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Speaker 1: Life Audio. For more resources to help you in your

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Speaker 1: walk with Christ, please visit us at BibleStudyHeadquarters.com. We've been

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Speaker 1: looking through the book of Ephesians for the past group

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Speaker 1: of weeks. I really do love this book, and I'm

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Speaker 1: grateful that we have time to be able to spend

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Speaker 1: looking through it together. And this morning, as we look

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Speaker 1: at the second half of Ephesians chapter 3, We're going

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Speaker 1: to be talking about the fact that God will supply

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Speaker 1: the strength that you need. And it's interesting when you

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Speaker 1: look at what the Apostle Paul says in this portion

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Speaker 1: of Scripture, because he shows us not just the fact

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Speaker 1: that that strength will be supplied, but how that strength

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Speaker 1: is supplied. And it's very significant, because a lot of

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Speaker 1: times people talk about obtaining strength, and they mean that

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Speaker 1: in very surface-level ways or very superficial ways, or we

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Speaker 1: could even say in ways that don't have eternal consequence.

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Speaker 1: But when you look at what this portion of Scripture

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Speaker 1: tells us and shows us about the strength that God

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Speaker 1: supplies to us, we're shown something that has eternal consequence,

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Speaker 1: and it's not something that we could just invent or

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Speaker 1: something that we could come up with in our own strength.

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Speaker 1: And so if you would take your Bibles and turn

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Speaker 1: with me to Ephesians chapter 3, and we're going to

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Speaker 1: pick up at verse 14. So Ephesians chapter 3, starting

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Speaker 1: with verse 14, and this is what it says. For

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Speaker 1: this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from

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Speaker 1: whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,

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Speaker 1: that according to the riches of his glory he may

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Speaker 1: grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit

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Speaker 1: in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in

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Speaker 1: your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded

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Speaker 1: in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the

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Speaker 1: saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,

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Speaker 1: and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge,

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Speaker 1: that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

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Speaker 1: Now to him who is able to do far more

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Speaker 1: abundantly than all we ask or think, according to the

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Speaker 1: power at work within us, to him be glory in

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Speaker 1: the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever

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Speaker 1: and ever. Amen. Let's pray. Lord, thank you so much

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Speaker 1: for the privilege that it is to be able to

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Speaker 1: look at your Word together and to think about the

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Speaker 1: things that you've revealed to us in it. And Lord,

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Speaker 1: we pray that as we take a look at this

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Speaker 1: portion of Scripture this morning, as we start off our

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Speaker 1: week looking at the second half of Ephesians chapter 3,

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Speaker 1: we pray, Lord, that we would understand what you've communicated

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Speaker 1: to us here. We pray that we would understand the

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Speaker 1: nature of the strength that you supply and the way

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Speaker 1: in which you supply it and why that matters. And Lord,

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Speaker 1: we're grateful to be able to look at a portion

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Speaker 1: of Scripture like this in the midst of a season

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Speaker 1: where I think it's very obvious to us that your

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Speaker 1: strength is what is needed to carry the day. And so, Lord,

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Speaker 1: we entrust ourselves to you. We thank you for the

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Speaker 1: privilege to be able to look at your Word together.

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Speaker 1: We pray that you'd illuminate your Word to our hearts

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Speaker 1: through your Spirit. And we pray this all in Jesus' name. Amen. So,

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Speaker 1: at present... Our family doesn't have any pets. I think

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Speaker 1: that that is something that most of my household would

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Speaker 1: probably be happy if I changed. I don't plan on

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Speaker 1: changing that anytime soon. But I have to tell you,

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Speaker 1: even though we don't have any pets, my attention is

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Speaker 1: easily gripped by interesting animal videos that people share online.

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Speaker 1: I don't know why I enjoy watching them as much

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Speaker 1: as I do, but I definitely do. And I've noticed

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Speaker 1: they make my wife crack up as well. Just this week,

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Speaker 1: I was watching a video that somebody had posted of

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Speaker 1: a family that had adopted not just one dog or

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Speaker 1: two dogs. They said they were gonna be like foster

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Speaker 1: care for dogs. And yeah, every dog that is brought

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Speaker 1: to their house, they seem to adopt. So they're up

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Speaker 1: to five now. And they were, all these dogs like

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Speaker 1: swimming in their backyard pool. And so it was a

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Speaker 1: fun video to watch, watching these dogs swim, watching these

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Speaker 1: dogs have fun. All the happiness that those dogs were

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Speaker 1: feeling was making me feel happy. A few weeks ago,

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Speaker 1: I saw another video It was actually a video of

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Speaker 1: an elephant, and it ended, I liked how it ended,

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Speaker 1: but the majority of the video wasn't very happy. It

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Speaker 1: was a video of an elephant, and I don't know

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Speaker 1: where it was. I don't know if it was in

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Speaker 1: India or someplace like that, but it was a video

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Speaker 1: of an elephant that got stuck in a ravine. And

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Speaker 1: so it was stuck in the ravine trying to climb out,

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Speaker 1: and as it was doing that, the walls of the

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Speaker 1: ravine weren't packed down enough, so it would kind of

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Speaker 1: step with its great weight on the walls, and then

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Speaker 1: you'd just have a whole bunch of dirt that would crumble,

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Speaker 1: and then the elephant would just kind of slide back

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Speaker 1: down the ravine a little bit more and a little

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Speaker 1: bit more. It kept trying to escape. Everything it tried

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Speaker 1: didn't work, and it became completely exhausted in the process.

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Speaker 1: And it was actually very sad to see. But the

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Speaker 1: cool thing was, nearby there was a construction crew, and

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Speaker 1: that construction crew decided that they were going to intervene

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Speaker 1: and actually try and help this elephant. I don't know

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Speaker 1: how close you would choose to get to an elephant,

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Speaker 1: but they didn't seem too terribly afraid to get near

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Speaker 1: this elephant. And so they decided to help, and what

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Speaker 1: they did was they took a large excavator, they took

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Speaker 1: a large digger, and they began carving out one side

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Speaker 1: of the ravine and basically making it like steps so

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Speaker 1: that the elephant could work its way up the side

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Speaker 1: of the ravine. And the interesting thing that I thought

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Speaker 1: was pretty cool was that the elephant, it seemed to

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Speaker 1: understand what these men were trying to do for it

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Speaker 1: and that they were trying to help. And so the elephant,

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Speaker 1: she tried to get up the side of the ravine.

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Speaker 1: She made a few additional attempts. She's trying to use

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Speaker 1: these steps that these guys are creating with the excavator,

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Speaker 1: but she was so worn out that even with this help,

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Speaker 1: she was struggling to actually accomplish this and she was

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Speaker 1: really struggling. And the dirt still kept giving way. And

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Speaker 1: so after a whole bunch of attempts, and you're watching this,

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Speaker 1: and you're seeing this elephant struggle, and you can just

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Speaker 1: see in just the demeanor of this beast that it's

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Speaker 1: just completely exhausted. She found herself losing footing again. You

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Speaker 1: could tell she was giving up. And then the man

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Speaker 1: that was driving the excavator apparently got a good idea.

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Speaker 1: And what he did was he brought the digging arm

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Speaker 1: of that machine behind the elephant and very gently just

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Speaker 1: placed it behind the elephant so the elephant... could kind

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Speaker 1: of lean back on it when it started to lose

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Speaker 1: its footing. And then he guided the elephant just gently

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Speaker 1: with like the nudge of that and the ability to

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Speaker 1: kind of lean back on it. He guided it up

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Speaker 1: the ravine until it was able to get its footing

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Speaker 1: at the very top and work its way out and

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Speaker 1: then rejoin and reconnect with the herd. And as I watched,

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Speaker 1: I thought, all right, that might be one of the

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Speaker 1: coolest videos I've seen in a very long time where

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Speaker 1: you have man, Elephant and machine. It's all the good things,

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Speaker 1: you know what I mean? It was very entertaining to watch,

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Speaker 1: but it kind of told a story. It brought you

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Speaker 1: along the process because you could just see that exhaustion

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Speaker 1: in the elephant. You could see that the elephant was

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Speaker 1: pretty much ready to give up on itself and give

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Speaker 1: up on its situation. And I bring that up because

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Speaker 1: if you've ever gone through a season... where you were

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Speaker 1: facing a variety of challenges, where you were facing a

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Speaker 1: variety of struggles, and you just honestly, when you thought

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Speaker 1: about it, you felt too weak to handle it? Do

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Speaker 1: you ever go through a season like that? You just

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Speaker 1: felt like, you're like, I've tried all the things that

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Speaker 1: I could think of. I've tried a whole bunch of things,

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Speaker 1: but I just feel so worn out. I just feel

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Speaker 1: so exhausted. And it's easy when you get to a

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Speaker 1: spot like that to just say to yourself, you're like,

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Speaker 1: I think I'm just gonna give up. Like, I've tried

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Speaker 1: all the things I could think of. I think I'm

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Speaker 1: just gonna give up. So without a doubt, we need

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Speaker 1: strength to deal with life's trials. We need strength to

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Speaker 1: deal with life's challenges. And I'm grateful to know that

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Speaker 1: the Lord offers that strength to His children. And what

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Speaker 1: I like about the portion of Scripture that we just

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Speaker 1: looked at, and we're going to revisit it a piece

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Speaker 1: at a time here from Ephesians chapter 3, you have

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Speaker 1: the Apostle Paul, he takes time here to explain the

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Speaker 1: fact that the Lord supplies the strength that we need

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Speaker 1: right when we need it most and in the way

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Speaker 1: that we need it most. And so there's a variety

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Speaker 1: of things that Paul illustrates here in this portion of Scripture,

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Speaker 1: but one of the things that I like that he

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Speaker 1: points out here, and this is very different than what

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Speaker 1: I hear typically spoken of culturally, but he talks about

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Speaker 1: the fact here that our greatest form of strength doesn't

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Speaker 1: come from us. Now, just think about that statement before

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Speaker 1: we reread the portion of Scripture where he says it.

