The Power at Work in Us

The Church talks a lot about power these days. Political power. Cultural influence. Fear. Outrage. Control. But what if the modern Church has forgotten where its power actually comes from?

In this sermon from Ephesians 1:15-23, Pastor Jason Barnett explores Paul’s prayer for the church in Ephesus and why it still matters today. Living in a culture obsessed with spiritual forces, empire, and fear, the Ephesian believers needed a reminder that Jesus Christ is already reigning above every ruler, authority, and power. And that the same resurrection power that raised Him from the dead is already at work within His people.

This message wrestles with spiritual exhaustion, anxiety, culture wars, misplaced trust, and the temptation for Christians to search for “borrowed power” instead of depending on Christ. Along the way, Pastor Jason shares a powerful illustration from Nazarene evangelist Dr. Chic Shaver about fish jumping out of an aquarium searching for freedom, only to discover they left the very environment giving them life.

If you’ve been weary from the noise, fear, division, and pressure surrounding modern Christianity, this sermon is a reminder that the Church does not survive because human beings are powerful. The Church lives because Jesus is alive.

Linkoln shares his story on why he started coming to Ravenna Church of the Nazarene and shares why you should consider doing the same.

Ravenna Church of the Nazarene
530 Main Street, Ravenna, KY 40472

Transcript

Trailer

Pastor Jason 0:00

The church claims Jesus defeated death yet panics like everything depends on politicians, culture wars, and human power. What if the modern church has forgotten where its' power actually comes from. I am Pastor Jason Barnett and this is The Dirt Path Sermon Podcast.

Podcast Greeting

Pastor Jason 1:25

If you've been exhausted by the constant noise lately, the constant outrage, the fear, fighting, pressure to panic about everything happening in the world, this message is for you.

Pastor Jason 1:36

Sometimes the church can start acting more anxious and hopeful, more reactive than rooted. And when that happens, it's easy to forget where our strength actually comes from.

Pastor Jason 1:49

Today's sermon is called The Power at Work in Us From Ephesians chapter 1, verses 15 through 23. And in this passage, Paul prays for a church living in a fearful and spiritually confused culture. And honestly, his prayer may be exactly what we need right now, too.

Introduction: Escaping the Good Life

Pastor Jason 2:08

I also want to take a minute to say thank you to Sarah for playing for us today. Really appreciate you. Appreciate you too, George. That was a great song.

Pastor Jason 2:20

And I didn't make this plug during the offering like I was planning to do, but first of all, thank you all for being so faithful and giving to the church. We really do appreciate it. And you giving to the kingdom helps us do the things that we're doing and reach the people that we're reaching. So thank you.

Pastor Jason 2:38

But if you can join me in praying, we really do need about three to five more people who are willing to say, Lord, I'm not willing to I'm not just willing to donate my my my treasure, but I'm also willing to donate my time. So if you could pray about that.

Pastor Jason 2:54

You know, last week I gave you there's some stuff the kids' ministry could help, you know, with food and things like that. But there's needs all over the place. Lord's leading you to do something. Come and talk to me. Come talk to Pastor Nicole. I'm sure there is somewhere that we could use your help.

Pastor Jason 3:09

Alright, that's Pastor's shameless plug right there. We're going to be in the book of Ephesians. Ephesians chapter one. And I told the Sunday school class today because they were stuck hearing me twice today. And I said, if you didn't like the early show, stick around for the later one. I don't know what to tell you if you don't like the later show. I mean, you are kind of stuck.

Pastor Jason 3:31

We're gonna be in Ephesians chapter one. And as you're turning there, for the last couple years, I have been working through a devotional by a Nazarene evangelist, well, a former Nazarene evangelist, Dr. Chick Shaver. Has anybody heard that name before? Sarah has. He's a big Sunday school guy, big discipleship and evangelism guy.

Pastor Jason 3:52

Two years ago they gave all his pastors a devotional book that he wrote, you know, those 365 devotional books, they gave it to all his pastors to read. So I've been reading it the last few years. And this week I came across a story that I just thought was that was funny, I had to share it. Because um Dr. Dr. Shaver, he had a he's talking about an aquarium he had when he was seven, or in seventh grade. Right? He was a seventh grader, had an aquarium downstairs in the family room.

