Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #14907 - More Love. More Power. - Ephesians 1:19-23

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#14907 - More Love. More Power. - Ephesians 1:19-23 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the study of God's Word with pastor and author Ed
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Taylor, recorded live at Calvary Church in Aurora, Co.
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To learn more about the many resources available through
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Abounding Grace Media or to tune into our live stream services,
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visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free
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Calvary Church app. Now.
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Here's Pastor Ed to take us into our study.
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Amen. Amen.
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Open your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 1.
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We're going to pick up where we left off last time in verse 19.
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Actually, we'll go back to verse 15 for context.
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And I've entitled our Bible study More Love and More Power.
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More love, More power. Just like the song that we sang
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today. I asked the team to add that
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song. It's an older song.
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It was introduced to the church in 1987.
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So some of you the song is older than you.
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It was one of those choruses that was given to the church.
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It's it's one of those songs that that really hits my heart
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because it was part of my new believer days.
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It's one of those songs that was in regular rotation when I was a
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new believer at my home church. And the lyrics more love, more
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power, more of you in my life. I'm going to worship you, he
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says with my heart, my might, my strength.
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That's really, I believe the prayer that Paul has for the
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Ephesians. More love, more power, but more
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of you in our lives. That's God's heart for us.
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Pretty simple, but powerful nonetheless.
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Paul planted this church in the city of Ephesus, a large city
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there seaport, a lot of people coming in and out, and he stayed
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there for three years, which is unusual.
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That wasn't his regular methodology.
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His regular methodology was go to a city, meet people, plant a
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church, establish it, move on. Go to a city, meet people,
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establish a church, move on. There was either a revival or a
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riot or both when Paul came to a city.
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But in Ephesus, he did something different.
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He stayed there for three years. We're not told why.
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There's nowhere in the Scriptures that explains why he
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changed things, why he switched it up, except that he did.
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When he arrives in Ephesus, the Lord somehow told him he sensed
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it in his spirit to stay there, to stay put.
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Which reminds us of a couple things as we launch into the
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rest of the chapter today. The first thing is we don't
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always know what the Lord is doing in our lives.
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You just have to admit that you don't always know.
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We think we know, but we're always in a discovery mode.
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We want to discover the will of God for our lives.
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We don't always know like you might develop a routine and a
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pattern and this is how it always is.
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Mondays are like this, Tuesdays are like this, Wednesdays like
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this, but you can't you can't be rigid to the leading of the Holy
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Spirit. He may have something different
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for you. Well, you know, this is just my
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ministry. I go from here, I go from here,
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I go from here. But Paul, he, he was he was
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mature enough to say no when God says stay, he stayed.
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Now he understood this before because he went in, remember
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wanting to go into Asia Minor and the Holy Spirit stopped him.
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Then he tried just to go a different way into Asia Minor
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and the Bible says the Holy Spirit forbid him.
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And that's when he received a vision, a man of Troas.
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He ends up in Philippi, meets the women at the at the
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Riverside, meets Lydia, probably funded his ministry and on and
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on that goes. He knows what it's like to go
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and he knows what it's like to stop.
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And although we don't know what God is doing to stay or to go,
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to stay planned or whatever's happening, God knows.
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God knows. God knew what He wanted from
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Paul, and he wanted him there three years.
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A second thing that I learned from him staying in Ephesus for
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three years is this sense of how I don't know.
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I don't know if you've noticed this in your life.
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I've certainly noticed it in mine and I've noticed it in
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others. But how easy it is to come to
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God with all of our plans already figured out.
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And that's kind of our prayer. Our prayer to God is, you know,
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God, this is what I want you to do.
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This is how I want you to do it. This is when I want you to do
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it. Amen.
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And I don't know how God, how he looks down on our prayer life
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when he looks at us, but you got to understand that that is not
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how God operates where you think you already know what you want,
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how it's going to happen. You've already figured it out.
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You've already arranged things, you've moved this over here and
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you scheduled this over here. And maybe a few hesitancies and
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pauses, you've justified and set aside, you go, well God, this is
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the way it's going to happen. This is the way I want it to
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happen. And so in Jesus name, but it
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reminded me of a proverb, Proverbs, chapter 14, verse 12.
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The Bible says there is a way that seems right to a man, but
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the end thereof is death. You see, our ways need to wind
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up with God's ways, not the other way around.
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God does not need to line up to our desires.
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Our desires are to line up to His.
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Otherwise it's going to, it's going to not going to end well.
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It's going to end poorly. I think of a Bible example of
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this. You remember in the book of
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Joshua, Joshua's taking the new nation into the land and
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conquering the land. They come to this huge fortified
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city in Jericho and, and he consults God and God speaks to
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him and says this is how I want you to do it.
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March around the city, March around the city, March around
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the city on the 7th they scream and I will give you the victory.
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And that's what they did. It was a very unconventional
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military expedition and as they obeyed God and followed his
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commands, victory was given and they all rejoiced and they took
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the city of Jericho. Well, then they moved on to a
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much smaller city, the city of AI and a careful reading of the
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scriptures. You'll notice they never consult
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God. They never ask God what to do
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about AI. They just send some men in.
