back to index2022-01-09 Hope and Pray Pt2
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Okay, if you can turn your Bibles with me to Ephesians chapter 3, verse 14 and on. 00:00:13.680 |
Jump into part two of the message that we started last week and kind of preparing us 00:00:19.520 |
for our vision and our focus coming into this new year. 00:00:27.800 |
Last year it was watch and pray and this year we want to focus on our hope which leads us 00:00:35.800 |
So Ephesians chapter 3, verse 14 to 21, NASV says, "For this reason I bow my knees before 00:00:40.660 |
the Father for the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power through his spirit 00:00:45.880 |
So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith and that you being rooted and grounded 00:00:50.360 |
in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length 00:00:54.520 |
and height and depth and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge that you 00:01:02.080 |
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think according 00:01:10.160 |
To him be the glory in which in the church and in Christ Jesus to all the generations 00:01:20.480 |
Heavenly Father we pray that you would protect this pulpit, protect this church, that whatever 00:01:27.560 |
goes forth would only be your thoughts and your words. 00:01:32.200 |
I pray that you would prepare our hearts Lord God to receive a blessing from you and that 00:01:38.680 |
our hearts may continue to be transformed, that our lives may be conformed to what you 00:01:45.560 |
May your name be magnified this morning in Jesus' name we pray. 00:01:52.520 |
Most church historians will agree that before a church falls or maybe even a generation 00:02:02.200 |
of churches falls, there's two things that get sucked out of the church. 00:02:10.680 |
That we begin to stray from the word of God and we use our own moral compass as a determination 00:02:18.360 |
What bothers me, what doesn't bother me is based upon what I think. 00:02:22.320 |
And so the word of God begins to get drained out of the church. 00:02:25.080 |
And then the second thing that gets neglected is prayer. 00:02:29.920 |
And when you have a church that begins to neglect the word and it begins to run the 00:02:35.920 |
church based upon what each generation and each church, each pastor thinks is right according 00:02:40.360 |
to his vision, his thoughts, then that's the first step that you see before the church 00:02:46.280 |
becomes a nominal church where it has a form of godliness with no power. 00:02:51.600 |
But then the second thing that it begins to drain itself of is prayer. 00:02:56.480 |
That prayer just becomes a word, it just becomes an afterthought. 00:03:00.080 |
We sprinkle on the things that we do and it is not a passionate pursuit that we have in 00:03:07.880 |
So from the very beginning of our church, we wanted to make sure that we do not neglect 00:03:15.720 |
We wanted to make sure that the word of God is at the center. 00:03:19.960 |
So there are certain things that I may say that may offend you, but we're trying to be 00:03:26.320 |
My litmus test of what should be said and not be said is not does it offend you or not 00:03:34.200 |
And so we've been doing that for the last 25 years that we've been in existence in the 00:03:39.800 |
And so we're kind of, you know, some of you have chosen to be at a church for that reason. 00:03:45.680 |
But the second part of neglecting prayer is just as important as the first. 00:03:53.760 |
As long as we have the word, the prayer is something that we ought to work on. 00:04:00.280 |
As detrimental as it is to neglect the word of God, it is equally detrimental to neglect 00:04:07.880 |
And so this is something that we recognize in our church and we've been recognizing for 00:04:12.480 |
years and years and we want to continue to do to emphasize this, that we want to make 00:04:18.000 |
sure that the word of God is lifted up and that we are committed and devoted to prayer, 00:04:29.800 |
You know, I am by no means an example of a prayer warrior and I want to be, but you know, 00:04:40.200 |
And so I want myself and I want our church to continue to move toward that direction. 00:04:44.700 |
But what I am thankful for is very early on in my faith, I was surrounded by prayer warriors. 00:04:52.360 |
The ministry that I got saved in a long time ago in the early 80s, they weren't known for 00:04:58.880 |
In fact, I can't remember too many things that I learned from that ministry. 00:05:02.960 |
But one thing that I did know is that they were committed to praying. 00:05:07.420 |
So every Friday night from 10 to somewhere around 1 to 2 in the morning, every Friday 00:05:12.040 |
night, teenagers gathered together in LA and we would pray. 00:05:16.760 |
And sometimes you would sleep overnight and then go witnessing in the morning. 00:05:20.080 |
But the whole ministry was just about prayer. 00:05:22.280 |
They had a separate prayer school where all through the week people would come and learn 00:05:26.020 |
how to pray and continue to pray, take us up to the mountains to pray. 00:05:29.960 |
And so I'm very thankful that I was around people who are older than me who are really 00:05:35.720 |
I remember a particular missionary when I was at Biola who was in furlough and he was 00:05:42.360 |
waiting and being trained to be sent back out. 00:05:49.480 |
And if somebody told me that, I'd say, "Oh, that sounds like church history, somewhere 00:05:55.360 |
And every year he would just shrink and we would see him and say we would know he is 00:06:03.520 |
And so for two weeks he would just kind of attend class and do everything normally. 00:06:06.800 |
And then the last two weeks he would go up to the mountains and then spend the other 00:06:15.480 |
And so it was challenging to see him so committed to fasting. 00:06:20.360 |
And years later, before Bill Bright, some of you guys may know who Bill Bright is. 00:06:25.560 |
He's the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ. 00:06:29.080 |
