Ephesians 3 | Your Heart is Meant for Christ

Owen Huard continues a series on the book of Ephesians.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey, we're just gonna go right into it because now here's how I wanna start. I'm gonna ask you guys a question. Guys, have you ever used something, right? Something that has an intended purpose? Have you ever used it uh in a way that's not intended? Right? This thing has like a pen. Have you used a pen for like a bookmark? Okay, that that's like a little less extreme one. Guys, have we ever experienced that before? We we've ever been creative, yes. There we go. You guys masters are going on right now. We got some golf pins! We've got some golfers. Hey, I did not know the masters, okay? Here we go. Some golf people. Guys, I will I will be tuning in later, um, later in this weekend because I can remember the the first ever, or not the first ever, but one of my best uh drives in golf ever um was not with a driver, it was actually with a putter. Okay, I would say that I'm like somewhat inclined with with golf. I'm not the best. I I played bass butter in my lips, so every single shot that I have just is a raging slice. Um, but I like to be out there. It's a little expensive for me, so I haven't played in a while. But one of my best drives ever was with a putter. I literally just teed that thing up. I was literally joking with my friend, and I just smoked it, and it literally just it went straight. The first time I've ever hit a straight drive, it went straight and just started floating towards the green. I was like, hey, maybe I should use my putter every time. Uh but he told me, hey, you're you're gonna break your butter if you keep doing that, okay? You're just not how a putter was intended to be used, right? Right? Maybe uh it's like uh a shopping cart used uh for a roller coaster, okay? Growing up, did we ever go to Walmart or um in a Kroger with mom? And then she actually lets you push the cart uh this time, and you got some some things, your eggs and and your milk in there, but it's like we're pretty early on, so uh there's not too much in the cart, and you really just got two hands on it, you get full speed, you let mom go ahead a little bit, and then you get full speed, and you put both feet up on that back, and then next thing you know, you're just on your back, covered in milk and eggs, and then your mom is just looking at you like she like doesn't even know you. She just turns away and just starts walking, you know. Right? Have you ever used a shopping cart as a roller coaster? Okay, don't ask me how you know I know uh how that ends. Um, but that was an embarrassing day for me, okay? Things that have an intended use, but it's but it gets used for something different. Okay? Guys, here is why I say that, because we're jumping back into our series to the book of Ephesians. We're gonna see that just like that golf putter, just like that shopping cart, our hearts, the human heart that we have, every single one, every single person, and it has to be filled with something. And often we try to fill it with things that are intended to fill our hearts. Our hearts meant to be filled by something, but we're filling it with things that aren't meant to fill it. Right, here's what I hope to accomplish tonight. Show you guys a couple things. Here's the first that our hearts were made for Christ. Our hearts were made for Christ. Ultimately, we receive Christ through faith, and that we can live a full life in Christ. We can live a full life in Christ. Okay, before we just uh kind of kind of get going into Ephesians 3, let's catch up on kind of what we've already covered the past couple of weeks. Uh like I said already last week, we took a quick uh time out from Ephesians, uh, and Drake came up, prepared our hearts for Easter. You know, on the Thursday before Good Friday, Drake preached the absolute banger sermon on Barabbas and the stimulators that we have there with him. And then if you joined us two weeks ago, we actually finished up the second chapter of Ephesians, and Paul kind of spends the first two chapters of Ephesians really focusing in on a couple of things. He focuses in on a couple of things, but