Latest / The OneCry Podcast / #262 From Head Knowledge to Intimacy: Experiencing Ephesians 3:14–21

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#262 From Head Knowledge to Intimacy: Experiencing Ephesians 3:14–21 · The OneCry Podcast

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Speaker0: Our God is able to save people.
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Speaker0: Our God is able to form families.
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Speaker0: Our God is able to restore brokenness. Our God is able
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Speaker0: to move in churches. Our God is able to— listen to me— to change cities.
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Speaker0: Our God is able to redeem a nation. Our God is
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Speaker0: able to get His Gospel to the nations. Our God is able
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Speaker0: to take the farthest reprobate and bring him home.
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Speaker1: He's able.
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Speaker0: Now to Him who is able.
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Speaker0: Welcome to the One Cry Podcast, a nationwide call
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Speaker0: for spiritual awakening. The goal: accelerating the
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Speaker0: movement of God through sharing revival truth, stories, and reports.
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Speaker1: Well, hello and welcome to the One Cry Podcast. I'm Ben Dishner.
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Speaker1: the Global Ministries Director for One Cry. We're so glad that
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Speaker1: you are joining us again this week. And as we continue in the vein of
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Speaker1: the last few weeks, this summer series, we have been sharing
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Speaker1: some messages which are really revival-focused and very
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Speaker1: practical, giving some practical application in
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Speaker1: ways to orient your life toward the Lord and
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Speaker1: to set yourselves for revival and spiritual awakening.
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Speaker1: This week, We have our host, Kyle Reno,
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Speaker1: sharing another message from a recent service
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Speaker1: where God had put on his heart Ephesians 3:14-21,
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Speaker1: and the prayer of Paul for the church in Ephesus,
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Speaker1: how they may grow in their relationship with the Lord and
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Speaker1: go deeper. So let's listen to this message. Let me encourage you,
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Speaker1: at the end to share what God is speaking to
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Speaker1: you or how this podcast has been working in your life. Make sure
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Speaker1: you subscribe and listen to other messages that have been in this series.
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Speaker1: But let's take a listen to Kyle Reno.
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Speaker0: Let's dive in to chapter 3, starting in verse 14.
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Speaker0: Man, we've been on a journey through the book of Ephesians. Paul, inspired by the
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Speaker0: Holy Spirit, writing to the church Ephesus,
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Speaker0: giving us one of the clearest understandings of what it means to
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Speaker0: have a personal relationship with God. If you remember where we started, a little context.
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Speaker0: Paul explained to us what it means to have every spiritual
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Speaker0: gift in Jesus Christ. Help us
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Speaker0: understand what it meant for us as we traveled through the Word,
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Speaker0: that we were all once at one point dead in
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Speaker0: our trespasses and sins. Not only dead, we were deceived.
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Speaker1: That's right.
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Speaker0: not only deceived, we were doing the very things that was
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Speaker0: contrary to the will of God,
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Speaker0: that we were absolutely utterly hopeless without
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Speaker0: God. And then Paul, inspired by the Spirit, telling the church in Ephesus and
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Speaker0: the church in Brandon, Mississippi, is what happens when somebody
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Speaker0: is saved. When somebody is saved, they're made new. Can I
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Speaker0: get an amen? Amen. When somebody is saved, they receive mercy.
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Speaker0: When they— someone is saved, they receive grace. They They don't get what they
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Speaker0: do deserve. They do get what they don't deserve. The grace
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Speaker0: of God. And then he says, man, these truths are too much to
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Speaker0: take in in one sitting. So you have to take seasons that you might understand
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Speaker0: them. And then you get to verse 14. And I'm telling you, this week
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Speaker0: sitting with it, I feel like God helped me capture the spirit of this moment
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Speaker0: in the heart of Paul. And let me feel for you what Paul felt for
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Speaker0: Ephesians. for the church in Ephesus. So he says,
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Speaker0: in light of, man, 3+ chapters of the
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Speaker0: greatest doctrinal statements there are about our faith, man,
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Speaker0: without Ephesians 1, 2, and 3, we would have
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Speaker0: a harder time understanding the gospel. Then he gets to this point in verse 14,
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Speaker0: because of all that, listen, for this reason I
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Speaker0: bow my knees before the Father from whom every family
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Speaker0: in heaven and earth is named. Paul says,
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Speaker0: in light of these transformative truths,
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Speaker0: because of what the Spirit of God is saying to the church in Ephesus.
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Speaker0: And I would say because of what the Spirit of God is saying to the
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Speaker0: church in Mississippi in this moment, I get down on my face before
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Speaker0: God and I beg God to do some things on your behalf.
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Speaker0: Paul's saying, I want you to know I'm so moved by
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Speaker0: these truths that I'm praying for you.
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Speaker0: That I'm begging God to not— listen. To not let this merely stop
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Speaker0: with an intellectual knowledge of God.
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Speaker0: But to move to an experiential relationship with God.
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Speaker0: What Paul wanted for the church of Ephesus is to not gain more
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Speaker0: information. But to gain more intimacy with God.