And we happened to be at a conference where Bill Bright was there. 00:06:32.000 |
And so a few of the younger pastors, about 30 or 40 of us, we were in a room and were 00:06:37.800 |
able to meet with him and pick his brain about ministry and various things. 00:06:41.680 |
And I remember in his latter years of ministry, he was committed to fasting. 00:06:49.080 |
And so he was pleading with us, with the younger generation pastors, and telling us that, "You 00:06:56.480 |
That after all the things that he has done to establish campus ministries and share the 00:07:00.760 |
gospel, he said, "Above all," he said, "you have to commit to praying, in particular to 00:07:07.480 |
All the people that I've known, and I could probably pull a lot more than what I'm saying, 00:07:12.040 |
but I remember this two missionaries that I ended up going to China with when I first 00:07:24.000 |
And these two missionaries, they would never come out to breakfast. 00:07:30.200 |
Maybe they slept late and then they just skipped breakfast and then they're going to come out 00:07:33.920 |
And it took me about a week to realize that they weren't skipping breakfast, they were 00:07:37.840 |
And so every breakfast, they would stay in and have their time with the Lord and pray. 00:07:42.560 |
And this one particular lady named Amy, she was a bit older than I was, and then I was 00:07:49.600 |
And then every opportunity I had, I was trying to pick her brain because I could tell she 00:07:54.680 |
was communing with God so intimately, just constantly praying and fasting. 00:08:00.160 |
And I remember very vividly this passing statement that she made to me because we would sit together 00:08:07.520 |
while we were traveling to various places and I would ask her about her prayer life 00:08:15.000 |
And I remember she said, after spending some time praying together, she said, "Every time 00:08:20.100 |
you pray, you're always praying for protection." 00:08:23.680 |
And he said, "Not that there's anything wrong with that, but do you know who you're praying 00:08:30.240 |
And then she said, "Our prayers should be a prayer for victory, not a prayer of fear." 00:08:37.040 |
And I remember she just said that in passing because there's a lady who was so committed 00:08:41.640 |
to praying and that just made a deep impression. 00:08:46.800 |
Like, I'm so concerned about my circumstance that I don't realize who I'm praying to and 00:08:53.280 |
my prayers reflect me more than it reflects him. 00:08:57.060 |
But all the people that I can remember in my life that I could say, "Those people were 00:09:01.080 |
prayer warriors," the first thing that comes to mind was they were all humble people. 00:09:10.800 |
In fact, I would have never known that they were fasting in the morning. 00:09:15.960 |
They never told us that this is what they were doing. 00:09:18.000 |
Every day they were, in fact, I thought they were just being lazy. 00:09:25.400 |
There was a love for Christ that you can't really describe. 00:09:31.160 |
You can say, "Well, they love the Word and they love evangelism and they did this and 00:09:34.320 |
they did that," but there was something about their affection for Christ that's intangible. 00:09:42.880 |
It's not like I couldn't have conversations about trivial things. 00:09:47.400 |
We would talk about various things in the culture and the food that we were eating. 00:09:51.240 |
We were in a different city and in almost every city. 00:09:54.880 |
But every trivial conversation that we had, we would almost always end up talking about 00:10:01.780 |
And it's not because they had some sort of plan. 00:10:03.560 |
It was just that's what's always in their heart. 00:10:06.080 |
Just like somebody who's like avid Lakers fan, you know what I mean? 00:10:14.560 |
And whenever you have a conversation, it eventually ends up going to talk about Lakers or Dodgers 00:10:21.520 |
And you could tell that every single one of these people that I remember is that they 00:10:26.120 |
had this love for Christ that is just infectious being around them. 00:10:32.080 |
But every single one of them were all driven people. 00:10:36.020 |
You would think they're humble, they love Christ, that they just kind of, you know, 00:10:39.720 |
like everything is good, nothing bothers them. 00:10:42.840 |
In fact, of all the people that I know, they were the most driven. 00:10:47.560 |
They were so fixated on not only for what they had, but to spread the gospel, to have 00:10:53.040 |
as many people come to love Christ as they love Christ. 00:10:56.840 |
And so their life was lived very intentionally, purposefully, and headed either toward missions 00:11:04.240 |
But every opportunity they had, they had a clear purpose and they were very driven people. 00:11:10.880 |
Now I say all of this because I'm very thankful that God gave me these people that are even 00:11:17.520 |
just in my memory, that this is why prayer is so important. 00:11:23.360 |
And I remember every conversation that I had with them, I came away thinking that I heard 00:11:31.000 |
And it's not because they said something, you know, articulate or they exposited the 00:11:36.760 |
It was just that there was this nearness to Christ that was infectious. 00:11:42.680 |
And I kind of think about when Moses came back from meeting God and his glory was shining 00:11:47.720 |
off of his face and people knew immediately because of the glory shining off of them that 00:11:55.280 |
And it created fear because the glory was so powerful. 00:11:59.540 |
And that's what I remember about them, that there are certain things that I would not 00:12:03.160 |
say, certain things that I would not do in their presence because it just made me think 00:12:08.600 |
like I was closer to God when I was with them. 00:12:17.800 |
When we focus on the Word of God without humbling ourselves before the Lord in prayer, the Word 00:12:26.840 |
And when you have a man or a woman who's not humble before God and you fill that man with 00:12:35.360 |