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Hey, it's a small city. We already, we have victory in
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Jericho. Just send a few men, we'll take
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AI. No big deal.
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Well, they didn't take AI and it was a big deal because many
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people died. Many people died.
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There was a way that seemed right, but the end was death.
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A man planned his way without seeking God.
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Let me give you another proverb, proverb, chapter 16 in verse 9.
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It says a man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his
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steps. So many stop with the first half
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of this proverb. You plan your ways.
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You got it all laid out. You, you know what?
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Every single thing that's going to happen for your future, but
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you fail to follow the direction of the Lord and it's not wise.
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The failure is made when God directs our steps and those
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steps are contrary and different to our plans.
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You see, we can have the best plans in the world, but if
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they're not from God, they will lead to defeat.
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Please stop coming to God with everything all planned out and
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just come with open hands. Certainly God will give a
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direction and you can see different things happening in
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your life, but don't be so closed and rigid to the leading
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of the Holy Spirit. In Proverbs chapter 19 verse 21,
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there are many plans in a man's heart.
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Nevertheless, the Lord's counsel that will stand.
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So if the Lord's counsel will stand, doesn't it make sense
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biblically and spiritually to seek the Lord?
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Let him counsel you on your future.
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Let him comfort you. Let him direct you.
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Let him speak to you about what is coming up in the future.
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Paul was sensitive to the leading of the Spirit and obeyed
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God as he believed the Lord was leading him.
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He wasn't trying to make things happen.
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He wasn't taking what he wanted and kind of moving it together
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and go, you know, the Lord told me and the Lord, no, he just
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knew what God was doing. And he stayed and established a
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very strong church. He stayed and established a
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church that was so strong that later on it would have leaders
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like Priscilla and Aquila. Timothy would be a pastor there.
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Even the apostle John spent time serving the church in Ephesus.
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And as he opens up his letter, he's praying for them.
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His heart is knit together with them because he spent some time
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with people. Your heart gets knit together.
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Three years is a long time. I, I think of my own experience
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being in the same church now for 26 years.
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My heart is here. My heart is with this church,
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with your families, watching your kids grow up, watching you
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gain the victory, watching you overcome.
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My heart is knit together with this city, with this church,
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with this state. You stay in a place long enough.
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You begin to grow together in unity and in fellowship.
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So Paul, he's sitting in prison, that's where he's at when he
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writes this. This is one of the prison
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epistles. But you, if you just read like
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if I gave you a copy of the letter of Ephesians, I gave you
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a copy of Ephesians like I sent you APDF and or I gave you a, a
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manuscript, that's all you had, just Ephesians and you read it
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straight through, you would not be able to conclude that Paul
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was in prison. You would never know it.
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He doesn't mention it. It's not a big deal for him that
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he's in prison specifically. You wouldn't know what he's
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going through. You wouldn't know what's
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happening to him. I mean, as you're reading the
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letter, he doesn't make prison the focus.
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He doesn't make his problems the focus.
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He's not saying, oh, it's so hard.
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I'm struggling really bad. They beat me up, I'm starving.
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It's cold, it's miserable. In reality, he gives us the
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exact opposite example. Now, this can be a very
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convicting thing of what I'm about to share with you, but I,
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I want it just to sit with you. I want you just to receive it.
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Sometimes I hear Christians, that's all they talk about is
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how hard it is. They never talk about the
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goodness of the Lord. They never share about the
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victories of the Lord. It's always, oh, it's hard, it's
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miserable, it's difficult. I'm not talking about prayer
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requests. I'm not talking about an
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episode. I mean, you have taken on the
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identity of all of the things that have happened to you, and
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you have forgotten the power of God.
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Paul isn't in that place. He's in a good space right here
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where as he's writing, he gives us a he's not so concerned about
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himself. He's concerned about the church.
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And he's set free from the chains that he's in.
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Like he's in chains, but he's set free.
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That's true freedom because prayer is so crucial.
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Prayer is so vital. Prayer is like breathing
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spiritually, where you're breathing in the goodness of God
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and you're breathing out the appreciation and then and you're
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praying for others and you're thinking of others.
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We need to know and understand what prayer can do for us
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because there's a lot of prisons in life, a lot of difficulties,
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a lot of hardships. Jesus said in John chapter 16
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and verse 33 that in this world you will never have another
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problem the rest of your life. Some people read the Bible that
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way, but Jesus didn't say that. Jesus said in this world you're
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going to suffer many tribulations, plural, but be of
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good cheer. I've overcome the world like
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you're going to suffer. You're going to be restricted.
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You're going to have challenges. You're going to have things
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happen you never wanted. You're going to face calamity.
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You're going to see it in your family.
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You're going to see it in your friends.
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You're going to see it in your church.
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Even today. Some listening to me have a very
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hard life, and I'm sorry it's been hard for a long time.
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It's hard when you wake up. It's hard during the day.
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It's hard when you go home, hard when you go to sleep.
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Sometimes you even get it in your dreams or your nightmares.
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It's hard, but the Lord is with you day by day.
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You're making it day by day. You're gaining the strength of
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the Lord. Some of you have just very
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irritating situations, not so hard, but irritating.
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Just get under your skin. It's just frustrating.