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Speaker0: That they wouldn't— they would— listen to me. Because doctrine matters.
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Speaker1: That's right.
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Speaker0: That they
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Speaker0: would rightly believe, but then they would learn to live in that belief.
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Speaker0: That they would rightly know and grasp truth, but listen to me,
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Speaker0: but that truth would transform us. That that right knowledge
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Speaker0: of would awaken an experience in. And I
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Speaker0: found myself this week praying for us that we would not merely know about Jesus.
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Speaker0: We would not just grasp good doctrinal truth. And hear me,
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Speaker0: good theology matters. A good orthodoxy matters.
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Speaker0: But at some point, those truths should transform.
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Speaker0: That intellectual ascent, knowing God to the fullest measure possible,
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Speaker0: has to land in intimacy at some point.
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Speaker0: That we're not just around God talk. We know God ourselves.
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Speaker0: This is the foundational difference. And this is what Paul knew, man.
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Speaker0: Being born again out of religion. This is the foundational
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Speaker0: difference between having a religion and having a relationship with God.
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Speaker0: And for many of us, we have settled for a religion
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Speaker0: when Jesus died that you could have a relationship.
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Speaker0: That you might know God in a personal, intimate way. So Paul
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Speaker0: praying. So get this. The whole spirit of these verses, till we get to chapter
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Speaker0: 4, is a prayer. He says, I'm praying for
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Speaker0: them. I'm bowing. But that according, verse 16, that according to the riches of
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Speaker0: his glory, that he may grant you. You gotta think, Paul's thinking about people in
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Speaker0: Ephesus. I was thinking about you this week.
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Speaker0: He might grant you to be strengthened with power through his
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Speaker0: Spirit in your inner being. That Paul was praying
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Speaker0: that God would so strengthen his church with power through
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Speaker0: the Holy Spirit that they would feel it. Listen to me. In their innermost
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Speaker0: being. That they would experience it in their inner world.
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Speaker0: To personalize it. That you experience what it's like now that you're
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Speaker0: in Christ. To have the power of God in you.
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Speaker0: Come on now.
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Speaker1: Come on.
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Speaker0: That you would— out of
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Speaker0: coming to a right knowledge of the saving work of Jesus Christ,
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Speaker0: you would now come to the right experience of the Holy Spirit's power
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Speaker0: through you. Yes, that you
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Speaker0: would know. Here's doctrine. Yes, that you would know you've been drawn
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Speaker0: by the Spirit. You know that nobody's ever come to know Christ that was not
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Speaker0: drawn by the Spirit. Come on, right? Like, you never woke
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Speaker0: up one morning thinking, I'm gonna find my way back home to God. No,
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Speaker0: God, the Holy Spirit started drawing you to Jesus.
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Speaker0: Oh man, I'm having more fun preaching than you are listening. Come on.
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Speaker0: That you were made new through the Spirit. That's the doctrine of regeneration,
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Speaker0: that through faith in Christ you were made alive by the Spirit.
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Speaker0: That's good doctrine, that you have been sealed by the Spirit. You need to
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Speaker0: know that. That meaning like the Spirit of God has sealed you in your salvation.
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Speaker0: The enemy can't take you from the grasp of God. Come on.
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Speaker0: That you are in the moment you put faith in Jesus Christ, you were indwelt
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Speaker0: by the Spirit. Meaning no one's been— listen to me. No one
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Speaker0: has been saved by Christ that was not indwelt by the Spirit.
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Speaker1: Praise God.
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Speaker0: And the truth is that if you're a follower of Christ, you're being filled with
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Speaker0: the Spirit. That everyday relationship, that's all good orthodoxy.
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Speaker0: My question is, in the practice, orthopraxy,
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Speaker0: do you experience God in you?
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Speaker0: What Paul was praying for the church in Ephesus is, I want you to know
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Speaker0: that's true, but I want you to— listen to me—
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Speaker0: experience that truth. I want you to know that's true,
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Speaker0: church in Ephesus, but I want you to live in light of that truth.
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Speaker0: Paul wanted them to experience in their lives him,
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Speaker0: to experience the Holy Spirit giving power within that
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Speaker0: is displayed in life.
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Speaker0: Made me wonder this week, shouldn't we pray the same?
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Speaker1: Amen.
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Speaker0: Shouldn't we pray as Paul prayed for the church in Ephesus, that we should pray
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Speaker0: for the church in Crossgates? That we would be a people that's enamored by
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Speaker0: the gospel of Jesus Christ, but also filled with God.
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Speaker1: Amen.
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Speaker0: Empowered by God, strengthened by God. Paul wasn't praying—
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Speaker0: listen to me— for them to have strength to merely make
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Speaker0: them comfortable. He's praying that they'd have strength that God
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Speaker0: would make them dangerous.
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Speaker1: Amen.
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Speaker0: Dangerous to the enemy. God's not saying— Paul's not saying,
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Speaker0: man, you know what? I pray that you get God so filling you that you
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Speaker0: just have the feels all the time.
