podcast
[0:00] Hallelujah! We thank God you've tuned into this message by David Entry at Caris Church. No hand can help you with the fulfillment of your destiny but the Word of God. May God's hand align you further into your destiny through this Word.
[0:15] I was teaching KP2 that Ephesians has to do with God's perspective about the Church. God's portrait or portrait of the Church.
[0:27] So how God portrays the Church, how God sees the Church. You can never have a proper definition of the Church without looking into Ephesians. Ephesians is Church defined from top down.
[0:42] Ephesians give us heavenly perspective of the Church, a heavenly panoramic view, best eye view of the Church.
[0:52] And in Ephesians, the Church is portrayed or depicted as a few, or there are imageries in Ephesians used by the Scripture to portray the Church.
[1:09] Now, one of it is the fact that, okay, so let me put it this way. Paul begins to explain to the Church how the Church came into existence, and then how being part of the Church, how we are to conduct ourselves.
[1:29] So he starts by talking about our conduct in the Church through unity. Then he goes on to how we receive grace to build the Church. Ephesians chapter 4, we are equipped to build the Church.
[1:43] And then he goes on to talk about the relationships within the Church. He speaks about Ephesians, then Ephesians chapter 5, employer and employees, or slave and masters.
[2:01] Then he goes on to husbands and wives before children, parents and children, or children and parents. Children, obey your parents in chapter 6.
[2:12] But before chapter 6, he comes to the family relationship, and he starts the family. After the Church relationships, he goes to family relationships. And before he goes to civil relationships, okay?
[2:24] So that is the order. Church relationships, family relationships, civil relationships. Now, when it comes to family relationships, it starts with husbands and wives.
[2:36] And he says to the husbands, love your wives, even as Christ. So it shows husbands how they should comport themselves or how they should relate to their wives. And he said, even as Christ loved the Church and gave himself for the Church.
[2:49] So the definition of how a husband should relate to his wife is not based on social media. Social media or movies cannot show you how husbands and wives ought to behave from God's perspective.
[3:06] The way husbands, for Christians, the way husbands and wives should, unbelievers can also compete and benefit from it. The way God's blueprint of how husbands and wives should relate is Christ and the Church.
[3:20] That's the ultimate goal or ultimate example of marital relationship, Christ and the Church. So he said, husbands, love your wives.
[3:32] So it starts with the wives. Submit to your husbands. And then he says, husbands, love your wives. Just ask Christ that the Church. Then he continues to tell us that he who loves his wife, loves himself.
[3:43] Then in the verse 30, as we read from the verse 30, it says that, for we are all members of his flesh and of his bones. That's we all.
[3:55] Say we all. We all. Say we are all members. We all. We are not just members of a church. We are members of his body. Okay. So the reason why we are a church is because we are members of his body.
[4:07] That's what makes us part of the church. We are all members of his body, of his flesh and his bones. Then he said, for this reason. That's interesting. So this thing is more for the church than just a husband and wife.
[4:25] He said, we are all members. Then he goes to that scripture in Genesis. For this reason. For what reason? The reason that we are all members of his body. For this reason, a man shall leave his father, godfather and mother and be joined to his wife.
[4:41] And the two shall become one flesh. He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit. But he says that now. There is this joining. Joining.
[4:54] That comes out of our union with Christ. That is the ultimate joining. Then he said this thing. If you look at it very carefully.
[5:06] If you think too much into it. You might be a little bit confused. Because he says that for this reason. In fact, many years ago, I tried to study. Okay. What does it mean to be one flesh?
[5:19] Is it during marital intimacy that the husband and wife become one flesh? Or when they sign a document? Or when they go to the altar?
[5:31] What does it mean to be one flesh? And at what point do they become one flesh? You know, I've always tried to break this thing. What does it mean? One flesh. One flesh. Even if he had said there would be one spirit.
[5:43] Or one soul. You know, spirit. You can't tell. But one flesh. But we are separate. It's still one flesh. Is it when children come in? So if children are not coming. They are not. What is the meaning of one flesh?
[5:54] Then it's. As I grew up. And I started studying more. Recently. Then I stumbled across this. Then the next verse made more sense. It said this is a great mystery. Ah! That's why!
