Ephesians 3:14-21

we're out wandering around, living Our Lives wondering, if if God's going to land the plane safely, He's going to landed safely, he's won the battle in Christ. And I've been on my fair share of airplanes in my life growing up as an Air Force brat and just some traveling as I've grown up. And I love flying in airplanes. I've been in larger planes and smaller planes. And I think one of my favorite things to do, I was listening to a comedian one time talking. I remember who it was. So it's not a good to me or give me their butts along in an airplane and just people, you know, the things that the people gripe about, you know, and he's like, you know, You're at 40,000 feet in a chair. What do you have to complain about, right? Nothing you're comfortable. Yeah, but I digress put away ran out of the gates to anyway, so I'll also be in a smaller planes. I got nothing but that my brother was a pilot. And so I've gotten a ride with him sometimes as he's flown. And one of the things I enjoy about being a smaller plane, like a twin proper turbo or something like that, and get to sit right up front. Sometimes it just kind of see all the gauges and, and all the, all the instruments and whatnot. And so I enjoy seeing all that course. I don't know what most of it means. I know with one of them starts spinning. Its really, really not good. You know what the blues on the bottom as a problem? Usually, I don't know, but But one thing I like is when you're at night in a smaller plane coming into an airport, you see these these lights, you know that Pilots have instrument instrumental ways of knowing how to fly a plane if I can't see anything. But one of the most basic one is the the the what's the word I'm looking for the approach lighting system? You know, when they come right? You can see the whole Runway lit up with a pretty small airport, right? You maybe have like 12 lights and but one of the cool lighting system that they have is the approach lighting system where you are. The pilot is, you want to make sure you're straight on, right? Always good to hit pain, but also making sure that your speed is right, and that your altitude is right, she's going to be descending at the right pace. And so, you've got a set of a few lights in front of you. And these whites have these

Yeah, whatever lines but basically and so depending on your height, your altitude, you can see that light properly at the right pace and at the right location, as you get closer, it goes from three lights down to two lights because of the way these shutters are. And then you get closer to goes down to one light and then you touch down right after that, right there is an approach that we have through God's word, that Paul talks to us today about 4, how we come to the Lord in prayer. And we see this in Paul's prayer this morning where in the book of Ephesians finishing chapter 3, this morning, look at versus 2014 through 21. Get to do this morning is this we're going to read the text together this morning and so but I want to ask you to engage with me. As we read it this morning. That you don't have to read it out loud. You can whisper read it from your seat. If you want, or you can close your eyes. This is a prayer. That's all I want to read the text. Pray to text, right, aside from the first line, which was just read together, but, but read this with me, but beyond that, pray, this with me for yourself. And for one another, as a church this morning, Paul says, in Ephesians, 3:14 through 21. He says, for this reason he said that back in verse 1, So he's really and then I had that long parenthetical Interruption, right? But I digress, we said last week 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 But he may and here's the content of the prayer. But he may Grant you two be strengthened.

According to the riches of his glory.

To be strengthened with power, through his spirit, in your inner being, so that Christ May dwell in your hearts through faith and that, you being rooted and grounded in love may have strength to comprehend with all the saints. What is the breadth? 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. And now to him, who is able to do far more abundantly than we can ask or think. According to the power at work within us to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever.

I meant.

Paul shows that the Believers posture right out of the gates here, the way that we approach the Lord and in our posture and prayer is fuelled by God's revelation of himself to us through his word. Sometimes we come to prayer with the burdens of our life, weighing more heavily in our minds. the fear of our circumstances, weighing more heavily on our souls, or you might say your emotions your heart, your, your inner being

