Okay, if you can turn your Bibles with me to Ephesians chapter 3, verse 14 and on. Jump into part two of the message that we started last week and kind of preparing us for our vision and our focus coming into this new year. Hope and pray. Last year it was watch and pray and this year we want to focus on our hope which leads us to pray.

So Ephesians chapter 3, verse 14 to 21, NASV says, "For this reason I bow my knees before the Father for the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power through his spirit in the inner man. So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith and that you being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works within us. To him be the glory in which in the church and in Christ Jesus to all the generations forever and ever. Amen." Let's pray. Heavenly Father we pray that you would protect this pulpit, protect this church, that whatever goes forth would only be your thoughts and your words.

I pray that you would prepare our hearts Lord God to receive a blessing from you and that our hearts may continue to be transformed, that our lives may be conformed to what you desire of us. May your name be magnified this morning in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen.

Amen. Most church historians will agree that before a church falls or maybe even a generation of churches falls, there's two things that get sucked out of the church. The first is the word of God. That we begin to stray from the word of God and we use our own moral compass as a determination of what is right and wrong.

What bothers me, what doesn't bother me is based upon what I think. And so the word of God begins to get drained out of the church. And then the second thing that gets neglected is prayer. And when you have a church that begins to neglect the word and it begins to run the church based upon what each generation and each church, each pastor thinks is right according to his vision, his thoughts, then that's the first step that you see before the church becomes a nominal church where it has a form of godliness with no power.

But then the second thing that it begins to drain itself of is prayer. That prayer just becomes a word, it just becomes an afterthought. We sprinkle on the things that we do and it is not a passionate pursuit that we have in prayer. So from the very beginning of our church, we wanted to make sure that we do not neglect the word of God.

That's why we named our church Berean. We wanted to make sure that the word of God is at the center. So there are certain things that I may say that may offend you, but we're trying to be faithful to the word of God. My litmus test of what should be said and not be said is not does it offend you or not offend you.

Is it biblical? Is it not biblical? And so we've been doing that for the last 25 years that we've been in existence in the church. And so we're kind of, you know, some of you have chosen to be at a church for that reason. But the second part of neglecting prayer is just as important as the first.

It is not any lesser important. As long as we have the word, the prayer is something that we ought to work on. Prayer is just as important. As detrimental as it is to neglect the word of God, it is equally detrimental to neglect prayer. And so this is something that we recognize in our church and we've been recognizing for years and years and we want to continue to do to emphasize this, that we want to make sure that the word of God is lifted up and that we are committed and devoted to prayer, not just to pray, but to be devoted to pray.

You know, I am by no means an example of a prayer warrior and I want to be, but you know, that's my honest confession. And so I want myself and I want our church to continue to move toward that direction. But what I am thankful for is very early on in my faith, I was surrounded by prayer warriors.

The ministry that I got saved in a long time ago in the early 80s, they weren't known for their word. In fact, I can't remember too many things that I learned from that ministry. But one thing that I did know is that they were committed to praying. So every Friday night from 10 to somewhere around 1 to 2 in the morning, every Friday night, teenagers gathered together in LA and we would pray.

And sometimes you would sleep overnight and then go witnessing in the morning. But the whole ministry was just about prayer. They had a separate prayer school where all through the week people would come and learn how to pray and continue to pray, take us up to the mountains to pray.

And so I'm very thankful that I was around people who are older than me who are really committed to pray. I remember a particular missionary when I was at Biola who was in furlough and he was waiting and being trained to be sent back out. And he would fast 30 days every single year.

And if somebody told me that, I'd say, "Oh, that sounds like church history, somewhere down the way." I actually knew this guy. And every year he would just shrink and we would see him and say we would know he is fasting because we would literally shrink. And so for two weeks he would just kind of attend class and do everything normally.

And then the last two weeks he would go up to the mountains and then spend the other time praying. And he would do this every year. And I knew him for about four years. And so it was challenging to see him so committed to fasting. And years later, before Bill Bright, some of you guys may know who Bill Bright is.

He's the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ. And we happened to be at a conference where Bill Bright was there. And so a few of the younger pastors, about 30 or 40 of us, we were in a room and were able to meet with him and pick his brain about ministry and various things.

And I remember in his latter years of ministry, he was committed to fasting. And so he was pleading with us, with the younger generation pastors, and telling us that, "You guys need to pick up fasting." That after all the things that he has done to establish campus ministries and share the gospel, he said, "Above all," he said, "you have to commit to praying, in particular to fasting." All the people that I've known, and I could probably pull a lot more than what I'm saying, but I remember this two missionaries that I ended up going to China with when I first went, I think it was 1993.