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Speaker0: He said, no, I want you to have God so empowering you that you
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Speaker0: would do things that matter a million years from now.
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Speaker0: Paul is praying that they would experience strength in them. So listen.
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Speaker0: so that you can make it through the hard times. 'Cause they're coming, right?
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Speaker1: Amen.
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Speaker0: That you have the power of the Spirit in your
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Speaker0: innermost being so that you would actually love people
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Speaker0: in ways that you won't naturally love. So that you might endure loss in
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Speaker0: this broken place called planet Earth.
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Speaker0: That you might actually have the strength to do something that's beyond your
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Speaker0: natural ability. Let you in
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Speaker0: on a secret about the experience of the Holy Spirit in an everyday way.
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Speaker0: And I know, man, religion hates that thought.
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Speaker0: The problem with their argument is the Bible.
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Speaker0: God wants us to experience what it's like to be his child, to be filled
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Speaker0: by his Spirit, to be empowered in this world.
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Speaker0: But the Holy Spirit doesn't waste strength.
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Speaker0: Meaning, I've found that he loves to empower people that will actually use
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Speaker0: the strength he provides to do something in light of the purposes of God.
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Speaker1: Amen.
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Speaker1: Amen.
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Speaker0: Meaning, the Spirit of God's not gonna give you strength to sit on the
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Speaker0: spiritual couch. The Spirit of God's gonna give you strength to fulfill the
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Speaker0: Great Commission. Come on now. So, he's saying,
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Speaker0: Wayne, I want you to experience that. But the Spirit of God often moves in
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Speaker0: the mission of God.
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Speaker0: That every person in this room would experience, in light of the empowering of the
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Speaker0: Holy Spirit, what he's starting to pray. Then it just gets better.
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Speaker0: Bad grammar, good theology. It gets gooder. You ready? Verse 17.
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Speaker0: I'm in a good mood. Y'all might as well join me.
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Speaker0: I'm gonna have fun regardless. All right? I missed you. All right?
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Speaker0: So that Christ may dwell, what? In your hearts through faith.
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Speaker0: Because, listen to me, the Spirit of God is helping us to actually have the
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Speaker0: experience of knowing Christ. That Christ may
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Speaker0: dwell in your hearts through faith, that you being rooted and grounded
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Speaker0: in love, get this now, may have strength to comprehend with all the
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Speaker0: saints what is the breadth, what is the length, what is the
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Speaker0: height and the depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses
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Speaker0: knowledge. What a turn of a phrase. I want you to know what's
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Speaker0: beyond knowledge. That you may be filled with
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Speaker0: all the fullness of God. That Paul is trying and he's praying that
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Speaker0: the church in Ephesus might experience, not merely
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Speaker0: in their head, but in their heart, Christ's love for them.
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Speaker0: That Paul is praying, listen to me, for the church. And I'm praying in Jesus'
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Speaker0: name this morning for those that might identify with Crossgates or one day
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Speaker0: will, that you would know the love of Christ.
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Speaker1: Amen.
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Speaker0: Not know about it, know it.
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Speaker0: Not have heard, but have experienced.
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Speaker0: That you are loved by Jesus.
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Speaker0: Pursued. There's passion in the heart of God for
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Speaker0: That they would know that Jesus, listen to me, not merely knows about
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Speaker0: us, but now lives in us. Somebody say, amen. Amen.
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Speaker0: That he's taken up residence in our heart. Listen,
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Speaker0: that we're not like the disciples. We don't merely have Jesus
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Speaker0: physically beside us. Even beyond that, Paul knew this
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Speaker0: personally, but we even get a better experience of Christ
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Speaker0: than Paul did when he first met Jesus on the Damascus Road.
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Speaker0: Pretty awesome. Can we just throw that out there? That Jesus showed
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Speaker0: up, like, on the Damascus Road in a powerful way, led to his
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Speaker0: conversion. Love that. But we've got better than that.
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Speaker0: I don't have Jesus in front of us. We don't have just Jesus beside us.
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Speaker0: We got Jesus inside of us.
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Speaker0: Amen. That the moment you came to saving faith in Jesus Christ,
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Speaker0: on the throne of your heart now sits a King, and his name is
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Speaker0: Christ. Amen. That's the gospel.
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Speaker0: The gospel is that he now rules and reigns in me.
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Speaker0: It's not merely a fact.
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Speaker0: Listen to me. It should be an experience.
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Speaker0: It's one thing to know that Jesus Christ is the central figure of history.
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Speaker0: That's just historical truth. It's another
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Speaker0: thing to know that Jesus is the only way that anyone ever receives salvation.
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Speaker0: Praise God, right? I hope— listen to me— that you've come to believe
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Speaker0: that. If not, you can today. Some of you will today.
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Speaker0: It's another thing to know the intimacy of Christ
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Speaker0: living in you, to rightly believe and
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Speaker0: to really experience. God lives
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Speaker0: in me. Hallelujah.
