Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your grace. God, we thank you for the challenge that's in your word. I pray, God, that every single one of us would have really moldable and fertile soil in our hearts. God, that we receive your word and be challenged by it.

We thank you so much, Saint Christ, and we pray. Amen. Okay. So, I'm going to try this out. Oops. All right. Okay, if you turn to your handout, I just want to give a really fast -- oh, sorry. Give me a moment as I turn this TV on real fast for our viewers at home.

Okay. Okay, so real quick, giving some Bible study tips. Pastor Peter went over in week one the overall inductive study. Today, all I'm going to do is just say, just remember that as you do your Bible study, it's always important to follow the flow of thought by following the syntax.

Okay. Pastor Paul is a very logical writer. If you notice, he connects his thoughts together. Oftentimes, he'll give even examples. He'll give illustrations from the past, et cetera, et cetera, and you want to identify those relationships. Ah, this is an example, right? And what I want to say is that from both paragraph to paragraph and then sentence to sentence, clause to clause, word to word, you want to find and identify what kind of relationship is this.

And one helpful tip that I found was just to understand what kind of relationships are there and what identifiers can you see. So, for example, even within our text, here we have this idea for this reason, right? And when you see that, you should be writing or at least jotting down on the side that this is some kind of causal relationship, right?

Because he's saying this is the reason. So, with that said, other markers of relationships show you purpose. For example, verse 10, "So that," da, da, da, da, and it shows you purpose. Other times, certain prepositions show you the context, show you what kind of relationship it has. And so what I like to do is when you take a text like this and read it, sometimes you aren't able to immediately see the relationships that exist.

But what I did for you here is just to show you the different kinds of relationship markers that are present in this passage. And what I did is take this and put it into an outline form using specifically these words. And what I mean is to look at it this way.

Each one of those identifying markers that I saw, or at least the relationship words, I used that to break off that segment of the passage into an outline form. But what I'm going to do now is just read it with you guys, and then after we read it, we'll walk down the passage together.

So, it says, "For this reason also, since today we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will, in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all power according to His glorious might.

For the attaining of all steadfastness and patience, joyously giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light." Okay, I should say "who" right there. So, as we take a look at that, what I want to show you is this.

By looking at these specific terms, I'm simply able to say, okay, this is clearly a transitional section asking the cause, right? Or the reason. So, what is this reason? "I identify the main independent clause, 'We do not cease to pray for you and to ask.' Here is the content of your prayer, that you may be filled.

Here is the purpose, so that you would walk in what kind of manner or how in a manner worthy of the Lord, and what intended result for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience." So, I went through that pretty quickly. Let's slow down and go through verse by verse.

So, if you would take a look at the handout for today. If you guys don't have a handout, we do have some extra at the table in the back. As we take a look at this verse, where it says, "For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask, that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding." Now, just as in the previous weeks, I'm going to go through this fairly quickly.

At any point, if you guys do have questions, I know it's a big room and stuff, you can either text me or you can raise your hand and ask. But as we think about this, we do have to answer the question, "What reason is this?" And if you recall, last time that we studied, he said, "You know what I heard about you?

I heard that you guys had..." This is the audience participation part. "You guys had faith, love, and hope." And Pastor Peter called it the trifecta, the general characteristics of Christian faith. They had faith, love, and hope. So what Apostle Paul heard that these individuals actually already exhibited attributes of a genuine Christian.

That many people in the congregation had already expressed and maybe even borne fruit of the faith within. But upon that, I want you to think about this, Apostle Paul then was even more inclined to them pray. And so what a challenge for us. That his heart is to pray that these saints would not simply be, "Oh great, you named Christ?

You're good." But rather he was praying for them unceasingly. And then it's a challenge for us as a model for us, like, the content of the unceasing prayer, the burden of the mind of wanting to have fullness of the Christian faith. That it does not simply rest on, "I heard the gospel in its simple form, and I don't want to hear anymore." Rather it's actually, he says, "That you may be filled." The content is that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will and in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.

So we have to ask this question then, if the content of his prayer is to be filled with this knowledge, what is this knowledge? How does it relate to these terms of knowledge, wisdom, and understanding? So those are probably some questions that you guys had. Why does he use three synonyms for the same concept?

