1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:02,560 Hi, this is Dave Olson. I'm the senior leader of 2 00:00:02,560 --> 00:00:04,600 Heartland Church located in Ankeny, IA. 3 00:00:04,600 --> 00:00:08,039 I hope the following message challenges, encourages and 4 00:00:08,039 --> 00:00:11,120 ultimately changes you. Thanks for joining us. 5 00:00:12,200 --> 00:00:15,440 Let's get into Ephesians Chapter 3. 6 00:00:15,440 --> 00:00:18,080 This is Father's Day. We're going to take a break from 7 00:00:18,080 --> 00:00:22,640 our series and we're going to look at this tribute to fathers. 8 00:00:22,640 --> 00:00:26,280 We're going to look at the subject spiritual, the subject 9 00:00:26,280 --> 00:00:30,040 of fatherhood, Ephesians chapter 3, verse one. 10 00:00:30,040 --> 00:00:35,440 And Paul says for this reason, oh, I'm sorry, go to verse 14, 11 00:00:36,920 --> 00:00:39,120 verse 14. My computer's got to cooperate 12 00:00:39,120 --> 00:00:40,400 with me. It's a demon possessed this 13 00:00:40,400 --> 00:00:43,480 morning in Jesus name, Amen. All right, verse 14. 14 00:00:43,480 --> 00:00:49,120 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom 15 00:00:49,160 --> 00:00:53,040 every family, or depending on the translation you are reading 16 00:00:53,240 --> 00:00:56,000 some translation say all fatherhood. 17 00:00:56,440 --> 00:01:00,240 So he says, For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father 18 00:01:00,240 --> 00:01:05,160 from whom every family or all fatherhood derives its name or 19 00:01:05,160 --> 00:01:09,400 on in heaven on earth is named, depending on your translation. 20 00:01:09,800 --> 00:01:13,440 So Paul is saying he's, he's going to, he's got a reason for 21 00:01:13,440 --> 00:01:15,600 his prayer. And then he introduces the 22 00:01:15,600 --> 00:01:16,680 prayer. He said, I'm going to bow. 23 00:01:16,680 --> 00:01:19,800 He's going to introduce the one he's praying to the father. 24 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:23,760 And then he adds this, he said the father from whom all 25 00:01:23,760 --> 00:01:27,480 fatherhood and family, because both translations are accurate, 26 00:01:27,640 --> 00:01:31,360 you can go either way on this and different translations do go 27 00:01:31,360 --> 00:01:34,320 different ways. It says all family and all 28 00:01:34,320 --> 00:01:36,320 fatherhood derives its name from him. 29 00:01:36,720 --> 00:01:39,800 He's the original father. We are the copy. 30 00:01:39,960 --> 00:01:42,640 God is the original. And we need to, we need to 31 00:01:42,640 --> 00:01:46,160 understand that because I think we can sometimes inadvertently 32 00:01:46,160 --> 00:01:52,120 conclude that God adopted this terminology because we're used 33 00:01:52,120 --> 00:01:54,400 to having dads. And so God said, how can I 34 00:01:54,400 --> 00:01:56,080 relate with them? Ah, they got dads. 35 00:01:56,080 --> 00:01:59,120 I think I'll call myself a dad and hopefully they can connect 36 00:01:59,120 --> 00:02:00,440 the dot. And that's not what's going on 37 00:02:00,440 --> 00:02:03,520 here. In fact, earthly fatherhood is a 38 00:02:03,520 --> 00:02:06,560 reflection of heavenly fatherhood, fatherhood, fodder 39 00:02:06,920 --> 00:02:08,800 fatherhood. It's supposed to be. 40 00:02:09,759 --> 00:02:12,960 And, and so God is the original and we are the copies. 41 00:02:12,960 --> 00:02:18,200 And in being fathers, we are not just to get examples from other 42 00:02:18,200 --> 00:02:21,160 human fathers around us. That's a good thing, as long as 43 00:02:21,160 --> 00:02:24,720 they're a good example, but the ultimate example we derive from 44 00:02:24,720 --> 00:02:27,200 him. You ever been making photocopies 45 00:02:27,680 --> 00:02:31,080 and you copy something, You use your second copy as the copy for 46 00:02:31,080 --> 00:02:33,880 the next one and the next one and it just keeps getting faded. 47 00:02:36,120 --> 00:02:39,400 That's what happens when we just look to man to learn how to be a 48 00:02:39,400 --> 00:02:43,000 father because there's only one perfect Father and that's the 49 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:45,720 Father in heaven. And so as we get our example 50 00:02:45,720 --> 00:02:49,800 from him, that we get our cues from him, He is the original. 51 00:02:49,800 --> 00:02:54,240 We are the copy. We are the faded copy of the 52 00:02:54,240 --> 00:02:57,040 original in heaven. And so Paul says for this 53 00:02:57,040 --> 00:02:58,640 reason, I'm kneel before the Father. 54 00:02:58,800 --> 00:03:00,080 Now. It's significant. 55 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:03,400 He says who he's praying to. He didn't just say I'm praying 56 00:03:03,400 --> 00:03:05,720 to God. He highlights that he's praying 57 00:03:05,720 --> 00:03:08,120 to the Father. And then he adds from whom all 58 00:03:08,120 --> 00:03:11,520 fatherhood and family in heaven and earth derives its name. 59 00:03:11,520 --> 00:03:13,720 There's a there's a family in heaven, there's a family on 60 00:03:13,720 --> 00:03:17,640 earth and all of it got it derived its name. 61 00:03:17,960 --> 00:03:21,440 It it was assigned its role from him. 62 00:03:21,440 --> 00:03:25,480 God got assigned the name, family and fathers to us. 63 00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:30,760 It was it, the source was God. And so Paul mentions that before 64 00:03:30,760 --> 00:03:34,000 he launches into this, this prayer, it's significant because 65 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:38,040 he's setting us up for this tremendous Apostolic prayer. 66 00:03:38,320 --> 00:03:43,040 Now, the book of Ephesians is the only epistle that Paul wrote 67 00:03:43,040 --> 00:03:45,680 that has no correction. He's not correcting them on 68 00:03:45,680 --> 00:03:50,160 anything because the Ephesian church was the most mature 69 00:03:50,560 --> 00:03:52,120 church that was in the New Testament. 70 00:03:52,120 --> 00:03:53,560 They were the revival church man. 71 00:03:53,560 --> 00:03:56,360 If you read in the book of Acts, when Paul went to Ephesus, he 72 00:03:56,360 --> 00:03:59,600 spent three years there. Everybody heard the word they, I 73 00:03:59,600 --> 00:04:02,480 mean, it was, it was an amazing move of God. 74 00:04:02,760 --> 00:04:06,920 And so they were arguably the most mature church, the church 75 00:04:06,920 --> 00:04:10,360 that didn't need correction. And many scholars would argue 76 00:04:10,360 --> 00:04:14,640 that that the deepest theology, maybe Romans would rival it, but 77 00:04:14,640 --> 00:04:19,200 there's deep theology in the book of Ephesians. 78 00:04:19,600 --> 00:04:23,240 And so Paul says for this reason, now that's verse 14. 79 00:04:23,240 --> 00:04:26,360 For this reason, I kneel. My, my, I kneel down. 80 00:04:26,600 --> 00:04:28,640 Now what? The reason we need to understand 81 00:04:28,640 --> 00:04:31,360 this is because what Paul is saying, there's a reason for 82 00:04:31,360 --> 00:04:33,360 this specific prayer. We're going to look at the 83 00:04:33,360 --> 00:04:36,680 content of the prayer, but the reason for the prayer is 84 00:04:36,680 --> 00:04:39,040 important. So he says for this reason, now 85 00:04:39,040 --> 00:04:43,320 go to verse one that I tried to get you to earlier jumping the 86 00:04:43,320 --> 00:04:46,840 gun on myself verse one for this reason. 87 00:04:46,840 --> 00:04:49,280 He says it previously in verse one. 88 00:04:49,480 --> 00:04:51,560 Then he reiterates it in verse 14. 