[April 26, 2026] Will You Follow Me?

Apr 26, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: Fruit and the Father of Lies

The serpent slithered into Eden with a question dripping like poison: “Did God really say?” Eve stood by the forbidden tree, its fruit gleaming. The accuser twisted truth, painting God as a liar withholding good. Eve bit. Adam followed. Their teeth pierced flesh as rebellion’s juice ran down their chins. Death entered through a single lie. [05:58]

Satan still whispers half-truths to isolate you from God’s voice. He recasts boundaries as cruelty and sin as liberation. Jesus called him the father of lies—every deception aims to murder your trust in God’s goodness.

What lie have you swallowed this week? Write it down. Then read John 8:44 aloud: “He is a liar and the father of lies.” Tear the paper. Burn it. Crush ashes under your shoe. Where have you let the serpent’s hiss drown out your Shepherd’s voice?

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, ‘Indeed, has God said, “You shall not eat from any tree of the garden”?’”
(Genesis 3:1, NASB)

Prayer: Ask Jesus to expose one lie you’ve believed about His character.
Challenge: Text a trusted friend: “What truth from Scripture do I need today?”

Day 2: Dead Men Walking

Paul grabs your shoulders: “You were dead.” Not sick. Not confused. Dead. You floated downstream in sin’s current, lungs filled with worldliness, Satan’s breath, and fleshly cravings. Corpses can’t resuscitate themselves. The prince of the air laughed as you clawed at phantom life. [11:34]

Spiritual death isn’t a metaphor. It’s existence without God’s breath—zombies chasing pleasure, power, or praise. The world’s systems, our broken desires, and demonic forces conspire to keep us entombed.

You still smell grave clothes when old habits resurface. What corpse-like behavior have you normalized? Name one area where you’ve accepted death as “just how I am.” Jesus stands at your tomb. Will you let Him call you into living air?

“And you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.”
(Ephesians 2:1-2, NASB)

Prayer: Confess one sin that’s kept you playing dead.
Challenge: Open a window. Breathe deeply 3 times while whispering: “Christ made me alive.”

Day 3: But God in Mercy’s Dawn

Three verses of death. Then two words split the darkness: “But God.” The Father lunged toward His dead children, mercy’s robes billowing. He didn’t send a self-help book. He gave His Son. Jesus plunged into your grave, shoved aside the stone, and shouted, “Live!” [16:32]

Mercy means God gives what we don’t deserve—His presence. Love compelled Him to rewrite your story. You’re no longer defined by failures but by His “But God” intervention.

Your resume of shame means nothing. His grace erases the ledger. What “But God” moment defines you? Was it the relapse He redeemed? The divorce He healed? Tell that story today. Whose deadness needs your testimony’s spark?

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ.”
(Ephesians 2:4-5, NASB)

Prayer: Thank Jesus for one specific “But God” rescue in your life.
Challenge: Share your “But God” story with one person before sunset.

Day 4: Thieves and Full Sheepfolds

The thief scales the fence, knife in teeth. He’ll slit throats to steal your joy, kill your purpose, and destroy your peace. But the Shepherd stands guard, scars on His hands. His voice cuts through the night: “I came that they may have life—abundant life.” [08:07]

Satan wants you numb. Jesus wants you overflowing. Abundance isn’t excess—it’s sufficiency in Christ. The thief shrinks your world to cravings; the Shepherd expands it to eternal horizons.

What have you let the thief take? Time? Purity? Peace? Stand at the fence line today. Rebuke his whispers with John 10:10. What one choice would make your heart feel fully alive?

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”
(John 10:10, NASB)

Prayer: Claim aloud: “Jesus guarantees my abundance.”
Challenge: Replace 30 minutes of screen time with life-giving activity (prayer walk, worship music, serving).

Day 5: Grace-Woven Hands

Grace isn’t a blanket—it’s a loom. God threads your story into His tapestry of redemption. You’re His poiēma—His poem, His masterpiece. Those rescued from death don’t wander aimlessly. You walk prepared paths, good works stitched into your DNA. [25:55]

Salvation isn’t fire insurance. It’s apprenticeship. Jesus pulls you from the wreckage and hands you tools: “Build with Me.” Your healed hands now feed the hungry. Your forgiven mouth now speaks hope.

What kingdom project makes your heart race? Don’t spiritualize it—do it. Make the meal. Write the check. Teach the child. Who needs your hands as Christ’s hands today?

