♪ Christ be known ♪ ♪ Wherever we are ♪ ♪ We ask not for ourselves ♪ ♪ But for your renown ♪ ♪ The cross has saved us ♪ ♪ So we pray ♪ ♪ Your kingdom come ♪ - Sing it together. ♪ Let your kingdom come ♪ ♪ Let your will be done ♪ ♪ So that everyone ♪ ♪ Might know your name ♪ ♪ Let your song be heard ♪ ♪ Everywhere on earth ♪ ♪ 'Til your song ♪ ♪ Is heard on earth this day ♪ ♪ Let your kingdom come ♪ - Give your sister a hug.

♪ Give us your strength, O God ♪ ♪ And courage to speak ♪ ♪ Heard from your wondrous feet ♪ ♪ So to our feet ♪ ♪ Use us as you want ♪ ♪ Whatever the test ♪ ♪ By grace we'll preach your gospel fear ♪ ♪ Our dying breath ♪ ♪ Let your kingdom come ♪ ♪ Let your will be done ♪ ♪ So that everyone ♪ ♪ Might know your name ♪ ♪ Let your song be heard ♪ ♪ Everywhere on earth ♪ ♪ 'Til your song ♪ ♪ Is heard on earth this day ♪ ♪ Let your kingdom come ♪ ♪ Let your kingdom come ♪ ♪ Let your kingdom come ♪ ♪ Let your kingdom come ♪ ♪ Let your kingdom come ♪ ♪ Let your kingdom come ♪ (congregation applauding) ♪ Precious Lord ♪ ♪ Take my hand ♪ ♪ Lead me on ♪ ♪ Let me stand ♪ ♪ I am tired ♪ ♪ I am weak ♪ ♪ I am worn ♪ ♪ Through the storm ♪ ♪ And through the night ♪ ♪ Lead me on ♪ ♪ Into the light ♪ ♪ Take my hand ♪ ♪ Precious Lord ♪ ♪ Lead me on ♪ ♪ When my ♪ ♪ Girls dream ♪ ♪ Precious Lord ♪ ♪ Let me be right here ♪ ♪ When my life ♪ ♪ Oh my life ♪ ♪ Is almost gone ♪ ♪ Hear my cry ♪ ♪ Hear my call ♪ ♪ Hold my hand ♪ ♪ When I'm lost I fall ♪ ♪ Take my hand ♪ ♪ Precious Lord ♪ ♪ Lead me on ♪ (congregation applauding) (upbeat music) - ♪ Empty walks ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ Empty walks with me ♪ ♪ Empty tongues with me ♪ ♪ And he tells me that I am his own ♪ ♪ Oh the joy he shares ♪ ♪ With me as we tear it apart ♪ ♪ No one ever has ever ♪ ♪ Has ever known ♪ ♪ So precious, precious, precious Lord ♪ ♪ At the river ♪ ♪ River I stand ♪ ♪ Oh God my feet there ♪ ♪ And oh my hand ♪ ♪ Precious Lord ♪ ♪ Take my hand ♪ ♪ Lead me on ♪ ♪ Oh the sun ♪ ♪ Lead me on ♪ ♪ Take my hand ♪ ♪ Lead me on ♪ ♪ Take my hand ♪ ♪ Oh precious Lord ♪ ♪ Lead me on ♪ (upbeat music) (upbeat music) ♪ Oh Lord my rock and my redeemer ♪ ♪ Greatest treasure of my longing for ♪ - Can you go like 30 seconds before?

♪ My God like you there is no other ♪ ♪ He alone is found in me ♪ ♪ No place in the world too deep to find ♪ ♪ Oh Lord ♪ ♪ You alone can see what's in heaven's reach ♪ ♪ Your truth abounds in perfect wisdom ♪ ♪ My highest truth in my unending need ♪ - 30, 40, about 30 seconds.

