking to people. There's an ability to really work through your questions in a different way than just

scrolling through and getting a TED talk or something online or a TikTok video. There's something else that will happen and so as he's talking to them, let's go ahead and go in and I'm going to have it on the screen here as well. Ephesians chapter 2 starting with verse 1. Once, here we go, once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. You used to live in sin just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil, the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. All of us used to live that way following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God's anger just like everyone else. Now I'm going to keep going here but if you could get that text right back up to the verse number 1 again, I got my team up here, let's look at this. He says, "Once you were," what tense past, present, future is this word were? Okay, he's acknowledging this is who you were. You were dead because of your disobedience and many sins. Now in this whole world of understanding what God's will is and receiving his assistance, we have to recognize that disobedience and sin actually cancels out the signal from heaven into our hearts. We can't get God's advice when we're living in disobedience. It's impossible and when it comes to sin there really is a sin. In our world we just call everything a mistake and I just tell you that we're showing bad seeds to the next generation when we overlook murder. Whether it's in the womb or it's out of the womb, murder is sin in the Bible. More importantly, it separates people from God and if we get inoculated to passively just dismissing murder, we're in trouble and I would say this not only about murder, that used to be like white night and day difference and people had no qualms about that, but nowadays it's as if everything is getting gray. There's a reason to murder, no there's not. There's not a reason to murder.

There's always a reason to care for people. There's always a reason to pay attention to mental health. There's always a reason to come in and help people out. But there is zero reasons that justify murder. Okay, I'm going to try to preach. Somebody here said preach pastor, I want to keep trying to do that. Verse number two, you used to live in sin just like the rest of the world obeying the devil. Now, I want you to see here a connection. You used to live a certain way and in your disobedience, you were obeying the devil. Disobedience to God is equivalent to, what, obeying the devil. Now, I don't know how clear I can say this. and we don't follow God's way, that's called disobedience. When I was raising our kids, and they had their own ideas about what they wanted to do. How many of you know what I'm talking about? And I would say, you know what I told you to do? And they do something different, different. Or they wait 'cause delayed obedience equals disobedience too. If they waited, or they did something different, I now had a responsibility as their father to not let that go. When we let those things go, it encourages that furthering of disobedience. In the spirit world, we're beginning to see Paul is saying, that there is a spirit world, the devil, the commander of the powers in the unseen world, there is a whole 'nother world,

a spiritual battle, and if you aren't aware, that's most people are nowadays. How many of you experience spiritual warfare in your life? All right? You're like, this doesn't even make sense. My wife, the spirit prompted something to her this spring earlier, that we were, as a church experiencing, weird warfare. It's like things you can't put your finger on, but the devil is trying to just divide people, or trying to do certain things. And when it comes to the spirit and the powers of the unseen world, the devil is at work where? That's where that, in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. I don't have long today, 'cause we're gonna keep going in this chapter. We've got 10 verses to get through. So I'm trying to give you hope here in a little bit. This will end at some point. But when it says that the enemy works in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God, I want you to notice this doesn't say the unbelievers. When believers refuse to obey God, the devil goes to work in your heart. When you kinda just been coasting and doing things your own way, and I served the Lord, I go to church, and I just got this little thing on the side.

Who's working in your hearts? Really the desire, and this is not a same message. This is a open our eyes to our own life kind of message. When Paul is speaking, he's essentially saying that, hey listen, this is how the enemy works. And when you go into disobedience, you open the door to the enemy at work in your own heart. And he says, all of us used to live that way. That means all of us. Turn to the person like you say, and he's talking about you. (audience laughing) Following the passionate desires, and go ahead and go to that next verse here, inclinations of our sinful nature, by our very nature we were subject to God's anger just like everyone else. Now this is a subject that word sinful nature, you'll see in other versions, it's the word flesh. There is a part of our lives, all of us that are born into sin, every one of us. Now that's not a, I mean when Adam and Eve sinned, they sinned, and they did it like big time. They went there, but guess what? Their DNA is in us. And there is a part of us that wants to go our own way, obey ourselves. Part of the reason I'm really wanting to lock in on this this morning is that we have an overall culture that says do whatever feels good for you. And if you follow your feelings,