And we were touring China for about a month. And these two missionaries, they would never come out to breakfast. So I thought, "Maybe they're being lazy. Maybe they slept late and then they just skipped breakfast and then they're going to come out for lunch." And it took me about a week to realize that they weren't skipping breakfast, they were fasting.

And so every breakfast, they would stay in and have their time with the Lord and pray. And this one particular lady named Amy, she was a bit older than I was, and then I was able to get to know her. And then every opportunity I had, I was trying to pick her brain because I could tell she was communing with God so intimately, just constantly praying and fasting.

And I remember very vividly this passing statement that she made to me because we would sit together while we were traveling to various places and I would ask her about her prayer life because I see how important this was to her. And I remember she said, after spending some time praying together, she said, "Every time you pray, you're always praying for protection." And he said, "Not that there's anything wrong with that, but do you know who you're praying to?" And then she said, "Our prayers should be a prayer for victory, not a prayer of fear." And I remember she just said that in passing because there's a lady who was so committed to praying and that just made a deep impression.

It's like, "That's so true." Right? Like, I'm so concerned about my circumstance that I don't realize who I'm praying to and my prayers reflect me more than it reflects him. But all the people that I can remember in my life that I could say, "Those people were prayer warriors," the first thing that comes to mind was they were all humble people.

Every single one of them. They weren't showy, they weren't telling us. In fact, I would have never known that they were fasting in the morning. It was just, I just caught them. They never told us that this is what they were doing. Every day they were, in fact, I thought they were just being lazy.

They're not waking up. And they were humble people. That's the first thing I remember. There was a love for Christ that you can't really describe. You can say, "Well, they love the Word and they love evangelism and they did this and they did that," but there was something about their affection for Christ that's intangible.

It's not like I couldn't have conversations about trivial things. We would talk about various things in the culture and the food that we were eating. We were in a different city and in almost every city. But every trivial conversation that we had, we would almost always end up talking about Christ.

And it's not because they had some sort of plan. It was just that's what's always in their heart. Just like somebody who's like avid Lakers fan, you know what I mean? And you see it. They wear Lakers socks, Laker underwear. I mean, they're just committed to this. And whenever you have a conversation, it eventually ends up going to talk about Lakers or Dodgers or whatever it is that you're a fanatic of.

And you could tell that every single one of these people that I remember is that they had this love for Christ that is just infectious being around them. But every single one of them were all driven people. You would think they're humble, they love Christ, that they just kind of, you know, like everything is good, nothing bothers them.

In fact, of all the people that I know, they were the most driven. They were so fixated on not only for what they had, but to spread the gospel, to have as many people come to love Christ as they love Christ. And so their life was lived very intentionally, purposefully, and headed either toward missions or discipling somebody.

But every opportunity they had, they had a clear purpose and they were very driven people. Now I say all of this because I'm very thankful that God gave me these people that are even just in my memory, that this is why prayer is so important. And I remember every conversation that I had with them, I came away thinking that I heard a really good sermon.

And it's not because they said something, you know, articulate or they exposited the text better than somebody else. It was just that there was this nearness to Christ that was infectious. And I kind of think about when Moses came back from meeting God and his glory was shining off of his face and people knew immediately because of the glory shining off of them that Moses was with God.

And it created fear because the glory was so powerful. And that's what I remember about them, that there are certain things that I would not say, certain things that I would not do in their presence because it just made me think like I was closer to God when I was with them.

Prayer is just as essential. When we focus on the Word of God without humbling ourselves before the Lord in prayer, the Word of God becomes knowledge. And when you have a man or a woman who's not humble before God and you fill that man with knowledge, immediately it turns into pride.

And when the pride fills a man, the next step is judgment. That's almost always, that's the route that it goes. So it's not that the Word of God is not important, but when the Word of God is not coupled with humility and desperateness before God, it almost always turns into pride and judgment.

And so all the more why, as a church, we emphasize the Word of God where we absolutely must be devoted to prayer. We need to come before God. Last week it says, "For this reason," and the reason that we talked about was three chapters of explaining the living hope that we have in Christ.

We have the whole purpose of why you and I are gathered here together is because we have this access to God that we couldn't have because of the blood of Christ. So if the whole purpose is to have the door open, to have a living hope in God, the next step, obviously, is then come.

And so he says, "For this reason, we need to pray," and then the manner in which we pray says, "To bow our knees before Him, to surrender ourselves to Him, that no one can come to God in communion who has not surrendered himself, that as much as He is our Savior, He is our Lord, He is also our King." And so it says, "For this reason, we ought to pray, bowing our knees." And then this morning I want to highlight three aspects of why we need to pray, the source of prayer, the means of prayer, and the goal of prayer.