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Speaker0: Christ is seated as King on the throne of
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Speaker0: my life. And listen to me, in the innermost being
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Speaker0: of my person. It's one thing to know,
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Speaker0: It's another true experience. Paul is praying
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Speaker0: that they would experience as much as possible the breadth, the length, the height,
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Speaker0: the depth, and the love that Jesus has for them.
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Speaker0: Pastor Martyn Lloyd-Jones, pastor of one of the greatest
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Speaker0: churches, honestly, in history, marked by revival
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Speaker0: and a real move of God. I got a quote from him. It's pretty long,
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Speaker0: so hold on. He said this in explaining the breadth and the
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Speaker0: length and the depth and the height. He said, the breadth of Christ's
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Speaker0: love refers to the vast scope.
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Speaker0: If you want to know what it means when it says the breadth of God's
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Speaker0: love, meaning it extends to people of every nation, tribe, and tongue.
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Speaker0: We will be amazed
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Speaker0: by the breadth of Christ has— of those Christ has
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Speaker0: redeemed. Do you know that the love of Jesus Christ is spreading across
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Speaker0: every nation right now? Amen. Amen. It's going beyond race and
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Speaker0: political affiliations and everything that divides us, that Jesus'
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Speaker0: love is moving out and it's grabbing people and he's ushering them
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Speaker0: in. It's the same love that got you,
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Speaker0: me at 19, you whenever that was.
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Speaker0: The love of God found you,
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Speaker0: brought you. The length of
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Speaker0: Christ's love refers to his eternal and endless character.
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Speaker0: Meaning it has no starting point, no stopping point. Come on. Amen.
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Speaker0: It began in eternity past and it continues into the present and
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Speaker0: it goes on into eternity future. It's constant and unchanging.
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Speaker0: Jesus' love, listen to me, for you is unchangeable
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Speaker0: since the beginning and all the way to the end. Do you feel that?
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Speaker0: The enemy would rob you of that. That is yours in
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Speaker0: Christ. The depth of Christ's love
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Speaker0: refers to the depths in which Christ descended in order to save us,
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Speaker0: in the depths of our sin and unworthiness. When he saved us,
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Speaker0: his love was not based on us. His love was portrayed toward
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Speaker0: us. Christ endured the cross to save us while we
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Speaker0: were still sinners. You want to know about the depths? God came down.
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Speaker0: Amen. God came down. Look at me.
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Speaker0: Being fully God, meaning he's all-knowing, he had us in mind.
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Speaker0: Remember the first time I heard a preacher say one time,
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Speaker0: from the cross with his arms stretched wide, Jesus says, I love you this
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Speaker0: much. This much.
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Speaker0: When we had done nothing for him, this much
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Speaker0: love for you. The height of Christ's love
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Speaker0: refers to the glorious heights Christ will raise us up to
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Speaker0: forgiveness. This is coming, by the way. New birth,
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Speaker0: sonship, glorification of our bodies, beholding his
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Speaker0: glory. Christ will make us perfect without spot
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Speaker0: or wrinkle. Listen to me. One day we're going to rise. Amen.
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Speaker0: Amen. He won't even leave this body. Listen to me. When my soul steps
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Speaker0: in, when I pass away, my soul steps into the presence of Jesus. He won't
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Speaker0: even leave this body for the enemy to bring accusation. One day this body's
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Speaker0: gonna rise and say, yeah, come on, right?
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Speaker0: And in that, what is he saying? I love you that much.
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Speaker0: I love you that much.
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Speaker0: Pastor Martyn Lloyd-Jones said, we must meditate on
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Speaker0: and contemplate the love of Christ. Why? To overcome discouragement,
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Speaker0: depression, and doubt. Knowing Christ's love
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Speaker0: will transform us. Look at me.
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Speaker0: You are loved. Amen.
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Speaker0: by Jesus Christ perfectly. Now listen,
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Speaker0: it's one thing to know it. It's another to experience it.
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Speaker0: Tim Keller once said, you've heard me say it in this series before. It's just
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Speaker0: too good a quote to not say it again though. You are more sinful and
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Speaker0: flawed in ourselves than we ever dare believe. How encouraged are you, right?
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Speaker0: That's a fact, Jack, right? You are more sinful and
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Speaker0: flawed in ourselves than we ever dare believe. Yet at the very same time,
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Speaker0: you are more loved, And accepted in Jesus Christ than
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Speaker0: we ever dared hope. That's true now for every person
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Speaker0: that has received the gift of salvation. If you haven't yet, that's not
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Speaker0: true for you yet. Can be.
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Speaker0: For those of us that is true, drink that down deep.
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Speaker0: Loved by God. So here's the principle in light of that first couple passages.
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Speaker0: I want to ask us to try to do something. Let's pray that
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Speaker0: we come to experience what we've already received.
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Speaker0: Followers of Christ. I actually got a homework assignment.
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Speaker0: You ready? Well, you know, your teacher didn't ask or care. I don't care
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Speaker0: either. Alright. You ready? Amen. I'm being serious
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Speaker0: when I say this though. Would you do one thing this week?
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Speaker0: Would you take Ephesians 3:14-21 and Almost
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Speaker0: like daily medicine. And would you pray it into your experience?