or whatever you feel right, the future does not look better for you. There are consequences to follow something other than God's way. And Paul is saying this, by the way, he's not sharing these words out on a billboard in the streets of Ephesus protesting against the sin in society. He's writing this to the church. He's talking to us. We have no hope without Jesus. Our disobedience is in the past. We used to live that way. He says, "But God," ever said, "But God," write that down somewhere, "But God," all these other things that have already happened and the enemy has been at work, all the unraveling of the human soul, all the fact that we were born into sin, the fact that we are prone to be disobedient, the fact that in the past the enemy wanted to work in our heart. I want you to know that God steps in. It isn't on you, Jesus steps in. It says, "But God is so rich in mercy, and He loves us so much," or "loved us so much that even though we were dead because of our sins, He gave us life. And when He raised Christ from the dead, it is only by God's grace that you have been saved. But God, where would I be if He didn't step in? Where would you be without those two words? God is so rich in mercy and loves us so much. We were dead. Did you know you can't help yourself when you're dead? We were dead, and yet here He is stepping in and rescue us. He gives us life, and it says, "It's only by God's grace that you have been saved."

Now this is actually a phrase that I want you to have in your head and your heart. For those that grew up thinking that you had to earn God's favor. In a perfectionist household, this is really important to catch. Because when you fail, sometimes when we fail, we give up on those that expect us to be perfect, to live up to an unattainable standard, and it can feel as though it's impossible. So why even try anyways? But I want you to know that God's grace covers every part. It's unmerited. You didn't pick it. He chose you because He loves you. Turn to the person next to you, look him in the eyes and say, "He loves you." That's just a little bit, but He loves you. Let me just ask this question. We'll keep moving today, but when did you realize that you were saved by His grace? I want you to remember that. What did He do when He saved you by His grace? Let's look at verse number six, He says, "For He raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus." So everybody says so. So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of His grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all He has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus. He says, "You have been raised from the dead when Jesus was raised from the dead." In other words, Jesus' death on the cross took all the sin on Him of the whole world, including our sin. He dies and it didn't just stop there. Jesus rose from having the keys of death, hell in the grave in His hands, and He offers us the same journey. When people are water baptized as they were today in our church, they go down in the water and they're identifying with Jesus in His death, and then they come back up just as Jesus

did, recognizing they are now united with Christ, and they are risen with Christ. His victory is our victory. It is. And then it says that we are seated in the heavenly realms united with Christ. Now I want you to think back to where the unseen realm is, in the unseen realm, the enemy thinks He rules that space. The devil thinks he owns it, but Paul is going to continue to go back to this throughout the entire letter and we'll get to it in a few weeks when we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principality. in this life, but in the supernatural, unseen world, we're with Jesus. And here's the cool thing, when you get into the spiritual world, Jesus is the winner. And you are on the win inside right now. Come on, somebody. That's where you are. Last week, I had the honor of going to the Vikings in the Packers game. And so, it was a surreal experience. I went Pastor John Carlos and Ritchie and Pastor Darren. Pastor Darren is a crazy Vikings fan. Pastor John Carlos and Ritchie grew up in Milwaukee, they're major Packers fans. And there were Packers fans everywhere in this place. For three quarters of the game, they were going crazy, they were in people's faces. They were letting the Vikings fans have it. You know where I'm going with this now. But in the second half, in the second half, the Vikings started coming back. They got a little help from the refs on OneDrive, I will admit that. But all of a sudden, this momentum swung so wildly. And they came from behind and went way ahead. And the game was about over. And I remember looking around and all those green Packers wearing paraphernalia cheese head people in the room were like quiet.

Now, I'm not, listen, listen, what goes around comes around. There's another game coming against the Packers and there's other moments. There was one week, one week out of the year that Vikings fans have hope eternal. And I will be there for you when it all comes crashing down. But for one game and one week, it was powerful. And I'm just telling you, there was a swing of emotion. And I took my phone out and I wanted to capture the moment. So I threw it in front of Richie's face and I said, how are you feeling right now? And he said, I don't want to talk about it. You are on the winning side. And when you're on the winning side, you follow the surge of our leader. Jesus won, when the enemy is lying to you and he's taunting you and he's all around and he's making you feel less than. That's called intimidation. Paul said in another letter to Timothy that God has not given you a spirit of fear but of power and of love. In some mind. He wants you to live in that space and I want to encourage you, church. And it feels dark and it feels like things are crashing around you. Whether it's your economic reality and the bills and everything is going up from taxes to everything, it seems like, and you're like, I don't know what I'm going to do. And then you've got things, some of us battle health issues and we get the doctor's notice of what's going on. And others of us, we just look at the political scenarios around us and the world around us. I want you to know you are not on the losing side. I want to remind you today that Jesus got up out of the grave and because he did, but God, come on somebody, but for God in your life. So the question is, what are we going to do about it? Paul is writing again, not just to individuals, but to individuals that are gathered together called the church.