Pastor Jason 4:20

And he I mean he babied these fish. Like I didn't know you could baby fish, but he the way he describes, he went through from like they, you know, they had they always had a clean tank, right? The oxygen was flowing really well through there. The glass was always clean, which when he talked about that made me think of Jaden when she was probably about Lilly's age. We put a we had this idea put a goldfish tank in her room as a night light. And Jaden thought she would help us out by one night cleaning the glass with a baby wipe from the inside.

Pastor Jason 4:51

But that's not what happened with Dr. Shaver's fish. That he took care of it. He he washed the tank, made it clean, it looked all nice. Not only that, this is this is where he babied them. Again, I didn't know this was possible. Not only did he feed them like regular solid fish food, he collected and grew mosquito larva to feed them. And then he got like he grew white worms. And so I I guess if you're a fish enthusiast, you might know this, but that's like the prime rib and steak of the fish world. Like those fish were eating good.

Pastor Jason 5:31

So they had the they were living a good life right in that little tank that he had them in. I don't know how many fish he had in there, but he had several. But he goes on until that one morning, despite the fish's good life in that tank, he walks down the stairs and he finds four of the fish lying on the floor. If they're lying on the floor, they're dried out, clearly, obviously, they're dead. There is no life left in them. You can't give them CPR. I don't know if you can get CPR fish, but they're done. These fish are out.

Pastor Jason 6:04

For some reason, in the middle of the night, despite all the good things that he was doing for him, all the things he was doing to take care of him, all the best food he was giving, these fish decided we want our freedom. So four of them just jumped out of the tank.

Pastor Jason 6:19

And I love what he wrote. I actually copied it verbatim in my notes. This is what he wrote. He says, the glass walls of the aquarium were never barriers to the fish's happiness. They were simply the boundaries that kept the fish in the only atmosphere where they could survive and thrive.

Pastor Jason 6:35

Right? Like, as long as those fish stayed in that aquarium where he had everything for them, where he provided them for all their needs, those fish had a good life. But the second they jumped out of the tank, it cost them.

Pastor Jason 6:54

I think sometimes the church does the same thing. Now, I'm not just talking about us little "c" church, I'm talking big "c " church, right? The church universal that we talked about in the Apostles' Creed. That's one thing I love about the Church of the Nazarene. We we believe that you know God has ordained us, God's called us to be a people of God, but we're not just, we're not, we don't believe we're the only church. We're part of a church body that's bigger than us. Not just as a denomination, but other denominations as well. We believe that.

Pastor Jason 7:27

So the church as a whole, sometimes we do the same thing. We're like those fish. We have and are promised everything from God that we need to carry out his mission, to live the life that he's called us to. To take ground from the enemy. God has given us everything we need, but for some reason, we get impatient, we get scared, we get worried, we get antsy, and like those fish, we jump out of the tank and try and do it on our own. Not only that, we we try to, instead of relying on the power and the life that God has given for us, we start looking for power from other places.

Reading Ephesians 1:15-23

Pastor Jason 8:17

We see in Ephesians 1, Paul reminds us, reminds the church of something important. That's who our power source truly is. So that's what we're looking at today in Ephesians chapter 1. I'm gonna be reading verses 15 through 23. This is the reason that I don't stop giving thanks to God for you when I pray when I remember you in my prayers. I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, will give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation that makes God known to you. I pray that the eyes of your heart will have enough light to see what is the hope of God's call, what is the riches of God's glorious inheritance among believers, and what is the overwhelming greatness of God's power that is working among us believers. This power is conferred by the energy of God's powerful strength. God's power was at work in Christ when God raised him from the dead and set him at God's right side in the heavens, far above every ruler in authority and power and angelic power, any power that might be named not only not only now but in the future. God put everything under Christ's feet and made him head of everything in the church, which is his body. His body, the church, is the fullness of Christ, fulfills everything in every way.

Pastor Jason 9:52

This is the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God.

Not just Pokemon cards

Pastor Jason 9:57

Alright, so let me give you a little bit of context here. This is a letter that Paul wrote to the church of Ephesus. And I've been studying in Revelation this week, and Ephesus is one of those seven churches, right? That Paul or that John writes about Jesus Revelation.

Pastor Jason 10:14

But the people of Ephesus, they were an interesting people. Their city was known for something that we don't know cities for today. Except for maybe Portland, because the motto of Portland is keep Portland weird. So that might be the closest thing that we have to it. But the city of Ephesus, they were known for their love of magic. They believed in magic. Like to them, Pokemon cards were more than Pokemon cards.