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
(Ephesians 2:10, NASB)

Prayer: Ask God to spotlight one “good work” He’s prepared for you this week.
Challenge: Perform one tangible act of service before bedtime (e.g., tip double, send an encouraging note).

Sermon Summary

The text frames discipleship as a clear, urgent choice: follow Jesus into abundant life or remain enslaved to sin, death, and the powers of darkness. It presents the gospel in the biblical narrative arc: humanity fell to deception, entered spiritual death, and now lives in the tension of the now and the not yet. The enemy operates through persuasive ideas that promise autonomy and redefine good and evil, and those deceptions have real, destructive effects on individuals and societies.

Scripture in Genesis and the Gospels exposes the enemy as a liar whose strategy targets desire and autonomy, while Jesus invites people into life, truth, and relationship as the good shepherd who gives life in abundance. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians sharpens the diagnosis: people were spiritually dead under the course of this world, the ruler of the air, and their own lusts. Into that hopeless state God intervened. God, rich in mercy and great in love, made people alive with Christ, raised them, and seated them with Christ in the heavenly places, inaugurating a new humanity that already participates in the age to come.

Grace appears as a gift that cannot be earned, yet it intends to create a real relationship that produces transformed living. Grace arrives unconditioned but not unconditional: it requires a response of faith that bears fruit. Salvation functions in three dimensions: saved from judgment and bondage, saved to eternal relationship, and saved for present, divinely prepared good works. Those good works flow from the Spirit and display the kingdom in everyday acts of care, justice, and service.

The summons is practical and expectant. Belief must move beyond assent into trusting that who Jesus says a person is becomes true in life: alive, raised, and seated. That trust reshapes patterns of behavior, frees people from the power of the world and the flesh, and calls them into the specific works God prepared beforehand. The closing prayer underscores confidence in God’s mighty power, the church’s place as Christ’s body, and an invitation to live out the abundant life now, cooperating with God’s reconciling work in the world.

Key Takeaways

1. Choose to follow or remain enslaved The gospel sets two irreconcilable options: follow Jesus into life or continue under the control of sin and darkness. Choosing allegiance shapes identity, desires, and destiny because whatever a person follows becomes their master. This choice matters now, not just later; it determines how daily decisions form the soul and community. Make the choice that reorients affections toward Christ and his kingdom. [02:54]
2. Deceptive ideas seize autonomy from God The enemy targets autonomy by offering ideas that make divine command seem oppressive and personal desire seem liberating. Those lies reframe good and evil according to appetite, not covenant, producing communities and habits that devour life. Recognizing the pattern of deception helps dismantle false narratives and reclaim truth as the basis for flourishing. Resist the seduction by tracing desires back to their theological claims. [06:20]
3. Made alive, raised, and seated God’s intervention changes status, not merely behavior: people move from spiritual death to life united with Christ, already raised and seated with him. That new status reshapes how suffering, temptation, and power function because believers now share Christ’s authority and future. Living from that reality shifts the Christian life from striving to resting and acting out of identity. Live consistently from the new position given in Christ. [17:36]
4. Grace requires an embodied response Grace comes as an unmerited gift designed to form real relationship, not to leave faith inert. It cannot be earned, yet it invites a faith that produces visible fruit and ethical transformation. The interplay of gift and response means believers bear works not to merit favor but to embody the reality of their rescue. Let faith produce practices that display the Spirit’s life. [22:46]
5. Live out the good works prepared Salvation includes a vocational dimension: God prepares specific works for people to do that display the kingdom. Small, faithful acts of service, generosity, and mercy join God’s reconciling work and testify to the new age breaking in. Obedience to these prepared works flows from identity and becomes the medium of transformation for others. Begin with the next practical thing done with love. [26:27]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[00:27] - Opening prayer and posture
[01:40] - Will you follow me?
[02:07] - Kingdom now and not yet
[04:35] - The serpent’s deception in Genesis
[08:56] - Ephesians 2: dead in trespasses
[16:32] - But God: made alive, raised, seated
[21:24] - Grace: gift and required response
[26:27] - Respond by walking in good works
[29:54] - Paul’s prayer and closing amens

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading
Ephesians 2:1-10 (ESV)
1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Observation questions

According to Ephesians 2:1-3, what three forces kept people spiritually dead before God’s intervention?
In verses 4-6, what three actions does Paul say God took to rescue believers?
The sermon emphasized that grace is “unconditioned but not unconditional” [22:46]. How does Ephesians 2:8-10 clarify the relationship between grace, faith, and works?
What phrase in Ephesians 2:1-10 signals the pivotal shift from humanity’s hopeless state to God’s intervention?