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Speaker 1: Our greatest form of strength doesn't come from from us.

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Speaker 1: That is not a very culturally common thought. Culturally speaking,

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Speaker 1: people try to tell us that everything we need we'll

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Speaker 1: find inside of us. And it doesn't actually work that way.

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Speaker 1: If you look at what it says here in Ephesians 3.14,

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Speaker 1: let me reread that verse and a couple of verses

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Speaker 1: after it. But Paul says it this way. He says,

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Speaker 1: for this reason, I bow my knees before the Father

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Speaker 1: from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,

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Speaker 1: that according to the riches of his glory. So it's

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Speaker 1: talking about the things, you know, that the Lord has

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Speaker 1: this just the riches of His glory, the things that

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Speaker 1: only He can supply, that He may grant you to

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Speaker 1: be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being,

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Speaker 1: so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. Now,

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Speaker 1: let's pause there for just a moment. Let's think about

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Speaker 1: the verses that we finished up with last week, the

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Speaker 1: verses that come right before this portion of Scripture. And

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Speaker 1: in those verses, the verses immediately preceding these statements, You

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Speaker 1: have the Apostle Paul making it very clear that he

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Speaker 1: was in the midst of a season of suffering. He

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Speaker 1: doesn't mince words about it. He just openly declares it

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Speaker 1: and says, all right, this is what's going on. I'm

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Speaker 1: in the midst of a season of suffering. Now, I

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Speaker 1: don't get the impression that it was the worst suffering

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Speaker 1: he had ever experienced, but it certainly was high on

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Speaker 1: the list. It certainly was. wasn't pleasant. If you remember

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Speaker 1: the context that he was in, Paul remained in Rome

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Speaker 1: under home confinement while he was, and by the way,

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Speaker 1: that was at his own expense. So he's in Rome,

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Speaker 1: confined in a home, at his own expense, waiting for

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Speaker 1: a trial before the civic authorities. He's waiting and waiting

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Speaker 1: and waiting, and it stretched for years. We know that

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Speaker 1: it went at least two years, but some people believe

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Speaker 1: it actually may have gone even a little bit longer

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Speaker 1: than that. But we know it went at least two years.

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Speaker 1: And even though Paul, during that time, was able to

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Speaker 1: regularly welcome visitors to Rome, so when people would come

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Speaker 1: to Rome, they would come and they would visit the

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Speaker 1: apostle Paul, I also get the impression that he greatly

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Speaker 1: missed the liberty that he once had to be able

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Speaker 1: to freely travel. And I think that any of us

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Speaker 1: could identify with that And all of us have tasted

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Speaker 1: a little bit of what that's like in a short

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Speaker 1: period of time. And he had to deal with that

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Speaker 1: for years, for years. It wasn't pleasant. But in the

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Speaker 1: midst of that, you have Paul confident that God had

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Speaker 1: a purpose for what he was going through. You know,

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Speaker 1: he didn't lose hope. He was confident that God had

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Speaker 1: a purpose for all this. He was also very confident

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Speaker 1: that he could bring his concerns before the Lord in prayer.

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Speaker 1: And so that's what Paul regularly chose to do. But

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Speaker 1: the cool thing is when you look at his words here,

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Speaker 1: we see that Paul wasn't only praying for himself as

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Speaker 1: he brought his needs and his concerns before the Lord

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Speaker 1: in prayer. He wasn't just praying for himself. He spent

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Speaker 1: a lot of his time praying for the church in

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Speaker 1: Ephesus and for believers throughout the world. He was lifting

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Speaker 1: them up before the Lord and asking the Lord to

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Speaker 1: intervene on their behalf as well. So that's pretty generous

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Speaker 1: of the guy when you consider his circumstances. But when

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Speaker 1: you look at this sort of thing, you realize, okay,

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Speaker 1: this is an example of what it looks like when

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Speaker 1: our faith matures. Because when our faith matures, we don't

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Speaker 1: spend all our time just focused on our own needs.

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Speaker 1: We also look to the needs of others and lift

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Speaker 1: them up before the Lord. And so Paul was doing that.

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Speaker 1: He was praying for himself. He was praying for the church. Now,

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Speaker 1: when you're in a position of spiritual leadership like the

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Speaker 1: Apostle Paul was, if your heart's in the right spot,

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Speaker 1: what you end up having happen to you is you

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Speaker 1: start developing a great concern about, for the spiritual growth

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Speaker 1: of the people that you're leading and influencing. You think

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Speaker 1: of them often. They don't leave your mind. They stay

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Speaker 1: on your mind. You're always thinking about them. You lift

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Speaker 1: them up before the Lord. It becomes part of your

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Speaker 1: daily exercise. It becomes part of your daily practice, praying

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Speaker 1: for the people whose spiritual life you're concerned for. You

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Speaker 1: ask God to intervene on their behalf, much like a

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Speaker 1: loving parent prays for their children. You ever catch your

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Speaker 1: parents praying for you when you're a kid? I've mentioned

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Speaker 1: from time to time, I'll never forget when I was

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Speaker 1: in seventh grade and it was past my bedtime, but

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Speaker 1: I decided to kind of leave my room and I

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Speaker 1: was probably going to the kitchen to get food or

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Speaker 1: get something to drink. And I actually caught my mother

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Speaker 1: praying for me out loud in our living room. And

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Speaker 1: I never told her that I caught her, but I

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Speaker 1: just stood there and listened. And I thought, I mean, like, wow.

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Speaker 1: So this is what my mom prays for me. And

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Speaker 1: she felt compelled to pray out loud. And I overheard

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Speaker 1: the things she was praying about. and it had an

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Speaker 1: impact on me. And when you look at what the

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Speaker 1: Apostle Paul is expressing here, he's talking like somebody in

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Speaker 1: a parental role, where he's genuinely concerned for the group

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Speaker 1: of people that he's leading. He's praying for them like

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Speaker 1: a parent prays for a child. And so Paul was

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Speaker 1: doing the very thing for believers that, or he was

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Speaker 1: doing that very thing for these believers that he's addressing

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Speaker 1: this letter to. You know, he's spending time in prayer

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Speaker 1: for them, but also showing them a demonstration of the

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Speaker 1: importance of prayer and the power that comes to us

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Speaker 1: as we pray. And so he asked the Lord to

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Speaker 1: make them strong. He asked the Lord to give them

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Speaker 1: his strength and to intervene on their behalf. And I

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Speaker 1: love how Paul makes that point. I love the fact

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Speaker 1: that when he does this, he makes it clear to

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Speaker 1: them that he's praying for their strength, but he also

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Speaker 1: wants them to understand how that strength is going to

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Speaker 1: be obtained. And I think that this is something immensely

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Speaker 1: practical for you and I living in the era in

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Speaker 1: which we live in right now. One of the most

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Speaker 1: popular categories of books that you will find in any

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Speaker 1: bookstore are the self-help books. And some of them are

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Speaker 1: very good, and some of them are just silliness, right?

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Speaker 1: And one of the mistakes that we can make as

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Speaker 1: believers is going through our life thinking that we are

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Speaker 1: the source of our own strength or that we are

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Speaker 1: the source of our own wisdom. or that we can

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Speaker 1: handle all things in our own strength. And that's a

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Speaker 1: mistake to go through life like that. And so Paul

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Speaker 1: wanted the church to understand that God supplies strength, but

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Speaker 1: he does it a very specific way. So here's what

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Speaker 1: he was explaining here. Now, first of all, by background,

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Speaker 1: I think we all understand or should understand that the

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Speaker 1: moment you trust in Jesus Christ, Scripture makes it clear

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Speaker 1: that the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity,

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Speaker 1: he moves inside of you. He takes up residence inside

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Speaker 1: of you. He indwells you. So you're not just talking

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Speaker 1: about God at a distance. You're not talking about God

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Speaker 1: on the outside. Scripture is very clear that as believers

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Speaker 1: in Christ living under the new covenant, the Holy Spirit,

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Speaker 1: he takes up residence within us. He moves in. He

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Speaker 1: lives inside of you. And through him, we're granted the

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Speaker 1: power that we need to navigate the things that we

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Speaker 1: deal with in this world. And this is one of

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Speaker 1: the benefits. I don't know if you think about this frequently,

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Speaker 1: but I think this is something that we as believers need.

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Speaker 1: should really thank God for, because we live in an

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Speaker 1: era where the Lord's doing some amazing things. And Jesus

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Speaker 1: even told us during the course of his earthly ministry,

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Speaker 1: he says, look, it's to your benefit that I go,

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Speaker 1: because when I go, what's going to happen is the

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Speaker 1: Father and I, we're going to send you the helper.

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Speaker 1: We're going to send you the Holy Spirit, and he's

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Speaker 1: going to live in you, and he's going to empower you,

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Speaker 1: and he's going to remind you of all the things

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Speaker 1: that I taught you while I was here. And you're

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Speaker 1: going to have his counsel, and you're going to have

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Speaker 1: his help, and you're going to have his His power?

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Speaker 1: You know, Jesus goes through all sorts of details in

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Speaker 1: John chapter 14 and John chapter 15 and John chapter

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Speaker 1: 16 and even talks about some of these things in

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Speaker 1: John chapter 17. It's a good section to kind of

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Speaker 1: revisit at some point if you want to kind of

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Speaker 1: see how this works. But let me just show you

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Speaker 1: a couple verses from John chapter 14 and what Jesus

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Speaker 1: happens to say about the indwelling presence of the Holy

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Speaker 1: Spirit and how he works in the lives of believers.

