SPEAKER_00: Morning, we're going to look uh at in uh the words of Paul he wrote as he was in prison.
SPEAKER_00: Paul wrote these words as a way of encouragement to believers and to us, uh, and it fits so perfectly with this sermon series that we're digging into over the last several weeks, raised uh to life.
SPEAKER_00: And we learned that from Easter Sunday on why we were raised to life.
SPEAKER_00: And today we're gonna look in Ephesians chapter one.
SPEAKER_00: And we're gonna look at this uh truth that we were raised to new power.
SPEAKER_00: Raised to new power.
SPEAKER_00: And it's fitting for us, it's it's it's encouraging to us, but it's so very fitting in in the moment of life that we're in, because we have to realize the same power that Jesus that was used to raise Jesus from the grave is available, not just available for you and I, but it empowers us as believers.
SPEAKER_00: If I've been a if I've accepted the Lord as my Savior, the power of Him is within me.
SPEAKER_00: And so that begs the question of why sometimes in life may I not feel like it?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe why do I feel stuck at times, or why do I feel sluggish in my spiritual journey as I walk and go through life?
SPEAKER_00: Why is that?
SPEAKER_00: There's many times we might ask those questions, and I think that Paul gives a very strong word of encouragement here in Ephesians chapter number one, and we'll look at those verses in a moment.
SPEAKER_00: But I was thinking, as I was getting prepared, it reminded me uh not too long ago.
SPEAKER_00: You may be in this boat, there was a time when we were getting ready to go out of town on vacation.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't know about you, but my kids get so excited when we get to leave for several days.
SPEAKER_00: The bags were packed, they were sitting by the door in our house.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, I pack it because, you know, only I can pack the car perfectly, you know.
SPEAKER_00: Otherwise, it won't all fit.
SPEAKER_00: And so everything was laid out.
SPEAKER_00: I got up early, I go outside, I open the garage up, open the back of the car up, began to load everything in the right spot.
SPEAKER_00: The kids were excited, they brought their blankets and put it in right in their seat, and they brought their little stuffed animals or their little toys, whatever it is they're playing with, and set it there, we're ready to go.
SPEAKER_00: We load the car, put the keys in, and what happens?
SPEAKER_00: The car don't start.
SPEAKER_00: What's weird to me is that the car looked like it was gonna start.
SPEAKER_00: It had an engine, the tires had air, I had the keys in my hand, the keys were pushed, and think about this that no matter how many times I put the key in and pushed it forward and twisted it, that ticking noise began to just tick, tick, tick, tick.
SPEAKER_00: No matter how much I tried, it never would be enough power to start that motor.
SPEAKER_00: What happened?
SPEAKER_00: Oh, my battery was dead.
SPEAKER_00: Why did the battery die at that moment?
SPEAKER_00: I have no idea.
SPEAKER_00: The car was there, the engine was there, the keys are in my hand.
SPEAKER_00: But without power, there's no way that car is going to start.
SPEAKER_00: And I started to think about that moment in my life, and I started thinking, how many believers in our generation right now, how many believers live the same way?
SPEAKER_00: They're saved, they know they are.
SPEAKER_00: They accepted the Lord as their savior.
SPEAKER_00: They know without a shadow of a doubt that if they were to die, they would go to heaven.
SPEAKER_00: They know that their life has been changed, and no matter how hard they try to do right or to do better, it just keeps feeling like nothing happens.
SPEAKER_00: There's no power, there's no spark, if you were.
SPEAKER_00: They may try harder as a believer, they may try to do more, they may continue to push themselves, but they feel stuck in sluggish.
SPEAKER_00: And I found some help in this word from the Apostle Paul, and it's important to know where he was at when he wrote it in prison.
SPEAKER_00: And notice as I read these words in verse 15 through uh verse 23, notice how he lays it out, encouragement for you and I as believers.
SPEAKER_00: He starts off in verse one uh 15, the first word, therefore, I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers.
SPEAKER_00: That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spiritual or the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.
SPEAKER_00: Then he goes on in verse number 18 and begins saying, The eyes of your understanding, some of the eyes of your heart here, being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power towards all who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principalities and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come, and he put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fill who fills all in all.
SPEAKER_00: So notice here in the Apostle Paul in prison, writing this.
SPEAKER_00: I understand all scriptures given by inspiration, God breathed into an existence, but but Paul is writing this, picks up his pen and begins to write.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't know about you, but if I was in prison, I'd start thinking if I'm writing to home, I might ask for some stuff, man.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I need this or I need that.