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Speaker0: If you'll do it 7 days, I bet— I'm gonna make a promise. We'll show
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Speaker0: up different next week.
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Speaker1: I got another promise. When we get to January,
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Speaker1: I'm gonna give you a way to pray the whole book of Ephesians in come
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Speaker1: January. To take what is true and pray it into our
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Speaker1: experience. Pray it into what God is doing. But for this week, homework assignment.
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Speaker1: Got me? Ephesians 3:14-21. Husbands, you can ask
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Speaker1: your wives later what I just said. Okay? So keep moving, 'cause that's
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Speaker1: real stuff. Verse 20, here we go.
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Speaker1: In light of that, listen to me. This passage of scripture I've preached
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Speaker1: before, but there's more to it than we normally give it. Listen to me.
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Speaker1: This prayer, this that empowers
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Speaker1: our praying was first birthed in a prayer.
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Speaker1: In verse 20 and 21, it says, Now to him who is able to do
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Speaker1: far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, According to
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Speaker1: the power at work within us. To him be glory in the church and in
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Speaker1: Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.
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Speaker0: Amen. There is a reason
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Speaker0: why nothing wrong with being text-driven in your preaching, meaning picking
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Speaker0: a specific passage of scripture. I've done this passage here.
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Speaker0: But sometimes when you don't walk through the whole story,
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Speaker0: you miss the context.
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Speaker0: This about prayer starts in prayer in verse 14.
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Speaker0: So, what Paul is doing by the power of the Holy Spirit is saying,
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Speaker0: in light of a prayer, let me teach you how to pray. I am
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Speaker0: praying for your praying. And I'm
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Speaker0: gonna give you the simplified version. Listen to me. As you come into the presence
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Speaker0: of God this week, you're talking now to him. Now to him.
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Speaker0: Now to him.
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Speaker0: Way too often, we pray to each other when we pray. You know what I'm
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Speaker0: talking about? If you get in a circle of people and you're praying,
22:16
Speaker0: you ever found yourself trying to impress somebody else with your prayers? Come on now,
22:19
Speaker0: don't look at me holy. And you're like, man,
22:22
Speaker0: I just want one amen. So I just gotta keep going till somebody finally amens.
22:26
Speaker0: You know what I'm talking about? When the truth is,
22:29
Speaker0: is the gospel of Jesus Christ has set us free from trying to impress anybody.
22:34
Speaker0: Amen. Now to him,
22:39
Speaker0: That when we come through the finished work of Christ, we come into
22:42
Speaker0: the presence of God. Our prayers are not directed toward a relic.
22:47
Speaker0: Our prayers are not directed toward a religious figure.
22:51
Speaker0: Our prayers are not moving toward an idol.
22:55
Speaker0: Our prayers are to God himself. Amen.
23:00
Speaker0: Now to him. And our God is able. Amen.
23:04
Speaker0: Come on now. Our God is able. You say,
23:07
Speaker0: able to do what? Anything.
23:11
Speaker0: Able. There is— and I want to say this very specifically. There is nothing that
23:15
Speaker0: is inside of God's will that is outside of God's ability.
23:20
Speaker0: Holla. That's good right there. There's nothing that's
23:25
Speaker0: inside of the will of God, the heart of God, the nature of God,
23:27
Speaker0: the character of God that's outside of the ability of God.
23:33
Speaker0: Our God is able to save people.
23:38
Speaker0: Our God is able to form families.
23:42
Speaker0: Our God is able to restore brokenness.
23:45
Speaker0: Our God is able to move in churches. Our God is able
23:49
Speaker0: to— listen to me— to change cities. Our God is able to redeem a nation.
23:53
Speaker0: Our God is able to get His Gospel to the Nations. Our God
23:57
Speaker0: is able to take the farthest reprobate and bring him home.
24:02
Speaker0: He's able. Now to him who
24:07
Speaker0: is able. You say, to do what?
24:11
Speaker0: Far more abundantly than all that we ask or think.
24:14
Speaker0: Now, I love this. My wife's in here. She knows me well.
24:18
Speaker0: My brain a lot of times goes brrr. So I think a lot.
24:22
Speaker0: Right? Like, sometimes I lay down and my brain's like a CD.
24:26
Speaker0: You know, it's just spinning. Kids, you don't know what a CD is?
24:29
Speaker0: Google that. But there's something that used to spin a
24:33
Speaker0: lot. I don't even know what else to tell you. All right.
24:38
Speaker0: So I say that, like, and I mean this.
24:42
Speaker0: I can think some pretty big things. God made me that way.
24:46
Speaker0: I learned to pray right after I came into the kingdom. Amen. Man, I was
24:49
Speaker0: discipled in the earliest days of how to pray big, bold,
24:53
Speaker0: God-honoring prayers. And what this passage is saying is,
24:56
Speaker0: Kyle, you can't think nothing bigger than I am. You can't
25:01
Speaker0: ask something that's beyond my ability.
