"Ephesus - A Place Of..." By Brother Parrish Lee September 28th,
2014
You know, that might seem a little strange, but y’all got up here, and that just sounded a little too good to let go. You talk about,”… The time is now here…” You know, they’ve got a spot on the Christian network website-the Bible website-they’ve got a new movie coming out about missing the rapture. They got TV series coming out-I don't know what that's called- about people that missed the rapture. They are infatuated. They’ve gone from zombies to spiritual zombies, I guess. It’s going to be entertaining, and it’s going to be exciting. “We can make money at this!” How sad the news will be. How sad, sad it's going to be. That is one thing nobody has to miss out on. I haven’t gotten to the message, but the fact is, the precious blood of Jesus, when He hung his arms out and lifted his hands, and said, “It is finished,” that included anybody; that went all the way down from the beginning of time to the end of time. He wrapped his arms around everybody, everybody. If you would receive it, you can have it. If you want to be saved, if you cry out to God, if you give your life to Him, and accept Him, you have a guarantee; He will save you. That’s how good He is. Anyway, I started to talk about the goodness of God, and it led to something else.
Giving
honor to God,
who is the head of my life. Giving honor tour
Savior, our Master our Redeemer, our Healer, our Strength, our Rock, as
they
said in the song today, our Shield, as they said in the song today, our
present
help in time of need. Giving honor to that same God who opened our eyes
this
morning, and allowed us to walk across the floor, who brought us here.
Giving
honor to Him who put the sun in the sky, and the air on this planet, He
gave us
food to eat and a place to sleep, and loadeth us, according to the
scripture,
daily with benefits. Giving
honor to
Him. Giving honor
to all those who have
gone before us in this ministry, from our founding pastor and his
family, our
pastor, now, Pastor Paine, in Virginia, he and his family, and all
those who
have stood in the gap to make up the hedge, giving honor to al their
labor of
love that they have showed to usward, that allowed us to be here on
this day.
Giving honor to all of y’all, who present yourselves to the Lord, on a
Sunday,
when people are either sleeping late, or getting ready for football, on
a
Sunday morning. That’s
what I’m going to
hear when I go back to work. “What
did
you do, Sunday?” “You
know what I did
Sunday.” “Oh, okay.” They’re going to tell me
what they did, and
that’s going to be a short conversation.
Giving honor to all of you who present yourselves,
and all those who are
in the Word, that precious Word of God, the Bible. Giving honor to all
of those
that live the life, and preached it, who were sawn asunder, or were
beheaded,
or were burned at the stake, down through the ages, and said, “I’d
rather have
Jesus than every treasure in this world.”
Giving honor to them.
We have already said that this month is the time of
sanctification, as Brother Andy came up and shared, we’re going to
extend it to
next month. The
fact of the matter is,
some of really have—I know I do—some things—you ever say, “I left some
points
out there on the field?” Did
you ever
hear that expression? It
means that some
of the plays that you had, you could have gotten more, you could have
gotten
better, you could have completed this, you could have ran that, but you
made
this mistake, and you got slothful in that, and didn’t execute
properly—the fact
of the matter remains, that, if there was more that we could have than
we do
have, simply because of us. We need to have more
coming to us; we need to
ask; we need to try, we need to press, we need to seek, we need to
grasp, we
need to, as the Bible says, the violent taketh it by force. So, looking
forward
to an extension for another month, and, actually, I had such a blessing
this
week. One of the brothers on my accountability team—I was struggling
little
bit, and I was trying to get myself focused. I wasn’t being successful.
I was
trying to think of a good Scripture that would go along, and it would
help, I
went through Ephesians-you know, you can have a lot of keys, but you
need the key. I got a text on my
phone-I
can’t really use my phone network, but I can hit the button and see if
I get
any texts-a brother said, “Back to the basics. Seek ye first the
As we said, this month, the Scripture for the month
is
going to be Joshua 3:5, and that’s actually going to be the theme for
both
months. Joshua 3:5
And Joshua said unto the people,
Sanctify yourselves: for to
morrow the LORD will do wonders among you. Really, the fact of the matter is, we could all use—we don’t want to settle for the things that we have received to this point; we want God to give us more. God, fill us, add to us, load us up, give it, just pour it in; if I ain’t got enough room, God, give me one of those expand-o-size. You know how they got the elastic in your—well, maybe your not heavy enough yet, but when you get heavy, they put elastic in your pants, so nobody else can tell. Then, when you gain, or get a little bit more full—let me say it that way—get a little bit more full, they can’t really tell. You don’t have to get your pants altered; they already have that expand-o-size built in. God, expand-o-size me. Let it be so that You can press it in, and when I feel like I’m over-full, God, fill me even more. I don’t care; just smear it all over me if You have to. Amen. But, our Scriptures have been, this month, we’ve gone through Ephesians chapters one, two, and three. Today we’re actually going to do a bit of a recap, as we go into another blessing. To start off this morning, we’re going to start with: Ephesians 1:1-5
Paul,
an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of
God, to the saints
which are at
We
could bow our heads for a moment. Lord, we thank You, because every
time we
come into Your presence, look at what You do, look at how You pour out,
and
look at how good You are to us, even without us asking for so much,
God, You
daily loadeth us with benefits. God, You’ve blessed us with a wonderful
praise
and worship, we can open our hearts
and sing praises
and hallelujahs unto You. God, we pray, at this time, You add a
blessing on to
the reading of Your Word , that, as You said, it would not return unto
You
void, but that it would surely accomplish that for which You have sent
it, God,
that Your servants, Your Saints, and Your people might be nurtured
thereby,
that they might be fed, that we might encouraged, that the chaff would
be burned
out, and that the good wheat would be strengthened and fortified, and,
God,
that we might all rise up to do what You have called us to do.