Well, typically when you see that, it's a point for you. This is like a slow down, take a look, and understand what he's trying to say. That a high, high priority for every single one of us as Christians is that we would be ever growing in the knowledge of God.

Amen? And what's more, the relationship that you see within knowledge, wisdom, and understanding, what kind of relationship do you see among those three terms? Did anybody discuss that in your groups and want to share? I'm not looking for a specific answer here, I just want to know what you guys talked about.

So for those three terms, what is the relationship that you see? Anyone? Yes? Oh, okay, nice. Very good. So, you guys hear that, right? He had a nice voice that carried, so you guys kind of heard that. Good, good. Any other thoughts about how the concepts here relate to one another as what he is praying for for the congregation?

Yes? Okay. Okay, great, excellent. Good. Combining both ideas, right? The prayer here is that all of it, all of God's will, right, that God reveals, Apostle Paul is praying that you guys would all have, the church would have it to the full. In terms of the church receiving it, you're absolutely right.

There can't be this, "I know that it's there in my Bible on my shelf." It can't be outside of you. It's got to be in you, yes? You have to receive it, and of course you have to apply it. And so as you think about that, Apostle Paul is praying, those terms have a specific nuance to it.

Knowledge in terms of its doctrines and facts and truths. The actual wisdom, wisdom typically means skill to use it, skill in life, right? The understanding comes from perception, like you've not only simply read it, but now your mind is actually changed by it because you actually understand it. It's become a part of your understanding, right?

So in this way, Apostle Paul wants so much more than just simply having doctrine on paper. And just as a point of conviction to us, isn't that what many people are annoyed by? If a group of people believes like, "We're better because we know," but that knowledge is external to them on pieces of paper, that's when people are like, "What is that?" But it's when actually the knowledge becomes a part of us because we received it, because we've applied it, and with wisdom, with understanding, we can see how it operates, we can see how God is wise, right?

That affects us and changes us. And just as another point, there has always been that classic, classic versus where somebody has said, "You know what? We don't want to be overly emphatic about doctrine. We don't want to go overboard on that level." That's kind of a false dichotomy when people say, "Oh, we're about heart versus knowledge." Apostle Paul is very clear.

You can never do too much of the truths of God. Why? Because he wants you to be full. The issue is, but have you actually wisely applied it? Have you gone thorough to maturity? That's the issue there. Okay? Good. So as we talk about that, Apostle Paul, his prayer is that we would be full, we would be filled with the knowledge of God.

And that then becomes the platform. That then becomes the base by which he says the next part, which is the purpose. The purpose and the manner. He says, "So that you would be filled, so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord." Man, if you just take a moment to think about a manner worthy of the Lord, immediately it's like, "Oh my goodness, that standard is so high." But then Apostle Paul describes, I don't know if you guys saw it this way, there was a rapid fire succession of short clauses to please him in all respect, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all power according to his glorious might.

So let's take a moment to think about that a little bit. If I was preparing a sermon, I would just do it this way and say, "The challenge and command is you need to walk, right? You can't have your theology just in your head. You need to walk. Apply it." And then we'd talk about, "Hey, but these are the character traits.

This is the categorical description of what that worthy walk looks like." And then we'd go down the list. Boom, boom, boom. Now for the sake of time, I'm going to lump those into two categories. One, let's just talk a little bit about being pleasing to him in all respects, and the other, being strong or strengthened, where you're bearing fruit, you're increasing, and you're strengthened with his glorious might.

We take a moment to think about this idea. Scripture actually calls every Christian. You need to discern what is pleasing to God and what is not. We as believers have to be experts. We have to be experts at this is the standard of God, and this is substandard of God.

If there's anything we're pro at, where we could become really, really sufficient at tasting, "This is going to be pleasing to the Lord. This is not pleasing to the Lord." It doesn't even have to be an explicit direction or prescription from the Bible, but even the atmosphere of it, you know, "Ah, I don't think he's going to like this." It's we who should know that, right?

As we spend time with the Lord and we're aware of his will, that's what we need to be. And, you know, it actually so happens that many of you guys, a lot of times when you go shopping or something like that and you have a close friend, you pick up a shirt and you're like, "Dude, this would look perfect on her," or, "This would look great on him.

