1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:04,680 To see you take your Bibles, turn to Ephesians chapter 3. 2 00:00:04,720 --> 00:00:07,920 Ephesians chapter 3, that's page 1037. 3 00:00:07,920 --> 00:00:10,960 If you're using one of the Bibles in the seat underneath of 4 00:00:10,960 --> 00:00:13,200 you, if you don't have a Bible, grab one of those Bibles in the 5 00:00:13,200 --> 00:00:15,240 seat underneath you. We would love to give that to 6 00:00:15,240 --> 00:00:18,760 you as a gift from us as a church family. 7 00:00:18,760 --> 00:00:22,320 And just as you're opening there, I want to say a huge 8 00:00:22,480 --> 00:00:27,120 thank you to everyone who served at our block party yesterday. 9 00:00:27,280 --> 00:00:33,320 We had an amazing day yesterday and we had hundreds of people 10 00:00:33,320 --> 00:00:37,360 from the community who came out and engaged, and we were able to 11 00:00:37,360 --> 00:00:39,440 just connect with people and begin to have some 12 00:00:39,600 --> 00:00:42,520 conversations. There were several people who 13 00:00:42,520 --> 00:00:44,440 came and just asked this question. 14 00:00:44,960 --> 00:00:50,000 So what in the world goes on in that building anyways and feels 15 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:53,000 great just to be able to begin to have a conversation with them 16 00:00:53,240 --> 00:00:55,880 about that. Well, today is the final Sunday 17 00:00:55,880 --> 00:00:59,640 in our summer series on ancient prayers from the Scriptures. 18 00:01:00,160 --> 00:01:03,440 And I really trust that this has been a helpful series for you 19 00:01:03,480 --> 00:01:06,400 and has helped to strengthen your prayer life over the last 20 00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:09,800 couple of months. You know, there are all kinds of 21 00:01:09,840 --> 00:01:13,520 different things people will pray for, different ways that 22 00:01:13,520 --> 00:01:16,640 people will pray. For example, kids pray some of 23 00:01:16,640 --> 00:01:20,040 the most profound prayers. Don't they like prayers that 24 00:01:20,040 --> 00:01:22,320 make you stop and think? Like, huh? 25 00:01:23,120 --> 00:01:28,880 For example, I heard a kid one time pray this, Dear God, if my 26 00:01:28,880 --> 00:01:31,800 mom makes leftovers, do I need to ask you to bless the food 27 00:01:31,800 --> 00:01:36,040 again? Good question, isn't it? 28 00:01:38,240 --> 00:01:40,720 If you're like most people, there's kind of three main 29 00:01:40,720 --> 00:01:44,280 things that we tend to pray for. We tend to pray for, first of 30 00:01:44,280 --> 00:01:47,880 all, family or friends who are going through a difficult time 31 00:01:47,880 --> 00:01:51,640 in their life. 2nd, we tend to pray for ourselves when we're 32 00:01:51,640 --> 00:01:53,680 going through a difficult time in our life. 33 00:01:54,200 --> 00:01:58,480 And then third, we tend to also make sure we thank God for good 34 00:01:58,480 --> 00:02:01,240 things that happen in our life and we pay attention to those 35 00:02:01,240 --> 00:02:02,880 things and we say thank you to the Lord. 36 00:02:03,280 --> 00:02:06,560 And I, I recognize that for some of you, as we've journeyed over 37 00:02:06,560 --> 00:02:08,600 these last number of months, talking about prayer, prayer 38 00:02:08,600 --> 00:02:10,600 might be a real struggle for you as well. 39 00:02:10,960 --> 00:02:15,080 Maybe you're wrestling with what is the whole point of praying in 40 00:02:15,080 --> 00:02:18,400 the first place? If you're here today and you are 41 00:02:18,400 --> 00:02:21,680 just exploring and checking out the Christian faith, prayer 42 00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:24,560 might seem something very foreign to you. 43 00:02:24,560 --> 00:02:26,640 And so I just want to say a couple of things if you're in 44 00:02:26,640 --> 00:02:28,360 that spot today. First, welcome. 45 00:02:28,360 --> 00:02:31,680 We're glad you're here. Glad that you're here with us to 46 00:02:31,880 --> 00:02:34,800 learn more about Jesus and how much he loves you. 47 00:02:35,160 --> 00:02:38,600 And, and if you're sitting here and you're struggling with what 48 00:02:38,600 --> 00:02:41,440 is the big deal about prayer, I want to try to explain to you 49 00:02:41,440 --> 00:02:44,760 really quickly why prayer is a big deal for us as Christians. 50 00:02:45,560 --> 00:02:49,040 First of all, the Bible teaches that every human is made to be 51 00:02:49,040 --> 00:02:52,800 in relationship with God. That might sound foreign to you 52 00:02:52,800 --> 00:02:55,640 or different to you, but we are all made to be in a relationship 53 00:02:55,640 --> 00:02:58,560 with God. But because of our sin, because 54 00:02:58,560 --> 00:03:03,480 we have done things against God's will in our lives, we have 55 00:03:03,600 --> 00:03:05,880 separated that relationship with God. 56 00:03:05,880 --> 00:03:10,760 We are not in relationship with him, but God loved you so much 57 00:03:10,760 --> 00:03:14,720 that He sent his only son, Jesus to die on a cross to pay the 58 00:03:14,720 --> 00:03:19,000 price so that you could be reconciled to God, and not only 59 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:25,000 reconciled to God, but also so that you could become a child of 60 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:26,880 God. John chapter 1 tells us that 61 00:03:26,880 --> 00:03:32,800 whoever believes in Jesus is given the right to be called a 62 00:03:32,800 --> 00:03:37,560 child of God, that God is not only the God of the universe, 63 00:03:37,560 --> 00:03:40,680 but he becomes your heavenly Father. 64 00:03:41,560 --> 00:03:45,440 And so prayer for us is this beautiful gift that's not just 65 00:03:45,440 --> 00:03:47,360 merely a spiritual checklist item. 66 00:03:47,360 --> 00:03:51,760 It's this opportunity for you to be able to go and talk to your 67 00:03:51,760 --> 00:03:54,320 heavenly Father. It's the privilege, it's the 68 00:03:54,320 --> 00:03:58,520 gift, it's the, it's the, the blessing of being able to go to 69 00:03:58,520 --> 00:04:01,880 a God who deeply loves you, who is your Father in heaven, and to 70 00:04:01,880 --> 00:04:06,480 be able to, as he says, come and cast all of your cares on him. 71 00:04:06,480 --> 00:04:09,640 And it's such an amazing, amazing gift in our lives. 