Prayers for the Saints

Introduction: Welcome and Introduce

My name is Jason Azzarello, I am one of the pastors here at Mercy Hill! Happy Fall. Yes, I am from California AND I’m a Christian. I love when people hear I’m from California there’s almost this nervous confusion that comes over their face. Almost like… “why are you here?” And if I do happen to be wearing my San Francisco hat, it’s escalated… “Hey, bud… you lost?”

We’re enjoying living in the great state of NC. We weren’t certain we’d make it through the perpetual feeling of being in a sauna. It finally feels like a California fall/winter/spring/summer. They’re pretty much all the same.

I am truly grateful to be a part of what God is doing here at Mercy Hill. Seeing what God has done the last seven years is nothing short of miraculous. Please don’t ever forget that.

Hey, let’s go ahead and grab a copy of Scripture and turn to about the last quarter at a book called Ephesians. Ephesians is a letter that actually reads more like a theological essay, but it was written to the Ephesian Christians by the Apostle Paul.

Last week Pastor Andrew walked us through the first 14 verses of the letter and set up the entire series. The main point of the book is that the Kingdom of God has already broken through and even though it’s not here in full-bloom, as Christians, we must experience a Copernican like revolution. We’ve got to see that God’s plan is nothing less than cosmic redemption… God IS actively uniting all things together in Christ. And His plan is not really this individualized set of circumstances (where to go to school, who to marry, what house to buy)… instead, God’s plan is HIS plan, it’s about His name being known throughout the nations, and WE have been invited to partner with Him in seeing it come to pass.

Today we’ll be looking at two passages of Scripture where Paul tells the Ephesian Christians that he’s praying for them and what he is specifically praying for them.

Big Idea: God’s people must be enlightened to know God and empowered to grow in Him

We need a Copernican Revolution not only about the way we think about God’s Plan but we need that same type of paradigm shift in the way we live out our relationship with God through prayer.

FCF: If we’re not careful, we can be doing all the right things and still experience spiritual drift

The popular hymn “Come Thou Fount” from the 1700s describes so relevantly what I’m saying:

O to grace how great a debtor   Daily I’m constrained to be! Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,   Bind my wandering heart to Thee. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,   Prone to leave the God I love; Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,   Seal it for Thy courts above.

BTN: Knowing God increasingly is vital for us all because:

Life without enlightenment to know God is like:

• Trying to experience music just by reading about it.

• Thinking I can experience ice cream (Thrifty CMC from Rite Aid) w/o tasting it.

• Experiencing a snow day w/o snow – common in NC

Life without empowerment to grow in God is like:

• Trying to experience a recipe without ingredients.

• Trying to run a marathon without training for it

• Trying to get stronger just by sitting in the weight room.

Simply put, it will not happen.

Now the two sections we are going to look at today are prayers & it is possible whether you are a believer or not, Christian or just checking things out, that you may be thinking to yourself, is prayer really necessary? Does it matter? If God knows what is going to happen why should I pray?

We’ll try to answer some of that today… but right off the shelf, I can say three things:

We’re commanded to pray

Prayer is more about you changing and not you changing God

Jesus prayed like it mattered

FCF: If we’re not careful we could be attempting to do all of the right things but in the power of our own strength

FCF: If we’re not careful we could be attempting to do all of the right things but in the power of our own strength

Transition: Let’s begin reading Ephesians 1:15-20

So for the rest of our time today, I am going to take these two prayers and talk about the continual need we have to have our hearts enlightened to know God and empowered to grow in our relationship with God

Ephesians 1:15–20 ESV

For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 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, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,

Ephesians 3:14–19 ESV

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Notes:

Not a TO-DO List

The first thing that we have to see in order to be able to understand what Paul is communicating is that these prayers don’t contain a list of things to do. And I love checklists. I am a productivity nerd. I watch YouTube videos where people talk about how they use their productivity toolbox… I get it. But if you were hoping that when you came today, you were going to walk away with a list of boxes to check off, I’m sorry, but you won’t find that here...