SPEAKER_00: Come visit me or do he never does that.
SPEAKER_00: What does he do?
SPEAKER_00: He he writes as a way of being thankful for what he heard of them.
SPEAKER_00: And then he stops for a second and begins to encourage them that, man, you got the power of God as believers.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, he's talking to the saints, to believers there in Ephesus, and saying, man, you've got the power within you.
SPEAKER_00: And I just want to encourage you a little bit to live your life like you have the power of the Lord within you.
SPEAKER_00: And I think that's fitting for you and I in this moment because many times I've been saved since I was eight years old.
SPEAKER_00: And there's times in my life when I lean too much on me and not enough on him.
SPEAKER_00: And when I do that, I don't realize the power that's within me to lead me.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, I know I'm not the only one in the house that sometimes has to lead their own life.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I get in the rut and routine of life and I start thinking, man, I can do it better than all, right?
SPEAKER_00: And if I'm not careful, I'll begin to believe that.
SPEAKER_00: And when I believe that, I feel like I'm in a spiritual rut because I stop leaning on the power of the Lord within me and start leaning on me to get me through everything of life.
SPEAKER_00: Paul knew that under the inspiration of the Lord, and then begins to encourage the believers here for that very reason.
SPEAKER_00: He's trying to explain to them, believers, you've got power within you that you may not even realize that you have because you're not learning to lean on it.
SPEAKER_00: And as you sort of digest that and to sort of understand as Paul is laying it out right here, this prayer from prison, I want to show you a few things that came to my mind, that came to my heart as I was studying and preparing, that I hope they help you as much as they helped me.
SPEAKER_00: Here it is, the first couple verses, we're gonna find this.
SPEAKER_00: You don't need more effort.
SPEAKER_00: What we need is more spiritual awareness.
SPEAKER_00: Now listen to me.
SPEAKER_00: What does life teach us?
SPEAKER_00: You and I live in the world that, hey, we work harder, we'll achieve more.
SPEAKER_00: Man, if I if I try this, I'm gonna work harder.
SPEAKER_00: We learned that growing up in baseball, man.
SPEAKER_00: Put your effort first.
SPEAKER_00: We learn that in sports.
SPEAKER_00: We learn that in school.
SPEAKER_00: You must try harder.
SPEAKER_00: Man, come early and get a little help, get a little tutoring.
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna help you a lot.
SPEAKER_00: Every step of the way, we learn worldly things as to try harder and we'll achieve more.
SPEAKER_00: But spiritually, what is he trying to show us here?
SPEAKER_00: In verses uh 15, 16, and 17, I believe it shows us that you and I don't necessarily need more effort.
SPEAKER_00: What we need is more spiritual awareness.
SPEAKER_00: Let's look at it.
SPEAKER_00: We'll dig in a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 15, as he begins this prayer, one thing that I do not read, he doesn't ask for God to give him more strength.
SPEAKER_00: And I know this changed my life years ago when I read I used to pray for that a lot, and then I realized that Paul didn't right here.
SPEAKER_00: He never asked in that prayer for God to give him more strength or for him to give them more strength.
SPEAKER_00: Essentially, he asked God to open their eyes so that they can see the power of what that's within them and to learn essentially to lean on it.
SPEAKER_00: So Paul doesn't ask them for more strength.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't even tell them to try a little bit harder.
SPEAKER_00: But one thing popped out to me in verse 18 when he uses the word the eyes of your understanding.
SPEAKER_00: He essentially says, God, I need you to open their eyes.
SPEAKER_00: Open their eyes.
SPEAKER_00: Now everybody can see me, right?
SPEAKER_00: Your eyes are open.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: Now, have you ever had your eyes open and not seen something?
SPEAKER_00: Come on, man.
SPEAKER_00: I might need your little help.
SPEAKER_00: Just a minute.
SPEAKER_00: I I don't know about y'all, but man, I I get blamed about not being able to see stuff.
SPEAKER_00: My eyes are open.
SPEAKER_00: It's in the pantry.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't know, that pantry I guess is too big.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: I can't find it.
SPEAKER_00: Just yesterday, the kids had some games and we had a little sun.
SPEAKER_00: And I had to get the aquifer out of the cabinet.
SPEAKER_00: She said, It's in the cabinet.
SPEAKER_00: I don't see it.