25:04
Speaker0: That's good. So what the invitation
25:09
Speaker0: of Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, to the church in Ephesus that rings
25:13
Speaker0: true today to the church called Crossgates is,
25:16
Speaker0: listen, pray for more.
25:19
Speaker0: Pray for more. More than what? More than you can ask or
25:24
Speaker0: think. Pray for more people's lives to be changed.
25:27
Speaker0: God says to me, let's pray for more families to be transformed.
25:32
Speaker0: Let's pray for more of the next generation to catch fire for the gospel
25:36
Speaker0: of Jesus Christ. Like we heard last week, let's pray
25:39
Speaker0: that the fatherless would find fathers. And those that need spiritual spiritual
25:43
Speaker0: mothers would find spiritual mothers here. Let's pray that God would extend
25:47
Speaker0: to our whole community a Gospel moment to come
25:51
Speaker0: home. Amen. Let's pray for more.
25:57
Speaker0: You say, Kyle, where are we going to put all the people? We'll figure that
26:00
Speaker0: out. I don't give a real— listen to me. I mean this. We gotta get
26:03
Speaker0: this. We shouldn't care about, like, the scope and the size. And we're not here
26:07
Speaker0: celebrating numbers. God cares too much for
26:11
Speaker0: too many people for us to get comfortable.
26:17
Speaker0: Too many are perishing. Too many families are being ravaged,
26:21
Speaker0: man. Too many of the next generation is being deceived. So pray
26:25
Speaker0: for more.
26:28
Speaker0: Now, the part— the problem with that is you better mean it.
26:33
Speaker0: Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than we can ask
26:36
Speaker0: or think. How's he going to do it? According to to the power
26:40
Speaker0: at work within us.
26:44
Speaker0: God's saying, listen to me. Pray as big as you want as long as you're
26:47
Speaker0: willing to partner in that prayer coming to fulfillment.
26:50
Speaker0: Come on. Amen. Meaning this.
26:54
Speaker0: We got to follow our prayers with a willingness to do whatever it
26:58
Speaker0: takes. Don't pray to just transform cities if you're
27:01
Speaker0: not going to get in the Word. Don't pray for the fatherless to come home
27:04
Speaker0: if you're not going to make a disciple, man. Don't pray for those things if
27:07
Speaker0: you won't go toward it.
27:10
Speaker0: Listen to me. It starts in prayer. Listen to me. It's manifested
27:14
Speaker0: in feet moving.
27:17
Speaker0: Yep. So here's an encouragement here. And I love it. It says, to him
27:21
Speaker0: be glory in, what? In the church.
27:26
Speaker0: Nothing glorifies Jesus Christ. Nothing glorifies God more
27:30
Speaker0: than the activity of God through the people of God.
27:33
Speaker0: Through the church throughout all generations, forever and ever.
27:37
Speaker0: And amen. Hey, let's pray for more. Here's the deal.
27:41
Speaker0: Here's the principle. Let's pray for more and actually position
27:45
Speaker0: ourselves to be a part of that answer. Let's pray for more and
27:50
Speaker0: then position ourselves to be a part. Let me tell you what I love about
27:52
Speaker0: the local church. This is one small representation of
27:57
Speaker0: Jesus' mosaic he's painting all over planet Earth,
28:00
Speaker0: right? Yes. We, man, we're just like one little thread in
28:04
Speaker0: this beautiful thing God is building. But every thread matters.
28:09
Speaker0: I heard just this last week. I was listening to a sermon.
28:12
Speaker0: Craig Groeschel, Life.Church in Oklahoma.
28:16
Speaker0: And years ago, they just wanted to help their
28:20
Speaker0: local church, their church read the Bible better.
28:23
Speaker0: And so they said, man, maybe we should just— maybe we should create an app.
28:27
Speaker0: And give it to our people. So it'll help them get a daily reading
28:31
Speaker0: plan, a 1-year reading plan. Well, that app became the
28:35
Speaker0: YouVersion app. A bunch of us in this room have it downloaded,
28:38
Speaker0: right? The YouVersion app. Do you know this
28:43
Speaker0: month, one local church now— I got this dream 15
28:47
Speaker0: years ago or so. This month,
28:51
Speaker0: they will Go beyond. Go beyond. They will have over 1
28:56
Speaker0: billion downloads of the YouVersion app.
29:07
Speaker0: Now to him who is able
29:12
Speaker0: to do immeasurably more than we ask or think.
29:16
Speaker0: Do you think in the moment they said, let's put an app together to help
29:20
Speaker0: our people, Read the Bible better. That they had faith for a
29:24
Speaker0: billion people that would now have downloaded on their phone the ability to read
29:29
Speaker0: about Jesus.
29:32
Speaker0: He can do more. So pray for more.
29:36
Speaker0: Pray for more. And then practically do something. Make a disciple.
29:40
Speaker0: Position yourself to serve. And God will show up. Now I'm going to land
29:44
Speaker0: here. We're pretty much done. Okay. Amen. Okay. Miss Laura, you can go ahead and
29:48
Speaker0: come back. That does not mean I'm almost done.