This is so his style," right? You should be the first one when you see something, it's like, "That is so God's style," right? And on the contrary, if you see something clashing, we should be the first one to be sensitive to that, right? Now, on the next half of the description where it talks about bearing fruit, increasing, and strengthened, we could go at length talking about that.

But I want to just simply give some challenging words here because right now, okay, I don't want to be ignorant of the fact that we do live in a generation where this topic of strength, whether we're growing and bearing fruit or not, is actually kind of a hot topic.

What am I talking about? There are these spokespeople who go out and college campuses talk about, "This is male masculinity," right? You guys have heard that kind of stuff? And then you have opposing sides like, "No, that is toxic." And then you have individuals who talk much about, "You know what?

We are a generation. We're so insensitive. People need to recognize I'm hurt." And then we have other people who are like, "No, you just need to do the right thing. Suck it up." Like there's all this debate going on right now, and the climate is really, really hostile. Well, one of the discussion questions I'm going to ask you is, Apostle Paul says, "A manner by which you should walk is that you should be bearing fruit, growing and increasing, and you should be strengthened with all power." And there has to be an evaluation of us like, "Hmm, where am I?

Do I have a mental vision of what it means to be empowered by Christ? Do I have a mental vision of what it means to be empowered by knowing God's will? Do I have a vision of what it means to be empowered supernaturally by the gospel? What does that power look like?" So here's an interesting thing.

We're talking right now about a way that is pleasing to the Lord, and we have to ask, "What is pleasing to the Lord in this description?" Well, in this description, what's pleasing to the Lord, it is an individual who is not passive, but he's actively applying his faith and is bearing fruit.

He's not giving excuses. He's not grumbling, but rather his increasing in wisdom, his increasing in knowledge. And I think if this would be a controversial statement to make, it is displeasing when the individual is perpetually weak. Did I say it the wrong way? Did I say it the right way?

I want you guys to think about that, and then you guys can discuss within your groups. I left that for a discussion. How do we balance? Because I will be the first one to confess. I have many weaknesses in my life, and 1 John says, "If I say I didn't have it, then I would be a heretic and a liar," right?

So do we have to acknowledge that we are weak? Yes. But what's also clear is we do not lower the standard of God. As Christians, we are to strive for the strength that is found in the person of Christ. And there is a supernatural power for believers to go above and beyond what is natural, what is just simply explicable for the rest of the world, right?

So we have to learn to talk about that. So that's what I'm going to leave for your discussion. Any questions about that so far? All right, so I hope you guys kind of understand the way I'm outlining here, that I'm seeing those all as descriptive characteristics of the manner worthy of the Lord.

And then as we follow along in the next passage, what we find is that as he goes from a walk in the manner worthy of the Lord, it goes through all of this, right? When you walk in this fashion, and it's based on the truths that you understand about the will of God, that is going to be for, it has an intended purpose or actual intended result that he expects within you.

The whole process of growth, I like the way that you guys described it, there is a process of growth right there. From God revealing, us receiving, us supplying, that process of growth should result in steadfastness and patience with joy. What's more, it should result in thanksgiving to the Father.

It should result in thanksgiving to the Father. So, this is really important because as you guys remember the context, this small church, right? This small church. Apostle Paul is so overjoyed that the fruit of the gospel, the power of the gospel that's been going forth is bearing fruit in them.

But he also sees from out there and over here, there are attacks coming. There are the attacks of the legalists, there are attacks of the Gentiles, there are attacks of the self-deprivation guys, asceticism. Am I saying that right? Okay, thank you. I can't say the word for some reason.

There's a bunch of people who believe in self-deprivation, don't touch this, don't do that, and you deprive yourself. It's a hard word to say for some reason, I can't say it, but you guys know what I'm talking about. Later on, we'll see that there's these attacks inundating the church.

And so Apostle Paul says, "I want to have this full process be evident in all of you, so that the result will be not only that you're going to be like, 'Oh my gosh, it's here!' But there's going to be strength inside of you, and there's going to be steadfastness, there's going to be patience underneath that, and it's going to happen joyously as you give thanks to the Lord." Right?