SPEAKER_00: It's there.
SPEAKER_00: Which cabinet?
SPEAKER_00: There's more than one.
SPEAKER_00: The one under my sink.
SPEAKER_00: I don't see it.
SPEAKER_00: Guess what?
SPEAKER_00: She walked in and she's like, it's right there.
SPEAKER_00: She wasn't that mean, okay?
SPEAKER_00: She was sweet about it.
SPEAKER_00: It's right there.
SPEAKER_00: Why can't you see that?
SPEAKER_00: And I said, I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: I I guess my eyes were closed.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: But you ever you had your eyes open, but yet you missed it.
SPEAKER_00: You didn't see it.
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't right in front of you in your mind.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because you wasn't focusing on the right thing.
SPEAKER_00: Me, I was looking at the hairbrushes and the don't tangle this and this and all the other things that are under the sink for the girls.
SPEAKER_00: I never saw the white can with the blue lid.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry, I just missed it.
SPEAKER_00: But notice in the text, I think Paul was aware that there's times that our eyes are open and we just don't see it because in verse 18, he specifically says, the eyes of your understanding.
SPEAKER_00: He is saying that your eyes of your heart need to be open.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying he need praise.
SPEAKER_00: God open their eyes to see.
SPEAKER_00: See, I think growth when we lean on the Lord starts with seeing and not necessarily striving.
SPEAKER_00: That's why he said in verse 17, specifically, the spirit of wisdom and the revelation, it's the revealing, it's the revealing in the knowledge of him.
SPEAKER_00: See, I think if we're not careful, we'll think the inability to understand certain things of the Lord is some intellectual problem that we might have.
SPEAKER_00: And there was a time in my life where I used to tell myself I wasn't intellectually smart enough to understand the dynamics of the scriptures.
SPEAKER_00: And I had to learn a long time ago, it doesn't matter my intellect, it doesn't matter how intelligent I am or am not.
SPEAKER_00: What matters is how I can learn to lean upon the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: He can teach me things that I never physically thought were possible to understand because I'm looking at them from an earthly standpoint, and God is speaking of them in a spiritual standpoint.
SPEAKER_00: And so I think we have to realize that He's speaking here spiritually, the eyes of the heart, the eyes of understanding must be open.
SPEAKER_00: It's a spiritual matter, and if I'm not careful, I'll realize and think that I'm not ever gonna get it, so I stop trying to open my eyes to see it.
SPEAKER_00: The eyes of the heart must be opened by the Spirit of God, what he's telling us.
SPEAKER_00: And you got to realize that you can uh have the truth and still not see it.
SPEAKER_00: You can have it and still, I just my example of last night was a perfect example.
SPEAKER_00: It was there, but I did not see it.
SPEAKER_00: See, what the reason why I say that is they believed.
SPEAKER_00: The recipients of this letter, the church at Ephesus, were believers.
SPEAKER_00: We know that because when you read the verses, he referred to them as believers, as saints.
SPEAKER_00: So they were believers, but yet they didn't fully understand something, or else he would not have laid it out the way that he did.
SPEAKER_00: So my my uh my point is that you can try you can see the truth and still miss it.
SPEAKER_00: You can know the truth and still miss it.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying, open their eyes, open their eyes, because the second I got saved, I know him as my savior, but what happens from that point forward?
SPEAKER_00: I've got to not only know him as my savior, but at that point, I have to learn to follow him, learn to lean on him.
SPEAKER_00: I heard some verses from the graduates about following the Lord and so forth, the one from Proverbs and others.
SPEAKER_00: It's so vastly important to know him as your savior, but then stop at that point and realize that I've got to know him as my father.
SPEAKER_00: Because I can tell you in a crowd of people, if my dad calls my name, even at 42 years old, I know it's my dad.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to know when God's calling my name.
SPEAKER_00: Well, the only way to know that is to have a relationship.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to know him as my father, but I also want to know him as my guide.
SPEAKER_00: And that comes by opening my eyes of understanding.
SPEAKER_00: I want him to guide every step that I take.
SPEAKER_00: I think the better I know him, the more satisfying I will be spiritually.
SPEAKER_00: I think he'll satisfy my heart a little bit more.
SPEAKER_00: Perspective.
SPEAKER_00: Paul's trying to teach them some perspective here.
SPEAKER_00: As I was studying and preparing, I was looking in the Old Testament, and this may, I may remind you of 2 Kings chapter 6.