72 00:04:10,680 --> 00:04:13,760 Now, for those of you who are already believers in Jesus, 73 00:04:14,120 --> 00:04:16,079 you're already adopted as a child of God. 74 00:04:16,079 --> 00:04:20,040 I want to ask you this question. When was the last time you 75 00:04:20,040 --> 00:04:23,000 prayed for something that made you fall to your knees? 76 00:04:29,880 --> 00:04:31,400 For some of us, it's been a long time. 77 00:04:31,640 --> 00:04:34,240 Some of us used to do that a lot when we were little kids. 78 00:04:35,880 --> 00:04:37,920 For some of us, it's been a long time since we've gone to our 79 00:04:37,920 --> 00:04:39,920 knees. The scriptures have different 80 00:04:39,920 --> 00:04:46,440 postures of prayer, and those postures are given to us as a 81 00:04:46,440 --> 00:04:51,440 way of a physical representation of the reality of our hearts. 82 00:04:52,680 --> 00:04:56,440 So when you see the idea of kneeling in prayer in Scripture, 83 00:04:56,440 --> 00:05:00,640 it, it often represents this concept of coming to God in deep 84 00:05:00,640 --> 00:05:05,760 submission to him and also in a place of somewhat desperation of 85 00:05:05,880 --> 00:05:10,600 begging, wanting God deeply to show up and do something that 86 00:05:10,600 --> 00:05:13,640 you know you are powerless to do on your own. 87 00:05:14,840 --> 00:05:20,200 For most of us, those moments of kneeling in prayer happen when 88 00:05:20,200 --> 00:05:23,800 there's some type of crisis, when when you feel the heaviness 89 00:05:23,800 --> 00:05:26,560 in the weight of the problems of life. 90 00:05:26,960 --> 00:05:30,360 Maybe it's those moments where if you're a parent, you see 91 00:05:30,360 --> 00:05:32,880 something going on in your children's lives and you're just 92 00:05:32,880 --> 00:05:36,040 crying out to God to do something for your children. 93 00:05:37,040 --> 00:05:41,000 If you are deeply worried about a friend or someone that you go 94 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:44,160 to school with, you are crying out to God. 95 00:05:44,160 --> 00:05:46,840 And sometimes you're just forced to your knees in those moments. 96 00:05:46,840 --> 00:05:49,880 Or it's the spouse who's devastated by the reality of 97 00:05:49,880 --> 00:05:52,560 their marriage right now who just need to go to their knees 98 00:05:52,560 --> 00:05:56,520 and beg God to do something. Well, the passage that we're 99 00:05:56,520 --> 00:05:59,320 going to look at today is written by a guy by the name of 100 00:05:59,320 --> 00:06:02,120 the Apostle Paul. Paul is a guy who had a pretty 101 00:06:02,120 --> 00:06:05,920 difficult life. He he was known for being deeply 102 00:06:05,920 --> 00:06:09,680 committed to telling people about Jesus and pointing people 103 00:06:09,680 --> 00:06:12,160 to Jesus and calling people to follow Jesus. 104 00:06:12,480 --> 00:06:14,360 But that got Paul in all kinds of trouble. 105 00:06:14,360 --> 00:06:17,960 He was thrown in prison. He was beaten up. 106 00:06:17,960 --> 00:06:20,440 Some people tried to kill him for his faith. 107 00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:25,360 And of all the problems that Paul had, there are only two 108 00:06:25,360 --> 00:06:30,680 times that the Bible records the apostle Paul going to his knees 109 00:06:30,800 --> 00:06:34,720 in prayer. One of them is found in Acts 110 00:06:34,720 --> 00:06:36,840 chapter 20. The second is found here in 111 00:06:36,840 --> 00:06:40,640 Ephesians chapter 3 where we are beginning at verse 14. 112 00:06:40,640 --> 00:06:46,840 So just follow along as I read beginning at verse 14, Ephesians 113 00:06:46,840 --> 00:06:49,960 314. For this reason, I kneel before 114 00:06:49,960 --> 00:06:56,520 the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth is 115 00:06:56,520 --> 00:07:00,960 named. Now both Acts 20 and Ephesians 3 116 00:07:01,280 --> 00:07:04,800 have one thing in common. If you were to look at Acts 20 117 00:07:04,800 --> 00:07:08,600 and Ephesians 3, the one thing they both have in common is Paul 118 00:07:08,600 --> 00:07:12,200 is praying for the church in Ephesus. 119 00:07:13,760 --> 00:07:16,720 The the Bible doesn't record Paul falling to his knees to 120 00:07:16,720 --> 00:07:19,800 pray for his health. It doesn't record Paul falling 121 00:07:19,800 --> 00:07:22,560 to his knees to pray for his own well-being. 122 00:07:22,560 --> 00:07:25,960 It doesn't record him going to his knees to pray for his 123 00:07:25,960 --> 00:07:29,320 safety. What the Bible records is Paul 124 00:07:29,320 --> 00:07:33,760 going to his knees to pray for the church. 125 00:07:35,040 --> 00:07:38,680 I don't know how many of you have ever considered praying for 126 00:07:38,680 --> 00:07:42,240 your church. And even if you do pray for your 127 00:07:42,240 --> 00:07:45,080 church, I think if we're honest, we tend to pray for one of two 128 00:07:45,080 --> 00:07:47,160 different things. We first of all, we pray for 129 00:07:47,160 --> 00:07:50,000 logistics. God, would you just bless this 130 00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:52,960 event that's coming up? God, would you just move in a 131 00:07:52,960 --> 00:07:55,440 great way at this activity? God, would you give us enough 132 00:07:55,440 --> 00:07:57,760 people to serve here? God, would you just bring us 133 00:07:57,760 --> 00:07:59,840 more people to help out in kids ministry? 134 00:08:00,080 --> 00:08:03,160 God, would you just give us the finances we need to be able to 135 00:08:03,160 --> 00:08:05,800 do the things we need to do? Nothing wrong with praying those 136 00:08:05,800 --> 00:08:09,440 prayers, but we tend to pray about logistics or the second 137 00:08:09,440 --> 00:08:12,360 thing we pray for when we pray for our church is we pray for 138 00:08:12,360 --> 00:08:15,400 the things that we want in church. 139 00:08:16,040 --> 00:08:20,400 We, we pray for our desires, our preferences to be the thing that 140 00:08:20,400 --> 00:08:24,600 happens at church. I know that none of us have our 141 00:08:24,600 --> 00:08:27,240 own preferences and desires of what church is supposed to be 142 00:08:27,240 --> 00:08:29,440 like. I, I, I, I want to tell you a 143 00:08:29,440 --> 00:08:32,400 true story. It's not a story from forward. 144 00:08:32,400 --> 00:08:34,320 I want to be clear about that right up front. 145 00:08:34,760 --> 00:08:38,159 This is a real prayer that somebody gave about their 146 00:08:38,159 --> 00:08:41,880 church. Dear Lord, I need some clarity. 147 00:08:41,880 --> 00:08:44,880 I'm really struggling if I should stay at my church. 