Welcome to 15 Minutes in the Word with New York Times bestselling author Joyce Meyer. On today's program, Joyce will be teaching from her series on the book of Ephesians. Are you ready to go deeper in your relationship with God? The book of Ephesians is foundational for every believer to understand their identity as a follower of Christ.
Join Joyce today as she teaches from Ephesians chapter by chapter, helping reveal to us who we are in Christ and just how much He loves us. Now here's Joyce with today's series on Ephesians. Philippians 2, 5, let this same attitude and purpose and humble mind be in you, which was in Christ Jesus.
You know what? If you find yourself not even wanting to listen to somebody else's opinion about something, your pride-o-meter needs to go off big time. We need to be able to respect other people's opinions. Even if we don't agree with them, we should be able to respect their right to have them. Amen.
And we should also be willing to listen to other people because guess what? Nobody knows it all. There's not any one of us that has all the answers and knows it all and has nothing that we can learn. No matter how much you know or I know about any situation, we still can learn more.
And you'd be surprised some of the sources we can learn from if we will just open up our hearts and let God teach us. Let Jesus be your example in humility. He willingly laid aside his divinity and became a man, died on the cross for us, and sacrificed his life. In John 13, we see the greatest example of humility because humility always turns into servanthood.
It always turns into being willing to do things for other people, even little seemingly insignificant things, and not having to have credit for it. I think maybe I'll say that again. It turns into a willingness to do seemingly insignificant, even menial things for people that maybe are way below your skillset. Maybe you could do so much more, but the Bible says that we should make ourselves as a servant. And I think it's good for all of us to just, especially those that are in authority and you're the supervisor or the boss or...
Whatever is going on, you should purposely make yourself a servant to some other people just to keep yourself in check and not start thinking more highly of yourself than you ought to. One of the ways we can show humility is by taking the time to talk to other people that usually are ignored by everybody. The world is full of hurting people, and we're the ones that's supposed to be showing them the love of Christ.
So as believers, we don't get to go out in the world and just act like everybody else. You are a standard bearer. We are to set the standard of behavior for the rest of the people that we know. And you know as well as I do that many times in the world today, it is very hard just by looking to tell who's a Christian and who's not.
And that's pretty sad. I want everybody to know that I'm a believer in Christ without me having to tell them. Amen. I'll give you an example of humility that always blesses me. You know, these guys that come and lead our worship, I mean, they're known all over the world.
First of all, they wouldn't have to be here, but they come and they sit in these meetings and they listen. They take notes. They're interested. And I love it when people humble themselves to do something that they really wouldn't have to do.
That's showing that they don't think they're the end all of everything. And there's so many things that we can do that will let other people know. Like my husband, he sits in every one of these meetings and Dave laughs at my jokes, although he's heard them a thousand times before.
He knows what I'm going to say half the time before I say it. And he, I don't know if he is or not, but the man looks really interested all the time. I mean, he honestly looks interested.
And I think that That says a lot about character. See, what we're looking for today is character in an age of image. Today, everything is about image. How many people are on my Facebook? How many people responded to my tweet?
Boy, now we've got Periscope and Snapchat. I mean, it just keeps going on and on and on. I got lost at the selfies. I can't. I mean, I cannot stand around and take pictures of myself all day.
It just doesn't work for me. It just doesn't. And besides that, I end up looking like I've got a real, I mean, I've tried a few times and it just does not turn out right.
Amen. I love to see people who have a servant's heart and who, now listen to me, what I'm going to say, and who do things that will make other people feel better. Let's do things to make other people feel better. You know, there's a lot of speakers that don't show up during the worship. I'm always in our worship.
Always in our worship. I will not sit in the back room during worship. I'm here to worship God. The worship helps prepare me for the preaching. And a lot of places where I go to teach, they'll say to me, well, what time do you want to go out?
I said, right now. I want to be there. I want to be in the worship. See, if we're only showing up somewhere just to do our part. I'm not here just to come out on the platform and be the big star.
I'm here to participate with everybody else in worshiping God and learning and growing. Amen. And that's important.
Dave's always here right from the beginning. Once in a while, when he goes out on Friday night and signs books, people keep him a little bit longer, but he's always, always, always in here. You know, one of the most important things that we see about Jesus is found in John 13. He washed his disciples'feet.