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Others feel trapped. You might feel trapped in your
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marriage today. You might feel trapped as a
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single wondering what your future is.
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You might feel trapped in a job or or in unemployment.
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You just feel restricted by other people's decisions and
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situations. You feel confined.
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Maybe you have an illness, A chronic illness like on and on
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the list can go. And in the constrictions there
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is freedom through prayer, there is power and prayer like this is
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this is one of the most powerful tools that God has given to us
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in the spiritual realm. And it's also the most
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neglected. It's also the one that just is
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laid on the side. It just just like, you know,
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I'll use it when things get really, really bad.
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But you learn over time that things always are really, really
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bad because you live in a difficult world.
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And if they're not really, really bad for you, they're
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really, really bad for someone else.
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You know, prayer, somebody once said this, it's mine now, but
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somebody once said this, that trials and prisons send us to
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the Graduate School of prayer and deepens our personal
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fellowship with Jesus. Isn't that true?
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Like the deeper the problem, the more passionate your prayers,
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like you're just going through something and guess what?
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Now you're so desperate, you're so desperate.
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You're back in church, you're back in the word, you're crying
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out to the Lord, Yes, Lord, I can't believe.
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Yes, you're so desperate. And that's where God wants you
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in closeness and intimacy, A depth, maybe not so desperate,
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but a depth of relationship where you know God is for you,
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not against you. Where you know he can help you,
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where you know you can trust him, where you know your faith
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will grow. And so you're desperate.
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And the danger, of course, is that when the crisis passes,
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you're not so desperate anymore. And prayer gets thrown to the
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side until the next desperation. It's just a, it's really a
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horrible way to live. You're just waiting for
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calamity. So then you'll start crying out
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to the Lord instead of enjoying all that God is doing, just
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knowing calamities will come here and there, but God will get
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us through us. Why?
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Because He got us through the last one and the last one, and
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He's getting us through this one, and He's preparing us for
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the next one. Prayer is one of those tools
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that we can't just set aside. I mean, I was thinking, I know
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it's silly, but I was thinking if you went home today and there
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is a stack of cash at your door, $1,000,000, so tall you can't
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even get in your front door, are you going to go around that?
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You know, Oh, I look, oh, look, honey, the front door is is
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blocked with $1,000,000. Let's go around the back.
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You're not going to neglect that.
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I mean, you're going to do one of two things.
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You're going to go on a shopping spree or you're going to call
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the cops. One of those two things, but
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you're not going to neglect it. I mean, if somebody deposit, you
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got a gift, you're not just going to neglect it.
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You're not going to walk around it.
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You're not going to find a way to not use it.
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And yet that's many times the perspective of prayer Even so
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much so that people get mad at God.
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They're not even going to ask God for help because it's all
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your fault, God. But it's not.
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We live in a sense soaked world and we suffer the consequences
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of sin. Sometimes it's our own,
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sometimes it's others, but it is the world waiting for Jesus to
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return. When you pray, there's an
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opportunity in fellowship with the Lord for God to use those
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wounds in our lives to teach us about Him using pain and hurt
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like we've never, ever imagined. You know how sometimes you'll
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have a friend or a family member that goes through something so
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drastic and your response is, man, I don't think I could ever
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survive that. And I understand that.
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I don't think I could ever go through that.
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But you see, that wasn't that wasn't God's will for you to go
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through that. You have your own people look at
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your life and say, I don't think I could ever, ever go through
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that. And yet you are, and in the
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wound and in the hurt and the difficulty and the trial and the
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grief and the pain and the worry, God is able to minister
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to you. And what does he do with our
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wounds? He doesn't make.
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God does not make us bitter. God does not make us angry.
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God does not make us recluse. Those are all works of the
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flesh. That's what the enemy wants to
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do with our wounds. But you know what God does with
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our wounds? He heals them.
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He comforts them and he uses them to help others.
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That's why we pray. We don't pray because we have
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to. We pray because this is what
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draws us into relationship with the Father who cares for us, our
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ABBA, our ABBA that loves us. And so Paul prays.
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He's in a he's in. He doesn't know.
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We read the Bible sometimes, but we know the end.
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He gets out of jail, but he doesn't know he's writing a
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letter in prison just like you're writing a letter in your
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confinement today and you don't know the future, but you know
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the Lord of your future and as he writes, he prays for them.
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Notice in verse 15 we're going to pick up context.
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It says therefore I also chapter 1 after I heard of your faith in
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the Lord Jesus and your love for all the Saints.
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Do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my
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prayers that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of
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glory may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the
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knowledge of him. The eyes of your understanding
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being enlightened that you may know what is the hope of his
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calling and what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance
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in the Saints. It's our last few Bible studies
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there. I was listening to our Bible
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study, the one I taught before I left to Oregon just to catch up.
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And I'm like, yeah, this was this was super encouraging to
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hear Paul's heart for the church to to see that God's developing
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that heart in me for our church, seeing that God will use his
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word to develop this in you. This week I was texting a pastor
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friend of mine going through the, he was going through
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something. I just stepped back and it hit
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me because I've been studying all week, like on midweek on our
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midweek Bible study, we're studying through the, the, the
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letter of John, first, second and third John.
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And the topic of John is love, the agape love of God.