And when the pride fills a man, the next step is judgment. 00:12:40.060 |
That's almost always, that's the route that it goes. 00:12:42.920 |
So it's not that the Word of God is not important, but when the Word of God is not coupled with 00:12:48.060 |
humility and desperateness before God, it almost always turns into pride and judgment. 00:12:55.680 |
And so all the more why, as a church, we emphasize the Word of God where we absolutely must be 00:13:09.120 |
Last week it says, "For this reason," and the reason that we talked about was three 00:13:13.320 |
chapters of explaining the living hope that we have in Christ. 00:13:17.680 |
We have the whole purpose of why you and I are gathered here together is because we have 00:13:20.960 |
this access to God that we couldn't have because of the blood of Christ. 00:13:25.200 |
So if the whole purpose is to have the door open, to have a living hope in God, the next 00:13:32.200 |
And so he says, "For this reason, we need to pray," and then the manner in which we 00:13:36.800 |
pray says, "To bow our knees before Him, to surrender ourselves to Him, that no one can 00:13:43.960 |
come to God in communion who has not surrendered himself, that as much as He is our Savior, 00:13:55.600 |
And so it says, "For this reason, we ought to pray, bowing our knees." 00:14:00.680 |
And then this morning I want to highlight three aspects of why we need to pray, the 00:14:06.320 |
source of prayer, the means of prayer, and the goal of prayer. 00:14:09.960 |
And so basically that's going to be the outline of this morning, those three points. 00:14:14.860 |
And before I even jump in, I want to emphasize this because the Trinity is highlighted in 00:14:29.620 |
So you can clearly see the work of the Holy Spirit in the call to pray. 00:14:34.960 |
Now whenever you see all three persons of the Trinity that is engaged in something particular, 00:14:42.960 |
we're supposed to take a step back and realize this is important. 00:14:46.760 |
Not to say that if there's a mention of Christ and the work that He's done, that that independently 00:14:52.740 |
isn't important, or the power that we receive because of the Holy Spirit, that that in and 00:14:58.160 |
of itself somehow is not important, or the work of God the Father who initiated His love 00:15:07.040 |
But when you see all three elements coming together, you know that this is something 00:15:12.160 |
that we ought to pay very close attention to. 00:15:15.540 |
Where God the Father, God the Holy Spirit, and God the Son are actively working together 00:15:21.820 |
to call us to this activity, which is to pray. 00:15:26.120 |
So the first thing that we want to look at is God the Father as the source. 00:15:29.680 |
And the first thing that He says in verse 15 is, "From whom every family in heaven and 00:15:36.840 |
And the reason why He mentions that in the call to prayer is to recognize that that's 00:15:45.800 |
So the whole purpose of why salvation was given to us so that we may be restored back 00:15:58.080 |
As I mentioned to you a couple weeks ago, we adopted two cats. 00:16:10.800 |
And one of the things that I observed that's interesting to me is that these cats, because 00:16:14.400 |
they came to us as kittens, you know, they weren't properly trained. 00:16:23.240 |
So one of the things that's interesting to me is the way they play and the way what's 00:16:29.400 |
interesting to watch is even though they never watched this, they didn't have, you know, 00:16:35.600 |
like older cats to show them this is what they're supposed to do. 00:16:38.920 |
Whenever they play, they play like they're catching a mouse. 00:16:44.000 |
So they would hunker down and then put the pressure on their back legs and then they 00:16:48.120 |
would jump up into the sky and then they would pounce. 00:16:52.080 |
And I said, oh, that's if you're going to catch mice, that's exactly what you would 00:16:57.600 |
But it's interesting that they never watched any other cats do that. 00:17:04.280 |
So they have cat like reflexes because they're cats. 00:17:11.780 |
So their vision, their senses, their legs, their muscle distribution, all of that was 00:17:19.480 |
So I look at that and they're playing and they're kind of playing the role of what a 00:17:23.400 |
cat normally does because obviously they're house pets. 00:17:26.800 |
Now I use that as an example because when cats do that, they're instinctively doing 00:17:35.440 |
See, the Bible says that you and I have been created to become image bearers of Christ. 00:17:41.320 |
But because of our sin and we fell away from God, we're trying to figure out and everybody 00:17:45.000 |
is doing what they think is right in their own eyes. 00:17:47.560 |
And so every year we have this question, what do I want? 00:17:53.240 |
And so we live our lives based upon what brings the greatest pleasure to us. 00:17:58.080 |
And in this pursuit of our own pleasure and meaning, we are condemned and we are lost. 00:18:04.720 |
At the end of our lives, we come to the same conclusion that Solomon did. 00:18:16.240 |
And every generation tries to prove the previous generation wrong, but every generation only 00:18:21.200 |
confirms what they've said for thousands of years. 00:18:25.680 |
At the end of all your pursuit, empty, empty. 00:18:33.960 |
And that's why he's saying, he's recognizing the Father who calls us to come to him, he's 00:18:43.760 |
But secondly, he says that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory. 00:18:55.680 |
It reveals to us that the Father who calls us to pray, to come to him, is not playing 00:19:04.520 |
He's eager according to the riches of his glory. 00:19:10.620 |
Jesus shares that in the story of the three parables. 00:19:16.760 |
When he talks about in the Gospel of Luke, where you have the first one where the sheep 00:19:22.740 |
goes astray and the one of the hundred, and he goes out spending all his energy bringing 00:19:29.080 |
him back, bringing the sheep back and they celebrate. 00:19:31.420 |