the main thing, the main theme that we get in that is uh we get an in-depth look at our lives pretty much before Christ, in our lives now in Christ. Okay, he covers that before the world even existed, that we were chosen. Chosen by God. Before the earth even existed, before we even existed, chosen by God. And then once we did exist, that we weren't able to do anything except evil. Okay, Ephesians 2, 1 through 3. That we were children not of the high king, but actually children of wrath, that we were bound for destruction. Okay, and then one of the biggest busts in the Bible in Ephesians chapter 2 says, But God who is rich in mercy, that now we have gained life in him. And tonight we're gonna finish up kind of the first half of Ephesians in chapter 3. Because the message that Paul is preaching here in Ephesians in our message tonight is not gonna change very much. You can open up Ephesians chapter 3. We're just gonna read the second half this. We're gonna start in verse 14 tonight. Get a little crazy with it. We're gonna read all the way through the end of the chapter. Guys, are we ready for tonight? We ready to go? Okay, yeah. Okay, kind of. It's whatever. I I understand. We're like almost done with school. It's like everyone's just like missing my mom's cooking right now. You know, that's really what it is. So I understand. Okay, here we go. Verse 14 of Ephesians chapter 3. Here's what it says For this reason, I kneel before the Father, for whom every family in heaven and on earth is named. I pray that he may grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power in your inner being through his spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God's love, and to know Christ's love that surpassed knowledge, so that you may be filled with the fullness of God. And then verse 20. Now to him who is able to do above and beyond all that we can ask or think according to the power that works in us. To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Yeah, that's good. Okay. Guys, before we really jump in, let's pray and ask God that he would reveal himself to us. God, you're good. We see here in Ephesians 3 that you are over everything. God, thank you for your word. Thank you for gathering us here tonight. Would the truth of Ephesians 3 be heard tonight? Would the riches of your glory be showered over us tonight? Okay, in the mighty name of Jesus, I pray. Amen. Okay, guys, to start, uh, he kind of talks about Paul. He kind of talks um uh about these things uh that that we see in 14 through through 21. We see a prayer. Okay, this is Paul. He is praying. Right? We we we already talked about these things that are kind of like hey, how um they're intended, but they're almost misused. In our first point tonight, kind of runs on the coattails of this. Okay, here's uh our our first point tonight it's this that our heart is meant for Christ. The idea that our hearts they were made for Christ. You see, this this really makes sense in in the grand scheme of Ephesians, because if you look at the whole book of Ephesians in like a 30,000-foot view, right? If we go above the clouds and we just look down at the book of Ephesians, we kind of see that the book is split up into two halves almost. Okay, the first half of the book, Paul focuses kind of on our relationship with Christ, okay, as saints, or sorry, as citizens of heaven, right? We're going through our series, we named it citizens and saints. The first part about how we are citizens, our status of who we are, our citizenship has now changed into being citizens of heaven. Okay, and then the second half of Ephesians of this book, we're kind of given more of like an instruction guide to life, right? Being a saint, living as a saint here on earth, citizens and saints. And here's how Paul he ends the first half of Ephesians with a prayer. Okay, man, Paul, he likes to pray. We already seen that. Okay, he likes to pray. We've already seen it in chapter one, and we see another prayer here. And here's how he starts it. You kind of see it in verse 14. Here's how he starts it. He kind of just shouts it back to God. He said, Hey, God, I know who you are, and I'm just gonna give the glory back to Him back to