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Ephesians 4:17-32

How to Not Be a "Your Zippers Down" Christian:

1- Truth. (Eph. 4:25)

Functioning Properly: We put on and practice truthfulness, and people would describe us as real and authentic.

Functioning Improperly: our words cannot be trusted, we cannot be counted on, and people don't know if they can believe or trust us to follow through on what we say.

2- Anger (Eph. 4:26)

Functioning Properly: We are allowed anger towards sin, not anger that becomes sin

Functioning Improperly: Our anger renders us out of control, and alienates people from us, we cannot control it and it’s outbursts undermine our identity as a follower of God.

3- Delight (Eph. 4:28)

Functioning Properly: We take delight in the work of your hands and that our production within our gifts and talents are used help others

Functioning Improperly: We will do anything to anyone in order to feed unhealthy desires (in this passage references stealing directly).. We look for shortcuts to gain more for our desires, and our pursuit of more typically never involved anyone other than ourselves.

4- Words (Eph. 4:29)

Functioning Properly: The words we choose are to build up and strengthen ourselves/others.

Functioning Improperly: We seldom use our words for anything positive and are known for tearing others down, gossip, slander, and destabilizing people with our presence.

5- Conviction. (Eph. 4:30)

Functioning Properly: We must follow the conviction of the spirit inside us. (vs 30)

Functioning Improperly: We grieve the spirit by not following its voice inside as it leads our life in what we know is biblical and true, and in turn we become a slave to our desires and impulses.

6- Bitterness, Wrath, Malice (Eph. 4:31)

Functioning Properly: We are self-aware of any areas of bitterness, wrath, malice (intention and desire to do evil), and we seek to dispose of before it disposes of us.

Functioning Improperly: Our feelings become our truth, and we rationalize why we are allowed to feel how we feel and will not push ourselves towards a pathway of healing.

7- Tenderhearted (Eph. 4:32)

Functioning Properly: We are kind, tenderhearted, and forgiving, and those around us describe us as so.

Functioning Improperly: We are not kind to others, we do not practice empathy, and we do not forgive or ever ask for forgiveness.

Ephesians 4:1-16

How to Grow in the Right Things So We Are Remembered for the Right Reasons:

1- A life lived worthy of the call of God consists of humility, gentleness, patience, tolerance in love, unity and peace. Can thee words be used to describe me?? We feel empty when these attributes are absent. If you will take serious the process of God's character becoming your character, don't be surprised when God's power becomes your power... you don't need a thousands reps once... you need one rep every day for a thousand days.

2- Jesus' resurrection and ascension was about being able to give the gift of filling all of us with His Spirit... this Spirit is for us to walk in the fullness of Jesus' example, and to equip and to build up others to do the same. Rhythmic exposure to both private and corporate times of the Spirit and Scriptures is what turns a common life into an uncommon one, and makes an uncommon difference within the common activities and interactions of your day to day... equip and build yourself unto equppiing and building others.

3- We are to be built in love. There is no theology apart from love, no tricks of success that can cover the activity of love, or ways of functioning that can replace the action of love. IF those around you question the love you walk in they cannot receive the love you want to give. Love grows us in all aspects at once, and a deformed faith is one that allows you to pick and choose the love you walk and give to others based off your feelings of the day... the who and how of your love has a direct impact on the when and why of God’s will for you.

Ephesians 2:1-22

How to Become New and Stay New:

1 - We must understand grace as the action of Jesus dying in order to make you alive, to raise you up, and to seat you rightly. It is not just a covering of sin, it is the elevation of your personhood to no longer desire it through the process of sanctification. Your choices and thought patterns determine how alive you feel, raised up you walk, and if you truly feel seated with God. His words and Spirit cannot convince you of something you don't want to be convinced of.

2 - You are saved by grace, not works... however we must not lose sight of a byproduct of that grace; good works. God's creative intention for your life is that you would be someone who His grace paves a way forward for good works to follow. The gift of God is the example of Jesus. If you won't follow the example, don't be mad if you don't like the taste of the recipe your choices and behaviors have prepared.

3 - You should be being built up inside personally, apart of building within your career collectively, and in the temple beside all those doing the same corporately. True purpose in God is found when He truly has no limits, and is invited to any and all things we do. Your career is not off limits, your daily lifestyle is not off limits... and if it is there will be a limit to the fullness of God we walk in. Grace is enough to save, only you can decide what that saving produces.

Ephesians 3:1-21

How To Know Our Worth So We Can Find Our Place:

1- Your life has been purchased by His name. No other name can replace that. The greatest lie you can believe is that you are not worthy of what God assigned ultimate worth for; the life of Jesus. A defeated mind cannot bring about a victorious life. The resurrection was granting access to those who never had access before. A saint is just a gentile who grabbed hold and never let go.

2- You will know your worth when you rhythmically get close to the one who assigned it to you. Other people do not determine my faith's validity, my activated behavior of getting close to Jesus does. When do the uncomfortable with God, it becomes our comfort in life. When we choose a comfortable life, we will be uncomfortable in God.