Interpretation questions

Why does Paul describe people as “by nature children of wrath” (v. 3) in light of the Genesis 3 story of deception [04:35]? How does this connect to the idea of autonomy from God?
What does it mean practically to be “seated with [Christ] in the heavenly places” (v. 6) while still living in a broken world? How might this truth reshape daily struggles or temptations?
The sermon stated, “Grace cannot be earned, yet it invites a faith that produces visible fruit” [22:46]. How does Ephesians 2:8-10 resolve the tension between grace as a gift and the call to do good works?
How does the enemy’s strategy of “deceptive ideas” (as seen in Genesis 3) [05:58] contrast with the “good works prepared beforehand” (v. 10) that believers are called to walk in?

Application questions

The text says we were once “dead” but are now “alive” in Christ. What daily choices or habits might reflect a life still influenced by “the course of this world” (v. 2) versus one lived from your new identity?
The enemy’s lies often target autonomy—the belief that “God is holding out on you” [05:58]. Where do you sense a desire for control or self-reliance in your life? How could trusting God’s definition of “good” shift those areas?
Ephesians 2:10 says God prepared specific good works for you. What small, practical act of service or kindness (e.g., coaching, volunteering, generosity) [29:23] could you prioritize this week to join God’s reconciling work?
The sermon urged believers to “live consistently from the new position given in Christ” [17:36]. How might remembering you are “raised and seated” with Jesus change your perspective on a current challenge or fear?
Paul emphasizes that salvation includes being “saved for” good works. What is one area where you’ve reduced faith to private belief instead of letting it transform how you love others?

Sermon Clips

30s

#LiveInJesusAuthority

“"Man, if we could just begin to live in the power and the authority that is ours in Jesus, if we could actually believe that we were created for good works that he prepared in advance for us to do. If we believed that we are no longer under the thumb of sin and Satan and the evil one, but we are free to walk in the abundant life that Jesus offers us. What might God do?”

31s

#DeceptionOfAutonomy

“"This deception is twofold. The evil one wants us to seize autonomy from God and to redefine good and evil based on our own ideas, the voices in our heads, and the inclinations of our hearts. And the thing is, this strategy works. It's been working from the beginning. You only need to turn on the news, open your social media feed, or just look at your own life outside of God to see that it's true.”

32s

#WorldFleshAndTheEnemy

“"Paul sees three contributing factors to this death that he listed here. The course of the world, the prince of the power of the air which is Satan, and the lust of our flesh and of our mind. Paul is making a pretty major claim about reality here. Paul is saying that these three enemies, the world, the flesh and the evil one are killing us and there is nothing that we can do about it.”

31s

#GraceRequiresResponse

“"And so what Paul is saying, grace is a gift, and grace is a free gift. Grace is unmerited, we cannot earn it, we cannot work for it, there's nothing that we can do to deserve it. But grace does require a response from us. There's a scholar named John Barclay who really helped me unpack this, and the way that he phrases this idea is that grace is unconditioned, but grace is not unconditional.”

26s

#GraceNotEarnedRespond

“"We might be uncomfortable with this idea because of our ideas about gift giving and because of the pushback to the legalism that came out of the reformation. There's a lot of good reasons for us to feel uncomfortable about this. Hear me again, grace cannot be earned. Grace is the free gift of God, but there is a response on our part to the grace of God. Jesus, Paul, the new testament testament writers, they had no qualms about this.”

32s

#CreatedForRelationship

“"Remember, the overarching story of the bible, we were created for God, for relationship with God, to rule and reign alongside him. We were deceived by the evil one. We rebelled against him, and now under the influence of what Paul calls the powers and the principalities and the dark spiritual forces of this world, people and communities and institutions are actively trying to derail and destroy God's good plan and the people that he loves.”

31s

#GiftCreatesConnection

“"Now in our western culture, we see the purest level of gift giving as being a gift that is given with no strings attached. But that is not the way that traditional cultures view gift giving. Not today, in the world today, and certainly not in the time of Jesus and the time of Paul. They grew up in a culture where a gift was given for the purpose of creating a connection, for the purpose of establishing a relationship.”

30s

#NewHumanityInTheOverlap

“"Raised up with him. In the resurrection, Jesus inaugurated a new age and a new humanity. This present age is defined by sin and evil and violence and pain. And the age to come that Jesus inaugurated by his resurrection is defined by love and justice and mercy and peace and God's very presence. And we live as the new humanity in the overlap.”

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