and in the midst of writing in prison, Pulse shows us that his his approach to prayer. His bauling of his knee is fueled by the revelation of who God is about himself. And we act according to that, Revelation in faith, write noticed noticed. What? Paul shows us about prayer and he uses the phrase. I bow my knees as a simple way of talking about prayer. But if you simply wanted to talk about. You just play. I pray for you. What? She does. Another point. But here he's saying, I bow my knees. So he's telling us something about who he is about how he should pray. That shouldn't impact us. As we think about our praying, right there are many circumstances that are alive and like Paul. We don't know the outcome of any of them. Some of them, we think we have a pretty good idea but we're just running statistics that point at the end of the day, we're not God, we're not a mission and we don't know. There are things that we think about things that we pray about that. Don't concern us as much, but there are things that that Loom greatly in our belief system, in our hearts and in our minds. And, and often we worry about those things, those things seem to have the the ruling power in our lives, with the real estate of our minds and our hearts or not really trying to think about anything. But these things, keep coming back to mine. But here's what we know we have Victory, the Lord knows the outcome. So we go with cast all our anxieties, all our cares, upon Him, and why? Because he is the father, who cares for your help, all began this letter to this church, that started in Ephesus and then floated around some other churches and in Asia Minor. He says, we are blessed in Christ with every spiritual blessing, in the Heavenly places. So that a few verses later, we might live to the praise of the glory of his grace not brother and sister, if we are thinking about all of the spiritual blessings and all of the Heavenly places, we have what we need. We have a victory, but what God is doing is using the details of our life. Every detail of our life as we talked about last week, to help us know, him more personally. So that we can worship him more fully as we live our lives. That's the joy of being a Christmas. The joy is getting to be on display for a watching world, to say, whatever happens in my life. I don't have to be in charge.

How do you control? Brakes are not very happy with me right now.

We may not be certain of many things but one thing we are sure of and it's the most important thing, we not only know who God is but through Jesus Christ. We know him personally.

and when we come to the Lord in prayer, This is this is going to passions that says, you always have to buy your knee and you always have to get on your knees when you pray do actually in their custom was more common to stand. It would stand and they would stand and they might even raise their hands and look to the heavens and pray. And there's a time for that and there's a time to to buy your needs to be on your niece. There's a time to prostrate yourself.

And just lay flat on the ground. Play God, I'm humbled by Who You Are. You are magnificent and you made me from the dust. You are all glorious. And I humble myself before you it. So he says for this reason, I bow my knees for what reason will for the fact that God is, he's already told us from chapter one that got his uniting everything in Christ. And that he has brought Jew and Gentile together in unity there is no more reason for not having peace among Believers. There's no reason whatsoever. This idea of buying it shows, humility, it shows respect or honor for the one to whom we bow before, right? It acts 7, Paul use as a contrasting phrase when he's about ready to be killed and he calls these these, the Pharisees stiff-necked. These are these are men and women, boys, and girls who resist the Holy Spirit, right? It is sometimes we tell our children closer, head, closer, head,

I want to see that.

Right now, your head, close your eyes, bulge or hands. But that's not particularly spiritual as much as we're just be like, don't touch anybody or hit anybody while we're praying, right. Let's see if we can get through this 3 minutes together.

play, imagine what it would be if you ask your child to about their head and they said, no, And you know you're sitting next to them in the chair until you eat a gently just I'm not talking about smacking them in the back of the head. You have somebody need to hear that, but you, you just gently, right? You might just set your hand on their neck and say, you know, so I don't want you to buy your head because we're going before the Lord in prayer. And they might resist. You might just press a little bit harder.

You probably stop there.

That's what it's like when the Lord would come to us and say, son or daughter. I want you to obey me. But, you know, I think, I think the way that I'm thinking through the situation is better. Oh yeah, I get that. But I'm god. So let's just start there and I want you to obey me.

Why don't you? Humble yourself. Bumble your life. I know your heart. Bow. Wow. Before me. A resistance tube out a resistance to obey, is to be stiff-necked. And Paul says, I'm not a stiff-necked follower of Christ. I'm praying, I'm simply praying, but I'm balling my knee before the Lord. I bound myself. We bow our heads, we Bend our knees. As I said, we often leaving prostrate on the ground in order to show our heavenly father. how wonderful he is and that we know that and that we know that we're not