What we DO see is that before we can get to the Big Rocks of enlightenment and empowerment, we have to understand that we’re NOT the ones doing either. We are embodied souls that need to have the lights turned on… we are conduits that merely channel the Spiritual current of God’s Power.

The two words I asked you to underline or circle are the words, “give” and “grant.”

In order to understand the value of the gift, we must know the giver.

Fun fact. I enjoy receiving gifts. And there are typically at least a few times a year that we exchange gifts. And I have four kids… love them to death… but you know they hand you their gift and it’s wrapped in glue and toilet paper and wow… thank you (insert child name) thank you for giving me the toy from last Christmas. But you know the last gift? The one from my wife... It’s usually wrapped using only two pieces of tape, the wrapping is luxurious regardless of what’s inside, the wrapping… I am instantly more excited because I know the giver.

The Giver

So who is doing the giving and the granting? We say, God. Paul doesn’t say, God. He says:

The God of our Lord Jesus Christ

Who is that? He is the Father (the Head or Chief) of glory itself

What is that? Supreme value and worth

The Father of our King? We know Jesus…

In chapter 3 he says, “The Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named”

Again, speaking to God being originator and Creator of all people and all things

This time Paul uses the economic language “riches of his glory” to refer to the storehouse of power that the Holy Spirit contains

What’s the point? Paul’s prayers have been grounded in the Triune God who stands outside of our time, outside of our limitations, AND YET He comes to US… He offers Himself to US… He calls us to bring our petitions to HIM!

He has grounded his petitions for them in the One who holds supreme value and worth

And what does he ask for? What do you wish he asked for? What would you ask for? What DO you ask for?

Should we pray when life is on the mountain top? Relationships are good. Health is good. The job is good. Needs are being met.

Should we pray when life is in the valley? Reverse all of those circumstances. Well, obviously...

From reading these two prayers, it sounds to me like this, regardless if things are well or not well, Christians have a continual need to be ENLIGHTENED so that we can know God better and EMPOWERED to grow in that relationship.

I have heard of your faith (they’re clinging to the LORD (King) Jesus, not the Roman rulers, not pagan gods)

I have heard of your love toward all the saints (they’re living out the great commandment)

I do not cease to give thanks for you

Remembering you in my prayers

Guys, it really sounds like you’re following Christ closely and living out your faith. I thank God for that… but I’m praying for you

Shift:

Here’s where that shift comes in… things are going well, they’re trusting in the right King, they’re living out their faith in the community… why do WE need prayer?

Have you heard what’s happening in Corinth, Paul?

A lot of the time I think that we assume that as long as there are is no crisis in our lives, other people need prayer. “I’m good right now...”

Do we need prayer during a crisis? Of course, that’s not the point. But the world knows that we need prayer during a crisis.

Why do you think even journalists and reporters will say, “Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims in tonight's incident?”

When things are going wrong, we need prayer. But when things are going right, we need prayer.

Let’s look closer at 17-18 again...

So what does Paul tell the Ephesians he’s praying for? What do people who are living out their faith and loving their neighbor need? What do we need?

Ephesians 1:17–18 ESV

that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 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,

Ephesians 1:17 ESV

that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him,

Enlightened to Know God Better

We need the God of our LORD Jesus Christ who is the Father of glory (the one who is chief of value and worth) to give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him…

You’re thinking, “I was tracking with Paul for like a few words and then my brain exploded.” That is sometimes how it can feel, but he boils it down pretty simply:

Having the eyes of your hearts enlightened

It sounds simpler, but what does it mean?

What Paul is making abundantly clear is that his prayer is for DIVINE ENLIGHTENMENT

Let’s start with the enlightenment

There is a power source outside of ourselves that is far greater than what’s inside of ourselves

Enlightenment is to shine the lights on

We need for that source to work it’s way inside of ourselves

Another way of saying is to wake up to the reality of something

Have you ever had one of those moments? Maybe it was in school… You know, you had an AHA moment?

