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Teen Challenge Testimonies

9/18/2022

Teacher: Teen Challenge (Noah Dunnuck)
Series: Stand Alone

Ephesians 4:11-16

9/11/2022

Teacher: Rusty Kennedy
Series: Ephesians

Rusty's Notes

Acts 1:1-11 - I wrote the first narrative, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach 2 until the day he was taken up, after he had given instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3 After he had suffered, he also presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.
4 While he was with them, he commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the Father’s promise. “Which,” he said, “you have heard me speak about; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit in a few days.”
6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, are you restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?”
7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
9 After he had said this, he was taken up as they were watching, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 While he was going, they were gazing into heaven, and suddenly two men in white clothes stood by them. 11 They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into heaven? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come in the same way that you have seen him going into heaven.”[1]

Luke wrote Acts and only the first 11 verses speak about Jesus doing ministry.
What we have today is reliant on the Spirit working through the believers… that would be the Church.

Ephesians 4:7 - Now grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.[2]

The gifts came from Jesus.

UNITY AND DIVERSITY IN THE BODY OF CHRIST
EPHESIANS 4:11-16
11 And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers,

(1 Corinthians 12 & Romans 12)
These verses do not refer to individual Christian lives but to the collective life of the saints.
The individual saint cannot be perfected apart from others.
“He gave some to be apostles…” for what purpose? To show how clever they were, what gifts they had? No, “for the perfecting of the saints.”
‎No saint can ever be perfected in isolation or in any other way than God has lain down.
Apostles - A messenger of God - one sent my Jesus Christ and God the Father.
They had the responsibility of imparting the truth taught by Christ.
They were the final authority in the early church (1 Corinthians 14:37).
They had been with Jesus. (1 Corinthians 9:1).

‎Two thoughts today...
1) The original 12 (including Paul) plus secondary apostles who were of the early church.
Apostles of Jesus and Apostles of the Church.
2) Apostles today? Silas & Timothy were referred to as apostles.
Those who take the message of Jesus into virgin territory.
We call them missionaries today.

Prophets - ‎Refers, not to those who foretell the future, but to preachers and expounders of the Word for the purpose of encouraging and strengthening the church.
Their message had to line up with the Apostles' doctrine.
Apostles and prophets are viewed as necessary roles in building the foundation in the early church before manuscripts were available.
Ephesians 2:18-22 - For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So, then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God’s household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building, being put together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you are also being built together for God’s dwelling in the Spirit.[3]

Evangelists - ‎travelling missionaries both in home and foreign lands.
They are gifted with the ability to express the plan of salvation with clarity and conviction.
Remember Romans 2:4 - God leads to repentance through his kindness.

Pastors - Shepherd, one that cares for their flock. Also referred to as "elders", "overseers" or "bishops".
Remember that the flock is not our own but is the Lord's flock.
Jesus is the ultimate authority in the church.

Teachers - Teacher of the Word.
Pastors/Teachers are viewed as the same person. ‎

If God reveals things to you above the rest of the community, he will place you in middle of that group.

He doesn't give you the insight to make you better than the other people but to give you more responsibility.
It is not something you earn or vie for.
He will put you there.
Your insight can cause you to become critical of the ministers and instead of being intercessors for them, you choose to be fault-finders and will be left on the outside.

12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ,

All ministries, which are God’s gifts, are given to the local bodies to equip saints for ministry to one another.
‎‎‎Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers can minister only to saints who assemble together in fellowship.
That is why His Word bears down so hard on “proud flesh,” insisting that we understand and confess that no human gifts, no human talents can accomplish the ultimate and eternal work of God.
You can write it down as a fact: No matter what a man does, no matter how successful he seems to be in any field, if the Holy Spirit is not the chief Energizer of his activity, it will all fall apart when he dies.
‎
‎‎Perhaps the saddest part about all this is that the man may be honored at his death for his talents and abilities, but he will learn the truth in that great day when our Lord judges the work of every person.
That which is solely his own work, accomplished by his own talent, will be recognized as nothing but wood, hay and straw.
‎To equip saints for ministry to one another... It is the pastor/teachers responsibility to teach the flock.
2 Timothy 4:2-5 - Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and encourage with great patience and teaching. 3 For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will multiply teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear what they want to hear. 4 They will turn away from hearing the truth and will turn aside to myths. 5 But as for you, exercise self-control in everything, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.[4]
‎Teach the saints who they are and they will naturally take care of one another.
‎The pastor/teacher should be the last one to visit you at the hospital.
‎The pastor/teacher cannot take the group to any deeper spiritual depth than he is himself.
You want teacher studying. You want me to go deeper.
‎Each believer grasps their spiritual gift and learns how to use it accordingly in the body to build up the body. (small groups, everyday needs, encouragement, organization, fixing things, etc,)

13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into maturity with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness.

In times of testing and hardship, I have heard Christians cry in their discouragement, “How can I believe that God loves me?”
The fact is, God loves us to such a degree that He will use every necessary means to mature us until we reach “unity of the faith” and attain “unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ”
Our unity of faith is founded on this "filter of our identity in Christ."
Where do we get the knowledge of God's Son? Read the Word and the Spirit will reveal it to you.
Christ's fullness - Ephesians 3:17-19 - and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love, 19 and to know Christ’s love that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. [5]

14 Then we will no longer be little children, tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching, by human cunning with cleverness in the techniques of deceit.