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Every page, every word. John, he just comes in and
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little children love one another, love God, love one
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another. And then on our weekends, what
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are we studying? The book of Ephesians?
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What, what is the highlight of the book of Ephesians?
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Grace, the grace of God. So what is God doing in our
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church right now? What is he pouring out into our
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lives? Grace and love, you're going to
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see it in your own life, you're going to watch it flow.
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You're going to you're just going to look at the Lord and
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you're going to receive from him how much he loves you, how
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gracious and merciful he is to us.
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And then it's going to come through you because God is
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working these things in US and he is this prayer.
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Is that really what Paul's saying is that I just want you
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guys, this is this is the key. I just want you to know the Lord
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more. I want you to know his grace,
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it's going to change you. You can't help but be changed
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when you receive from him. Now notice let's pick up in
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verse 19. Now he where he says and what is
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this is part still his request. What is the exceeding greatness
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of His power toward us who believe according to the working
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of His mighty power, which He worked in Christ, when He raised
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him from the dead and seated him at His right hand in the
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heavenly places? What is this prayer?
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Now He goes on to say, I want you to have more power.
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I want you to experience more power that you would know.
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Notice the words that He uses, the exceeding greatness of His
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dunamis. Now of course your Bible say
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power. That's the English translation
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of the Greek word dunamas. It's the same word we learn in
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Acts chapter 1 when Jesus told the believers, don't leave
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Jerusalem, but wait, the Baptist, you will be baptized by
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the Holy Spirit and receive dunamas, a power outside of
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yourself. This is how we start as
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believers. We start with all God and none
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of us, and then over time it becomes almost all God and some
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of us, and then maybe half God and half us.
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And before you know it, you're not pressing into the power of
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God anymore. You have chosen to limit your
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life by your own power and abilities.
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I'll give you some examples. Some of you are incredibly smart
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people, very well educated, and you're just able to, to see
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things, figure things out. And that's how you live your
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life in the world because that's your job or your, you know, what
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you were educated in, But that's translated into how you follow
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God. And the problem with that is
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that you have limited yourself to your own ability because God
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has more power. I'll tell you a phrase I look
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out for in my life. When I hear this phrase, it's a
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red flag. It's not a yellow flag.
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It's not a white flag. It's a red flag.
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When I hear this phrase, when I hear it come out of my mouth,
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and when I hear it in my mind where I'm faced with something
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and I say this, I really need to figure this out.
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I am not necessarily is it a bad thing yet, but if I'm faced with
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something that I think I can figure out before I call upon
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the name of the Lord, I'm in trouble because I could figure
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it out with my limited understanding.
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I could come to a conclusion with what I've experienced and I
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could see it from my little bit limited vantage point.
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But what I need is the exceeding greatness of His power and His
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in life. I need to see things the way God
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see. He needs to open my eyes.
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Some of you, you are very well off.
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You are live a very comfortable life.
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You have everything that you need financially.
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It's just where it's at. But if you translate that over
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into your walk with the Lord, you limit yourself to your bank
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account. You know, God has more
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intelligence than we do. As smart as you are God's
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smarter and as rich as you are God's richer, anything that you
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look at, we are so limited with what we have to offer God.
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But God is unlimited. He has unlimited power.
23:29
I think of addiction. I think of addiction, you know,
23:31
when you break free from an addiction, it's not just
23:34
changing your habits. When you are really set free
23:37
from an addiction, it is the power of God that breaks through
23:40
and gives you the power to say no to that which held you in
23:43
bondage before. It's a powerful thing.
23:45
And so you're set free from addiction.
23:47
And I'm sober and I'm moving on. But over time, you may stay away
23:52
from the original area. You know, maybe you were, but
23:55
you know you were safe from drugs and alcohol partying, you
23:57
know, and now you're not drinking and smoking anymore and
23:59
you're not partying anymore, but you are doomscrolling now.
24:04
You're addicted to your phone. Why?
24:06
You trusted God for the power to get you away from something that
24:10
was destroying your life. And now over time, you've just
24:12
found another thing to destroy your life.
24:16
Doomscrolling 8 hours a day. You know, the numbers keep
24:20
rising, young people 6 to 8 hours a day, not just young
24:26
people. You go, oh, pastor, a pastor a
24:28
year, I don't do that much. Check your time.
24:30
I turned it off. I know you did.
24:33
I know you did. Like, you know, looking through
24:37
other social media feeds and stuff, that's not the issue.
24:39
But 8 hours a day, that's another full time job.
24:45
So you got a full time job and you're probably be doing it at
24:48
your full time job. So now you're stealing from your
24:52
That's what it does, and now you're addicted to it.
24:55
You were saved by the power of God before, and now you're
24:59
addicted to something else. Oh, maybe it's not doom
25:02
scrolling. Maybe it's binge watching.
25:06
Binge watching. I'm not talking about the
25:08
occasional catching up. You know, back in the day, some
25:10
of you guys remember if we wanted to watch a series on
25:13
television, we had to wait a week at the exact time to see
25:20
the next episode. But now you can binge watch a
25:23
whole the whole thing in just a couple of days.
25:28
And it's not for an occasional time watching TV and catching a
25:31
few shows. But you're burning days and
25:33
weeks glued to a tell you you're stuck to it.