The second one is the coin that's lost and the lady sweeps the whole house, finds it 00:19:36.480 |
But the real point is the third one, the prodigal son, where the father is eagerly waiting for 00:19:45.280 |
And instead of saying, you know what, you blew all this money and you were disrespectful, 00:19:49.100 |
now you go out and feed the pigs and you earn yourself way back. 00:19:52.740 |
Instead, Jesus paints a picture of God the Father eagerly waiting for his son. 00:19:57.700 |
And as soon as he sees his son on the horizon, he runs out to him, puts on the robe, put 00:20:02.820 |
his slippers and he welcomes him back into the house. 00:20:06.880 |
That's how Jesus painted the picture of God the Father. 00:20:13.420 |
He's not simply saying, well, try your best and then if you earn your way to me, that 00:20:19.100 |
He says it's according to his riches in glory. 00:20:22.260 |
Ephesians 1, 7-8, it says, "In him we have redemption through his blood, forgiveness 00:20:25.900 |
of trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished on us in all 00:20:35.260 |
Grace in and of itself is receiving something that you and I did not deserve. 00:20:41.380 |
But he said he didn't just give us grace, he said he lavished us with grace. 00:20:49.700 |
You ever wonder why the feeding of the 5,000, that there were 12 baskets left over? 00:20:58.660 |
Because every one of those disciples had to carry that. 00:21:02.220 |
If you study the description of the basket, it was not a small tiny basket. 00:21:07.740 |
It was a basket that went from the top of your shoulder all the way down to the ground. 00:21:12.940 |
I can imagine the disciples thinking to themselves, why didn't Jesus just make just enough? 00:21:21.780 |
And then they have to carry this heavy thing around. 00:21:25.540 |
And then when he fed the 4,000, there were 7 baskets left over. 00:21:32.100 |
There's some of you who invite people over for dinner and you don't know how to cook 00:21:42.780 |
So if you're in charge of the food, there's always abundance left over. 00:21:46.340 |
Let's make sure that we have enough, but not waste, not a waste. 00:21:59.740 |
And so even in his miracle of feeding them, every single one of those disciples who carried 00:22:05.300 |
them was a reminder to them, this is how God answers our prayers. 00:22:11.260 |
He doesn't just want to feed us abundantly beyond. 00:22:20.120 |
Ephesians 3 verse 8, it says, "To me, the very least of all the saints, this grace was 00:22:25.040 |
given to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ." 00:22:29.880 |
So the gospel isn't simply that you deserve judgment, but Jesus forgave you. 00:22:40.240 |
That in and of itself would be worth celebrating the rest of our lives. 00:22:48.360 |
We are adopted children calling him our Abba Father. 00:22:52.600 |
That we're going to rule with him in eternity. 00:22:58.560 |
So he says, he's not just talking about grace, he's talking about unfathomable riches of 00:23:07.840 |
John chapter 15 verse 7, it says, "If my word abideth in you and you abide in me, ask 00:23:14.280 |
whatever you wish, it shall be done for you." 00:23:17.760 |
The picture that is painted for us of our God is a God who is eagerly desiring for us 00:23:30.880 |
He says, Psalm 37 verse 4, "Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires 00:23:38.820 |
He's not playing hide and seek and saying, "If you just earn, if you just do this better, 00:23:45.880 |
Our God in his richness and mercy, who lavished his love toward us, is eager to give us when 00:23:58.040 |
You know, when we don't recognize who he is, it affects the way that we live our lives. 00:24:04.360 |
You know, with all the things that's been going on around us, you know, economic and 00:24:11.480 |
You know who doesn't complain about gas prices? 00:24:16.680 |
You know, Mark Zuckerberg doesn't complain every time he sees the 3, 4, 5 cents tick 00:24:27.840 |
I'm pretty sure the billionaire is just like, "Oh, okay." 00:24:31.200 |
He hears the chatter but it doesn't bother him. 00:24:32.680 |
It doesn't bother him because he's a billionaire. 00:24:37.280 |
Billionaires are not as bothered by the change of circumstance, the economic turn, because 00:24:45.520 |
See when Christians don't understand the richness that we have in Christ, every little 00:24:50.840 |
change of circumstance, every little turn, every little opinion of other people, it shakes 00:25:02.100 |
Because we're concerned and we're living like we're in poverty. 00:25:06.520 |
See when somebody is poor, they're constantly, every little turn, every little cent, every 00:25:11.560 |
little thing that they can't save or everything that they lose, it bothers them to the core. 00:25:20.600 |
A rich person, a genuinely rich person, isn't as concerned whether people see them as rich 00:25:30.200 |
Only people who are trying to show off their wealth are people who aren't really rich. 00:25:35.640 |
The really rich people don't need to prove anything. 00:25:41.960 |
We're not as concerned about our reputation and what other people think because I am secure 00:25:46.760 |
Everything that I need for life of godliness, I have in Him. 00:25:50.040 |
So your opinion, as much as I want, doesn't matter. 00:25:56.840 |
But you know what else changes is the rich people, when they walk into a room, their 00:26:09.280 |
I mean, even if you're wealthy, you might have a couple hundred thousand a year or three 00:26:15.560 |
But a billionaire doesn't walk into the room thinking, "How can I tap into that?" 00:26:21.780 |
When he walks into a room, he may be thinking, "What do these people need? 00:26:26.960 |
See, when we're not rich in Christ and we forget what it is that we have in Him, every 00:26:38.360 |
And we choose churches based upon, "What are they doing for me? 00:26:43.840 |
And so when I don't get, even when we give, we give hoping that that will somehow return 00:26:51.600 |
But when we're rich in Christ, every opportunity is an opportunity to express my gratitude 00:27:01.440 |