And so basically that's going to be the outline of this morning, those three points. And before I even jump in, I want to emphasize this because the Trinity is highlighted in this text in prayer. The source of our prayer is God the Father. The means of prayer is the Holy Spirit.

And then the goal of prayer is Jesus Christ. So you can clearly see the work of the Holy Spirit in the call to pray. Now whenever you see all three persons of the Trinity that is engaged in something particular, we're supposed to take a step back and realize this is important.

Not to say that if there's a mention of Christ and the work that He's done, that that independently isn't important, or the power that we receive because of the Holy Spirit, that that in and of itself somehow is not important, or the work of God the Father who initiated His love and was shown us mercy.

Independently is just as important. But when you see all three elements coming together, you know that this is something that we ought to pay very close attention to. Where God the Father, God the Holy Spirit, and God the Son are actively working together to call us to this activity, which is to pray.

So the first thing that we want to look at is God the Father as the source. And the first thing that He says in verse 15 is, "From whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name." And the reason why He mentions that in the call to prayer is to recognize that that's exactly where we come from.

That's who we are. So the whole purpose of why salvation was given to us so that we may be restored back to why He created us in the first place. That we may be His image bearers. And that's basically what He is saying. As I mentioned to you a couple weeks ago, we adopted two cats.

I didn't. You know, my kids did. My wife did. And so therefore, I did. And one of the things that I observed that's interesting to me is that these cats, because they came to us as kittens, you know, they weren't properly trained. They weren't discipled to be cats. They were born as cats.

So one of the things that's interesting to me is the way they play and the way what's interesting to watch is even though they never watched this, they didn't have, you know, like older cats to show them this is what they're supposed to do. Whenever they play, they play like they're catching a mouse.

So they would hunker down and then put the pressure on their back legs and then they would jump up into the sky and then they would pounce. And I said, oh, that's if you're going to catch mice, that's exactly what you would need to do. Right. But it's interesting that they never watched any other cats do that.

They just did that instinctively. So they have cat like reflexes because they're cats. Because they're created that way. So their vision, their senses, their legs, their muscle distribution, all of that was created for a particular purpose. So I look at that and they're playing and they're kind of playing the role of what a cat normally does because obviously they're house pets.

Now I use that as an example because when cats do that, they're instinctively doing what they were created to do. See, the Bible says that you and I have been created to become image bearers of Christ. But because of our sin and we fell away from God, we're trying to figure out and everybody is doing what they think is right in their own eyes.

And so every year we have this question, what do I want? What would I like to do? And so we live our lives based upon what brings the greatest pleasure to us. And in this pursuit of our own pleasure and meaning, we are condemned and we are lost. At the end of our lives, we come to the same conclusion that Solomon did.

Empty, empty. Meaningless, meaningless. And every generation tries to prove the previous generation wrong, but every generation only confirms what they've said for thousands of years. Empty, empty. At the end of all your pursuit, empty, empty. All is empty. Vanity, vanity. All is vanity. And that's why he's saying, he's recognizing the Father who calls us to come to him, he's the one who created us.

But secondly, he says that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory. According to the riches of his glory. It reveals to us that the Father who calls us to pray, to come to him, is not playing hide and seek. He's eager according to the riches of his glory.

Jesus shares that in the story of the three parables. When he talks about in the Gospel of Luke, where you have the first one where the sheep goes astray and the one of the hundred, and he goes out spending all his energy bringing him back, bringing the sheep back and they celebrate.

The second one is the coin that's lost and the lady sweeps the whole house, finds it in celebration. But the real point is the third one, the prodigal son, where the father is eagerly waiting for this repentant son to come back. And instead of saying, you know what, you blew all this money and you were disrespectful, now you go out and feed the pigs and you earn yourself way back.

Instead, Jesus paints a picture of God the Father eagerly waiting for his son. And as soon as he sees his son on the horizon, he runs out to him, puts on the robe, put his slippers and he welcomes him back into the house. That's how Jesus painted the picture of God the Father.

That he is rich in glory. He's not simply saying, well, try your best and then if you earn your way to me, that I'll answer your prayers. He says it's according to his riches in glory. Ephesians 1, 7-8, it says, "In him we have redemption through his blood, forgiveness of trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished on us in all wisdom and insight." He didn't just give us grace.

