1 00:00:02,800 --> 00:00:05,600 Hello and welcome to the Arise Church Podcast. 2 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:08,720 We are so glad you're here and want to thank you for joining us 3 00:00:08,720 --> 00:00:11,760 today for the audio version of our Sunday morning message. 4 00:00:12,040 --> 00:00:15,160 We want to invite you to join us in person at our Sunday morning 5 00:00:15,160 --> 00:00:17,560 celebration every Sunday at 10 AM. 6 00:00:17,640 --> 00:00:21,280 We are located on Old Jenks Rd. in Apex, NC. 7 00:00:22,160 --> 00:00:24,480 My name is Tim. I'm the senior associate pastor 8 00:00:24,480 --> 00:00:27,400 here at church Ephesians chapter 3, where we're going to is where 9 00:00:27,400 --> 00:00:30,520 we're going to be today. And when I got to had the 10 00:00:30,520 --> 00:00:33,360 opportunity to speak last month, I asked if we would all stand. 11 00:00:34,880 --> 00:00:37,960 And I just want to kind of, I, I kind of want to circle back to 12 00:00:37,960 --> 00:00:42,920 that because I, I love standing whenever we're reading the word 13 00:00:42,920 --> 00:00:45,320 of God. But just in case somebody 14 00:00:45,320 --> 00:00:48,680 doesn't do that, it's not saying one way is better than the 15 00:00:48,680 --> 00:00:49,400 other. Amen. 16 00:00:49,880 --> 00:00:52,080 It's just kind of a preference preferential kind of thing. 17 00:00:52,080 --> 00:00:54,720 So with that being said, would you stand with me this morning 18 00:00:55,040 --> 00:00:56,880 as we read a, as we read the Word of God? 19 00:00:56,880 --> 00:00:59,960 We're going to read Ephesians chapter 3 and I'd like to read 20 00:00:59,960 --> 00:01:01,840 verses 2021. If you have your Bible, that's 21 00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:03,320 where we'll be. If you don't happen to have a 22 00:01:03,320 --> 00:01:05,000 Bible, we'll have it up on the screen. 23 00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:07,760 You can follow along, but I'd love it if we could all read 24 00:01:07,760 --> 00:01:09,720 this together. Let's go and have that up on the 25 00:01:09,720 --> 00:01:13,040 screen, those passages there. Let's read this all together. 26 00:01:13,040 --> 00:01:17,400 Ready, set, go now to him who is able to do exceedingly 27 00:01:17,400 --> 00:01:24,200 abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the good 28 00:01:24,400 --> 00:01:32,720 to him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus, Amen. 29 00:01:32,720 --> 00:01:34,320 Lord, thank you for your word today. 30 00:01:34,320 --> 00:01:38,200 Thank you that as we have been worshiping you, you are here 31 00:01:38,680 --> 00:01:41,040 God, you are at work in our lives. 32 00:01:41,040 --> 00:01:44,200 And Lord, as we turn our hearts to the word this morning, to the 33 00:01:44,200 --> 00:01:48,080 spoken word, Lord, I pray right now that you would be the 34 00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:51,720 speaker today, that Tim Versolono would be so far in the 35 00:01:51,720 --> 00:01:55,200 background that the only voice that we hear is the voice of the 36 00:01:55,200 --> 00:01:58,440 Holy Spirit. So Lord, speak to us today. 37 00:01:58,600 --> 00:02:01,520 Your servants are listening in Jesus name and everybody said 38 00:02:01,520 --> 00:02:03,760 Amen. As you're seated, give somebody 39 00:02:03,760 --> 00:02:05,640 a high 5 and say get ready, Here we go. 40 00:02:07,160 --> 00:02:12,200 So this may be a very familiar passage to many of you. 41 00:02:12,200 --> 00:02:15,080 If you've been in the church any length of time, you may have 42 00:02:15,080 --> 00:02:19,360 bought a poster or a wall plaque or written the Scripture down or 43 00:02:19,360 --> 00:02:21,400 something. Because this passage of 44 00:02:21,400 --> 00:02:26,240 scripture is one that is one of those like Christianity, one O 1 45 00:02:26,240 --> 00:02:28,680 type scriptures. And I want to take some time and 46 00:02:28,680 --> 00:02:31,720 unpack it today because last month as we got together, we 47 00:02:31,720 --> 00:02:34,360 talked about how the anointing changes everything. 48 00:02:35,760 --> 00:02:40,480 The anointing changes everything, and so I pray 49 00:02:40,480 --> 00:02:42,840 whenever, whenever I pray, whenever I'll lead worship, 50 00:02:42,840 --> 00:02:45,120 whenever I'm in the word, whenever I have the opportunity 51 00:02:45,400 --> 00:02:49,680 to speak, when, whenever I am praying for my food, I'm 52 00:02:49,680 --> 00:02:54,280 expecting the anointing to fall. When you're praying for your 53 00:02:54,280 --> 00:02:58,160 food, Absolutely. The Bible says if I eat deadly 54 00:02:58,160 --> 00:03:01,040 things, they won't harm me. And who knows all the stuff we 55 00:03:01,040 --> 00:03:04,240 see on TV. You better be praying for your 56 00:03:04,240 --> 00:03:10,560 food because anymore it's like, oh Lord Jesus, I am expecting 57 00:03:10,560 --> 00:03:13,920 the anointing to change everything because that is what 58 00:03:13,920 --> 00:03:16,120 the anointing does. And so today we're going to look 59 00:03:16,120 --> 00:03:18,240 at this passage. We're going to 0 in on Ephesians 60 00:03:18,240 --> 00:03:21,320 chapter 3, verses 20 and 21, but we're going to do some other 61 00:03:21,320 --> 00:03:23,360 reading as well. So I hope you brought your pens 62 00:03:23,360 --> 00:03:26,560 and your notes and you're ready to go because we're going to be 63 00:03:26,560 --> 00:03:28,840 doing some turning in God's Word. 64 00:03:28,840 --> 00:03:31,880 And here is the idea that I want to communicate today. 65 00:03:32,440 --> 00:03:38,080 God's capacity is not measured by the size of your faith. 66 00:03:38,080 --> 00:03:44,280 Let me say that again. God's capacity is not measured 67 00:03:44,280 --> 00:03:48,520 by the size of your faith. It is measured by the 68 00:03:48,520 --> 00:03:52,000 resurrection power that is already working inside his 69 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:55,520 church. That's a real good place to say 70 00:03:55,520 --> 00:03:58,120 Amen. Yeah, we're going there today. 71 00:03:58,960 --> 00:04:03,040 We are going there today, so let's take a step back here. 72 00:04:03,040 --> 00:04:06,760 And what I'd like to do is I'd like to read Ephesians the prior 73 00:04:06,760 --> 00:04:12,600 verses, verses 14 through 19. Ephesians 3 verses 14 to 19. 74 00:04:12,600 --> 00:04:15,400 It says this for this reason. Now, I don't want to go into all 75 00:04:15,400 --> 00:04:18,680 the reasons why Paul says for this reason that's going to take 76 00:04:18,680 --> 00:04:20,480 too long for what I want to accomplish today. 77 00:04:20,839 --> 00:04:22,800 But I want to encourage you go back and read. 78 00:04:22,920 --> 00:04:25,960 You can read to the book of Ephesians in about 12 to 15 79 00:04:25,960 --> 00:04:28,200 minutes. It's a pretty easy read until 80 00:04:28,200 --> 00:04:31,040 you start saying, Holy Spirit, make real to me what you're 81 00:04:31,040 --> 00:04:33,360 saying, and then you can be in there for a long time. 82 00:04:34,720 --> 00:04:37,000 But for the sake of today, we're going to start with verse 14. 83 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:40,400 It says, for this reason, I bow my knees to the Father of our 84 00:04:40,400 --> 00:04:44,360 Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven on earth 85 00:04:44,360 --> 00:04:46,480 is named, that he would grant you. 86 00:04:46,480 --> 00:04:50,800 Somebody say, grant me that He would grant you according to the 87 00:04:50,800 --> 00:04:54,040 riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through 88 00:04:54,040 --> 00:04:57,600 His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your 89 00:04:57,600 --> 00:05:01,760 hearts through faith. Somebody say through faith that 90 00:05:01,760 --> 00:05:06,040 you being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend 91 00:05:06,160 --> 00:05:10,440 with all the Saints what is the width and length and depth and 92 00:05:10,440 --> 00:05:13,560 height to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge 93 00:05:13,760 --> 00:05:17,200 that you may be filled with all. Somebody say all. 94 00:05:18,040 --> 00:05:22,880 Now the Greek word for all means all that you may be filled, and 95 00:05:22,880 --> 00:05:25,600 we're going to be doing some digging in the Greek today, so 96 00:05:25,600 --> 00:05:28,480 get ready to go there with me that you may be filled with all. 97 00:05:28,480 --> 00:05:29,960 Somebody say it again and say all. 98 00:05:30,560 --> 00:05:35,200 Does that leave anything out that you may be filled with all 99 00:05:35,200 --> 00:05:37,120 the fullness of God. Then verse 20. 100 00:05:37,120 --> 00:05:40,000 Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all 101 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:43,520 that we ask or think according to the power that works in us, 102 00:05:43,800 --> 00:05:47,720 to him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations 103 00:05:47,920 --> 00:05:53,640 forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever, Amen. 104 00:05:54,840 --> 00:05:59,200 So Paul is praying for things that verge on the impossible. 105 00:06:01,960 --> 00:06:05,080 He's praying that we'd be strengthened in the inner man, 106 00:06:05,600 --> 00:06:09,840 that Christ would dwell in our hearts, that we could comprehend 107 00:06:10,160 --> 00:06:13,200 the the multi dimensional love of God. 108 00:06:15,680 --> 00:06:20,680 That we can know this love that the world can't know until they 109 00:06:20,680 --> 00:06:24,000 come to Jesus. That we can be filled with all 110 00:06:24,000 --> 00:06:27,560 the fullness of God. So I just want to pause, and I 111 00:06:27,560 --> 00:06:32,160 want to ask this question after a prayer like that, what does 112 00:06:32,160 --> 00:06:35,600 somebody who is reasonable do? Well, typically somebody who's 113 00:06:35,600 --> 00:06:40,560 reasonable says, yeah, let's kind of take a minute to think 114 00:06:40,560 --> 00:06:42,680 about that. Is that really possible? 