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Speaker 1: So Jesus said this, and he's talking to his disciples

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Speaker 1: and he's explaining to them some things that they would

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Speaker 1: not have naturally known. But he explains, he says, look,

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Speaker 1: if you love me, you will keep my commandments. That's

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Speaker 1: a good start for any of us, right? If I

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Speaker 1: claim to be a disciple of Christ, if I say

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Speaker 1: that I love Jesus, I'll tell you how you can

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Speaker 1: notice it. If I actually listen to what he says,

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Speaker 1: if I say I love him, but do whatever I

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Speaker 1: feel like doing, that shows that I love who? Me, right?

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Speaker 1: And most people on this earth, who do they love

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Speaker 1: more than anyone? Themself, right? And Jesus says, but here's

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Speaker 1: the deal. If you love me, This is how it'll

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Speaker 1: be obvious. You'll keep my commandments out of love. That

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Speaker 1: will motivate you to keep my commandments. You'll love me

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Speaker 1: and you'll say, well, because I love him, him who

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Speaker 1: loved me first, I'm going to keep his commandments. I'm

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Speaker 1: actually going to listen to what he said. And then

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Speaker 1: he goes on, he says, and I will ask the

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Speaker 1: father and he will give you another helper to be

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Speaker 1: with you forever. Even the spirit of truth whom the

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Speaker 1: world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him.

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Speaker 1: You know him. For he dwells with you and will

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Speaker 1: be in you. And that's one of the benefits that

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Speaker 1: we experience as believers who live in the era after

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Speaker 1: Christ's resurrection and ascension back to heaven. Because after his ascension,

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Speaker 1: what happened? What happened the day of Pentecost? From that

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Speaker 1: point on, believers, as we come to faith in Jesus Christ,

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Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit, he's not just with us as he

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Speaker 1: was for the apostles, as they're hearing Jesus teach this,

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Speaker 1: at that point, prior to Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was

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Speaker 1: with them, but now living under this new covenant. As

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Speaker 1: believers in Jesus Christ, part of the church, he will

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Speaker 1: be in you. In you. That's a pretty cool reality.

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Speaker 1: That's a pretty cool blessing that you and I get

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Speaker 1: to experience, that the Holy Spirit, and some people say

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Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit is the forgotten member of the Trinity. Right?

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Speaker 1: Don't you think? Mark, I heard that involuntary response on

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Speaker 1: your part there. It's true, though, isn't it? It's almost

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Speaker 1: like we forget that the Holy Spirit exists. And yet

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Speaker 1: Jesus said, look, it's to your benefit that I go,

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Speaker 1: because look what he's going to do. He's going to

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Speaker 1: help you, he's going to counsel you, and he's not

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Speaker 1: just going to be with you, he's going to be

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Speaker 1: in you. He will be in you. And so Paul

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Speaker 1: was now writing about these things in a very applicable way.

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Speaker 1: He's writing to the church to remind these believers that

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Speaker 1: that they would have the strength that they needed, but

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Speaker 1: that that strength was not going to find its source

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Speaker 1: in them. It wasn't going to be a natural form

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Speaker 1: of strength. Now, again, most of the humanistic philosophies, I

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Speaker 1: guess I could even say all of the humanistic philosophies

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Speaker 1: that I hear espoused in our day are trying to

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Speaker 1: convince us that we have everything we need in us already.

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Speaker 1: I have good friends that believe that, that we have

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Speaker 1: everything we need in us already. Well, we don't. Because

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Speaker 1: if we did, we wouldn't have needed Jesus to come

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Speaker 1: and rescue us. We wouldn't have needed Jesus to come

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Speaker 1: and do for us what he's done. But he came

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Speaker 1: to offer to us what we were lacking. He didn't

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Speaker 1: come to give to us what we already had. He

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Speaker 1: came because we had a need that we couldn't meet.

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Speaker 1: We needed him. We were not sufficient in and of ourselves.

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Speaker 1: But we do have the privilege to welcome Jesus to

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Speaker 1: dwell in our hearts through faith. And that's what Paul

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Speaker 1: was reminding the church at Ephesus all about when he

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Speaker 1: was saying these things. He was expressing that here. And

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Speaker 1: as Paul speaks of the heart, right, the way he

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Speaker 1: phrases it here, he says, so that Christ may dwell

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Speaker 1: in your hearts through faith. So let me even reread

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Speaker 1: the statement before he says that according to the riches

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Speaker 1: of his glory that he may be grant you to

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Speaker 1: be strengthened with power through his spirit in your inner being, right?

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Speaker 1: Through his spirit in your inner being. And then he says,

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Speaker 1: so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.

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Speaker 1: What a blessing, right? We don't have God at a distance.

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Speaker 1: We have the indwelling presence of Christ. We have the

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Speaker 1: indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. We have the privilege

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Speaker 1: to welcome Christ to dwell within us through faith, just

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Speaker 1: like Paul is expressing here. And by the way, when

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Speaker 1: he's talking about this idea of Christ dwelling in your

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Speaker 1: hearts through faith, understand what he's getting at when he

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Speaker 1: says that. When he talks about heart, you know, I mean,

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Speaker 1: and we use this phraseology, right? We talk like this.

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Speaker 1: When I say I have something in my heart, what

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Speaker 1: am I talking about? I'm talking about the center of

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Speaker 1: my emotions. I'm talking about the center of my will, right?

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Speaker 1: In many respects, you could even say we're talking about

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Speaker 1: like the center of our thinking, the center of our intellect, right?

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Speaker 1: The full person. And if we welcome Christ to reign

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Speaker 1: in our hearts, the center of our emotion, the center

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Speaker 1: of our will, the center of our intellect, what we're

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Speaker 1: going to do is we're going to see a demonstration

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Speaker 1: of his power. We're saying, I'm inviting you to reign

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Speaker 1: in my life. I'm inviting you to call the shots.

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Speaker 1: And I think that the more we welcome the reign

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Speaker 1: of Christ in our day-to-day life, the more we'll become

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Speaker 1: convinced that the greatest form of inner strength that we

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Speaker 1: will ever experience is not something that found its source

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Speaker 1: in us. It's found in him, and it's revealed through him.

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Speaker 1: And this is the type of thing that the Apostle

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Speaker 1: Paul was praying for the church to understand. That no,

431
00:21:48,890 --> 00:21:50,650
Speaker 1: in and of yourself, you don't have what you need,

432
00:21:50,930 --> 00:21:53,850
Speaker 1: but what you need is available to you. As you

433
00:21:53,890 --> 00:21:56,710
Speaker 1: trust in Jesus Christ, he will dwell in your heart.

434
00:21:57,470 --> 00:22:00,270
Speaker 1: As you trust in Jesus Christ, the Spirit of God

435
00:22:01,010 --> 00:22:06,510
Speaker 1: will be in you. in your inner being, strengthening you

436
00:22:07,390 --> 00:22:13,430
Speaker 1: in a way that doesn't just have temporary benefit. Our

437
00:22:13,490 --> 00:22:18,859
Speaker 1: strength is limited. His strength is not. Paul goes on

438
00:22:18,900 --> 00:22:20,980
Speaker 1: to talk a little bit more about the strength of

439
00:22:21,060 --> 00:22:24,859
Speaker 1: God and the strength of Christ and how this operates

440
00:22:24,880 --> 00:22:27,100
Speaker 1: in our life, but also how we come to understand it.

441
00:22:27,380 --> 00:22:31,869
Speaker 1: And here's the thing. We're talking about spiritually understood things.

442
00:22:31,950 --> 00:22:35,030
Speaker 1: These are things that are not naturally understood. So even

443
00:22:35,050 --> 00:22:37,590
Speaker 1: to understand them and even to appreciate them, it takes

444
00:22:37,650 --> 00:22:40,560
Speaker 1: the strength of Christ to actually comprehend the love of

445
00:22:40,650 --> 00:22:43,840
Speaker 1: Christ or the presence of Christ or the fact that

446
00:22:43,880 --> 00:22:45,899
Speaker 1: Christ is operating in our lives. Look at what he

447
00:22:45,940 --> 00:22:47,940
Speaker 1: says here in the second half of verse 17 down

448
00:22:47,960 --> 00:22:50,699
Speaker 1: to verse 19. He says that you, being rooted and

449
00:22:50,760 --> 00:22:54,610
Speaker 1: grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all

450
00:22:54,650 --> 00:22:58,129
Speaker 1: the saints what is the breadth and length... and height,

451
00:22:58,390 --> 00:23:00,960
Speaker 1: and depth, and to know the love of Christ that

452
00:23:01,040 --> 00:23:06,040
Speaker 1: surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the

453
00:23:06,200 --> 00:23:11,100
Speaker 1: fullness of God. Let's pause there for just a second.

454
00:23:13,040 --> 00:23:15,940
Speaker 1: During the course of my life, I've had the opportunity

455
00:23:15,980 --> 00:23:20,830
Speaker 1: to own and purchase four different homes. Two of those

456
00:23:20,869 --> 00:23:23,810
Speaker 1: homes were investment properties, so they were homes that we

457
00:23:23,850 --> 00:23:26,300
Speaker 1: didn't live in, we rented them out. But two of

458
00:23:26,320 --> 00:23:29,720
Speaker 1: them were our primary residents. And prior to living here

459
00:23:29,760 --> 00:23:34,350
Speaker 1: in Langhorne, we moved here in 2008. But in 2002,

460
00:23:34,350 --> 00:23:38,230
Speaker 1: we bought a home in Plymouth, Pennsylvania. And by the way,

461
00:23:38,270 --> 00:23:40,949
Speaker 1: just for fun, take a look at property prices in

462
00:23:40,990 --> 00:23:43,970
Speaker 1: Northeast Pennsylvania and compare them to where we live here.