3- The mystery you must solve is believing if you truly have a place.. No one can solve this but you, no one can believe this for you. The love of Jesus purchased you a life in him in which there is no outsider, no label, no stereotype, no bad reputation attached to your name. Only a son or a daughter of God. Your activated faith that then changes your behaviors is what will ultimately find the clues to solve this mystery in your heart.. You have worth, and will always have a place.

Ephesians 1

John 12:32-33

How we must apply adoption and inheritance to the here and now:

1- Adoption is rooted in the "kind intention" of God. You cannot inherit something from a Father you have not adopted. This is why it all starts with your view of Him being your heavenly Father taking root in our core. Embracing this view of Him as heavenly Father is accepting (and in some cases relenting) to the truth He has chosen you, and He has kind intentions for you within His will, and there is redemption and forgiveness in His shed blood.

2- In Jesus' time, inheritance was both a privilege and a responsibility; it meant not only receiving all the Father had; but also caring for the family the Father had left behind now entrusted to you. I pray we don't want the privilege of the Father's abundance without the responsibility of using it to help anyone other than myself... your inheritance is writing a story of redemption for your life, and the lives of those around you by the shed blood of the (First born) Son of God.

3- Adoption and inheritance starts with enlightenment. We must make conscious behaviors and habits to train our mind and will that Jesus has all authority and power and dominion, and is above every name that is named and to be named. If you don’t have an awareness of his power it will be hard to believe and walk in his promises. All things are under his feet, and his body on earth is the living church which has a fullness for all who would choose to be adopted into the inheritance he purchased.

Revelation 2:1-7

Lessons from those who lost sight of what is most important:

1- You can be right, and still be wrong. Your faithful toil, fierce persistence, and hunger to be doctrinally sound can miss the mark if it has not been doused in a deep love for God and your neighbor. Your desire to be right cannot replace your desire to be obedient. Your desire to be right cannot replace your hunger for proximity to God. Your desire to be right cannot replace the first love. There is a difference between being right and righteous.

2- Self inventory, assessment, and alteration is paramount to salvation and sanctification. The deeds you did at first should be the habits that are sustaining your soul, not a phase when you were single and did not have responsibilities. There is no seniority or hierarchy in faith.. Only those who will submit, surrender, and rhythmically place all of their personhood in the hands and at the feet of Jesus.

3- Repenting and returning is accompanied with a promise from God; That you would eat from the tree of life within the paradise of Jesus. First love living results in eating the fruit of life in the spirit. Oftentimes we are ashamed to admit we lost that first love feeling, and are not happy with the fruit our lives are producing. Repent, return, and relearn how to live in Him again. There is life for you, and paradise for you, if you're willing to pay the cost.

Acts 19:18-29; 35-41..

How to take care of the riots, riches, and idols before the bull kicks

1- The idolatry today is syncretism. The idea that Jesus can be merged with any other belief or self expression you feel is right. Whatever you're trying to convince yourself can co exist with God is what God will buck off the throne of your heart first and most likely painfully. Duplicity is the basis of destruction.

2- Exponential growth is most often behind exponential cost. What are the things that cost us most? These are the things that have the potential to grow us the most. If you will not pay a cost, you will not grow, and you will not grow unless you pay the cost of what growth requires. It is that simple. Growth comes from consistent, compounding behavior done over a long period of time.

3 - Life feels out of control and in chaos (a riot) if you do not have an awareness of the power over your relationship with God your personal idols and riches possess. Surrendering Lordship of your life is not partial access to our lives for full time promises from Him. It is God you have my everything, and I will pursue you into your everything for me.

Romans 7:4-6… 7:14-25

How to remind myself it's not about myself..

1- Your war is internal before it ever is external. The flesh’s focus is external while the spirit's focus is internal. One fights for appearances, another for wholeness. If your external fruit and circumstances is not something you are proud of you must double down on the inward development of a life in the spirit following the ways of Jesus.

2- You must create centering anchor habits. Anchoring is designed to keep us stable when the storms come… centering is about the spirit teaching us not to get too high or too low. Your habits will either keep you anchored and centered, or anxious, unsettled, and unrestrained. The goal is union with God, not rule compliance.

3- You cannot seek to be new while holding onto the old. How proactive are you attacking old ways of thinking, behaving, and functioning? This will determine the longevity and life you find walking with God. We carry something different when we profess faith in Jesus and walk his spirit. You cannot carry death and life simultaneously without one consuming the other. It's not just a new creation or an old creation, it's NEW or NOTHING.

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Mathew 13:44 ESV

1. People don’t often treasure things that are freely given and not earned. We tend to place higher value on what requires effort and sacrifice.

2. We often make excuses to hold onto things we know we shouldn’t, unaware that those things are blocking you from the true happiness Gods treasure can bring.

3. If you struggle giving up past sins to experience more of who who God is, maybe it’s not that the power of that sin is too strong. But rather it’s that you haven’t fully grasped the meaning of being in his presence.