God is Not Limited By Our Experience
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Intro:
20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, 21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
The title of my message is, [God is not Limited by our Experience].
Some of the best lessons are learned through experience. As the saying goes, experience is the best teacher.
When we think of experiences, I see two perspectives, before and after the experience. For instance:
On my first trip to Costa Rica we took a day to relax at the end of the mission’s trip. I went zip-lining through the rainforest. I never did that before, it was going to be a new experience.
Because it was new, I asked the missionary a lot of questions.
Is it safe
How many people have you taken zip-lining
Has anyone ever got hurt?
One person broke their legs? What did they do to break their legs?
Will it be cold? I should probably bring a jacket, right?
What about my glasses? Can I borrow your wife’s chain to put on my glasses?
Finally, he abruptly said, DANIEL, just go and enjoy the experience. So I did, with a windbreaker, a bedazzled glasses chain, and a helmet.
Now that I experienced zip-lining, I love it, and I know what to expect next time I go. Before I was unsure, after, I have some experience.
We value experience. Whenever someone applies for a job, they ask, what is your experience?
Through experience we attain knowledge and get to the point where we know what to expect and very little catches us by surprise.
Whether it be on the job, in marriage, as parents, in travel, or in friendships, we learn through experience. The same principle applies in our walk with God.
We grow in God through experience. We can hear about salvation, the baptism in the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, or receiving an answer to prayer.
However, those concepts mean little until we experience:
the joy of salvation
the empowerment of the Holy Spirit
the feeling of having a prayer answered
But here is the danger with experience, we can feel so proficient in an area where we assume we have experienced all there is to offer.
We cannot allow a good, powerful, emotional, or wonderful experience with God to cause us to assume we’ve arrived and have nothing else to experience.
One of the best motivators for growth in a church is our experience. However, one of the worst problems that can surface in a church is experience.
I have known of churches that experienced a great revival in the past. They went through a season where people were coming to God in droves.
While this is wonderful, that same church has little going on except to look back and think, what a great experience. I remember when...
Individual Christians can do that. We can look back on our walk with God and think of our experiences. Wen can remark, I remember when God felt so close, when He seemed so real.
And it is important to remember what God DID, but the enemy would like to LIMIT God by what we’ve experienced.
Without thinking, we can decide, I just don’t know if it can ever be as good as it was.
I just don’t know how I God could top some of the experiences I have had.
And if we are not careful, spiritual nostalgia will take over and the enemy will convince that our best days are in the good old days.
One man explained, “there are no good ole days, just good people in old days.”
He will lie and deceive us into believing that is what God did THEN, but we should not expect it NOW.
But this morning we read from the Apostle Paul:
20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,
20 Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.
20 Never doubt God’s mighty power to work in you and accomplish all this. He will achieve infinitely more than your greatest request, your most unbelievable dream, and exceed your wildest imagination! He will outdo them all, for his miraculous power constantly energizes you.
God has so much available for us. We must NEVER limit Him by our experience. Thank God for what He did, but thank God for what He WILL do.
Toward the end of Paul’s life, he wrote to a church that was dear to him, the Ephesians. Through a few passages of scripture, I want us to see how Paul believed this truth: God is not limited by our experience.
I have three points, [The Experience], [The Expectation], and [The Exaltation].
1. The Experience
1. The Experience
13 Therefore I ask that you do not lose heart at my tribulations for you, which is your glory. 14 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Hard time cause us to look back on simpler, or easier times. Paul wrote this letter while under house arrest in Rome. He awaited a trail that would determine his fate.
As he was unable to travel, his mind went back to some of the experiences he had when he was free to go where he pleased.
He began to write to the Ephesians, and he asked them to remain strong and not to be ashamed of what Paul faced. Sure he was in prison and he suffered, but they had a mutual experience with God through the Holy Spirit.
As he thought of them, he knelt before God and began to pray for the people in Ephesus. Let’s review a few of their experience:
Paul went to Ephesus in Acts 18 toward the end of his second missionary journey. He went to the synagogue to share about the resurrection of Christ.
They were intrigued and wanted to hear more, but Paul did not sty for very long, but he planned to return.
At the beginning of his third missionary journey, Paul returned to Ephesus where they had supernatural experiences
Twelve men were filled with the Holy Spirit, they spoke in tongues and prophesied
Paul taught again in the synagogue for three months
Then he went to a school where he taught for two years
The Lord used him to preform unusual miracles, people would take his handkerchiefs and lay them on the sick and they would be healed and delivered from demons
Through his ministry the sorcerers and witches in Ephesus repented of their witchcraft
The mass salvations amongst the magicians caused them to take their books containing their spells and demonic information and they burned them.
The total cost of those books was 50,000 pieces of silver. One piece of silver was an average daily wage. The average daily wage in the US is $170, which would equal $8,500,000 of the books.
Talk about supernatural experiences. Paul developed such a strong bond through their experiences with God, that his departure caused the Ephesians to weep knowing they may never see him again.
Paul shows is it not bad to think back on experiences we have had with God. In fact, thinking of all God accomplished through the church at Ephesus caused Paul to fall on his knees in prayer.
Reviewing our walk with God can build our faith. However, it should cause to focus on the GIVER of the experiences more than the experiences themself.
Paul remembered the experiences he had in Ephesus, but he also know, God is not limited by our experience. For those experiences, stirred within him...
2. The Expectation
2. The Expectation
16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Knowing what God did in the past caused Paul to expect God to do even greater things in the future!
Verses sixteen through nineteen detail what Paul expected the Lord to accomplish through His people.