Grace in and of itself is receiving something that you and I did not deserve. But he said he didn't just give us grace, he said he lavished us with grace. According to the riches of his glory. You ever wonder why the feeding of the 5,000, that there were 12 baskets left over?

Why did he leave 12 baskets left over? Because every one of those disciples had to carry that. If you study the description of the basket, it was not a small tiny basket. It was a basket that went from the top of your shoulder all the way down to the ground.

So it was a pretty big basket. I can imagine the disciples thinking to themselves, why didn't Jesus just make just enough? You know what I mean? Why all this waste? And then they have to carry this heavy thing around. Why did Jesus do that? And then when he fed the 4,000, there were 7 baskets left over.

Why does he do that? There's some of you who invite people over for dinner and you don't know how to cook for 5 people. You leave enough for maybe 10 families. Some of you guys. So if you're in charge of the food, there's always abundance left over. And say, well this is kind of waste.

Let's make sure that we have enough, but not waste, not a waste. Why did Jesus do that? Is it because he couldn't calculate? Everything Jesus does is for a purpose. And so even in his miracle of feeding them, every single one of those disciples who carried them was a reminder to them, this is how God answers our prayers.

This is who he is. He doesn't just want to feed us abundantly beyond. He lavishes us with his grace and his mercy. This is who he is. Ephesians 3 verse 8, it says, "To me, the very least of all the saints, this grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ." So the gospel isn't simply that you deserve judgment, but Jesus forgave you.

See, that would be grace. That would be mercy. That in and of itself would be worth celebrating the rest of our lives. But he made us co-heirs with Christ. We are adopted children calling him our Abba Father. That we're going to rule with him in eternity. The Holy Spirit has been embedded in us.

So he says, he's not just talking about grace, he's talking about unfathomable riches of Christ. He said he was called to teach them this. John chapter 15 verse 7, it says, "If my word abideth in you and you abide in me, ask whatever you wish, it shall be done for you." The picture that is painted for us of our God is a God who is eagerly desiring for us to come to him so he can answer our prayers.

He wants to answer our prayers. He says, Psalm 37 verse 4, "Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." This is who our God is. He's not playing hide and seek and saying, "If you just earn, if you just do this better, maybe I'll give you this." Our God in his richness and mercy, who lavished his love toward us, is eager to give us when we delight in the Lord.

You know, when we don't recognize who he is, it affects the way that we live our lives. You know, with all the things that's been going on around us, you know, economic and the gas prices have been going up. You know who doesn't complain about gas prices? Billionaires. You know, Mark Zuckerberg doesn't complain every time he sees the 3, 4, 5 cents tick up.

"What? I got to pay $4.50?" I'm pretty sure the billionaire is just like, "Oh, okay." He hears the chatter but it doesn't bother him. It doesn't bother him because he's a billionaire. Billionaires are not as bothered by the change of circumstance, the economic turn, because they have all this money.

It's not going to make a dent in their life. See when Christians don't understand the richness that we have in Christ, every little change of circumstance, every little turn, every little opinion of other people, it shakes our foundation. And we have to go after change. "Why are you doing that?

How come you're doing that?" Because we're concerned and we're living like we're in poverty. See when somebody is poor, they're constantly, every little turn, every little cent, every little thing that they can't save or everything that they lose, it bothers them to the core. But he says, "No, we are rich in Him." A rich person, a genuinely rich person, isn't as concerned whether people see them as rich or poor because they have all this money.

Only people who are trying to show off their wealth are people who aren't really rich. The really rich people don't need to prove anything. And we are rich in Christ. We're not as concerned about our reputation and what other people think because I am secure in Him. Everything that I need for life of godliness, I have in Him.

So your opinion, as much as I want, doesn't matter. It doesn't shake my foundation. But you know what else changes is the rich people, when they walk into a room, their first thought is not, "What you can give me? What can I do? What kind of relationship I can build?

What can I get?" Because he's a billionaire. I mean, even if you're wealthy, you might have a couple hundred thousand a year or three hundred thousand a year. I don't know how much you make. But a billionaire doesn't walk into the room thinking, "How can I tap into that?" Because he's a billionaire.

When he walks into a room, he may be thinking, "What do these people need? How can I help them?" See, when we're not rich in Christ and we forget what it is that we have in Him, every human being becomes an opportunity. What am I going to do? What do I benefit from this person?

And we choose churches based upon, "What are they doing for me? What am I going to get?" And so when I don't get, even when we give, we give hoping that that will somehow return back to me. It's an investment. But when we're rich in Christ, every opportunity is an opportunity to express my gratitude for the riches that I have with Him.