148 00:08:45,800 --> 00:08:51,400 If you want me to stay going to this church, God, would you just 149 00:08:52,160 --> 00:08:57,000 would you just show the leadership in the church how 150 00:08:57,000 --> 00:09:01,680 much I need to receive? My faith is caught not taught. 151 00:09:01,680 --> 00:09:09,600 Bumper sticker God, if I've lost faith in my church, how can I 152 00:09:09,600 --> 00:09:12,720 share my faith with you and you with other people? 153 00:09:15,040 --> 00:09:18,160 Crazy, isn't it? But some people will pray those 154 00:09:18,160 --> 00:09:22,120 kinds of prayers. Today I want to give us a better 155 00:09:22,120 --> 00:09:24,560 way to pray by asking this question. 156 00:09:24,560 --> 00:09:26,760 How should you pray for Forward church? 157 00:09:28,720 --> 00:09:31,560 The city of Ephesus is a very large city. 158 00:09:31,560 --> 00:09:35,000 At the time, it was the center of worship for Greek and Roman 159 00:09:35,000 --> 00:09:38,720 gods, and it was a significant center of trade. 160 00:09:38,720 --> 00:09:42,200 It had all kinds of roads connecting Ephesus to all the 161 00:09:42,200 --> 00:09:44,200 other significant cities of the time. 162 00:09:44,800 --> 00:09:49,040 And Paul spent two years in Ephesus sharing the good news of 163 00:09:49,160 --> 00:09:54,240 Jesus with its citizens. As people came to follow Jesus, 164 00:09:54,520 --> 00:09:57,800 they're dealing with all the realities of living in a culture 165 00:09:57,800 --> 00:10:02,160 that at best wasn't interested in God, at worst is making life 166 00:10:02,160 --> 00:10:05,480 very difficult for those who do want to follow Jesus. 167 00:10:06,040 --> 00:10:09,240 It was also a city that had all kinds of activity to keep people 168 00:10:09,240 --> 00:10:13,400 busy and occupied in life. And in many ways, Ephesus is not 169 00:10:13,400 --> 00:10:16,960 a whole lot different than the reality that we live in today. 170 00:10:17,680 --> 00:10:23,280 So what could be so urgent, what would be so significant that it 171 00:10:23,280 --> 00:10:28,400 would drive Paul to his knees to pray for the church? 172 00:10:30,320 --> 00:10:32,720 There are a lot of things you can and should pray for the 173 00:10:32,720 --> 00:10:34,480 church. But Paul's going to give us two 174 00:10:34,480 --> 00:10:37,600 things that I think are two of the most essential prayers we 175 00:10:37,600 --> 00:10:39,640 can pray for our church. The first one is this. 176 00:10:40,120 --> 00:10:42,880 Pray for the kind of power that changes our lives. 177 00:10:44,480 --> 00:10:48,240 Look at verse 16. This is the beginning of Paul's 178 00:10:48,240 --> 00:10:51,640 prayer. I pray that he may grant you 179 00:10:52,160 --> 00:10:56,120 according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with 180 00:10:56,120 --> 00:11:00,880 power in your inner being through his Spirit, and that 181 00:11:00,880 --> 00:11:04,120 Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. 182 00:11:04,520 --> 00:11:08,280 The very first thing Paul's Paul prays for is power. 183 00:11:08,880 --> 00:11:12,520 Now, depending on who you are, you have wildly different 184 00:11:12,520 --> 00:11:15,200 responses to this idea of praying for power. 185 00:11:15,840 --> 00:11:18,520 First of all, if you are a little bit more aggressive and 186 00:11:18,520 --> 00:11:22,920 competitive as a person, praying for power is something you get 187 00:11:23,720 --> 00:11:26,600 you, you, you look at the state of the culture around us and you 188 00:11:26,600 --> 00:11:29,400 go, finally, someone's going to pray for the church to have 189 00:11:29,400 --> 00:11:31,960 power and not be so weak all the time. 190 00:11:31,960 --> 00:11:35,560 And what you want is the church to have power. 191 00:11:36,480 --> 00:11:40,960 Some of you, you've been hurt by church or you've been hurt by 192 00:11:40,960 --> 00:11:45,400 power. And, and anytime someone talks 193 00:11:45,400 --> 00:11:48,200 about power, it might feel a little scary to you because you 194 00:11:48,200 --> 00:11:51,160 are naturally wired to be caring and gentle. 195 00:11:51,160 --> 00:11:54,760 And this prayer for power kind of makes you sit back a little 196 00:11:54,760 --> 00:11:58,160 bit and go, I don't know about this because power has the 197 00:11:58,160 --> 00:12:00,880 potential of becoming abusive. And so you don't want that to 198 00:12:00,880 --> 00:12:03,680 happen. A lot of people don't even know 199 00:12:03,680 --> 00:12:08,680 what it means to pray for power. Are we praying for physical 200 00:12:08,680 --> 00:12:11,080 strength for all of us? Is that what we're praying for 201 00:12:11,080 --> 00:12:13,680 when we pray for power? Do do we all need to have Pastor 202 00:12:13,680 --> 00:12:15,600 Derek's biceps? That's the question. 203 00:12:17,800 --> 00:12:21,800 I was reading this week about a guy who can deadlift over 1000 204 00:12:21,800 --> 00:12:26,240 lbs and squat over 900 lbs. And I read that and I could feel 205 00:12:26,240 --> 00:12:29,400 my entire body snapping into a million pieces just by reading 206 00:12:29,400 --> 00:12:32,280 it. But that's, that's one type of 207 00:12:32,280 --> 00:12:37,200 power that does it mean that we should be praying for power that 208 00:12:37,480 --> 00:12:41,800 puts us in positions of authority that that we should be 209 00:12:41,800 --> 00:12:46,520 seeking power to be put in place as a political or business 210 00:12:46,600 --> 00:12:49,360 strength and power? Is that is that the kind of 211 00:12:49,360 --> 00:12:53,160 power Paul's talking about here? Well, when Paul prays for power, 212 00:12:53,160 --> 00:12:58,040 he clarifies what he means. He says pray for power in your 213 00:12:58,080 --> 00:13:02,160 inner being. By the way, this power that he's 214 00:13:02,160 --> 00:13:09,000 talking about is not man. There's not enough words in the 215 00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:12,760 English language to be able to describe what this how powerful 216 00:13:12,760 --> 00:13:16,920 this power is. It is the same power that raised 217 00:13:16,920 --> 00:13:20,760 Jesus Christ from the dead that dwells in you. 218 00:13:22,800 --> 00:13:27,640 That's the kind of power that Paul's talking about here, power 219 00:13:27,840 --> 00:13:33,160 in our inner being. It's not an external power. 