89 00:04:51,560 --> 00:04:53,680 Why? Because Paul is chasing a 90 00:04:53,680 --> 00:04:55,760 rabbit. Look at verse one for this 91 00:04:55,760 --> 00:04:59,360 reason I Paul a prisoner for Christ Jesus on behalf of you 92 00:04:59,360 --> 00:05:01,960 Gentiles and then most translations will have a little 93 00:05:01,960 --> 00:05:05,960 dash there and then Paul says, assuming you have heard of the 94 00:05:05,960 --> 00:05:09,000 stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you. 95 00:05:09,520 --> 00:05:12,160 And then Paul begins to unpack his calling. 96 00:05:12,840 --> 00:05:16,720 He begins to share about how he's an apostle sent to unpack 97 00:05:16,720 --> 00:05:19,720 this revelation, these mysteries for them. 98 00:05:19,720 --> 00:05:22,600 His he exists for the benefit of the Ephesian church. 99 00:05:23,520 --> 00:05:27,080 And So what Paul does is he gets on this rabbit trail talking 100 00:05:27,080 --> 00:05:29,400 about his calling, and he gets away from the prayer. 101 00:05:29,400 --> 00:05:32,480 He begins to pray in verse one, and then he picks it up verse 102 00:05:32,480 --> 00:05:35,880 14. So rabbit trails are scriptural. 103 00:05:36,440 --> 00:05:40,240 When he gets chasing a squirrel, that is thoroughly biblical. 104 00:05:40,440 --> 00:05:42,760 So when I do that, there's scriptural precedents. 105 00:05:42,760 --> 00:05:44,360 OK, I just want to let you know that. 106 00:05:45,440 --> 00:05:48,000 So Paul is unpacking the revelation. 107 00:05:48,520 --> 00:05:52,560 The revelation is in chapter 2. Now a little more about the book 108 00:05:52,560 --> 00:05:54,960 of Ephesians. The book of Ephesians unpacks a 109 00:05:54,960 --> 00:05:57,360 couple of what Paul calls mysteries. 110 00:05:58,440 --> 00:06:02,400 Paul says in the book of Ephesians, men of old longed to 111 00:06:02,400 --> 00:06:06,400 look into these things. He even says the the angels were 112 00:06:06,400 --> 00:06:09,800 wondering and longed to look into some of the things that he 113 00:06:09,800 --> 00:06:11,680 will unpack in the book of Ephesians. 114 00:06:13,360 --> 00:06:16,600 Hopefully that stirs your hunger and your anticipation. 115 00:06:16,600 --> 00:06:18,400 What what did Paul unpack for us? 116 00:06:18,800 --> 00:06:21,560 Because the men of old, they, they prophesied about these 117 00:06:21,560 --> 00:06:24,960 things, but they were longing to understand and they weren't 118 00:06:24,960 --> 00:06:27,280 allowed to until the time of Paul. 119 00:06:27,280 --> 00:06:31,880 And Paul was the steward in Apostolic teaching. 120 00:06:31,880 --> 00:06:36,720 He began to unpack mysteries for the Ephesian church and the 121 00:06:36,720 --> 00:06:38,800 mystery of chapter 2 that he's alluding to. 122 00:06:38,800 --> 00:06:42,960 Because chapter 3 says for this reason, what reason, what he 123 00:06:42,960 --> 00:06:46,520 just unpacked in chapter 2, he said, for this reason, I'm going 124 00:06:46,520 --> 00:06:48,120 to pray for you. And we're going to get into what 125 00:06:48,120 --> 00:06:51,240 that prayer is, but we need to understand why he was praying 126 00:06:51,240 --> 00:06:53,560 this before we understand what the prayer was. 127 00:06:54,040 --> 00:06:58,480 So the mystery that he was unpacking was that both Jew and 128 00:06:58,480 --> 00:07:01,240 Gentile would become one new man in Christ. 129 00:07:03,440 --> 00:07:09,400 There was this mystery that God called Israel unto himself 130 00:07:09,600 --> 00:07:13,880 Israel, that they were his people, but the Gentiles were 131 00:07:13,880 --> 00:07:16,360 shut out. But now through Christ, he's 132 00:07:16,360 --> 00:07:20,480 going to bring in both Jew and Gentile and make them one new 133 00:07:20,600 --> 00:07:25,440 man. Now interesting the the Puritans 134 00:07:27,240 --> 00:07:30,560 believe, many believe that the Puritans were the high watermark 135 00:07:30,560 --> 00:07:34,680 of theology. But the Puritans, they they 136 00:07:34,680 --> 00:07:39,120 believed that some of the book of Ephesian and this subject 137 00:07:39,600 --> 00:07:44,840 specifically was prophetic in nature in the sense that we have 138 00:07:44,840 --> 00:07:49,120 yet to see the fullness of what God promised of the one new man 139 00:07:49,120 --> 00:07:54,680 in the book of Ephesians, that we've seen many Jews come into 140 00:07:54,680 --> 00:07:59,800 the Kingdom through Christ, but yet not the fullness, the 141 00:07:59,800 --> 00:08:03,520 fulfillment of what God is promising us. 142 00:08:03,800 --> 00:08:07,560 So much so that in Romans Chapter 9 and 11, Paul says, 143 00:08:07,840 --> 00:08:09,920 Paul says all Israel will be saved. 144 00:08:11,240 --> 00:08:13,880 And Paul said, unless that happens, he said I'd be willing 145 00:08:13,880 --> 00:08:15,720 to go to hell to see that happen. 146 00:08:17,480 --> 00:08:20,600 Unless you think that Paul is just blowing smoke in our face, 147 00:08:21,120 --> 00:08:25,520 understand that the Spirit of God inspired him to write it 148 00:08:25,520 --> 00:08:27,440 down. We know it's true that Paul 149 00:08:27,440 --> 00:08:31,320 would have literally given not his life, but his eternal soul 150 00:08:31,320 --> 00:08:33,039 to see Israel come into the Kingdom. 151 00:08:34,120 --> 00:08:36,720 And I guarantee you there's only two men in all of Scripture that 152 00:08:36,720 --> 00:08:40,000 ever prayed a prayer like that. And that was Moses and that was 153 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:42,760 Paul. I can't even comprehend. 154 00:08:43,159 --> 00:08:45,840 I've never touched that level of intercession. 155 00:08:48,560 --> 00:08:52,920 And that is a prayer that God would never deny, that Paul had 156 00:08:52,920 --> 00:08:55,760 sincerely come to the place saying, God, I would, I would 157 00:08:55,760 --> 00:09:00,320 give my very soul. And Paul tells us in Romans 9 158 00:09:00,320 --> 00:09:02,720 and 11 that God's going to answer that prayer. 159 00:09:02,920 --> 00:09:06,120 So much so he said all Israel will be saved. 160 00:09:06,720 --> 00:09:10,800 That's an amazing thing to say. Now I, I personally, I don't 161 00:09:10,800 --> 00:09:13,240 interpret that as everyone with Jewish blood is going to come 162 00:09:13,240 --> 00:09:15,800 into the Kingdom and be a born again Christian. 163 00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:18,760 But I do believe what he's saying is that Israel as a 164 00:09:18,760 --> 00:09:21,760 nation will be brought into the Kingdom and they will become a 165 00:09:21,760 --> 00:09:24,000 Kingdom nation that welcomes their Messiah. 166 00:09:24,200 --> 00:09:26,640 And I believe that is what Jesus is Speaking of. 167 00:09:26,640 --> 00:09:30,520 In Matthew 24 he gives 2 criteria for his return, one for 168 00:09:30,520 --> 00:09:32,440 the church and one for the nation of Israel. 169 00:09:32,600 --> 00:09:37,000 For the church, that this gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached 170 00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:39,720 to every nation and then the end shall come. 171 00:09:41,640 --> 00:09:45,040 So in one sense God is waiting on us for His return. 172 00:09:46,400 --> 00:09:50,040 He's waiting to send His Son. Well son, not yet. 173 00:09:50,040 --> 00:09:52,040 They haven't completed the task yet. 174 00:09:52,520 --> 00:09:54,120 So we've got to go to every nation. 175 00:09:54,120 --> 00:09:57,760 And that the nation is not a geographic location, it's every 176 00:09:57,920 --> 00:10:00,520 people group with a distinct custom and language and so 177 00:10:00,520 --> 00:10:02,400 forth. And there are still some yet to 178 00:10:02,400 --> 00:10:04,920 be to receive the gospel in their own language. 179 00:10:05,160 --> 00:10:10,000 And so that was but then that for Israel, he says, and they he 180 00:10:10,000 --> 00:10:12,520 said, I will not return until the I hear them say blessed to 181 00:10:12,520 --> 00:10:16,400 see who comes in the name of the Lord, They're going to receive 182 00:10:16,400 --> 00:10:20,640 him as their Messiah and then the end shall come. 183 00:10:21,600 --> 00:10:23,400 And so we have these two dynamics. 