And so it's important for us to recognize who it is that's calling us. So when we're not praying to Him, when we're not communing with Him, we live in spiritual poverty. Even though we have this fat bank account, even though we have all the resources that we can possibly imagine, but we live as practical atheists.

We're poor, always looking for somebody else to give me what I want. God is our resource, who's rich in mercy, lavished His grace on us. He's the one who calls us. Number two, the means. God, the Holy Spirit, is the means for our prayer. That's why we receive the power.

So when the Bible says that at the end times, there's going to be people who have a form of godliness and yet without power, He's describing people who are living according to the Word like the Pharisees, but they do not know God. So there's no power. A church that studies the Word, memorizes the Word, reads a lot of books, and knows all the theology and yet is not devoted, devoted to prayer, is exactly what they're talking about.

Form of godliness, there's no power. See, it says, verse 16b, "to be strengthened with power through the Holy Spirit in the inner man." It requires power. What Jesus was doing physically, He said, the Holy Spirit will do in spirit. See, the disciples were always concerned that as long as they were with Jesus, they were safe because Jesus was their answer.

Jesus was the answer to their enemies. Jesus was the answer to their hunger. Jesus was the answer to the storms. But as He was going, they were being nervous. It's like, if you leave, what's going to happen? And that's when He says, the Holy Spirit's going to come. And He's going to teach you.

He's going to guide you. Everything that you were relying on Me, you're going to rely on the Holy Spirit. In Romans chapter 8, 26 and 27, it says, "In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weakness. For we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

And He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God." The Holy Spirit has been deposited in us. There's not a single Christian who does not have the Holy Spirit. But He says the Holy Spirit has been deposited in us in order for the Holy Spirit in His power, in His power, to intercede on our behalf.

So we say, well, if He's interceding and He's already groaning for us, why do we need to pray? The Holy Spirit's already doing that. Well look what He says here. "For we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us." In other words, He's talking to an individual who is praying, but is having a hard time praying.

He said the Holy Spirit is going to be there to help us. He's not telling us, He's like, oh, you have the Holy Spirit, just kind of relax, get on the boat, and the Holy Spirit is just going to guide you through. He said He empowers who? Those who pray.

When did the Holy Spirit come? In the book of Acts. When they were gathered in praying. They weren't just walking around and having fellowship and communion, all of a sudden the Holy Spirit came. They were eagerly waiting and they were eagerly praying when the Holy Spirit came, like fire.

It was in prayer that they received this power. Ephesians 4.30, He said, "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption." When we think about grieving, we normally think about sin. We're doing things or watching things that we shouldn't watch, and that also is grieving of the Holy Spirit.

But I think the most common way that we grieve the Holy Spirit is simply not praying. Because the Holy Spirit has been deposited in us to lead us to Him, and we're not moving. We're not cooperating. And so, if you've ever tried to train a child, the most frustrating thing is they just don't listen.

And I think the most common way that Christians grieve the Holy Spirit is simply by neglect. See, not only does He tell us to pray, because the means in which we communion with God is the Holy Spirit. The means in which we commune with the Holy Spirit is prayer.

Ephesians 5.18, He said, "Do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation." Dissipation is another word to say it's disgusting. You know how you get drunk with wine? You drink too much wine. Do you know how you get sober? Don't do it. You don't need to do anything to stay sober.

You just need to not do things that make you drunk. And so here, He's talking about to stay sober, to not to get drunk. How do we get drunk? When we are saturated by the things of this world, we get drunk by the things of this world. It's like if you drink too much, it affects your reasoning, it affects your outlook, it affects your personality.

It affects what comes out of your mouth. It affects who you are and how you see things. Because you're being influenced by what's outside. So when He says, "Do not get drunk with wine," He's not simply talking about wine. He's talking about being drunk with anything that causes us not to be sober in Christ.

If we are filling our minds, and even though you say, "Oh, you know, it's just a movie. It's just this, it's just that." But when our mind and heart is filled with the things of this world, whether you know it or not, you are drunk with the world. And it affects your paradigm of what is good and what is bad.

What is sin and not sin? You know, after a while, if you've been sinning the same thing over and over again, you know what begins to happen is we start, instead of calling it sin, we call it a mistake. And then from mistake, we go through struggle. And then from struggle, it just becomes common.

Everybody struggles. This is what people struggle with. And anytime somebody points that out, it's like, "Oh, you're a legalist." So we went from struggling with sin to defending the sin because we've become drunk. See, the Holy Spirit convicts us of this, to drive us to Him. He intercedes. Why is He groaning?

