Eph 1_15-19 Prayer for the Saints

Secular:

•   Okay everybody leave
• Go
• Get out
• Scram
• Some might
• Tentatively
• But if I said…
• That centre beam above your head appears to be giving way…
• You may want to move it an orderly fashion to the parking lot… before being crushed
•  You may be motivated…
•  We been motivated by God’s Word
•  Saints… Chosen… Adopted… Redeemed… Sealed
•  He Has my attention…

Biblical:

Thanksgiving and Prayer

Ephesians 1:15 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might

Personal:

•    A rich inheritance calls us to great responsibility…
• Most $1m plus winners blow it within 2 .5 years
• Failure to recognize their great gift
• Never appreciate the wealth…
• We don’t want to fall into the trap of squandering our inheritance
• In the letter to the Ephesians… Paul
• Commends the evidence of their faith
• Responds with the Activity of Prayer
• and… Communicates his desire for them.

Bridge:

• Evidence
• Activity
• Desire
• Those who have been called… hear the Word

Body:

Evidence

Ephesians 1:15 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints,

• Because of that great inheritance…
• That God blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places
• Chosen, redeemed, and sealed…
•  You have demonstrated who you are… in Christ… as children of God…
• 2 Things
• 1st Faith in Christ
• 2nd Love of the Saints… other Christians
• Unified thought… love Christ love the saints…
• 1 John 2:9-11 (ESV)
  9 Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. 10 Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. 11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
• Evidence of this great inheritance…
• 1st Faith in Christ
• Faith that exists…
• Faith that is manifest…real…
• Faith that four years from their last meeting… with Paul in a Roman Prison is still evident.
• Jas 2:26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.
• Faith in Christ is a visible testimony…
• Commendable by Paul…
• Recognizing Christ as Lord of All…
• Romans 10:9 (ESV)
  9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
• Evidence of this great inheritance…
• 1st Faith in Christ

• Evidence of this great inheritance…
• 2nd Love of the Saints… other Christians
• 1 John 3:14 (ESV)
  14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.
• Mark of Genuine belief!
• 1 Corinthians 13:1 (ESV)
  1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
• Useless…
• 1 John 3:16-18 (ESV)
  16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. 17 But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? 18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
• Real and Manifest… lay down life…
• 1 John 5:1 (ESV)
  1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.
• Casual… direct relationships
• Love is immanent… not distant or remote…
• Hebrews 10:23-25 (ESV)
  23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
• Living the reality of our faith with other saints…
• Those that inherit the Kingdom…
• Brothers and Sisters
• An uncommon bond!
• Alumni…
• Evidence of this great inheritance…
• 1st Faith in Christ
• 2nd Love of the Saints… other Christians

Activity

16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers,

• Because you live your life of Faith in Christ and in Love with other Christians!
•  Their Pastor says… I GIVE THANKS!
• 1 John 5:1 (ESV)
  1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.
• Prayer to God…
• Glorifying God…
• Thanking God
• Petitioning God
• Love for the body rives us to our knees…
• We don’t cease to give thanks... for the Glory of God manifest in our presence… the body demonstrates the Glory in so many ways….
•  On our knees to the Glory of God
• On our knees thanking him for our faith and our family of believers…
•  Activity

Desire

17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might

• Prayer… that…
• That God… may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him

- AND -

• that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you
• What is Paul’s prayer?
• Their beloved Paul… who is sitting in Prison…
• Whose body is hundreds of miles away… whose love and passion and prayers are still focused on them…
• The pastor who has loved them…
• That you may know God
• That you may know your eternal destiny in Him
• And where exactly do we find these things out…
• Pastor’s throughout the ages have cried this prayer!
• 2 Peter 1:3 (ESV)
  3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,
• The Knowledge of Him….
• The Revelation of Him…
• 1 Corinthians 1:18 For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
•  The Word of the Gospel… the Divine Revelation… the Knowledge of God and the Heavenly Inheritance…
• It comes from the Word through the Spirit…
• But it comes from the Word….
• The Word defeats heresy - Colossians 2:8 (ESV)
  8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.
• Defeats legalism - Colossians 2:16-17 (ESV)
  16 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.
• Defeats pride - Colossians 2:18-19 (ESV)
  18 Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, 19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.
• It makes you whole in Christ! - Colossians 2:9-10 (ESV)
  9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.
•  Paul’s pastoral passion is that they would know God… intimately…
•  John 17:3 (ESV)
  3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
• That God would open the Eyes of my heart…
• Open the eyes of my heart Lord…
• Psalm 119:18 (ESV)
  18 Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.
• Know the Hope… Chosen, Adopted, redeemed, Sealed
• Know the Riches!... Colossians 1:12 (ESV)
  12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 1 Corinthians 13:12 (ESV)
  12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
•  Know the Power Towards us… Ephesians 1:19-23 (ESV)
  19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
•  But that’s next weeks sermon…
•  Know God!

Conclusion:

• Evidence…
• Do we give evidence to the Glory of God and our salvation
• Faith
• Ecclessia
• Activity...
• Do we pray without ceasing…
• Do we glorify
• Do we intercede
• Do we give thanks
• Desire
• Do we hunger for God
• The Revelation of Him
• The Revelation of our Inheritance