The promises of this text are not individualistic. They are meant in connection with the body of Christ. What are we going to do about it? If we have this knowledge that he saved us, that we were dead, but he's raised us to like, what are we going to do about it? Look at verse number eight, it says, God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can't take credit for this. It is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about you can't take credit for it whatever you do don't take credit for the good things going on or something that you did don't let spiritual pride rise up in your heart as you look down your nose at somebody that's less than you and I'm talking about in the church pull your toes in but not really all that means is is reminding yourself that you've received a gift every good thing he has done when you take a mental note and you began to remember it roots yourself in his grace not in your performance let me ask you to do this take a piece of paper right now or take a note function on your phone don't divert to your fantasy page or whatever it is that you're looking at your lineup maybe it's the connect card in front of you and write down what he did for you but God where would I be what did he do but God don't take credit give him credit take the time to give him credit when I am talking to Jodi sometimes I'll say Jodi I love you and she'll stop and she'll go why she wants the reasons hear me so what are we to do about it don't take credit for it give God the credit number two shift your praise to God for your salvation shift your praise to God in every part of your life no one can boast Paul says take that time to list it out that praise by writing those things out and the praise it brings it into present tense it wasn't just but God what he did a long time ago but what but God what God is doing right now what is he doing right now I can tell you this of it I think back to 2026 and I think through this year and I don't know how you are I can think of the high points and sometimes there are some low points some

questions what's going on my physical body or with people on the staff or what was happening earlier this year in the Twin Cities or I can look back at those spots and I could like the psalmist would say at the end of Psalm 23 the Lord is my separate he'll walk me through the valley the shadow death surely goodness and mercy will follow me the rest of my days so when I do look back I'm looking back at his grace not what somebody did to me when I do look back I remember how faithful he's been that he got me to today there were some long days and some some worries in my heart but somehow here I am but God stepped in and learning to take all of the things not just in your salvation but also beyond that moment where God is working out his salvation through you where you say in real time isn't he good and that's where the praise comes from that's where the confidence comes from and I will tell you when you praise praise becomes a weapon against the enemy because the enemy wants to take you back to the bad stuff or what somebody did to you he wants to be your leader he wants to work in your heart but you can say hey listen Jesus said the rocks will cry out if I don't cry out because God is worthy of my praise no matter the circumstances that you have walked through up to this moment I want to double-dog dare you to get out of your seat and praise him to give him the glory to honor him and to praise him and to not let that stay in the enemy's camp come on somebody it's in your voice in your hands 3 recognize he's up to something new and this is the final verse today verse number 10 it says for we are God's masterpiece he has created us anew in Christ Jesus so we can do Now, I love this verse and many people, we've all applied this in different ways. Like when I feel like I'm a mess, he sees me as his masterpiece and we are clay in the potter's hands and he is shaping something new. But today I would like you to think of it differently because he says we are God's masterpiece. You see, when Jesus forms the church,

it's like a box of crayons. All kinds of different colors, shapes, all in the same box. And he calls us from the four corners of the world from society and he forms a church, not of all the same people, but people that are all going through life and coming under the leadership of Jesus. And when you come under the leadership of Jesus and you choose to be obedient and follow the Jesus way, then we're all gonna be at different levels of our relationship with Christ, different parts of our discipleship journeys. There are some that have gone through so many battles and they know the precious presence of the Lord, but you're sitting next to somebody that just is curious about Jesus or just gave their life to Jesus and their whole world is upside down and they are meant to be you and them in the same place. See, the church is God's masterpiece. It's somehow he pulls Republicans and Democrats into the same space. I don't know how he does it and there are many things, by the way, when it comes to this political season, if you would fast and pray with me, for God to move in America, for righteousness. But I don't wanna get my information only from a political party that got millions of dollars