And so it's important for us to recognize who it is that's calling us. 00:27:04.960 |
So when we're not praying to Him, when we're not communing with Him, we live in spiritual 00:27:12.080 |
Even though we have this fat bank account, even though we have all the resources that 00:27:16.680 |
we can possibly imagine, but we live as practical atheists. 00:27:21.320 |
We're poor, always looking for somebody else to give me what I want. 00:27:29.520 |
God is our resource, who's rich in mercy, lavished His grace on us. 00:27:39.000 |
God, the Holy Spirit, is the means for our prayer. 00:27:44.920 |
So when the Bible says that at the end times, there's going to be people who have a form 00:27:48.680 |
of godliness and yet without power, He's describing people who are living according to the Word 00:27:54.440 |
like the Pharisees, but they do not know God. 00:28:00.760 |
A church that studies the Word, memorizes the Word, reads a lot of books, and knows 00:28:05.200 |
all the theology and yet is not devoted, devoted to prayer, is exactly what they're talking 00:28:16.880 |
See, it says, verse 16b, "to be strengthened with power through the Holy Spirit in the 00:28:28.640 |
What Jesus was doing physically, He said, the Holy Spirit will do in spirit. 00:28:33.680 |
See, the disciples were always concerned that as long as they were with Jesus, they were 00:28:47.800 |
But as He was going, they were being nervous. 00:28:49.440 |
It's like, if you leave, what's going to happen? 00:28:51.360 |
And that's when He says, the Holy Spirit's going to come. 00:28:56.760 |
Everything that you were relying on Me, you're going to rely on the Holy Spirit. 00:29:01.480 |
In Romans chapter 8, 26 and 27, it says, "In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weakness. 00:29:06.880 |
For we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with 00:29:14.680 |
And He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is because He intercedes 00:29:18.560 |
for the saints according to the will of God." 00:29:24.080 |
There's not a single Christian who does not have the Holy Spirit. 00:29:28.200 |
But He says the Holy Spirit has been deposited in us in order for the Holy Spirit in His 00:29:32.720 |
power, in His power, to intercede on our behalf. 00:29:36.680 |
So we say, well, if He's interceding and He's already groaning for us, why do we need to 00:29:45.160 |
"For we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us." 00:29:51.560 |
In other words, He's talking to an individual who is praying, but is having a hard time 00:29:57.960 |
He said the Holy Spirit is going to be there to help us. 00:30:01.120 |
He's not telling us, He's like, oh, you have the Holy Spirit, just kind of relax, get on 00:30:04.520 |
the boat, and the Holy Spirit is just going to guide you through. 00:30:20.800 |
They weren't just walking around and having fellowship and communion, all of a sudden 00:30:25.160 |
They were eagerly waiting and they were eagerly praying when the Holy Spirit came, like fire. 00:30:33.320 |
It was in prayer that they received this power. 00:30:36.360 |
Ephesians 4.30, He said, "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed 00:30:42.480 |
When we think about grieving, we normally think about sin. 00:30:46.600 |
We're doing things or watching things that we shouldn't watch, and that also is grieving 00:30:51.120 |
But I think the most common way that we grieve the Holy Spirit is simply not praying. 00:30:57.800 |
Because the Holy Spirit has been deposited in us to lead us to Him, and we're not moving. 00:31:06.360 |
And so, if you've ever tried to train a child, the most frustrating thing is they just don't 00:31:13.840 |
And I think the most common way that Christians grieve the Holy Spirit is simply by neglect. 00:31:20.000 |
See, not only does He tell us to pray, because the means in which we communion with God is 00:31:27.520 |
The means in which we commune with the Holy Spirit is prayer. 00:31:30.960 |
Ephesians 5.18, He said, "Do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation." 00:31:35.800 |
Dissipation is another word to say it's disgusting. 00:31:52.920 |
You just need to not do things that make you drunk. 00:31:56.420 |
And so here, He's talking about to stay sober, to not to get drunk. 00:32:03.320 |
When we are saturated by the things of this world, we get drunk by the things of this 00:32:09.400 |
It's like if you drink too much, it affects your reasoning, it affects your outlook, it 00:32:19.400 |
It affects who you are and how you see things. 00:32:24.080 |
Because you're being influenced by what's outside. 00:32:26.040 |
So when He says, "Do not get drunk with wine," He's not simply talking about wine. 00:32:29.400 |
He's talking about being drunk with anything that causes us not to be sober in Christ. 00:32:37.400 |
If we are filling our minds, and even though you say, "Oh, you know, it's just a movie. 00:32:45.520 |
But when our mind and heart is filled with the things of this world, whether you know 00:32:54.120 |
And it affects your paradigm of what is good and what is bad. 00:33:02.040 |
You know, after a while, if you've been sinning the same thing over and over again, you know 00:33:07.760 |
what begins to happen is we start, instead of calling it sin, we call it a mistake. 00:33:12.480 |
And then from mistake, we go through struggle. 00:33:15.160 |
And then from struggle, it just becomes common. 00:33:21.240 |
And anytime somebody points that out, it's like, "Oh, you're a legalist." 00:33:24.000 |
So we went from struggling with sin to defending the sin because we've become drunk. 00:33:31.240 |
See, the Holy Spirit convicts us of this, to drive us to Him. 00:33:39.520 |
To bring us to Him, to get us to pray, to commune with Him. 00:33:44.560 |
Without the Holy Spirit, our inner being never changes. 00:33:48.640 |
And I think recently in our generation, we've had people who are bearing so much fruit externally, 00:33:53.800 |
but after they pass, their private life is exposed and realize that their inner being 00:34:01.560 |