What is He groaning about? To bring us to Him, to get us to pray, to commune with Him. Without the Holy Spirit, our inner being never changes. And I think recently in our generation, we've had people who are bearing so much fruit externally, but after they pass, their private life is exposed and realize that their inner being was so corrupt.

I think without even mentioning anybody's name, I think you know who I'm talking about. They weren't the first one, and they won't be the last. Where people who have paid all their attention on the external qualities while their inner being was never paid attention to. In fact, Jesus is the first one who says that.

He calls the Pharisees. You're like, what? Dead man's tomb. Where you dress up all the stuff on the outside, but inwardly, it's still a tomb. We have dead bones. And that's exactly what He's talking about. Where we have the appearance of godliness, there's no power. Because the power comes from abiding in Christ.

By the work of the Holy Spirit. By groaning and devoting ourselves to the resource that causes the inner person to change. That's why if you look at all the qualities, the fruit of the Holy Spirit are inward qualities of gentleness, joy, kindness, patience. All of it are inner qualities.

It doesn't simply say discipline, external hard work. All these things are out products of it. But the inner quality of patience, gentleness, love. These are inner things that the Holy Spirit convicts us of and transforms us so that it's not just external things, but internal things that change. And that's exactly what Jesus said.

It is not what you put into a man corrupts him. It's what comes out. So the work of the Holy Spirit when we pray is to convict us of our inner being so that what happens externally is simply a by-product of the ministry of the Holy Spirit inside of us.

And that's exactly what Paul says in Colossians 1.29. For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power. Not my power, but His power, which mightily works within me. Paul's not laboring hard because he's more disciplined than other people. He's more educated. He's more determined than others. He says the Holy Spirit was working in him.

Not by his power, but by God's power. But third and finally, God the Son, Jesus Christ, is the goal of our prayer. Verse 17, "So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, and that you being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God." If you notice here in these three verses how he mentions to the utter nth degree.

He's not just saying so that you would recognize who Jesus is. He's not simply saying that so that you could believe in Jesus, so that you can be transformed from a child of the devil to child of God. He doesn't say that. It's way beyond that. To make Christ dwell in your heart.

The word for dwell here is not simply talking about a guest that's coming to your house. The dwell here is to make a home. To make a home. You know, whenever we invite guests to our houses, we have to go clean up everything. Right? Except our closet in our main bedroom.

You're not allowed to go there. So there's parts of the house you can go to, parts that you cannot. Wherever they come, we clean up. But if they come live with us, just simple cleaning is not going to do. You have to prepare. Or they're going to see how you really are before you prepare.

So many people are reluctant to invite Christ into their home. They bring Christ into their home as a guest. As welcomed on Sunday, but go back to your house on Monday. See here he says that Christ may dwell, make a home in your home. He's making a permanent dwelling.

He's living with us. We can't ask for revival if we don't want Christ to come dwell with us. Revival isn't simply feeling passionate, singing louder, and the church is growing, and doing more evangelism. Revival is to invite the presence of God into our intimate homes. Where we dwell Monday through Friday, sorry, Sunday.

Every single day. That's what he means, that he was praying that Christ would make a dwelling in our home and being rooted and grounded in love. Rooted, it's not simply talking about a plant that you can move anywhere when something is rooted. That it's independently growing. It's planted there.

So he's saying to make a dwelling, to make your home, to root it and ground it. Again, he's saying the same thing again. That Christ would make a permanent home and may be able to comprehend with all the saints, not just that God loves you, but what is the breadth and the length and the height and the depth of the love of Christ.

Not just to say, you know what, I appreciate what Jesus has done and we participate in communion, we sing some songs. He said no. You understand the depth, the height, the width, and the length of the love of Christ? And it's not just grace, it's just lavish grace that he bestowed upon us.

And then he says, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge. Beyond what I can just tell you, it surpasses knowledge. Corrie Tamboon, many of you guys know who she is. She survived the Holocaust, became a Christian, became an evangelist. And I remember hearing her testimony saying how she needed to sell watches in order to make a living.

And she would say every time she would sell a watch to a person, and she would walk away feeling somewhat guilty because she'd think, what if the watch breaks down? What if it doesn't live up to the hype? And she always came away from the sale thinking that maybe I hyped it up too much.

And then she became an evangelist, sharing the gospel and the love of Christ to people. And she'd say, after she would preach the gospel and share about the richness of Christ, she would walk away thinking, did I do him justice? That no matter how hard she worked to explain the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ, she always came out thinking that maybe I didn't do it justice.

That's what he means by to comprehend with all the saints the surpassing knowledge of Christ, the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge. How do you embrace and understand the love of Christ that surpasses beyond knowledge? It's not simply something that you can read. It's not simply from exposition, from hearing a sermon.