220 00:13:33,600 --> 00:13:37,160 It's a power that's needed in the very core of who you are. 221 00:13:37,640 --> 00:13:41,360 And why? Well, he, he tells us why, so 222 00:13:41,360 --> 00:13:45,560 that your life can be a place where Christ can make himself at 223 00:13:45,560 --> 00:13:48,760 home. I don't know if you've ever 224 00:13:48,760 --> 00:13:51,520 thought about this before, but when you became a Christian, the 225 00:13:51,520 --> 00:13:54,880 Bible says that you become united to Christ. 226 00:13:56,400 --> 00:14:01,360 You become one with Jesus. It's like a marriage. 227 00:14:02,680 --> 00:14:04,840 And when you get married, for those of you who are married, 228 00:14:04,840 --> 00:14:06,760 you know this. When you get married, the 229 00:14:06,760 --> 00:14:09,080 wedding ceremony is great. You have a good day at the 230 00:14:09,080 --> 00:14:11,240 wedding ceremony, but that's just the wedding. 231 00:14:11,240 --> 00:14:17,120 That's not the marriage, right? You move in together and life 232 00:14:17,120 --> 00:14:18,840 changes. You realize how much life 233 00:14:18,840 --> 00:14:23,400 changes when when Shannon and I were first married, the wedding 234 00:14:23,400 --> 00:14:27,840 was amazing, but then we had to learn how to be in a home 235 00:14:27,840 --> 00:14:31,360 together. I, I, I remember like the first 236 00:14:31,360 --> 00:14:33,920 times I wasn't picking up the clothes off the floor in our 237 00:14:33,920 --> 00:14:37,680 bedroom or wasn't cleaning out the sink after shaving. 238 00:14:37,680 --> 00:14:41,320 And then I looked, My wife looked at me with that look only 239 00:14:41,320 --> 00:14:43,920 a wife can give. And I knew I'm not living on my 240 00:14:43,920 --> 00:14:48,080 own anymore. We are sharing this space 241 00:14:48,080 --> 00:14:53,000 together, and Paul's prayer is that you and I will be 242 00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:59,160 strengthened with power in our inner being so that Jesus is 243 00:14:59,160 --> 00:15:03,680 completely at home in your life Might go well. 244 00:15:04,800 --> 00:15:07,280 Doesn't Jesus already dwell in me as a Christian? 245 00:15:07,280 --> 00:15:11,640 Yes, he does, but it's about making him feel completely at 246 00:15:11,640 --> 00:15:16,320 home in you. Now, I know you can look around 247 00:15:16,320 --> 00:15:19,560 a room like this in our church and you can go, man, this is a 248 00:15:19,560 --> 00:15:21,240 group of people. They all look like they have it 249 00:15:21,240 --> 00:15:23,880 all together. They have no problems. 250 00:15:23,880 --> 00:15:27,160 And I just want to like burst your bubble and tell you this is 251 00:15:27,160 --> 00:15:28,920 a room filled with messed up people. 252 00:15:30,760 --> 00:15:33,160 And if you don't feel like you're a messed up person, I 253 00:15:33,160 --> 00:15:35,400 want to tell you, you're more messed up than you know. 254 00:15:39,280 --> 00:15:44,120 Some of us, we have parts of our home, of our heart we don't 255 00:15:44,120 --> 00:15:48,880 really want Jesus to see. There's shame because of things 256 00:15:48,880 --> 00:15:50,760 we've done that we're not proud of. 257 00:15:52,360 --> 00:15:55,320 You need the power of God to show up in your life to rid you 258 00:15:55,320 --> 00:16:00,520 of that shame. Some of us have parts of our 259 00:16:00,520 --> 00:16:03,480 life that have been deeply wounded. 260 00:16:06,320 --> 00:16:10,120 It's like the part of the house that you try to fix the problem, 261 00:16:10,120 --> 00:16:13,280 man, but you realize every time you go into that room, you can't 262 00:16:13,280 --> 00:16:16,240 fix the problem because the problem's so big. 263 00:16:17,960 --> 00:16:20,680 We need the power of God to show up to bring healing in the 264 00:16:20,680 --> 00:16:24,520 places we've been wounded. Some of us have parts of our 265 00:16:24,520 --> 00:16:29,200 home that we don't really want Jesus to call his home because 266 00:16:29,200 --> 00:16:34,600 we like that part for ourselves. We like how we spend our time. 267 00:16:34,600 --> 00:16:38,480 We like how we spend our money. We like how we carry certain 268 00:16:38,480 --> 00:16:41,040 attitudes in life. We like porn. 269 00:16:41,040 --> 00:16:45,520 We like our anger. And we don't want Jesus to live 270 00:16:45,520 --> 00:16:48,920 in that part of our house. We we like him in these parts of 271 00:16:48,920 --> 00:16:52,120 the house, this part of the house, but not in every part of 272 00:16:52,120 --> 00:16:58,280 the house. And we need the power of God to 273 00:16:58,280 --> 00:17:03,200 show up in our lives. Like imagine, imagine being 274 00:17:03,200 --> 00:17:06,240 married and telling your spouse you can live in these rooms but 275 00:17:06,240 --> 00:17:07,880 you can't have access to this room. 276 00:17:11,000 --> 00:17:16,560 Good luck with that. But so many of us do the same 277 00:17:16,560 --> 00:17:22,040 thing with Jesus. You can have access to this part 278 00:17:22,040 --> 00:17:24,400 of my life, but I don't want you having access to this part. 279 00:17:29,120 --> 00:17:31,840 For some of you, there are things that you know God wants 280 00:17:31,840 --> 00:17:37,120 you to do, but for whatever reason, part of you is tired and 281 00:17:37,120 --> 00:17:42,440 you're ready to just give up. And for some of you, you're 282 00:17:42,440 --> 00:17:45,640 afraid to even start trying to do the things you already know 283 00:17:45,640 --> 00:17:48,880 God wants you to do because you're afraid you're going to 284 00:17:48,880 --> 00:17:52,080 fail. You need strength. 285 00:17:52,440 --> 00:17:55,520 You need the power of God and your inner being to keep going 286 00:17:55,520 --> 00:17:57,480 and doing the things that God wants you to do. 287 00:17:59,720 --> 00:18:02,600 All of us have things outside of us that are trying to get our 288 00:18:02,600 --> 00:18:07,200 attention and our affection the the countless hours trying to 289 00:18:07,200 --> 00:18:11,480 find our value and worth by comparing it to other people in 290 00:18:11,480 --> 00:18:14,080 our network of relationships or on social media. 291 00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:18,480 We need the power of God in our inner being to help us stop 292 00:18:18,480 --> 00:18:21,600 being defined by everybody else and to start being defined by 293 00:18:21,600 --> 00:18:28,280 the One who made us. And here's the thing, it's not a 294 00:18:28,280 --> 00:18:31,880 DIY project. Some of you are really good at 295 00:18:31,880 --> 00:18:35,880 DIY projects. Others of you should never pick 296 00:18:35,880 --> 00:18:40,000 up a hammer or a screwdriver. But when it comes to the state 297 00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:45,000 of your heart and your soul, your inner being, none of us are 298 00:18:45,000 --> 00:18:47,600 capable of this being a DIY project. 