Pastor Jason 10:47

They believed in the occult. They worship as goddess by the name of Artemis. And they were heavily, heavily Roman. So that means the people in this city in Ephesus, they they weren't just a little, they were just weren't, they weren't just a little bit superstitious. They were very superstitious. They were they feared evil spirits, they feared government authority, they they feared anything or any force that would cause them harm in their life.

Pastor Jason 11:17

And so this is the culture, these are the people that surrounded the church at Ephesus, and maybe even some of the members in it. So Paul, when he's writing to him here, he begins with praise, though. He starts out this whole letter by praising them. And not only that, he prays for them. He's praying that God would open their eyes so they could see. He understands that people cannot live differently, they can't live transformed lives until they see the world differently. And the only way that happens is through prayer, through walking with the Spirit. So that's what Paul's addressing here in this section particularly. And I would argue he's addressing this over the whole letter, not just as an individual, but as a church. This is what the church is called to.

Verses 15-16: Visible faith and love

Pastor Jason 12:18

So in verse 15, Paul begins with, I heard about your faith. Paul has heard about them. He has heard about their love for God. They've loved God enough that they're loving their neighbors around them. They've done it in such a way that word has gotten back to Paul and it has Paul excited. It doesn't go into detail. But

Verses 17-18: Enlightened hearts

Pastor Jason 12:53

he's praying that these people living in this culture would experience something deeper than just surface-level Christianity. Their eyes would be open, they would see what God is truly offering them. So he states in verse 18, he says, I pray that the eyes of your heart will have enough light to see. The heart was the center where you make decisions, the center of your desires, the center of your will, all that stuff stemmed from your heart.

Pastor Jason 13:44

Paul is praying that in their deepest inner self, the part that only they and God know about, he is praying that that is where the light would come on and they would see it. Because you can have physical light around you, you can even have spiritual light around you, but until that light comes on in your own heart, you're not gonna see it.

Pastor Jason 14:07

That's why you see when if you study the Bible for a long period of time, some things you won't make sense at the beginning. And again, the more I read Revelation, the less sense it makes to me, but I'm okay with that. But I think that's the light coming on. Right? The more you study, the more you walk with God, the more the light comes on in different rooms of your heart and your mind. And so that's what Paul's talking about. I'm hoping that you don't just settle for where you're at. Leave in yourself. I want you to walk deeper. I pray that God opens your eyes so you can truly understand and grasp what's going on. Not just outwardly, but in the deepest inner part of yourself that only you know about. He's hoping their eyes would be open. They could see the spiritual reality that was around them.

Pastor Jason 14:59

Let's talk about Christian hope here. Christian hope is different than worldly hope, right? Christian hope is not tossing pennies in a well and hoping for the best outcome, right? It's it's we have an expectancy about us. We have a confident expectancy that what God says is true, and what God does, when God says something, it will happen. We have an expectancy that what God has promised will come to reality one day. That's what Paul's talking about. A confidence rooted in God's faithfulness.

Verses 19-20: Resurrection power

Pastor Jason 15:35

And what he's wanting them to see, what he's wanting them to grasp in this moment is the richness of Christ's inheritance and the greatness of Christ's power. That's what he's wanting to see. So that's why in verses 19 and 20, Paul's gonna do something that's kind of funny. And we we kind of lose it in our English translations because our English translations, so many times our translating teams do a wonderful job of trying to put it and explain it in a way where it makes sense or translate words in a way that we can we can grasp.

Pastor Jason 16:05

But in the original Greek language of this verse 19 and 20, Paul is intentionally taking the toolbox full of words about power in the Greek language and dumping them out on the table. Like every word here that he can think of to describe power, he's throwing out in these verses. And he's actually doing it in a way that the original audience, when they read it in the Greek, he wanted it when they read about God's power, that they would feel overwhelmed by the description that he gave. And even then, Paul is taking every bit of the Greek language at the time, trying to explain an infinitely powerful God in a way that the human mind can comprehend. So even what Paul does in an overwhelming fashion, the Greek still does not, it's just a drop in the bucket to what God is really capable of doing.