29:52
Speaker0: It means we're getting closer. But this is
29:56
Speaker0: going to set us up for next week and the weeks ahead. I'm excited about
29:59
Speaker0: preaching the next several weeks through Ephesians here.
30:04
Speaker0: I love it. It moves from this experience of
30:08
Speaker0: to actually engaging in.
30:11
Speaker0: Chapter 4, 4, verse 1, he says, I therefore— and
30:15
Speaker0: you've heard this before. If you ever see a therefore, you need to ask,
30:17
Speaker0: why is it therefore? Right? What is it there for? Well, in light of
30:21
Speaker0: all this, now it's time to do something
30:25
Speaker0: with it. I therefore, a prisoner
30:28
Speaker0: of the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to
30:31
Speaker0: which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience,
30:35
Speaker0: bearing with one another in love, eager to
30:39
Speaker0: maintain the unity of the Spirit In the bond of peace.
30:45
Speaker0: What the Spirit of God is saying through Paul to the church in Ephesus
30:49
Speaker0: and to us right here in Brandon, Mississippi.
30:53
Speaker0: Representing a lot of different people from all over Rankin County and beyond.
30:59
Speaker0: The message is now clear.
31:03
Speaker0: 3 chapters have given us the gospel message.
31:06
Speaker0: in a way that is crystal clear. No more,
31:10
Speaker0: listen, being confused about what does it mean to— how do you get to know
31:13
Speaker0: God in a personal way? That's not the problem anymore. The message is clear.
31:17
Speaker0: You only come into the kingdom through the finished work of Jesus Christ.
31:21
Speaker0: Nobody's moral enough a moment to make their way in. At some point, you got
31:25
Speaker0: to receive this gift of salvation. Be empowered by the Spirit, man,
31:29
Speaker0: to believe big in God and his work in the world. And he says,
31:32
Speaker0: now In light of the message being clear,
31:36
Speaker0: our manner of life should match the message.
31:43
Speaker0: Meaning this, don't let the manner of life contradict,
31:48
Speaker0: contradict the message of life.
31:52
Speaker0: And unfortunately, too many
31:55
Speaker0: local expressions of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ
32:00
Speaker0: Their manner of life poorly represents
32:04
Speaker0: the message of life.
32:07
Speaker0: Let that not be true here in Jesus' name.
32:12
Speaker0: That the way we live as family should
32:16
Speaker0: further exemplify the message of Jesus.
32:21
Speaker0: Hence why he said, I'm gonna
32:25
Speaker0: charge you to walk in one of the hardest things you'll ever do. Walk in
32:29
Speaker0: humility. Humility. You see what it says
32:32
Speaker0: in the passage? I therefore, a prisoner, urge you to walk in a manner worthy
32:36
Speaker0: of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility.
32:41
Speaker0: Let me tell you, we got some broken thoughts
32:45
Speaker0: around what humility is. Humility is not necessarily
32:49
Speaker0: thinking less of yourself.
32:53
Speaker0: Humility is not sure thinking more of yourself. Tim Keller says this,
32:56
Speaker0: humility is not thinking less of yourself. It's thinking of yourself less.
33:02
Speaker0: Meaning, guys, look. This thing that
33:07
Speaker0: Jesus is building, it's not about you.
33:10
Speaker0: Ain't about me. Ain't about us. It's about
33:14
Speaker0: him. It says,
33:18
Speaker0: with gentleness. Gentleness. Gentleness, by the way,
33:22
Speaker0: does not portray softness.
33:26
Speaker0: Doesn't mean that we lose passion
33:32
Speaker0: or any of those things. Gentleness is the manner in which we
33:36
Speaker0: walk out this message together. Meaning this. It's hard
33:40
Speaker0: to represent Jesus and be a jerk.
33:43
Speaker0: Word.
33:48
Speaker0: But you can show up in the midst of moments where there's even the need—
33:52
Speaker0: listen to me— for confrontation and be gentle.
33:58
Speaker0: It doesn't mean— listen to me— it doesn't mean that we stop being honest.
34:01
Speaker0: It does mean we stop being harsh.
34:06
Speaker0: It means the way we say it matters as much as what we say.
34:13
Speaker0: Jesus said a lot of stuff that needed to be heard that was not well
34:17
Speaker0: received, but the spirit in which he did it mattered.
34:21
Speaker0: Patient bearing with one another in love.
34:25
Speaker0: Anybody else feel like they're failing a test right now? All right.
34:28
Speaker0: Let me tell you what I love about this. God does not call us to—
34:32
Speaker0: listen to me— to what he won't empower us for.
34:39
Speaker0: If you're waiting for my patience to bear
34:42
Speaker0: witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ in my own strength over
34:46
Speaker0: the longevity of our life, we're in trouble. But anybody
34:50
Speaker0: else grateful that God is patient?
34:54
Speaker0: And He can empower bearing with one another in love.
34:59
Speaker0: You say, Kyle, what does that mean? Putting up with you.
35:04
Speaker0: It's the Kyle version of that.