115 00:06:42,680 --> 00:06:45,360 I mean, because God is outside of time, God, they're the 116 00:06:45,360 --> 00:06:47,520 creator of the universe. Is that really possible? 117 00:06:47,720 --> 00:06:50,800 And someone who is reasonable might be tempted to walk it back 118 00:06:51,440 --> 00:06:55,640 and say, if we could get attained to some of the fullness 119 00:06:55,640 --> 00:06:57,520 of God, then we're having a pretty good day. 120 00:06:58,440 --> 00:07:01,440 But the apostle Paul pushes back on that idea. 121 00:07:01,720 --> 00:07:05,080 He leans into it. He leans into it as a matter of 122 00:07:05,080 --> 00:07:08,200 fact, so hard. It's not changing the subject. 123 00:07:08,320 --> 00:07:11,760 It's Paul answering the objective to the prayer that he 124 00:07:11,760 --> 00:07:14,440 just raised. He just said, hey, I'm praying 125 00:07:14,440 --> 00:07:17,480 that you will be. Even if he just prayed that I 126 00:07:17,480 --> 00:07:19,560 that you'd be filled with all the fullness of God. 127 00:07:21,160 --> 00:07:25,560 We're spending a lifetime living out that prayer, aren't we, To 128 00:07:25,560 --> 00:07:27,920 be filled with all the fullness of God? 129 00:07:29,240 --> 00:07:31,040 It sounds like it's a possibility. 130 00:07:32,840 --> 00:07:34,640 And so Paul leans into this really hard. 131 00:07:34,640 --> 00:07:36,920 So what I want to do to you in this little bit of time that 132 00:07:36,920 --> 00:07:39,800 I've got, I want to show you three things that Paul does in 133 00:07:39,800 --> 00:07:41,680 one sentence. And I'm going to unpack some 134 00:07:41,680 --> 00:07:46,080 Greek because our English translations do their best, but 135 00:07:46,080 --> 00:07:50,520 they always fall short in trying to communicate what the Lord is 136 00:07:50,520 --> 00:07:53,640 trying to tell us. So the first point today I want 137 00:07:53,640 --> 00:07:57,800 to talk about is a new word. Paul did this quite often. 138 00:07:58,080 --> 00:08:00,880 Jack Hayford was not the originator of coming up with big 139 00:08:00,880 --> 00:08:03,720 theological words. The apostle Paul did it all the 140 00:08:03,720 --> 00:08:09,480 time, and he uses this new word because God's ability outruns 141 00:08:09,480 --> 00:08:13,920 language itself. God is bigger than any language 142 00:08:13,920 --> 00:08:16,280 that has ever been written, that has ever been spoken. 143 00:08:16,560 --> 00:08:20,720 And the Word tells us now to the one who is able the way it's 144 00:08:20,720 --> 00:08:24,280 written, to the one being able above all things to do 145 00:08:24,280 --> 00:08:27,000 exceedingly above. Now that reads a little bit 146 00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:32,480 funny, but in the Greek text, that's how it's written. 147 00:08:32,480 --> 00:08:36,440 So I want to unpack that because this is a foundational framework 148 00:08:36,880 --> 00:08:39,559 that we really need to understand as believers in Jesus 149 00:08:39,559 --> 00:08:43,039 Christ. So Paul opens in the with the 150 00:08:43,039 --> 00:08:46,280 Greek word, it's dynameno. Somebody say dynameno, 151 00:08:47,240 --> 00:08:48,760 Congratulations, you can speak Greek. 152 00:08:48,920 --> 00:08:52,160 Good job. So the one being able is what 153 00:08:52,160 --> 00:08:57,040 this literally means dynameno, the one who is able, God is 154 00:08:57,120 --> 00:09:00,640 able. God is able. 155 00:09:00,640 --> 00:09:05,760 And then it closes with another form of the word dynamen, which 156 00:09:05,760 --> 00:09:08,320 is ordunamis is where we get the word power from. 157 00:09:08,760 --> 00:09:13,760 The same root is at the beginning of the verb and at the 158 00:09:13,840 --> 00:09:17,640 ending of the verb. Now the apostle Paul does this 159 00:09:17,640 --> 00:09:20,800 intentionally, and we try to interpret this way. 160 00:09:20,800 --> 00:09:24,800 Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all 161 00:09:24,800 --> 00:09:28,760 we ask or think. Because really, if the passage 162 00:09:28,760 --> 00:09:33,400 just said that God is able to do all we ask or think, that's a 163 00:09:33,400 --> 00:09:36,760 good day, isn't it? But the apostle Paul is trying 164 00:09:36,760 --> 00:09:40,680 to communicate something of God's nature that is so immense, 165 00:09:40,800 --> 00:09:47,200 so seemingly ungraspable, that Paul says he is exceedingly, 166 00:09:47,560 --> 00:09:53,360 abundantly above everything that we can ask or think. 167 00:09:54,920 --> 00:09:57,680 That's how much. And we try to translate it in 168 00:09:57,680 --> 00:09:59,680 English. So we just add another word to 169 00:09:59,680 --> 00:10:02,960 tack it on, kind of like when the apostle John is writing in 170 00:10:02,960 --> 00:10:06,160 the Book of Revelation when it says holy, holy, holy is the 171 00:10:06,160 --> 00:10:08,600 Lord God Almighty. It's not that John said holy, 172 00:10:08,600 --> 00:10:11,480 holy, holy. It's that John could not 173 00:10:11,480 --> 00:10:16,320 describe the immense holiness that God is. 174 00:10:17,360 --> 00:10:21,760 He is so holy that the only way he can say it is God is holy, 175 00:10:22,080 --> 00:10:28,280 holy, holy. And this is what the apostle 176 00:10:28,280 --> 00:10:31,440 Paul is doing. He says to the one who is able 177 00:10:31,560 --> 00:10:34,280 and the one who is powerful to do everything. 178 00:10:34,280 --> 00:10:38,840 See, everything extravagant that God does sits inside a bracket 179 00:10:38,880 --> 00:10:41,360 of God's ability. Let me say that again. 180 00:10:41,680 --> 00:10:46,560 Everything extravagant sits inside a bracket of God's 181 00:10:46,560 --> 00:10:47,760 ability. You know the brackets. 182 00:10:47,760 --> 00:10:53,000 Grammatically, God says, OK, here's what I can do, but I want 183 00:10:53,000 --> 00:10:56,200 to do so much before I get to this part and after I get to 184 00:10:56,200 --> 00:10:58,480 this part that you can't even comprehend it. 185 00:10:59,840 --> 00:11:02,240 That's how big our God is. And this is written in the 186 00:11:02,240 --> 00:11:04,640 present tense. It's not that God was able. 187 00:11:04,760 --> 00:11:08,000 It's not in the future tense. Not that God will be able. 188 00:11:08,000 --> 00:11:13,120 Maybe if he's having a good day. See God, the the ability of God 189 00:11:13,120 --> 00:11:16,800 is not something that he summons for a certain occasion. 190 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:23,720 It's what he is. God is able tell the person next 191 00:11:23,720 --> 00:11:24,960 to you. God is able. 192 00:11:26,320 --> 00:11:29,440 God is always able. He always will be able. 193 00:11:29,600 --> 00:11:32,840 And Jesus, even in the New Testament, his disciples say, 194 00:11:32,840 --> 00:11:34,280 hey, are you? Are you able? 195 00:11:34,280 --> 00:11:37,400 And Jesus takes a step further. He says, I'm not only am I able, 196 00:11:37,520 --> 00:11:42,400 I am willing. See, not only is God able, but 197 00:11:42,400 --> 00:11:45,840 he is willing. And it is so powerful that it's 198 00:11:45,960 --> 00:11:49,840 kind of this supernatural sandwich that the apostle Paul 199 00:11:49,840 --> 00:11:53,440 is writing with. And our word order in English 200 00:11:53,440 --> 00:11:57,920 just, we just can't get it. And so we try to understand the 201 00:11:57,920 --> 00:12:01,880 depth and the magnitude of what Paul is trying to communicate 202 00:12:02,040 --> 00:12:06,280 about how big God is. He says God can do beyond all 203 00:12:06,280 --> 00:12:10,840 things to do super abundantly. Let me say that again, God can 204 00:12:10,840 --> 00:12:13,720 do. He goes beyond all things to do 205 00:12:13,720 --> 00:12:18,240 them super abundantly. And so this verb is surrounded 206 00:12:18,240 --> 00:12:22,720 and it's saying you cannot reach God's action without passing 207 00:12:22,720 --> 00:12:28,200 through God's excess on the way in and excess on the way out. 208 00:12:30,040 --> 00:12:31,840 Now, can I just tell you something today? 209 00:12:31,880 --> 00:12:35,960 This is not Tim trying to be like, you know, let's get you 210 00:12:35,960 --> 00:12:39,640 all hyped up and let's just say, whoo, yeah, God, this is not 211 00:12:39,960 --> 00:12:42,840 positive mental thinking. This is just the reality of the 212 00:12:42,840 --> 00:12:47,160 God that we serve. God is so big, and he wants to 213 00:12:47,160 --> 00:12:50,080 do so much and he is so much. See, we get focused on the 214 00:12:50,080 --> 00:12:52,920 things that God does that we forget to look at the part of 215 00:12:52,920 --> 00:12:55,960 who God is. He's our savior. 216 00:12:56,520 --> 00:13:00,440 He's my healer, and he's healed me and he's saved me. 217 00:13:00,440 --> 00:13:02,920 He's my provider and he's provided for me. 218 00:13:03,160 --> 00:13:07,360 See, God, oh man, I really hope we get this today. 219 00:13:07,760 --> 00:13:12,360 You can't reach God's action without passing through excess 220 00:13:12,360 --> 00:13:14,920 on the way in and excess on the way out. 221 00:13:14,920 --> 00:13:19,640 So we get to a wordsmithed word. So Paul says, I've got to try to 222 00:13:19,640 --> 00:13:24,040 find a way to communicate this so people really get it. 223 00:13:24,480 --> 00:13:27,520 Because later on Paul says it's not just for this generation, 224 00:13:27,760 --> 00:13:29,440 but it's for every generation to come. 225 00:13:30,680 --> 00:13:34,960 That's you and me. 2000 years later, we're still part of the 226 00:13:34,960 --> 00:13:38,440 family of God. And the word that Paul uses. 227 00:13:38,440 --> 00:13:40,120 Here's another Greek word. You ready for this one? 228 00:13:40,960 --> 00:13:45,160 It's hyperparicupesu. God bless me. 229 00:13:45,160 --> 00:13:48,560 Thank you. So anytime you see the word 230 00:13:48,560 --> 00:13:52,160 hyper or Hooper, it depends on who who is reading it. 231 00:13:52,960 --> 00:13:54,400 You might be familiar with this one. 232 00:13:54,400 --> 00:13:57,960 Romans 837 says we are not just conquerors. 