Pastor Jason 17:02

He's attempting to describe power beyond our human categories. But here's what's interesting Christ, the power God that is displaying, it's not it's not power that's displayed in total domination. It's not a power that's manipulative, it's not a power that's self-seeking or self-serving. The power that God has, the power that God uses. It's not based on violence, it's not based on an empire, it's it's power that we see in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Pastor Jason 17:37

You see, this is one of the key things that changes from the New Testament to the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, um, in the Old Testament, in regularly trying to describe God's power, especially in the prophets and the historical books and the songs, they would always return to Egypt, the story of Egypt, right? Because we see God's power on display through the plagues against Egypt. We see God's power on display when he splits the Red Sea. So in the Old Testament, they would always go back when they wanted to define what God's power looked like. The New Testament, the standard changes.

Pastor Jason 18:10

Instead of relying on the Red Sea, they can point to the fact that Jesus was dead, he came back to life. The fact that Jesus was dead for three days, and God put the power, the power of the resurrection brought Jesus to life. Paul was wanting them to see that is the power that God has.

Verses 20-22: Above every power

Pastor Jason 18:36

Alright, now, knowing the historical context and the culture of Ephesus, it's important that we read verses that we remember it when we read verses 20 through 22. And in that section, Paul says Jesus far above every ruler, authority, and power.

Pastor Jason 18:59

Again, remember in Ephesus, to them, Pokemon cards are more than Pokemon cards. There's something more to it, right? They believe they're superstitious, they believe that these evil spirits are out trying to get them, and everything is tied to that. They also believe in the power of Caesar, right? They're closely aligned with Rome, and Rome taught that Caesar was Lord. That if you wanted peace and salvation, it came through the empire. That's what they believed. That was the world that they lived in.

Pastor Jason 19:38

What Paul is saying in that verse is he's saying, Jesus, all those powers that you're afraid of, all those powers he listed up, all those powers I dumped down on the table to scribe, Jesus is above every single one of them. There's a modern song that says he has no rival, no equal. That's who our Jesus is. That's who Paul is talking about. He's saying that while the Roman Empire's claiming that Caesar is Lord and Rome brings peace, Paul's saying, No, Jesus is Lord.

Verse 23: The Church is Christ's body

Pastor Jason 20:11

Alright, now verse 23. Verse 23 is the key to the whole thing. The key for us this morning. What Paul is saying there is that the church is the living embodied presence of Christ. Jesus' presence in this world. Yes, there's the Holy Spirit. Yeah, but it's present in this world through the church to the people that make the church up. They embody Jesus to the world around them.

Pastor Jason 21:00

Did I say that when it makes sense? Or did I make it worse? My brain's kind of ping ponging today, so no one's giving me any too too many, too much funny looks. So I'm gonna assume I made sense.

Pastor Jason 21:13

But Paul is saying that that the church is the living embodied presence of Christ in the world. Christ fills his people through the Holy Spirit, right? The Holy Spirit lives in the people that believe. And so because the Holy Spirit is the same as the same God as Jesus, Jesus' presence is in the life of his people. And if Jesus is in the life of his people, then he's present in the life of his church. And the church is in the world, but not of the world.

Pastor Jason 21:39

That's what Paul is getting at here. His life, the life of Christ, flows through his body and his power is at work in the world through the surrendered lives of those who profess his name. What Paul is saying here is that the church is more than an organization, it's an organism. It's breathing because it's the embodiment of Christ. It's not just any organism though. It's an organism that its life is solely based on the presence of Jesus and the power of Jesus. Without Jesus, the church is just another club. But with more rules and less fun.

The Church is strongest when...

Pastor Jason 22:27

So here's what Paul's getting at in these verses. What Paul is saying is the church is strongest when it remembers whose power is at work within it. The church is strongest when it remembers whose power is at work in it. See, the visions, they lived in a culture obsessed with spiritual power. They believed that there's these other spirits out there, and they had to keep these spirits happy. They believed that there were demonic forces out there and they had to do these little rituals and these little have these little books and things and sayings to keep the demonic forces away so they can live their lives happily. They believe to live their lives happily, they had to keep Caesar happy and do what Caesar said.

Pastor Jason 23:17

But Paul reminds them, he's reminding these Christians that live there, you need to stop borrowing the world's power because you don't need it. You don't need to borrow power when resurrection power is already at work in you. That's what Paul is saying to these Christians at the Church of Ephesus. You don't need to borrow power. Resurrection power is already at work in you.