463
00:23:44,670 --> 00:23:46,670
Speaker 1: And I will confess to you, it took a couple

464
00:23:46,690 --> 00:23:48,369
Speaker 1: of years of us living here before I got over

465
00:23:48,410 --> 00:23:51,649
Speaker 1: the sticker shock of moving to Bucks County. And when

466
00:23:51,670 --> 00:23:53,090
Speaker 1: I would tell people where I moved, they're like, yeah,

467
00:23:53,109 --> 00:23:56,109
Speaker 1: it seems like it's very aptly named, right? Bucks County,

468
00:23:56,130 --> 00:23:58,950
Speaker 1: you know, it takes a lot of bucks to, you know,

469
00:23:58,990 --> 00:24:03,240
Speaker 1: to buy the house down there, right? And, but I

470
00:24:03,300 --> 00:24:06,200
Speaker 1: remember when we bought that home in Plymouth, I remember

471
00:24:06,240 --> 00:24:08,060
Speaker 1: looking at it, I was like, I love this house.

472
00:24:08,100 --> 00:24:10,840
Speaker 1: It looks, I really liked how it looked. I was

473
00:24:10,880 --> 00:24:13,480
Speaker 1: really grateful for it. But one of the things that

474
00:24:14,840 --> 00:24:16,610
Speaker 1: it needed was a lot of work. And that's been

475
00:24:16,650 --> 00:24:18,730
Speaker 1: kind of the history of every house we bought. One

476
00:24:18,770 --> 00:24:20,630
Speaker 1: of them didn't really need much work, but the other

477
00:24:20,670 --> 00:24:23,180
Speaker 1: three absolutely needed a lot of work. And that's kind

478
00:24:23,200 --> 00:24:24,800
Speaker 1: of how you get in, right? It's like, if I

479
00:24:24,820 --> 00:24:26,100
Speaker 1: want to be able to afford this, I got to

480
00:24:26,119 --> 00:24:28,330
Speaker 1: buy something that needs some work. And so you buy

481
00:24:28,380 --> 00:24:30,350
Speaker 1: something that needs some work. And then what do you do?

482
00:24:30,369 --> 00:24:32,250
Speaker 1: Spend the rest of your life working on it, right?

483
00:24:32,710 --> 00:24:34,710
Speaker 1: So I remember when we bought that house, it was

484
00:24:34,910 --> 00:24:37,510
Speaker 1: during the fall. And I remember thinking, all right, there's

485
00:24:37,550 --> 00:24:39,570
Speaker 1: some outside work that needs to be done. I better

486
00:24:39,609 --> 00:24:41,730
Speaker 1: tackle that first because I'm going to lose the ability

487
00:24:41,750 --> 00:24:43,850
Speaker 1: to do that once the weather turns. And I was

488
00:24:43,890 --> 00:24:45,570
Speaker 1: looking around the property and I thought, all right, let

489
00:24:45,609 --> 00:24:49,100
Speaker 1: me start from worst to not that bad. And one

490
00:24:49,119 --> 00:24:51,640
Speaker 1: of the things that made it to the worst section

491
00:24:51,980 --> 00:24:55,639
Speaker 1: was these very large rhododendrons that were growing right in

492
00:24:55,680 --> 00:24:57,810
Speaker 1: front of the house. They were right at the foundation.

493
00:24:58,220 --> 00:25:00,030
Speaker 1: It didn't look good that they were there. They were very,

494
00:25:00,070 --> 00:25:03,690
Speaker 1: very tall. They were, you know, touching the gutters and

495
00:25:03,850 --> 00:25:05,189
Speaker 1: all of that. And I just remember looking at that.

496
00:25:05,210 --> 00:25:07,490
Speaker 1: I was like, all right, these should be much further

497
00:25:07,570 --> 00:25:09,570
Speaker 1: from the house if they were going to be planted.

498
00:25:09,770 --> 00:25:11,950
Speaker 1: They shouldn't have been planted right here where they have

499
00:25:11,970 --> 00:25:15,350
Speaker 1: the potential to potentially damage the foundation. And so I thought,

500
00:25:15,430 --> 00:25:18,010
Speaker 1: I need to get those out of there. That was

501
00:25:18,230 --> 00:25:19,389
Speaker 1: early on my list. I was like, I want to

502
00:25:19,430 --> 00:25:23,470
Speaker 1: get those out of there. And so I took just

503
00:25:23,530 --> 00:25:26,649
Speaker 1: a small electric chainsaw that I had handy, and I

504
00:25:26,710 --> 00:25:29,490
Speaker 1: chopped all the branches off. So it was just the stump.

505
00:25:30,280 --> 00:25:32,040
Speaker 1: And I was like, all right, now I just have

506
00:25:32,080 --> 00:25:33,820
Speaker 1: the stump. There was two of them. And I was like,

507
00:25:33,840 --> 00:25:35,720
Speaker 1: all right, let me get this out. And so do

508
00:25:35,780 --> 00:25:38,340
Speaker 1: you ever try and remove something like that? Why do

509
00:25:38,359 --> 00:25:40,500
Speaker 1: we always do it the dumb way that results in

510
00:25:40,580 --> 00:25:42,760
Speaker 1: permanent injury to our body? But that's what I did.

511
00:25:43,430 --> 00:25:46,090
Speaker 1: So I started, like, pushing it, and I was like, okay,

512
00:25:46,150 --> 00:25:48,560
Speaker 1: it's moving a little bit, right? So you push it,

513
00:25:48,600 --> 00:25:50,660
Speaker 1: and then you kind of pull it, and then you're

514
00:25:51,100 --> 00:25:53,619
Speaker 1: pushing it, and then you're pulling it, and you're like,

515
00:25:53,640 --> 00:25:56,479
Speaker 1: come on, loosen. Almost like it's a tooth, you know?

516
00:25:56,540 --> 00:25:58,940
Speaker 1: You're trying to, like, work this tooth out of the ground,

517
00:25:58,980 --> 00:26:01,410
Speaker 1: and every time you think you're getting close, you're not,

518
00:26:01,890 --> 00:26:04,810
Speaker 1: you know? And I remember pushing this thing and pulling

519
00:26:04,850 --> 00:26:06,929
Speaker 1: this thing and then thinking to myself, you have one

520
00:26:07,040 --> 00:26:08,900
Speaker 1: other stump that you have to do this to. Like

521
00:26:08,920 --> 00:26:10,879
Speaker 1: this isn't just one. And I remember also, and it

522
00:26:10,900 --> 00:26:12,379
Speaker 1: was at a spot too where it wouldn't have been

523
00:26:12,420 --> 00:26:15,659
Speaker 1: very easy to do something like take a chain and

524
00:26:15,760 --> 00:26:17,820
Speaker 1: kind of wrap that around it and then tie it

525
00:26:17,859 --> 00:26:19,740
Speaker 1: to a truck or whatever. And I don't know if

526
00:26:19,760 --> 00:26:21,580
Speaker 1: you've ever seen any videos of people doing that, but

527
00:26:21,619 --> 00:26:23,879
Speaker 1: half the time the chain breaks and then smashes out

528
00:26:23,920 --> 00:26:25,939
Speaker 1: the back windows and does all that. I was like,

529
00:26:25,960 --> 00:26:27,000
Speaker 1: I don't even want to do that. I'm just going

530
00:26:27,020 --> 00:26:29,480
Speaker 1: to get this out by hand. And I worked on that,

531
00:26:29,560 --> 00:26:31,080
Speaker 1: worked on that, worked on that. And then I'd get

532
00:26:31,119 --> 00:26:32,280
Speaker 1: sick of that one and I'd go over to the

533
00:26:32,320 --> 00:26:34,230
Speaker 1: other stump and I'd work on it and work on it.

534
00:26:34,680 --> 00:26:37,270
Speaker 1: And I remember thinking, Now I know how I will

535
00:26:37,310 --> 00:26:40,750
Speaker 1: spend the rest of my life removing these two stumps.

536
00:26:40,790 --> 00:26:42,629
Speaker 1: This is going to take the rest of my living

537
00:26:42,650 --> 00:26:47,450
Speaker 1: years or it's just going to kill me. And finally, finally,

538
00:26:47,590 --> 00:26:49,020
Speaker 1: you know, you're like every now and then you get

539
00:26:49,040 --> 00:26:50,380
Speaker 1: a little bit of hope because you hear a little

540
00:26:50,460 --> 00:26:53,240
Speaker 1: crackle and you're like, now you're going to move. And

541
00:26:53,280 --> 00:26:55,540
Speaker 1: it's like, yeah, you'll be done in four hours, John.

542
00:26:55,720 --> 00:26:57,550
Speaker 1: Four hours. I don't know how long it took me,

543
00:26:57,760 --> 00:26:59,700
Speaker 1: but it felt like it took forever and it involved

544
00:26:59,760 --> 00:27:02,980
Speaker 1: a lot of pain. But finally, I got those stumps out.