I remember the first time drinking coffee and it was nasty. How do people drink this swill? So I did the American thing to do and I added sugar and cream to it, then I added creamer to it, then I bought… Starbucks coffee, then K-Cups… I really thought I had tried it all. To the point where I was ready to give up on coffee altogether. And then one night we were visiting some friends. He was showing me around his property and opened up this 10x10 shed and when he opened it, I was hit with quite a burst of coffee bean (everybody loves the smell.) And right in the middle of this shed was a barrel looking contraption, so I asked him, “What is that?” He said, “A miracle maker”… no, it’s a roaster. I said, “A roaster? What you roastin?” He said, “I roast my own coffee beans.” I looked at him exactly how you’re looking at me right now, “What kind of witchcraft are you in to?” Well, the next two hours he spent talking about the process of growing coffee beans, how their picked, washed, how he buys them directly from a farm in PNG, and how he roasts the beans, then he grinds them fresh every day, and then how he brews the coffee. After he was done with the process, he slid the cup over to me and with a smile on his face he said, “Enjoy.” I can still distinctly remember that first sip (no cream/no sugar) and being able to taste an explosion of flavor. You know what I did after that first sip? I grabbed my wife’s arm and said, “You have to try this!” She said, “Ok”… I said, “Now!” I went home and put our coffee maker on craigslist, and that began our journey of enjoying coffee.

Paul is praying for an awakening that far exceeds having the lights turned on about coffee or the million other temporal things we get excited about

He’s after our hearts (this is the whole self, not compartmentalized) being enlightened to KNOW God more intimately, to know God more deeply, to know God more experientially.

Some Christians have been going by the name Christian for a long time, but they’re drinking stale coffee and consequently, they have to add a bunch of junk in to make it palatable.

Paul’s prayer is that we would see something so clearly and taste something so deeply that we won’t be able to contain ourselves from telling others about it, we won’t be able to contain ourselves from worship and thanksgiving!

But it’s not a general awakening, he’s praying for. He has specific areas that we need to be awakened to. There are three truths he lists

1. The Hope of His Calling

2. The Riches of His Inheritance

2. The Riches of His Inheritance

3. The Greatness of His Power towards You

I know, this is a lot of Bible-ee language, but I don’t think Paul is unaware he’s using lofty language. He never shied away from it. He could have used simpler language, but he doesn’t. So what are these three things?

Notes:

The Hope of His Calling

I know that when we think of hope, it automatically leads us to think of uncertainty.

Like, I hope the 49ers win the Super Bowl

You might be thinking, I hope that I have enough money to retire on time

I hope I have enough gas to get home

That is not the kind of hope Paul is speaking of

One way to think of it is like this: “Hope is a confident expectation, based on a Divine guarantee”

What is the content of this hope? It is the “Uniting all things in Christ”

What is that? It is the “Uniting all things in Christ”

One way to think of it is like this: “Hope is a confident expectation, based on a Divine guarantee”

So even if I said, “If you eat right, sleep right, exercise right, do everything right, you’ll live to be 100” that is based on a study of people who live in a remote village eating only kava root, but it’s not based on a DIVINE GUARANTEE

Here’s what this means: We have a hope (confident expectation) that this life, this world, the brokenness of this world, my present circumstances do not have the final word.

We see the present circumstances in light of the future hope of the new humanity that began at the cross becoming a reality in the Kingdom of God. So we have hope now that while it may look bleak on the earth, the Kingdom where Jesus is King is coming!

He is actively making all things new (Already/Not Yet)

When we’re awakened to this truth, our perspective changes, our prayers change

The Riches of His Inheritance in the Saints

Don’t glaze over… this is a powerful part of waking up to how God thinks about us

This language is borrowed directly from several OT passages ( & 7)

And it refers directly to the Israelite people ( & 7)

God chose the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to be His people…

To carry out His plan to bless the world ()

Instead of being a blessing, they became proud

They failed. Jesus was the chosen one of God who actually fulfilled that and by His own death on the cross, He became a blessing to all the families of the earth.

Paul is saying that I’m going to pray that you all would wake up to the understanding that God has adopted us as His treasured possession.