(upbeat music) ♪ Oh Lord my rock and my redeemer ♪ ♪ Strong defender of my weary heart ♪ ♪ My sword to fight the cruel deceiver ♪ ♪ And my shield against his hateful thoughts ♪ ♪ My song when enemies surround me ♪ ♪ My hope when times of sorrow rise ♪ ♪ My joy when trials are applied ♪ ♪ Your faithfulness my refuge in all my ♪ ♪ Oh Lord my rock and my redeemer ♪ ♪ Precious savior of my ruined life ♪ ♪ My guilt and cross laid on your shoulders ♪ ♪ In my place you suffered let it die ♪ ♪ You rose up the grave and death are conquered ♪ ♪ You broke my bonds of sin and shame ♪ ♪ You rose up the grave and death are conquered ♪ ♪ You broke my bonds of sin and shame ♪ ♪ Oh Lord my rock and my redeemer ♪ ♪ May all my days bring glory to your name ♪ ♪ May all my days bring glory to your name ♪ (soft music) (people chattering) (soft music) (people chattering) (soft music) (people chattering) (soft music) (people chattering) (soft music) (people chattering) (soft music) (people chattering) (soft music) (people chattering) (soft music) (people chattering) (soft music) (people chattering) (soft music) (people chattering) (soft music) (people chattering) (people chattering) (soft music) (people chattering) (soft music) (people chattering) (soft music) (people chattering) (soft music) (people chattering) (soft music) (people chattering) (soft music) (people chattering) (soft music) (people chattering) (soft music) (people chattering) (soft music) (people chattering) (soft music) (people chattering) (soft music) (people chattering) (soft music) (people chattering) (soft music) (people chattering) (soft music) (people chattering) (soft music) (people chattering) (soft music) (people chattering) (soft music) (people chattering) (soft music) (people chattering) (soft music) (people chattering) (soft music) (people chattering) (soft music) (people chattering) (soft music) (people chattering) (soft music) (people chattering) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (people chattering) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) - All right, good morning, church family.

Happy Lord's Day. We will now begin the time of worship. (soft music) ♪ Though the nations rage ♪ ♪ Kingdoms rise and fall ♪ ♪ There is still one king ♪ ♪ Reigning over all ♪ ♪ Still I will not fear ♪ ♪ For this truth remains ♪ ♪ That my God is the Ancient of Days ♪ ♪ None above him, none before him ♪ ♪ All of time in his hands ♪ ♪ For his throne it shall remain ♪ ♪ And ever stand ♪ ♪ All the power, all the glory ♪ ♪ I will trust in one God ♪ ♪ I will trust in his name ♪ ♪ For my God is the Ancient of Days ♪ ♪ Though the dread of night ♪ ♪ Overwhelms my soul ♪ ♪ He is here with me ♪ ♪ God alone ♪ ♪ Oh, his love is sure ♪ ♪ And he knows my name ♪ ♪ For my God is the Ancient of Days ♪ ♪ None above him, none before him ♪ ♪ All of time in his hands ♪ ♪ For his throne it shall remain ♪ ♪ And ever stand ♪ ♪ All the power, all the glory ♪ ♪ I will trust in his name ♪ ♪ For my God is the Ancient of Days ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ Though I may not see ♪ ♪ What the future brings ♪ ♪ I will watch and wait ♪ ♪ For the Savior to come ♪ ♪ And my joy complete ♪ ♪ Standing face to face ♪ ♪ In the presence of the Ancient ♪ ♪ Of Days ♪ ♪ None above him, none before him ♪ ♪ All of time in his hands ♪ ♪ For his throne it shall remain ♪ ♪ And ever stand ♪ ♪ All the power, all the glory ♪ ♪ I will trust in his name ♪ ♪ For my God is the Ancient of Days ♪ ♪ For my God is the Ancient of Days ♪ - All right, good morning.

Welcome to Breen Community Church. We have a few announcements this morning, so we're gonna just jump right into it. We have an announcement from our youth group, from our teacher, Adam. - All right, good morning, church family. Today, the youth group is having a bake sale that's happening for our youth group retreat that's gonna be in about two weeks.

So we'll be selling at two locations. There's one inside the cafe, right next to drinks and everything, and then there's one that's gonna be right outside the cafe. It'd be great to have your support for our youth kids and for our winter retreat. You can pay with Venmo, to the Breen Venmo, and with cash.

Thanks. (audience applauding) - All right, so those of you who are concerned about sanitation, it's all packaged neatly, so you don't have to worry about that. And even if that bothers you, they are taking money. Even if you don't, choose not to pick it up. So they worked hard to get that stuff ready, so it's outside and inside the cafe.

So please go visit that and support them. We have another round of membership classes taking place starting next Sunday from nine to 1020. So if you are desiring to become a member in the church, it is an eight-week course, so please sign up for that. And then it's gonna be taking place on the second floor in this building, and the best way to get there is from the outside, and you just go up the stairs in the front of the building, and that's where the class is gonna be taking place at 9 a.m.

First Peter Bible Study sign-ups. If you haven't signed up, please sign up by today, because all the small groups and various things have already kind of been started to be put into place. But again, I want to just encourage you that this is not primarily for fellowship. It's for the Bible study, so if for whatever the reason you feel like you're not gonna be able to make more than half or a lot of the things, this probably is not for you.