I think without even mentioning anybody's name, I think you know who I'm talking about. 00:34:05.560 |
They weren't the first one, and they won't be the last. 00:34:08.680 |
Where people who have paid all their attention on the external qualities while their inner 00:34:15.760 |
In fact, Jesus is the first one who says that. 00:34:22.160 |
Where you dress up all the stuff on the outside, but inwardly, it's still a tomb. 00:34:32.840 |
Where we have the appearance of godliness, there's no power. 00:34:38.320 |
Because the power comes from abiding in Christ. 00:34:44.240 |
By groaning and devoting ourselves to the resource that causes the inner person to change. 00:34:50.320 |
That's why if you look at all the qualities, the fruit of the Holy Spirit are inward qualities 00:35:00.800 |
It doesn't simply say discipline, external hard work. 00:35:06.480 |
But the inner quality of patience, gentleness, love. 00:35:12.520 |
These are inner things that the Holy Spirit convicts us of and transforms us so that it's 00:35:17.120 |
not just external things, but internal things that change. 00:35:20.800 |
It is not what you put into a man corrupts him. 00:35:26.120 |
So the work of the Holy Spirit when we pray is to convict us of our inner being so that 00:35:31.280 |
what happens externally is simply a by-product of the ministry of the Holy Spirit inside 00:35:37.480 |
And that's exactly what Paul says in Colossians 1.29. 00:35:39.760 |
For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power. 00:35:44.280 |
Not my power, but His power, which mightily works within me. 00:35:50.120 |
Paul's not laboring hard because he's more disciplined than other people. 00:36:02.880 |
But third and finally, God the Son, Jesus Christ, is the goal of our prayer. 00:36:09.440 |
Verse 17, "So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, and that you being rooted 00:36:16.160 |
and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and 00:36:20.160 |
length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge that 00:36:23.760 |
you may be filled up to all the fullness of God." 00:36:26.960 |
If you notice here in these three verses how he mentions to the utter nth degree. 00:36:35.920 |
He's not just saying so that you would recognize who Jesus is. 00:36:40.220 |
He's not simply saying that so that you could believe in Jesus, so that you can be transformed 00:36:56.320 |
The word for dwell here is not simply talking about a guest that's coming to your house. 00:37:07.420 |
You know, whenever we invite guests to our houses, we have to go clean up everything. 00:37:18.320 |
So there's parts of the house you can go to, parts that you cannot. 00:37:23.760 |
But if they come live with us, just simple cleaning is not going to do. 00:37:31.480 |
Or they're going to see how you really are before you prepare. 00:37:36.920 |
So many people are reluctant to invite Christ into their home. 00:37:40.960 |
They bring Christ into their home as a guest. 00:37:44.280 |
As welcomed on Sunday, but go back to your house on Monday. 00:37:49.720 |
See here he says that Christ may dwell, make a home in your home. 00:38:01.280 |
We can't ask for revival if we don't want Christ to come dwell with us. 00:38:07.640 |
Revival isn't simply feeling passionate, singing louder, and the church is growing, and doing 00:38:14.780 |
Revival is to invite the presence of God into our intimate homes. 00:38:20.760 |
Where we dwell Monday through Friday, sorry, Sunday. 00:38:27.880 |
That's what he means, that he was praying that Christ would make a dwelling in our home 00:38:35.960 |
Rooted, it's not simply talking about a plant that you can move anywhere when something 00:38:47.340 |
So he's saying to make a dwelling, to make your home, to root it and ground it. 00:38:53.360 |
That Christ would make a permanent home and may be able to comprehend with all the saints, 00:38:58.760 |
not just that God loves you, but what is the breadth and the length and the height and 00:39:07.960 |
Not just to say, you know what, I appreciate what Jesus has done and we participate in 00:39:15.480 |
You understand the depth, the height, the width, and the length of the love of Christ? 00:39:21.680 |
And it's not just grace, it's just lavish grace that he bestowed upon us. 00:39:27.080 |
And then he says, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge. 00:39:34.200 |
Beyond what I can just tell you, it surpasses knowledge. 00:39:40.120 |
Corrie Tamboon, many of you guys know who she is. 00:39:44.440 |
She survived the Holocaust, became a Christian, became an evangelist. 00:39:48.160 |
And I remember hearing her testimony saying how she needed to sell watches in order to 00:39:53.520 |
And she would say every time she would sell a watch to a person, and she would walk away 00:39:56.880 |
feeling somewhat guilty because she'd think, what if the watch breaks down? 00:40:03.560 |
And she always came away from the sale thinking that maybe I hyped it up too much. 00:40:09.760 |
And then she became an evangelist, sharing the gospel and the love of Christ to people. 00:40:13.900 |
And she'd say, after she would preach the gospel and share about the richness of Christ, 00:40:18.220 |
she would walk away thinking, did I do him justice? 00:40:22.340 |
That no matter how hard she worked to explain the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ, she 00:40:28.340 |
always came out thinking that maybe I didn't do it justice. 00:40:34.220 |
That's what he means by to comprehend with all the saints the surpassing knowledge of 00:40:38.580 |
Christ, the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge. 00:40:44.460 |
How do you embrace and understand the love of Christ that surpasses beyond knowledge? 00:40:55.460 |
It's not simply from exposition, from hearing a sermon. 00:41:03.060 |
See, as much as I would say, well, it's a hyperbole, it's an exaggeration, but it's 00:41:14.500 |
As much as I want to explain to you and describe to you, nothing will do it justice until you 00:41:25.580 |