299 00:18:49,320 --> 00:18:54,600 We all need the power of God to show up, you and I. 300 00:18:54,600 --> 00:18:57,800 We can never become the people we were created to be on our 301 00:18:57,800 --> 00:19:01,880 own. We desperately need the power of 302 00:19:01,880 --> 00:19:04,520 God at work in our inner being to do this. 303 00:19:05,760 --> 00:19:08,600 Jesus doesn't come and just put a fresh coat of paint over 304 00:19:08,600 --> 00:19:12,080 things. Jesus comes to renovate from the 305 00:19:12,080 --> 00:19:18,480 inside out and you need this. Your family needs this. 306 00:19:18,600 --> 00:19:24,160 Our church needs this. We need the power of God to show 307 00:19:24,160 --> 00:19:28,600 up and work in our inner being so that we are increasingly 308 00:19:28,600 --> 00:19:32,720 becoming a community that is saturated with the presence of 309 00:19:32,720 --> 00:19:36,560 Jesus. And here's what happens when 310 00:19:36,560 --> 00:19:39,320 that when that is in control of our lives. 311 00:19:40,600 --> 00:19:43,320 You can be free of the past pains that haunt you. 312 00:19:43,960 --> 00:19:46,680 You can be set free from the power of sin in your life. 313 00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:51,040 You can become a more loving, patient, gentle, joy filled 314 00:19:51,040 --> 00:19:54,520 person. You get to be part of a mission 315 00:19:54,520 --> 00:19:57,000 that's bigger than yourself, a mission that matters for 316 00:19:57,000 --> 00:19:59,960 eternity. You will honor God with your 317 00:19:59,960 --> 00:20:02,000 life when that power is at work in you. 318 00:20:03,840 --> 00:20:06,880 You know, as Christians, we are famous for praying for everybody 319 00:20:06,880 --> 00:20:11,040 else who has a problem. But one of the things we really 320 00:20:11,040 --> 00:20:14,240 need to be asking for. We ask, we need to ask for the 321 00:20:14,240 --> 00:20:20,400 power of God to show up in our own lives, in our own church, 322 00:20:20,600 --> 00:20:25,840 and change us. If you want to pray for our 323 00:20:25,840 --> 00:20:27,600 church, pray this. Pray that we would be 324 00:20:27,600 --> 00:20:31,760 strengthened with power in our beings so that this home 325 00:20:31,760 --> 00:20:36,640 increasingly becomes a place where Christ is at home. 326 00:20:36,640 --> 00:20:43,560 And the second thing Paul prays for is this, pray that we may 327 00:20:43,560 --> 00:20:45,520 come to deeply know the love of God. 328 00:20:47,200 --> 00:20:49,560 Look at the second part of verse 17. 329 00:20:50,400 --> 00:20:54,200 He says, I pray that you being rooted and firmly established in 330 00:20:54,200 --> 00:20:58,200 love may be able to comprehend with all the Saints what is the 331 00:20:58,200 --> 00:21:02,880 length and the width, the height and the depth of God's love and 332 00:21:02,880 --> 00:21:07,320 to know Christ's love that surpasses knowledge so that you 333 00:21:07,320 --> 00:21:11,320 may be filled with all the fullness of God. 334 00:21:13,160 --> 00:21:17,120 Jesus is not just a cleaner who is coming in to clean up the 335 00:21:17,120 --> 00:21:20,840 mess of your life. He's not just a new homeowner 336 00:21:20,840 --> 00:21:23,400 looking to renovate your life and then flip it. 337 00:21:26,280 --> 00:21:29,520 The intention, the intention of Jesus towards you is just simply 338 00:21:29,520 --> 00:21:30,640 this. He loves you. 339 00:21:32,360 --> 00:21:38,120 He really loves you. Everything he wants to do in 340 00:21:38,120 --> 00:21:41,800 taking up residence in your life is because of his love. 341 00:21:41,800 --> 00:21:47,440 His love has no bounds. We talked about his love showing 342 00:21:47,440 --> 00:21:51,320 up on the cross, but his love continues on beyond the cross. 343 00:21:51,320 --> 00:21:55,400 It's a love that can show up when you're exhausted as a 344 00:21:55,400 --> 00:21:58,320 parent and there's just one more diaper that needs to be changed 345 00:21:58,320 --> 00:22:03,400 in the middle of the night. It's a love that can show up 346 00:22:03,640 --> 00:22:06,720 just as much in that moment as in the moments when you're 347 00:22:06,720 --> 00:22:09,280 desperate and you need some hope. 348 00:22:10,560 --> 00:22:13,360 It's a love that shows up when you're at work and you're 349 00:22:13,920 --> 00:22:16,920 looking at a big project and you need wisdom because you are in 350 00:22:16,920 --> 00:22:18,800 way over your head. It's a love that shows you, 351 00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:21,600 shows up, and gives you a supernatural wisdom. 352 00:22:22,760 --> 00:22:25,560 It's a love that gives you strength for today when you 353 00:22:25,560 --> 00:22:27,600 aren't even sure if you can make it another day. 354 00:22:29,680 --> 00:22:35,920 It's a love that cares enough to comfort the broken hearted and 355 00:22:35,920 --> 00:22:39,520 also cares enough to warn and correct you when you've gone off 356 00:22:39,520 --> 00:22:43,600 track. It's a love that doesn't require 357 00:22:43,600 --> 00:22:48,000 an appointment for a conversation and a love that 358 00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:50,360 will never leave you or forsake you. 359 00:22:52,520 --> 00:22:55,840 It's a love that says your Heavenly Father, He's going to 360 00:22:55,840 --> 00:22:57,520 supply every single need you have. 361 00:22:59,560 --> 00:23:03,160 It's a love that's not defined by what you do or don't do. 362 00:23:03,480 --> 00:23:06,000 It's defined purely by who He is. 363 00:23:07,240 --> 00:23:11,760 It's a love that said you have so much value and worth, He 364 00:23:11,760 --> 00:23:15,000 would send His only begotten Son to die on a cross to pay the 365 00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:21,240 price for your sins. It's a love that says one day He 366 00:23:21,240 --> 00:23:23,960 will make everything right, every wrong committed against 367 00:23:23,960 --> 00:23:26,280 you and every wrong you've ever committed against someone else. 368 00:23:26,280 --> 00:23:29,240 He will make it all right. And not only that, it's a love 369 00:23:29,240 --> 00:23:32,480 that says one day I'm going to carry you