[6:05] It's a great mystery. It's very complicated and meets the eye. It's not philosophical. It's mysterious. It's a mystery.
[6:16] It's not just philosophy. So if you want to decide or break it down from the realm of intellect, you'll miss it. Because it's a great mystery. It's a great mystery. He said, okay.
[6:27] But. No, no. Let's take it from just husband. No matter husband and wife. But this mystery I'm talking about. About what? Christ. What is this mystery about? Christ. What is this mystery about?
[6:38] Christ. He was trying to use the relationship between Christ and the church to help a husband to know how to treat the wife. To help a wife how to relate to the husband.
[6:49] And as he was taking it, taking it, it was taking deeper to explain how Christ, how Christ then. He was going so deep. He got to a place. He realized that. I've gone very far. I've gone very far.
[6:59] So for this, we are all members of his body. Then he says that for this reason, a man, then he said, this is a great mystery. But I speak concerning Christ. Say Christ and the church.
[7:10] Christ and the church. Say Christ and the church. Christ and the church. The unresolvable mystery of the ages. Human beings by human ingenuity or intelligence and research can never decipher or can never come to terms with this truth.
[7:39] Not even the church. The human aspect of the church is still growing. Till we all, Ephesians chapter 4, verse 13. Till we all come to the unity of faith.
[7:50] To, you see, to the knowledge of the Son of God. To a perfect man. We are not yet there. We are all getting there. How do we get there? By the equipping of the saints. By the prophets, the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the teachers.
[8:03] To equip the saints for the work of the ministry. For the building of the church. Of the body. Till we all come to the Son. We are all getting there.
[8:14] I feel I owe you the responsibility of teaching you so you become well-grounded, stable Christian. Because part of my calling is miracles.
[8:28] It's breakthroughs. It's change of torres. It comes naturally with the calling upon my life. So, if I'm not careful, we move in that direction so far that people will be getting breakthroughs.
[8:43] But spiritually, they are not growing. Those are the ones that someone can just tell you a church is a cult. Being in the church doesn't make you a Christian. I've been in the church for 10 years.
[8:56] Some people, what they do, they parambulate. Permit me if my Christian word, but there's English word. Parambulate. You know what it means. You don't know what parambulate means. Maybe it's the wrong word. What does it mean?
[9:08] Parambulating online. What does that mean? To travel over and through special and food. To make an official inspection. Yes. Yes. Going through and through everywhere.
[9:24] Parambulating online. Listening to preachers to find what they are saying wrong. So, you can do your vlogging. If you go vlogging. Vlogging. There are some people, they only are waiting for somebody to say something.
[9:36] And they listen to preach. They have time to listen to people's preaching. And to catch them in something. Oh. But most of those people, I'm telling you, there's a sin in their heart.
[9:47] That, you see, you need a platform of sinful life to be able to have an appetite for some things. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. I'm telling you the truth. They won't tell you. But the sin in their heart.
[9:58] Somewhere. Either bitterness, sexual sin, something somewhere. Proper sin. It becomes the platform for satanic operations.
[10:08] Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. So, it is necessary to redefine the church. Because the church always remains a mystery.
[10:19] There are two mysteries. I speak. Nevertheless, this is a great mystery. Nevertheless, I speak concerning Christ and the church.
[10:31] So, Christ is a mystery. The church is a mystery. That's why Jesus said, who do men say a good pastor must take it upon himself to hammer it and hammer it in their hearts and the minds of his congregation or his hearers.
[10:47] The clear definition of Christ. Because it's a mystery. If we leave you, you go off. If we leave anybody, all of us, we have the natural propensity or the natural proclivity.
[11:03] Tendency to go off in our pursuit of Christ. If we are not within fellowship and within sound teachings. Oh, yes. And we are not brought under restriction of scripture.
[11:19] All kinds of words that, what's the meaning? And we are more migrating away from biblical terminologies. We are becoming more adapt or akin to words.
[11:32] That sounds very grandiose and philosophical. Philosophical preaching. Any preaching that doesn't focus on explaining scripture can eventually deviate from Christ.