There are other fellowships that you can participate in, but you will need to commit to that, at least for the length of the time that we have this Bible study. But if you haven't signed up for that, please sign up as soon as you can, by today if possible.

This coming Friday, we have All Church Praise and Prayer. We will have outside seating available for those of you who are more comfortable seating outside for this Friday, but this coming Friday at 7.30, we're gonna be having that, and then obviously our Bible study's gonna be kicking off the following week.

Next Sunday at 2.30, we're gonna be having the All Church Members Meeting. We are going to live stream it, because there are quite a few people who will be watching online. We don't normally do that, but we are gonna do that for this one. And so at 2.30, it'll give you enough time to go grab lunch and then be back here at 2.30, but that's next Sunday.

This is the beginning of the year, and usually there's a lot of information that we need to share, like financial status and all this other stuff, so we encourage you to be there. And if you can't come, please let us know ahead of time. And then there's two classes that are starting on February 6th, spiritual development courses.

One is the Bible Lab, and those of you who are new to the church who wanna study how to do inductive Bible study, which is what we're doing during the weekday, on Wednesday and then in our home groups. And so it's either to refresh your ability to be able to do that, or if you're new to the church, that's a great way for you to get help so that you can get the most out of the Bible study that's happening during the weekdays.

So Pastor Mark will be teaching that on Sunday afternoons at 2 p.m. starting from February 6th, and then Pastor Peter Chung is gonna be teaching New Testament Survey. So those of you who took Old Testament Survey, again, this is kind of like second part to that, and if you haven't taken survey classes before, it makes a huge difference on how you are able to understand the Bible, understanding the thought flow, why are there four gospels, how has the Bible been organized, what are the books that were written earlier and later, and so certain themes that are in there.

And so when you do actually go into the study, it helps you to get more out of it. So if you haven't taken that, I highly encourage you to take that. Pastor Peter Chung will be teaching that. Again, the first class will be taking place on February 6th. After our worship, I'll give you a minute to give your offering.

Today we have Enoch Kwon. He's gonna come and be baptized, so he'll be coming up after the worship set to give his testimony and be baptized. So let me pray for us for our offering, and again, if you are new to the church, our physical offering basket is in the back underneath that clock, okay?

Let's pray. Gracious Father, we pray that in the midst of all that is going on around us, we thank you that we're able to anchor in you, that we do not approach all that happens around us, whether economically, health-wise, politically, that we are tossed back and forth, Lord God, with every wind of doctrine, every change, Lord God, of what's going on.

Help us, Lord God, to fix our eyes upon Christ, the author and the perfecter of our faith. We pray, Father, that you would give us strength, soberness, and that you would prepare us, Lord God, not just for this week, but for the rest of this year to really pursue you with all our might.

We ask that you would bless this time, bless the offering that we give, may it be multiplied for your use in your kingdom. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Alright, for those of us sitting inside, would you please stand with us as we continue our worship.

♪♪♪ ♪ Praises rising ♪ ♪ Eyes are turning to you ♪ ♪ We turn to you ♪ ♪ Hope is stirring ♪ ♪ Hearts are yearning for you ♪ ♪ We long for you ♪ ♪ 'Cause when we see you ♪ ♪ We find strength to face the day ♪ ♪ In your presence ♪ ♪ All our fears are washed away ♪ ♪ Washed away ♪ ♪ Hosanna ♪ ♪ Hosanna ♪ ♪ You are the God who saves us ♪ ♪ Worthy of all our praises ♪ Hear the sound.