184 00:10:23,680 --> 00:10:26,920 And what Paul is saying in Romans 9 and 11 is those two 185 00:10:26,920 --> 00:10:30,840 things are going to converge. And he says that us that that 186 00:10:31,360 --> 00:10:34,440 the the Jews were cut off because of unbelief and we were 187 00:10:34,440 --> 00:10:38,200 grafted into the olive tree. So now we're partakers of that 188 00:10:38,440 --> 00:10:40,560 of of the gift that was given to them. 189 00:10:40,880 --> 00:10:43,440 But God is not going to leave it that way. 190 00:10:43,440 --> 00:10:45,200 He's going to graft them back in. 191 00:10:45,200 --> 00:10:49,320 And then he says this if us if them being cut off brought us 192 00:10:49,320 --> 00:10:53,200 blessing so that the gospel came to us, how much greater will the 193 00:10:53,200 --> 00:10:55,080 blessing be when they're grafted back in. 194 00:10:55,400 --> 00:10:59,080 In other words, we have a vested interest and praying for Israel, 195 00:10:59,320 --> 00:11:02,960 the eyes of the the Jewish people to be open and when they 196 00:11:02,960 --> 00:11:05,120 are brought into the Kingdom and mass. 197 00:11:05,120 --> 00:11:08,200 You want to talk about revival. That's the real move. 198 00:11:09,000 --> 00:11:12,280 And then we'll see the one new man and then the end shall come. 199 00:11:13,440 --> 00:11:16,240 And that's what Paul's alluding to in Ephesians chapter 2. 200 00:11:16,960 --> 00:11:21,520 So then he says, so he's talking about this grand cosmic 201 00:11:21,520 --> 00:11:25,640 historical plan that God has that he's going to make one new 202 00:11:25,640 --> 00:11:27,680 man. And then he said, for this 203 00:11:27,680 --> 00:11:32,240 reason, I kneel before the Father from whom all fatherhood 204 00:11:32,240 --> 00:11:36,320 and family derives its name has been, they've been assigned a 205 00:11:36,320 --> 00:11:41,840 name by God himself. God says there's a template. 206 00:11:42,600 --> 00:11:45,800 You can see me in this phrase. This is who I am. 207 00:11:45,800 --> 00:11:48,880 I'm going to reveal myself through this idea of fatherhood 208 00:11:48,880 --> 00:11:50,640 and I'm going to put it on mankind. 209 00:11:51,080 --> 00:11:52,760 I'm going to put it on human fathers. 210 00:11:52,920 --> 00:11:56,280 And through that we're to be a revelation of who he is. 211 00:11:57,560 --> 00:12:00,200 We're to be that for our families, for our kids. 212 00:12:01,640 --> 00:12:06,920 And we can be an expression of revelation for God, or we can be 213 00:12:06,920 --> 00:12:08,680 a stumbling block for our children. 214 00:12:09,280 --> 00:12:15,520 It's up to us and so we pave the way or we hinder our kids by the 215 00:12:15,520 --> 00:12:17,560 way we as fathers relate with them. 216 00:12:18,080 --> 00:12:20,600 Now, I don't want to put any condemnation on any dads here 217 00:12:20,600 --> 00:12:24,240 this morning because I guarantee you any father in this room 218 00:12:24,240 --> 00:12:28,080 that's had had a kid above 2 years old regrets some of his 219 00:12:28,080 --> 00:12:31,440 attitude at times and you're worried about man, did it bleed 220 00:12:31,440 --> 00:12:33,600 through? We all have regrets. 221 00:12:33,600 --> 00:12:40,240 I, I look back, I wish I knew now at 60 what I I wish I knew 222 00:12:40,240 --> 00:12:41,680 now. I wish I knew then. 223 00:12:42,200 --> 00:12:44,680 I wish what I know now. I wish I knew then when I was 224 00:12:44,680 --> 00:12:47,400 first starting to raise kids. I wish I could talk this 225 00:12:47,400 --> 00:12:50,720 morning. I wish, you know, I wish that 226 00:12:50,720 --> 00:12:55,520 there's things that that I wish I could do differently, but I'm 227 00:12:55,520 --> 00:13:00,920 going to trust my kids with God and man believe that God's going 228 00:13:00,920 --> 00:13:05,440 to bleed through my poor copy and reveal the father. 229 00:13:05,840 --> 00:13:09,480 But that is a high honor, guys, to be a dad. 230 00:13:09,800 --> 00:13:15,160 It's an amazing thing. The fatherhood of God is the 231 00:13:15,200 --> 00:13:19,720 foundation to all of reality. You can't understand God without 232 00:13:19,720 --> 00:13:21,960 having a revelation of Him as Father. 233 00:13:23,000 --> 00:13:27,320 All the other revelations of God have to find there be a subset 234 00:13:27,320 --> 00:13:29,120 of that revelation of God as Father. 235 00:13:29,600 --> 00:13:34,360 Jesus revealed Him as the Father and you'll never understand God 236 00:13:34,600 --> 00:13:37,040 unless you understand He's a Father yet and only begotten who 237 00:13:37,040 --> 00:13:43,160 wanted many begottens. He wants a large family of sons 238 00:13:43,160 --> 00:13:46,800 and daughters and he wants to share the rule and reign of the 239 00:13:46,800 --> 00:13:50,480 universe with his kids. Our father is an entrepreneur 240 00:13:50,480 --> 00:13:53,560 that started a company cosmic relations. 241 00:13:53,560 --> 00:13:57,360 You know, and he he wants God and sons and he wants you to 242 00:13:57,360 --> 00:14:00,280 help rule and reign with him and that doesn't that's not just 243 00:14:00,280 --> 00:14:03,800 someday. It's now we we work with our 244 00:14:03,800 --> 00:14:07,560 Father in but we have to have a revelation of him as Father. 245 00:14:07,560 --> 00:14:11,360 So God, the fatherhood of God is the foundation of all reality. 246 00:14:11,360 --> 00:14:13,920 I was telling the first service that Francis Schaefer, how many 247 00:14:13,920 --> 00:14:15,400 of you know who Francis Schaefer is? 248 00:14:15,960 --> 00:14:19,000 Look him up. Guy was a brilliant theologian, 249 00:14:19,000 --> 00:14:22,880 philosopher, had a goatee about this long look look like a real 250 00:14:22,880 --> 00:14:27,200 goat and a long white hair and he'd wear knickers and he had 251 00:14:27,200 --> 00:14:29,640 this ministry to hippies over in the Alps. 252 00:14:29,920 --> 00:14:34,600 Brilliant man his his books are absolutely brilliant. 253 00:14:34,600 --> 00:14:38,400 But I remember reading one time he said he said if God had not 254 00:14:38,400 --> 00:14:41,880 revealed himself in the trinitarian as the trinitarian 255 00:14:41,880 --> 00:14:48,120 God, I would be agnostic. I so wish he was still alive so 256 00:14:48,120 --> 00:14:50,840 I could ask him what is behind that statement because he was a 257 00:14:50,840 --> 00:14:55,200 brilliant man. I don't fully know what he 258 00:14:55,200 --> 00:14:59,320 meant, but I do know this, that all of nature expresses itself 259 00:14:59,320 --> 00:15:03,640 in this Trinitarian way. And you, you can look at, you 260 00:15:03,640 --> 00:15:07,000 know, all the all kinds of subjects, the family, father, 261 00:15:07,200 --> 00:15:10,800 mother, children. You've got time, past, present, 262 00:15:10,800 --> 00:15:12,200 future. There's this Trinitarian 263 00:15:12,200 --> 00:15:14,760 expression there. There's a reason preachers 264 00:15:15,000 --> 00:15:19,000 preach 3 point sermons because 3 point sermons cover the 265 00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:23,040 dimensions of reality, even the smallest building blocks of of 266 00:15:23,040 --> 00:15:25,920 reality. You know the subatomic, you know 267 00:15:25,920 --> 00:15:29,640 atoms and protons and neutrons and you know all that stuff it 268 00:15:29,720 --> 00:15:32,160 above my pay grade, but I'm telling you it's trinitarian 269 00:15:32,160 --> 00:15:37,400 expression. And so the the expression of God 270 00:15:37,400 --> 00:15:40,000 is the father, the originator. Everything comes from him. 271 00:15:40,320 --> 00:15:45,320 Now the foundation of reality expresses itself and all family 272 00:15:45,320 --> 00:15:50,880 and fatherhood derives its name. It's cues from who God is, but 273 00:15:50,880 --> 00:15:55,200 our the the foundation of our healthy psychologically, our 274 00:15:55,200 --> 00:15:57,480 foundation is found in the Father. 