We have all we need

Pastor Jason 23:45 Pastor Jason 23:49

The same is true for us today. The same is true. The church hasn't changed, Jesus hasn't changed, he's still reigning on the field. That's why we celebrate Ascension Sunday, right? We have a Lord that not just rose from the dead, he ascended into the heavens, and he's sitting at the right hand of the Father. He gifted us his Holy Spirit, who is God, who has the power of the resurrection. That means the power of Christ's resurrection is in us.

Pastor Jason 24:23

And not just us as individuals, but as us in us as a church. He is the power source. I think so many times the modern church, again using big "c" here, the modern church, we keep acting like we're the fish in the fish tank. God's provided everything we need to be successful. He's given us every tool that we need to have for right now to reach our community for Jesus. He's given us every tool that we need, every weapon that we need to take ground from the enemy.

Pastor Jason 24:56

But instead of relying on his power and trusting in the power of his resurrection, we get nervous. We get nervous because we watch the world around us. We're like, oh man, that's not good. Gesus, we gotta help you. And so we start grabbing the other things for our power. Right? Again, we're like the fish, we jump out of the tank, thinking, well, you know what? We don't you have us in this tank saying trust you, we're gonna rely on you, but that's that's kind of limited, so I'm jumping out of the tank. And we settle for lesser powers. And when we get out of the tank, we disconnect from our power source, and we start searching for other powers. We set up for lesser powers.

Lesser powers

Pastor Jason 25:37

Our lesser powers, you know what those are? We settle for things like political power. Like some politician whose lies is fanning someone's office in heaven that's going to tell us the truth and fix all the problems. Here's a problem since the country started, every politician's been saying the same thing. We're gonna solve all your problems if you vote for us. But here we are.

Pastor Jason 26:07

We settle for we settle for lesser powers like outrage, right? It's like if I just get angry and scream loud enough, which I find it fascinating, I'm getting louder as I preach that moment. If we shout louder, then somehow we're it makes us more important and more valuable and more powerful because we're yelling and we're angry.

Pastor Jason 26:27

Okay, maybe it's not physical, maybe it's on Facebook or Instagram or whatever it is, and your fingers are flying, right? And you're just like, I got you and that argue. I remember one time, this is back when I was on Christian Mingle and they had these forums. Christian Mingle is where I met Nicole, the dating site for Christians. It's still in existence, but I don't know if it's the same as it used to be. But they had like these forums you can go on, and I remember when I was debating this guy about, I was debating this guy for like three days in this in the forums. We went back and forth. Finally got to a spot where it's like, I won. I argued for the submission. And it was at that room the Holy Spirit checked and says, Jason, what did you win? I spent three days in front of a computer screen arguing with some person I never met. So for the outrage, that that to me the lesser power was victory. Feeling important like I won something.

Device without a charger

Pastor Jason 27:33

See, the problem is though we disconnect ourselves from our power sources as a church and as a person, we become like our cell phones and our tablets, right? Your cell phone and your tablet, you can disconnect it from the power for for a while, and then the battery's gonna live for a little while. At some point, you have to connect it again to keep it charged. I'm terrible at that because Warren always has to call Nicole to get a hold of me. Because I never plug my phone in. You know what happens when I don't plug my phone in, the phone dies.

Pastor Jason 28:08

That's what happens to us, that's what happens to church. We disconnect ourselves, we disconnect our church from the power of God and the power of Christ. It dies.

Pastor Jason 28:18

I quoted this this morning, but it fits again here. The Kentucky District Superintendent, Dr. Brian Powell, once said, There's not enough coffee and donuts to replace the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is our power source because it's the power of God in us, it's the power of the resurrection in our midst. So when we disconnect ourselves from Him, we have nothing.

Pastor Jason 28:48

The church dies when it disconnects from Jesus. Only Jesus can sustain the church, and the church is sustained as each member who makes up the body is sustained. So for the church to be connected to Jesus, it means I have to be connected to Jesus, it means you have to be connected to Jesus because each one of us together, collectively, we we make up the body of Christ.

Jesus is the Power Source

Pastor Jason 29:19

The church is the embodiment of Christ's presence in this world. How can we ever hope individually and collectively to represent Jesus if we're disconnected from him? We have to stay connected. We have to remember that Jesus is not just some teacher, he's not just some good moral teacher. He's more than that. He's the risen and reigning Savior. He's the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. That's who Jesus is. He's the guy when he comes back again. Every knee will bow every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. That's who he is. He's the one that conquered sin. He's the one that conquered death. He's the one that defeated spiritual darkness and every every lesser authority. They are under the feet of Jesus. He's above every one of them.