♪ Hear the sound of hearts returning to you ♪ ♪ We turn to you ♪ ♪ In your kingdom ♪ ♪ Broken lives are made new ♪ ♪ You make us new ♪ ♪ 'Cause when we see you ♪ ♪ We find strength to face the day ♪ ♪ In your presence ♪ ♪ All our fears are washed away ♪ ♪ Washed away ♪ ♪ Hosanna ♪ ♪ Hosanna ♪ ♪ You are the God who saves us ♪ ♪ Worthy of all our praises ♪ ♪ Hosanna ♪ ♪ Hosanna ♪ ♪ Open the way above us ♪ ♪ We welcome you here, Lord Jesus ♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ 'Cause when we see you ♪ ♪ We find strength to face the day ♪ ♪ In your presence ♪ ♪ All our fears are washed away ♪ ♪ When we see you ♪ ♪ 'Cause when we see you ♪ ♪ We find strength to face the day ♪ ♪ In your presence ♪ ♪ All our fears are washed away ♪ ♪ Washed away ♪ ♪ Hosanna ♪ ♪ Hosanna ♪ ♪ You are the God who saves us ♪ ♪ Worthy of all our praises ♪ ♪ Hosanna ♪ ♪ Hosanna ♪ ♪ Come have your way above us ♪ ♪ We welcome you here, Lord Jesus ♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ How great the chasm that lay between us ♪ ♪ How high the mountain I could not climb ♪ ♪ In desperation I turned to heaven ♪ ♪ And spoke your name into the night ♪ ♪ And through the darkness your loving kindness ♪ ♪ Tore through the shadows of my soul ♪ ♪ The work is finished, the end is written ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ, my living hope ♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ Who could imagine so great a mercy ♪ ♪ What heart could fathom such boundless grace ♪ ♪ The God of ages stepped down from glory ♪ ♪ To wear my sin and bear my shame ♪ ♪ The cross has spoken, I am forgiven ♪ ♪ The King of kings owes me his own ♪ ♪ Beautiful Savior, I'm yours forever ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ, my living hope ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, praise the one who set me free ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, death has lost its grip on me ♪ ♪ You have broken every chain ♪ ♪ There's salvation in your name ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ, my living hope ♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ Then came the morning that sealed the promise ♪ ♪ Your buried body began to breathe ♪ ♪ Out of the silence the roaring lion ♪ ♪ Declared that he has no claim on me ♪ ♪ Then came the morning that sealed the promise ♪ ♪ Your buried body began to breathe ♪ ♪ Out of the silence the roaring lion ♪ ♪ Declared that he has no claim on me ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ is the victory ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, praise the one who set me free ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, death has lost its grip on me ♪ ♪ You have broken every chain ♪ ♪ There's salvation in your name ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ, my living hope ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, praise the one who set me free ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, death has lost its grip on me ♪ ♪ You have broken every chain ♪ ♪ There's salvation in your name ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ, my living hope ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ, my living hope ♪ ♪ Oh, God, you are my living hope ♪ ♪♪♪ - Amen.

You may be seated. - All right, good morning, everyone. For once, I'm not an undergrad computer science major at UC Irvine, so I'm sorry to disappoint and for breaking that trend. Well, let's go ahead and get started. My name is Enoch, and to start things off, I would just like to say that growing up during my younger years, I absolutely hated my name.

I know there's one other Enoch somewhere in this church. I'm not sure if he feels the same way or if he's braver than I am. Who knows? I might talk to him later. But I would have countless nicknames, like Enoch, Eggnog, and my personal favorite, Enoosh. I'm not sure where that comes from.

So as a chubby Korean 14-year-old boy, I didn't dare correct my massive ex-NFL player of a coach. So for three years, I was formally Enoosh, all right, growing up. But at least my wrestling coach got it right, so I stuck with that sport a little longer. Anyhoo, without digressing too much, like many other Korean Americans, I grew up in a Presbyterian church.

So specifically as a pastor's kid, as I got older, I really began to understand why I was named Enoch. However, as I previously stated, I honestly did not like my name, and I didn't really want to live up to what it really meant. So once again, growing up, I was more afraid of people mispronouncing my name at the local Starbucks rather than understanding the strong Christian roots from which it was derived.

So I'm sure, as you all know, there's a common stereotype that pastor's kids go one of two ways. They're either very good or terrible and rebellious. So if I told you that my brother was perhaps the most innocent, mission trip volunteering, praise leader, goody two-shoes, you can easily guess where that puts me.

So to be frank, I can truthfully admit that I was not a Christian growing up. Oftentimes I would catch myself leaning towards more agnostic beliefs, especially as I saw the sinful nature of the so-called Christians within the church. So to really put things into perspective, I had to ask my dad, my pastor, my father, whether or not I was even baptized.

So apparently within the Presbyterian church, once you're sprinkled as an infant, you eventually go through a confirmation process at the ripe age of 18. So I have zero recollection of going through that confirmation process, so this really has to be the epitome of going through the motions to appease my parents, who, of course, I love very much and respect.

So I'm actually someone who, unfortunately, always learns the hard way, and it was only until the very recent year of 2019 that I went through personal hardships beyond what I could have imagined, whatever happened to me. So I've always thought of myself as tough, as a tough, resilient person who could not really be easily broken, but I was proven very wrong.

So lying alone in the hospital bed of the emergency room on multiple occasions really reminded me how fragile life can be, and honestly, up until that point, I was extremely comfortable constantly giving into my personal vices without a second thought. So ultimately, this was due to the fact that I was never essentially penalized for my moral behavior, I essentially became habitual, and once again, ultimately, my sense of morality and faith in God quickly diminished.