275 00:15:57,720 --> 00:16:04,760 Put it that way. If you look it, this is across 276 00:16:04,760 --> 00:16:07,120 cultures. It's fascinating to me that 277 00:16:07,120 --> 00:16:12,720 usually the first word a little child will utter is their word 278 00:16:12,720 --> 00:16:15,760 for father. And this is across cultures, not 279 00:16:15,760 --> 00:16:17,760 mothers. And I don't know, but I'm not a 280 00:16:17,760 --> 00:16:19,720 woman, but I'd be kind of honked, you know, I'd be like, 281 00:16:19,720 --> 00:16:21,120 wait a minute, I gave birth to you. 282 00:16:22,240 --> 00:16:26,600 And the first one is da da. And often it is da da even or 283 00:16:26,600 --> 00:16:30,640 Papa even in other cultures because of the the phonetics and 284 00:16:30,640 --> 00:16:32,800 so forth. The first expression. 285 00:16:32,800 --> 00:16:35,280 And there's theories on that. But one of the reasons, the 286 00:16:35,280 --> 00:16:39,640 primary reason most people attribute it to is that a child 287 00:16:39,640 --> 00:16:43,320 doesn't really realize that it's separate from the mother, that 288 00:16:43,360 --> 00:16:45,960 the environment it lived in was the mother's voice and the 289 00:16:45,960 --> 00:16:48,360 mother's heartbeat. And it was, you know, it came 290 00:16:48,360 --> 00:16:50,760 out of the mother, but it, you know, the umbilical cord, it 291 00:16:50,760 --> 00:16:52,720 returns to the mother's breast for nourishment. 292 00:16:52,920 --> 00:16:55,960 And they don't even perceive that they're separate from the 293 00:16:55,960 --> 00:16:59,480 mother, but they do perceive that a father will come and go. 294 00:16:59,480 --> 00:17:03,320 And so the first word is for father because they recognize 295 00:17:03,320 --> 00:17:05,680 this is another person other than myself. 296 00:17:07,480 --> 00:17:10,640 That's just interesting to me that the first word is for 297 00:17:10,640 --> 00:17:12,599 Father. But what I really find 298 00:17:12,599 --> 00:17:16,880 interesting is the when you look at when God created Adam, I had 299 00:17:16,880 --> 00:17:19,960 a friend, I didn't know the guy real well, but he was pastoring 300 00:17:19,960 --> 00:17:23,680 down in Atlanta and one time he was studying and the Lord kept 301 00:17:23,680 --> 00:17:27,079 prompting him. Pull open your computer and he 302 00:17:27,079 --> 00:17:30,480 has this program, Logos. It's a Bible program. 303 00:17:30,480 --> 00:17:33,760 I know some of you have it and you can take and you can push a 304 00:17:33,760 --> 00:17:36,640 little button and it'll say the Hebrew and the Greek words for 305 00:17:36,640 --> 00:17:38,440 you. And he was studying about 306 00:17:38,440 --> 00:17:42,000 creation. The Lord kept saying open up and 307 00:17:42,160 --> 00:17:47,480 listen to the word for father. And it's not a coincidence that 308 00:17:47,480 --> 00:17:51,240 it is the first word. If you look in the Strong's 309 00:17:51,240 --> 00:17:56,120 Hebrew Dictionary, the first word word entry number one is 310 00:17:56,440 --> 00:18:01,040 AWB, OB. It's the word for Father. 311 00:18:01,840 --> 00:18:07,520 And so he pushed it and as hop hop and what the Lord began to 312 00:18:07,520 --> 00:18:13,040 talk to him about is it sounds like somebody that's been 313 00:18:13,040 --> 00:18:16,600 holding their breath underwater and they're they're needing 314 00:18:16,600 --> 00:18:18,080 water. They're needing air. 315 00:18:18,240 --> 00:18:22,000 And all of a sudden they come up out of the water and they gasp, 316 00:18:22,680 --> 00:18:25,280 they just suck their lungs full of air. 317 00:18:26,400 --> 00:18:30,160 And that sounds like the Hebrew word from which we get Father. 318 00:18:32,480 --> 00:18:36,200 So if you look in creation, when God was forming Adam, you 319 00:18:36,200 --> 00:18:41,600 remember he had an only begotten A1 unique son, Jesus. 320 00:18:42,000 --> 00:18:44,320 But he was longing for many sons. 321 00:18:44,320 --> 00:18:49,280 So what did he do? He created a man in the dirt and 322 00:18:49,280 --> 00:18:52,320 then he reached down and it says in the Hebrew he breathed into 323 00:18:52,320 --> 00:18:55,520 him the breath of the lives. And in the Hebrew it's plural 324 00:18:56,040 --> 00:19:00,360 because there was the life of the soul, the body, the normal 325 00:19:00,360 --> 00:19:03,200 human life, but there was also the higher life of the Spirit. 326 00:19:03,480 --> 00:19:05,720 And he breathed into him the breath of lives. 327 00:19:06,040 --> 00:19:10,480 And Adam fills his lungs with the air, and that outcomes that 328 00:19:10,480 --> 00:19:14,480 word. And the first thing he sees as 329 00:19:14,480 --> 00:19:18,800 he opens his eyes is the smiling, retreating face of his 330 00:19:18,800 --> 00:19:22,160 Creator as he says the word that God said. 331 00:19:22,360 --> 00:19:25,520 That's what I'll call myself. That's the word I'm going to 332 00:19:25,520 --> 00:19:28,800 give to myself. And so not only do our children 333 00:19:29,080 --> 00:19:32,960 usually the first thing they say is father some some form or 334 00:19:32,960 --> 00:19:38,360 fashion of that, but also Adam. It was probably that very sound 335 00:19:38,560 --> 00:19:41,560 and God said, that's the word I'm going to attach to myself. 336 00:19:44,480 --> 00:19:49,000 And that is to be the way we see God, that I'm desperate for you, 337 00:19:49,000 --> 00:19:52,440 like I need air. And we look upon him in that 338 00:19:52,440 --> 00:19:55,120 smiling, retreating face where God's looking and saying, oh, 339 00:19:55,120 --> 00:19:56,400 it's good. Look at this. 340 00:19:57,440 --> 00:19:59,440 That's the relationship we're to have. 341 00:20:00,800 --> 00:20:06,680 And the our psychological health demands that we have that type 342 00:20:06,680 --> 00:20:09,760 of relationship with our Father. We talked about it last week, 343 00:20:09,920 --> 00:20:14,720 Psalm 149. God takes delight or pleasure in 344 00:20:14,720 --> 00:20:18,920 His children. And if you don't believe that, 345 00:20:18,920 --> 00:20:23,360 you will succumb to the self rejection that goes way back to 346 00:20:23,360 --> 00:20:27,240 Eden. And every human being that walks 347 00:20:27,240 --> 00:20:31,520 the earth to varying degrees has struggled with a measure of self 348 00:20:31,520 --> 00:20:33,840 rejection. And it goes back to the fall 349 00:20:35,400 --> 00:20:38,720 because sin was not only rooted in a rejection of God, that, 350 00:20:38,720 --> 00:20:42,280 that that lie that God can't be trusted, but also in a rejection 351 00:20:42,280 --> 00:20:46,200 of our self, that we're somehow not good enough for the way God 352 00:20:46,200 --> 00:20:47,880 created us. And people argue, well, wait a 353 00:20:47,880 --> 00:20:50,000 minute, pastor, you know, we're not good enough. 354 00:20:50,120 --> 00:20:51,920 We're not good enough to save ourselves. 355 00:20:52,640 --> 00:20:57,560 But I'm talking before sin. Adam and Eve rejected who they 356 00:20:57,560 --> 00:20:59,800 were and tried to be something they were. 357 00:20:59,880 --> 00:21:02,640 They went down a path that God never assigned to them. 358 00:21:02,960 --> 00:21:06,920 They were perfectly fit to be what God created them for, a God 359 00:21:06,920 --> 00:21:10,200 container. They were made in his image and 360 00:21:10,200 --> 00:21:12,920 they would be in relationship with him and in relationship 361 00:21:12,920 --> 00:21:16,360 with him. They would shine among men, but 362 00:21:16,360 --> 00:21:20,080 they bought into a lie that somehow they were defective and 363 00:21:20,080 --> 00:21:22,480 they needed to be better and they ate the fruit to achieve 364 00:21:22,480 --> 00:21:27,520 that and plunged all into sin. And the fact is, every one of us 365 00:21:27,520 --> 00:21:32,880 struggle with some measure of self rejection and the cross of 366 00:21:32,880 --> 00:21:36,240 Jesus Christ that reconciles us to the Father. 