You and I belong to God. He’s crazy about us!

Let’s be awakened to the fact that WE. (a community of sinners) ARE. (because of the righteousness of Christ) VALUED. (Treasured and cherished) BY. GOD.

Imagine the freedom that can be found if we are enlightened to this at the heart level… not the head level… the heart level… that’s what Paul’s after… that’s what Jesus is after

How much more free would you speak of Him

And all you need to prove it is the CROSS

How much more free would you worship Him

The Immeasurable Greatness of His Power towards Us

Power can be a pretty scary word

The Ephesians were former pagans, to think that their new God would have power moving towards them could have brought up some crazy images but again, Paul doesn’t shy away from it.

Artemis cult

Phrygian mysteries

Astrological beliefs

He’s retraining their thinking. This YHWH is nothing like the power of the Roman empire, He’s nothing like the power that comes from religious gods or magic either...

What do you mean immeasurably great?

Well, it’s based on the past working of his great might

That he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead

We need to be enlightened to the reality that resurrection power is available to you today

Ephesians 3:

Ephesians 3:14–19 ESV

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

You might be thinking… for what? We’ll get to that in a second, but let’s flip over the

You might be thinking… for what? We’ll get to that in a second, but let’s flip over to as we talk briefly at the second continual need we have:

Empowered to Grow in our Relationship with Him

Ephesians 3:16–17 ESV

that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love,

I said in the beginning that it’s possible to do all of the right things and still experience spiritual drift.

In fact, we can check all of the boxes, but unless we are granted with the spiritual power in our inner being, there won’t be much transformation.

Here is where there can be some blockage that IS on us… and maybe we need to spend some time thinking about this

For Christ to dwell in our hearts goes beyond conversion - we teach that the Spirit of Christ indwells the heart of every believer.

And (not to get technical) there is a nuance to what Paul is saying

Let me illustrate it this way:

My dad was an architect and a builder. He has great vision. He had a gift for taking houses that looked were underdeveloped and turned them in to gorgeous homes. I can remember walking through the house he and my mom purchased in Redwood City. It was horrible. Rat droppings everywhere, rotted wood everywhere, corroded tile everywhere, but through time and hard work he completely restored that home. In other words, they made it their own.

We need Christ to make our heart His home. Where he has access to every room, every closet, every drawer and He can make it His own.

Paul’s prayer is that Christians would have a Christ-shaped heart.

And this happens as we come to Him, by Faith and daily offer up our agenda, our will, our priorities and say as Jesus said to His Father, “Not my will but thine be done.”

What happens to my freedom, if I give God’s Spirit access to my heart? You might be surprised...

Ephesians 3:17–19 ESV

so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

What would it be like to be on the other side of this life?

The saints who’ve gone on before us are already there… we’re not… but it seems like Paul lived right inside that tension

And so can we… as Christ does His transforming work in us we are then rooted and grounded in love.

And that will just begin to scratch the surface of the true overwhelming, reckless love of Christ

Can you claim this type of knowledge? To KNOW the love of Christ in such a way that you are filled with all the fullness of God?

Paul describes God’s love in measurements…

Think of it like this, being filled with all the fullness of God is like

Breadth because it includes the love God has in Christ for every one

Length because it began in eternity past.

Height because it crosses through physical and spiritual realms.

Depth because there is no place where His love is not deeper.

Applications:

Pray that God would enlighten your heart and the hearts of others to know Him better?

In an information obsessed culture, we want to know the quickest way to find answers

What we want the most from God is answers, what God wants most from us is that we would know him and trust him

When it comes to praying and Bible study and current events our prayers can sound a lot like we think God is our Genie… And the first thing we do when we get news of something is ask God to change it, stop it, prevent it, make it better, grant me my wish… God’s not a genie

Do we really think we know better than God? Would manipulating situations really improve them?

Instead, what if we pray “Father, will you please enlighten my heart to know you better. Enlighten my kid's hearts to know you better, my neighbor, my friends, my community group...”