233 00:13:57,960 --> 00:14:00,880 It says we are. Help me out more than conquerors 234 00:14:00,880 --> 00:14:04,240 through Him who loved us. That means that you don't just 235 00:14:04,240 --> 00:14:07,760 conquer, but before you even thought about signing on the 236 00:14:07,760 --> 00:14:11,160 dotted line to go to battle, you already won. 237 00:14:13,800 --> 00:14:15,800 Because we are more than conquerors. 238 00:14:15,800 --> 00:14:18,280 Because the Word says what can separate us from the love of 239 00:14:18,280 --> 00:14:20,040 God? Can height nor depth, angels, 240 00:14:20,040 --> 00:14:22,360 demons, things, past, present, future, things to come? 241 00:14:22,520 --> 00:14:27,640 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors. 242 00:14:27,840 --> 00:14:31,400 Not in ourselves, because we can't conquer nothing without 243 00:14:31,400 --> 00:14:34,520 the Lord. I know that's terrible grammar, 244 00:14:34,520 --> 00:14:36,800 especially for someone who's working on his doctorate, but I 245 00:14:36,800 --> 00:14:41,560 won't write papers that way. See a word that already meant 246 00:14:41,560 --> 00:14:45,360 excess. Paul intensifies it, and he puts 247 00:14:45,480 --> 00:14:49,600 hyper in front of it. You may have been hyper when you 248 00:14:49,600 --> 00:14:52,280 were a kid. People would probably look at me 249 00:14:52,280 --> 00:14:54,320 and say you were a hyper when you were a kid. 250 00:14:54,320 --> 00:14:56,480 Well, I look at this and the word and being hyper is a pretty 251 00:14:56,480 --> 00:14:59,560 good thing. I've heard people kind of slam 252 00:14:59,560 --> 00:15:01,120 on people before say, well, that's hyper faith. 253 00:15:01,240 --> 00:15:03,120 Well, is it possible to have too much faith? 254 00:15:04,520 --> 00:15:06,640 I mean, really think about it. That's hyper faith. 255 00:15:06,640 --> 00:15:08,560 You can't believe for that. Who says I can't believe for 256 00:15:08,560 --> 00:15:10,360 that? If I'm reading this correctly, 257 00:15:10,360 --> 00:15:14,040 and I'm pretty sure I am, that my God can do anything. 258 00:15:14,320 --> 00:15:17,560 And if I'm in him, that means what he, what what he says is 259 00:15:17,560 --> 00:15:21,840 yours I have access to. So Paul takes a word that 260 00:15:21,840 --> 00:15:24,360 already means an abundance, an overabundance, and he 261 00:15:24,360 --> 00:15:26,800 intensifies it. And he stacks it with the word 262 00:15:26,800 --> 00:15:29,080 hyper on top. And it appears three times in 263 00:15:29,080 --> 00:15:31,400 the New Testament. And Paul is the one who uses it. 264 00:15:31,720 --> 00:15:35,440 And it is essentially nowhere in Greek literature before Paul did 265 00:15:35,440 --> 00:15:37,960 it. He's trying to communicate 266 00:15:37,960 --> 00:15:41,080 something about the gospel that the world needs to see. 267 00:15:41,080 --> 00:15:46,000 Friends, brothers and sisters in Christ, we serve an abundant, 268 00:15:46,160 --> 00:15:50,800 excessively amazing, powerful, hyper abundant God. 269 00:15:51,760 --> 00:15:55,880 That is the God that we serve. And Paul built a word because 270 00:15:55,880 --> 00:15:58,680 the language that he used couldn't carry the weight. 271 00:15:59,400 --> 00:16:01,600 He had to find a way to communicate this. 272 00:16:01,760 --> 00:16:06,000 Now this is not just a sudden burst of yay, let's get this. 273 00:16:06,760 --> 00:16:10,520 Paul is very intentional about using this throughout the entire 274 00:16:10,520 --> 00:16:14,800 book of Ephesians. So let me ask a question and 275 00:16:14,800 --> 00:16:15,880 just go ahead and view and respond. 276 00:16:15,880 --> 00:16:17,800 How many of y'all speak more than one language? 277 00:16:19,200 --> 00:16:22,360 Oh wow, that's pretty awesome. How many of y'all are are kind 278 00:16:22,360 --> 00:16:24,680 of kind of fluent? You can speak a little bit of 279 00:16:24,680 --> 00:16:26,240 another language. I'll put my hand up with there 280 00:16:26,240 --> 00:16:32,840 'cause hablo poquito espanol, but just just poquito, poquito. 281 00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:37,680 Some would say it's you're a little bit better than you 282 00:16:37,680 --> 00:16:39,960 think, but I don't know you'd be the judge of that. 283 00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:44,760 So those of you who raised your hand, you already know something 284 00:16:44,760 --> 00:16:47,000 that the rest of us have to be taught. 285 00:16:47,920 --> 00:16:51,520 There are words in your first language that don't really 286 00:16:51,520 --> 00:16:55,200 translate well into English, right? 287 00:16:57,040 --> 00:17:00,280 There are some words that just don't translate from language to 288 00:17:00,280 --> 00:17:02,120 language. Like I was having a conversation 289 00:17:02,120 --> 00:17:04,920 with Obie the other night and he sent me this beautiful song. 290 00:17:04,920 --> 00:17:07,200 I listened to that about six times the other day. 291 00:17:07,440 --> 00:17:11,160 That is a powerful song and and in innocent language, I didn't 292 00:17:11,160 --> 00:17:15,359 understand it, but he told me that he said the name Jesus. 293 00:17:15,359 --> 00:17:20,640 Let me make sure I get it right. Was it say it again for me, 294 00:17:21,359 --> 00:17:24,280 Yesu. And when you say Yesu in Obi's 295 00:17:24,280 --> 00:17:27,640 language, it's not just saying Jesus, but it's it's that place 296 00:17:27,640 --> 00:17:30,800 of honor and respect and he's worthy to receive praise. 297 00:17:31,040 --> 00:17:33,280 And so when I got to the word in that song, I was like, I know 298 00:17:33,280 --> 00:17:35,840 that word. I know that one. 299 00:17:36,360 --> 00:17:38,320 That one translates really well, doesn't it? 300 00:17:38,560 --> 00:17:43,400 From language to language. See, every English translation 301 00:17:43,400 --> 00:17:47,600 here can't fully express the depth and profoundness of what 302 00:17:47,600 --> 00:17:51,720 Paul is trying to communicate. Exceedingly abundantly above, 303 00:17:52,080 --> 00:17:55,520 Far more abundantly beyond, immeasurably more than different 304 00:17:55,520 --> 00:17:57,520 translators try to keep adding words. 305 00:17:57,520 --> 00:18:01,320 Because no single English word does what one Greek word does. 306 00:18:02,480 --> 00:18:07,800 That's how big God is. So let's get ready to get to our 307 00:18:07,800 --> 00:18:09,920 second point here. So let me apply it first. 308 00:18:10,680 --> 00:18:12,280 Can I tell you this? There are things that God is 309 00:18:12,280 --> 00:18:15,640 preparing for a rise church that we don't yet have the vocabulary 310 00:18:15,640 --> 00:18:19,080 for. I'm going to say that again. 311 00:18:20,040 --> 00:18:21,120 Why don't you? Why don't you all say it with 312 00:18:21,120 --> 00:18:21,640 me? Help me out. 313 00:18:21,640 --> 00:18:22,560 Ready. Let's say it together. 314 00:18:22,760 --> 00:18:26,120 There are things God is preparing for a rise church that 315 00:18:26,120 --> 00:18:31,640 we do not yet have vocabulary for 'cause you don't know what 316 00:18:31,640 --> 00:18:34,120 you don't know. Some things we do know. 317 00:18:34,160 --> 00:18:37,240 Is God good? Is God great? 318 00:18:38,000 --> 00:18:41,480 Is God the great test? That is great. 319 00:18:41,480 --> 00:18:42,720 That's awesome. We know that. 320 00:18:42,720 --> 00:18:45,320 But there's things that we just don't know what God wants to do 321 00:18:45,320 --> 00:18:47,400 yet. But we are aligning ourselves 322 00:18:47,400 --> 00:18:49,760 and preparing ourselves for him to do that. 323 00:18:50,760 --> 00:18:53,400 I am so thankful that our times of worship, it seems like from 324 00:18:53,400 --> 00:18:56,200 week to week, doesn't it just seem like we're just like we can 325 00:18:56,200 --> 00:18:58,560 just linger a little bit longer. We can go a little bit deeper, 326 00:18:58,560 --> 00:19:01,000 we can go a little bit further. We can just, and, and, and I 327 00:19:01,000 --> 00:19:02,920 know some people are like, oh, we're going to sing that song 328 00:19:02,920 --> 00:19:08,240 again. Yeah, I heard somebody tell me 329 00:19:08,240 --> 00:19:10,680 one time I've, I've been a worship pastor and a pastor for 330 00:19:10,680 --> 00:19:12,440 a long time. I had somebody tell me one time, 331 00:19:12,800 --> 00:19:15,160 you know, going to Pentecostal and charismatic church is just 332 00:19:15,160 --> 00:19:19,200 like going a, going to a 711. You've seen the same 7 words 11 333 00:19:19,200 --> 00:19:21,800 times and you just sing it over and over and over. 334 00:19:21,800 --> 00:19:24,040 And, and they kind of meant it like as a joke. 335 00:19:24,520 --> 00:19:26,760 And I, and I'm like, well, how do I respond to this? 336 00:19:26,760 --> 00:19:28,520 And I'm like, and I'm thinking to myself, Lord, how do I 337 00:19:28,520 --> 00:19:29,680 respond to this? And I'm like, you know, 338 00:19:29,680 --> 00:19:33,760 sometimes you need to sing those 7 words 11 times in order to get 339 00:19:33,760 --> 00:19:37,360 it because so many of us get stuck on, oh, how many times 340 00:19:37,360 --> 00:19:40,040 going to sing that chorus again? Maybe you need to sing it 15 341 00:19:40,040 --> 00:19:43,960 times because maybe the 16th time you're going to get the 342 00:19:43,960 --> 00:19:45,720 breakthrough that you've been praying for. 343 00:19:51,120 --> 00:19:53,040 Oh, I'm going to be good today, I promise. 344 00:19:54,600 --> 00:19:58,480 Can I just say this? Some of us have stopped praying 345 00:19:58,480 --> 00:20:02,080 about some things because you couldn't articulate it, because 346 00:20:02,080 --> 00:20:05,160 you just couldn't put words onto the ache. 347 00:20:05,160 --> 00:20:07,520 And so you assumed that it wasn't a real prayer. 348 00:20:08,840 --> 00:20:12,320 See, Paul is telling you that the vocabulary problem, it's on 349 00:20:12,320 --> 00:20:16,000 our end, not on the Lord's end. God knows. 