545
00:27:03,359 --> 00:27:05,359
Speaker 1: And I remember when I finally got them out, just thinking,

546
00:27:05,480 --> 00:27:07,880
Speaker 1: I was like, all right, that was absolutely miserable. There

547
00:27:07,900 --> 00:27:10,389
Speaker 1: has to be a better way to do this. But

548
00:27:10,430 --> 00:27:12,590
Speaker 1: in my mind, I thought that was the way that

549
00:27:12,609 --> 00:27:14,490
Speaker 1: it was going to work. And part of the problem

550
00:27:14,530 --> 00:27:17,659
Speaker 1: was is that they were rooted so well. They were

551
00:27:17,680 --> 00:27:22,310
Speaker 1: just rooted extremely well. And if something's rooted extremely well,

552
00:27:22,670 --> 00:27:25,609
Speaker 1: it's very hard to budge, which is what comes to

553
00:27:25,650 --> 00:27:27,930
Speaker 1: my mind when I look at how Paul phrases these

554
00:27:27,970 --> 00:27:30,389
Speaker 1: things here in this portion of Scripture. He says, and

555
00:27:30,430 --> 00:27:35,710
Speaker 1: you being rooted and grounded in love. You be rooted

556
00:27:35,869 --> 00:27:38,470
Speaker 1: and grounded in love. So when you think about your

557
00:27:38,510 --> 00:27:41,409
Speaker 1: relationship with Christ, when you think about your life in Christ,

558
00:27:41,930 --> 00:27:44,980
Speaker 1: how deeply rooted does it seem to be to you?

559
00:27:46,000 --> 00:27:49,740
Speaker 1: Does it feel deeply rooted? You know, how easy is

560
00:27:49,800 --> 00:27:51,639
Speaker 1: it to make you budge? Maybe that's a good way

561
00:27:51,680 --> 00:27:54,480
Speaker 1: we could ask that. You know, how easy is it

562
00:27:54,570 --> 00:27:57,230
Speaker 1: to make you budge? How connected are you to the

563
00:27:57,270 --> 00:28:00,449
Speaker 1: love of Christ? Do you understand the significance of his

564
00:28:00,490 --> 00:28:03,750
Speaker 1: love and how significant his love really is? Think about

565
00:28:03,830 --> 00:28:07,790
Speaker 1: the demonstration of Christ's love for us when you compare

566
00:28:07,810 --> 00:28:10,620
Speaker 1: that to these realities. Jesus loved us when we were

567
00:28:10,690 --> 00:28:15,040
Speaker 1: still his enemies. That's what scripture says, that we were

568
00:28:15,100 --> 00:28:19,080
Speaker 1: his enemies. We weren't just ambivalent to God. We were

569
00:28:19,119 --> 00:28:21,880
Speaker 1: living as enemies of God, and yet he still loved

570
00:28:21,940 --> 00:28:25,409
Speaker 1: us even when we were his enemies. Jesus loved us

571
00:28:25,570 --> 00:28:29,730
Speaker 1: even though we vicariously participated in his crucifixion by making

572
00:28:29,790 --> 00:28:33,030
Speaker 1: it necessary. Sometimes when we read the stories, the accounts

573
00:28:33,090 --> 00:28:35,760
Speaker 1: of his crucifixion in the Gospels, we tend to think

574
00:28:35,780 --> 00:28:39,840
Speaker 1: of that as other people doing that to Jesus. We

575
00:28:39,940 --> 00:28:43,160
Speaker 1: bear culpability for that happening because it was our sin

576
00:28:43,200 --> 00:28:46,180
Speaker 1: that made it necessary for him to endure all of that.

577
00:28:47,460 --> 00:28:50,100
Speaker 1: Don't look at that and think somebody else's fault. Don't

578
00:28:50,140 --> 00:28:51,880
Speaker 1: blame it on the Romans. Don't blame it on the

579
00:28:51,940 --> 00:28:55,550
Speaker 1: Jewish leaders at the time. That's my fault. That's your

580
00:28:55,620 --> 00:28:58,270
Speaker 1: fault that he had to go through all of that.

581
00:28:58,350 --> 00:29:00,610
Speaker 1: And yet he still loved us even though we made

582
00:29:00,770 --> 00:29:04,990
Speaker 1: all of that necessary. Jesus loves us even though we

583
00:29:05,150 --> 00:29:08,370
Speaker 1: still tend to be prone to rebellion. I've been a

584
00:29:08,390 --> 00:29:10,570
Speaker 1: believer in Christ for most of my life, but I

585
00:29:10,590 --> 00:29:14,430
Speaker 1: have to tell you, I daily pray that I don't

586
00:29:14,510 --> 00:29:16,970
Speaker 1: go off in a direction of rebellion against the Lord

587
00:29:17,550 --> 00:29:19,770
Speaker 1: because I'm very conscious of the fact that I still

588
00:29:19,810 --> 00:29:23,090
Speaker 1: have that old nature that sometimes I think gets bored.

589
00:29:23,110 --> 00:29:25,719
Speaker 1: And it's like, hey, I haven't shown up in any

590
00:29:25,760 --> 00:29:31,980
Speaker 1: visible way in a while. Let's get in trouble. It's like, no, right? No. Now,

591
00:29:32,000 --> 00:29:34,890
Speaker 1: I joke about that, but the truth is we're prone

592
00:29:34,930 --> 00:29:38,250
Speaker 1: to rebel. All of us, whether you've been a believer

593
00:29:38,290 --> 00:29:39,670
Speaker 1: for most of your life or you've been a believer

594
00:29:39,710 --> 00:29:42,010
Speaker 1: for five minutes, we are prone to rebel against the Lord.

595
00:29:42,270 --> 00:29:44,070
Speaker 1: And the Lord loves us in the midst of our

596
00:29:44,210 --> 00:29:48,260
Speaker 1: proclivity to rebel. Jesus loves us even though there's nothing

597
00:29:48,280 --> 00:29:50,460
Speaker 1: that we could offer him that he didn't already have.

598
00:29:51,600 --> 00:29:53,800
Speaker 1: There's nothing we could offer him that he actually needed.

599
00:29:55,000 --> 00:29:56,600
Speaker 1: Yet he loved us. And so you have Paul here saying,

600
00:29:56,640 --> 00:29:58,240
Speaker 1: I want you to be rooted and grounded in the

601
00:29:58,280 --> 00:30:00,710
Speaker 1: love of Christ. I want you to comprehend it. I

602
00:30:00,750 --> 00:30:03,770
Speaker 1: want you to get it. And as our faith in

603
00:30:03,830 --> 00:30:09,370
Speaker 1: Christ matures, our understanding of his nature and his love

604
00:30:09,650 --> 00:30:13,209
Speaker 1: should be magnified. When we grow closer to him, what

605
00:30:13,250 --> 00:30:15,870
Speaker 1: we start realizing is just how far we were from

606
00:30:15,950 --> 00:30:18,730
Speaker 1: him to begin with. And I think as we grow

607
00:30:18,770 --> 00:30:21,590
Speaker 1: in holiness, and that's what happens in your life, as

608
00:30:21,630 --> 00:30:24,130
Speaker 1: you and I, as we walk with the Lord day

609
00:30:24,150 --> 00:30:26,410
Speaker 1: in and day out, he produces holiness in our life.

610
00:30:26,430 --> 00:30:28,710
Speaker 1: We grow in holiness. And as we grow in holiness...

611
00:30:28,770 --> 00:30:31,630
Speaker 1: we start to realize just how entranced we were by

612
00:30:31,710 --> 00:30:35,010
Speaker 1: sin to begin with because he starts to help us

613
00:30:35,070 --> 00:30:39,570
Speaker 1: to see the value of something better. And so Paul

614
00:30:39,590 --> 00:30:42,150
Speaker 1: here was praying for the believers to develop an understanding

615
00:30:42,170 --> 00:30:44,510
Speaker 1: of the love of Christ in a deep way. The

616
00:30:44,550 --> 00:30:46,690
Speaker 1: way he describes it is like in every direction. He

617
00:30:46,730 --> 00:30:51,490
Speaker 1: says the breadth, the length, the height, the depth of

618
00:30:51,560 --> 00:30:55,840
Speaker 1: Christ's love, Christ's love in every direction, deep and wide, right?

619
00:30:57,680 --> 00:31:01,600
Speaker 1: But to understand all of that, we need to be

620
00:31:01,700 --> 00:31:05,520
Speaker 1: empowered by Christ. That's not something that we can have

621
00:31:05,660 --> 00:31:08,420
Speaker 1: just a natural understanding of. We're not strong enough or

622
00:31:08,480 --> 00:31:11,240
Speaker 1: smart enough to get it with our own limited understanding.

623
00:31:11,870 --> 00:31:14,290
Speaker 1: But his strength is sufficient in the midst of our weakness.