Him, okay? He says, You are over all, you are over everything, verse 14. For this reason, I kneel before the Father. Man, that's humbling to kneel before someone, especially, you know, a person like God, to kneel before him, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named. Like God, you are over all things. You are all powerful, you have all authority. This is how he starts. And then he kind of goes into this idea of being filled with Christ. In verse 17, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. Christ dwelling in our hearts through faith. Now, even that right there, it says something about our hearts. The fact that he has to say, Christ, he prays that Christ would dwell in our hearts. That means at one point Christ wasn't dwelling in our hearts. Right? We saw that a couple weeks ago. But whether you know it or not, each of us, I mean, we have a heart. You do. It's the fact that you're alive, right? It physically pumps blood to your body, but it also has desires. Our hearts have desires. This is just natural. As human beings, like this is like the reality of the human experience, that we have a heart and we have desires, and as humans, we try to grasp at anything we can. Anything we can to fill to fill our hearts. The things that we can feel, experience, the things that we can touch, the things that we can see. This is what we grasp after, the things in our world. I feel like I really like experienced this and like it hit home to me that, okay, I'm actually like trying to fill myself with something uh, you know, in this world. And it was in eighth grade, okay. I had this realization in eighth grade. And it all stemmed from the uh one conversation that I had with my parents. It was me and my four sisters, and we were sitting in our backyard, and uh basically our parents sat us down and said, Hey, I know you love this small town in rural Ohio that's like amazing in all ways because it's so much corn and soybeans, and you really want to live here for the rest of your life. But hey, we're actually gonna move. And for about like 30 minutes of my life, I was like, oh my gosh, my life is over. We are moving away from my friends, away from baseball, because they don't have baseball anywhere else. And it's just like life is is going is like is over pretty much. Life is over. And they're like, hey, we're gonna actually move next summer. So you've got you know your eighth grade year, and uh next summer we're gonna move to Michigan. I was like, oh great. Of course, of all places, we're moving to Michigan. Who likes Michigan? Nobody. But I I really have this this thought. Yeah, yeah, just won a national champion. Who likes Michigan? Definitely not anybody. Uh, okay, but I really had this thought because my parents were like, hey, we're we're gonna move. And for about 30 minutes, I was like, okay, this is bad. And then I really got to start to think about it. Okay, we're moving. I don't know anybody in Michigan. No one knows me in Michigan. Man, I can kind of just be whoever I want to be, right? I'm going into high school. I can I can really just like make friends with whoever I want. I can act however I want. Hopefully, like I get more athletic as you know I get to get to high school. I can really just play whatever sport I want. Um, you know, I had this idea of, man, I can be whoever I want. And this this idea, in this uh, you know, attempt to be whoever I was kind of stepped all the way into college when I decided, okay, no one knows who I am, so I'm just gonna be the partier. I'm gonna be the guy who just goes with the flow and does whatever he wants. There was something in my heart that wanted to be liked by other people, wanted to be fulfilled by the things of the world. Right? Some of you care about school, some of you care about, yeah, the party scene, being liked by your parents, the grades that are in the grade book. These are things that we try to fill our hearts with, and it wasn't until college where this reality really, really hit me. It was when I actually heard the gospel. That's when I can look back at my life and be like, yes, I was filling myself, filling my heart with something that wasn't intended to fill my heart.