Pastor Jason 30:23

See, the the resurrection, the ascension, they weren't just events for us to admire. They were they were they were something that they are the source of life for the church. The power behind them is our source of life.

Pastor Jason 30:40

You see, we don't need borrowed power when resurrection power is already at work in us. We don't need something else. Because you see, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is now at work within the church. The resurrection is reality. The church is meant to live every single day. And you and me, we are the church. It's not this building, it's you and I.

Library book power

Pastor Jason 31:15

See, so often we live like powerless people. We panic, we fear, we get tired. But rather, in those moments, rather than stay in the tank and trust God that this seems too small for us, so we jump out. But jumping out will not lead to good things. We borrow power from somewhere else, it's like we it's like we're trying to get power from the library book, right? You know what I mean about library books? There's two things. One, you can't write in them. I love underlining things in books and write notes in the margin. And the other thing is you have to remember to take them back. You only get them for a little while, right? And it seems about the time I'm just getting into the book, it has to go back to the library, and I have to take it back, and I'm disconnected from my entertainment.

Pastor Jason 32:07

That's the way we treat power, right? We grab things that are less or we borrow it for a little while, things that that aren't meant to fulfill us or sustain us long term. We take it for a minute and hold on to it, but at some point it has to go back to the library. Jesus is offering us something different. He's offering us his power, his inheritance, who he is. He's offering us his presence, and we don't have to give it back.

Pastor Jason 32:38

We borrow from lesser kingdoms because somewhere along the way we forget that where our life, the church's power, actually comes from. And Paul reminds us that it comes from Christ, who is already reigning, Christ who is already victorious. He is already above every ruler in authority. He has no rival, he has no equal. No one can stand up for the power of Jesus. And that's the power available to us through faith in him.

Power at work in Rav Naz

Pastor Jason 33:09

Now, as a church, I'm using little C referring to us Rav Naz, okay? We have seen God do some incredible things. Right? Right, church, we've seen God do some incredible things. Like it wasn't that long ago we had our Easter setting. You all prayed for a lost person that you wanted to see come to church, and then you went out and you invited them, and we believed that God would meet us in that. We had 80 people show up for Easter. We had guests, first-time guests coming back and inviting guests. That's a miracle.

Pastor Jason 33:43

Last year we saw 23 people get saved. 23 people. A lot of those are kids. One of them's getting baptized today. We saw 23 people get saved this last church year. That's incredible. God is working, God is moving.

Pastor Jason 33:59

We had 4 people join the church's members. They're like, I like Pastor Jason. Okay, maybe not. I tolerate Pastor Jason, but I like David and Donna so let's stick around. That's incredible.

Pastor Jason 34:19

I have to remind us though, what's incredible about that is not us. Right? I'm amazed by our faith must. I'm amazed by our our willingness to trust Jesus and step out into the unknown. But here's the thing about that, though. You and I, we didn't jump out of the tank and make that happen. How did it happen? We trusted Jesus that Jesus, your power is at work in us, and we're gonna trust you to do it. And he did it.

Pastor Jason 34:42

Every healing that happened in someone's life happened because Jesus did it. Every person that that's life was transformed, it didn't happen because we were the best at discipling and finding people. It happened because Jesus did it and is doing it in their lives. Every person that's growing, each sign of life in our church is evidence of Jesus' power working in us and through us right now.

Pastor Jason 35:08

That's important because so often we think the power of the resurrection is something we wait for at the end. That we're gonna experience it when we die and we meet him in the air right when he comes back again. Or he's gonna come back and we're gonna meet him in the air then after all the dead Christ rise. We think that's when it's gonna happen. But no, the power of the resurrection is happening in us right now.

Pastor Jason 35:27

You realize that we're in a time period where churches are dying and closing off like crazy. We're in a period where churches can't find pastors because there's not enough of us. Yet God is working in our midst in a community this size. Why? Because we trust Jesus and we believe you can. And as long as we stay connected to the power source, we don't get full of ourselves, we don't get tired of seeing God do things, because that can happen, right? We don't get tired of those things. We don't get distracted by little things and start fighting with each other over them. As long as we keep trusting in the power of the resurrection, as long as we don't allow somebody else to hijack us and convince us their power is better than Jesus's, if we stay connected to the power source, then there is nothing Jesus can't do through us. Because it's his power of the resurrection in us.

