Sermon Tone Analysis

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

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...