Some days I might do a good job, some days I might do a bad job, but no matter how good 00:41:30.540 |
of a job that I do, you will always leave this room knowing that you meeting Christ 00:41:37.700 |
isn't going to do justice of anything that I've said. 00:41:41.860 |
And so he says in this passage that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled up to all 00:41:48.420 |
the fullness of God, all the fullness of God, not simply to taste Him, not simply to observe 00:41:54.740 |
Him, not simply to praise Him, but the fullness of Him, to consume by Him. 00:42:03.420 |
Again, you and I live in a generation that even just going to church and becoming a member 00:42:09.500 |
in a church, going to Bible study every week makes you a serious Christian in our generation. 00:42:16.740 |
But that's where the deception lies, because we automatically think because we're doing 00:42:21.720 |
more than the people around us that we're good. 00:42:27.260 |
But Paul's prayer and the desire of the Holy Spirit groaning inside of us, interceding 00:42:32.520 |
on our behalf is so that we may become fanatics of Christ. 00:42:38.780 |
Where the world looks at us and say, "Man, these people are strange. 00:42:43.860 |
In fact, the previous generation, they would call people who are on fire for Christ, "Jesus 00:42:52.540 |
And for those who are passionately pursuing Christ as a compliment, I must have been doing 00:42:57.300 |
something right because they see that I'm weird. 00:43:01.420 |
But for whatever reason, our generation has become a derogatory term even in the church. 00:43:10.980 |
We want to follow Jesus, but we don't want to be freaks. 00:43:15.540 |
But that's exactly what he was praying for, that we would be infatuated with Christ. 00:43:20.540 |
And the reason why he wants us to be infatuated with Christ is because that's where life is. 00:43:28.100 |
Everything else that draws us away from God, that hinders us from God, is going to drain 00:43:37.120 |
So to be infatuated with Christ is to be infatuated with life. 00:43:42.340 |
To be infatuated with Christ is to be infatuated with hope. 00:43:47.740 |
Not just to casually follow him, but to have him with all our might. 00:43:54.420 |
And that word here, "to comprehend," to comprehend this love, is not simply mental understanding. 00:44:00.940 |
Because in John 1, verse 5, it says, "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness 00:44:05.740 |
He's not talking about comprehending like it didn't make sense to them. 00:44:08.820 |
The word "comprehend" means to go toward and to attain, to strive after. 00:44:14.880 |
And that's what he means in 1 Corinthians 9, 24, "Do you not know that those who run 00:44:18.300 |
in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? 00:44:34.140 |
It'd be a big joke, because no one's ever seen me run. 00:44:40.340 |
I could sign up for the marathon, because I just need to pay. 00:44:45.640 |
And I put the number on, just casually, and I could tell you that I'm in the race. 00:44:52.580 |
But the difference is, I don't care if I win. 00:44:56.080 |
So whether it takes me two hours or 14 days, it doesn't matter. 00:45:02.680 |
So if I'm not trying to win, it doesn't matter what kind of shoes I wear. 00:45:09.740 |
It doesn't matter if anything's hindering me, because hindering me from what? 00:45:12.560 |
Nothing's hindering me from being in the race. 00:45:19.880 |
He's not just simply calling us to sign up for the race. 00:45:30.280 |
He didn't just give us life so that you can taste the goodness of God. 00:45:36.680 |
That's what Paul in Philippians 3, 2, 12 says, "Not that I have already obtained it, 00:45:42.600 |
or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which 00:45:51.720 |
In other words, the whole reason why Christ took hold of me is so that I can take hold 00:45:58.160 |
As much as He lavished His love upon me, that I could comprehend this with all the other 00:46:02.640 |
saints and then to strive after Him with all my might so that I may be consumed with Christ. 00:46:21.640 |
I want His name to be ringing in my head when I go to sleep. 00:46:30.840 |
I want Him to be the one that I'm waiting for. 00:46:33.680 |
I want to eagerly wait to die so that I can meet Him face to face. 00:46:38.320 |
To be infatuated with the fullness of Christ that you cannot have anywhere else but with Him. 00:46:58.560 |
You can describe the riches of Him, but until you meet Him yourself, it's not the same. 00:47:07.000 |
Reading a book about somebody and meeting Him is not the same. 00:47:12.360 |
That's why He concludes with His benediction in verse 20. 00:47:14.760 |
He says, "Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or 00:47:20.280 |
think according to the power that works within me. 00:47:23.080 |
To Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all the generation forever and ever. 00:47:27.960 |
Far beyond what you and I could possibly imagine, He says to come. 00:47:36.640 |
Imagine if I told you that each one of us has access to nuclear power. 00:47:44.520 |
The first thing that would happen is a sense of fear. 00:47:48.200 |
Because if you handle this wrong, you're going to die. 00:47:51.960 |
But the second thought that you may have is if I have this access to this nuclear power, 00:48:01.960 |
Next time I go camping, I don't have to worry about electricity because I have nuclear power. 00:48:08.760 |
You don't ever have to worry about your phone dying because you got nuclear power. 00:48:14.160 |
You don't have to worry about electricity bill at home because you have nuclear power. 00:48:23.760 |
But how trivial would it be if that's all you thought? 00:48:30.360 |
How we would miss the point if that's all the application you can think of? 00:48:36.480 |
If I had nuclear power, wouldn't you think because of the magnitude of this power, there 00:48:41.960 |
are nations, people who are starving, whose countries don't have electricity, where you 00:48:47.880 |