unknown 12:03

C.

SPEAKER_00 12:03

S. Lewis, he writes this in his book called Mere Christianity. I'm actually reading this book right now, but I haven't gotten to this part yet, but I just know it's good. Everyone has already quoted this to me, so I was like, I'm gonna put it in here. Here's what C. S. Lewis puts right when he writes about the heart and what it wants. He says, creatures are not are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exist. Right? We're not born with something with a desire if satisfaction doesn't exist, right? And he gives some examples. A baby feels hunger, while there's such a thing as food.

unknown 12:33

Right?

SPEAKER_00 12:33

A duckling wants to swim, well, there is such a thing as water to swim it. Men feel sexual desire, well, there is such a thing as sex. And here's what he says if I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. The most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. The desires that are in our hearts. If there's not satisfaction for those desires in this world, then the only probable thing is that we were not made for this world. Your heart was not made for this world. I feel like even just in this room, there's plenty of places where we're looking to fill our hearts. I know that none of these are ultimately going to fill them. Because if they did, why would we be keep going back to them? Right? If alcohol actually fulfilled your heart, after the first time, why would you go back? Right? If sexual pleasure really fulfills your heart, man, why is it continuing to call after you? If being liked by other people really fulfilled you, then why do you feel this constant need to be liked, to put on a facade, to feel like your life is together to be the cool person? If that truly fills your heart, you'd experience once and be satisfied. Here's what you guys need to know tonight. It's all company. Guys, you don't need the alcohol. You don't need the grades, you don't need the approval from your parents, you don't need the sex, the money, the drugs. These things will continually leave you wanting more and more and more, and that hole that you feel in your heart will only get bigger. It will never be satisfied. Because it can only be filled by one thing, and that's Jesus. We are designed to have one thing fill our hearts, and that's Jesus. The presence of God dwelling in our bodies. Paul doesn't say in Ephesians that uh you know Christ can enter into our hearts so that he might just be like in and out, uh, like that type of situation, like a hotel room. No. It says that he is going to dwell in our hearts, our inner beings, strengthened with him in our hearts. Christ. The God of the universe dwelling inside of our hearts. Okay, so now this begs a question. How do we get this, right? How do we receive Christ if this is true? Well, this will lead us into our next point, and we'll read it here in Ephesians chapter 3 of how do we receive Christ. I think a lot of you already know this answer, but we're gonna read it. Here's what he says, I pray that he may grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power in your inner being through his spirit, and then in verse 17. And that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. Through faith. Christ dwelling in our hearts through faith. That's it, that's the answer. Which if you've been coming around to Salt Company for the past couple of weeks, especially as we've been in the Ephesians series, you know this. This is nothing new. Right? We've seen this. That is by grace through faith that we have been saved. Paul, he reminds us continually of this truth, that it is by our faith. Right? You might be sick of hearing it from this stage, right? If you keep coming to Salt Company, it's not really gonna change too much, right? Because the message of the Bible has not changed in 2,000 years, okay? So if you're looking for something new, Salt Company is not the place. Not the place for you. We will we will continue to preach Jesus. We will continue to preach by grace through faith. Paul deems it worthy to be repeated time and time again. And that's what we're gonna teach time and time again. We'll teach Christ and Christ crucified. When God created this world, when he created everything, right back in Genesis, start, start of the universe. I mean, he created us for a purpose, to be in relationship with him. Okay? You can go all the way back, read it in Genesis, that we were made to really to dwell with him. Where we talk about Christ dwelling in us right now, hey, when we were originally made, right? Adam and Eve, our ancestors, humanity, when we were made, we were made to dwell with God, to live in the garden with him, unity in him. But you guys know that didn't last for long. Surely not. Because sin entered into this world. And much like the void that we feel in our heart, there's a void between God and between man in that moment. In fact, the whole reason that we have the desires in our hearts is because we lost something on that day. We lost in the presence of God with us on that day because God cannot be around. You know, in imperfection. The reason that we have this desire in our heart, the the the things of this world that we want to fill ourselves with is because we lost God's presence. What once was whole and satisfied in the garden is now broken. We experienced that. A broken people who have a hole in their heart living in rebellion to God. What we see in every single page of the Bible after that, every single page of history is an epic attempt to fulfill this, to