shifting my attention to their talking points. I wanna look at the Bible, look back at where we're at and ask the Holy Spirit, teach me where to vote and how to vote, not whether or not we vote, everybody should vote. My point is this, that if we are God's masterpiece and we've got people in the room who aren't at the level you're at, you can't boast about your righteousness. Jesus saved them. I don't get it, I'm not out of chosen. But God, God said I want you to be a part of the body and when we journey together, just like that conversation I had with a young adult this week on the phone, we need each other and that's where God comes in and he begins to do something new. He's created us anew in Christ Jesus. Special things will happen as we gather together in our brokenness, in our differences and in our obstacles. And you need to share your thoughts when you're asked. Let me just say this, younger generations are they desire mentors and they're waiting around for mentors, older people to share their wisdom and older people that have wisdom are waiting to share a lot, but they're never asked. So when somebody younger than you whether it be chronologically or in the faith, once your opinion on something,

take this as holy ground moments. This is actually a place that you need to steward that moment really well. Don't just shove every opinion down their throat before you've listened to where they're coming from. Listen to why they're asking the questions that they're asking. They're actually giving you the opportunity to speak into their world. So don't miss that moment. Take advantage of every opportunity that you have, as Paul would say, and we have to step into that space and give them what is inside. One of the things that I've learned is that as one who mentors, I need to listen way more than I talk. I have way more to say than you have time to hear. That includes Sunday morning, by the way. (audience laughs) But what I don't like as I see people disconnecting from other people and pulling into chat GPT, instead of talking to each other. And in the body of Christ, we need to have that masterpiece functioning together. And if you read first Corinthians, you'll see that when a body of Christ is functioning together, the Holy Spirit starts moving in the gifts. The Holy Spirit starts activating gifts in the body

for each other. But if all we're doing is being disconnected, having theater religion on Sunday morning, and never having conversations with other people, the Spirit isn't needed. But what if the body started talking to each other? What if the body started working together? Number four, get ready to do the good things He has planned for us. Then we start moving and going, this is what the kingdom of God is all about. Let's do the work that God has called us to do. I think we need to be optimistic, 'cause God is creating new opportunities for us to do that. Today, we're going to invite the kingdom of God into each place that we're gathered. Maple Grove and Elk River and Lakeville and Spring Lake Park. And I want you to write down in your phone, your Bible, your connect card. What were you dead in before Jesus? How were you living? How did you used to live before you were saved? All that, I used to live stuff we need to put aside. And then, what is your but God story? What is your but God story? Fan it in the flame. Not only what was your but God story, but what is your but God story? How would you make it in this hour without His grace?

How did He save you? Who is He sending your way? It's only His grace that has saved you. He's raised you into the heavenly realms with Christ. And you are on the winning side of the unseen battle. Would you stand with me church today? In each of our locations, we're gonna sing. But I want a different kind of song today. Yes, there's gonna be words on the screen and all of that. But don't let other people determine what comes out of your mouth. Let it come from your soul. Some of you might need to sit down and write before you speak. Some of you might need to come to the front of the room where we call the altar in our church and just stand there and say thank you again and refresh and rehearse your but God relationship. Where would I be without you Lord? Don't take the credit. Don't take the blame. Turn it all over to Him and recognize He's writing a brand new story. Right now, number one was don't take credit for it. Two was shift your praise to God for what He did. Number three, recognize that He's up to something new. Number four, get ready to do good things He has planned. Can I get an amen to that church? Hallelujah. If you would right now, before we go into worship

in a time in each of our locations where I'm gonna encourage you to spread out or be in a posture where you're alone with the Lord or you're able to just thank Him. Some of you might wanna do that together as a married couple you wanna just say thank you Jesus together for all the things you did for us and our family. Some of you might wanna do that with friends and I'm okay with that 'cause this is a we is greater than me type of series. But I also want you to just let that get out of your heart and open up your mouth and thank Him. In fact, if you would church you so lift your hands to the Lord. Today Father we come before you and we thank you that you are faithful, that you are able to do above and beyond anything we ask, think, or imagine. And today as we worship you, we pray, O God, that you would be glorified in and through us. And that master peace that you are working on right now, I pray, God, that we would do the good things you've planned for us. That out of our connection to you and to each other, Lord, in mercing ourselves deeply in the grace of God, I pray God our lives would be on purpose, on mission, able to lift those around us. We thank you in Jesus name, amen, amen, amen.