Children - "not speaking infants"
Saints are capable of verbalizing and applying what they know to be truth.
The enemy wants to deceive even the church... but it is hard to trick the mature.

15 But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into him who is the head—Christ.

The true Christian fears God with a trembling reverence and yet he is not afraid of God at all.
He draws near to Him with full assurance of faith and victory, and yet at the same time is trembling with holy awe and fear.
The world will never understand that the Christian, though born on earth, still knows by faith that he is a citizen of heaven!

‎‎
‎‎A.W. Tozer - In an effort to get the work of the Lord done we often lose contact with the Lord of the work and quite literally wear our people out as well. I have heard more than one pastor boast that his church was a “live” one, pointing to the printed calendar as a proof—something on every night and several meetings during the day.… A great many of these time-consuming activities are useless and others plain ridiculous. “But,” say the eager beavers who run the religious squirrel cages, “they provide fellowship and they hold our people together.”
‎‎To this I reply that what they provide is not fellowship at all, and if that is the best thing the church has to offer to hold the people together it is not a Christian church in the New Testament meaning of that word. The center of attraction in a true church is the Lord Jesus Christ.…
‎‎If the many activities engaged in by the average church led to the salvation of sinners or the perfecting of believers they would justify themselves easily and triumphantly; but they do not. My observations have led me to the belief that many, perhaps most, of the activities engaged in by the average church do not contribute in any way to the accomplishing of the true work of Christ on earth. I hope I am wrong, but I am afraid I am right.

‎We must say focused. We are learning to live our life by another... that life being Jesus

16 From him the whole body, fitted and knit together by every supporting ligament, promotes the growth of the body for building itself up in love by the proper working of each individual part.[6]

Through the individual relationships within the body, "the whole body" grows with a growth which is from God and each believer is empowered by Christ's life!
The joint is where two believers, each possessing a totally different spiritual gift, come together.
The joint is where the gifts of the Holy Spirit pass from one believer to the other for the purpose of bringing the entire body together.
The principle of the cross - doing things for what others might receive than for what we might receive.
An isolated Christian cannot minister to others, nor can others minister to him, and it is impossible for the gifts to be ministered either way.[7]

The Body of Jesus Christ, at rest, works!

[1] Christian Standard Bible (Ac 1:1–11). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.
[2] Christian Standard Bible (Eph 4:7). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.
[3] Christian Standard Bible (Eph 2:18–22). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.
[4] Christian Standard Bible (2 Ti 4:2–5). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.
[5] Christian Standard Bible (Eph 3:17–19). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.
[6] Christian Standard Bible (Eph 4:11–16). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.
[7] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, p. 39). Victor Books.

Ephesians 4:1-10

9/4/2022

Teacher: Rusty Kennedy
Series: Ephesians

Rusty's Notes

We come now to an important dividing point in this letter. The first three chapters contain doctrine, the last three, exhortation.
In brief, God says in chapters 1–3, “I have made you a saint.”
In chapters 4–6, He says, “Now, live a saintly life.”

UNITY AND DIVERSITY IN THE BODY OF CHRIST
EPHESIANS 4:1-10
1 Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received,

Unity is not uniformity.
Unity comes from within and is a spiritual grace.
“Therefore” reaches back to all the blessings and exalted positions in salvation which the saints enjoy (ch. 1–3), and reaches ahead to the byproduct with such privileges put upon the saints.
The word “worthy” (axiōs) means “equal weight”; one’s calling and conduct should be in balance.
The word “calling” in English sometimes means “occupation” as, “His calling was that of a shoemaker.”
But it is not so used here.
Paul’s thought is that sinners were called into salvation and made saints.
They are to be obedient to that heavenly calling or summons to be saints, and live saintly lives. (Wuest)
Matt Chandler – Suspended – inappropriate behavior
As an overseer, be above reproach
Reproach - a cause or occasion of blame, discredit, or disgrace.

2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,

1) Humility - lowliness
2) Gentleness - Meekness is not weakness - It is power under control
3) Patience - long-suffering - long-tempered - ability to endure discomfort without fighting back
4) Forbearance - accepting one another - a grace that cannot be experienced apart from love
5) Love - Fruit of the Spirit
We are to bear with one another “in love.”
It is in the sphere of the love that God the Holy Spirit produces in the heart of the yielded believer (Gal. 5:22), that we are to be patient with each other as misunderstandings arise, as cutting words are said, as unkind actions are done.
The love shown at Calvary was a forgiving love.
Ours should be the same.