367 00:21:36,240 --> 00:21:40,120 And make no mistake about it, the reconciliation of the Son is 368 00:21:40,120 --> 00:21:41,760 to the Father. That's what Jay said this 369 00:21:41,760 --> 00:21:45,920 morning. Jesus came to reconcile us to 370 00:21:45,920 --> 00:21:52,120 our Father, But that same reconciliation is to reconcile 371 00:21:52,120 --> 00:21:57,640 us to our self, to bring us to the place where we are OK to 372 00:21:57,640 --> 00:22:03,760 live in our own skin. And a father plays a huge role 373 00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:06,880 in helping a child achieve that self acceptance. 374 00:22:10,640 --> 00:22:14,360 And ultimately you can only get that from your heavenly Father. 375 00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:20,600 Now, most, most men carry some and women for that matter, too, 376 00:22:20,600 --> 00:22:26,160 carry some form of father wound. Because no matter how good your 377 00:22:26,160 --> 00:22:31,400 dad was or how poor he was, the fact is he's not God the Father. 378 00:22:31,400 --> 00:22:33,360 He's not he's not a perfect father. 379 00:22:33,360 --> 00:22:36,800 And so we have these voids and we have just like it says here 380 00:22:36,800 --> 00:22:41,800 in this passage, Paul says that all family and fatherhood 381 00:22:41,800 --> 00:22:45,360 derives its name. That that word derives its name 382 00:22:45,360 --> 00:22:49,080 is really one word in in the Greek, and it means to assign a 383 00:22:49,080 --> 00:22:52,560 title or role, even to connect to a lineage. 384 00:22:52,560 --> 00:22:55,480 And God was saying, I'm going to, I'm going to tie this thing, 385 00:22:55,480 --> 00:22:58,600 this reference point to myself in heaven so that you can look 386 00:22:58,600 --> 00:23:02,880 through this and see me. But sometimes we, we were raised 387 00:23:02,880 --> 00:23:05,440 in such dysfunction or such brokenness. 388 00:23:05,440 --> 00:23:08,120 There's, there's so much woundedness that we can't look 389 00:23:08,120 --> 00:23:09,720 at that lens. We have to get up in the 390 00:23:09,720 --> 00:23:12,560 heavenly perspective and view our fathers from that 391 00:23:12,560 --> 00:23:14,160 perspective and get that thing healed. 392 00:23:15,640 --> 00:23:18,120 But we need to hear that the Father. 393 00:23:18,280 --> 00:23:21,560 Now let let me pause here because what Paul is saying, he 394 00:23:21,560 --> 00:23:24,800 starts off in this prayer. He says for this reason, what 395 00:23:24,800 --> 00:23:28,440 reason, this big grand purpose of God in chapter 2, man, God 396 00:23:28,440 --> 00:23:32,920 has this, this, this grand plan that he is unfolding. 397 00:23:32,920 --> 00:23:35,240 And you and I are to play a role in that. 398 00:23:36,080 --> 00:23:41,480 But Paul says, because that grand plan is being unfolded and 399 00:23:41,480 --> 00:23:44,080 you're to play in a role. And he said, I've got a prayer 400 00:23:44,080 --> 00:23:49,120 that I've got to pray because if this prayer is not fulfilled, 401 00:23:49,280 --> 00:23:52,280 you won't fulfill your role in the grand plan. 402 00:23:53,320 --> 00:23:55,440 There is a criteria that must be met. 403 00:23:55,640 --> 00:23:59,280 There's something that needs to happen in you so that you can 404 00:23:59,480 --> 00:24:03,320 you can run hard after what God has called you to so that we can 405 00:24:03,320 --> 00:24:07,120 be part of this grand plan. And that's the prayer that Paul 406 00:24:07,120 --> 00:24:09,000 is praying. And what is that prayer? 407 00:24:09,120 --> 00:24:16,440 Let's read it here. He says, if I can get OK. 408 00:24:16,440 --> 00:24:20,040 For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father from whom 409 00:24:20,040 --> 00:24:21,760 every family in heaven and on earth. 410 00:24:21,920 --> 00:24:23,800 It's interesting. There's a family in heaven and a 411 00:24:23,800 --> 00:24:27,880 family on earth. Unearth His name, that according 412 00:24:27,880 --> 00:24:33,040 to the riches of His glory, He may grant you to be strengthened 413 00:24:33,040 --> 00:24:36,840 with power through His Spirit. Man, that's a vivid language. 414 00:24:37,720 --> 00:24:40,640 This is one of two Apostolic prayers in the book of 415 00:24:40,640 --> 00:24:43,720 Ephesians. I want to encourage you, get a 416 00:24:43,720 --> 00:24:48,160 hold of this prayer, 14 through 21, seven verses, and read that 417 00:24:48,160 --> 00:24:50,720 over yourself and pray that over yourself because you're praying 418 00:24:50,720 --> 00:24:53,360 the will of God. It's a wonderful prayer. 419 00:24:54,440 --> 00:24:57,840 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father. 420 00:24:57,840 --> 00:25:00,320 And from whom of heaven and earth drives his name, that He 421 00:25:00,320 --> 00:25:02,960 may grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit. 422 00:25:02,960 --> 00:25:07,760 As Pentecostal charismatic believers, we believe in the 423 00:25:07,760 --> 00:25:12,440 power of the Spirit, but usually the power of the Spirit. 424 00:25:12,600 --> 00:25:15,600 We think of power from external ministry. 425 00:25:17,280 --> 00:25:20,240 I was ordained with the Assemblies of God for many 426 00:25:20,240 --> 00:25:22,800 years, and the Assemblies, when I was coming up through the 427 00:25:22,800 --> 00:25:25,080 ranks, we'd always have a pounded in US. 428 00:25:25,080 --> 00:25:27,360 You are empowered to be a witness. 429 00:25:27,880 --> 00:25:30,840 Acts 1. You know, tarry until you're 430 00:25:30,840 --> 00:25:35,560 endued with power, and you shall become witnesses to the 431 00:25:35,560 --> 00:25:38,440 uttermost parts of the earth. And that's a valid expression, 432 00:25:38,440 --> 00:25:42,360 but it's not the whole thing. There's an external expression 433 00:25:42,360 --> 00:25:45,680 of the power of God coming on, and that's for others, but 434 00:25:45,680 --> 00:25:50,000 there's an internal expression of the power of God that is 435 00:25:50,000 --> 00:25:56,600 necessary for me, and that's what Paul's praying for here. 436 00:25:58,880 --> 00:26:02,800 Romans chapter 5. It says by the Spirit, the love 437 00:26:02,800 --> 00:26:04,480 of God is shed abroad in your heart. 438 00:26:06,560 --> 00:26:09,600 The Spirit of God is the one that opens our eyes so we can 439 00:26:09,600 --> 00:26:13,000 comprehend the magnitude of God's love. 440 00:26:13,720 --> 00:26:16,760 That, according to Paul, is incomprehensible. 441 00:26:16,760 --> 00:26:21,600 Until God opens our eyes, we need a supernatural work of the 442 00:26:21,600 --> 00:26:25,240 Spirit to come upon us, empower us, so the eyes of our 443 00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:28,000 understanding are enlightened and we can see this thing. 444 00:26:29,400 --> 00:26:32,000 And until we do, we live a deficient life. 445 00:26:32,880 --> 00:26:35,240 And there's a whole lot of other things that come into play 446 00:26:35,240 --> 00:26:38,800 there. You know, holiness is not about 447 00:26:38,800 --> 00:26:42,880 us white knuckling it and having a great big no towards sin that 448 00:26:42,880 --> 00:26:45,360 can start there. That's where we need to say no 449 00:26:45,360 --> 00:26:49,240 to sin. But the real power of holiness 450 00:26:49,680 --> 00:26:53,000 is by the Spirit. Paul said in Romans 8, It's by 451 00:26:53,000 --> 00:26:56,240 the Spirit. You put to death the misdeeds of 452 00:26:56,240 --> 00:26:59,640 the flesh. So the Spirit of God coming on 453 00:26:59,640 --> 00:27:03,320 us enables us to live over the flesh, live above the flesh, and 454 00:27:03,320 --> 00:27:06,680 not give in to sin. The secret of sanctification, 455 00:27:06,680 --> 00:27:09,680 the secret of maturity, the secret of holiness and freedom 456 00:27:09,840 --> 00:27:11,840 is living in the power of the Spirit. 