As I say this, if you guys remember, several, several weeks ago, it might have been some time ago, I preached a passage called, you know, "Raising the Bar," because God really raises the bar on us with this. The expectation, yes, it's clear, God expects us to have a growing knowledge and content of faith.

But if you think about what He is thinking of as a result here, He's thinking about much more than saying, "Oh gosh, I'm hurting and broken, I just wish you would, you know, comfort me and understand how bad it is." No, He's actually designed for us to have such a strength.

He's praying for us that we would be so rich in the knowledge of God that we would come out of those trials, of course, not stoic and robotic, but actually giving thanks to the Father. That's really raising the bar, isn't it? Okay, so we went through the passage there, and I hope that was an encouragement to you.

Oh, you know what I forgot to do? Is check my messages for questions you guys had. So you know what? Actually, there's some that came in. I do want to answer just a couple because I'm pretty sure many of you guys had it. Oh, this is a good one.

There's about three people who asked this question. Joyously, I put it in my thing here too. If you guys look here, it says, "For the attaining of all steadfastness and patience, joyously, aka with joy, giving thanks to the Father." These are the moments when it's good for you to check different passages, meaning different translations of the Bible.

So the ESV will say, "With joy." The NIV will actually put it, "With thanksgiving," and say, "Joyously giving thanks to the Father." The NSB kind of did a weird thing where they put a semicolon right there. And the reason why is because remember that in terms of the numbering of the verses came 1500, 16th century, and it wasn't like original to the text.

And so sometimes the verse pointing is also kind of like, "This is where the punctuation marks are. I think this is where it stops." It's just that in the original manuscript, I believe, "With joy" is "meta caras," which is "with joy." So I take it like it should be actually tied with steadfastness and patience, that your steadfastness and patience has your attitude of joy with it.

You bring that attitude of joy to your suffering, that kind of mentality. But whichever way it goes, it's kind of the same idea here. You're either in suffering joyously giving thanks to the Lord, or through the suffering too, you're expressing joy to the Lord as He's carrying you through those situations as well.

All right. Great. Then, are there any other questions that you guys have of the passage for tonight? Okay. Then, just want to conclude with going over some of the discussion questions with you guys. Okay. So I'm done with my PowerPoint here. A couple of discussion questions with you guys.

Please take time now to discuss with your group. Number one, as we discuss the various characteristics of a worthy walk, what are some inspirations for you? Those are broad, broad terms. Pleasing to God, bearing fruit, increasing in knowledge, and strengthened. As you read those things, what elements are challenging and inspiring to you, and in how so?

Also, that question of weakness versus strength. It is important for you. If you guys didn't get a chance to talk about it, talk about it. What does it look like for a Christian to have power? Does it mean I have beams coming out of my hands? What does it mean to have power?

And therefore, then, how do we balance? You have weaknesses in your life. How do you balance that with the expectation of the Scriptures where God calls to live by the might of the Lord? And then, the next question is just a personal assessment to you. I know you guys are sometimes feeling like, "Oh, man, this question is getting really personal." Well, if you guys feel like, you guys can go to a different room.

But here is this question. As you evaluate your life, is there any area that you are already aware of? You can only tackle the stuff you're aware of where you have settled for a standard less than God's. You know this isn't pleasing to the Lord, but you've settled for it.

It's something to confess and talk about with each other. And then, the last part is, because the main clause is Apostle Paul praying, praying and asking for this church, how does that challenge your prayer content and your prayer practice? As you compare what Apostle Paul is constantly praying for, and as you compare what you're constantly praying for, how does that challenge you?

Okay, let's pray, and then you guys can break up to your groups. Lord, we thank you so much for your grace, and we thank you, God, again, that your word is so challenging to us. Father God, we thank you that, Lord, you are changing us. And who we are in our natural state is not who you're going to leave us be.

But, God, that your Spirit is working us, your word is at work in us, you're at work to us through the church, you are at work in our lives in so many different ways. And I pray, God, that we would continue just to humble ourselves and continue to surrender and submit and to follow your lead.

We thank you, Lord, it's in Christ's name we pray. Amen.