It's when we encounter this God. See, as much as I would say, well, it's a hyperbole, it's an exaggeration, but it's a reality when you actually meet Christ. As much as I want to explain to you and describe to you, nothing will do it justice until you yourself meet Christ.

Some days I might do a good job, some days I might do a bad job, but no matter how good of a job that I do, you will always leave this room knowing that you meeting Christ isn't going to do justice of anything that I've said. And so he says in this passage that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God, all the fullness of God, not simply to taste Him, not simply to observe Him, not simply to praise Him, but the fullness of Him, to consume by Him.

Again, you and I live in a generation that even just going to church and becoming a member in a church, going to Bible study every week makes you a serious Christian in our generation. But that's where the deception lies, because we automatically think because we're doing more than the people around us that we're good.

But Paul's prayer and the desire of the Holy Spirit groaning inside of us, interceding on our behalf is so that we may become fanatics of Christ. Where the world looks at us and say, "Man, these people are strange. They're weird." In fact, the previous generation, they would call people who are on fire for Christ, "Jesus Christ." And for those who are passionately pursuing Christ as a compliment, I must have been doing something right because they see that I'm weird.

But for whatever reason, our generation has become a derogatory term even in the church. We want to love Jesus. We want to follow Jesus, but we don't want to be freaks. But that's exactly what he was praying for, that we would be infatuated with Christ. And the reason why he wants us to be infatuated with Christ is because that's where life is.

Everything else that draws us away from God, that hinders us from God, is going to drain that life away from us. So to be infatuated with Christ is to be infatuated with life. To be infatuated with Christ is to be infatuated with hope. Not just to casually follow him, but to have him with all our might.

And that word here, "to comprehend," to comprehend this love, is not simply mental understanding. Because in John 1, verse 5, it says, "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it." He's not talking about comprehending like it didn't make sense to them. The word "comprehend" means to go toward and to attain, to strive after.

And that's what he means in 1 Corinthians 9, 24, "Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win." To win. Not just to say, you know, I got a number. You know, I could sign up for a marathon.

It'd be a big joke, because no one's ever seen me run. I could sign up for the marathon, because I just need to pay. And they're going to give me a number. And I put the number on, just casually, and I could tell you that I'm in the race.

But the difference is, I don't care if I win. So whether it takes me two hours or 14 days, it doesn't matter. So if I'm not trying to win, it doesn't matter what kind of shoes I wear. It doesn't matter what kind of pants I wear. It doesn't matter if anything's hindering me, because hindering me from what?

Nothing's hindering me from being in the race. It is hindering me from winning the race. And that's the difference. He's not just simply calling us to sign up for the race. He's calling us to win. To have the fullness of Christ. All of it. He didn't just give us life so that you can taste the goodness of God.

He wants us to come to His banqueting table. That's what Paul in Philippians 3, 2, 12 says, "Not that I have already obtained it, or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which I also was laid hold of by Christ Jesus." In other words, the whole reason why Christ took hold of me is so that I can take hold of Him.

As much as He lavished His love upon me, that I could comprehend this with all the other saints and then to strive after Him with all my might so that I may be consumed with Christ. Infatuated with Christ. I want to know everything about Christ. I want to know Him in the morning.

I want to know Him in the afternoon. I want His name to be ringing in my head when I go to sleep. I want Him to be my refuge. I want Him to be the source of my joy. I want Him to be the one that I'm waiting for.

I want to eagerly wait to die so that I can meet Him face to face. To be infatuated with the fullness of Christ that you cannot have anywhere else but with Him. This is why we need to pray. This is why we need to come and meet Him. You can talk about how great He is.

You can describe the riches of Him, but until you meet Him yourself, it's not the same. Reading a book about somebody and meeting Him is not the same. That's why He concludes with His benediction in verse 20. He says, "Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works within me.

To Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all the generation forever and ever. Amen." Far beyond what you and I could possibly imagine, He says to come. Imagine if I told you that each one of us has access to nuclear power. The first thing that would happen is a sense of fear.

Because if you handle this wrong, you're going to die. But the second thought that you may have is if I have this access to this nuclear power, what would you do with this power? Next time I go camping, I don't have to worry about electricity because I have nuclear power.

You don't ever have to worry about your phone dying because you got nuclear power. You don't have to worry about electricity bill at home because you have nuclear power. I mean, solar, I mean, it's a joke. You got nuclear power. But how trivial would it be if that's all you thought?