350 00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:19,080 He knows what's in our hearts. He knows what's in our minds. 351 00:20:19,080 --> 00:20:20,400 He knows what we're going through. 352 00:20:20,600 --> 00:20:24,200 And even if you can't articulate it and all you can say is Jesus, 353 00:20:26,120 --> 00:20:29,520 he knows what you're praying. If all you can say is Lord help, 354 00:20:30,640 --> 00:20:34,560 He knows what you're praying because we can't articulate it, 355 00:20:34,560 --> 00:20:43,800 but the Lord looks on our heart #2 Not only does Paul create a 356 00:20:43,800 --> 00:20:47,240 new word, there's also a closed door. 357 00:20:47,240 --> 00:20:51,280 You're probably familiar with the passage that God opens doors 358 00:20:51,280 --> 00:20:53,920 that no man can open and shuts doors that no man can shut. 359 00:20:53,960 --> 00:20:59,560 That's very true. God's ability outruns our 360 00:20:59,560 --> 00:21:03,400 imagination. And this is where the faith 361 00:21:03,400 --> 00:21:05,800 question gets answered. I'm going to go ahead and dive 362 00:21:05,800 --> 00:21:10,200 into this one. God's ability, let me say it 363 00:21:10,200 --> 00:21:15,440 again, outruns our imagination. And this is where the faith 364 00:21:15,440 --> 00:21:20,280 question gets answered. The Word says more than we ask 365 00:21:20,600 --> 00:21:27,040 or think, right? God can do exceedingly, 366 00:21:27,040 --> 00:21:30,960 abundantly above all that we ask or think. 367 00:21:31,680 --> 00:21:35,600 And so here's two things that the apostle Paul is hitting that 368 00:21:35,600 --> 00:21:37,680 we need to really hit because this sounds great. 369 00:21:38,320 --> 00:21:41,200 If I was reading this passage for the first time, I would 370 00:21:41,200 --> 00:21:43,000 probably go, I'm going to put that on a wall plaque. 371 00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:44,880 I'm going to put that in my office. 372 00:21:44,880 --> 00:21:46,560 I'm going to put that on my lock screen. 373 00:21:46,560 --> 00:21:49,240 I'm going to put that somewhere where I can look at this passage 374 00:21:49,560 --> 00:21:53,040 and be reminded that God can do exceedingly abundantly above all 375 00:21:53,040 --> 00:21:58,360 that I ask or even think. That sounds great and it is 376 00:21:58,360 --> 00:22:02,520 great. But Paul is saying, here's two 377 00:22:02,520 --> 00:22:06,120 things. He says what we ask and what we 378 00:22:06,120 --> 00:22:11,000 keep on asking and what we keep on asking and what we keep on 379 00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:15,840 asking and what we keep on asking and what we keep on 380 00:22:15,840 --> 00:22:19,200 asking. See, it's a smaller circle. 381 00:22:19,200 --> 00:22:21,280 It's what we would dare to request. 382 00:22:22,040 --> 00:22:25,320 God, I just if your word says it, I'm going to pray for it. 383 00:22:26,400 --> 00:22:29,760 If your word says it, then why do I think that you can't do it? 384 00:22:30,720 --> 00:22:33,800 If you, if I just read that you can do exceedingly, abundantly 385 00:22:33,800 --> 00:22:40,040 above all that I ask or think, and then he says this, He says 386 00:22:40,040 --> 00:22:43,080 it's not just what we ask, but it's what we think. 387 00:22:43,080 --> 00:22:44,800 And this is not just like daydreaming. 388 00:22:44,800 --> 00:22:47,400 This is not just like, oh, I want to, I want the sky to be 389 00:22:47,400 --> 00:22:49,840 green. That's just silly, right? 390 00:22:50,800 --> 00:22:54,520 But how many of us, you think something and I've done this 391 00:22:54,520 --> 00:22:55,960 before. Chances are you've done it as 392 00:22:55,960 --> 00:22:57,240 well. You think something and I'm 393 00:22:57,240 --> 00:22:59,440 like, no, that's just too I, I can't ask for that. 394 00:22:59,440 --> 00:23:01,680 That's just crazy. That can't be me. 395 00:23:01,680 --> 00:23:05,080 Well, what if it's the Lord putting something in your heart 396 00:23:05,080 --> 00:23:09,120 that he wants you to pray and it's just seems too out there. 397 00:23:10,560 --> 00:23:13,560 If somebody would have told me when I was a kid that I'd be 398 00:23:13,560 --> 00:23:15,800 doing what I'm doing today, I looked at him and said, no way, 399 00:23:15,800 --> 00:23:17,840 man, you guys heard a couple. You guys heard last month, I'm 400 00:23:17,840 --> 00:23:21,760 going to be a chiropractor, being a pastor, That's got to be 401 00:23:21,760 --> 00:23:23,280 the most boring job in the world. 402 00:23:24,320 --> 00:23:27,960 This has been the least boring thing I've ever done in my life 403 00:23:29,480 --> 00:23:35,000 because God is not boring. Walking for Jesus and live for 404 00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:38,240 him is absolutely not boring. It's the best thing that we 405 00:23:38,240 --> 00:23:41,760 could ever do and the apostle Paul says not just what we ask 406 00:23:41,920 --> 00:23:46,320 and keep asking, but it's even what we think the things that 407 00:23:46,320 --> 00:23:50,400 you pray. It's framing with a how many saw 408 00:23:50,400 --> 00:23:52,480 the movie. I don't care whether you liked 409 00:23:52,480 --> 00:23:54,240 it or you didn't a couple a number of years ago. 410 00:23:54,480 --> 00:23:56,000 Green Lantern with Ryan Reynolds. 411 00:23:56,880 --> 00:23:59,520 I will tell you I like watching superhero movies. 412 00:24:00,760 --> 00:24:04,680 And so if if you saw the movie, awesome, you're gonna know where 413 00:24:04,680 --> 00:24:06,240 I'm going with this. If if you didn't, I'll see if I 414 00:24:06,240 --> 00:24:09,120 can unpack it for you. So Ryan Reynolds, the characters 415 00:24:09,120 --> 00:24:10,840 playing, becomes the Green Lantern. 416 00:24:11,400 --> 00:24:15,360 And and part of what he can do is he wears this green ring that 417 00:24:15,360 --> 00:24:19,600 enables him to use the power of his mind to make constructs to 418 00:24:19,600 --> 00:24:22,600 meet, to beat bad guys. You with me so far. 419 00:24:23,520 --> 00:24:26,200 And the person who is training him because he's a brand new 420 00:24:26,200 --> 00:24:29,880 newbie from the planet Earth who doesn't know nothing about 421 00:24:29,880 --> 00:24:31,840 nothing. And this guy who's been a Green 422 00:24:31,840 --> 00:24:34,960 Lantern for a long time, it says, he says the bigger the 423 00:24:34,960 --> 00:24:39,360 construct in your mind, the bigger the, the, the, the thing 424 00:24:39,360 --> 00:24:41,320 you can make with the power of the ring. 425 00:24:42,800 --> 00:24:45,240 And I remember seeing that. I thought, oh man, that's like 426 00:24:45,240 --> 00:24:48,440 what the word talks about. The word says anything that I 427 00:24:48,440 --> 00:24:55,920 ask or imagine. So Lord, you're telling me that 428 00:24:55,920 --> 00:25:02,440 when I was bi vocational for 10 years, it doesn't matter whether 429 00:25:02,440 --> 00:25:05,320 I feel relevant or not. I'm relevant because you live 430 00:25:05,320 --> 00:25:08,280 inside of me and the people that I'm working with in this 431 00:25:08,280 --> 00:25:10,640 restaurant need to hear the good news of the gospel. 432 00:25:11,240 --> 00:25:14,480 So Lord, that means I can trust you to open doors that I'm going 433 00:25:14,480 --> 00:25:16,200 to. So I sort of pray and Jesus let 434 00:25:16,200 --> 00:25:17,960 me lead some of these people to the Lord. 435 00:25:19,520 --> 00:25:22,440 And that was a nice little small prayer because what the Lord 436 00:25:22,440 --> 00:25:25,640 began to do is I got to not only lead some of them to the Lord, I 437 00:25:25,640 --> 00:25:28,600 got to baptize some of them in water after they got saved. 438 00:25:29,440 --> 00:25:32,560 I haven't got to marry one of my servers to her husband and 439 00:25:32,560 --> 00:25:34,240 they're still married to have a whole bunch of kids. 440 00:25:35,160 --> 00:25:38,520 I'm like, that's really cool. And I can't tell you the number 441 00:25:38,520 --> 00:25:40,920 of people that would come up to me and say, Tim, can I, can I 442 00:25:40,920 --> 00:25:43,640 talk to you for a minute? Can I ask you a question? 443 00:25:44,360 --> 00:25:48,200 And it never had to do with how long does the food hold for? 444 00:25:48,200 --> 00:25:50,240 What's the temperature of a burger when you sell it? 445 00:25:50,640 --> 00:25:54,520 How cold should a milkshake be? It was always something that was 446 00:25:54,520 --> 00:25:57,880 significant. My wife just left me. 447 00:25:59,640 --> 00:26:01,080 My kids aren't walking with the Lord. 448 00:26:02,360 --> 00:26:06,040 One that really got me. My husband is beating me. 449 00:26:06,040 --> 00:26:08,600 And because my son sees my husband do what he thinks, it's 450 00:26:08,600 --> 00:26:09,800 OK. So he beats me too. 451 00:26:11,000 --> 00:26:15,760 And I was, I was full Lord. And I immediately started 452 00:26:15,760 --> 00:26:18,560 saying, Jesus, I know why you put me here. 453 00:26:19,080 --> 00:26:23,520 I know. And if it was great praying for 454 00:26:23,520 --> 00:26:26,200 people to come to Jesus, but man, I got to live life with 455 00:26:26,200 --> 00:26:30,640 people who needed to see Jesus in a place where a lot of people 456 00:26:30,640 --> 00:26:34,760 don't see Jesus. So just a side plug by the way, 457 00:26:34,760 --> 00:26:41,040 when you go to a restaurant, be Jesus in the restaurant, just be 458 00:26:41,040 --> 00:26:42,560 listening to what the Lord might say. 459 00:26:42,880 --> 00:26:47,760 Leave a good tip any anybody in food service industry. 460 00:26:47,840 --> 00:26:52,360 Can I get an Amen leave a good and a good tip is not 10%. 461 00:26:53,760 --> 00:26:57,680 That was in the 70s. A good tip is at least 20%. 462 00:26:59,840 --> 00:27:04,480 OK, I'm back. That one was a freebie. 463 00:27:05,080 --> 00:27:08,040 He says that he can do exceedingly, abundantly above 464 00:27:08,040 --> 00:27:12,360 all that we ask or think. See, we can always imagine more 465 00:27:12,480 --> 00:27:14,480 than we would presume to request. 