3 making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

6) Endeavor - diligently keeping unity of the Spirit - maintain or guard
7) Peace - When the peace of God rules in our hearts, then we build upon unity.
Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other?
They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow.
So one hundred worshipers meeting together, each one looking away to Christ, are in better tune to each other than they could possibly be were they to become “unity” conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship.
Social faith is perfected when private faith is purified.
The body becomes stronger as its members become healthier.
The whole church of God gains when the members that compose it begin to seek a better and a higher life. (Tozer)
Blessed is the congregation that has found the spiritual maturity and understanding to honestly confess, “Our congregation is so keenly aware of the presence of Jesus in our midst that our entire fellowship is an unceasing communion!”
What a joyful experience it is for us in this church age to be part of a congregation drawn together by the desire to know God’s presence, to sense His nearness.
Unity in Christ is not something to be achieved; it is something to be recognized.
Peace is the binding factor which will preserve the unity which the Spirit has produced.
Peace means… sometimes it is better to just shut your mouth.

4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope, at your calling--

Unity built on anything other than Bible truth is standing on a very shaky foundation.
Paul names here the seven basic spiritual realities that unite all true Christians.
1) One Body - The body is the invisible Church, the Mystical Body of Christ composed of believers saved between Pentecost when the Church was formed and when Jesus returns.
2) One Spirit - The Holy Spirit that indwells every believer.
3) One hope of your calling - Ephesians 1:13-14 In him you also were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed. 14 The Holy Spirit is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of the possession, to the praise of his glory.[1]

5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism,

4) One Lord - Jesus Christ - It is difficult to believe that two believers can claim to obey the same Lord, and yet not be able to walk together in unity.
5) One Faith - “Faith” is not the Christian Faith as a system of doctrine and its respective responsibilities.
It refers to the principle of faith by means of which all the saints enter into salvation.
6) One Baptism - There was and is one common placing into the Body of Christ. (Jews & Gentiles)
1 Corinthians 12:13 - For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and we were all given one Spirit to drink.[2]

6 one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.

7) One God and Father - We are children in the same family, loving and serving the same Father, so we ought to be able to walk together in unity.
For Paul the unity of the church reflects the unity of the Godhead: One God, One Lord and One Spirit.

7 Now grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.

A spiritual gift is a God-given ability to serve God and other Christians in such a way that Christ is glorified and believers are edified.
One having it in larger measure and another in smaller, but each getting it from the same Hand and with the same purpose.”
We must be careful to note that this grace has to do with the exercise of special gifts for service, not the grace for daily living.
The former is limited, and is adjusted to the kind of gift and the extent to which the Holy Spirit desires to use that gift in the believer’s service.
The latter is unlimited and subject only to the limitations which the believer puts upon it by a lack of yieldedness to the Spirit.
The context here, (4:11-12), is one of service, not of general Christian experience.
Every believer (each one) has been given a spiritual gift to use for the purpose of the body of Christ.
This is where the Church gets you to take a spiritual gifts analysis and then assigns you an assortment of tasks and committees to serve as part of the church programming.
What is your spiritual gift? Most of you, I could tell you what it is because I can see it.
Be involved in the fellowship and figure out what your gift is… something that edifies Christ through the people or body of Christ.

8 For it says:
When he ascended on high,
he took the captives captive;
he gave gifts to people. (Psalm 68:18)

or "He lead the captives"
The word here is not charisma (χαρισμα), referring to special gifts such as the gifts noted in I Cor. 12:4–11, but doma (δομα), a general term for that which is given.
These gifts are the gifted men mentioned in 4:11.
Christ gave these gifts to the Church when He ascended to Heaven.

9 But what does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower parts of the earth? 10 The one who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens, to fill all things.[3]

During the OT time, the souls of the dead went to a place in the lower parts of the earth referred to as Sheoul (Hebrew) or Hades (Greek).
Sheoul/Hades had two sides (Luke 16:19-31 - Rich Man & Abraham). The saved side is known as Abaraham's Bosom or Paradise (Luke 23:43). The lost side, hell, was a place of torment for the unrighteous dead.
When Jesus physically died his body was placed in a tomb.
His soul & Spirit went to the saved side of Sheoul/Hades known as Paradise.
Jesus made a proclamation to the spirits on the hell side (1 Peter 3:19).
God would not allow for Jesus to remain in Sheoul (Psalm 16:10) so he was joined with his resurrected body and ascended to heaven (Acts 1:1-11).
That is one interpretation.
What if it is in reference to Jesus descending to earth as a human being?
What if it is in reference to the Spirit being sent to live in each believer? (Acts 2:4)
Paul taught that Christ is the Giver of these gifts, through the Holy Spirit (Eph. 4:8–10).
He ascended to heaven as Victor forevermore.
The picture here is of a military conqueror leading his captives and sharing the spoil with his followers.
Only in this case, the “captives” are not His enemies, but His own.
Sinners who once were held captives by sin and Satan have now been taken captive by Christ.
Even death itself is a defeated foe![4]
No matter what, you have a Spirit living in you.

You have been gifted by this Spirit to love one another, therefore edifying God the Father, Jesus the Son through the work of the indwelling Spirit.

[1] Christian Standard Bible (Eph 1:13–14). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.
[2] Christian Standard Bible (1 Co 12:13). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.
[3] Christian Standard Bible (Eph 4:1–10). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.
[4] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, p. 37). Victor Books.

Teen Challenge Testimonies

Ephesians 4:11-16

Rusty's Notes

Ephesians 4:1-10

Rusty's Notes

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