This
we do lay before your feet, as we pray and claim, in Jesus
name, and everyone said, amen.
So, our first Sunday of the month, we went over
Ephesians
chapter 1. “Paul,
an Apostle of Jesus
Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at
And
if I could make a point right here, as you see in verse number two, he
says, “Grace
be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus
Christ.” If we can
take a point right here, he
highlighted that is about grace. It’s from God our Father, and the Lord
Jesus
Christ, but
he went on to say, in verse number three—and,
you’ve got to love this one, because you see this throughout Ephesians,
"
Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath
blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:” What a thing to say! You don't just have a worldly
blessing;
you don't just have food on your table—and I’m thankful, I love to eat!
I like
food. I’m thankful for a blessing on my table. I like to have a house;
I like
to have a roof over my head, when it’s cold, when it’s hot. I like to
have
electricity. I like that stuff.
But, He's called
us to have blessings in heavenly places. He didn't
call us just to be fed
and warm. He didn't call us just to even call was just to
have a good
time. He called us to have blessings in heavenly places. In other
words, Godly
blessings. Spiritual blessings
, that the world can't
answer. He called us to have that. He goes on in verse
four, “According
as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we
should
be holy and without blame before Him in love:” Predestinated. In other
words,
before we were even thinking about it, God had this whole thing set up.
In fact,
before we were even thinking about it, God had the plan for our lives.
Before
we were children, running around, He already had that love for us.
Predestined.
The Bible says that He formed us in our mother's womb, but even before
that, He
saw when it was going to happen; when we were going to come about. And
he’s
letting people in . And in verse number 18, if we could skip down there. We’re going to go through this kind of quickly. Ephesians 1:18 The eyes of your
understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of
his
calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the
saints,
That
you may know and understand. There is a part of us as Christians, you
have to
have faith. God doesn’t put it out there for you to say, “Well, if I
understand
it, then I’ll believe it.” No, no, no, no. You don't make that kind of
deal
with God. God doesn’t have to meet our approval; He did it, we believe
it, and
that settles it. But, He does want us to be able to come and to
understand. He
wants our minds to be open, so that we can ask and understand the
mysteries of
revelation,
that we can say, "Yeah, I got some of the
same inheritance." That’s Ephesians chapter 1; just to take a synopsis
of
it.