466 00:27:14,840 --> 00:27:19,320 But Paul says, hey guys, God is so big you can go ahead and 467 00:27:19,320 --> 00:27:22,040 imagine as something as big as you can. 468 00:27:22,400 --> 00:27:24,240 But then the apostle Paul says, guess what? 469 00:27:24,600 --> 00:27:30,000 God lives even beyond that. Cause some of y'all got some 470 00:27:30,000 --> 00:27:31,640 pretty big dreams. How many got some pretty big 471 00:27:31,640 --> 00:27:34,240 dreams in this place? That's awesome. 472 00:27:34,240 --> 00:27:40,880 Praise God. God's dreams are bigger, see? 473 00:27:40,880 --> 00:27:43,720 So there's no loophole. He didn't say more than you 474 00:27:43,720 --> 00:27:46,120 asked. He said you could always ask 475 00:27:46,120 --> 00:27:49,600 bigger, He said, beyond what your mind cans conceive. 476 00:27:49,800 --> 00:27:51,640 So here's the question you might be thinking. 477 00:27:51,640 --> 00:27:52,880 Here's what I want to take a minute, talk. 478 00:27:52,880 --> 00:27:55,960 Talk about for a minute. You might be thinking, well, 479 00:27:55,960 --> 00:27:57,920 does it depend on whether I have enough faith? 480 00:27:59,600 --> 00:28:01,600 Because you've probably thought that I've thought that. 481 00:28:02,400 --> 00:28:04,840 You've maybe even been told, Well, maybe God didn't answer 482 00:28:04,840 --> 00:28:06,480 your prayer because you don't have enough faith. 483 00:28:07,080 --> 00:28:09,400 Well, I'm going to push back on some of that this morning. 484 00:28:10,680 --> 00:28:16,800 See, Lord, help me communicate this the right way. 485 00:28:17,880 --> 00:28:21,880 This passage says, let me read it again, find myself. 486 00:28:21,880 --> 00:28:23,600 There we go now to him who is able to do exceedingly 487 00:28:23,600 --> 00:28:27,000 abundantly above all, we ask or think according to the power 488 00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:31,120 that works in US. Can I tell you I, I've been 489 00:28:31,360 --> 00:28:35,240 digging into this passage for like the past five years and it 490 00:28:35,240 --> 00:28:38,080 seems like every time I get back into it, I'm like, Oh my gosh, I 491 00:28:38,080 --> 00:28:42,840 didn't see that last time. According to the power that 492 00:28:42,840 --> 00:28:45,200 works in us. Now, is there something that is 493 00:28:45,200 --> 00:28:49,280 according to the power like the, the, the amount of anointing? 494 00:28:49,280 --> 00:28:50,760 Cause the anointing changes everything. 495 00:28:50,840 --> 00:28:53,040 Yes. If God's big, then I'm going to 496 00:28:53,040 --> 00:28:56,280 believe God for big things. So I want to make sure that 497 00:28:56,280 --> 00:29:00,000 faith is active in my life. But here is what this is talking 498 00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:03,040 about. The noun that the Apostle Paul 499 00:29:03,040 --> 00:29:06,320 uses is the word power, not faith. 500 00:29:06,440 --> 00:29:11,200 He didn't say according to the faith that works in US, because 501 00:29:11,200 --> 00:29:13,960 faith is just a given if you're a Christian. 502 00:29:13,960 --> 00:29:16,360 Amen. Without faith it's impossible to 503 00:29:16,360 --> 00:29:18,600 please God 'cause he who comes that God must believe that He is 504 00:29:18,760 --> 00:29:20,680 and that he's a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. 505 00:29:20,680 --> 00:29:23,200 Hebrews 11/6, he says it's not faith. 506 00:29:23,200 --> 00:29:26,640 He said it's according to the power that works in us because 507 00:29:26,640 --> 00:29:29,840 he knows that we're human beings and that we might say, well, 508 00:29:30,040 --> 00:29:33,160 there's something that I need to do to get God to do something 509 00:29:33,160 --> 00:29:37,800 that I want Him to do. And many of us would read this 510 00:29:37,800 --> 00:29:41,080 passage that way. But that is not at all what is 511 00:29:41,080 --> 00:29:45,720 being communicated here. See, faith is something that is 512 00:29:45,720 --> 00:29:48,200 tangible. Hebrews 11/1. 513 00:29:48,200 --> 00:29:50,920 Now faith is what? It's the substance of things 514 00:29:51,200 --> 00:29:53,480 hoped for. It's the evidence of things that 515 00:29:53,480 --> 00:29:56,800 we have not seen yet. And if you set your faith as the 516 00:29:56,800 --> 00:30:01,040 ceiling, God's action would be capped at exactly the level of 517 00:30:01,040 --> 00:30:04,960 your asking and thinking. And that is exactly what the 518 00:30:04,960 --> 00:30:09,160 apostle Paul is pushing back on. I am praying. 519 00:30:10,320 --> 00:30:14,520 Don't tell Pastor Ty this. I am praying for at least 500 520 00:30:14,520 --> 00:30:16,400 people to come to the Arise Conference this year. 521 00:30:17,840 --> 00:30:19,640 Now, I don't know if we'll have 500 people. 522 00:30:19,640 --> 00:30:21,560 That's just the number that the Lord put in my heart. 523 00:30:21,920 --> 00:30:23,360 That's not the number that we've talked about. 524 00:30:23,360 --> 00:30:26,000 And I'm not trying to say I've got more faith than Pastor Ty. 525 00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:28,200 Are you hearing me? I'm not trying to say I got more 526 00:30:28,200 --> 00:30:30,280 faith than you. I'm just saying, Lord, I know 527 00:30:30,280 --> 00:30:31,680 what you want to do with this thing. 528 00:30:32,400 --> 00:30:34,880 I just have a sense. And I'm not even the pastor of 529 00:30:34,880 --> 00:30:37,360 the church. I'm just a guy who's saying what 530 00:30:37,360 --> 00:30:39,280 can we do to make it happen? And we've got a team of people 531 00:30:39,280 --> 00:30:41,320 who are saying, what can we do to make this happen? 532 00:30:42,520 --> 00:30:43,520 Are you hearing my heart with that? 533 00:30:44,360 --> 00:30:48,680 I'm saying, yes, if we're believed for that, praise God, I 534 00:30:48,680 --> 00:30:51,360 am not at all saying your faith is not where mine is at. 535 00:30:51,560 --> 00:30:56,440 Not at all. So we're clear, yes, because the 536 00:30:56,440 --> 00:30:58,960 Lord might say, OK, that's great that you're praying that I don't 537 00:30:58,960 --> 00:31:01,120 want that many people there yet because I don't want you all to 538 00:31:01,120 --> 00:31:04,520 be overwhelmed and run over and not and be falling all over 539 00:31:04,520 --> 00:31:07,880 yourselves. But on the flip side, what if 540 00:31:07,880 --> 00:31:13,000 500 people do show up? What if 1000 people show up? 541 00:31:13,640 --> 00:31:16,240 We're going to be learning a bunch of stuff real, real fast. 542 00:31:17,720 --> 00:31:22,880 But if 152 hundred 300 show up, praise the Lord, praise God. 543 00:31:23,480 --> 00:31:28,920 See, if my faith is the ceiling, then God's action is capped at 544 00:31:28,920 --> 00:31:32,640 the level of my faith, and God is far beyond the level of the 545 00:31:32,640 --> 00:31:37,760 faith that I have. Faith is the instrument of 546 00:31:37,760 --> 00:31:40,480 Christ indwelling. See, faith is the conduit. 547 00:31:40,480 --> 00:31:43,120 It's our receptivity, and it's the direction of where we're 548 00:31:43,120 --> 00:31:45,560 looking. It's never the determinant of 549 00:31:45,560 --> 00:31:51,000 quality or, excuse me, quantity. It's never the determinant of 550 00:31:51,000 --> 00:31:52,240 quantity. I read that wrong. 551 00:31:52,960 --> 00:31:56,400 Which is precisely why Jesus says, OK, you can have faith 552 00:31:56,400 --> 00:31:58,520 just like a mustard seed, that's all you need. 553 00:31:59,680 --> 00:32:01,840 You got a little bit of faith. That's enough for me to work 554 00:32:01,840 --> 00:32:04,160 with because Jesus always has more. 555 00:32:05,360 --> 00:32:07,080 Tell the person next to you. He's always got more. 556 00:32:10,360 --> 00:32:13,240 So before we move along here, I'd like to, I'd like to 557 00:32:13,280 --> 00:32:17,440 establish a kind of a guardrail. See, this is a praise wrapped in 558 00:32:17,440 --> 00:32:19,440 a prayer. It's not a mechanism. 559 00:32:20,560 --> 00:32:27,480 Here's what it answers. It answers how much is he able 560 00:32:27,720 --> 00:32:31,000 to do? That's what Paul's talking 561 00:32:31,000 --> 00:32:34,560 about. How much is God able to do? 562 00:32:34,560 --> 00:32:36,320 It's not answering this question. 563 00:32:36,760 --> 00:32:42,040 How do I get him to do it? Because we live in a world, we 564 00:32:42,040 --> 00:32:46,000 live in a society, right? That says OK, if you do XYABC 565 00:32:46,000 --> 00:32:50,600 you will get XYZ. We live in a very performance 566 00:32:50,600 --> 00:32:53,640 oriented society, don't we? When I worked in the restaurant, 567 00:32:53,640 --> 00:32:56,280 we had a a scorecard. It was green, yellow, red. 568 00:32:56,680 --> 00:32:58,240 And if you were green, you were good. 569 00:32:58,400 --> 00:33:01,440 If you were yellow, you better get close to green. 570 00:33:01,520 --> 00:33:03,480 If you were red, you got some stuff to work on. 571 00:33:04,360 --> 00:33:07,560 And we were based. We live in a performance based 572 00:33:07,560 --> 00:33:10,080 society. And we think if I, if I go to 573 00:33:10,080 --> 00:33:12,840 church this many times a month, if I read my Bible every day a 574 00:33:12,840 --> 00:33:15,920 week for at least an hour and I pray and I get bruises on my 575 00:33:15,920 --> 00:33:18,800 knees and I know every song and I go horse singing every song 576 00:33:19,000 --> 00:33:21,240 and I'm at every single church event and I witness to all my 577 00:33:21,240 --> 00:33:24,200 neighbors and I do all this stuff, then God will do 578 00:33:24,200 --> 00:33:27,920 something for me. You might be thinking, oh, I 579 00:33:27,920 --> 00:33:30,000 don't do that. Well, if you play sports, you 580 00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:31,640 probably do it and don't even realize it. 581 00:33:33,400 --> 00:33:36,600 Some sports people are the most superstitious people on the 582 00:33:36,600 --> 00:33:39,400 planet. My son played hockey for a long 583 00:33:39,400 --> 00:33:41,680 time. He played hockey for 21 years 584 00:33:41,680 --> 00:33:43,680 and they were on a winning streak when they went to the 585 00:33:43,800 --> 00:33:46,600 state championships living in California and these boys were 586 00:33:46,600 --> 00:33:47,920 nuts. This is going to sound kind of 587 00:33:47,920 --> 00:33:49,000 gross. They were little. 