624
00:31:14,770 --> 00:31:16,410
Speaker 1: And as we draw closer to him in this manner,

625
00:31:16,430 --> 00:31:19,550
Speaker 1: you have Paul speaking of us being filled with the

626
00:31:19,750 --> 00:31:23,950
Speaker 1: fullness of Christ. We're being filled with all, he says,

627
00:31:24,030 --> 00:31:27,480
Speaker 1: filled with all the fullness of God. So he's speaking

628
00:31:27,520 --> 00:31:29,080
Speaker 1: of living in such a way that we develop an

629
00:31:29,100 --> 00:31:31,980
Speaker 1: appreciation for the fact that there is now nothing lacking

630
00:31:32,000 --> 00:31:34,290
Speaker 1: in our relationship with the Lord, that the Lord supplies

631
00:31:34,550 --> 00:31:37,130
Speaker 1: all that we need for life and godliness, and that

632
00:31:37,170 --> 00:31:40,990
Speaker 1: truly when we have Jesus, we have everything we actually

633
00:31:41,110 --> 00:31:44,720
Speaker 1: need in the midst of this world. Now, growing up,

634
00:31:46,210 --> 00:31:48,990
Speaker 1: our family went through a stretch from the time I

635
00:31:49,030 --> 00:31:53,500
Speaker 1: was about age eight, pretty much toward the end of

636
00:31:53,540 --> 00:31:55,340
Speaker 1: high school, we went through a long stretch where I

637
00:31:55,360 --> 00:31:57,690
Speaker 1: would just say, probably the best way to describe it

638
00:31:57,730 --> 00:32:01,820
Speaker 1: is just poverty, right? Long stretch of poverty during that

639
00:32:01,860 --> 00:32:04,320
Speaker 1: period of time. And so I used to daydream about

640
00:32:04,340 --> 00:32:06,160
Speaker 1: a variety of things. And I used to daydream about

641
00:32:06,180 --> 00:32:08,940
Speaker 1: things like someday having a nice home. And I actually

642
00:32:08,960 --> 00:32:11,280
Speaker 1: think that that's, like some people joke with me about

643
00:32:12,200 --> 00:32:15,150
Speaker 1: like the care that I provide my lawn. And I

644
00:32:15,150 --> 00:32:16,810
Speaker 1: was like, why do, I used to think about, I

645
00:32:16,850 --> 00:32:19,070
Speaker 1: was like, why do I care about my lawn so much? Like,

646
00:32:19,110 --> 00:32:21,390
Speaker 1: why did I just pay to have it aerated? And

647
00:32:21,430 --> 00:32:23,110
Speaker 1: then I had the guy overseed it, but then I

648
00:32:23,210 --> 00:32:26,050
Speaker 1: overseeded on top of the overseeding that he did And

649
00:32:26,070 --> 00:32:28,490
Speaker 1: I was like, why did I do that? Who cares, right?

650
00:32:29,250 --> 00:32:32,510
Speaker 1: My lawn has no eternal consequence. And it dawned on me,

651
00:32:32,530 --> 00:32:36,610
Speaker 1: it's like, why do I care about that? And I

652
00:32:36,650 --> 00:32:39,070
Speaker 1: think it really comes down to the fact of, it's

653
00:32:39,090 --> 00:32:40,750
Speaker 1: like my heart and my mind go back to that

654
00:32:40,790 --> 00:32:44,710
Speaker 1: period of time where we were living in government housing,

655
00:32:45,170 --> 00:32:48,070
Speaker 1: going through that long stretch of, really, it was just poverty.

656
00:32:48,770 --> 00:32:51,710
Speaker 1: And I think to that, and it's like, yeah, you

657
00:32:51,790 --> 00:32:53,820
Speaker 1: see other things differently. And so I used to think,

658
00:32:54,190 --> 00:32:56,510
Speaker 1: I used to daydream a lot about maybe someday having

659
00:32:56,550 --> 00:33:00,610
Speaker 1: a nice house, or maybe someday having healthy finances, or

660
00:33:00,870 --> 00:33:03,210
Speaker 1: maybe someday having cars that didn't break down in the

661
00:33:03,250 --> 00:33:05,770
Speaker 1: center of town in front of your friends. I remember

662
00:33:05,790 --> 00:33:08,400
Speaker 1: at one point, this is terrible, I debated whether I

663
00:33:08,390 --> 00:33:10,020
Speaker 1: was going to tell you this, but now it makes

664
00:33:10,060 --> 00:33:14,020
Speaker 1: me laugh. I was in sixth grade, and we used

665
00:33:14,040 --> 00:33:17,700
Speaker 1: to have dances at the YMCA every Friday night in town,

666
00:33:17,720 --> 00:33:19,160
Speaker 1: and it was for all the students in town, so

667
00:33:19,220 --> 00:33:21,420
Speaker 1: I always used to go, and there was a seventh

668
00:33:21,460 --> 00:33:31,630
Speaker 1: grade girl that I liked. And she liked me. And

669
00:33:31,730 --> 00:33:34,570
Speaker 1: so I got up the nerve and I asked her out.

670
00:33:34,630 --> 00:33:37,070
Speaker 1: And she was my girlfriend. And we were at different schools.

671
00:33:37,490 --> 00:33:39,430
Speaker 1: I was in sixth grade. She was in seventh grade.

672
00:33:39,690 --> 00:33:42,870
Speaker 1: Felt like king of the world. King of the world, right?

673
00:33:43,170 --> 00:33:45,489
Speaker 1: And I remember the one day I was in our

674
00:33:45,550 --> 00:33:47,610
Speaker 1: car and we were in the center of town and

675
00:33:47,630 --> 00:33:50,690
Speaker 1: the car broke down right in the center of town.

676
00:33:51,060 --> 00:33:53,960
Speaker 1: And in a panic, my mom yelled. She's like, and

677
00:33:53,980 --> 00:33:56,140
Speaker 1: then my family just called me Johnny. She's like, Johnny.

678
00:33:56,480 --> 00:33:58,580
Speaker 1: Get out and push. And I was like, oh no.

679
00:33:58,820 --> 00:34:00,500
Speaker 1: And we're like right in the middle of an intersection.

680
00:34:00,740 --> 00:34:02,380
Speaker 1: And I get out and I start pushing this thing.

681
00:34:02,420 --> 00:34:05,420
Speaker 1: And would you know that that girl, my new girlfriend

682
00:34:05,500 --> 00:34:09,250
Speaker 1: and her friends are now walking on the sidewalk because

683
00:34:09,270 --> 00:34:10,989
Speaker 1: her school had just let out. So there's a whole

684
00:34:11,070 --> 00:34:15,630
Speaker 1: parade of hundreds of students, including her, as I'm pushing

685
00:34:15,650 --> 00:34:18,890
Speaker 1: this broken down car in the middle of town with

686
00:34:18,969 --> 00:34:21,670
Speaker 1: very little help trying to like get this thing out

687
00:34:21,690 --> 00:34:25,220
Speaker 1: of the road as a sixth grader. And I remember thinking,

688
00:34:27,010 --> 00:34:30,050
Speaker 1: If Jesus comes back right now, I will be really

689
00:34:30,110 --> 00:34:32,370
Speaker 1: cool with that. Like, he can come back right now. Like,

690
00:34:32,430 --> 00:34:35,290
Speaker 1: please spare me from this moment. And it gets even better.

691
00:34:35,530 --> 00:34:38,670
Speaker 1: She broke up with me afterward, right? She broke up

692
00:34:38,710 --> 00:34:43,110
Speaker 1: with me afterward. Can you blame her, you know? I

693
00:34:43,150 --> 00:34:45,790
Speaker 1: thought she'd be impressed with my strength. Somehow she wasn't.

694
00:34:46,270 --> 00:34:48,710
Speaker 1: It's like, hey, isn't that your new boyfriend pushing that

695
00:34:48,770 --> 00:34:50,950
Speaker 1: junk car in the middle of town? It's like, yeah,

696
00:34:51,010 --> 00:34:52,390
Speaker 1: I can understand why she didn't want to have to

697
00:34:52,450 --> 00:34:54,850
Speaker 1: deal with that. And so I used to think during

698
00:34:54,890 --> 00:34:56,750
Speaker 1: that season of my life, I thought, you know what? Like,

699
00:34:57,090 --> 00:34:59,390
Speaker 1: if you get those things squared away, like if you

700
00:34:59,410 --> 00:35:01,640
Speaker 1: get the house squared away, maybe if you get the

701
00:35:01,680 --> 00:35:06,240
Speaker 1: car squared away, get your finances to a healthy spot,

702
00:35:06,280 --> 00:35:08,839
Speaker 1: then you'll probably be pretty good in this world, right? Now,

703
00:35:08,860 --> 00:35:10,960
Speaker 1: here's the thing. At this season of my life, the

704
00:35:11,000 --> 00:35:13,719
Speaker 1: Lord's chosen me to bless me with all those things

705
00:35:13,739 --> 00:35:16,020
Speaker 1: that at one point I was lacking. Every one of

706
00:35:16,060 --> 00:35:18,520
Speaker 1: those categories, he's taken care of. It's all taken care of.

707
00:35:19,320 --> 00:35:22,080
Speaker 1: All taken care of. And here's what I've discovered on

708
00:35:22,100 --> 00:35:26,540
Speaker 1: the other side of that. All I ever needed was Jesus.

709
00:35:27,940 --> 00:35:30,480
Speaker 1: He is sufficient, and there is nothing in this world

710
00:35:30,520 --> 00:35:35,390
Speaker 1: that has ever satisfied my heart like him. He's the

711
00:35:35,450 --> 00:35:38,310
Speaker 1: only thing that ever had that capacity to satisfy my heart.