from death into 370 00:23:32,560 --> 00:23:38,000 eternal life. And that is just scratching the 371 00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:43,880 surface of his love. Paul's prayer is that the church 372 00:23:43,880 --> 00:23:49,320 would comprehend what feels impossible to comprehend the 373 00:23:49,320 --> 00:23:54,960 length and the width and the height and the depth of the love 374 00:23:54,960 --> 00:24:00,080 of God, that as God's people we would constantly be minding the 375 00:24:00,080 --> 00:24:03,520 treasures of how much God loves us. 376 00:24:04,680 --> 00:24:08,120 I I know that here forward we, we talk a lot about how much God 377 00:24:08,120 --> 00:24:09,800 loves you. Maybe you've heard it so many 378 00:24:09,800 --> 00:24:14,160 times It now goes in one ear and out the other and you tune out. 379 00:24:16,720 --> 00:24:21,200 But here's what I found. Far too many Christians don't 380 00:24:21,200 --> 00:24:26,800 really know the love of God. You, you might know it in your 381 00:24:26,800 --> 00:24:29,720 head because you've heard a few sermons about it or read some 382 00:24:29,720 --> 00:24:35,120 Bible verses about it. But this prayer, this prayer is 383 00:24:35,120 --> 00:24:38,360 asking for more than head knowledge about the love of God. 384 00:24:39,920 --> 00:24:45,160 This prayer is asking that you and I would deeply personally 385 00:24:45,160 --> 00:24:47,760 experience the love of God in our lives. 386 00:24:50,120 --> 00:24:53,160 That's what he means when he says to know Christ's love that 387 00:24:53,160 --> 00:24:58,480 surpasses knowledge. And I, I know as soon as I start 388 00:24:58,480 --> 00:25:01,600 to talk about having a personal experience with something for 389 00:25:01,600 --> 00:25:06,360 some of you, that now starts to feel a little weird because some 390 00:25:06,360 --> 00:25:09,800 of you go, I don't have emotions, so I don't want to 391 00:25:09,800 --> 00:25:12,280 feel anything because I can't feel anything. 392 00:25:13,760 --> 00:25:15,800 You do have emotions. You just need to get in touch 393 00:25:15,800 --> 00:25:16,800 with them. You'll be OK. 394 00:25:16,800 --> 00:25:23,440 All right, some of you, when I start to talk about having a 395 00:25:23,440 --> 00:25:27,240 personal experience of the love of God, you've grown up in a 396 00:25:27,240 --> 00:25:31,160 Christian environment where it's all about how much knowledge do 397 00:25:31,160 --> 00:25:36,160 I have that as soon as I start to say experience of the love of 398 00:25:36,160 --> 00:25:38,920 God, you start to feel a little bit, oh, Kirk, what are you 399 00:25:38,920 --> 00:25:41,280 doing now? Where are we going with this? 400 00:25:43,440 --> 00:25:49,400 But this is what Paul's prayer is that we would deeply know 401 00:25:49,400 --> 00:25:55,360 this knowledge is good, but this prayer is for experience. 402 00:25:56,240 --> 00:25:58,400 Some of us are on the opposite side. 403 00:25:59,240 --> 00:26:01,640 We're obsessed with Christian experiences. 404 00:26:02,040 --> 00:26:05,160 Like you just, you need to be at your next thing that's going to 405 00:26:05,160 --> 00:26:08,520 give you your next high to be able to go, oh man, God just 406 00:26:08,520 --> 00:26:10,480 loves me so much. And then you leave. 407 00:26:10,480 --> 00:26:13,360 It's like a, a jolt of caffeine first thing in the morning. 408 00:26:13,360 --> 00:26:17,680 And then you leave and you're OK for a couple hours, right? 409 00:26:18,400 --> 00:26:20,480 And it's great. Those are great experiences. 410 00:26:20,480 --> 00:26:22,960 I don't want to diminish those experiences, but here's what I 411 00:26:22,960 --> 00:26:26,040 want you to know. So many times they're a moment 412 00:26:26,040 --> 00:26:28,440 in time. And what Paul's talking about 413 00:26:28,440 --> 00:26:32,600 here is an experience that can be experienced not only when you 414 00:26:32,600 --> 00:26:35,840 have that high in a religious church service somewhere, but 415 00:26:35,840 --> 00:26:38,360 when you are in the middle of your week and everything's 416 00:26:38,360 --> 00:26:41,520 crashing down around you, that you can deeply know and 417 00:26:41,520 --> 00:26:43,280 experience the love of God for you. 418 00:26:45,200 --> 00:26:48,800 It's an experience that carries on into all of your life. 419 00:26:51,240 --> 00:26:55,800 And I know this, that so many of us, no matter how long we've 420 00:26:55,800 --> 00:27:00,280 been Christians, we have seasons in our life where we wrestle 421 00:27:00,280 --> 00:27:03,200 with whether or not God still loves us. 422 00:27:04,920 --> 00:27:07,280 Where is the love of God? It just feels dry. 423 00:27:09,720 --> 00:27:12,880 You wrestle to really know it. I've had I've had those seasons 424 00:27:12,880 --> 00:27:17,520 my own life, like I know God loves me in my head, but it's 425 00:27:17,520 --> 00:27:25,160 not really alive in my heart. And what I learned was too often 426 00:27:25,160 --> 00:27:27,760 it's because I wasn't paying attention to where God's love 427 00:27:27,760 --> 00:27:34,360 was already showing up. And so dare to pray a prayer 428 00:27:34,360 --> 00:27:38,160 that just says, God, give me the eyes to see where your love is 429 00:27:38,160 --> 00:27:43,440 already showing up in my life. Help me to pay attention and see 430 00:27:43,440 --> 00:27:46,680 it and not miss what you're wanting to do. 431 00:27:48,160 --> 00:27:49,520 You know why this matters so much? 432 00:27:49,520 --> 00:27:51,120 That we deeply know the love of God? 433 00:27:52,360 --> 00:27:55,800 Because according to Paul, this is the path to becoming 434 00:27:55,800 --> 00:27:57,200 everything that God wants you to be. 435 00:27:58,520 --> 00:28:01,320 That's what Paul says. He says that we would know 436 00:28:01,320 --> 00:28:07,360 Christ's love so that you may be filled with all the fullness of 437 00:28:07,360 --> 00:28:10,600 God. Like the whole point of the 438 00:28:10,600 --> 00:28:14,360 Christian life is that you and I are being so filled more and 439 00:28:14,360 --> 00:28:18,720 more with the presence of God in our own lives that it overflows 440 00:28:18,720 --> 00:28:24,320 into the way we live our lives. Listen really carefully to what 441 00:28:24,320 --> 00:28:30,520 I'm about to say. Christian maturity has nothing 442 00:28:30,520 --> 00:28:34,200 to do with your age or how long you've been a Christian. 