So Paul Bowser his knees and he says before the father from whom every family in heaven on Earth is named. It takes us all the way back to Creation. God when you made the world and a new form, Adam out of dust and then you put him to sleep and you created a perfect help offer him out of his rib and you fashion them from their every family. On Earth has been named and you are calling people to yourself. And so we are Thrust out of the realm of this immediate. I am the center of my world, because if we're not careful, everyone of us in this room thinks, we're the center of this situation, where the center of this problem, where the center of this conflict, where the center of this struggle, we want everything to resolve to our benefit, but he's saying I'm not a respecter of persons Jew and Gentile, rich and poor male and female young. And old everyone who is Ben, has even proceed legitimate reasons to be at odds with another person and their point. We saw a couple weeks ago, right? Is it is that that when one people group is calling another people group dogs, right? Then the greatest insults The greatest separations known to man. Jesus has broken down that wall dividing wall of hostility. There won't be no reason that somebody who names the name of Jesus Christ. Wouldn't be willing to Bow their head by their hearts before the Lord and be reconciled to one another or welcomed another. In y, out of the great love, which God has shown us. And God whole, great purpose of making his manifold or or many varied purposes, known his wisdom known to all of creation happens as he works through this family of God. This Is Our God to whom we pray. The one who deserves all praise all honor and all glory. Second receive, the Believers power for Spiritual strength, the Believers power for Spiritual strength. He says, according to the riches of his glory, he may Grant you think about this for me and come to the Lord for the demanding. Lord, I need you to do this name it and claim it baby.

Father, would you grant me?

Would you grant me? Would you grant one another how do we pray for each other? Father, would you make them see my perspective, father with you.

According to the riches of your grace. They don't deserve it. I know that cuz I don't deserve it. But you're good. You're kind, you're loving and you love to Dole out your grace to your children. So Lord, would you According to the riches of your glory, grab them to be strengthened. According to me in the front that which is Flowing out of, right? This is this is that the nature and the character of who God is Lord according to who you are.

You're everything wonderful 2infinity. That's why I love the idea that that when we get to heaven, I've said this before in some ways were there's a lot that we're going to understand quite quickly but I think it's some ways. We're going to spend eternity knowing, and loving and understanding, the character nature. The Wonder in the beauty of God. All the more reason we come together as a people. But our worship is hindered by our own, humanness, even by our own sin, Biro distraction, but we get the glory. And it's all glory for all of eternity. There are four realities that Paul talks about, he talked about that, we would be strengthened according to the riches of God's glory already mentioned that that's talks about that lavishly flowing out of who God is as our father who is giving good gifts to his children. He doesn't withhold anything good from us. That does not the same as saying he gives us everything. We think would be good. No, he says, I know it's actually good for your sustenance. It was actually good to help you grow in the knowledge of me. How to trust me, how to walk with me. The second thing is that it's with God's power, the one who spoke the world into being, the one who pulled us out of the ground, really is just a way of showing his power. Almost seems like he'll be easier for just got to, to, to speak us into creation, but he formed a man from the dust of the ground. He he, when God created the world, he created the world Xplod, which means from nothing, he created the world so he created the dust and then from the dust, he formed man. According to that power. We will serve an impotent. God. We serve an omnipotent. God all powerful. God.

The Challenger in the midst of right now, God has the power to Grant you to endure to heal. To walk in obedience when it doesn't make sense to you, according to your human mind. the Lord says you, you know, intellectually but now I want to teach you Has your heart, learns to trust me. Friend, that only happens as we walk in obedience, it doesn't happen if they're real and it happens as we specifically put into practice the truth of God. The fruit from spending time in the word comes. Not not in one sitting of reading God's word, but after days and, and, and weeks, and months of being faithful to read God's word, little bits at a time sometimes longer sections at a time. But as we continually saturate ourselves with God's word, this is God's very word in the history of mankind and the world that God has preserved Through the Ages in order to demonstrate his Love To Us by giving us a revelation of him. That powerful, that's powerful. So we want to be strengthened with God's power according to His glory, do I translate that? That we would be strengthened according to his radiant power. We all want that, but what's Paul doing? What he's praying for you. And I pray for you and me here. This is how we are to pray for one another as well. Sheila conflict in your life. You've got a financial burden, you got something to involve someone else or maybe it's not a negative thing. But, you know, a brother or sister, or friend, or an unbeliever we say, Lord. I pray for them. According to the riches of your grace that you would strengthen them with your power will, how will divine power comes to us through the spirit of God? God sent his own son to live a perfect life, so that he could die a death. He didn't deserve is the Spotless lamb in order to pay the penalty for pastor Matt sins. And let me tell you, there are three or four of them.