[11:46] If we are not careful and we are not bound by dictates of scripture. And sound theology. Then you can hear a great man of God saying that Jesus is 50% man, 50% God.
[12:00] Genuine man. But untrained. Theologically untrained. Because if you said that, do you know the ramifications of that statement? He might not know because he's not trained theologically.
[12:13] So a normal person on the street may hear something like this. And you will not know the implication. The intellectual, philosophical and theological implications of that statement.
[12:25] Whatever the Bible says, that is why I spend a lot of time hammering on the basics of Christianity. You shouldn't be a Christian and you know so many big, big words, especially within the charismatic field.
[12:39] And you don't know about justification, propitiation, sanctification. What we ask you about, can you explain the atonement?
[12:49] Can you explain redemption? You are found wanting. What kind of Christianity is it? Because Christianity must be heavily hinged on some of the meaning of these things.
[13:00] And you must have it at the back of your fingers like that. Justification. The more Christian you are, the more you never get tired of hearing about justification.
[13:11] In fact, it gets you more excited when you hear about redemption. You hear about salvation. You hear about forgiveness of sins. Ah! My God, I shan the higher kama sa.
[13:23] It is this. It is this. This is the pivot of our fellowship. Christ must be known. So we all. The usefulness of an Ephesians chapter 4 verse 12.
[13:35] The usefulness of an apostle. The usefulness of a prophet. The usefulness of an evangelist. The usefulness of a pastor and a teacher.
[13:46] It's for us to. So we all come to the unity of faith. Unity of faith. Our faith has sinked. When we talk about faith.
[13:57] The set of things we believe in Christ. We have all come to. To that level. To the unity of faith. To the knowledge of the Son of God.
[14:07] So an apostle is not just a title going around making you feel important. A prophet is not a title going around to make you feel very spooky and command authority.
[14:19] When you mention that I'm a prophet. Listen. Don't let those things move you at all. I'm bitching. But please. Especially. Those titles that we see in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 12.
[14:32] Apostle. Prophet. Evangelist. Pastor. Teacher. Don't let these things bamboozle you. Because some of you young men particularly. Or young ladies who lack self-esteem.
[14:46] You will be looking for titles like that. Your dream is also one day you will be called Apostle Robert. What even bothers me. The people you have been following and listening to online.
[14:59] They are affecting you without you realizing it. Yeah. You are imbibing and biting into a certain philosophy. Now as I said.
[15:10] Every one of us. Until we are guided and properly taught. And schooled. We will go off when we begin to discover Christ. The little we discover.
[15:21] You will discover something good. And you will be so excited about the good. Because it really resonates with something you have always believed in. And by the time you realize. You are going off. You are going off.
[15:32] You have believed something about Christ. Rightly. But because you didn't grow in the right direction of scripture. You have gone off. Listen. Nobody has exclusive knowledge of God.
[15:46] Outside of this. Not even the Jews. Not even the Jews. Can you imagine? The greatest threat to the church was Judaizers. Not the killers.
[15:59] Not the persecutors. The persecutors couldn't stop the church. The greatest threat to the church was the Judaizers. Who are they? Those who have also become born again.
[16:10] But are bringing Jewish religion into Christianity. Peter almost missed it. It took a unique encounter with the Holy Ghost.
[16:22] For Peter to realize that this thing is not about Jews. Holy Ghost. Holy Ghost cooled it into him. And he was forced to enter into the house of Cornelius. Without knowing what was going to happen.
[16:34] Because he had a good heart. So God said this time I will lead you to do it. And Paul had to be raised as an apostle. To be able to explain this mystery about the church.
[16:45] As the Judaizers who hijacked the church. The first time in Acts chapter 15 verse 1. The Judaizers. They came. Certain men. Came down from Judea.
[16:57] And talked. See. You see. You see where good preaching matters. They are about to spoil the church. Not with miracles.
[17:09] Titties. Can you imagine if you have not been touched well? Somebody crazy now. Everybody thinks they have the right to teach. And all they have to do is go online.
[17:21] And try to look for. Follow you. And say something very sensational. Santalize people. And give it a title. A title that is spiritual.