SPEAKER_00: What I love about that text, and I'll remind it of you, it's going to come to your mind as soon as I begin to explain it.
SPEAKER_00: The enemy, the Syrian army, was after Israel.
SPEAKER_00: And there was a back and forth going on.
SPEAKER_00: At the very beginning of 2 Kings chapter 6, there was an axe head in the water, and Elijah and them they put it there, and all of a sudden, uh, next thing you know, the next couple sections of verses, uh, the the the attacks were going back and forth.
SPEAKER_00: And every time the Syrian army was trying to come after Israel, somehow Israel knew all about it.
SPEAKER_00: How was that?
SPEAKER_00: Because God revealed it to Elijah.
SPEAKER_00: The enemy thought that they had a spy telling them what was going on.
SPEAKER_00: And somebody within the enemy said so clearly, hey guys, listen, it isn't a spy within us.
SPEAKER_00: No, what's going on is God is revealing what we're about to do through Elijah the prophet there, and he's now telling them and they're ready for it.
SPEAKER_00: So what does happen?
SPEAKER_00: The Syrian army decides the plan.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to do everything we can to go capture Elijah because I got to get rid of him.
SPEAKER_00: I've got to, he's got to be done.
SPEAKER_00: And what I'm the the text that will come to your mind is they're encamped, and all of a sudden the enemy was surrounding them.
SPEAKER_00: The Syrian enemy was all around them, and Elijah's servant woke up and went outside.
SPEAKER_00: As he walked outside, he looked around and he saw the enemy's horses and chariots.
SPEAKER_00: He saw men and he looked around, all around.
SPEAKER_00: As soon as everywhere he looked, he saw nothing but the enemy all around him.
SPEAKER_00: He saw the enemy as if they were going to sort of come and attack them, and it terrified him, and it made him scared.
SPEAKER_00: He goes inside and he wakes up Elijah and tells Elijah, listen, man, there's stuff all, there's enemies around me, there are horses and there's chariots, and the men are going to kill us and capture us.
SPEAKER_00: And what does Elijah say?
SPEAKER_00: He walks outside and he looks.
SPEAKER_00: He's like, You don't see what I see.
SPEAKER_00: He saw God's army all around him.
SPEAKER_00: And if you read in 2 Kings chapter number 6, there's a specific verse in there where Elijah prayed and said, God, let his eyes be open to see you.
SPEAKER_00: And when I read that, man, my heart began to open and think, Man, it's the same thing that Paul is praying right here in verse number 18, that their eyes will be open for understanding.
SPEAKER_00: Elijah prayed out, God, let him see.
SPEAKER_00: God granted that prayer.
SPEAKER_00: His servant walked outside, and as he looked around in every direction, what he once saw was nothing but enemy.
SPEAKER_00: Now he looks around and sees the army of the Lord all around him.
SPEAKER_00: What changed?
SPEAKER_00: His eyes were open.
SPEAKER_00: What what was they were they there before he?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they were there the whole time.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord was protecting them the entire time.
SPEAKER_00: The servant just didn't see it.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because his eyes were closed.
SPEAKER_00: The power was always there.
SPEAKER_00: He, the servant, just could not see it.
SPEAKER_00: Now think about our text and these verses.
SPEAKER_00: Paul's prayer.
SPEAKER_00: What was Paul's prayer?
SPEAKER_00: Paul's prayer was not give them power.
SPEAKER_00: No, because they already had it.
SPEAKER_00: Paul's prayer was let them see what they already have.
SPEAKER_00: Let them see what they already have.
SPEAKER_00: Our problem isn't the lack of prob uh of power, it's the fact that we don't realize the power we have within us.
SPEAKER_00: Let me leave you with something, then we'll dig into our next thought.
SPEAKER_00: Spiritual growth begins when your eyes are opened.
SPEAKER_00: That's why he said, Open your eyes in his prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Spiritual growth begins when our eyes are open.
SPEAKER_00: Look with me a little bit deeper in verse number 18.
SPEAKER_00: Look what the scripture shows us here.
SPEAKER_00: You need to know what you have in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Paul is letting them realize you got to know what we already have in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: We sung about it a little bit this morning.
SPEAKER_00: We've got to know this.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 18, the eyes of your understanding.
SPEAKER_00: It says, being enlightened.
SPEAKER_00: That word enlightened is to give light.
SPEAKER_00: So a light is shining here that you may know what is the hope of his calling.