Larson in his heart. Lot of sand. That's affected other people pretty rotten Lee.

Not only did you did, did, did did, did God call Believers to himself? He supplied the very means for their salvation to happen, but he didn't stop there, and then just leave us to live according to our own power. Know, if he supplied the Savior for our Salvation, he supplied the spirit to help us endure to give us the ability to endure in this spiritual battle. That is waging in the Heavenly places.

One commentator Gordon fee. Rightly says, this passage also shows that were for Paul. The power of the spirit is not only four more visible and extraordinary manifestations of the present. But also an especially For the empowering necessary to be his people in the world. So as to be a true reflection of his own Glory,

You know what? I member growing up and watching sports and I love watching some of these athletes. When I was a kid, I just wish I could have been this athlete or that athlete or had those skills. Are this instrumentalist that is just a great guitar player or a singer and I'll just take a man to have that ability, brother-sister, you have everything that you need in your soul, through the spirit of God for life and got his wife. According to his power, who is saved you. And he said this is according to the spirit, which is at work in the Inner Man or the interior of our being, the seat of our personal awareness, our personal conscience that you might call us. So you might say in my heart, but he says, here in your inner man, that's not hard. It's the part of them which is not accessible, but which is open to God's energizing spirit.

It's an engine of the car reside, but having an engine sitting in a car that doesn't have a ignition or doesn't have any fuel. Doesn't do you any good? You need, all these pieces working together in order to move that car or truck or tractor down the road, and God, has given us his spirit in our inner being to energize us or two to animate us toward godliness. Have a candid moment with you.

When were suffering in a trial?

None of us shines particularly brightly on our own. That's why when we see somebody's struggling, when we see somebody suffering. And they walk in Christ likeness. We're all sort of like

Well, that's just it. It's amazing. It's God's amazing fully Powerful. Love energizing the Believers who walk in faith and not by sight. Who fix their eyes on? What is unseen? Because what is, what is, what is seen as temporary? What is unseen is eternal when we live for the reality of our eternity, we are then able to walk in the spirit. Who gives us the love that we need to love one another. I'll praise and 2nd Corinthians 2:15. It says, we are the the aroma of Christ to God among all those who are being saved. Ask yourself if the way that you're living a Christian Life is in a Roma. To those who don't know. The gospel is it is it an aroma of beauteous. Wonderful. Smelling Aroma to those who don't yet know the gospel. But here he says, we're in a romantic. We're beautiful to the lord. It's like offering a fragrant offering to the Lord so you won't have no idea. I was going to go down I'm going to walk in faith and honestly, just to myself, I could just feel stupid. Is it don't make sense to me.

And I'll tell your brother and sister. When you honor the Lord by walking in faith, even if you make the wrong decision, God will use that. God will glorify your life by Ron. I don't mean sinful, I mean, I told you before about some of my seasons of life, when I was call in college and just really striving to follow the lord, while I made a decision, it wasn't turned out not to be the Lord's Ultimate Will for me in terms of what I was. What I was thinking, I am at the thing in it. I learn how to listen, well to the Lord in that season and will bring that back to mine. A section about how this went by. You just threw off everything. You said. I'm going to walk in faith, and I'm going to trust the Lord here. God will bless you for it each and every time but the blessing, the blessing is according to God's kingdom, promise is not according to our own understanding of what blessing is it. So Jesus is faced, with the same kinds of Temptation, Jesus had the same spirit of God power at work in him as he suffered In The Garden of Gethsemane. He didn't want to walk that path and yet he said not my will but yours be done. What did he do? He walked In the power of the Lord.

Any walks in faith.