443 00:28:39,360 --> 00:28:44,880 I have met 15 year olds who are more mature Christians than 75 444 00:28:44,880 --> 00:28:50,280 year olds. It's not about your age. 445 00:28:52,240 --> 00:28:56,640 You can go to church your entire life and still be very immature 446 00:28:56,640 --> 00:29:01,480 as a Christian. You can serve in every possible 447 00:29:01,480 --> 00:29:03,840 way there is to serve in the life of a church. 448 00:29:05,160 --> 00:29:09,240 You can know a ton of theology, all good things to do. 449 00:29:09,480 --> 00:29:13,760 By the way, I'm not knocking these things, but you can do all 450 00:29:13,760 --> 00:29:17,440 those things and still not be filled with the fullness of God. 451 00:29:19,600 --> 00:29:22,200 That's the height of Christian maturity, that you are filled 452 00:29:22,200 --> 00:29:27,560 with the fullness of God. All those things will not 453 00:29:27,560 --> 00:29:29,840 compare to truly knowing the love of God. 454 00:29:29,840 --> 00:29:33,480 There's nothing that will shape your life to be who God wants 455 00:29:33,480 --> 00:29:36,640 you to be more than really knowing how much God loves you. 456 00:29:38,400 --> 00:29:40,760 Here's how DA Carson describes it. 457 00:29:40,760 --> 00:29:46,200 He says our speech, our thoughts, our actions, our 458 00:29:46,200 --> 00:29:52,560 reactions, our relationships, our goals, our values, all of 459 00:29:52,560 --> 00:29:56,760 them are transformed. If only we live in the 460 00:29:56,760 --> 00:30:00,640 self-conscious enjoyment of the love of Christ. 461 00:30:00,640 --> 00:30:05,200 You might be wondering, well, how does that actually play out 462 00:30:05,200 --> 00:30:07,280 in our lives? Let me give you a couple of 463 00:30:07,280 --> 00:30:09,240 examples. Some of you, you're really 464 00:30:09,240 --> 00:30:10,960 struggling to forgive someone right now. 465 00:30:13,240 --> 00:30:15,600 There's just stuff that they've done to you and you are 466 00:30:15,600 --> 00:30:17,720 wrestling with how could I ever forgive them? 467 00:30:17,720 --> 00:30:20,520 I'm I want to forgive them. I'm trying to forgive them, but 468 00:30:20,520 --> 00:30:24,760 I can't forgive them for what they've done to me. 469 00:30:26,120 --> 00:30:30,080 Here's the answer. Don't spend so much time trying 470 00:30:30,080 --> 00:30:35,480 harder to forgive. Spend more time thinking about 471 00:30:35,480 --> 00:30:42,360 how much God has forgiven you. And the more you realize how 472 00:30:42,360 --> 00:30:46,280 deep and wide the forgiveness of God is towards you, the more 473 00:30:46,280 --> 00:30:48,760 He's going to give you the power in your inner being to be able 474 00:30:48,760 --> 00:30:54,520 to forgive that person. Some of us have other people in 475 00:30:54,520 --> 00:30:58,520 our lives, family members or people we go to church with even 476 00:30:58,520 --> 00:31:01,840 who frankly just annoy us, right? 477 00:31:02,840 --> 00:31:06,040 Some of you, I'm going to be honest right now, some of you in 478 00:31:06,040 --> 00:31:09,520 this room, there are people in this room that you, I just don't 479 00:31:09,520 --> 00:31:13,040 like that person. They annoy you. 480 00:31:16,120 --> 00:31:18,320 Tell me that that's the fullness of God in your life. 481 00:31:21,240 --> 00:31:25,000 It's not. You want to change that? 482 00:31:25,000 --> 00:31:29,160 Guess how you change it. Here's the reality about God's 483 00:31:29,160 --> 00:31:32,840 love for you. The Bible says that God has 484 00:31:32,840 --> 00:31:36,760 loved you with an everlasting love, an enduring love. 485 00:31:37,840 --> 00:31:42,040 Now think about how many times every week you do things that 486 00:31:42,200 --> 00:31:46,280 disappoint God. Think about how many times every 487 00:31:46,280 --> 00:31:53,640 week you do things that let God down, and yet God just says, I'm 488 00:31:53,640 --> 00:31:57,240 just going to keep loving you. It's an enduring love towards 489 00:31:57,240 --> 00:32:01,600 you. And the more that you rest and 490 00:32:01,600 --> 00:32:05,800 understand the enduring, faithful love of God for you, 491 00:32:06,320 --> 00:32:09,720 the more that the frustrations you have with other people kind 492 00:32:09,720 --> 00:32:13,080 of become a secondary issue, and you can't help but love them. 493 00:32:17,640 --> 00:32:20,320 The love of God, knowing it changes us. 494 00:32:21,400 --> 00:32:24,640 Now you might think, Kirk, I already know all this, but 495 00:32:24,640 --> 00:32:27,520 knowing it is not the same thing as experiencing it and living 496 00:32:27,520 --> 00:32:32,800 it. We will always need God's help 497 00:32:32,800 --> 00:32:35,280 in these areas, no matter how successful we are as a church. 498 00:32:35,280 --> 00:32:38,320 This church in Ephesus was growing, booming. 499 00:32:38,320 --> 00:32:40,960 People are getting saved. All kinds of great things are 500 00:32:40,960 --> 00:32:44,720 happening in this church. And yet Paul's praying this 501 00:32:44,720 --> 00:32:50,120 prayer for them. No matter how successful we 502 00:32:50,120 --> 00:32:53,040 become, we will always need this prayer. 503 00:32:56,560 --> 00:32:59,440 The church in Ephesus shows us that we must never stop praying 504 00:32:59,440 --> 00:33:01,560 to know God's power and love as a church. 505 00:33:02,560 --> 00:33:08,120 You know, just 30 years after Paul praised this prayer, John, 506 00:33:08,120 --> 00:33:10,760 one of Jesus disciples, is on the island of Patmos and he has 507 00:33:10,760 --> 00:33:13,120 a vision we see. We call it the Book of 508 00:33:13,120 --> 00:33:16,360 Revelation. And in the Book of Revelation 509 00:33:16,360 --> 00:33:22,040 chapter 2, Jesus is speaking words, talking about the church 510 00:33:22,040 --> 00:33:25,680 in Ephesus. You know what Jesus says about 511 00:33:25,680 --> 00:33:29,400 the church in Ephesus just 30 years after, after Paul wrote 512 00:33:29,400 --> 00:33:32,560 these, this prayer, This is what Jesus says about the church in 513 00:33:32,560 --> 00:33:34,720 Ephesus. This is Kirk's paraphrase. 514 00:33:35,920 --> 00:33:39,760 You guys, you're rocking it. Good things going on. 515 00:33:41,000 --> 00:33:43,760 People are coming to faith. You're being faithful to good 516 00:33:43,760 --> 00:33:46,720 theology. You care deeply about people 517 00:33:47,120 --> 00:33:49,640 walking away from sin. You're serving. 518 00:33:49,800 --> 00:33:53,200 You're doing all the things, you're checking all the boxes. 