[17:32] People want to listen to it. And now they get confused. Is this even God? No. There's some truth. It is. You can easily spot. Run away.
[17:43] You easily run away from something when you think it's false. Right from the beginning. But when it looks true. You begin to now give it. When it looks true. Even though it carries little ounce of false.
[17:53] That's more dangerous than full false. Full false. They were. Judea. They came from Jerusalem. Can you imagine? Someone said.
[18:03] I've been in this church for a long time. That's Jerusalem. These people. They saw where Jesus was crucified. They saw the upper room. They were in Jerusalem. I mean.
[18:14] They've been with Peter. These are believers who have been born again. I believe maybe on the day of Pentecost. They even heard the languages. And they were those who were born. They were part of the church. From Jerusalem.
[18:25] You Antioch too. What are you talking about? When did Antioch come in and you are coming? We know how it started. So they came down. And they taught their brethren. And they were. See the teaching. Now their teaching was going into.
[18:37] Listen. Listen. They will not start. They were not telling them. They taught them. There are two different things. But. They were teaching some good things about Jesus.
[18:49] But the essence of the teaching. The implication of the teaching was pointing to the fact that. You need to be circumcised. Else you are not saved. Just that. They won't say directly. But when you scrutinize and examine their teaching.
[19:03] This is what it's trying to say. This is where it's leading to. So some of them are standing. Hey. Can't teach that one. There are many people who join our kind of godly churches. And they don't want anyone to say.
[19:14] Hey. Can't gather people online. You can't call church members privately to your house for prayer meetings. Who authorizes that? They won't decide. It's a court. It's a court. When you didn't get your way. Now it's a court. Every revival celebrates when some people leaves.
[19:28] I'm telling you. They came. And they were teaching. So that's why we will not allow you to. Those of you who get the chance to sing. Don't attempt to teach before you sing.
[19:40] Satan was the rebel from heaven. The rebels and the guerrilla fighters in the church. The rebels. They don't like order. God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.
[19:52] With pride you are not going anywhere. You will stay grounded for life with pride. Many ambitious people can't stand to be pastored. And they don't like strong pastoral.
[20:04] They don't like. When the pastoral care is strong. They don't like it at all. If you start following Christ without biblical restrictions. And the biblical restrictions will not be self-imposed.
[20:18] It must be imposed by an apostolic authority over your life. There is an order over your life. So the people who can stay within fellowship for a long time to be groomed.
[20:32] They are very dangerous for marriage. Because some of you. Your background. The way you were raised. You are not likely to do well in marriage. But you have been in church.
[20:43] And God wants you to do well. Because of that. You need to be part of that department. Even though the departmental head can sometimes be too overbearing. Because those are the terrain that will come with marriage.
[20:57] And the overbearingness will help you to be accustomed and accountable to somebody who you didn't want to. Anybody who has been married. Especially in these modern days.
[21:09] Will tell you it's after a year. Six months is no problem. But after a year. It's not annoying. But it's so much responsibility.
[21:21] It's so much responsibility. If you are not groomed. And if you are not trained. To answer to somebody else. Be accountable to somebody else in your life. The way you were raised.
[21:32] You are not accountable to anybody. You are a loose cannon. You did everything you wanted to do. You traveled anywhere. You don't know. That's why even in your church life. You can't stay under authority for long.
[21:45] Oh yes. It makes a big difference in marriage. So church life. Groups you for a better life.
[21:56] Yeah. Especially when the Bible is the center. And there's genuine Christian passion. And Christian ethos. In the church. So following Jesus.
[22:07] Watch this. If you are not taught. You can go off. The same way. Watch this. Who do men say I am? Why was he interested? Because it is the foundation for Christianity.
[22:19] The foundation for Christianity is the knowledge of Christ. And not just about the stories about Christ. You know him. That I may know him. There is this gynoshko.
[22:31] Personal knowledge of Christ. You have a personal relationship. Not just based on feelings. Or experiences. But based on feelings and experiences.
[22:43] That are rooted in sound scripture. Scriptural based experience. Scripture based feelings.
[22:54] Now. Why must it be so? Because you cannot just know Christ. Ah. Ah. This is another strong one.