The holy spirit is the comforter, the one who comes alongside he's our helper. The one who helps us in all things. And so he is praying that when Paul praised that according to the riches of his glory, that God, he may Grant you two be strengthened with power through his spirit. This is not a week prayer, this is not a rope for this is not God. I thank you for everybody everywhere. Kind of a prayer. This is a very specific revelation of who God is and how God works in his people and impulses go up. I pray heavenly father I pray that according to all you are You have the power. Would you strengthen them? With yourself.

Could you strengthen them with yourself is about appropriating God's provision in Christ? Through the power of the Holy Spirit? He praised, similarly, in Colossians 1:9 through 11. He says, it's so from this day, we heard we have not ceased to pray for you asking what that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. So ask why to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord. Does not ever give us knowledge just to hang and sticking it in all its banks. Because knowledge pops says he gives us knowledge so that we can fully pleasing to him bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God has you. And I walk in obedience, as we walk in faith we learned some aspects about who got is we get we get promoted from first first grade spirituality or Christian to second grade Christian and third grade Christian. But you know what, not everybody gets promoted because not everybody puts in a Practice the things that God tells them to a. So if you want to grow on your face, it doesn't start simply by learning more. It starts by understanding who, who got isn't how he's revealed himself to us in the word and by putting that into practice putting your feet to the pavement. Even or especially when it doesn't make sense. But, you know, that according to God's word, it's true. So, you walk in it. Strengthened with all power according to his glorious, my life for endurance and patience with joy. So, there's a Temptation here as we think about our failures. We, we can do one of two things. The Lord is kind to make us aware of our sin. We don't think of it like that. We sometimes think of this guy just waiting for us to screw up so that he can stop on his butt. That's not God's desire for his God's desire is always to encourage to build us up to help us grow in our knowledge of him and our love for him. It's a when he reminds us when he makes us aware of our sins. One of our greatest First Response. Thank you. I didn't realize I was doing that, or maybe you did.

I've been doing it for a while. Maybe it'll be loving that part of life. Or or that manner of trusting, your own instincts. Over trusting the Lord. And how the Lord says, where to live in the scriptures. God wants to help us so that we can grow into wind. God reminds us who makes us aware of ours. Did we say? Thank you, God. In our first worship responded to repent, repent is a beautiful act of worship. It's a beautiful gift that says Lord, the word worship come to comes out of the Lord. I'm declaring the worth of who you are, the worst ship of God and when we repent we say God I declare that you are better. Venison. I declare that you are more glorious than my understanding of the situation. Has a way of a Temptation. We have a challenge. One Challenge is is to

Actually just set a reminder to working harder according to our strength and according to our wisdom. But Paul's praying that, that we would understand, according to the spirit, That's a rather than, than clinging to our own understanding. Rather than stiff-arming the spirit who is lovingly showing us our sin.

where to Bow. Wow, our selves before the Father in heaven. I want to humbly go to the Lord and acknowledge our sin and repent, which really means to bear fruit in keeping with the grief that we have over, not living a life. That's pleasing to the Lord. you see if your repentance ever flows out of a sense of simply following the rules or or simply changing so that you can get something if that get something is anything, but God, That is Flowing out of the wrong. Purpose of this flowing from a wrong hard. but but but if that repentance flows out of a realization for who God is and the fact that he has loved you, you're grieved as you don't want to, you don't want to send. If it all got them, I don't love this. I love you. It's a flowing out of that. What I want to? I want to bear fruit. I want my actions to get to keep Consistent with turning from you. I'm turning from the sin turning toward you making a 180 from living for myself to living for the Lord. Right? We all sin and we're all affected by the consequences of others is our sin, affects others as well. And at each point, we are given the opportunity to appropriate the strength. That is ours as promised by God through the holy spirit. In our inner being Christian, do you see all that God has for you in Christ?