588 00:33:49,080 --> 00:33:51,480 They were like 10/11, 12:00-ish years old. 589 00:33:52,360 --> 00:33:57,040 They all sat in the same car in the same spot on the way to the 590 00:33:57,040 --> 00:34:01,520 rink every single game because they wanted to make sure they 591 00:34:01,520 --> 00:34:04,400 did everything to win the next game, to win the next game, to 592 00:34:04,400 --> 00:34:06,560 get to the championship. Not only did they sit in the 593 00:34:06,560 --> 00:34:11,679 same car, they had to listen to the same songs, they had to wear 594 00:34:11,679 --> 00:34:15,120 the same outfit. They didn't change their clothes 595 00:34:15,159 --> 00:34:19,280 for like 3 or 4 days or wash them. 596 00:34:19,920 --> 00:34:24,159 It was disgusting. But can I tell you what? 597 00:34:24,159 --> 00:34:29,800 They won a championship, but can I tell you we do the same thing 598 00:34:29,800 --> 00:34:33,080 as Christians, don't we? We get to a place where we feel 599 00:34:33,080 --> 00:34:35,520 God's presence and we're like, oh, if I can just get to that 600 00:34:35,520 --> 00:34:41,000 place right there, then it's like I'll hit the slot machine 601 00:34:41,000 --> 00:34:43,800 and I'll. And that's not the way God 602 00:34:43,800 --> 00:34:47,600 works. See this scripture is answering. 603 00:34:47,600 --> 00:34:51,800 It's not, it's not how do I get God to do it, but how much is he 604 00:34:51,800 --> 00:34:55,199 able to do because his power is at work in us. 605 00:34:55,199 --> 00:34:58,760 When we turn it into a mechanism, worship becomes self 606 00:34:58,760 --> 00:35:03,760 examination under an unmeatable standard that becomes shame the 607 00:35:03,760 --> 00:35:05,320 moment the prayer isn't answered. 608 00:35:07,480 --> 00:35:11,920 See this passage is not a lever. It's not read this scripture. 609 00:35:12,120 --> 00:35:14,400 Boom, pull a lever and bang, God shows up. 610 00:35:15,000 --> 00:35:19,400 God's already there. He's already there. 611 00:35:20,200 --> 00:35:25,600 So let me say this to those who have walked with God for 612 00:35:25,600 --> 00:35:27,200 decades, like me. I've been a Christian. 613 00:35:28,480 --> 00:35:30,480 Today's the 9th. I've been a Christian for 50 614 00:35:30,480 --> 00:35:34,760 years now. Wow, some of you guys have been 615 00:35:34,760 --> 00:35:37,960 a Christian for five weeks. That's awesome. 616 00:35:37,960 --> 00:35:39,800 Praise God. Best decision ever. 617 00:35:41,800 --> 00:35:44,040 But to those who have walked with the Lord for a long time, 618 00:35:44,320 --> 00:35:46,880 you've seen him move. You could probably testify right 619 00:35:46,880 --> 00:35:48,560 now, a whole bunch of testimonies. 620 00:35:49,720 --> 00:35:53,040 But can I tell you somewhere along the way there was a prayer 621 00:35:53,360 --> 00:35:57,520 that maybe didn't get answered the way that you wanted, and you 622 00:35:57,520 --> 00:35:59,680 made a quiet internal adjustment. 623 00:36:00,200 --> 00:36:02,360 You kept all the doctrine. You said I believe it. 624 00:36:02,360 --> 00:36:04,720 I know what the word says, but you lowered your expectations. 625 00:36:06,160 --> 00:36:08,840 Nobody knew it. You can still quote the passage, 626 00:36:09,360 --> 00:36:12,240 you just stopped anticipating that God would actually answer 627 00:36:12,240 --> 00:36:17,560 your prayers. To those of us who are younger, 628 00:36:19,360 --> 00:36:21,640 you live in a world that measures everything. 629 00:36:23,160 --> 00:36:25,080 How many steps did you break today? 630 00:36:25,680 --> 00:36:27,440 How many streaks did you keep today? 631 00:36:29,000 --> 00:36:30,800 What is your social media output? 632 00:36:31,440 --> 00:36:33,200 What is your level of engagement? 633 00:36:33,360 --> 00:36:36,160 Are you an influencer? What influencers do you follow? 634 00:36:36,920 --> 00:36:41,760 So faith becomes one more metric to optimize, and every 635 00:36:41,760 --> 00:36:46,000 unanswered prayer can become a performance review that has at 636 00:36:46,000 --> 00:36:50,760 best, at best a potential for failure and at worst a loss of 637 00:36:50,760 --> 00:36:56,440 faith. See what the apostle Paul is 638 00:36:56,440 --> 00:36:59,320 communicating in this passage. He says, hey, I know there's, 639 00:36:59,320 --> 00:37:01,440 there's going to be people who walk with the Lord for a long 640 00:37:01,440 --> 00:37:02,600 time. There's going to be people who 641 00:37:02,600 --> 00:37:04,840 start walking with the Lord and will be. 642 00:37:04,960 --> 00:37:06,480 Will there be some unanswered prayers? 643 00:37:06,960 --> 00:37:09,800 Probably. I'm not going to ask by a show 644 00:37:09,800 --> 00:37:11,960 of hands how many of us has had unanswered prayers. 645 00:37:13,320 --> 00:37:15,600 But I also don't want to ask how many have had answered prayers 646 00:37:15,600 --> 00:37:18,760 because we would all probably raise our hands to one of those 647 00:37:18,760 --> 00:37:21,200 questions, if not both of them. See. 648 00:37:21,200 --> 00:37:24,560 But both have misread the same word in opposite directions. 649 00:37:24,840 --> 00:37:27,200 Both are living under the same lie. 650 00:37:27,840 --> 00:37:30,560 What God wants to do depends on me. 651 00:37:36,920 --> 00:37:41,120 I can't save anybody. I can't baptize anybody with the 652 00:37:41,120 --> 00:37:45,120 Holy Spirit. I can't heal anybody. 653 00:37:46,200 --> 00:37:50,000 It's not me that does the work. Look at the person next and just 654 00:37:50,000 --> 00:37:51,440 tell him, it ain't you, sweetheart. 655 00:37:54,520 --> 00:37:58,000 It's the Lord who does the work in us. 656 00:37:59,280 --> 00:38:05,200 So can I just tell you, release the critique and the criticism 657 00:38:05,200 --> 00:38:09,400 of your faith, get rid of it. Just get rid of it. 658 00:38:10,240 --> 00:38:11,280 Oh, that's easier said than done. 659 00:38:11,280 --> 00:38:12,920 No, it's not. Just say, Lord, forgive me for 660 00:38:12,920 --> 00:38:16,480 being critical. You can do anything, anything 661 00:38:16,480 --> 00:38:18,000 you want to do. So Lord, whatever you want to 662 00:38:18,000 --> 00:38:20,240 do, you just do it. I'm just going to love you. 663 00:38:20,240 --> 00:38:22,120 I'm going to live for you. I'm going to follow you. 664 00:38:22,120 --> 00:38:24,360 And if you answer my prayers, praise God. 665 00:38:24,360 --> 00:38:27,680 I am going to pray in faith with everything that I pray for. 666 00:38:28,120 --> 00:38:31,200 I'm going to pray expecting, anticipating every single time. 667 00:38:31,360 --> 00:38:33,680 If I go into the grave, people have heard me say this for 668 00:38:33,680 --> 00:38:35,360 years. If I go to the grave and I'm 669 00:38:35,360 --> 00:38:38,040 still wearing glasses, Jesus is still my healer. 670 00:38:40,560 --> 00:38:43,400 It doesn't mean that he can't heal my eyes for whatever 671 00:38:43,400 --> 00:38:44,920 reason. I haven't had the full 672 00:38:44,920 --> 00:38:47,880 manifestation of healing yet, but when Jesus said it is 673 00:38:47,880 --> 00:38:53,000 finished, it was done. My healing was one 2000 years 674 00:38:53,000 --> 00:38:56,840 ago and he knew at some point Tim Versalono would get to 4th 675 00:38:56,840 --> 00:38:59,440 grade and discover that he needed glasses and would feel 676 00:38:59,440 --> 00:39:01,080 like a geek the most of his life. 677 00:39:01,680 --> 00:39:04,360 But that's OK because Jesus is still my healer. 678 00:39:06,080 --> 00:39:09,840 He will always be my healer. I don't care what anybody says. 679 00:39:10,520 --> 00:39:12,080 You can tell me till you're blue in the face. 680 00:39:12,080 --> 00:39:14,040 He doesn't do that stuff today. That's why you're not healed. 681 00:39:14,280 --> 00:39:16,880 Baloney. Baloney. 682 00:39:17,920 --> 00:39:21,440 I've seen God do way too much for me to doubt that God can do 683 00:39:21,440 --> 00:39:24,600 anything at all. So I just want to encourage you 684 00:39:24,600 --> 00:39:29,080 today if you have quietly lowered your expectations and if 685 00:39:29,080 --> 00:39:32,400 you're exhausted from trying to believe hard enough, this 686 00:39:32,400 --> 00:39:34,480 prayers for you take. Let me just pray with you. 687 00:39:34,480 --> 00:39:36,640 Just hang on a second. Let's just pray Jesus right now, 688 00:39:36,960 --> 00:39:40,720 wherever we're at in our walk with the Lord, Lord, wherever 689 00:39:40,720 --> 00:39:43,480 we're at, whether we've been Christians for a long time and 690 00:39:43,480 --> 00:39:48,040 we've been disappointed, whether we've been hurt, whether we've 691 00:39:48,040 --> 00:39:51,560 questioned God, why, whether we're a younger believer and, 692 00:39:51,560 --> 00:39:54,200 and we're, and, and everything is a metric and we're judging 693 00:39:54,200 --> 00:39:55,280 for this and we're looking for that. 694 00:39:55,280 --> 00:40:02,280 Lord, we say today, forgive us, Lord, forgive me, forgive me. 695 00:40:02,280 --> 00:40:08,120 Lord, I don't want to just give mental assent to your word 696 00:40:08,760 --> 00:40:11,560 because every word that you speak is true. 697 00:40:12,720 --> 00:40:17,080 I will build my life upon your word. 698 00:40:17,880 --> 00:40:25,920 It is a firm foundation. So I say in Jesus name, Church 699 00:40:25,920 --> 00:40:30,160 fam, be free. If you receive that today, would 700 00:40:30,160 --> 00:40:37,480 you say Amen #3 Last point. God's power is always, always, 701 00:40:38,040 --> 00:40:48,440 always, always, always working. God's power is always working. 