457 00:27:12,240 --> 00:27:16,160 And that comes by a revelation of God's love that we're so 458 00:27:16,160 --> 00:27:20,280 captured by Him. We see him for who he is, we get 459 00:27:20,280 --> 00:27:25,200 a revelation of his love for us, which will birth within us a 460 00:27:25,240 --> 00:27:29,840 corresponding love, John said. We love him. 461 00:27:29,840 --> 00:27:34,200 Why? Because He first loved us so. 462 00:27:34,200 --> 00:27:38,960 A revelation of His love will automatically birth a 463 00:27:38,960 --> 00:27:41,880 corresponding expression of love towards Him. 464 00:27:42,120 --> 00:27:45,680 When you see His love for you, you can't help but love Him 465 00:27:45,680 --> 00:27:49,840 back. The gratitude will erupt in your 466 00:27:49,840 --> 00:27:52,400 heart, and there'll be this affection for Him. 467 00:27:52,640 --> 00:27:56,760 And the sin that once held you doesn't hold sway anymore. 468 00:27:57,120 --> 00:28:00,880 Why would I trade my birthright for that? 469 00:28:01,600 --> 00:28:06,840 That bolus Stew? Why would I even be tempted with 470 00:28:06,840 --> 00:28:10,720 that when there's pleasures at his right hand forever more? 471 00:28:11,720 --> 00:28:15,720 But the problem is, I'm blinded to who he really is and what he 472 00:28:15,720 --> 00:28:18,880 really has for me. I don't see it for what it is. 473 00:28:19,120 --> 00:28:23,520 And so these little trinkets down here that are shiny grab my 474 00:28:23,520 --> 00:28:27,560 attention. And the key is not to just white 475 00:28:27,560 --> 00:28:30,440 knuckle it and try to convince myself by mantras. 476 00:28:31,240 --> 00:28:34,680 I need the power of the Spirit to come upon me, strip the 477 00:28:34,680 --> 00:28:37,960 blinders from my eyes, and to see Him for who he is. 478 00:28:38,680 --> 00:28:42,600 And when that happens, it breaks the power of sin in my life. 479 00:28:42,880 --> 00:28:46,480 So the power of the Spirit, there's an internal expression 480 00:28:46,720 --> 00:28:51,400 that gives me victory over sin in the flesh and an external one 481 00:28:51,400 --> 00:28:54,760 that I can give it away. And the problem is there are 482 00:28:54,760 --> 00:28:59,200 people who receive an external impartation of power. 483 00:28:59,520 --> 00:29:02,240 But there it's like, it's like a sinkhole. 484 00:29:02,480 --> 00:29:06,800 The weight of the responsibility of giving it away begins to 485 00:29:06,800 --> 00:29:11,480 expose the the cavernous void of the love of God in their life. 486 00:29:11,480 --> 00:29:13,480 And eventually they cave in on themselves. 487 00:29:15,120 --> 00:29:18,760 So we can never allow our revelation of what he wants to 488 00:29:18,760 --> 00:29:23,840 do through US become greater than his love for us. 489 00:29:25,880 --> 00:29:28,680 We can get so caught up in ministry and doing things for 490 00:29:28,680 --> 00:29:32,040 God that we leave God behind and God becomes a means to an end 491 00:29:32,280 --> 00:29:34,520 because we've never been captured by his love. 492 00:29:34,520 --> 00:29:35,880 And that's what Paul's trying to head off. 493 00:29:36,080 --> 00:29:39,400 Listen, what he says here. He says, I want, I'm praying 494 00:29:39,400 --> 00:29:41,680 that you'd be strengthened with power through his spirit for 495 00:29:41,680 --> 00:29:45,320 what in your inner being. Paul prays in layers. 496 00:29:45,320 --> 00:29:48,520 He teaches in layers. I mean you got to pull back one 497 00:29:48,560 --> 00:29:50,520 layer of onion and another layer and another. 498 00:29:50,720 --> 00:29:55,520 He says, I pray that you would be you would he would according 499 00:29:55,520 --> 00:29:58,680 to the riches of his glory. He may grant you to be 500 00:29:58,680 --> 00:30:02,240 strengthened with power through his spirit in your inner being. 501 00:30:02,240 --> 00:30:05,800 Why? So that Christ may dwell in your 502 00:30:05,800 --> 00:30:11,400 hearts through faith. Now, if I were to come to you 503 00:30:11,400 --> 00:30:15,040 during greeting time and pull you in close and whisper, I've 504 00:30:15,040 --> 00:30:17,520 been praying for you that Christ would dwell in your heart 505 00:30:17,520 --> 00:30:21,680 through faith, and then I'd walk away, you'd be like this pastor 506 00:30:21,680 --> 00:30:25,040 not think I'm saved. What's the deal with that? 507 00:30:26,480 --> 00:30:28,840 But he's praying for believers here. 508 00:30:29,720 --> 00:30:33,600 It's not that the Ephesian church is so in such bad shape 509 00:30:33,600 --> 00:30:35,320 that everyone needs to get saved. 510 00:30:35,320 --> 00:30:37,040 There's no one saved in the church. 511 00:30:38,120 --> 00:30:41,760 He's not talking about Christ being in your heart. 512 00:30:41,760 --> 00:30:44,840 He's talking about dwelling in your heart through face. 513 00:30:44,840 --> 00:30:49,000 That word dwell means to settle down and make a home that He 514 00:30:49,000 --> 00:30:51,640 can. He feels at home in your heart 515 00:30:52,560 --> 00:30:54,760 that He can. He can go in any cupboard, any 516 00:30:54,760 --> 00:30:57,480 crevice, any closet. He can look what's in here. 517 00:30:58,800 --> 00:31:01,880 He feels at home. I was telling the first service 518 00:31:01,880 --> 00:31:04,600 that when when I was homeless, there were different families 519 00:31:04,600 --> 00:31:07,240 that would take compassion on me and say, oh, I can't believe 520 00:31:07,240 --> 00:31:09,440 your parents kicked you out. You'd come live with us and then 521 00:31:09,440 --> 00:31:13,320 two weeks later get out of here. Your dad was right and I agree 522 00:31:13,320 --> 00:31:16,280 with them. But anyway, I never felt that 523 00:31:16,280 --> 00:31:19,240 home in any of those houses. And they were very kind people 524 00:31:19,240 --> 00:31:21,640 to take me in. It wasn't the problem, wasn't 525 00:31:21,640 --> 00:31:24,440 them. It wasn't my home, so I never 526 00:31:24,440 --> 00:31:27,320 felt like I could just go in the refrigerator and get something 527 00:31:27,320 --> 00:31:30,200 or I could just, it wasn't really mine. 528 00:31:30,200 --> 00:31:32,200 There's only two places I felt at home. 529 00:31:32,600 --> 00:31:35,080 It's my home and my parents home. 530 00:31:35,880 --> 00:31:38,760 And to this day I can go to my mom and dad's and go through the 531 00:31:38,760 --> 00:31:41,440 closet and look, you know, dig through stuff and look at old 532 00:31:41,440 --> 00:31:43,520 pictures. And I just feel the liberty to 533 00:31:43,520 --> 00:31:49,280 do so because I'm their son. I'm at home and what Paul is 534 00:31:49,280 --> 00:31:53,120 saying is he wants a work done in your heart so Christ feels 535 00:31:53,120 --> 00:31:55,800 that way in you. Nothing is off limits. 536 00:31:56,360 --> 00:31:59,960 He can get in your business, He can dig through your closet. 537 00:32:00,120 --> 00:32:03,240 There's nothing hidden. And here's the deal. 538 00:32:03,240 --> 00:32:06,640 Listen, this is what he says, because you'll never, he'll 539 00:32:06,640 --> 00:32:09,640 never be able to dwell that way in your heart unless this 540 00:32:09,640 --> 00:32:12,360 happens. So that Christ may dwell in your 541 00:32:12,360 --> 00:32:15,520 hearts through faith, that you being rooted and grounded in 542 00:32:15,520 --> 00:32:20,280 love, may have strength to comprehend with all the Saints 543 00:32:20,400 --> 00:32:24,360 what is the breadth, length, height and depth, and to know 544 00:32:24,360 --> 00:32:26,880 the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. 