And here's the engine where this happen, right? The Believers Abiding Love. So we were Seventeen. He says, so that Christ May dwell in your hearts through faith, we've already said that that the interbeing represents. Our, our interpersonal, our minds are feeling the will the whole person. And so God already dwells in us, but this is a present. Continuous tense meeting that he's in dwelling us producing the effect of an ongoing indwelling empowering us, and animating us to live in the spirits. SOS Christ, dwells in US. As the spirit of God. I should say. It's a spirit. Dwells in us, we dwell, or we live or revised in the love of God. And his happens, this is fueled by a knowledge of God, which comes through his word, which of these are not going to be on the screen. I'm a hit him pretty quickly. By Joshua 1:8 says the book of This Book of the law. Shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do all according to all that is written in it in it for. Then you will make your way prosperous. And then, you will have good success on 12, but his Delight is in the law of the Lord. And on his while he meditate day and night, it's delightful, it's delightful to meditate on the law of God from 7712, I will ponder think about contemplate all your work and I will meditate on your Mighty Deeds. Psalm 119:50 I will meditate on your precepts and I will fix my eyes on your ways. Psalm 119 48. I will lift up my hands toward your Commandments which I love and I will meditate on all your statutes. Do you see the worshipful attitude in these verses which is the Overflow of hearts of love for the Lord for who he is and for all that he has done in Christ. And so he prays that you being rooted and grounded in love may have the strength to comprehend with the Saints. What is the breadth and length and height and depth. And to know the love of God, Paul years of a mixed metaphor here rooted and grounded rooted. Speaking about, you know, plant life and end grounded thinking about architectural structures and what not? And it's like saying we'll burn that bridge, right? That's a mixed. That that's a mixed metaphor. We'll burn that bridge when we come by it with meeting, it kind of combines. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it and don't burn your Bridges, but they combine them together and don't burn in a or we'll cross that. We'll burn that bridge. When we come to it, some people will say sometimes,

But here it's not a contradictory Miss mixed metaphor. It's a compounding mixed metaphor. And in fact, what he's doing is adding strength to the argument that he's trying to make what he's saying is that the first love is pictured as something that is nourishing and life-giving and a second. It's it's pictured as a this love is picture as a foundation upon which to build So we build upon the foundation is already been built. If you go back through the apostles and the prophets, And we build in such a way that the way that we live our lives together as God's new home.

Is life-giving, it's nourishing.

We are compelled to love one another as God through his Spirit abide in US, Jesus said, a new commandment. I give you that, you love one another even as I love you. And Peter wrote since you have obedience to the truth in obedience to the truth purified, your souls for a sincere love Brothers fervently love one another from the heart. Fervently.

Put a spiritual sweat into walking in faith, which is to walk in a manner, worthy of the calling to which you've been called that the fruit of the spirit. You see, as we abide in Christ, we receive and we live in such a way that gives evidence that the spirit of God is at work within us. It is a matter of the will not a matter of the feelings. It's a decision to act lovingly. It's a decision to act selflessly toward others. I'm pretty sure. Jesus wasn't just feeling it. When he said greater love has no man than this that he lay down his life for his friends. When Jesus was praying, it gets 70, he wasn't feeling all the feels. In fact, he was grief-stricken sweating drops of blood.

And he loved. For the glory of the father. You and I are called to love for the glory of the god of God, the father and the strength to comprehend 18 and 19. He says, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ? That surpasses knowledge of this concept, the idea that we can know something that is beyond our capacity to understand right? We understand in our minds but we understand it more and more as we walk in faith and so we grow in this knowledge and it's under standing Spurgeon, the prince of preachers. Charles Spurgeon preached. A sermon one time called the dearest place on Earth about the church about. Think about those that that we might struggle in. And so he's not saying, you know, do you like it here? Do you enjoy hanging out with your friends? No, we come here because there's something, spiritual something Eternal, something bigger than all of us. Grander than all of us, if you're not experiencing that, well, maybe you're not pursuing the Lord for that are walking in that, but Is church the dearest place on Earth. In other words, what we're saying is, is there any place that you would rather be doing life together with people that you would not necessarily have much in common with, but finding that when you're together, walking in the spirit, you are knit2gether according to the riches of God's glory. So that together and for all the saints who've gone before the whole church, you are able to grasp the fullest brought us most magnificent dimensions of the revealed character, and nature of God's the love of Jesus which surpasses our ability to understand. And yet we understand it and the wonder wonder of the incomparable power of the indwelling holy spirit so that you are filled with all the fullness of God. Do you love coming to church? Do you love seeing God at work in the church? Not just when we gather together in the building. But as we Minister together out in the community, as you have church at home as a family, as you are being the church, we see the power of God at work and this is the picture of the church that God paints all throughout the New Testament.