Pastor Jason 36:21

Hey, I know you look up here on the platform this morning and we miss Nell this morning. I'm grateful for Sarah and David and they're faithful, so we miss Nell this morning. Hey, I I I have to turn in this sheet every year to the district, and I turn in my reports around. I have to tell them, like, you have a list of, okay, who's in charge of this for your church, and who's in charge of this for your church? And I have to, I don't have people to put in those spots. And so I'll turn in and I'm getting an email, like, well, Jason, you forgot to put this. No, I didn't forget. I can make people and put them in there if you want to. I can put Lloyd Gross in there. Well, she offers Louis Gross Gross's. I can put that name in there, but they don't exist. And I can just plug random people into spots. I can say, Lindsay and Logan, welcome to our church. You're now in charge of this department. Congratulations. But that's not what God wants. That's not what they want. That's not God honoring. That's just me trying to seek power source from pleasing the district people. And trust me, you can never please them.

Pastor Jason 37:24

Okay, our DS is pretty cool. My point stays the same. We can look around and say, let's be sad about all the things that we don't have. But you know what we do have? That's the most important thing. The power of God is at work in us.

Pastor Jason 37:44

So when I see empty spots, I'm not saying, oh, that's not I'm not like I'm not sad about, I'm not worried about it know why because God's gonna send the right person. That right person for those empty spots might already be sitting in the pew. They might be watching online right now, they might not even be saved yet. But God's gonna do a work of transforming them into the power of his resurrection. He's going to continue to do the work that he's doing. Because God is not done here yet.

Stop borrowing power

Pastor Jason 38:06

So here's the thing: let us stop searching for borrowed power. Let's stop living like everything depends on us. And may God open the eyes of our hearts to the power already at work in Christ, in us. Because here's the thing, we do not need borrowed power when the power of the resurrection is at work in us.

Challenge for You

Pastor Jason 38:34

Some of us were exhausted because we've been trying to carry things Jesus never asked us to carry. Some of us, we've become so overwhelmed by fear, anger, politics, and outrage or anxiety about the future that we have forgotten where our hope actually comes from. We still think Jesus is risen, but sometimes we still live like everything depends on us.

Pastor Jason 38:58

But see, Paul reminds us that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is already at work within his people.

Pastor Jason 39:05

That means we don't have to live defended. You don't have to live consumed by fear. You don't have to keep chasting every lesser kingdom promising security.

Pastor Jason 39:15

Christ is still reigning. Christ is still victorious. And Christ is still at work in his church.

Pastor Jason 39:21

So maybe today, wherever you're listening from, your prayer simply needs to be just open the eyes of my heart again. Let's pray together. God, I thank you for reminding us where our strength truly comes from. Forgive us for the times we have trusted fear more than faith, trusted outrage more than hope, and look for worldly power more than the power of Christ. Open the eyes of our heart so we can see your goodness, your authority, and your power already at work within your people. Strengthen those who are weary. Encourage those who feel discouraged. And remind your church that Jesus is still alive, still reigning, and still working among us. Help us to stop searching for borrow power and rest again in the resurrection power of Christ.

Connect, Subscribe, Goodbye

Pastor Jason 40:11

In Jesus name, Amen. And well, thank you for listening to the Dirt Path Serm on Podcast. And if today's message helped you and challenged you and or helped you see Jesusmore clearly, I would really encourage you to share this episode with somebody else. You never know how much it might help them.

Pastor Jason 40:29

And also, I would encourage you to subscribe and support the show. And again, I'm not asking you to subscribe and support the show because you know I'm trying to monetize, I have zero interest in monetizing the show or benefiting from that in this way. My goal is to share Jesus with one more person. And you're always helping me do that. Um but if you want to support the show, there's a link in the show notes. Supporting this show is one of the supports financially. Uh, rather than support me, you'll be supporting Nazarene Compassionate ministries, and specifically the disaster relief fun. They are the hands and feet of Jesus for some folks in the darkest moments of life for some folks. So you're supporting me is actually supporting them in this ministry.

Pastor Jason 41:09

Well now, wherever you find yourself, therefore this the church does not survive because human beings are powerful. The church survives because Jesus is alive. Until next time, grace and peace to you in the name of Jesus.