712
00:35:38,690 --> 00:35:40,190
Speaker 1: There's not a single thing in this world that I've

713
00:35:40,230 --> 00:35:45,630
Speaker 1: daydreamed about getting or obtaining that ever was able to

714
00:35:45,710 --> 00:35:50,130
Speaker 1: satisfy my heart like him. And so here you have

715
00:35:50,170 --> 00:35:55,359
Speaker 1: the Apostle Paul saying, he's under home confinement as he's

716
00:35:55,400 --> 00:35:58,980
Speaker 1: saying it. He's like, listen, This is what I want

717
00:35:59,000 --> 00:36:00,360
Speaker 1: you to understand. This is what I want you to

718
00:36:00,719 --> 00:36:05,980
Speaker 1: really wrap your mind around. How deep Christ's love for

719
00:36:06,020 --> 00:36:11,140
Speaker 1: you is. How broad his love for you is. But

720
00:36:11,160 --> 00:36:12,799
Speaker 1: he's saying the only way you're going to get it

721
00:36:13,100 --> 00:36:16,759
Speaker 1: is if God opens your eyes to see it. And

722
00:36:16,780 --> 00:36:19,450
Speaker 1: I like the fact that in two contrasting seasons of

723
00:36:19,489 --> 00:36:21,799
Speaker 1: my life, I could see the Lord saying, you know

724
00:36:21,820 --> 00:36:26,910
Speaker 1: what will satisfy your heart? Nothing else but me. And

725
00:36:26,950 --> 00:36:28,509
Speaker 1: if you're ever trying to chase anything in this world

726
00:36:28,530 --> 00:36:30,009
Speaker 1: that you think is going to satisfy your heart and

727
00:36:30,050 --> 00:36:33,390
Speaker 1: it's not Jesus, let me just tell you, only Jesus

728
00:36:33,450 --> 00:36:37,590
Speaker 1: will satisfy that void. Nothing else will. And then Paul

729
00:36:37,710 --> 00:36:41,009
Speaker 1: ends this section with something that I think is a

730
00:36:41,090 --> 00:36:44,529
Speaker 1: great encouragement. And he's basically telling us, look, get ready

731
00:36:44,570 --> 00:36:48,770
Speaker 1: for God to exceed your expectations. Get ready because he's

732
00:36:48,790 --> 00:36:50,469
Speaker 1: going to do it. Look at what it says here

733
00:36:50,489 --> 00:36:52,390
Speaker 1: in the closing verses. In verses 20 and 21, he says,

734
00:36:53,410 --> 00:36:55,379
Speaker 1: Now to him who is able to do far more

735
00:36:55,450 --> 00:36:59,080
Speaker 1: abundantly than all we ask or think, according to the

736
00:36:59,140 --> 00:37:02,259
Speaker 1: power at work within us, to him be glory in

737
00:37:02,300 --> 00:37:06,739
Speaker 1: the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever

738
00:37:07,160 --> 00:37:11,860
Speaker 1: and ever. Amen. See, out here, we're at the halfway

739
00:37:11,900 --> 00:37:14,600
Speaker 1: point now of the book of Ephesians. And up to

740
00:37:14,640 --> 00:37:17,739
Speaker 1: this point, you have what Paul's doing. He's explaining the

741
00:37:17,760 --> 00:37:21,570
Speaker 1: behind-the-scenes work that the Lord is accomplishing. And now in

742
00:37:21,610 --> 00:37:23,009
Speaker 1: the second half of the book, what he's going to

743
00:37:23,050 --> 00:37:25,870
Speaker 1: demonstrate is how we're supposed to live in response to

744
00:37:26,030 --> 00:37:29,210
Speaker 1: all this behind-the-scenes work that the Lord is doing. But

745
00:37:29,250 --> 00:37:31,690
Speaker 1: here's what I know about my understanding of what God

746
00:37:31,750 --> 00:37:35,779
Speaker 1: has done. He is able to do even more than

747
00:37:35,820 --> 00:37:38,339
Speaker 1: what I'm able to wrap my mind around. He can

748
00:37:38,380 --> 00:37:41,299
Speaker 1: do more than I can imagine in my most elaborate daydreams.

749
00:37:42,820 --> 00:37:44,379
Speaker 1: And when I think about that, it makes me wonder

750
00:37:44,420 --> 00:37:49,450
Speaker 1: if my prayers are way too small. They've got to be.

751
00:37:50,340 --> 00:37:52,819
Speaker 1: If he can do far beyond I can imagine, well,

752
00:37:52,860 --> 00:37:54,560
Speaker 1: the only things I know to pray about are what?

753
00:37:54,620 --> 00:37:58,480
Speaker 1: The stuff I can imagine, right? And here Paul's saying, yeah,

754
00:37:58,520 --> 00:38:00,600
Speaker 1: he can do far beyond the stuff that you're able

755
00:38:00,620 --> 00:38:03,150
Speaker 1: to imagine. So I'm wondering, like when I look at

756
00:38:03,190 --> 00:38:05,290
Speaker 1: a portion of Scripture like this, I'm wondering if the

757
00:38:05,350 --> 00:38:08,750
Speaker 1: Lord's waiting for me and you to begin praying with

758
00:38:09,010 --> 00:38:11,450
Speaker 1: real faith, the kind of faith that's willing to ask

759
00:38:11,489 --> 00:38:14,290
Speaker 1: him to do impossible things. Because I think a lot

760
00:38:14,310 --> 00:38:16,140
Speaker 1: of our prayers are just us asking God to do

761
00:38:16,200 --> 00:38:20,469
Speaker 1: very possible things. Very everyday things. And that's fine. Pray

762
00:38:20,489 --> 00:38:23,189
Speaker 1: about those things too. Pray about possible things, but also

763
00:38:23,230 --> 00:38:25,630
Speaker 1: pray about impossible things. And I think in all honesty,

764
00:38:25,670 --> 00:38:28,530
Speaker 1: we come to the Lord with really safe and sanitized prayers.

765
00:38:29,469 --> 00:38:31,049
Speaker 1: You know, and I think we ask his intervention in

766
00:38:31,090 --> 00:38:33,950
Speaker 1: ways that seems to indicate that maybe there's a part

767
00:38:33,969 --> 00:38:35,820
Speaker 1: of us that's not really confident that God's going to

768
00:38:35,980 --> 00:38:38,299
Speaker 1: act on our behalf. That he might do this stuff

769
00:38:38,320 --> 00:38:40,460
Speaker 1: for other people, but maybe he wouldn't actually do that

770
00:38:40,540 --> 00:38:42,719
Speaker 1: for us. But here you have Paul telling us what?

771
00:38:43,440 --> 00:38:46,120
Speaker 1: That God is able to do far beyond what we've

772
00:38:46,280 --> 00:38:49,380
Speaker 1: ever asked him to do. You do way more than

773
00:38:49,400 --> 00:38:52,359
Speaker 1: your mind has the capacity to imagine. So he can

774
00:38:52,489 --> 00:38:54,790
Speaker 1: save the most distant person. So think about the people

775
00:38:54,830 --> 00:38:57,049
Speaker 1: that you pray for that maybe at this point you've

776
00:38:57,090 --> 00:38:58,870
Speaker 1: even given up praying for because it just feels like

777
00:38:58,890 --> 00:39:01,730
Speaker 1: they're just so distant from God. He could save the

778
00:39:01,750 --> 00:39:04,210
Speaker 1: most distant person. He could change the hardest of heart.

779
00:39:04,250 --> 00:39:07,210
Speaker 1: He can correct societal problems. Sometimes I look around and

780
00:39:07,230 --> 00:39:10,000
Speaker 1: I think, Lord, this just seems impossible. This just seems

781
00:39:10,040 --> 00:39:14,640
Speaker 1: so impossible. Yeah, naturally speaking, it's impossible. But supernaturally speaking,

782
00:39:14,780 --> 00:39:19,080
Speaker 1: it's not impossible. He can fix the most messed up situations.

783
00:39:19,120 --> 00:39:22,100
Speaker 1: In fact, He promises, when you look at how Scripture unfolds,

784
00:39:22,120 --> 00:39:26,610
Speaker 1: He promises to restore the entire creation and then rule

785
00:39:26,770 --> 00:39:31,799
Speaker 1: and reign here in perfect justice with perfect benevolence. That's

786
00:39:31,840 --> 00:39:33,440
Speaker 1: His promise. That's what He's given you and I to

787
00:39:33,460 --> 00:39:37,160
Speaker 1: look forward to. So as we trust in Jesus, as

788
00:39:37,180 --> 00:39:42,480
Speaker 1: we're indwelled by the Holy Spirit, please keep in mind

789
00:39:42,960 --> 00:39:46,040
Speaker 1: that the same power that will one day restore this

790
00:39:46,200 --> 00:39:52,810
Speaker 1: entire creation is already at work within us, and it's

791
00:39:52,950 --> 00:39:56,629
Speaker 1: already accessible to us. And that's not a statement about

792
00:39:56,650 --> 00:39:59,710
Speaker 1: a future reality. That's a statement that's a statement of

793
00:39:59,770 --> 00:40:02,470
Speaker 1: fact based on our present reality, based on what Scripture

794
00:40:02,510 --> 00:40:04,520
Speaker 1: has already revealed to us. I have to tell you,

795
00:40:04,550 --> 00:40:07,489
Speaker 1: I became a pastor nearly 25 years ago, and just

796
00:40:07,550 --> 00:40:09,989
Speaker 1: about every day of my life in the midst of

797
00:40:10,030 --> 00:40:12,970
Speaker 1: that time has allowed me to speak with many brothers

798
00:40:13,010 --> 00:40:15,670
Speaker 1: and many sisters in Christ who are experiencing trials and

799
00:40:16,430 --> 00:40:19,470
Speaker 1: And struggles of all different kinds, some of their own making,

800
00:40:19,530 --> 00:40:23,129
Speaker 1: some completely out of their control. And more often than not,

801
00:40:23,170 --> 00:40:25,310
Speaker 1: here's how the conversation goes. More often than not, I've

802
00:40:25,330 --> 00:40:28,230
Speaker 1: also heard brothers and sisters in Christ express the opinion

803
00:40:28,530 --> 00:40:31,230
Speaker 1: that they were powerless to do anything about their struggles.