545 00:32:29,560 --> 00:32:33,760 In other words, if you're not convinced of the love of God for 546 00:32:33,760 --> 00:32:37,160 you personally, that's what we were talking about last week. 547 00:32:37,280 --> 00:32:42,560 If you are not convinced that God takes pleasure in you, if 548 00:32:42,560 --> 00:32:45,520 you're still hearing those echoes of Eden and you're on the 549 00:32:45,520 --> 00:32:48,440 treadmill trying to become something that God can accept, 550 00:32:49,000 --> 00:32:51,960 that is a lie from the pit of hell and it will undermine your 551 00:32:51,960 --> 00:32:54,120 ability to take part in God's eternal plan. 552 00:32:56,480 --> 00:32:59,720 We've got to have we've got to have a revelation of God's love 553 00:33:00,200 --> 00:33:04,400 so that we know that we become like the apostle John in the 554 00:33:04,400 --> 00:33:09,200 book of John, he writes, I want to say it, it was it was 5 or 7 555 00:33:09,200 --> 00:33:11,560 times. I want to say it was 7, but it 556 00:33:11,560 --> 00:33:15,720 might have just been 5 where John writes the one whom Jesus 557 00:33:15,720 --> 00:33:19,520 loved and the one whom Jesus loved said and the one whom 558 00:33:19,560 --> 00:33:21,560 Jesus loved. And then you dig into this and 559 00:33:21,560 --> 00:33:23,720 you find out he was talking about himself. 560 00:33:26,320 --> 00:33:28,560 I remember when I first got saved, I'm reading, I thought 561 00:33:28,560 --> 00:33:31,240 John pretty arrogant there, buddy. 562 00:33:31,880 --> 00:33:34,160 And I'm, I'm kind of wondering, I wonder what Peter thought of 563 00:33:34,160 --> 00:33:37,240 that, you know, when he he grabbed John's best selling book 564 00:33:37,240 --> 00:33:39,320 search for Oh, the one who Jesus loved, huh. 565 00:33:39,720 --> 00:33:41,200 But they had some talks over that. 566 00:33:42,960 --> 00:33:45,560 But it was because I was misinterpreting what John was 567 00:33:45,560 --> 00:33:47,640 saying. John didn't say the one whom 568 00:33:47,720 --> 00:33:49,320 Jesus loved more than anybody else. 569 00:33:50,960 --> 00:33:53,280 What he said was the one whom Jesus loved. 570 00:33:54,080 --> 00:33:57,120 Every one of them could have said that, but John carried a 571 00:33:57,120 --> 00:34:01,480 personal revelation of that. And the fact is everyone of us 572 00:34:01,480 --> 00:34:05,200 in this room could say I'm the one whom Jesus loved, but not 573 00:34:05,200 --> 00:34:07,120 everyone of us are convinced of that. 574 00:34:08,199 --> 00:34:10,840 God's convinced of that. Are you? 575 00:34:11,880 --> 00:34:14,840 Because if you're not, then there will be areas of your 576 00:34:14,840 --> 00:34:17,719 heart that you're going to say God thanks, but no thanks. 577 00:34:17,719 --> 00:34:23,719 It's off limits because we don't trust him with those areas of 578 00:34:23,719 --> 00:34:26,840 our life. And often those are rooted in 579 00:34:26,840 --> 00:34:30,840 Father wounds. And so the Father wants to come 580 00:34:30,840 --> 00:34:33,719 in and undo what your father did or didn't do. 581 00:34:33,719 --> 00:34:37,159 He wants to undo the damage of that and heal your heart so that 582 00:34:37,159 --> 00:34:39,320 you can relate with him as Father. 583 00:34:39,520 --> 00:34:42,360 So that finally you can just swing by the gates of your life 584 00:34:42,360 --> 00:34:46,120 and say, Lord, have your way. Any closet Lord you know. 585 00:34:46,520 --> 00:34:49,600 And believe me, God will find stuff that you forgot you kept. 586 00:34:52,360 --> 00:34:57,160 Seriously, he'll bring up things that you forgot about, but he 587 00:34:57,160 --> 00:35:01,680 knows subconsciously it's still bothering you, but you've got to 588 00:35:01,680 --> 00:35:03,840 be convinced of his love. You've got to have a 589 00:35:03,840 --> 00:35:06,720 comprehension of his love. And Paul says it here. 590 00:35:06,720 --> 00:35:11,360 He says that you would know this love, no, this love that 591 00:35:11,360 --> 00:35:15,880 surpasses knowledge, knowing. You've got to know something 592 00:35:15,880 --> 00:35:17,480 that surpasses knowing something. 593 00:35:18,640 --> 00:35:22,600 What does that mean? So there's this first one, he 594 00:35:22,600 --> 00:35:25,080 says. I want you to know something in 595 00:35:25,080 --> 00:35:30,840 an experiential way that is beyond mere theory, something 596 00:35:30,840 --> 00:35:34,800 you've studied yourself into, something that you've read but 597 00:35:35,240 --> 00:35:37,760 it's in your head but it hasn't gotten into your heart. 598 00:35:39,080 --> 00:35:43,680 Was talking with someone this week and I was reminded of a 599 00:35:43,680 --> 00:35:47,640 quote by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Dietrich Bonhoeffer said only he 600 00:35:47,640 --> 00:35:51,120 who believes obeys and only he who obeys believes. 601 00:35:53,640 --> 00:35:56,720 So you can say things, but if it's not showing up in the 602 00:35:56,720 --> 00:35:59,200 landscape of your life, you don't really believe it because 603 00:35:59,200 --> 00:36:01,600 it's your believing that will determine your behaving. 604 00:36:03,840 --> 00:36:09,200 And so if you're having trouble on the behaving level, then 605 00:36:09,200 --> 00:36:12,800 don't just white knuckle it until you, you know, as long as 606 00:36:12,800 --> 00:36:16,040 you have to, but start digging down and say, what is the lie 607 00:36:16,040 --> 00:36:18,840 that I believe that keeps me from obeying him in this area? 608 00:36:19,120 --> 00:36:22,320 Why is this such a struggle? Because I guarantee you, you 609 00:36:22,320 --> 00:36:26,000 will find there's a lie you believe about him and often even 610 00:36:26,000 --> 00:36:28,360 about yourself at the root of that thing. 611 00:36:29,120 --> 00:36:32,000 And if you can begin to unravel it because when you see him for 612 00:36:32,000 --> 00:36:34,440 who he is, you can't help but obey him. 613 00:36:37,560 --> 00:36:41,080 God's will is always what you would do if you knew all the 614 00:36:41,080 --> 00:36:46,360 facts, if you knew everything like he knows everything. 615 00:36:46,800 --> 00:36:49,040 And then you said, OK, God tell you what I'm going to I'm going 616 00:36:49,040 --> 00:36:51,160 to draw out a blueprint for my life and I'll bring it to you. 617 00:36:51,560 --> 00:36:53,680 You would draw out the same 1 he does. 618 00:36:55,320 --> 00:37:00,000 Problem is, we're not omniscient and because we doubt his motives 619 00:37:00,000 --> 00:37:05,920 because of that deep seated we, we, we have no clue when when 620 00:37:05,920 --> 00:37:11,880 God breathed into Adam and Adam awakens and he does, he sees 621 00:37:11,880 --> 00:37:15,240 God's smiling face and he cries out, ah, but guts it. 622 00:37:15,400 --> 00:37:18,200 That's what I'm going to call myself from now on. 623 00:37:18,600 --> 00:37:24,280 That desperate demand for air itself or life itself, that when 624 00:37:24,280 --> 00:37:27,040 you need me, you say those words and I'm on it. 625 00:37:27,040 --> 00:37:31,560 That's who I am to you. When Adam and Eve were severed 626 00:37:31,560 --> 00:37:34,760 from that and they fell, we have no clue. 627 00:37:35,080 --> 00:37:39,080 Not not just the spiritual damage, but the psychological 628 00:37:39,080 --> 00:37:43,040 damage that did to us. We were cut off from our source 629 00:37:43,040 --> 00:37:46,800 of life, one whole element, one whole third of our nature, the 630 00:37:46,800 --> 00:37:52,920 spiritual element died and our source of value and affirmation, 631 00:37:52,920 --> 00:37:55,920 our whole purpose. So once you remove that, life 632 00:37:55,920 --> 00:38:03,080 becomes meaningless. God himself is the philosophical 633 00:38:03,280 --> 00:38:07,880 foundation to all of living. You ever read the book of 634 00:38:08,040 --> 00:38:11,880 Ecclesiastes? It is depressing. 