SPEAKER_00: And in your mind, if you take notes in your Bible or circle that hope of his calling, then the second thing we'll look at is what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.
SPEAKER_00: That always stopped me in my tracks because it says the inheritance in his saints, in the believers, in you and I.
SPEAKER_00: So Paul prays about several things in this particular verse.
SPEAKER_00: One of them is the hope we saw, and the other one is the inheritance, the value of us.
SPEAKER_00: So the first part is the hope.
SPEAKER_00: The hope.
SPEAKER_00: What is the hope?
SPEAKER_00: Your future is secure.
SPEAKER_00: See, I think Paul was trying to let them realize the power they have within them by showing them what they have in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And he talks about the future of hope.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I've been in church my whole life.
SPEAKER_00: I hear about hope.
SPEAKER_00: I've heard songs about hope.
SPEAKER_00: It encourages you.
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes that word hope is hard to get a hold of.
SPEAKER_00: Because when he says the calling of hope, sometimes I start thinking that hope is like every year at Christmas, my kids give me a list of what they hope to have.
SPEAKER_00: Yours might do it.
SPEAKER_00: My kids, when Christmas is over, you know what they give me like the day after New Year's, after we finish eating?
SPEAKER_00: They'll give me the list for next year.
SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_00: They're already working on it.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, then they'll modify it every few months.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I found something new I want, Dad.
SPEAKER_00: And so what is it?
SPEAKER_00: It's a hope.
SPEAKER_00: They're hoping that they get this or that they get that.
SPEAKER_00: But the hope in the text, the hope in the scripture, means something vastly different.
SPEAKER_00: It's an assurance for the future.
SPEAKER_00: The word hope that he's speaking about in verse number 18, he's saying, Man, let their eyes open so that they can see.
SPEAKER_00: And now I want to remind them of some future that they have, and it's the hope of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Now, before I knew Jesus as my Savior, I had no hope.
SPEAKER_00: And there's many people in the world today that don't have the hope that us as believers have.
SPEAKER_00: They have no hope.
SPEAKER_00: What they hope in is not going to help them.
SPEAKER_00: But I know, according to the text and according to other spots within Scripture, you and I have a living hope.
SPEAKER_00: And that encourages me day by day.
SPEAKER_00: What's my living hope?
SPEAKER_00: One day, listen to me, the clouds are going to part and there's going to be Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: One day there's going to be a future hope where you and I can stand and stand in eternity, bow before our heavenly Father, and worship him in spirit and truth for the rest of eternity.
SPEAKER_00: It's hard for me to fathom at times because eternity doesn't have an ending time, right?
SPEAKER_00: Like you and I understand, I've got to eat lunch, I've got to go here, I've got to go there.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to me, eternity's never gonna end.
SPEAKER_00: And that's gonna be our future in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: And he speaks about that in this text.
SPEAKER_00: He's reminding them and he's saying, man, maybe, just maybe, that will let you, let that be a motivator to open your heart.
SPEAKER_00: We've got a future.
SPEAKER_00: But I love this at the latter part of verse number 18 as well.
SPEAKER_00: He talks about the inheritance.
SPEAKER_00: And in my study Bible, I even circled that word in because it says, What are the riches of the glory of his, capital H, his, Jesus' inheritance in, I in the saints.
SPEAKER_00: Inheritance in me?
SPEAKER_00: Well, what was he talking about?
SPEAKER_00: I have value, you have value.
SPEAKER_00: Now, there's many times in our life as a believer or as a person, we feel like we have nothing to offer, no value.
SPEAKER_00: We've all go ups and downs in our lives emotionally, that we get depressed, we get discouraged, we get encouraged, and it all happens all over again.
SPEAKER_00: And there's times in our life where I feel like, man, what do I have to offer?
SPEAKER_00: And he's showing us in this text, Paul is showing us that the riches of his glory, his inheritance in the saints, you have value.
SPEAKER_00: And what's that?
SPEAKER_00: You belong to him.
SPEAKER_00: Now you may feel worthless, and this world may make you feel worthless.
SPEAKER_00: But as a follower of Jesus, a son of the king, listen to me, you have value.
SPEAKER_00: Don't ever forget that.
SPEAKER_00: Don't let the world tell you otherwise.
SPEAKER_00: You belong to him.
SPEAKER_00: Now, this phrase does not refer to our inheritance in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: We read about in verse number 11 of the same chapter.
SPEAKER_00: He's talking about our inheritance in us.