There is a story in where the Syrian King is ticked off at Elisha because he finds out that he’s spoiling the Syrian kings plans to attack Israel. So the Syrian army sends horses and chariots and a great army to the city of Dothan to kill the prophet Elisha and only Elisha and his servant are there to stave them off. The servant wakes up and says, “We’re gonna die.” And Elisha says, “There are actually more of us than them” and I’m sure the servant rubbed his eyes and was like, “Poor, poor Elisha.” So Elisha prays “O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.” And you know what happened? The servants eyes were opened and the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.”

I don’t know about you guys, but I want those around me to see, I need spiritual vision to see and know God above having my circumstances changed

Pray for God to empower us and others by His Spirit to grow in relationship with God.

There is a reason that we set aside a portion of our time in CG to pray WITH one another

There is a reason we have a prayer team that stands ready to pray with folks after every service

It’s because we need to be empowered by His Spirit

And I told you we’d swing back to this, here is why

Chapters 4, 5, 6 that’s why

We are going to be challenged to live out our faith in the face of persecution and spiritual warfare.

You having access to the resurrection power of God and NOT taking advantage of it is like Thor having access to his hammer (Mjolnir) and opting for a carpenters hammer. There’s no comparison.

To the Unbeliever

Maybe you’re newer here today or you’re here for your first time and some of this just isn’t making much sense. Please hear this, God invites you to know Him.

His love was displayed for us when he sent Jesus to live the life we could never live and to die the death that we deserved

John 3:16 ESV

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

John tells us that “God so loved the world that he gave his only

And while it’s hard to comprehend eternal life because we have an ethereal picture of it, listen to this:

John 17:3 ESV

And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

Knowing God relationally (not just informationally) is the greatest need of every person on earth.

And you might be thinking, I’ve done things that would probably disqualify me from knowing God and receiving His love.

I would just say this, Paul wrote this phrase to the church in Rome,

Romans 5:6 ESV

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

Romans 5:8 ESV

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Pray

"We’re going to continue worship through song, and as we do, we’re going to witness some baptisms.

§ we’re going to witness some baptisms.

· We ask two questions when we baptize:

· We ask two questions when we baptize:

1. Do you believe Jesus has done everything necessary to save you? and

2. Are you willing to follow him as Lord of your life?

· Once those questions are confirmed, we baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.

· If you want to be baptized today, we have people in the lobby that would love to talk with you about the next steps.

· Some of you may be here and you’ve been challenged by what you’ve heard today.

· That challenge may be leading you to do one of two things:

1. Consider if you’ve truly believed in Jesus or

2. Consider how you should respond if you do.

· If you’ve believed, know this:

Baptism is the right response to God’s salvation.

· Another way to say that is:

o There is no better response than baptism.

o There is no better time than now.

· Maybe there are mental barriers that are causing you to hesitate. Though I can’t say exactly what they may Be I’ve come across some common ones...

· Maybe you’re here and thinking:

o I don’t want to be manipulated into getting baptized.

§ I want to let you know that, if you’ve been saved by Jesus, you should be more concerned about giving glory to God.

· Nobody here can manipulate to do anything.

o You either choose to glorify God for saving you through baptism or you don’t, that choice is yours.

o Maybe you’re here and thinking:

§ I want my friends and family members to experience my baptism.

o That seems like a valid concern to most but if it is true that delayed obedience is disobedience,

§ and we have ways to capture the moment for you to share with others,

· why would you let the presence or lack of to stop you from glorifying God today?

o If you are here and you came with someone that won’t wait for you,

§ we can get you some new friends.

o If you here today and think I don’t have a change of clothes, we got clothes for you.

o Simply put, there is nothing that should be standing in between you and baptism today if Christ has saved you.

o There are people in the lobby right now waiting to talk with you.

o Choose to glorify God through baptism today if you’ve been saved and haven’t already been baptized.

o At this time, I want to ask everybody to stand.

As soon as our worship leaders sing, you can go to the lobby.

· Glorify God for what He has done in your life today!

· Let’s worship together.