25:37
You feel like you can't get away from it.
25:39
You may not even be even noticing that your life is just
25:43
passing you by. It's because you forgot about
25:46
the power of God, the power of God to free you to live in
25:50
freedom, the power over addiction.
25:53
You know when he's praying, when he's praying for the Ephesians,
25:57
he's praying that way. He's not asking them that they
26:00
would be stronger against it, not asking them to take a
26:02
strong. He's asking God that they would
26:04
know his power. Because when you know the power
26:07
of God, notice he describes it as the working power when in
26:11
verse 20 that he raised him from the dead.
26:14
This is the resurrection power. This is the baptism of the Holy
26:18
Spirit power. This is the power to break free
26:21
and to move on. It's not some weird or goofy
26:24
idea, but it's very practical to be in the Spirit so that you're
26:28
His witnesses, so that you're loving people overcoming sin and
26:32
temptation to grow in His grace and His knowledge.
26:35
And too many today are just living in their own strength and
26:40
their own limitations and calling it Christianity.
26:43
Christianity is even greater than the greatest victory you've
26:46
ever experienced. God has a greater victory and
26:49
the greatest comfort you ever receive.
26:50
God has something greater for you.
26:52
He has it all the way. The power of God to raise Jesus
26:56
from the dead is in you right now.
26:58
And this is a great blindness to the church.
27:01
It's a great blindness among us, like a blind spot, if you will,
27:05
things we don't see in the spiritual realm because this
27:08
blind spot is, is towards spiritual warfare where you know
27:14
with the enemy of our souls, the demonic realm.
27:16
Do you know that they know the Bible?
27:18
The Bible says later on that they believe what God says and
27:21
tremble. It's not salvific faith, but
27:24
they believe it. They know the Bible is true.
27:26
They've seen it first time with their own eyes.
27:27
They've been in the presence of God, the angels in the demonic
27:30
realm. They know what it's like.
27:32
They know what it's like to hear holy, holy, holy Lord, God
27:35
Almighty. They were there.
27:37
They've saw the throne. They've seen it all.
27:38
They believe the Bible. The devil believes the Bible
27:41
sometimes more than Christians believe the Bible, and this is
27:44
what he believes about us. He knows it.
27:46
He knows that he can't touch our soul.
27:49
He knows he can't touch our soul.
27:52
We are safe and secure in Christ.
27:54
He knows that we're sealed by the Holy Spirit.
27:56
He knows that the Spirit of God is a guarantee for our
27:58
salvation. He knows that you belong to God,
28:01
that you're under a new ownership.
28:03
So because he can't touch your spirit and soul, you know what?
28:06
He goes after your mind. He goes after your mind.
28:10
They go pastor. What do you mean by that?
28:12
He goes after your mind by tempting you to believe a lie,
28:20
because if you choose to believe a lie, you will be weak and
28:25
ineffectual for the Kingdom. If you believe a lie, you'll be
28:30
blinded to the truth of who you really are.
28:34
See, I believe personally, it's like a personal conviction that
28:38
one of the fears that the devil has, a true fear, is believers
28:43
living as they are supposed to be in Christ.
28:47
Because he knows there's no stopping.
28:48
That's Saul of Tarsus. Saul of Tarsus, when he was born
28:50
again, he believed. He knows where he came from, but
28:54
he believed he was a new creation and you couldn't stop
28:57
the guy. He didn't know as a new believer
29:00
that he'd be used to write a third of the New Testament or
29:03
more than 1/3 of the New Testament.
29:05
But that's God's will for him. Why?
29:06
Because he couldn't be stopped. And we get limited by all these
29:10
little things and we start to believe a lie.
29:11
I, I, I mean, this is, this is something that's very, very
29:15
interesting to me. I'm sure you guys have
29:17
experienced at least some of you.
29:18
You know, I've been walking with the Lord for 30 plus years.
29:21
And generally in my life, all these years walking with Jesus,
29:25
I have not had an issue in my life.
29:28
You know, I got a lot of issues battling the flesh, but one of
29:30
them has not been doubting my salvation.
29:33
I mean, I've had a couple episodes throughout the,
29:36
especially in the early days where I just wasn't sure.
29:38
And I, I just didn't know my behavior wasn't changing and
29:41
it's just a battle. But I, I generally don't, I, I
29:44
believe that Jesus Christ died for my sins and then I'm born
29:48
again and I am not the person I used to be.
29:51
I believe it, I live it. I'm walking evidence to myself.
29:55
Like I know I've seen it in my life and I know you guys can see
29:58
it in your lives as well. So that's not an issue for me.
30:01
So here I am. I have the power and the faith
30:03
to believe that God has saved me.
30:05
Don't you think being born again is a big deal?
30:07
Church, Yes. I mean, that's a miracle.
30:09
I believe that I'm walking miracle that you're walking
30:12
miracles. But I could go to the mailbox
30:14
and a bill will be in the mailbox.
30:17
And I just don't know what we're going to do about this.
30:20
God's powerful enough to save me, but he's not going to deal
30:24
with this bill. And I start to worry and I'm
30:29
anxious. Oh, the water, the water's so
30:33
expensive now. And a loaf of bread and putting
30:38
gas in my car, Oh, but God can save me.