bridge the gap between God and man, to fix what has been broken. Right? We see that God is overwhelmingly successful in this. That Jesus, a man who is fully God and fully man, 2,000 years ago, lived a perfect life. He died a death for us on a cross, and that he rose victorious over sin, Satan, and death. And guess what? We just celebrated this last week. Okay that he would live a perfect life, that he would die death, but guys, he did not say dead. That there's power in his resurrection. He rose from the dead, he went to the cross. Not just for himself, not for no reason, but he went to the cross for you. He rose from the grave for you, for me, for us. So we say by grace through faith. Right? Have faith in Jesus. Right? Place your faith in Jesus. Right? We say that, it's like, I mean, I mean, have you placed your faith in Jesus? Right? Someone surely asked you a one-to-tend question, and they're like, okay, you know, what would you say? And if it's you know anything other than Jesus, man, well, have you heard of Jesus? Man, you should really help like place your faith in Jesus. That that's that'd be a great next step for you. Right, we say that, but what does that actually look like? Right, what does actually placing your faith in Jesus really look like? And it's simply put as this is placing your faith in Jesus is simply saying that there's nothing else on this earth for you. That you abandon everything else and choose Jesus. It pales in comparison to what Christ has. Placing your faith in Jesus is letting go of everything else and running to Jesus. I mean, if no one has ever invited you into that tonight, man, this is this is the invitation right now. And if you're curious of what like a hundred or some college students are doing on a random Thursday night in this room, there's no there's no other reason for it except for Jesus. That they would spend you know an hour and a half of their week every single week. That people would you know lead connection groups, move across the country, practice in the band, set up tech equipment, be out in the parking lot. That they would do that for for no reason. No, there's only one reason, and his name is Jesus. The invitation is open. Jesus' arms are wide open. It is by grace through faith. It's a free gift of life. He went to the cross for you. All you gotta do is say yes. Guys, you can have Jesus tonight. A life of fulfillment and purpose tonight. By grace, through faith. Okay, so now there's another question that we kind of have to answer, and it's the kind of the weird question of like, okay, what next? What next? Let's say, yep, I've heard, I know my heart is meant for or for Christ, and I was made for something that was out of this world, and I really have placed my faith in Jesus. I've received Jesus through faith, just like it says in Ephesians 3. The question is now, okay, what next? Like, what happens with my life? Am I just like, you know, living in sunshine and rainbows now? Is it you know, is there a pot of gold at the end of a you know rainbow? It's like, is life gonna be perfect now? Trust me, no, that's not true. But your life does change. Or if we have this hole in our hearts, in our faith, and we have received Christ through faith, then what happens next? Ephesians 3, let's keep reading. We'll see how our lives now change because of that truth, because of the presence of God dwelling in our life. How does our life change? Here's what it says. We'll go back to verse 17. It says this, Paul, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height, and depth of God's love, and to know Christ's love that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. And it speaks to the life that we now live with Christ. And the life that we do now that we do have. Life to the fullest. What does that life look like? Well, I think life in Christ looks like two things, and here's how I want to finish tonight. These two things about what life looks like in Christ. That it abandons the past and is dependent on God. Paul gives us a good look, a simple look at what the first step is in this new life in verse 17. I know we've already read it like four times. Let's do it again. I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love. That's what it is. Life in Christ means that we turn from the past. We turn from the past. Right here, Paul, he kind of gives us like some interesting language to what our life now looks like. Language describing our own hearts. Rooted in established. It's kind of like plant talk. You know, like plants are rooted in established. Houses are rooted in established. And I kind of did like when I was thinking about this and reading this, I went back to like more of like the house, like the foundation part of this kind of language. It's got like a foundation of a house. Man, one of the craziest things that I had to get over when I moved to Texas was the fact that there are no basements here. Weird. To me, that's like weird. No basements in Texas. I'm told, unless you are like super, super, super duper rich, uh, then you might have a basement, okay? But you guys have zero basements, which is a shame because like all of my great memories, like growing up, is in a basement. To be fair, there are a lot of bad memories in basements, but a lot of great memories with my friends, with my family, with my cousins. Like, man, being in the basement, playing Xbox 360 Connect, and like like playing ping pong, there's no there's nothing better. You guys don't have that, and I'm like, I feel so bad for you guys. I really do. I feel so bad.