And
we talked— Brother Jesse, I actually wasn’t here when you preached, I
was down
in Ephesians 2 :1 And you hath He
quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Now I can't even—Jesse, you were right. When I was going over this, I was trying to stay in tune with the that we’re going over here. If we’re going to go over Ephesians, I know I’m not going to be there; I know want to miss the service, and I opened it up and, wow! This is so amazing! What God was able to open my little mind to—and it filled up pretty quick. I’m not one of those geniuses breakages back my head and understand the mysteries of the world. No, God, hallelujah, you revealed to me, and I’m thankful for it. So, it says, “And you hath He quickened…” meaning, to be made alive. If you don't think that's a big deal, go back to before we were alive, and realize that this is a great thing that God has done. Wait, wait, wait, if you take away that salvation—that day—take that day out of my life… Wait, wait, wait, that means I’m not saved yet. If I don’t have that day—well, I believed in God, and I received God, and God fulfilled his promises, then I’m not yet saved. That’s a big deal. But it goes on to say, “Who were dead in both trespasses and sins.” And, yes, Brother Jesse, I looked at the notes, and I said, “Yes! He stole it!” We had talked—he didn’t steal it, of course, it was God’s—and that brother there, when we were sharing, he was staring right back what I was sharing with him. But, it’s amazing how it says, “Who were dead in both trespasses and sins.” Now, this is something amazing. Now, we’re not really ignorant about sins. We know what sins are; those are our errors, mistakes, those are things we might get trapped in. Those are violations of the Law and the righteousness of God quite frankly. Those are sins. Yes, we were dead in sin, and we know that whatever sin had a hold on us, it had a hold on us. But, the Bible said we were dead, he had quickened you from those sins. But then he says, “…and trespasses.” I was like, “What? Why would it say both? Why trespasses and sins?” I had to look that up, because I wanted to understand. You know how—you ever see—I remember the first time I saw a sign that said, “No trespassing.” What does that mean? I don’t really know what that means, but I figure I’ll probably get in trouble if I go there. But our trespasses are all the ways that we fall short. Even when we’re at our best state, and He makes up the difference. “God, I tried to get it right, but I just couldn’t get it together.” He quickens you. Did you ever go on a hike, or a walk, or you're out exploring, and you come across a sign, or maybe you didn't even see the sign, and somebody comes up to you and says, “Hey, you’re trespassing.” “What do you mean I’m trespassing?” “There’s a sign over there that says you don’t belong here!” “I didn’t see no sign.” “Whether you saw the sign or not, you’re still trespassing!” “Oh, okay, I guess I’d better leave.” “Wait a minute, you’ve already trespassed. By the law, we could lock you up.” And you hath he made alive in the things that we didn’t even know that we had done. That is amazing! That’s amazing that God would do that for us! Ephesians 2 :4-6
But
God,
who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in
sins, hath
quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up
together I and made us
sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
But
God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love… That’s what this whole
thing is
about: that rich mercy and His great love. This is what this whole
thing is—he's
telling the people at
I
had a chance, when I was visiting family in This is the summary. We’re just a little bit of revisit, here. Ephesians 3:6-7
That
the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers
of His
promise in Christ by the gospel: Whereof
I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given
unto me
by the effectual working of His power. Fellow heirs—the Gentiles should be a fellow heirs. That’s miraculous! Fellow heirs, that means the same as everybody else. That’s miraculous, because, see, the Gentiles at that time were saying, “We’re not Jews.” And not only that they were saying, “Not only are we not Jews, we’re not Kings, and we’re not princes, and we’re not governors, and we’re not all these high and mighty people.” They were used to seeing this special division; if you were high and mighty, you would get more. Yeah, not everybody had a chance to go to school. It’s not like now, they didn’t have public schools. Yeah, you learned at home with mom and dad. You learned how to work out in the field, you learned how to cook, you learned how to sew, you learned how to make things happen, you learned how to preserve food. That’s what you learned. You didn’t go and learn psychology, and sociology, and engineering; you didn’t go to school for that. If your dad was an engineer, maybe you could go down to the rocks when he was chiseling them away, and maybe you could learn. Maybe. Or if your brother was a warrior, or if your dad was a warrior, maybe you could learn to be a soldier. Not everybody had access, but now we all have this access, we are all fellow heirs. They needed to know that this was precious, because he says in verse seven, “Whereof I was made a minister…” talking about to the Gentiles, “according to the gift of grace of God which was given to me by the effectual working of His power.” I’m nobody special, but God makes us ministers, He makes us prophets , He makes us useful tools for His purpose. Ephesians 3:8 Unto me, who am
less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should
preach
among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; Got to love that; you gotta love those unsearchable riches. You gotta love that his riches, all the time that you seek, you find that you’re just scratching the surface. But he says, “Unto me, who am less than the least of all Saints,” not all the apostles, not all the big important people of God, I’m less than all the Saints. What a lesson in humility that he’s showing. When we come before Christ, we can come humble, that He can lift us up. And he’s showing, that when you come to God—you see, the Jews had gotten to the place where if you weren't a Jew, "You ain't a Jew. If you ain’t one of us, shame for you; you missed out. If you ain't got this blood, you're cut off! You don't have a chance!" The Jews had gotten to that place. And not only are they fellow heirs, Apostle Paul says, “I got all this. I’m not even worthy to be called one of these Christian brothers; Saints.” But he’s showing them, “I’m going to take everything that God has for me, and I’m going to do everything I can with it.” Because, the only one that gets the glory of God Himself. Ephesians 3:9-12
And to
make all men see what is the fellowship of
the mystery, which