30:42
But oh, he can't put gas in my car or a bike under my bottom.
30:49
You know, if I can't afford gas, I can ride a bike.
30:54
I don't know what it is for you, but this is what Paul's praying
30:57
for. You believe God saved your life,
31:00
changed your life, redeemed your life, put the Spirit of God in
31:04
you and you have been victory after victory after victory.
31:07
And you're going to limit yourself.
31:10
You're going to worry. You're going to be all all out
31:14
of control. Like you're just like, I don't
31:16
know. And what are you doing?
31:17
When I worry, when I'm anxious, which is the issue I deal with
31:21
the most. When I'm worrying, anxious, I'm
31:24
not abiding in Christ. When I believe a lie, I'm not
31:30
abiding in Christ. Why?
31:31
Because Jesus defined himself as the way, the truth and the life.
31:37
So if I have a foot in worry, in my own, like in my own, when I
31:41
look at something, I always measure it.
31:42
Why am I worrying? Because I'm measuring it with my
31:45
own abilities. I am unable.
31:49
And you can almost hear God say, but but I'm here, I'm here.
31:52
I know how to save people. I changed your life, rescued
31:55
your marriage saved. I've strengthened you after a
31:58
difficulty. Maybe, maybe I have poured out,
32:01
you know, on and on the list goes.
32:03
I can't even think of all the things that this room is filled
32:06
with of the faithfulness of God. That's what Paul's praying for
32:10
you, for me, that we would know his power.
32:15
It's almost like Paul, he's sitting in jail.
32:17
He says you don't have to wait for heaven to experience heaven.
32:20
It's yours today. You can walk in the newness of
32:23
life. You're important.
32:25
This is your identity, your value, your God's treasure.
32:29
You're filled with power. The Dunamos of God is in you.
32:32
Holy Spirit. Baptism power, resurrection
32:34
power. The same power that raised Jesus
32:36
from the dead. He's more powerful than sin and
32:39
death, more powerful than all the frightening things in the
32:41
world. The power of the resurrection is
32:43
in you and through the and through you, overpowering the
32:47
world and the evil in the world. You are no ordinary person.
32:51
You have a divine destiny. You're living out the purposes
32:53
of God. That's your life, and that's
32:56
what God prays. That's what Paul's praying for.
32:58
Would you guys just see it? Would you see it?
33:01
Trust God, Walk with him. He's gotten you through every
33:05
single thing up to this point. You're his son, you're his
33:08
daughter, you're adopted, you're part of the family.
33:11
He's the King of kings, Lord of Lords.
33:13
He gives you more love, He gives you more power, but you know the
33:17
best gift, He gives you more of himself.
33:21
Just come to him. Not only that, verse 21, He's
33:25
far above all principality and power and might and dominion.
33:30
Those are technical terms actually to describe the demonic
33:33
realm. There are ranks and order in the
33:35
demonic realm, kind of like a military.
33:37
So these different phrases, we'll get to this again in
33:39
chapter 6, but these different phrases, there's different
33:43
levels of angels and fallen angels.
33:46
And so he says Jesus is bigger than the demonic realm.
33:50
He's his. He is far above.
33:53
It says not just not just bigger, not just greater, but
33:56
far above. He says He's far above than
33:59
every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in
34:03
the age to come. He's put all things under his
34:06
feet and gave him to be head over all things to the church,
34:10
which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills All in all.
34:17
Can I just say it again? Jesus is far above any and every
34:20
name. He's higher than anything in
34:23
heaven. Above all.
34:24
There's nothing he cannot do, nothing he cannot give you,
34:28
nothing outside of His power, nothing outside of His love.
34:31
Not only in this age, but also in the age to come.
34:34
Jesus is the head of this church.
34:36
He, He is the head of the body. He's the one leading and
34:39
guiding. He's the Good Shepherd.
34:42
He's the one that lays down his life for you and for me.
34:46
He's the one that rose again. There's not a renegade molecule
34:50
that's outside of his control. And what is in your life is no
34:54
surprise to him. That's the Jesus being described
34:58
here. And as we wind down, here's
35:03
what's missing. I'll tell you from God's
35:05
perspective, nothing is missing. He gives to you all things as we
35:11
learn in chapter 1 and Ephesians, we've been blessed
35:14
with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.
35:17
From God's perspective, nothing is missing.
35:20
But from our perspective, this is what may be missing in your
35:24
life. You ready?
35:24
You might want to jot this down. You might want to pray about it
35:27
this week and meditate on it. Here's what's missing.
35:30
Your surrendered life. It's your surrendered life
35:37
that's breaking that relationship with God.
35:41
You're just not willing to surrender.
35:44
You'll go so far, but not all the way.
35:47
You'll go so far, but not all the way.
35:50
You'll obey so much, but not all the way.
35:53
You'll offer so much, but not all the way.
35:56
You'll give, but so much, not all the way.
36:00
A surrendered life. Have you noticed lately, Pastor
36:03
Ian, he's been discipling us in worship, Pastor Sean as well,
36:07
where he's given us very direct instructions during our worship
36:11
and song. I know you've noticed it, but
36:13
I'm going to let you know what he's been doing.