unknown 24:22

Oh, we didn't go outside and played.

SPEAKER_00 24:24

Oh, Zach says you guys went outside and played. Okay, that's true. But hey, to be different in Michigan, you can't go outside for like six months of the year. So you had to go to the basement. Okay, you got banished to the basement. Well, you guys just go outside and we went to the basement. Anyway. Oh my goodness. Okay, it likes shows. Anyway, guys, here's the reason. But in Michigan, you actually like most people actually have basements, and it's for uh it's for a purpose. It's not just like, oh, let's throw a basement on. No, it's it's for a purpose because in Michigan, we've already said that it gets cold, right? So in Michigan, you have to like bury the pipes like really deep. Okay, you can't just go like three feet and then we're good. It's like you gotta go like eight feet, you gotta go like ten feet because it gets cold. And guess what? The earth warms up the pipes so they don't freeze and stuff like that. So you're already gonna dig down there anyway. You might as well just put a basement in, okay? But okay, wait, wait, why am I saying this? Okay. Here's why I say this. Man, you dig deep in the ground in Michigan to get a basement. Yes. Even in Texas, you still have to dig down into the earth to lay a foundation for your house. Okay? You know what that means? That means is that you gotta rip up the old dirt. Okay? The first step, the life, that a full life in Christ means turning away from our old life. What we once were rooted in, okay? The sin, the addiction, the like pleasures of this world, what we once found our foundation in this world, what we thought was purpose, what we thought was life, what we thought was love, all of a sudden gets ripped out. Because Paul says we've got to be rooted and established. That old stuff gets thrown out. The new comes in. A full life in Christ, I mean, it starts at the bottom. It starts with a firm foundation, rooted and established in Christ. It means that our old lives, what we once lived in, what we once found pleasure in, what we once dwelled in, gets ripped up and thrown out, and Christ takes the place. All throughout the New Testament, even into the, like, even in the Old Testament, we see this very, very clearly stated. Okay, I'm gonna give you just a couple of them. They're not gonna be up. That's all that's on me. But we're gonna, man, Galatians 2.20, okay? I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me. The life I now live in the body. I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Man, I have crucified my life. I have been crucified with Christ. My flesh is no longer with me. I put it up there on the cross with Christ. 2 Corinthians 5.17. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. See, the new has come. New life, full life in Christ hardly stays in the same place. We kind of touched on this two weeks ago with Lazarus coming out of the grave. Sometimes you gotta take a step. I mean, the foundation of our life is built on Christ. Christ will hardly save you from your sin and let you stay the same way. He loves you enough to save you from your sin, but he also loves you enough to be free from it. To not keep you in it. To lay the foundation is Christ. Being filled with the Holy Spirit means turning your back on the old ways of life. Guys, this is true freedom. This is what living really looks like. A full life in Christ means turning your back on your old life and running into the new. The second thing that a full life in Christ looks like is a life that's dependent on God. A life that is marked by dependency on God. Okay, let's read this in verse 18 and 19. We can kind of see this in here. Verse 18. Okay. Wait, let's start in 17 because that doesn't make too much sense. Okay, let's start in 17. He says, I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length, width, height, and depth of God's love. And to know Christ's love that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Okay, guys, let's go back to this foundation thing, right? That our lives are built on. Realize when you pour a foundation, okay, let's say we're building a new house, because we're all really, really rich, and we can just build a new house. Man, you know what you do? You actually measure out your house. It's not just like, hey, I think right here looks good, and uh probably about this wide. No, you actually go in and you you you you get a tape measure and you put it out, and you you really get the measurements of it, and you go, okay, how deep are we going in? How high is the house gonna be? Okay, you really think about these things. You gotta get the measurements. The foundation, I mean, that's the most important part. We've already said that our foundation is Christ. And guys, one day when you buy a house, which I pray that you will buy a house, right? In this economy, it's not looking great. But one day you might be able to buy a house. And before you buy the house, you are gonna get an expensive an inspection on like a couple things, but every single house you will inspect the foundation. Okay, if there's a crack, if there's a hole, if there's a leak, if there's something, I mean, you ain't gonna buy that house, right? Because that house is gonna hurt you. If there's even a crack in your foundation, thousands of dollars. Thousands of dollars. Probably shouldn't buy that house. Right, your foundation has to be firm. Right? It has to be solid, it has to be worth building on. And here's what we're kind of saying, like, so can you like measure God's love for