So hitting rock bottom made me realize how insufficient I am on my own, and I've since accepted Christ into my life to be my Lord and Savior. I was essentially able to recover by His grace, and I was healed mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually by admitting my weaknesses and confessing my sins before God.

However, the primary and most important difference this time around was that I found Christ for myself and not solely to appease my family. I'm very grateful to have taken the chance to come out to Borrean Community Church. For once, I can say that I'm surrounded by a genuine community of Christ-loving individuals, and even after such a short time at the church, I definitely feel supported by my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, as well as the excellent leadership team at this church.

I just want to thank everyone here for your patience, as my walk with Christ is still relatively new, and I will undoubtedly stumble here and there. So thank you for joining me today on such a huge milestone in my life, and hopefully this time around I can actually remember it.

Thanks. All right. Thank you, Enoch. And we'll clean that up later. Okay, if you can turn your Bibles with me to Ephesians 3, verse 14, and on. Jump into part 2 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 3, verse 14-21, NASV says, 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. 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. 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 Parian. 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 our 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 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 L.A., 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 were older than me who were really committed to praying.

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. If somebody told me that, I'd say, "Oh, that sounds like church history, somewhere down the--I actually knew this guy." And every year he would just shrink, and we would see him.

We would know he was 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. 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, like, after spending some time praying together, she said, "You know, 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 prayer 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 she made a deep impression.

She's like, "That's so true." 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. I would have never known that they were fasting in the morning. I just caught them. They never told us 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. And 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, and 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 an avid Lakers fan, you know what I mean? And you see it. They wear Lakers socks, Lakers 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 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 I just, 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.

That 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, 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 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. 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, they weren't properly trained. They weren't discipled to be cats. They were born as cats.

And so one thing that's interesting to me is the way they play and what's interesting to watch is, even though they never watched this, they didn't have 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, if you're going to catch mice, that's exactly what you would need to do." 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, 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 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 that 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, and the 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, then 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.

It was a pretty big basket. I can imagine the disciples thinking to themselves, "Why didn't Jesus just make just enough? Why all this waste?" 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 are 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, if you're in charge of the food, there's always abundance left over. It's like, "Well, this is kind of waste.

Let's make sure that we have enough, but 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 your word abideth 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. Mark Zuckerberg doesn't complain every time he sees the 3, 4, 5 cents tick up.

"What? I gotta 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 circumstances, 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 circumstances, every little turn, every little opinion of other people, it shakes our foundation. And we have to go after change. "Why are you doing this?

How come you're doing that?" 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. When 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? 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 300,000 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—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. 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, 26-27, 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, 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 and praying. They weren't just walking around and having fellowship and communion, and 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 communion 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. Right? 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. Just 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 realized 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 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. Where you 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 of. So that it's not just external things, but internal things that change.

And that's exactly what Jesus said. It's 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. And then 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." Did 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 so that you could believe in Jesus. So that you can be transformed from a child of the devil to a 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. 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. But whenever 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. Jesus says that Christ may dwell, make a home in your home. That 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 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. That 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 say, 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 freaks. 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 chapter 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, "I got a number." I could sign up for a marathon. It would be a big joke, because no one has ever seen me run. But 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 2 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 is hindering me, because hindering me from what? Nothing is 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, verse 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. I have nuclear power.

You don't ever have to worry about your phone dying because you've got nuclear power. You don't have to worry about the electricity bill at home because you have nuclear power. This solar, I mean, it's a joke. You've 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. So 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?

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?" 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." But I share this with you because 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. 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." The 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. 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 until 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. 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. Would you all stand up with us for closing praise? Give me a prayer, let my prayer be a cry Humble my heart so that You may draw nigh Cause me to stand and cry out for this land Cause me to be one who's set free To stand as a house of prayer Oh, house of prayer Make us a prayer, let our prayers be a cry Humble our hearts so that You may draw nigh Cause us to stand and cry out for this land Cause us to be a people set free To stand as a house of prayer Oh, as a house of prayer Cause us to stand and cry out for this land Cause us to be a people set free To stand as a house of prayer Nice work.

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than we can imagine, beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all the generations, forever and ever. Amen. God sent His Son They called Him Jesus He came to love, heal and forgive He lived and died to buy my pardon An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives Because He lives, I can face tomorrow Because He lives, all fear is gone Because I know He holds the future And life is worth the living just because He lives Amen.

It is good to praise the Lord It is good to gaze upon His majesty To proclaim His love in the morning And His faithfulness in the evening