804
00:40:31,690 --> 00:40:34,730
Speaker 1: So they felt powerless to overcome their temptations. They felt

805
00:40:34,790 --> 00:40:38,649
Speaker 1: powerless to overcome their despair or their conflict or their

806
00:40:38,790 --> 00:40:41,930
Speaker 1: sorrow or their fear. And then you look at what

807
00:40:41,950 --> 00:40:44,089
Speaker 1: this scripture is telling us and what it's revealing to

808
00:40:44,170 --> 00:40:46,230
Speaker 1: us as Paul gets to the halfway point of this book,

809
00:40:46,270 --> 00:40:48,029
Speaker 1: as he's trying to set us up to how we're

810
00:40:48,050 --> 00:40:49,670
Speaker 1: supposed to respond. And he wants to make sure that

811
00:40:49,690 --> 00:40:52,130
Speaker 1: we know one more thing before we get into that

812
00:40:52,210 --> 00:40:54,279
Speaker 1: second half of the book. And what he's telling us

813
00:40:54,320 --> 00:40:57,780
Speaker 1: here is we have not been left powerless in this world.

814
00:40:59,440 --> 00:41:01,660
Speaker 1: So what that says to me is, I guess I

815
00:41:01,700 --> 00:41:03,759
Speaker 1: should stop preaching a message to my heart that tells

816
00:41:03,800 --> 00:41:05,640
Speaker 1: me that I'm powerless in the midst of this world.

817
00:41:06,120 --> 00:41:07,900
Speaker 1: And I guess you should stop preaching a message to

818
00:41:07,920 --> 00:41:10,009
Speaker 1: your heart that tells you that you're powerless in the

819
00:41:10,030 --> 00:41:14,549
Speaker 1: midst of this world. Because you're not. That's what he's

820
00:41:14,570 --> 00:41:16,750
Speaker 1: getting at here. He's like, you are not powerless. And

821
00:41:16,790 --> 00:41:19,590
Speaker 1: if you've given up and you think you have no power,

822
00:41:20,330 --> 00:41:26,180
Speaker 1: reread this and believe it and live it out. And

823
00:41:26,219 --> 00:41:29,620
Speaker 1: let's get ready for God to start exceeding our expectations.

824
00:41:30,219 --> 00:41:32,920
Speaker 1: Not just meeting our expectations or not even, I think

825
00:41:32,960 --> 00:41:35,239
Speaker 1: sometimes we pray and it's almost like we expect God

826
00:41:35,260 --> 00:41:39,700
Speaker 1: to let us down. And here Paul's saying, no, he

827
00:41:39,719 --> 00:41:43,569
Speaker 1: could do way beyond anything you could ask. He can

828
00:41:43,590 --> 00:41:46,069
Speaker 1: do way beyond anything you can imagine, but he does

829
00:41:46,110 --> 00:41:47,810
Speaker 1: want us to trust him. If we come to him,

830
00:41:48,450 --> 00:41:50,330
Speaker 1: just like James says in the book of James, don't

831
00:41:50,430 --> 00:41:54,770
Speaker 1: come and ask things not actually believing that God can

832
00:41:54,850 --> 00:41:57,290
Speaker 1: do it. If you're going to pray, if you're going

833
00:41:57,310 --> 00:41:59,650
Speaker 1: to lift these things up before the Lord, believe that

834
00:41:59,670 --> 00:42:02,609
Speaker 1: he actually can do these things. But again, that's going

835
00:42:02,630 --> 00:42:05,089
Speaker 1: to require some strength. Even to just believe that, that's

836
00:42:05,130 --> 00:42:07,950
Speaker 1: going to require the strength of God. And the Father

837
00:42:08,010 --> 00:42:10,490
Speaker 1: will supply the strength that we require to do that.

838
00:42:11,100 --> 00:42:12,839
Speaker 1: In fact, he already has through the Son and through

839
00:42:12,860 --> 00:42:14,820
Speaker 1: the Spirit. We have what we need, but it didn't

840
00:42:14,900 --> 00:42:18,160
Speaker 1: come from us. So as Paul was praying for the

841
00:42:18,219 --> 00:42:23,200
Speaker 1: early believers to walk in the strength of Christ, what

842
00:42:23,219 --> 00:42:26,220
Speaker 1: I want to encourage us to do is to join

843
00:42:26,280 --> 00:42:29,799
Speaker 1: him in that prayer and begin praying that very same

844
00:42:29,860 --> 00:42:34,950
Speaker 1: thing for ourselves, but also being people who look at

845
00:42:35,010 --> 00:42:36,770
Speaker 1: our brothers and sisters in Christ, who look at the

846
00:42:36,830 --> 00:42:41,609
Speaker 1: church in general, and we begin praying that for those

847
00:42:41,630 --> 00:42:47,299
Speaker 1: that we love as well. Let's pray. Lord, thank you

848
00:42:47,340 --> 00:42:49,640
Speaker 1: so much for your word and for the privilege that

849
00:42:49,660 --> 00:42:51,120
Speaker 1: it is to be able to look at something like

850
00:42:51,160 --> 00:42:54,759
Speaker 1: this and to think about the fact that you are

851
00:42:54,880 --> 00:42:59,460
Speaker 1: good and that you see our needs and you meet

852
00:42:59,520 --> 00:43:03,080
Speaker 1: those needs. that you've given us everything that we need

853
00:43:03,120 --> 00:43:07,419
Speaker 1: for life and godliness through your Son, Jesus Christ, through

854
00:43:07,460 --> 00:43:11,620
Speaker 1: the indwelling power of your Holy Spirit. Lord, you have

855
00:43:11,660 --> 00:43:18,220
Speaker 1: not left us powerless in this world. We have your power.

856
00:43:20,500 --> 00:43:23,779
Speaker 1: And you've given us access to your throne. We can

857
00:43:23,860 --> 00:43:26,759
Speaker 1: boldly and confidently come before you because we know that

858
00:43:26,820 --> 00:43:30,520
Speaker 1: as you look at us, You see your son, Jesus Christ,

859
00:43:30,580 --> 00:43:34,340
Speaker 1: within us. And you give us an audience before yourself.

860
00:43:35,000 --> 00:43:37,060
Speaker 1: You allow us to come into your presence. You allow

861
00:43:37,100 --> 00:43:40,859
Speaker 1: us to request things of you. You encourage us time

862
00:43:40,880 --> 00:43:45,620
Speaker 1: and time again to ask for your intervention. So, Lord,

863
00:43:45,780 --> 00:43:48,319
Speaker 1: you know the things that we've got going through our

864
00:43:48,360 --> 00:43:54,219
Speaker 1: minds that we think are just absolutely impossible. Things that

865
00:43:54,280 --> 00:43:56,120
Speaker 1: we look at and we think, all right, like there

866
00:43:56,180 --> 00:44:00,960
Speaker 1: is nothing possible. that can fix this. But Lord, right now,

867
00:44:01,020 --> 00:44:04,040
Speaker 1: we just want to lift up those impossible things before you.

868
00:44:05,560 --> 00:44:07,779
Speaker 1: Whatever we're putting in that category, whether it be a

869
00:44:08,300 --> 00:44:10,319
Speaker 1: friend or family member who as of yet doesn't know

870
00:44:10,360 --> 00:44:13,210
Speaker 1: you and just seems so distant, or whether it be

871
00:44:13,270 --> 00:44:16,109
Speaker 1: conflict that seems like it can't be resolved, or whether

872
00:44:16,150 --> 00:44:18,089
Speaker 1: it be trials or things like that that we're dealing

873
00:44:18,110 --> 00:44:23,710
Speaker 1: with in our day-to-day circumstances that we look at and

874
00:44:23,750 --> 00:44:25,190
Speaker 1: we think, I don't know what to do to fix this.

875
00:44:25,270 --> 00:44:28,660
Speaker 1: I don't know how to correct this. Lord, we are

876
00:44:28,700 --> 00:44:31,400
Speaker 1: now asking you to do those impossible things, and we're

877
00:44:31,440 --> 00:44:35,860
Speaker 1: not asking in a timid way. We're asking in accordance

878
00:44:35,880 --> 00:44:38,960
Speaker 1: with what you've just taught us from your word. So Lord,

879
00:44:39,000 --> 00:44:40,980
Speaker 1: we pray that you would intervene in every one of

880
00:44:41,020 --> 00:44:44,640
Speaker 1: these circumstances that's presently burdening our minds and burdening our hearts.

881
00:44:44,700 --> 00:44:47,219
Speaker 1: We lift it up before you, and we're just so

882
00:44:47,260 --> 00:44:50,770
Speaker 1: grateful for the fact that as you reveal these words

883
00:44:51,030 --> 00:44:55,170
Speaker 1: in your word, this isn't just fluff, this isn't just filler.

884
00:44:56,440 --> 00:44:58,140
Speaker 1: This isn't just something that you say, but you don't

885
00:44:58,219 --> 00:45:00,899
Speaker 1: actually mean. This is something you inspired to be written

886
00:45:00,940 --> 00:45:02,719
Speaker 1: down so that we would understand what a life of

887
00:45:02,800 --> 00:45:06,029
Speaker 1: faith actually looks like. So Lord, thank you for the

888
00:45:06,070 --> 00:45:08,150
Speaker 1: privilege to be able to walk with you. Thank you

889
00:45:08,170 --> 00:45:10,690
Speaker 1: for the privilege to grow in our relationship with you.

890
00:45:11,070 --> 00:45:13,430
Speaker 1: And thank you for the strength that you supply for

891
00:45:13,469 --> 00:45:16,270
Speaker 1: us to comprehend things that are beyond our understanding and

892
00:45:16,290 --> 00:45:18,870
Speaker 1: for us to live things out that are beyond our

893
00:45:18,930 --> 00:45:22,740
Speaker 1: natural abilities. We commit ourselves to you now, and we

894
00:45:22,780 --> 00:45:26,279
Speaker 1: pray this all in Jesus' name. Amen.