635 00:38:12,360 --> 00:38:15,160 I don't know about you, but I thought, Lord, you know, no 636 00:38:15,160 --> 00:38:16,560 offense. I know you're smarter than me, 637 00:38:16,560 --> 00:38:19,640 but I'm just saying I wouldn't have put that one in there, man. 638 00:38:19,640 --> 00:38:22,760 You could, you know, don't don't read it if you're depressed, OK, 639 00:38:22,920 --> 00:38:27,000 Find another book. I mean, the smartest man that 640 00:38:27,000 --> 00:38:31,040 ever lived writes things like everything is meaningless under 641 00:38:31,040 --> 00:38:33,760 the sun. You work your whole life, 642 00:38:33,760 --> 00:38:36,160 accumulative wealth and your kids will blow it in the week 643 00:38:36,160 --> 00:38:38,800 after your funeral. Everything is meaningless under 644 00:38:38,800 --> 00:38:40,480 the sun. Well, that's the kind of stuff 645 00:38:40,480 --> 00:38:42,440 we're like, whoa, that's a downer. 646 00:38:42,640 --> 00:38:44,560 I got to go get in Philippians or something. 647 00:38:45,600 --> 00:38:50,400 But the, the, the, the, the keyword or phrase to 648 00:38:50,400 --> 00:38:53,320 understanding what Solomon is really saying in the 649 00:38:53,640 --> 00:38:58,320 Ecclesiastes is under the sun because what he's dealing with 650 00:38:58,320 --> 00:39:01,280 is what philosophers call a closed system. 651 00:39:01,480 --> 00:39:05,400 In other words, you, you'll only look within creation for 652 00:39:05,400 --> 00:39:07,280 meaning. I'm not going to look above the 653 00:39:07,280 --> 00:39:09,160 sun. I'll only look beneath the sun 654 00:39:09,360 --> 00:39:12,080 and I'm going to try to find meaning in all of this hardship 655 00:39:12,080 --> 00:39:14,320 and all of this, all that we're going through. 656 00:39:14,440 --> 00:39:18,200 And you'll never find it. And you will become a despairing 657 00:39:19,000 --> 00:39:21,480 person who quotes Ecclesiastes all the time. 658 00:39:21,640 --> 00:39:23,440 Life is meaningless under the sun. 659 00:39:23,680 --> 00:39:25,800 You've got to look above the sun. 660 00:39:25,960 --> 00:39:29,440 And all of a sudden life takes on meaning when you see him and 661 00:39:29,440 --> 00:39:32,240 his affection and his smiling face. 662 00:39:32,840 --> 00:39:37,560 That's why Jesus said I will not leave you as an orphan because 663 00:39:37,560 --> 00:39:42,360 he understood the damage that did to the psyche of man being 664 00:39:42,360 --> 00:39:45,680 severed from our Creator. So what did he say? 665 00:39:45,680 --> 00:39:49,200 He said I will send another like unto myself. 666 00:39:49,680 --> 00:39:52,120 He's going to come and he's going to lead you into all 667 00:39:52,120 --> 00:39:54,400 truth. And he was the one that's going 668 00:39:54,400 --> 00:39:58,680 to give us a revelation of the the magnitude of the love of God 669 00:39:58,680 --> 00:40:00,400 for us. He's the one that's going to 670 00:40:00,400 --> 00:40:03,040 begin to reveal to you God's thoughts towards you. 671 00:40:03,360 --> 00:40:05,600 And it's going to shape how you view yourself. 672 00:40:05,600 --> 00:40:09,080 And it will change absolutely drastically change how you 673 00:40:09,080 --> 00:40:11,640 behave. You'll be an easier person to 674 00:40:11,640 --> 00:40:14,440 live with when you know how much you're loved. 675 00:40:14,880 --> 00:40:17,560 And we need the power of the Spirit to come upon us. 676 00:40:17,720 --> 00:40:19,400 Yeah. We need the power of God to go 677 00:40:19,400 --> 00:40:22,520 to Romania, to go to Brazil and all these other. 678 00:40:22,520 --> 00:40:25,120 We need the power of the Spirit to disciple others. 679 00:40:25,360 --> 00:40:27,640 But you can't give what you don't have. 680 00:40:28,480 --> 00:40:31,240 And if you don't first receive it, you won't be able to give it 681 00:40:31,240 --> 00:40:33,560 away. You need a revelation. 682 00:40:33,720 --> 00:40:38,080 You need the power of the Spirit to come upon you and open the 683 00:40:38,080 --> 00:40:41,640 eyes of your understanding and help you experience something 684 00:40:41,640 --> 00:40:43,720 that you'll never be able to think yourself into. 685 00:40:45,640 --> 00:40:49,960 And Paul says this, listen to the last phrase of this chapter 686 00:40:51,080 --> 00:40:54,600 or of this prayer rather verse 19, and to know the love of 687 00:40:54,600 --> 00:40:56,400 Christ that surpasses knowledge. Why? 688 00:40:56,760 --> 00:41:00,280 That you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 689 00:41:02,000 --> 00:41:05,960 In other words, you cannot have the fullness of God without 690 00:41:05,960 --> 00:41:09,840 having a revelation of His love, because not because God is 691 00:41:09,840 --> 00:41:14,600 reticent to give it to you, because you'll be reticent to 692 00:41:14,720 --> 00:41:19,800 receive it. You won't trust Him enough to 693 00:41:19,800 --> 00:41:22,760 allow Him to give you His fullness. 694 00:41:23,280 --> 00:41:26,240 There'll be whole areas of your life that God just. 695 00:41:26,280 --> 00:41:32,120 I'm going to keep you at Bay. Let me land it here, gentlemen. 696 00:41:32,400 --> 00:41:38,800 As dads, the more healed we are, the better dads we are. 697 00:41:40,480 --> 00:41:44,080 And our woundedness, we in our woundedness, we can end up 698 00:41:44,080 --> 00:41:47,320 portraying God in the wrong way. No, hey, listen, there's grace 699 00:41:47,320 --> 00:41:49,800 for that. Just like every one of us in 700 00:41:49,800 --> 00:41:53,080 this room needed rescued by Jesus, so will our children. 701 00:41:54,200 --> 00:41:57,600 But I want to give my children the best head start they can 702 00:41:57,600 --> 00:42:00,880 get. I want them to be far down the 703 00:42:00,880 --> 00:42:04,680 road. And so the way we do that is we 704 00:42:04,680 --> 00:42:08,560 get healed. We we ask God go after that, 705 00:42:08,880 --> 00:42:12,480 that thing in my heart that is not yet convinced of your love. 706 00:42:12,840 --> 00:42:15,680 Let me be like John. And John, every time he'd think 707 00:42:15,680 --> 00:42:17,560 of himself, he's writing his gospel and he'd think of 708 00:42:17,560 --> 00:42:20,440 himself. Oh, Oh, yeah, the one who Jesus 709 00:42:20,440 --> 00:42:22,560 loves. He'd just sit there and kind of 710 00:42:22,560 --> 00:42:24,200 soak in a little bit and pick his pen back up. 711 00:42:25,240 --> 00:42:27,280 That when he'd be walking through the room and he'd see 712 00:42:27,280 --> 00:42:30,240 himself in the mirror. Oh, there he is, the one who 713 00:42:30,320 --> 00:42:32,160 Jesus loves. You're loved. 714 00:42:32,440 --> 00:42:35,560 I'm telling you, when you really see yourself that way, it will 715 00:42:35,560 --> 00:42:38,600 change your life. When you can just camp out in 716 00:42:38,600 --> 00:42:43,640 God's pleasure over you. You cannot act the same. 717 00:42:44,160 --> 00:42:45,720 Amen. Let's go ahead and stand. 718 00:42:46,200 --> 00:42:48,040 Thanks for listening to our podcast. 719 00:42:48,040 --> 00:42:50,560 If you'd like to help more people hear this message, you 720 00:42:50,560 --> 00:42:53,200 can get the word out by subscribing and sharing it on 721 00:42:53,200 --> 00:42:55,520 social media. If you'd like to support the 722 00:42:55,520 --> 00:42:58,360 ministries of Heartland Church, you can do so at Heartland 723 00:42:58,360 --> 00:43:00,560 Church online.com/give.