The God's people, the people that God is saving unto himself pursue personal, Holiness out of a love for God because they have been skin wrap shirt or taken up or or or enthralled by the love of God. I am so taken by the love of God that I want to love in that way. Foreigners, I want to walk in this love because I get to be a vessel of the Lord's. Mercy, I get to be a vessel of God's love. I get to help translate what it mean to have a relationship with God. To someone else who may have never read the Bible, or maybe they read the Bible that they don't understand her to. Maybe they've had a bad experience with church, and they're never going to go back to church again, and I get to go to them, we get to go to them. And show the fullness of God's love as fit vessels, overflowing with the love of God. And then he says, all of his praise yet. Doesn't come to me. It all goes to the Lord and has Paul often. Does he just swells with praise and thanksgiving? And he says, now they have this doxology to him, who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think. Remember thinking that he's blowing our minds with the way that God chooses to work in us and through us, when we walk in faith, when we appropriate the power. And so, then God says, now to him, who is able to do far more Abundantly just not, he's just not just tipping the scale, barely his scale drops. According to him, who is able to do far more abundantly that all we ask or think according to his power at work within us be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever. And ever. Amen. Do you want to be a fit vessel for the Lord? I would say that if you're a professing believer in Christ and you don't want to be a fit vessel filled to all the fullness of God. You may not be a believer. You might have prayed a prayer or, or you might be hardened in your heart or, or stealing a stiff-arming the voice of the spirit of God, so that you're not Desiring. What he wants anymore, that happens to us. When we persist in the sin that God is calling us out of and we refused and we freeze when we refused we We grieve the spirit. and God has said, Today. Today is another day of repentance today is another day to come to the Lord for the very first time.

As we come to Worship the Lord and communion participating in and what we call the Lord's Supper, what Jesus has given to us to do continually until he returned.

Remember that prayer in by involves all of us, right? Paul start by talking about Pastor in prayer as the worship. Team comes in a few moments and and leaves us in a song of a response and worship. And as we go to do, either of these four quarters to take of communion You may want to stand, you may want to lift your hands and praise to the Lord. You may want to sit with your Bible, open your Bible app open and just contemplates, what? We've been reading this morning, you may want to get on your knees, maybe if you're able to, maybe you get on your knees and you can you kneel at your chair? You might even want to prostrate yourself on the ground. Bow, your whole self before the Lord's day. God, you are Great and Mighty and I am not. I am low and measly but I'm value because you made me and you made me For Your Glory, which I don't understand. But I What's a make myself low in life?

But remembering the goddess by mean, Paul is praying this prayer for all of us? And so we're at Community of Faith. You may want to gather with a few brothers and sisters and say, hey can we pray for Oak Grove Church today? Maybe not over any particular issue or any particular problem. That's my baby. We just want to pray that God would use us miraculously. Cuz we're not that wonderful. He is the God would use us miraculously to help us reach our community or state in the world.

if you're not a Christian or if you're not sure, I'm going to be right down here. I just want to invite you to come tap me on the shoulder. It'll be a Divine appointment, right? It's not on my calendar but it might be on the Lord's and I'd love nothing more. You're not going to be interrupting me, it'll be a wonderful conversation that I'd love to just be able to have with you and talk with you and share with you. The love of God that he has shown Us in his son. Jesus Christ, because God tells us that salvation is only through him. And it'd be a shame for you to come and hear all of this and then leave. With nothing changed. So it's an invitation father, we praise you for who you are all of the magnificence of who you are. The fact that your character is far beyond us, the fact that you are, you're right and true in everything that you have ever done. And we fall. So short. It's a lord. We lift up our eyes to you and simply say, God, you are the one who's to be lifted up.

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