519 00:33:53,720 --> 00:33:56,600 But then Jesus says this. I have one thing against you. 520 00:33:59,800 --> 00:34:04,600 You've lost your first love. You've walked away from your 521 00:34:04,600 --> 00:34:12,000 first love. Somewhere along the way, the 522 00:34:12,000 --> 00:34:15,600 church that Paul prayed would know the power and the love of 523 00:34:15,600 --> 00:34:20,360 God forgot that the Christian life is all about love. 524 00:34:22,960 --> 00:34:26,239 They forgot that it's all about God's love for us, our love for 525 00:34:26,239 --> 00:34:30,199 God and our love for each other. And it's so serious that Jesus 526 00:34:30,199 --> 00:34:36,840 had to call them to repent. Church, I, I love you, I love 527 00:34:36,840 --> 00:34:38,719 this church. I love so many of the things 528 00:34:38,719 --> 00:34:42,840 that God is doing in our church. I love the way that you serve. 529 00:34:42,840 --> 00:34:45,480 I love the ways that you reach our community. 530 00:34:45,719 --> 00:34:49,360 I love the hunger that so many of you have for the Bible and 531 00:34:49,360 --> 00:34:52,280 theology over the next few weeks. 532 00:34:52,280 --> 00:34:55,679 We've got all kinds of ministries launching and kids 533 00:34:55,679 --> 00:35:00,040 ministry and youth ministry and young adults and discipleship 534 00:35:00,040 --> 00:35:03,680 groups and equip classes and events and so many things that 535 00:35:03,680 --> 00:35:06,000 are coming over the next number of weeks. 536 00:35:06,720 --> 00:35:14,080 But let me say this, all the activities on our calendar, all 537 00:35:14,080 --> 00:35:18,560 the Bible studies that we attend, all the classes and 538 00:35:18,960 --> 00:35:21,960 events and groups that take place in the life of our church, 539 00:35:21,960 --> 00:35:26,960 and anything else that you might love about our church, none of 540 00:35:26,960 --> 00:35:31,200 it matters apart from the presence and the power and the 541 00:35:31,200 --> 00:35:35,960 love of God. Without Him, we're just a club. 542 00:35:38,360 --> 00:35:42,560 With Him, we are the body of Christ in this world. 543 00:35:48,460 --> 00:35:51,500 This prayer is the kind of prayer that if God hears us and 544 00:35:51,500 --> 00:35:55,780 God answers us, we should expect things to always be changing 545 00:35:55,780 --> 00:35:59,100 amongst us. Because God's changing us, He's 546 00:35:59,100 --> 00:36:02,220 filling us more and more with His fullness of who He is. 547 00:36:02,740 --> 00:36:04,500 When you pray this prayer, you're not praying for the 548 00:36:04,500 --> 00:36:08,180 organization of Forward Church. You're praying for yourself. 549 00:36:09,740 --> 00:36:14,120 You're praying for your family, you're praying for the other 550 00:36:14,120 --> 00:36:18,920 people that are sitting around you in this room because you and 551 00:36:18,920 --> 00:36:24,760 I, we are the church, You're asking God to change us. 552 00:36:25,920 --> 00:36:28,400 And I can tell you that this is a prayer that Pastor Derek and 553 00:36:28,400 --> 00:36:32,120 I, we, we pray for you on a regular basis. 554 00:36:32,520 --> 00:36:36,680 I know that our staff and our elders, we pray this kind of 555 00:36:36,680 --> 00:36:40,240 prayer for us as a church that we would become more and more 556 00:36:40,240 --> 00:36:42,400 like Jesus. This prayer happens all the 557 00:36:42,400 --> 00:36:45,680 time. But today I want to ask you to 558 00:36:45,680 --> 00:36:51,120 make it your prayer as well. In just a moment, I'm going to 559 00:36:51,120 --> 00:36:54,120 invite you to pray these prayers for our church. 560 00:36:54,120 --> 00:36:59,640 And I know that amongst us today, some of you are 561 00:36:59,640 --> 00:37:03,680 struggling to know the power and love of God in your own life. 562 00:37:05,560 --> 00:37:07,400 And I just want to encourage you. 563 00:37:07,960 --> 00:37:12,760 Ask Him to show you, ask Him to reveal to you how much He loves 564 00:37:12,760 --> 00:37:16,960 you. I know that some of you, 565 00:37:16,960 --> 00:37:21,240 frankly, you need to repent as Jesus has called us to. 566 00:37:22,680 --> 00:37:25,440 You claim to be a follower of Jesus, but you've lost your 567 00:37:25,440 --> 00:37:30,040 first love. You've lost your love for God. 568 00:37:30,760 --> 00:37:35,480 Your love for each other has grown cold and you need to 569 00:37:35,480 --> 00:37:42,080 repent. And all of us who call forward 570 00:37:42,080 --> 00:37:45,560 our church home, we need to pray for our church. 571 00:37:47,000 --> 00:37:53,120 So I want to ask you to close your eyes and please close your 572 00:37:53,120 --> 00:37:55,120 eyes. I in this moment I really don't 573 00:37:55,120 --> 00:37:57,680 want anyone looking because I don't want anyone to judge 574 00:37:57,840 --> 00:38:05,280 anyone else. We need to be a church that is 575 00:38:05,280 --> 00:38:13,160 hungry to know and experience the power and the love of God 576 00:38:13,160 --> 00:38:20,800 amongst us. If you really want this for your 577 00:38:20,800 --> 00:38:31,120 life and for your family and for us as a church, I'm going to ask 578 00:38:31,120 --> 00:38:35,280 you to consider doing something that's going to take you outside 579 00:38:35,280 --> 00:38:42,040 your Baptist comfort zone. Do you want it bad enough that 580 00:38:42,040 --> 00:38:43,920 you would literally kneel before God? 581 00:38:51,560 --> 00:38:56,600 In just a moment, when we start to pray, I want to invite you. 582 00:38:56,600 --> 00:38:58,640 I want to invite you. We got all kinds of space up 583 00:38:58,640 --> 00:39:00,840 here at the front. I want to invite you to come and 584 00:39:00,840 --> 00:39:02,960 kneel before God and pray this prayer. 585 00:39:04,840 --> 00:39:08,080 You aren't able to kneel because of health issues. 586 00:39:08,320 --> 00:39:11,280 And I'm going to invite you to respond in some other posture. 587 00:39:11,280 --> 00:39:13,760 Maybe it's holding out your hands, maybe it's standing where 588 00:39:13,760 --> 00:39:15,400 you are. I don't know what it is, but 589 00:39:15,400 --> 00:39:19,120 some posture that says God, I recognize that I need this 590 00:39:19,120 --> 00:39:21,480 power. I need to know how great your 591 00:39:21,480 --> 00:39:24,000 love is for me. And we need the same thing in 592 00:39:24,000 --> 00:39:35,990 our church. So church for the next couple of 593 00:39:35,990 --> 00:39:42,480 moments, whether you're kneeling or sitting or standing or 594 00:39:42,480 --> 00:39:43,920 holding your hands out.