36:15
He's been telling us certain songs to raise our hands.
36:19
He's going to say raise your hands right now.
36:21
And then I watch, I look around at our church and I see so many
36:24
raising their hands. Raising your hands is a, is a
36:27
place as a position. It's a symbol of surrender.
36:30
When you raise your hand, you're very vulnerable, like your hands
36:33
up, you're very vulnerable, but your hands are lifted up toward
36:35
the Lord. They're empty.
36:37
There's nothing in them. You're saying here I am, Lord, I
36:39
surrender. And we even sing a song
36:42
sometimes an old hymn, I surrender all but that song,
36:49
it's hard to sing when you're not willing to surrender all you
36:54
know, the song doesn't go. I surrender a little bit to you,
36:57
Lord, but you can sing it and mean that in your heart.
37:02
I'm going to surrender this and I'll surrender that.
37:04
But what he's asking for. So you want to the answer to
37:07
this prayer, your side of this prayer, you know Paul's saying
37:10
God do this and do this and let them see this and let them
37:13
experience. Let their eyes be open.
37:15
Let them see the power. Let them experience you in a
37:17
deeper way. You know, in his whole heart, he
37:19
could be saying, I'm in prison and it's hard, but he's not
37:21
saying that. He's like, I want them to have
37:24
all. They have it all.
37:25
I want them to experience it all.
37:27
Here's your part Surrender, surrender.
37:30
It's, it's, it's not like a little bit of you and a little
37:34
bit of God. It's all him and all you and I,
37:37
we just surrender. We just give it back to him or
37:39
give it all to him. A surrendered life.
37:43
That's what makes eternal differences.
37:45
Everything changes when you bow the knee to Messiah when he says
37:50
here he's got a name above all names.
37:52
Acts chapter 4, verse 12. There is no other name under
37:55
heaven by which men and women must be saved, the name Christ
37:58
Jesus. There's power in his name,
38:01
there's love in his name, there's hope in his name.
38:04
Everything that you're looking for is found in Christ.
38:07
And there's coming a time, Paul says, when he writes to the
38:10
Philippians, we'll get to their, we'll get to that book soon
38:12
enough. But there's coming a time in
38:14
Philippians chapter 2 where it says that therefore God has also
38:18
highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every
38:21
name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of those
38:27
in heaven and those on earth and those under the earth, that
38:30
every tongue should confess that Christ is Lord to the glory of
38:33
God the Father. There is coming a day where
38:36
every knee will bow. But today you can bow the knee.
38:41
You don't have to wait, and you can confess with your mouth.
38:45
I was thinking there's a sign of surrender where your hands are
38:48
up. But also something that's really
38:49
good to do while you're worshipping is you can go to
38:51
your knees. You go to your knees, you can
38:54
bow the knee to Jesus right when you're singing, you can come up.
38:57
We always have this space open at the stage.
38:59
You can do it on the side of your chair.
39:00
It doesn't matter. You, you can bow the knee.
39:03
Now you can practice for what's coming up in heaven.
39:07
But it also symbolic, isn't it? Because bowing the knee is also
39:11
a place of surrender and humility.
39:15
Those two things God honors. God really blesses humility and
39:19
obedience. He really blesses them.
39:21
Like, you know, sometimes you think, I don't know what to do.
39:23
I don't know what direction to go.
39:24
I don't know what to do in my life.
39:25
OK. And those times just kind of
39:27
leave that there and ask the Lord for that.
39:29
But there are things I could tell you you can do at every
39:31
stage of your life. Even when you don't know what's
39:33
the future holds, you can do this today.
39:36
Be humble before the Lord, humble yourself before the
39:38
mighty hand of God, and he'll lift you up and obey.
39:42
And what's missing in the church today, perhaps even among us, is
39:45
a surrendered life. A surrendered life, one that
39:49
bows the knee, now confesses, now surrenders.
39:53
Now, you see, the world wants love, but they settle for sex
39:57
and perversion. The the world wants peace, but
40:00
they live very troubled lives. Like, very like the world.
40:04
The world's filled with war globally.
40:06
But I mean, have you noticed the increase of road rage?
40:09
Have you noticed it? It's like, man, people getting
40:13
all mad. He's like, I know.
40:14
And I know I'm repenting right now.
40:16
OK, I get it. I'm driving up.
40:17
I came in a different way today. I decided to come home.
40:20
I'm coming up Parker Road and the guy in front of me, man,
40:22
he's swerving. He's swerving.
40:24
I think he's coming home from a party.
40:25
I'm sure he's swerving between he's either on his phone or
40:28
swerving. I'm like, OK, I don't, I don't
40:30
need to worry. I just want to.
40:31
I'm going to pray for him. I'm going to pray for him and I
40:33
need to get away from him because something's going to
40:34
happen and I'm going to turn off and I got to get this song
40:37
praying for him. Turning off.
40:38
As I'm turning, I'm looking around, I'm driving, I'm doing
40:40
my best. As I'm looking around, I'm
40:42
turning kind of thinking of that guy, this other dude comes in
40:45
and ram almost Rams aside, look at me and I'm like, man, you're
40:49
lucky I was in the spirit, bro, praying for that guy because I'm
40:52
praying for you too. I don't know why he had to turn
40:54
right there on Chambers and Parker trying to turn in again
40:57
to Home Depot before it even opens.