from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus
Christ: To the
intent that now unto the
principalities and powers in heavenly places. [There it is
again-heavenly
places] might be known by the church the
manifold wisdom of God, According
to the
eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: In whom we have boldness
and access with confidence
by the faith of him. So, he said, “And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God,” This mystery. Before I get saved, I used to wonder so many things about Christians. You people confused me. I'm serious. I figured it out, though, “Christians, they don’t really have the real God,” because I never saw Christians live it. Besides that, you get four or five Christians in the room, and they don’t agree on anything. “They all pick fights with each other. Yeah, Christianity yet.” Just because—this was before I get saved, before I knew that the Bible had the answers, before I had even cracked it open, before anybody had cracked it open for me, before God had spoken to me, before He moved, He showed me that, instead of pointing fingers, my little finger that points out means there’s three fingers pointing back at me. We see here that these mysteries—I thought that this whole Christianity thing was a mystery. How can you ever find the true God—I heard about the miracles, but I guess they’re all gone away; maybe one or two special people, somewhere. You know, they had those children, prophets, you know they healed the elders; they have a little eight-year-old to pray, and somebody gets healed, and they throw a party. When I was little I saw it on TV; they had kid preachers; they made them out to be a big deal. “Where are the adults? Why aren’t they doing this?” But He’s made us to know these mysteries that were hid in God. And once again, those heavenly places, and Saints, that thing that we have to pull away from that, is that God would never have us to sit on the lowest step. He did not call us to sit on the lowest rung of the ladder. If anybody has ever—if the devil has ever gotten a hold on you, you have the power to shake him off. He gave it to you to be able to call on the name of Jesus, and should. Get thee behind me, Satan. I will turn my eyes to the hill of Calvary, and I will receive my victory. He gave that to us. It used to be a mystery, but now it’s revealed to His Saints. Ephesians 3:16-18
That he
would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be
strengthened with
might by his Spirit in the inner man;
That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that
ye, being rooted and
grounded in love, May
be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length,
and
depth, and height; “That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened—strengthened! Strengthened! With might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith…” By faith. Not by surgery; not by money. “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith…” Not by some strange application; not by sorcery, not by conjuring, not by watching some fancy TV show, the 12 steps, or some seven step method, not none of that stuff! But, by your own personal faith, Christ might dwell in you. When I was coming up, when I was in school, my teacher read us this poem. It was by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Anybody ever hear of her? Elizabeth Barrett Browning. She had this wonderful poem: “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach…” I thought, “Wow, I wish I could write like that. What a wonderful love poem! I want to be a poet, and I want to be able to write something like that. How did she ever think of it?” Yeah, how did she? Well, she didn’t. In verse number 18, “May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;” because, we have to understand that God’s love isn’t just a narrow thing that we have to walk just—it’s a broad thing, and we have room to move in God. And it’s deep, because it will reach deep in our lives when you’re sinking so low that you’re thinking, “I’m outside! I’m so far outside, God can’t reach me!” Yes, He can. And it’s high; His love is so high that no matter what exultation we go to—we don’t lift ourselves up, let’s put that in there. We don’t get lifted up my pride or a haughty spirit— whatever height God takes us to, His love will reach us there. And it’s long. Do you know why His love has to be long? His love has to be long, because wherever we go, it can reach there. Wherever we’ve been, whenever maladies, sins, trespasses, it will cover them. Sometimes it’s broad, and it’s deep, and it’s high, and it’s long. “Are you trying to say that, no matter what, God will have you covered?” Amen. No matter where you go, you stand by that He’s got you covered. Amen. Ephesians 3:19 And to know the love
of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all
the
fulness of God. “To know His love, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God.” I need to wrap this up, but to wrap this up I need to go into Acts. In acts chapter 18, something really precious happens here. You might get a glimpse of this sometimes, but this was a highlight. Acts 18:19
And he
came to Ephesus, and left them there:
but he himself entered into the synagogue, and reasoned with the Jews.
Now,
the them that it’s talking about, is two people named Aquila and
Priscilla, and
those who traveled with them, but, specifically, Acts 18:24-26 And a certain Jew
named Apollos, born at
He
called them to reason and share, lift up and explain. Do you understand
what
that means? It means that in Acts 19:1
And it
came to pass, that, while Apollos was
at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to
Ephesus: and
finding certain disciples, Acts 19:2-6
He
said unto them, Have ye received the
Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so
much as
heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.
And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye
baptized? And they said,
Unto John's baptism. Then
said Paul,
John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the
people,
that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is ,
on
Christ Jesus. When
they heard this, they
were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy
Ghost came on them;
and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.
What
does this mean? It means that Acts 19:10-11 And this
continued by the space of two years; so that all they which dwelt in Our last Scripture is none other than the Scripture that Chris so eloquently shared from last week. Ephesians 3:20-21
Now
unto
him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or
think,
according to the power that worketh in us,
Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus
throughout all ages,
world without end. Amen. Give the Lord a praise.
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