Paul understood that God is interested in EVERY part of our lives. He does not see me as Daniel the church attender, Daniel the pastor, or Daniel the husband. He sees me as His child who needs His help in every area of life!
Looking back on what God did, caused Paul to expect God would provide inner strength through the Holy Spirit. God knows the mental torment and problems people face.
There are times we can look at our situation and feel overwhelmed with anxiety or depression. However, we can expect God will unveil the unlimited riches of His glory in and through us!
He knew the sorrow the Ephesians faced upon hearing of Paul’s arrest and imprisonment. Some might have thought, how could he go through such hardships after all we experienced together?
Paul wanted them to EXPECT God to flood their innermost being with divine power!
Furthermore, he expected they would be ROOTED and GROUNDED in the love of God. With Christ dwelling in their hearts, they could expect go deeper in the love of God.
Listen, the love of God changes EVERYTHING. God’s love is not based on our actions or deeds. He is love. His love is unconditional. His love is never ending.
It was God’s love that helped them before, and it would be God’s love that would keep them no matter what they faced.
Finally, Paul expected that they would eventually comprehend the immense depths of God’s love. He says God’s love for them is immeasurable.
It is wide enough to cover anybody
It is long enough to break any barrier
It is high enough to take us to heaven
It is deep enough to touch any need we have, any sin we’ve committed, and any hurt we’ve experienced
Paul wanted them to have an expectation that God’s love will help them in the present. His love bridges the GAP.
Let me explain:
Some are confident that God loves them enough to save them from their sins, to erase their past.
Some are also confident that God loves them enough to take them to heaven when they die.
But many are deceived by Satan concerning God’s love in the present. God is concerned with EVERY aspect of our lives, past, present, and future.
The love of God caused Jesus to die for our sins
The love of God is poured out in hearts by the Holy Spirit
We can NEVER experience enough of God’s love. Listen, He loves us so much He WILL:
Save us
Baptize us in the Holy Spirit
Heal us
Answer us
Help us
Deliver us
Touch us
Walk with us
Speak to us
and Show Himself real to us
We must take AUTHORITY over the lies of Satan that might cause us to question God’s love.
Remember, HE is NOT limited by our experience. We cannot say, I experienced His love and the benefits of His love years ago, but I just don’t feel anything right now.
He will stretch out His hands, reach down deep enough, and take us high enough in Him to show us, WE CAN EXPECT GREATER EXPERIENCES THAT WE NEVER THOUGHT POSSIBLE!
God is not limited by our experiences, no matter how good they were. So we must expect Him to pour out His love on us!
And when we think about this, it leads us to…
3. The Exaltation
3. The Exaltation
20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, 21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Paul began this section of Ephesians by kneeling to pray for the Ephesian church. Now, I see him standing with hands toward heaven, exalting the name of God.
Why did Paul praise God?
Because he knew God would exceed his expectations for the church! When it comes to God, His ways are higher than ours.
Therefore, we must never doubt His power or His work and all that He will accomplish. Have we had amazing experiences with God? Yes, but He will do:
exceedingling
abundantly
unbelievable
beyond our imagination
infinitely more
than we could ever comprehend. And for that, Paul exalted the Lord. He did not know how God could TOP what he did before, but he trusted the Lord.
Because the expectation we have as believers is not through OUR abilities or inability, but through the power of God that works in us!
So Paul exalted the Lord. He gave Him glory and praise to Christ, but notice verse twenty-one, TO ALL GENERATIONS!
Paul thanked the Lord that whenever a generation sets their hearts to seek God for more of Him, He will exceed their expectations.
He believed that the Lord will continue to pour out His love and Spirit from generation to generation.
Close:
God is NOT limited by our experience. Regardless of how good He has been in the past, we can expect Him to do more, and we will exalt Him until He does!
These verses have been on my heart for some time now. Because we are in a unique time in history. 2020 has been a year unlike anything I have experienced in my lifetime.
There are times I will see a picture of last year and sigh, what a simpler time.
I could go to any restaruant
I could stand close to someone without worrying about them breathing on me
I could go where I wanted, do what I wanted, and see who I wanted
It is hard to think that nine to twelve months ago where “the good ole days.”
But there has been something stirring in my heart throughout all we have faced, both as a church and in my personal life.
Sure I have had great experiences, our church has had great experiences. Paul reviewed the past, allow me to, In five years we have:
Seen people saved
prayed people through to the Holy Spirit baptism
Had a water baptismal service almost every year
Prayed around the altars
Shouted praises
Witness God heal people
Watched new Sunday School classes grow
Had entire families worshipping together on Wednesday nights
And been in God’s presence many many times.
In my personal life I have:
seen the sick healed
the sinner saved
the believer filled
the possessed person freed
the glory of God manifest in my life
But today, I feel a prophetic word from God, Our experiences should NOT limit our expectation.
I BELIEVE GOD HAS USHERED THE CHURCH INTO A NEW ERA
He wants to do a new thing. I believe what God has planned for us will look unlike anything we have experienced before.
I believe we are about to be awakened by His love and we will fall more in love with Him, which will surface through a deeper commitment and connection to His presence.
I do not know when it will happen
I do not know how it will look
I do not know what it will be like
But this I know, HE WANTS TO TO DO EXCEEDINGLY ABUNDANTLY ABOVE ALL THAT WE COULD ASK OR THINK ACCORDING TO THE POWER THAT WORKS IN US!
So until the heavens break open, we must continue to exalt the Lord. Let one generation declare God’s works to the next generation.
Something big is about to happen, so we must NOT limit God by what we’ve experienced.
Instead,. we must exalt Him with great expectancy for what He has for us:
As a corporate body
and as individuals