40:59
I don't know what his problem was.
41:00
But like when you're in the spirit, look, the anger of this
41:05
world is replaced by the peace of God you.
41:09
I'm driving. I am driving to serve this
41:12
community of believers today in the Spirit.
41:16
I have to be in the Spirit. I want to be in the Spirit.
41:19
I don't want to live like the world.
41:21
God delivered me from the world. I'm not of this world, and
41:25
neither are you. You have the love and the joy
41:28
and the peace. These are all yours by the
41:30
Spirit. They're the fruit of the Spirit.
41:32
They're all yours. You don't need to be caught up
41:34
in road rage. You don't need to be controlled
41:36
by your anger. You don't need to be fearful of
41:38
the future. You don't need to worry about
41:40
how something's going to happen because you have Jesus, whose
41:44
name is above every name. He's above every principality,
41:47
every power, every spiritual attack.
41:49
The enemy wants to control you, but God owns you.
41:54
What's missing? Surrender, surrender, surrender.
42:02
We need to live in the truth of who we are.
42:06
Know who we are. This is the key to overcoming
42:10
power. God has dominion over this
42:14
world. Through Christ, we can get
42:17
through anything. For many of you, a lot of your
42:20
life is just still you. Your will, your way, your time.
42:26
You've accepted Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins, but
42:30
you haven't accepted the fact that you belong to God.
42:34
Or you've taken back things that you think you're going to do
42:37
better than God will. But you can trust Him in all
42:41
things. Today may be the day of change
42:44
for you. Today might be the day where
42:46
Paul's prayer is answered in a fresh way in your own life.
42:50
This is what the world needs. We don't need to be believing
42:54
lies. We don't need to be getting
42:56
involved in things that are not eternal, that aren't going to
42:59
have any eternal value, that are going to take away your
43:03
commitment, take away your energy, take away your focus,
43:07
take away your thinking in your mind from knowing who God is.
43:11
More love, more power, more of Jesus in our lives.
43:17
Amen. So, Father, thank you for the
43:20
reminder today, covering a lot of territory in our hearts and
43:23
minds, the very powerful stuff that you give us that we might
43:27
grow in grace today. And so pour out your Spirit on
43:31
us. Lead us to a place of truth.
43:36
And even now as I'm praying, if today you need to give your life
43:39
to Jesus, I want you to do that. The Bible says you confess with
43:43
your mouth the Lord Jesus, believe in your heart that God
43:46
raised him from the dead. You will be saved.
43:48
And so before we leave, before this final song, I want to
43:52
invite you, if you're here today and you would say yes, Ed, I
43:55
want to follow Jesus today. I want to be born again.
43:58
Would you just stand to your feet?
43:59
We want to pray with you before we leave.
44:01
Give you a chance to respond to what God has said to you, to the
44:06
message that his blood has forgiven you of your sins.
44:08
You just got to come and it's OK, Church, you can keep
44:11
praying. You can look around, you can
44:12
pray for your family. It's OK.
44:15
Let's just be in. Let's just like man, go for it.
44:17
For the wrestling of the spiritual warfare that goes on
44:21
over the souls of men and the souls of women and boys and
44:25
girls. We're going to have a baby
44:28
vacation next service, and we're going to be praying over that
44:30
kid. He's nine months old.
44:31
We're going to pray over this little guy and we're going to
44:34
pray over him that when he's old enough to know Jesus, he would
44:36
at the youngest age come to know him.
44:40
Be owned by God. Do you want to be owned by God
44:42
today? You want to be born again, Just
44:44
stand to your feet. We want to pray with you, give
44:47
you a chance to receive the Lord today.
44:51
God bless you guys in the back. Anyone else that today would be
44:55
the day someone's going to come and stand with you right away
44:58
because you need to know in a church this size, we follow up
45:01
right away. We're going to come and stand
45:04
with you. You're not alone.
45:05
God is doing a work in your life.
45:08
You've heard the voice of God. It came through a man, but you
45:12
heard him say that he loves you and he cares for you.
45:15
Anyone else I know online or on the radio, we don't get to see
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you, but God does. Downstairs, the overflow, the
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agape room in the Cafe, all around.
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The Holy Spirit just stops everything to get your
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attention. And so those of you that
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responded, pray with me. You can just say God forgive me
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of all of my sins through the blood of Jesus Christ.
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I believe Jesus you lived, died and rose again from the dead to
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save me. And I choose to follow you and I
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give you my life. Use me, change me, protect me,
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help me to turn away from my sinful past.
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And God, I know anyone anywhere in the most simplest of ways
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that comes to you. You won't reject them.
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So bless those that came to you today, now or in the future, in
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Jesus name, Amen. We pray that you've been
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encouraged by this Bible study, delivered live from the
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sanctuary of Calvary Church. For prayer, call us at 87730
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Grace that's 877-304-7223. To listen to this message in its
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integrity or to join us for our live stream services, visit us
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online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free Calvary
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Church app. Be blessed as you worship Jesus
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this week.