SPEAKER_00: And this truth amazes me because God looks at us like we have value for him.
SPEAKER_00: He utilizes us.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't need me, it makes me appreciate it even more than he can do it with all without me.
SPEAKER_00: But I'm so thankful.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to me.
SPEAKER_00: The world we live in, a man will build up wealth to have a good name for himself and to give an inheritance for his children as an honor if you were.
SPEAKER_00: But notice this text right here.
SPEAKER_00: He is showing you and I that Jesus Christ, in his return, he is gonna, the value of us is far bigger than anything that I could even put a value upon.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I think about it for a second.
SPEAKER_00: How can I look at me today and what I cannot do or what I am able to do?
SPEAKER_00: And you know what I found as I was studying is that God bases my value not on my past, but on my future.
SPEAKER_00: Now, stop that for a moment.
SPEAKER_00: What if, just what if, the value that I have for the Lord was my past?
SPEAKER_00: Now, I told you earlier I got saved at eight years old.
SPEAKER_00: So what if my past affected my value of today?
SPEAKER_00: Now, I I can take you to Psalms 103.
SPEAKER_00: He remembers my sins as far as the East is from the West.
SPEAKER_00: I can remember all, I can, I can take you one place after another.
SPEAKER_00: But I want to show you real quickly that you have value in the Lord Jesus, and because of that, he deals with your future and not your past.
SPEAKER_00: I can prove that to you.
SPEAKER_00: You would like me to?
SPEAKER_00: All right, how about this?
SPEAKER_00: I can take you to uh, I love Gideon in the Old Testament, Judges chapter six.
SPEAKER_00: What I love about Gideon is that when when he's found, he is found in a barn, if you were.
SPEAKER_00: He was threshing in an area where they thresh wheat.
SPEAKER_00: A coward running from God, scared to death.
SPEAKER_00: And when the angel of the Lord comes unto him in Judges chapter number six, the Bible tells us, and I I forgot what verse, but one of those verses in Judges 6, it says, basically this, he says, the Lord is with you.
SPEAKER_00: And the Lord is calling you a mighty man of valor.
SPEAKER_00: Now think about that for just a second.
SPEAKER_00: How could a man who was a coward, who was running, who was hiding out, where they threshweat, how could an angel of the Lord appear to him and say, You are a mighty man of valor?
SPEAKER_00: What's valor?
SPEAKER_00: Valor is honor.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to me, the military gives valor awards where they put a medal on somebody for a for a for courage.
SPEAKER_00: Uh you can go in the sheriff's department, even here in our county, and you'll see a wall where there's valor awards for these men and women that have done above and beyond the line of duty to show courage and strength.
SPEAKER_00: It's an honor to have that sort of award.
SPEAKER_00: And now we look in Judges chapter number six in a man who you and I would arguably describe as a cowardly person running away, hiding out.
SPEAKER_00: An angel of the Lord appears to him and says, The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor.
SPEAKER_00: How could that be?
SPEAKER_00: Because God's value is not based on the past, it's based on the future.
SPEAKER_00: God saw the potential on that man, and that man hadn't reached his potential yet, but yet he could have, and he will eventually, because God says it.
SPEAKER_00: But listen to me, how many, how many times do I hear that?
SPEAKER_00: I I in my mind I say, I'm a coward, but God said, I can use you, Derek, if you just give it all to me.
SPEAKER_00: I've given you power.
SPEAKER_00: Just lean on me and I'll see you all the way through.
SPEAKER_00: Don't sell yourself short.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Paul was trying to get the people to realize here.
SPEAKER_00: The power's within you, the best and greatest thing that you could ever do is just learn to let it lead you.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, I can take you to uh Jesus when he went to Andrew's brother Simon and even called, he renamed him and says, your name is uh Cephas, which means stone.
SPEAKER_00: Now, what did Peter do?
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I can take you to the gospels, and Peter denied Christ three times?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that doesn't sound very honoring.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, how would you build your church on that?
SPEAKER_00: And you and you realize because of what God did for him, you can read later on that says he calls him the rock.
SPEAKER_00: Where's he gonna be?
SPEAKER_00: How did that happen?
SPEAKER_00: Because God deals with us on the base of the future and not based on the past.
SPEAKER_00: And I praise him for that.
SPEAKER_00: If my value is based on my old self, man, I'd be worthless, but I am, my value, your value is based on the future.