How we would miss the point if that's all the application you can think of? If I had nuclear power, wouldn't you think because of the magnitude of this power, there are nations, people who are starving, whose countries don't have electricity, where you can almost wipe out poverty if you can give them access to this power.

We wouldn't simply think of camping and heating and our phones. And yet, so much of our prayer is about protection when we travel, to become healthy if we get sick, to find a good job when economically we struggle, to have better relationships. How much of our prayer and our concerns are wrapped up in trivial things?

Not that God doesn't care, he said he counts every hair on our head, but if that's all we're concerned about. In Psalm 2-8, it says, "Ask of me and I will surely give you nations as your inheritance and the very ends of the earth as your possession." That prayer and that invitation is appropriate and it is fitting for the one who is calling us to pray.

Even nuclear power is trivial in light of who it is that we have access to. And so every time we see Apostle Paul praying, he doesn't pray for health. He's a human being like us, he's concerned like anybody else, he wants to avoid pain like anybody else. He's in prison praying for the salvation of the guards.

He's concerned about the churches outside, asking, telling them, "I have found the secret of being content in every and all situation." He is praying that whether he is in chains or whether he is outside, his greatest concern is that the nations would come to Christ. He understood what he had and that's why his prayers reflected it.

He prayed for nations. I want to end this sermon with a confession. Our church has been growing faster than ever before. And so the common concern that I hear from members who have been at our church for a while, especially even with our pastoral staff, is how are we going to handle this?

Do we have enough building? I mean, thank God that we are able to purchase that building, we have some more space and it's like, well, the space in which we're growing, we're going to have to need that building and then say, well, once we get that, is that going to be enough?

And what are we going to do if we double and triple in size? And do we have enough pastoral staff? Do we have enough small group leaders? Do we have enough space? You know, there's wrestling with that and praying about that and thinking, how trivial my anxiety to come before the God of the universe and say, if he makes it grow, will he provide what's needed for that?

I've taken my eyes off of him and realizing, just do what I tell you to do. And if it triples, let God handle whatever is needed for that. Let him handle it and trust him. And I share this with you because that's, I think many of you can relate, that if I give my full to him, what if?

If I give my all to him, what if? If I surrender everything to him, what if? And so we pray to an almighty God while we hang on to our bank accounts and all our safety nets and make sure all that is in place, because in the back of our mind, maybe we've forgotten who he is or our faith is too small.

This Friday, when we come to prayer, I want to encourage you to come to prayer prepared. You know, typically if you're not careful, you just come neglecting the whole week and say, well, at least Friday I'm going to go pray. You know, best way to pray corporately is to pray privately.

Those who pray privately are going to have the best time praying corporately. There is a special power in the presence of the gathering of the church. That's why we gather, right? And I know some of you are going to be online, but even if you're going to be online, prepare yourself.

If you have sense to confess, don't wait till Friday, confess it tonight. Confess it today. Prepare yourself to meet the almighty God who is rich in his mercy, who has lavished on us everything that we need for a life of godliness to come together. Make a list of things to pray for.

Make a list of things that these are things that I'm going to petition before God and to come together to pray, to pray, pray, pray. We have hope. We have hope in Christ, so it only makes sense that we devote ourselves to pray. So I hope and pray that this coming year that we would make significant strides toward that direction.

And I say this because honestly, I haven't led you well in this direction. I've been pounding about the necessity of the word for so many years, and I have given sermons about prayer. We've had prayer meetings and the importance of prayer, but honest confession, in comparing to how important this is, I don't think I've led you well.

I want you to see what Christ showed me. I want you to know him, not just to observe him, not just to describe him. I want you to know Jesus, because I know that if you meet the Christ that I met, if you see the Jesus that I saw, you would want to follow him with all your might too.

You wouldn't be as easily distracted by this world. You would want to spend all your life to tell other people about Christ. And it's not enough just to study. We have to humble ourselves before the Lord, seek him with all our heart, together to comprehend the richness that we have in Christ, that we may be filled with all things of Christ.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, your mercy and grace is beyond comprehension. Lord, we thank you for calling us, allowing us to see the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ, but if we've relied on our circumstance, on our previous knowledge, experience, study, and yet we feel so distant from you, help us, Lord God, this week, this year, to be devoted in prayer, knowing who you are that calls us, to be able to be engaged in the power of the Holy Spirit, to sanctify our inner being, that our eyes may be opened, Lord God, that true knowledge of Christ is beyond knowledge, the height, the width, the depth, and the length of the love of Christ, that we would not simply have the name of Christian, that we will be followers with all our might.

May Christ be exalted. In Jesus name we pray, amen.