can almost wipe out poverty if you can give them access to this power. 00:48:56.000 |
We wouldn't simply think of camping and heating and our phones. 00:49:03.720 |
And yet, so much of our prayer is about protection when we travel, to become healthy if we get 00:49:13.840 |
sick, to find a good job when economically we struggle, to have better relationships. 00:49:23.400 |
How much of our prayer and our concerns are wrapped up in trivial things? 00:49:29.000 |
Not that God doesn't care, he said he counts every hair on our head, but if that's all 00:49:38.640 |
In Psalm 2-8, it says, "Ask of me and I will surely give you nations as your inheritance 00:49:45.120 |
and the very ends of the earth as your possession." 00:49:50.560 |
That prayer and that invitation is appropriate and it is fitting for the one who is calling 00:49:58.380 |
Even nuclear power is trivial in light of who it is that we have access to. 00:50:05.200 |
And so every time we see Apostle Paul praying, he doesn't pray for health. 00:50:11.640 |
He's a human being like us, he's concerned like anybody else, he wants to avoid pain 00:50:17.440 |
He's in prison praying for the salvation of the guards. 00:50:23.800 |
He's concerned about the churches outside, asking, telling them, "I have found the secret 00:50:28.720 |
of being content in every and all situation." 00:50:31.820 |
He is praying that whether he is in chains or whether he is outside, his greatest concern 00:50:42.020 |
He understood what he had and that's why his prayers reflected it. 00:50:55.140 |
Our church has been growing faster than ever before. 00:51:00.700 |
And so the common concern that I hear from members who have been at our church for a 00:51:04.780 |
while, especially even with our pastoral staff, is how are we going to handle this? 00:51:13.620 |
I mean, thank God that we are able to purchase that building, we have some more space and 00:51:17.180 |
it's like, well, the space in which we're growing, we're going to have to need that 00:51:20.460 |
building and then say, well, once we get that, is that going to be enough? 00:51:23.140 |
And what are we going to do if we double and triple in size? 00:51:34.420 |
You know, there's wrestling with that and praying about that and thinking, how trivial 00:51:38.460 |
my anxiety to come before the God of the universe and say, if he makes it grow, will he provide 00:51:51.700 |
I've taken my eyes off of him and realizing, just do what I tell you to do. 00:51:55.100 |
And if it triples, let God handle whatever is needed for that. 00:52:04.100 |
And I share this with you because that's, I think many of you can relate, that if I 00:52:23.540 |
And so we pray to an almighty God while we hang on to our bank accounts and all our safety 00:52:31.580 |
nets and make sure all that is in place, because in the back of our mind, maybe we've forgotten 00:52:45.500 |
This Friday, when we come to prayer, I want to encourage you to come to prayer prepared. 00:52:50.380 |
You know, typically if you're not careful, you just come neglecting the whole week and 00:52:54.780 |
say, well, at least Friday I'm going to go pray. 00:52:57.660 |
You know, best way to pray corporately is to pray privately. 00:53:02.500 |
Those who pray privately are going to have the best time praying corporately. 00:53:05.780 |
There is a special power in the presence of the gathering of the church. 00:53:10.820 |
And I know some of you are going to be online, but even if you're going to be online, prepare 00:53:16.020 |
If you have sense to confess, don't wait till Friday, confess it tonight. 00:53:22.100 |
Prepare yourself to meet the almighty God who is rich in his mercy, who has lavished 00:53:28.820 |
on us everything that we need for a life of godliness to come together. 00:53:37.140 |
Make a list of things that these are things that I'm going to petition before God and 00:53:40.620 |
to come together to pray, to pray, pray, pray. 00:53:48.620 |
We have hope in Christ, so it only makes sense that we devote ourselves to pray. 00:53:56.020 |
So I hope and pray that this coming year that we would make significant strides toward that 00:54:05.660 |
And I say this because honestly, I haven't led you well in this direction. 00:54:12.020 |
I've been pounding about the necessity of the word for so many years, and I have given 00:54:20.540 |
We've had prayer meetings and the importance of prayer, but honest confession, in comparing 00:54:28.140 |
to how important this is, I don't think I've led you well. 00:54:39.100 |
I want you to know him, not just to observe him, not just to describe him. 00:54:46.060 |
I want you to know Jesus, because I know that if you meet the Christ that I met, if you 00:54:57.260 |
see the Jesus that I saw, you would want to follow him with all your might too. 00:55:06.200 |
You wouldn't be as easily distracted by this world. 00:55:10.940 |
You would want to spend all your life to tell other people about Christ. 00:55:21.620 |
We have to humble ourselves before the Lord, seek him with all our heart, together to comprehend 00:55:29.860 |
the richness that we have in Christ, that we may be filled with all things of Christ. 00:55:44.420 |
Heavenly Father, Lord, your mercy and grace is beyond comprehension. 00:55:51.220 |
Lord, we thank you for calling us, allowing us to see the glory of the gospel of Jesus 00:56:00.120 |
Christ, but if we've relied on our circumstance, on our previous knowledge, experience, study, 00:56:12.700 |
and yet we feel so distant from you, help us, Lord God, this week, this year, to be 00:56:21.080 |
devoted in prayer, knowing who you are that calls us, to be able to be engaged in the 00:56:29.740 |
power of the Holy Spirit, to sanctify our inner being, that our eyes may be opened, 00:56:37.020 |
Lord God, that true knowledge of Christ is beyond knowledge, the height, the width, the 00:56:43.980 |
depth, and the length of the love of Christ, that we would not simply have the name of 00:56:50.420 |
Christian, that we will be followers with all our might.