SPEAKER_00: God has a purpose and a plan for each and every one of you.
SPEAKER_00: Don't sell yourself short because you don't see it in the right perspective.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Paul's trying to let us realize.
SPEAKER_00: Let me leave you with this, and then we'll dig into the last few verses.
SPEAKER_00: When you know what you have in Christ, you stop living like you don't.
SPEAKER_00: It's that simple.
SPEAKER_00: When you and I realize what we have in Christ, we stop living like we don't.
SPEAKER_00: Verse number 19.
SPEAKER_00: Verse number 19 shows us that the power in you is resurrection power.
SPEAKER_00: Verse number 19 goes on and says, And what is the exceeding greatness?
SPEAKER_00: That word exceeding means surpass.
SPEAKER_00: So what is that surpass greatness of his power?
SPEAKER_00: That word power would be strength right there, would be ability towards us who believe, according to the working of his mighty power.
SPEAKER_00: That word working there is energy, so according to his energy of his mighty power.
SPEAKER_00: His power is force and his strength, which he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in heavenly places.
SPEAKER_00: See what I love is that Paul mentions the word power here and then essentially defines it.
SPEAKER_00: He gives the definition of what that power actually is.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul here is talking about a divine dynamic power.
SPEAKER_00: That word power is where we get our word dynamite from.
SPEAKER_00: You ever seen dynamite get on?
SPEAKER_00: You see where they implode a building at times and it just sort of just blows up.
SPEAKER_00: It shows the strength to even break steel into concrete.
SPEAKER_00: I remember years ago when they had built the Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
SPEAKER_00: Did y'all ever watch the demolition of the dome?
SPEAKER_00: Y'all remember, do y'all remember the Marta bus parking in front of it and you couldn't see it for a few minutes?
SPEAKER_00: Y'all need to watch that on YouTube.
SPEAKER_00: It was it was funny then, it is funny now, okay?
SPEAKER_00: You couldn't hardly see it.
SPEAKER_00: And then you had to change cameras and you saw it from the other side.
SPEAKER_00: But essentially, within a moment, everything began to encrumble that place, that massive structure in a matter of moments, why it was dynamite.
SPEAKER_00: It was power.
SPEAKER_00: That word is where we get our word power from.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I want to remind you of something.
SPEAKER_00: The power that raised Jesus from the grave is in you if you're a believer.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I know it's hard to fathom.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's hard to get.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I'm telling you, it at some point in my life, I'm like, man, there's no way.
SPEAKER_00: And we as believers need that power, but why do we need it?
SPEAKER_00: He shows us in the text, to be honest with you, we're weak, and we're too weak to appreciate the power, and we're too weak to appropriate it, I think is what he's essentially saying to us.
SPEAKER_00: God's power enables us to use God's wealth, is these verses teach you and I.
SPEAKER_00: And I think if I want to give you an illustration of maybe the greatest illustration of this is the resurrection of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Now, you think about it as Jesus lived this life on earth and went all the way to the cross and died.
SPEAKER_00: Now, he wasn't murdered, he wasn't killed, he laid his life down because he loves you and I so much.
SPEAKER_00: That is, he took his last breath and they took him off the cross and put him in the tomb.
SPEAKER_00: Now, for days he lied there.
SPEAKER_00: They covered him up, obviously, the the the they rolled the stone over.
SPEAKER_00: And then when God saw fit, you and I know on the third day that the power of God raised him from the grave.
SPEAKER_00: Now, what I love about it is that power uh didn't have to move the doorway away, but it but it did so that you and I can look in there and realize that Jesus wasn't there.
SPEAKER_00: And the power of that raised Jesus from the grave, that same power, you know understand, didn't stay in the tomb.
SPEAKER_00: That same power is no longer in the tomb.
SPEAKER_00: It essentially is within you and within me.
SPEAKER_00: Now, why is it that if the same power that raised Jesus from the grave, why is it that I stop, uh, I sell myself short living for the Lord at times?
SPEAKER_00: Man, there's times in my life where God could impress it upon my heart, man, to take a stand or to tell somebody about him, or even the power to love when it's when it's hard, or whatever God is impressed it upon your heart, why do we sell ourselves short?
SPEAKER_00: I think that's the same reason why Paul is using this text.
SPEAKER_00: Open my eyes of understanding.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus went from dead to alive, and Paul said, Man, that power didn't stay in the tomb, it lives within you.
SPEAKER_00: Now, what are we doing with the power of God within me?