702 00:40:50,520 --> 00:40:52,280 It's a good place for somebody to say Amen. 703 00:40:52,960 --> 00:40:58,320 His power is always working. So here's this last part of the 704 00:40:58,320 --> 00:40:59,600 passage I'd like to take a look at. 705 00:40:59,600 --> 00:41:02,560 It says, according to the power working in us. 706 00:41:03,040 --> 00:41:07,400 Now this is what's really cool. When the apostle Paul writes 707 00:41:07,400 --> 00:41:15,920 this, he doesn't write this and say it works according according 708 00:41:15,920 --> 00:41:19,080 to the power working as he doesn't say out of the power in 709 00:41:19,080 --> 00:41:22,240 us. He says according to There's a 710 00:41:22,240 --> 00:41:26,480 big difference between the two. A wealthy person gives out of 711 00:41:26,480 --> 00:41:31,200 their wealth a small gift from a large fortune. 712 00:41:31,960 --> 00:41:35,160 Now there may be people who who are are wonderful and they do a 713 00:41:35,160 --> 00:41:40,120 lot of great things and they give big gifts and that's super 714 00:41:40,600 --> 00:41:42,840 if there's any philanthropist in the house, my birthday's in a 715 00:41:42,840 --> 00:41:44,400 couple weeks. So here we go. 716 00:41:46,600 --> 00:41:48,480 Give me a small gift from a large fortune. 717 00:41:49,160 --> 00:41:54,760 But the word says that God gives according to Now there's a 718 00:41:54,760 --> 00:41:57,920 difference between out of and according to. 719 00:41:58,520 --> 00:42:00,360 Y'all are starting to see where I'm going with this here. 720 00:42:01,080 --> 00:42:05,040 If he gives according to something, God is giving 721 00:42:05,040 --> 00:42:07,840 something that matches something he already has. 722 00:42:11,400 --> 00:42:13,400 So that means we can stop praying. 723 00:42:13,400 --> 00:42:17,640 Lord, if you just bless me just a little bit, just a little to 724 00:42:17,640 --> 00:42:20,240 God, if you could just just you know Lord, I don't want to 725 00:42:20,240 --> 00:42:22,960 trouble you. I know I missed church 3 out of 726 00:42:22,960 --> 00:42:25,680 four Sundays this this month, but I've if I go this week, Lord 727 00:42:25,680 --> 00:42:28,640 could just a little, just a little bitty blessing is all I 728 00:42:28,640 --> 00:42:31,880 need. God says no, I want to bless you 729 00:42:31,880 --> 00:42:37,040 according to not out of because when you take something out of 730 00:42:37,040 --> 00:42:40,920 something that is no longer there and whatever was the, the, 731 00:42:41,000 --> 00:42:44,520 the the, the repository has diminished some right. 732 00:42:45,280 --> 00:42:46,680 Let me give you a real world example. 733 00:42:46,680 --> 00:42:49,480 I want to make sure you track with me when you put gas in your 734 00:42:49,480 --> 00:42:56,680 car, when you spend however much you spend to put gas in your 735 00:42:56,680 --> 00:43:00,360 car, what happens? The meter goes, it's a full, 736 00:43:00,360 --> 00:43:03,640 doesn't it? The moment you pull away from 737 00:43:03,640 --> 00:43:08,040 the gas station, you might not see it, but you are using out of 738 00:43:08,120 --> 00:43:11,520 the gas tank and at some point you're going to say, oh, oh, I 739 00:43:11,520 --> 00:43:14,760 need to go back to fill up my gas tank and you refill it. 740 00:43:15,880 --> 00:43:20,560 If God gave us out of God would be less God because he gives us 741 00:43:20,560 --> 00:43:24,560 out of what he what he supplies. But the Bible says that God 742 00:43:24,560 --> 00:43:28,480 gives according to. So when you pray, guess what? 743 00:43:28,600 --> 00:43:32,080 That gas tank from heaven never goes down. 744 00:43:33,120 --> 00:43:35,600 The full is always, it's not just full. 745 00:43:35,680 --> 00:43:37,760 You know how when you click, click, click, click, click, 746 00:43:37,920 --> 00:43:40,320 click, click, click, and the gas station says don't do that. 747 00:43:40,320 --> 00:43:42,080 But you're like, come on, I got to round it up to the nearest 748 00:43:42,080 --> 00:43:43,880 dollar, click, click. And I want just a little more 749 00:43:43,880 --> 00:43:44,920 gas. I'm trying to stretch it. 750 00:43:45,120 --> 00:43:47,320 And you get that thing above the F in the car. 751 00:43:47,880 --> 00:43:49,360 You're like, I got more than full. 752 00:43:49,440 --> 00:43:53,640 That's what God is all the time. God is always more than full, 753 00:43:54,080 --> 00:43:56,400 and that's what the apostle Paul is trying to communicate. 754 00:43:56,400 --> 00:44:00,400 He says God wants to minister to you out of the place of more 755 00:44:00,400 --> 00:44:02,600 than. And it's not just out of it's 756 00:44:02,600 --> 00:44:06,400 according to because he never diminishes, He never sleeps, He 757 00:44:06,400 --> 00:44:08,840 never slumbers, He never scales down. 758 00:44:09,560 --> 00:44:13,920 See, the scale of his power sets the scale of his action. 759 00:44:13,920 --> 00:44:18,520 Let me say that again. The scale of his power sets the 760 00:44:18,520 --> 00:44:22,360 scale of his action. So pray those big, big prayers. 761 00:44:23,520 --> 00:44:29,000 Pray em, go for it. God might just surprise you and 762 00:44:29,000 --> 00:44:31,760 answer your prayer. And then you can pray for 763 00:44:31,760 --> 00:44:35,080 somebody else and teach them to pray big prayers 'cause that's 764 00:44:35,320 --> 00:44:38,760 how big our God is. Let's get ready to wrap this up. 765 00:44:39,880 --> 00:44:42,360 So what is the power? Paul talks about it again in 766 00:44:42,360 --> 00:44:46,200 verses chapter 1/19/20. He stacks 4 power words, 767 00:44:46,200 --> 00:44:49,880 Dunamis, Energia, Kratos, and Iskis and then he anchors all 768 00:44:49,880 --> 00:44:52,360 four to one event. All four of these power words 769 00:44:52,480 --> 00:44:55,000 are anchored to one event which is the source of our power. 770 00:44:55,080 --> 00:44:59,520 It's the resurrection of Jesus because Jesus did not stay in 771 00:44:59,520 --> 00:45:01,880 the grave. Muhammad still in the grave, 772 00:45:02,080 --> 00:45:05,320 Buddha still in the grave, Confucius still in the grave, 773 00:45:05,400 --> 00:45:08,640 Jim Jones still in the grave. All these guys still in the 774 00:45:08,640 --> 00:45:10,440 grave. There's only one that is not in 775 00:45:10,440 --> 00:45:12,440 the grave whose power is limitless. 776 00:45:13,640 --> 00:45:17,040 Jesus Christ is the source of our power. 777 00:45:17,560 --> 00:45:21,920 See, the measure of the power at work in you is a fulfilled 778 00:45:21,920 --> 00:45:25,800 resurrection. Believing did not calibrate it, 779 00:45:25,800 --> 00:45:27,920 and doubting does not uncalibrate it. 780 00:45:28,240 --> 00:45:31,760 Jesus has always raised, he will always be raised from the grave. 781 00:45:33,080 --> 00:45:34,440 I maybe say wait a second, wait a second. 782 00:45:34,440 --> 00:45:36,720 I heard you say something about doubting and and, and 783 00:45:36,720 --> 00:45:39,960 uncalibrating it. Well, the word says if we doubt, 784 00:45:39,960 --> 00:45:41,960 then we need to think that we're not going to get anything from 785 00:45:41,960 --> 00:45:43,680 the Lord. So I don't want to be a doubter, 786 00:45:44,400 --> 00:45:47,480 but my doubt is not going to diminish God's power. 787 00:45:48,200 --> 00:45:52,280 It might diminish my receptivity, right? 788 00:45:54,160 --> 00:46:01,040 But His power is always big. It's in that full position all 789 00:46:01,040 --> 00:46:04,360 the time, and it is always at work. 790 00:46:04,360 --> 00:46:07,720 It's not power that once work. It's not power that will work if 791 00:46:07,720 --> 00:46:09,800 all the conditions are met. It's present, present, 792 00:46:09,800 --> 00:46:12,680 continuous right now. God's power is at work right 793 00:46:12,680 --> 00:46:15,320 now. See, you don't need to wait for 794 00:46:15,320 --> 00:46:19,920 prayer time and ministry time. You can be healed right now, all 795 00:46:19,920 --> 00:46:21,360 you got to do is just grab hold of it. 796 00:46:22,120 --> 00:46:24,640 Tim, I've tried that before. Well, great, keep holding on. 797 00:46:25,160 --> 00:46:28,320 Nowhere in the Bible does it say let go of the promises of God if 798 00:46:28,320 --> 00:46:30,080 they didn't get met in your time frame. 799 00:46:37,080 --> 00:46:42,440 See, the real question is not will we believe hard enough for 800 00:46:42,440 --> 00:46:44,440 God to act? Oh God, I'm just going to 801 00:46:44,440 --> 00:46:47,720 believe you harder. Here's what the question is. 802 00:46:47,720 --> 00:46:51,360 Do we recognize that it's already working? 803 00:46:52,160 --> 00:46:55,680 His power is already at work. It's a perception problem, not a 804 00:46:55,680 --> 00:46:59,840 production problem. We need to shift our mindset to 805 00:46:59,840 --> 00:47:03,000 see what the Word of God says. We need to shape our lives by 806 00:47:03,000 --> 00:47:06,320 the word not our not not shape the word by our lives. 807 00:47:07,600 --> 00:47:09,880 I've heard people preach that my whole life you don't let your 808 00:47:10,080 --> 00:47:12,800 circumstances dictate your life, but you let your life dictate 809 00:47:12,800 --> 00:47:15,080 your circumstances. I can tell you I've been on both 810 00:47:15,080 --> 00:47:17,960 sides of that coin and on the side that that dictate that 811 00:47:17,960 --> 00:47:21,320 circumstances dictate my life. It is not fun place to be. 812 00:47:23,920 --> 00:47:26,480 Now you heard JJ share a little while ago we were super bummed 813 00:47:26,480 --> 00:47:28,040 when we lost our house to foreclosure. 814 00:47:28,040 --> 00:47:30,200 We were super bummed. Oh man we were disappointed. 815 00:47:30,200 --> 00:47:32,560 We're like God, we prayed, we believe, we tried to be 816 00:47:32,560 --> 00:47:37,440 integrity and makes every payment and that bank just and 817 00:47:37,440 --> 00:47:40,040 we licked our wounds for a minute, but but we had to say, 818 00:47:40,040 --> 00:47:42,720 OK, you know what, Lord, we're not sure why that happened, but 819 00:47:42,720 --> 00:47:45,360 you're still God, you're still in charge. 