Steve Webb 0:00 The stakes are high. Steve Webb 0:09 This is the Lifespring! One Year Bible coming to you from Riverside, California and podcasting since 2004. I'm your OG Godcaster. Steve Webb. This is the daily podcast where we're reading through the entire Bible in a year. It's a pistol Sunday, and we'll finish up the book of Ephesians. With chapters four through six. We'll also have a time of prayer and our third installment of essentials. The title of this episode is we are in a battle. Before we begin, let's pray. Our heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you so much for Your Word. We thank you for the lessons in Ephesians. And I pray God that you would teach us as we read, I pray this in Jesus name, Amen. All right, let's get started. Steve Webb 0:52 Ephesians chapter four. I therefore the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness in gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called, in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who was above all, and through all and in you all, but to each one of us, grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore, he says, When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men. Now this he ascended, what does it mean, but that he also first descended into the lower parts of the earth. He who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things. And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints, for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the Body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we should no longer be children tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting. But speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into him who is the head Christ, from whom the whole body joined and knit together by what every joint supplies according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. This, I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart, who being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard him, and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus that you put off concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore, putting away lying, let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. Let him who stole steal no longer but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need, Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification? That it may impart grace to the hearers and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice And be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. Steve Webb 4:25 Ephesians five. Therefore, the imitators of God is dearly loved children and walk in love as the Messiah also loved us and gave himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God. But sexual immorality and any impurity or greed should not even be heard of among you as is proper for saints. Course and foolish talking or crude joking are not suitable, but rather giving Thanks for no and recognize this. Every sexually immoral or impure or greedy person Who is an idolatry her does not have an inheritance in the kingdom of the Messiah and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty arguments for God's wrath is coming on the disobedient because of these things. Therefore, do not become their partners. For You were once darkness, but now you are light in the world. Walk is children of light. For the fruit of the light results in all goodness, righteousness and truth, discerning what is pleasing to the Lord. Don't participate in the fruitless works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what is done by them in secret. Everything exposed by the light is made clear for what makes everything clear is light. Therefore it is said get up sleeper and rise from the dead and the Messiah will shine on you. Pay careful attention then to how you walk not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time because the days are evil. Don't be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. And don't get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless actions, but be filled by the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making music from your heart to the Lord, Giving Thanks always for everything to God the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of Christ. Wives submit to your own husbands is to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of the body. Now as the church submits to Christ, so wives artists submit to their husbands and everything. Husbands love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her to make her holy, cleansing her with a washing of water by the word. He did this to present the church to himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle, or anything like that, but holy and blameless. In the same way, husbands are to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself, for no one ever hates his own flesh but provides and cares for it, just as Christ does for the church since we are members of His Body. For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This mystery is profound, but I am talking about Christ and the church. To sum up, each one of you is to love his wife as himself, and the wife is to respect her husband Steve Webb 7:36 Ephesians chapter six. Children, obey your parents as you would the Lord because this is right. Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with a promise so that it may go well with you and that you may live a long life in the land. Fathers don't stir up anger in your children, but bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. Slaves. Obey your human masters with fear and trembling in the sincerity of your heart as to Christ. Don't work only while being watched in order to please men. But as slaves of Christ, do God's will from your heart. Serve with a good attitude as to the Lord and not to men. Knowing that whatever good each one does, slave or free, he will receive this back from the Lord. And masters treat your slaves the same way without threatening them, because you know that both their master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him. Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and by his vast strength. Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the tactics of the devil. For our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities against the world powers of this darkness against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens. This is why you must take up the full armor of God so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having prepared everything to take your stand. Stand therefore, with truth like a belt around your waist, righteousness like armor on your chest, and your feet saddled with readiness for the gospel of peace. In every situation, take the shield of faith and with it you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is God's word. Pray at all times in the spirit with every prayer and request and stay alert in this with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints. Pray also for me that the message may be given to me when I opened my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel. For this I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I might be bold enough in him to speak as I should. ticketless Our dearly loved brother and faithful servant in the Lord will tell you all the news about me so that you may be in for warned, I am sending him to you for this very reason to let you know how we are and to encourage our hearts, peace to the brothers in love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all who have undying love for our Lord Jesus Christ. Steve Webb 10:19 Beloved, in chapter six, Paul mentioned that we are in a battle against the rulers, against the authorities against the world powers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens. Sometimes it looks as if we're battling people, but the fight is deeper than that. We're in a spiritual battle. So how do we fight things in the spiritual realm? Well, I'm glad you asked, because Paul told us what our weapons are. He talked about the full armor of God, which we've talked about on the show before, the parts of the full armor of God are truth, righteousness, readiness, faith, salvation, the word of God, and prayer. Listen, when we're equipped with these things, we cannot be defeated by the enemy. Now, that's not to say that the battle will be easy, it will not, but we cannot avoid the battle because the enemy brings the battle to us. And his attacks are vicious, because the stakes are high. He'd like nothing more than for us to surrender, to lay down our weapons, because doing so will render us useless to God, and to those to whom God would have us go to make disciples and bring along in the faith. Remember what our mission is beloved, just before Jesus ascended into heaven, he gave that mission to us. You know what he said, Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I've commanded you. And then he gave us this promise, he said, and remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age. So Beloved, we are in this thing. But the cool thing is, if God is for us who can be against us? What do you have to say you have comments, questions, call the Lifespring family Hotline at plus 1-951-732-8511. Or send a comment via boostagram. Or go to comment.lifespringmedia.com. Tomorrow's Monday, and that's the day that we read from the law will read Leviticus four through six. Steve Webb 12:33 This is the third installment of essentials. And I'll finish talking about the Apostles Creed today. The first week we talked about what is meant by the phrase, the Holy Catholic Church. And last week, we discussed the line that says he descended into hell. This week, I want to touch on the phrase, the communion of saints. And unless I'm mistaken, the rest of the Creed is pretty straightforward. But if you do have a question on anything else in the Apostles Creed, please do let me know. I'd be Happy to try to clear up any questions you might have. So once again, let's read the Apostles Creed. I believe in God, the Father Almighty, the creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God, the Father almighty, whence he shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen. Well, last week's essentials was somewhat involved, this week's is much less so what is the communion of saints? Well, one of the definitions of communion is the act of sharing or holding in common participation. And of course, another definition of communion is the Lord's Supper typically observed in a worship service when we remember Jesus sacrifice with the bread and the wine. And hearing the Apostles Creed, the communion of saints is referring more to the first definition than the latter. It's saying that believers in the past, present and future share the same salvation through the redeeming sacrifice of Jesus. Let me go back to a reference from God questions.org For another excellent summation. Here it is. The Communion of Saints is what each one of us has in common with all other believers. We have been forgiven through His death and saved by His life. We see that in Romans 510. We've been set free from the law of sin and death. We see that in Romans eight, two, and we've passed from spiritual death to eternal life. That's from First John 316. We've all been permanently be adopted as children of God by the will of God. We see that in John one, verses 12 and 13. We've become God's handiwork to do good works that He has prepared us for, from Ephesians 210. And we've all been given an eternal home in the New Jerusalem in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, our lamb, our temple and our light. And that's from Revelation 21, verses 22 through 27. And these are only a few of the blessings we have in common with all other believers. And next week, we'll talk about several other essentials. And if you'd like a sneak peek look at my statement of faith over at Lifespringmedia.com. Steve Webb 15:44 Prayer requests. My son Tim and his wife, Val have a friend from their previous place of employment. And they just found out today that this friend's six year old daughter has passed away. I don't have any more details right now. But this family does need our prayers. So let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we worship you and we thank you that the spiritual battle that we read about in Ephesians today is already one, there are still skirmishes, but when Jesus was resurrected, the enemy's fate was sealed. There was never a doubt and that is when it was settled. Help us to be effective, Lord, as we are in the midst of skirmishes, and I pray Holy Spirit that you would strengthen us and give us courage. We need you. And we pray for this family of this six year old Lord who passed away, comfort them, draw them to yourself, surround them with loving, godly people, Lord in this most terrible time, our hearts go out to them and I just pray God that your presence would be with them in a very real and tangible way. Thank you, Lord, for each person that you brought into the Lifespring family and I pray that You would bless them today. Help each of us, Lord to love you more each day and to be more like Jesus. I pray this in Jesus name, amen. Steve Webb 17:10 Sister Denise does the transcripts for the show, Michael Haner does the chapters for the show. Scott Snider and Jason Paschall share the responsibilities of bringing the artwork to the show and Scott did today's show art and sister Brittaney sends out the newsletter. Did you get yours? If you didn't go over to news dot Lifespringmedia.com and sign up I promise never to spam you. And now until tomorrow thank you for inviting me to be part of your day. May God bless you richly. My name is Steve Webb by livestream Jingle 17:47 Lifespringmedia.com/support Transcribed by https://otter.ai