SPEAKER_00: You know what I don't need to do?
SPEAKER_00: I don't need more willpower.
SPEAKER_00: No, I just need to learn to rely on him and not myself.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not trying to access the power, I'm trying to learn to live from it.
SPEAKER_00: It's there.
SPEAKER_00: How do I live from it?
SPEAKER_00: Listen to me, the same power that raised Jesus is at work in you and I.
SPEAKER_00: Let me live you the last three verses of our text.
SPEAKER_00: In verse 21 through verse number 23, Jesus is reminds us that Jesus is over everything, and you're connected to him.
SPEAKER_00: I love these verses because he starts off in verse 21, far above.
SPEAKER_00: Far above all principalities.
SPEAKER_00: That principality is his rule, uh, and power is authority, and might and dominion, that's his lordship, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come.
SPEAKER_00: And he put on all things under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fits all in all.
SPEAKER_00: What why is he ending this section of Scripture with this?
SPEAKER_00: He's been talking about power, but I love is that he doesn't stop with power.
SPEAKER_00: He goes to a level of showing us Jesus' position.
SPEAKER_00: I think there's a time in our life where we feel like there's other things that are going to solve our problems other than Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Especially in our country, we look at political movements and even political figures to try to fix things that only Christ can do.
SPEAKER_00: And I think that's probably why he reminds us that Paul was reminding them, and then of course reminding us in these last verses that Christ is over all things.
SPEAKER_00: There is no lordship, there is no authority, there's no dominion over him.
SPEAKER_00: It shows you and I his position, not only his power, but his position.
SPEAKER_00: What is his uh position?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is above all authority.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is above all power.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is above all dominion.
SPEAKER_00: Everything is under his feet.
SPEAKER_00: Now visualize that.
SPEAKER_00: Man, some people like feet and some people don't, right?
SPEAKER_00: Who likes feet?
SPEAKER_00: People are probably gonna think y'all are weird, so I wouldn't raise your hand, okay?
SPEAKER_00: No, I'm just kidding.
SPEAKER_00: Listen.
SPEAKER_00: Some people get grossed out by it.
SPEAKER_00: But you know, in that day and age, it was even worse, right?
SPEAKER_00: Because their feet, they're walking outside and so forth.
SPEAKER_00: So that the visual behind everything being under his feet was far bigger than you could ever even realize.
SPEAKER_00: And what I love about it is it even shows us in verse number 21, it says, Man, far above, no matter what, no future enemy, no, nothing is ever going to be greater than Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: So we shouldn't fear.
SPEAKER_00: And actually, that should be the motivator.
SPEAKER_00: I think about the four gospels, and we see God's power through the work in the ministry of Jesus, through miracles.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, I mean, there was times where they were climbing trees to get to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: There was a the lady that touched the hem of the garment just to get healed.
SPEAKER_00: There was miraculous moment taking place by the power of Jesus and the miraculous work of him.
SPEAKER_00: And the gospel ends, right?
SPEAKER_00: And then you get to Acts, chapter number one.
SPEAKER_00: And I love in Acts one, in verse number eight of Acts, uh, chapter one, it says, But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.
SPEAKER_00: And everything changed.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to me, the miraculous power of Christ healing people and doing miracles was big.
SPEAKER_00: But I'm telling you, after Jesus rose from the grave, the resurrected power, everything changed.
SPEAKER_00: How at Pentecost did three or five thousand get saved at the preaching of the gospel because they were relying not on self but on him.
SPEAKER_00: The greatest thing that you and I can ever do is listen to what Paul is saying here, apply it to our life, and let my eyes, let my heart see the power of God that's within me.
SPEAKER_00: Every authority is in under his feet, I don't have to fear.
SPEAKER_00: And if I'm under his authority, I am good.
SPEAKER_00: You're not just empowered, you are positioned in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: We can remember that.
SPEAKER_00: As we close in a word of prayer in a moment, the problem isn't that you don't have power if you're a believer.
SPEAKER_00: The problem is you don't always live like you do.
SPEAKER_00: That's something I deal with all too often.
SPEAKER_00: I can try harder, but I need to learn to trust deeper.
SPEAKER_00: I can strive even more, but I've got to learn to depend even bigger.
SPEAKER_00: I don't need more power.
SPEAKER_00: I just need to start living from the power that I already have.
SPEAKER_00: Would you pray with me this morning?
SPEAKER_00: God, I come to you.