820 00:47:45,560 --> 00:47:48,080 It might have surprised us, but it didn't surprise you. 821 00:47:48,200 --> 00:47:49,880 So we're going to put our faith in you. 822 00:47:49,880 --> 00:47:52,600 We're going to put our trust in you and we are going to continue 823 00:47:52,600 --> 00:47:55,040 to hang on. And God, somehow you are going 824 00:47:55,040 --> 00:47:58,920 to get us out of this hole that we didn't try to get into, and 825 00:47:58,920 --> 00:48:01,000 you are going to do something that we can't do. 826 00:48:02,120 --> 00:48:05,880 And that's exactly what the Lord can do with every single one of 827 00:48:05,880 --> 00:48:08,200 us. It's a perception problem, not a 828 00:48:08,200 --> 00:48:10,360 production problem. So let's apply this because 829 00:48:10,360 --> 00:48:12,360 we're going to receive communion in just a few minutes and seal 830 00:48:12,360 --> 00:48:16,400 this deal. See, God's power is not coming. 831 00:48:16,400 --> 00:48:20,120 It is here right now. God's power is here in this 832 00:48:20,120 --> 00:48:23,600 room, and it is in each other. It's working to some degree in 833 00:48:23,600 --> 00:48:27,360 all of our lives right now, according to the power at work 834 00:48:27,360 --> 00:48:30,920 in you. If you love Jesus and you're in 835 00:48:30,920 --> 00:48:33,840 this room and you can hear the sound of my voice, God's power 836 00:48:33,840 --> 00:48:38,360 is at work in your life right now, right now. 837 00:48:38,640 --> 00:48:40,240 Tell the person next year, right now. 838 00:48:43,240 --> 00:48:46,200 So I'm on a courage to stop praying for what you already 839 00:48:46,200 --> 00:48:50,280 have and start stewarding it. Oh, God, give me your power. 840 00:48:50,280 --> 00:48:54,080 He gave you his power. He wants us to steward it. 841 00:48:54,400 --> 00:48:58,840 He wants us to handle it. The prayer is God opened my eyes 842 00:48:58,840 --> 00:49:04,120 to what is already at work and see the plural is the point. 843 00:49:04,160 --> 00:49:07,120 Because you can't access this by yourself. 844 00:49:08,720 --> 00:49:12,000 Oh, what do you mean by that? You can't access it by yourself? 845 00:49:12,240 --> 00:49:15,520 Some of what God has for you is currently sitting in a in a 846 00:49:15,520 --> 00:49:22,080 chair 3 rows over. After COVID, I can't tell you 847 00:49:22,080 --> 00:49:25,280 how many people decided to just do Christianity all by 848 00:49:25,280 --> 00:49:26,400 themselves. I don't need the church. 849 00:49:26,400 --> 00:49:29,000 I can do this. And and I can tell you pastoring 850 00:49:29,000 --> 00:49:31,400 a church through COVID was absolutely 0 fun. 851 00:49:33,880 --> 00:49:36,240 I'm just going to be. Is it OK if I just be completely 852 00:49:36,320 --> 00:49:39,760 completely like heart laid bare open with you? 853 00:49:40,520 --> 00:49:42,520 Pastoring through COVID was a drag. 854 00:49:43,480 --> 00:49:46,560 I love pastoring. I loved our congregation through 855 00:49:46,560 --> 00:49:49,720 it, but man, it was hard because after COVID, there was the 856 00:49:49,720 --> 00:49:54,200 assumption, well, when everybody comes back and when everybody, 857 00:49:54,200 --> 00:49:58,040 everybody didn't come back, like over half of our church, I was 858 00:49:58,040 --> 00:50:01,960 like, whoa, wait a second, what's going on here? 859 00:50:01,960 --> 00:50:05,480 Where'd everybody go? And all of us pastors, in trying 860 00:50:05,480 --> 00:50:09,600 to do a good thing and keep people connected, we all became 861 00:50:09,600 --> 00:50:12,480 televangelists. We all began recording our 862 00:50:12,480 --> 00:50:14,400 service. We all began broadcasting online 863 00:50:14,400 --> 00:50:16,960 because everybody said distance and don't and all that stuff. 864 00:50:17,320 --> 00:50:21,360 And, and a large majority of us did it out of great heart and 865 00:50:21,360 --> 00:50:23,840 great intent. But I got to tell you, it was 866 00:50:23,840 --> 00:50:26,320 hard. When I'm like people, I'd bump 867 00:50:26,320 --> 00:50:28,440 into people in town and they'd be like, hey, Pastor Jim, how 868 00:50:28,480 --> 00:50:29,840 you doing? I'm like, great, I miss you. 869 00:50:30,080 --> 00:50:31,760 Oh, yeah, I've been watching the service online. 870 00:50:33,080 --> 00:50:39,680 I'd be like, Are you sure? Are you positive? 871 00:50:40,320 --> 00:50:43,640 And what happened was a lot of us discovered that we can go 872 00:50:43,640 --> 00:50:46,880 here for great worship. We can go here for a great word. 873 00:50:47,120 --> 00:50:49,720 And if it gets too intense, we can just log off all together 874 00:50:49,720 --> 00:50:51,160 and just say we're going to church. 875 00:50:52,200 --> 00:50:55,880 See, we can't do this alone. This is and this is not to beat 876 00:50:55,880 --> 00:50:57,920 anybody up. If that was you, that is not to 877 00:50:57,920 --> 00:51:01,640 beat anybody up at all. But what is being stressed here 878 00:51:01,640 --> 00:51:04,280 is it? This is the family of God. 879 00:51:05,240 --> 00:51:07,920 We grow together. Pastor Lilia, last week. 880 00:51:07,920 --> 00:51:12,160 Man, what a word. Last week, being planted in the 881 00:51:12,160 --> 00:51:14,600 House of the Lord. There's no reason. 882 00:51:14,600 --> 00:51:17,080 There's no wonder why so many people aren't flourishing. 883 00:51:17,080 --> 00:51:19,080 They're not planted in the House of the Lord. 884 00:51:19,440 --> 00:51:22,520 They're trying to do Christianity all by themselves, 885 00:51:22,520 --> 00:51:25,280 and it was never designed to be that way. 886 00:51:27,200 --> 00:51:30,960 So let's wrap this up. You probably received an element 887 00:51:30,960 --> 00:51:35,320 if you need a communion element. Got mine here somewhere. 888 00:51:37,080 --> 00:51:42,400 We find mine feel like it's a wedding day and oh, there it is. 889 00:51:43,680 --> 00:51:45,640 This pocket's got a spare pocket in it, Terry. 890 00:51:46,800 --> 00:51:48,760 It's got a little pocket. There it is. 891 00:51:50,040 --> 00:51:52,360 Like there's my mints in there and there's something there. 892 00:51:52,360 --> 00:51:58,480 And, but take your element out because we're about to come to 893 00:51:58,480 --> 00:52:02,400 the table of the Lord and I. Here's what I'm hoping that we 894 00:52:02,400 --> 00:52:10,160 take away today, the the trajectory of this passage. 895 00:52:11,080 --> 00:52:13,120 If you need an element, just hold your hand up and ushers can 896 00:52:13,120 --> 00:52:16,360 get one right to you. The trajectory of this passage 897 00:52:16,360 --> 00:52:17,640 is this. Take a look at this. 898 00:52:18,160 --> 00:52:26,800 It's God's ability, super abundant action that leads, 899 00:52:28,640 --> 00:52:33,000 leads us past the limit of what we can think, the limit of our 900 00:52:33,000 --> 00:52:36,200 conception, things we can conceive in our mind, which is 901 00:52:36,200 --> 00:52:41,600 measured by resurrection power. The same Spirit, the same Holy 902 00:52:41,600 --> 00:52:43,400 Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead. 903 00:52:43,400 --> 00:52:44,520 Have you ever thought about that? 904 00:52:45,560 --> 00:52:47,920 The Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the dead. 905 00:52:47,920 --> 00:52:51,080 That's what the Word says. The Holy Spirit who came in and 906 00:52:51,080 --> 00:52:53,760 said, OK, Jesus, time to get up, get up. 907 00:52:53,760 --> 00:52:59,040 That's what the Word says. The Holy Spirit, the third 908 00:52:59,040 --> 00:53:02,000 person of the Trinity, who raised the second person of the 909 00:53:02,000 --> 00:53:05,120 Trinity from the dead lives inside of us. 910 00:53:06,440 --> 00:53:10,160 It's measured by resurrection power that is located in us to 911 00:53:10,160 --> 00:53:15,400 him be glory in the church. Notice here's what the results. 912 00:53:16,040 --> 00:53:18,200 It's not that we're going to see this stuff. 913 00:53:18,200 --> 00:53:22,720 It's not result, result, result, even though we'll see that the 914 00:53:22,720 --> 00:53:25,400 apostle Paul writes and says to him be glory in the church. 915 00:53:27,280 --> 00:53:31,200 Because even Jesus said, I do what my do I do what I do 916 00:53:31,200 --> 00:53:34,080 because my Father in heaven will be glorified. 917 00:53:35,600 --> 00:53:40,480 And if Jesus wants his Father in heaven to be glorified, how much 918 00:53:40,480 --> 00:53:43,560 more should we want to make sure our Father in heaven is 919 00:53:43,560 --> 00:53:46,240 glorified? Because when there's glory in 920 00:53:46,240 --> 00:53:51,080 the church, stuff happens. Miracles start happening, signs 921 00:53:51,080 --> 00:53:55,880 and wonders start happening, needs start getting met, and we 922 00:53:55,880 --> 00:54:00,120 just go, wow, Lord, we're just doing what your word says to do 923 00:54:01,080 --> 00:54:08,280 and God gets the glory for it. Could you all put up that first 924 00:54:08,280 --> 00:54:13,080 slide again the the Ephesians verses 20 and 21? 925 00:54:14,800 --> 00:54:18,120 I want to ask you to just close your eyes, take the element in 926 00:54:18,120 --> 00:54:23,840 your hand and the word says now to him who is able do 927 00:54:23,840 --> 00:54:27,880 exceedingly abundantly, above all we ask or think according to 928 00:54:27,880 --> 00:54:34,080 the power that works in US to Him be glory in the church by 929 00:54:34,080 --> 00:54:39,520 Christ Jesus. We want to thank you again for 930 00:54:39,520 --> 00:54:41,560 joining us for the Arise Church podcast. 931 00:54:41,800 --> 00:54:43,960 We hope you were encouraged by what you heard today. 932 00:54:44,280 --> 00:54:48,240 You can find us online at Arise Church n-c.com and on Instagram 933 00:54:48,240 --> 00:54:51,720 at Arise Church NC. If you need prayer or support or 934 00:54:51,720 --> 00:54:54,800 are interested in learning more about Arise Church, we encourage 935 00:54:54,800 --> 00:54:58,200 you to connect with us online or in person at our Sunday morning 936 00:54:58,200 --> 00:55:00,240 service. Thank you and God bless.