It says he took off his garment and he put on a servant's towel. And when he was finished, he laid aside the towel and put back on his garment. And there's such a message there. We may have a cloak of authority and we may have a cloak of importance or whatever it is, but we need to be willing to lay that aside sometimes and put on a servant's towel.
And then when we're done doing the menial thing God wants us to do, you can put it back on and walk in the thing that you're called to do. Thank you. Somebody likes this.
All right, patience. Wow. We're only in verse two. I'm in trouble.
Being patient with the timing of God is so important in our lives. The Bible says the patient in spirit is better than the proud. And listen, James 1, 4, man, we've heard this and heard it, but This is a mouthful. Let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be people perfectly and fully developed with no defects, lacking in nothing.
This scripture is saying that if a person can ever become fully patient, there will be a mature person lacking in nothing. You know what that means? If I'm completely patient, I'm happy no matter what's going on in my life.
Wouldn't that be cool? Okay, moving on. Verses three through six talk about the importance of unity. Wow.
How much peace and unity do you have in your life? How much peace do you have in your home? How much strife is there? How much peace do you have in your church, at your workplace, at your school? And you know, you can't make everybody else get along, but you can do your part to get along with everybody else.
Romans 12 says, as far as you're concerned, be at peace with all men. I can't always get everybody else to be peaceful with me, but I can refuse to be in strife with them. And I can stand here today and tell you, and I'm not saying it in a way of bragging.
It took a long time to get here. There is nobody that I am mad at. There is not one person that I can think of that I'm holding anything against, that I'm offended by, that I'm angry at, that I'm bitter towards, that I'm resentful towards, and if something comes up, I'm not going to put up with it.
I'm going to get on my face and stay before God until he sets me free from it, because I will not live angry. And I don't know who you might or might not be mad at today, but this would be a really cool place to just let it go, let it go and go home without it. Do everything you can to get the strife out of your homes.
Kids don't get along. Kids don't get along with their parents. Parents don't get along with each other.
You know, the Bible says in James that where there is strife, There will be rebellion and every evil work. So guess what, mom and dad? If you're in strife all the time with each other, you can expect to have rebellious kids.
I mean, your kids don't need to think that you're perfect, but they don't need to see you fighting and arguing all the time. Kids need the stability of believing that their parents love each other and that things can be worked out. Psalm 133, where there's unity, there is anointing and blessing. I love Psalm 133. There where there's unity, the anointing abides and there's blessing on that house.
So then I guess I have to assume where there is no unity, there is no anointing and there is no blessing. You say, well, it's not my fault. I'm just living in the house with somebody it's hard to get along with.
If they would change. Don't make me go there. I don't have time to go there today. Matthew 5, 9. Blessed, enjoying enviable happiness, spiritually prosperous with life, joy, and satisfaction in God's favor and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions.
Come on, he's saying, look, you can be happy no matter what your outward conditions are. If you'll be a maker and a maintainer of peace, you work for peace. Peace is not going to fall on us like ripe fruit falling off a tree. If you want to get along with people, you're going to have to do it on purpose.
I got one brother out here that's in agreement with me. You're fun to preach to. I'll just give you a few hints. You don't always have to have the last word.
If you're married, stop giving your husband driving directions. It's a fight waiting to happen. Matter of fact, the least bit of advice you can give your husband, the better off you are.
Because he doesn't want it, and he's probably not going to take it. Maybe once in a while, occasionally, but not real often. God told me a long time ago, you're a teacher, but you're not Dave's teacher. Because I've just got a big teacher in me.
I'm telling you what, you got a problem, I got an answer. I can fix it for you. At least I think I can. You could occasionally say I was wrong. Boy, does that stop a lot of arguments.
Thanks for listening. The Bible is more than just a good book. It's God's instructional manual for life. It's also the secret to experiencing true growth and change. That's why God never intends for us to feel like time with Him is a project or an obligation.
It's just the opposite. His desire is for our time in the Bible to be simple, enjoyable, and full of life. So are you ready? Make the choice to go deeper into God's Word and discover how it's one thing you just can't live without. For more resources from Joyce, visit JoyceMeyer.org.
The Bible, our instruction book for life. Spending time in God's Word will change our lives. but consistent and effective study can at times be challenging.
That's one reason why Joyce is here to help. At JoyceMeyer.org slash Bible Study, you'll find ways to make your study time come to life with helpful resources, study suggestions, and encouragement from Joyce. Get the most you can out of your time studying God's Word with Everyday Study.
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