[23:05] You have to write it. You can never know Christ unilaterally. Just by yourself. Just it's me. Between me and Christ. Oh.
[23:16] Ah. I'm praying. I'm praying by myself. And God will reveal himself to me. Your dreams. In Satan. You will meet. All the bigger. Big. Great calls.
[23:26] That's how they came back. By leaders. Who have personal relationship with spirits. Personal. Private. Personal relationship with spirits. That cannot be challenged.
[23:37] Or authenticated. It doesn't matter how many miracles I work. Don't take me serious. If everything I do. Cannot be justified.
[23:48] And explained with scripture. Don't let that move you. So. Jesus. Must be discovered. But the mystery is not one. Can you imagine?
[23:58] I'm now starting my message. But I'm closing so. The mystery is not one. He said. Nevertheless. He said. This is a great mystery. However. I speak.
[24:09] I think James says. One of the verses. Never the less. But whatever. But I speak. Concerning. So the mystery. What is the mystery? What's the mystery? So Christ is the mystery.
[24:20] Who do men say I am? You are the son of the living God. Blessed are you by Jonah. For flesh and wrath. Upon this world I build. So Jesus Christ. The more you know Jesus.
[24:33] You will discover church. Yes. Anyone who tells. In fact. I heard some people say. Some time ago. You know what? Many young people are leaving the church.
[24:46] And turning to Christ. That's such a bogus statement. Bogus statement. A lot of people make careless statements. And ignorant statements.
[24:56] And they just mention church. It's about time. Some people say that. It's about time. Let's put church aside. And let's look for Christ. I don't want to say nonsense. But it's rubbish.
[25:09] The church is the body of Christ. How do you separate Christ from church? You might be talking about. Just a human organization. But please be careful when you are using the word church.
[25:21] Because you might be dabbling to something that is bigger than you. Or that is deeper than your comprehension. It's a mystery. Because look at us. We look so ordinary. We look so ordinary. Some are hungry.
[25:32] Some are hungry. Some are happy. Some are being tempted even in church. Yeah. It's not trash. No. Don't worry. You might see someone sitting beside you.
[25:43] And you are having a crash on the person. Yeah. We are still in church. No worries. The problem is not you. He's my type. You know. He's my type. Before we came born again. That's my. This guy. She's my type.
[25:55] My life. Some of you see somebody's wife. And you feel like. Wow. No. No. It's not like you want her.
[26:05] But you feel like. Wow. This. If God has given me something like this. I would have been great. Or if God gives me something. It's human. It's human.
[26:19] Some of you like the praise and worship leader so much. Are you getting what I'm saying? And we are all in church.
[26:32] You are sitting behind somebody. During worship. If you are getting distracted. Hello. Why should God take it away? No.
[26:43] It doesn't have to be taken away. Because my grace is sufficient. My strength is made perpetually weakness. Let me finish this thing. So the church is also a mystery.
[26:54] The point is that. Remember. Christ is a mystery. The church is a mystery. Therefore. We need to constantly go to God. For what church is. And that was the main message I was coming to you. The science of true church.
[27:08] The science of true church. What constitutes church? What makes us a church? Is it a gathering? And we are singing church songs? Not necessarily. Gathering and singing church songs.
[27:21] Speaking in tongues doesn't even make us a church. So. I'm going to take my time. Because if we don't do that. Some of us with our. Pre-existing mindset.
[27:32] About church. Different church. Some of you. As soon as you came. You are wondering. But why is the pastor not wearing a gown? As soon as you came.
[27:43] Why are we still wearing our shoes? We are supposed to take off shoes. In the. He said this is holy ground. You are wondering. Why have the women not covered their hair? Why is the pastor.
[27:53] The lady preaching. Is the pastor. Why? Why? Why? Thank you for listening to this message. By David Entry. We pray you have been strengthened.
[28:04] And enlightened. You can connect with David Entry. On all relevant social media platforms. Including Instagram. And LinkedIn. You can also hear more messages. From David Entry.
[28:15] On all relevant streaming platforms. And the Caris Church app. Don't forget to like. And share the message. Be blessed.