me? Well, in a way, yes. But also God works way beyond our understanding. So you might ask the question, man, how deep does God's love for me go? Like, how how do I know that I can be dependent on God? Man, how deep does God's love for me go? Well, God's love for you is so deep that he actually came down from heaven for you. Right? He counted equality with God. Nothing to be gained, but he actually humbled himself to come and to be in the likeness of sinful flesh. Yet he was not sin himself. You see, he was not sinful himself. That's how deep that he would go from heaven down to earth. So, how wide is God's love for me? Does it cross like the whole earth? Would it go around the earth twice? Christ's love for you does not go across the earth, it goes across galaxies. Because he crossed them to get to you. Man, how high does God's love for me go? Man, it goes so high that there's not a waking moment in your life where Christ is not interceding for you at the right hand of the throne. Man, how far will it go? How wide is it? Well, it started before time even began. And it's gonna go all the way to the end. Someone told me this quote and it quite literally changed my life for forever. It says this if dependency is the goal, then weakness is the advantage. If you're taking notes, you should write that down. If dependency is the goal, then weakness is the advantage. Basically saying this. Hey, if we want to be dependent on God, if we want our foundation to be firm, then in every situation, we want to trust Him. If we want to be dependent on God, then in every single situation, we want to not even be a question on who's at work in our life. That there is absolutely no possible way for me to take any credit for what is happening in my life. I know if I want to be dependent on God, that's gonna take me being weak. Me calling out on the name of Jesus. If you've not given everything, given all, every aspect of your life over to Christ, this is your opportunity right now. Because weakness is the advantage in this life, guys. We serve a God that is not uh weak. We don't serve a God that gets bossed around. We don't serve a God that even listens to death. Because he rose from the grave. Could not hold him. If you haven't given everything, the relationship that you're in, the pleasures that you're chasing, the grades that you seek, the career that you want, the life that you want, if you have not given that over to God, now is the time. And I don't blame you. It might be scary. It's 100% gonna be scary to give every single thing over to God. But guess what? He's good. Look at what Paul ends with in this prayer. This is how he ends in verse 20. Now to him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us. To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Now to him who is able to do above and beyond. Man, above and beyond. You know the person that's able to, man, they'll just go above and beyond for you. They'll drive you around. Right? If you need anything, man, they'll spot you a five bucks for a chick fil A. He's like, they'll go above and beyond. Man, Christ went even further. He said, Above and beyond all that we can ask or think. Guys, I don't know if you understand this. Above and beyond anything that we can even imagine. Anything that we can ask to God. He says yes. So, yeah, I don't blame you if it's scary to give your career, to give your life over to Christ. Because we serve a God who listens to us and will go above and beyond anything that we can ask or think. I mean, the human brain is pretty powerful. We can think of some crazy things. Even the fact that we dream is pretty crazy. I mean, we just make that stuff up. God will go beyond that. Beyond what we can ask, think, imagine. He'll do it. This new life that we have in Christ. I mean, it doesn't look at the past. And it's dependent on God in every way. And if dependency is the goal, then weakness is the advantage. So I'll come and help this week that there would be a righteous weakness in this room. That the foundation that we stand on for the rest of this week, for the rest of our lives, would not be one that we have built ourselves. It would not be us trying to figure out this thing called life. That it would be dependent on God, knowing that He has gone before us, He will go after us, that He will go above and beyond anything that we can ask, think, or even imagine. I pray that that would be the truth for us this week. Let's pray. For tonight. The fact that we're even here right now, having salt company. Open up your word is an example of how you will go above and beyond anything that we can ask or think. Lord, you've already done it in the greatest way ever, in sending your Son in Jesus perfect, to live a life that's perfect, to be the example, but also to be our Savior on the cross for us. God, you are the fulfillment of our heart. There is a void in our heart that we long for, that we long to be filled. God, would you fill that? Would we receive Christ by faith? By grace, through faith, would we receive you into our life and would we experience the fullness of life that you now offer? A life that does not look back on the past and envies, but it looks forward to the greater glories and riches that we could experience with you in heaven one day. God, remind us of those. Give us the courage, the strength. Lord, give us the faith, the faith to say yes to you every single day, to give up every single part of our life to you, every single person in this room. To you, Lord. Because you're the only one worthy. I pray this in your name. Amen.