35:07
Speaker0: Sometimes you need the power of the Spirit to just put
35:10
Speaker0: up with people. Can I get a witness there? Right? Don't look at anybody right
35:14
Speaker0: now. That's not the time. Spirit of God, I need
35:18
Speaker0: help right now to bear with this person.
35:23
Speaker0: Connection time. That felt so real right
35:26
Speaker0: there.
35:32
Speaker0: All these things he's calling us to is just moving us
35:36
Speaker0: to greater— the greater need for the Spirit's power
35:41
Speaker0: in our inner being.
35:45
Speaker0: Eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
35:49
Speaker0: Can I tell you the truth? Listen to me. There's no measure to what Jesus
35:53
Speaker0: can do through this one local church. that has true unity.
35:59
Speaker0: And what that means is, listen to me, it is not merely kumbaya.
36:03
Speaker0: Doesn't mean like, I like you, you like me, let's just look at each other.
36:07
Speaker0: What it means is, man, we are unified around
36:12
Speaker0: a person, and his name is Jesus. Amen. We're unified
36:16
Speaker0: around a mission, which is to get this good news to the ends
36:20
Speaker0: of the earth. And we, we don't have time to have petty differences,
36:25
Speaker0: to argue about secondary stuff when the world is on fire.
36:32
Speaker0: Yes. Hence why he says, verse 4, there is
36:35
Speaker0: one body and one Spirit, just as you are called to the one hope
36:40
Speaker0: that belongs to your call. He says, listen, this is our oneness. We got one
36:43
Speaker0: Lord. We've got one faith. We were baptized
36:46
Speaker0: into one baptism, that we are dead in our trespasses and sin. Made alive
36:50
Speaker0: in Christ. We got one God and one Father of all who is over
36:54
Speaker0: all and is through all and in all.
36:59
Speaker0: The Spirit of God is saying, listen to me, we're one.
37:05
Speaker0: So why would we let our own flesh or
37:08
Speaker0: our enemy or this world break us apart when
37:14
Speaker0: we were born again for something bigger? Amen.
37:18
Speaker0: So let's walk in the right manner into the real
37:21
Speaker0: mission together.
37:25
Speaker0: Anybody else grateful for God's word this morning? Right, come on.
37:32
Speaker0: Amen. What a great message from Kyle, and may
37:36
Speaker0: we grow in our understanding and our relationship
37:41
Speaker0: with the Lord. May we come to know the breadth And the length
37:45
Speaker0: and the depth and the height of God's love and what He
37:50
Speaker0: has done for us. Let's, uh, let's take a moment and let's pray this
37:53
Speaker0: in. And also let me encourage you to embrace
37:58
Speaker0: the challenge that Kyle issued to everyone in this message
38:02
Speaker0: to pray for more and to continue to pray for more, to pray
38:06
Speaker0: this passage daily almost as a medicine
38:09
Speaker0: for your soul. To continue to pray,
38:12
Speaker0: Lord, would you show yourself more to me? Would you
38:16
Speaker0: please move in my life? So let's take a moment and let's pray
38:20
Speaker0: that in. Father, we do praise
38:25
Speaker0: you, and we thank you for all you are doing. We thank you
38:28
Speaker0: for all you have done in our lives. And Lord,
38:31
Speaker0: we ask for more. We ask, God, that you would convict
38:36
Speaker0: us deeply of things that stand in the way of our relationship growing
38:40
Speaker0: with you. Lord, that we would be willing to make
38:44
Speaker0: adjustments, to lay those things down, to turn in repentance
38:48
Speaker0: and run after you, Lord. Thank you,
38:51
Speaker0: Father, for how much you show
38:55
Speaker0: your love. And as even as our
38:59
Speaker0: friend Bill says, Lord, our greatest need is your
39:03
Speaker0: presence. Lord, thank you for that.
39:07
Speaker0: Thank you that your presence is all around us. But Lord, we desire
39:11
Speaker0: to know you more. We desire to experience
39:15
Speaker0: you more, to be used by you more. So would you please do
39:19
Speaker0: just that? Move in and through our lives, Father.
39:24
Speaker0: We praise you and we thank you. You are so good and so
39:28
Speaker0: worthy. In the name of Jesus, and amen.
39:33
Speaker0: Hope this message has blessed you, and we invite you back next
39:37
Speaker0: week to the One Cry Podcast to listen to another message Pointing
39:42
Speaker0: us in a way to orient our lives,
39:45
Speaker0: to set our sails for revival and spiritual awakening.
39:50
Speaker0: If this podcast has been a blessing to you,
39:53
Speaker0: please let us know. You can email us at info@onecry.com
39:58
Speaker0: and let us know what God has been doing or what he has been speaking
40:01
Speaker0: through this podcast, or share of his activity you're
40:05
Speaker0: seeing in revival in your community. The fame
40:09
Speaker0: of revival helps spread the flame of revival, and so we
40:13
Speaker0: desire to hear all those stories and share them with others.
40:17
Speaker0: Until next week, God bless you. Have a wonderful week.
40:20
Speaker0: Have a wonderful week.