Far More: A New Year's Prayer

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Let me pray.

God, that's our confession this morning in a culture, in a world, in media, social media, what people are tweeting in 140 characters, whatever may be, our cultures swing wide a very broad road.

But God, you've called us to a narrow road.

A road where we take some stakes out into the ground to plunge them deep down to say, God, whatever may fall within my life, whatever circumstances that I find myself in, I will worship you because you're worthy of it.

We serve a God who can do far more able than what we can think or even imagine.

And so, God, when we sing songs to you and we open up your word, we we believe in a God who is so big but yet draw us close.

And so this morning, as we open up our Bibles, I pray sparks would fly.

I pray that your word would come alive.

But it is already alive, God.

If we're maybe sleeping this morning, God, I pray that you'd wake us up.

That you would jolt us.

Because that's what you do.

You breathe life into us.

Church, before we jump in this morning, I I would love to take just a moment before.

And maybe communicate to the Lord this morning, hey, whatever you have in store for me, I want I want to know it.

Not only do I want to know it, but I want to I want to put some legs on it.

Whatever it may be going into this new year, I want to give the time this morning to place it before the Lord.

God, we unplug this morning from all the noise.

To let the room to sit still, to say to you, Oh, turn up the volume.

Turn up the bass, God, as your word goes out, let it cut within us a little more pep in our step.

Thanks for drawing close.

We love you.

It's your name I pray.

Amen.

And amen.

Wolf.

You have your Bibles.

Uh go ahead and open up those to Ephesians chapter 3.

Ephesians 3 · chapter mention

Let me introduce myself.

Uh, my name is Aaron Cotton, and I'm the student pastor.

Uh, it's not every day I bust out my slacks from a closet, uh, but I do it for you uh and for this morning because it always is uh a privilege and an honor to stand before you and to bring uh to bring the word.

Man, we've been on a journey uh here in the main building with Advent uh going through topics of love and hope and joy uh and peace, and we kind of gathered together on Christmas Eve and um and celebrated Christ's uh coming.

And this morning, what I want to do is what has been laid upon uh my heart to share with you is a prayer.

It's the end of uh 2014 coming up quick and 2015 another year around uh the corner.

Man, Paul's prayer in Ephesians 3 has really uh man just been laid on my heart uh to kind of for us to walk through.

And as we as we're about to see here in a second, it's it's it's much more than just a prayer.

It's a it's a call to action.

Uh it's a it's a call, it's a call to action.

The book of uh Ephesians uh is combined in this way.

The first half, Paul's saying, hey, this is what you should know.

Later half, hey, this is what you should do.

And within uh this sandwich in in a way, and within the middle, there's this spontaneous, passionate, sporadic, very thoughtful uh prayer that Paul includes that that is the glue that holds uh Ephesians uh together.

So if you have your Bibles, I want to talk about this prayer, uh a New Year's prayer going into the new year.

Paul writes this to the Ephesians church, Ephesians chapter 3, verse 14.

Ephesians 3:14

He writes, For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power, dunimos, dynamite, through his spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you, Ephesians church, may be filled with all the fullness, all the fullness of God.

Why is Paul praying?

Because Paul is praying and he's and he's begging God to move on behalf of the church, on behalf of his people.

And as I'm uh as I've been coming out in this Christmas season, as as I as I get older, as I become uh an adult, uh, if I ought to confess something to you this morning, Christmas uh doesn't get as much fun as it once was when I when I was a kid.

I mean when I was a kid, all I did is I showed up and there's gifts underneath a tree.

And magically they just they just showed there.

No, uh I remember showing up and I'm I I would love man Christmas seasons.

Uh where my mom would, there was always these the small gifts, and then there was there was the big gifts uh that that that would uh that I recall and I remember when I look back as an adult, right?

As look back on my younger years, I gauge which Christmas uh kind of where things fell based upon what gift that I got.

Like some of you uh young teenagers in the house got an Xbox One.

I'll be down front uh later to school you in some Call of Duty.

Just let me know.

You got my number, right?

Well, I'll make it happen because each season within Christmas, I I would get something uh that that would that was something that I was wanting or I had to my list.

And for all you parents in the house, you're thinking, we don't like you because we know we know what you're gonna ask for.

We know the presents that you're gonna ask for.

But I remember this one particular Christmas uh season um that I asked for some walkie-talkies.

And uh it wasn't uh my quote unquote big present, all right?

Uh it wasn't, but it was something that that I wanted, and I'll never forget uh Christmas uh that I got my black cobra walkie-talkies, right?

These were a game changer, right?

These these are the ones that could go up to within a football field, according to uh the ad on front, which is a lie.

It could not go that length, but I loved my black cobra walkie walkie-talkie because my brother and I, we would get those things, and I mean we'd get our walkie-talkies, and uh, my parents thought it'd be a great idea, speaking of Christmas, to get us paintball guns uh and where we go out and shoot each other out in the woods next uh to our house.

And I remember we were going out there playing a little paintball, uh, and we'd have our walkie-talkies.

My brother posted up in uh in his we had a tree fort here, and then the other neighborhood had their tree fort, and we'd get together and shoot each other, right?

Talk about a little boy's dream growing up, like playing some paintball, and I not only that, but we got some walkie-talkies where I'm able to clue in and channel in with my brother as long as we're on the same frequency.

What frequency were were we on, you ask?

Frequency one, because we're team number one winners.

So we go on frequency number one and we would channel in.

I would channel to see where my brother was, and he would direct me.

All right, he'd let me know where the enemy was, right?

And every now and then he'd let me get right in the midst of the enemy, right?

And he hit that call button.

And everybody, right?

It was a big joke to him.

Everybody arounding would know exactly where I was at.

I showed up to school with all these pelts on my side and uh and on my arm, and people like, Aaron, what happened to you?

It was war and it was awesome, but I hate my brother for it because he hit the call button off the walk on the walkie-talkie.

But I I I always loved my walkie-talkies because I always knew that when I clued in, my brother, my brother would be there standing over me, looking at, I mean, we are you have thought I was in the army at the age of 10, the way that we would go out there crawling.

I mean, we had signs like, yeah, yeah, okay, okay, like we would have all this thing down pat because we were in the midst of war.

And what if I submitted to you this morning, which I am, that prayer in the same way is a walkie-talkie that God hands to us to say, hey, communicate with me.

Communicate.

I'm able to see things, I'm able to understand things to which you are incapable of understanding on your own.

Hey, here's a walkie-talkie to clue in to my voice, to tune in to my to my to my word, as long as we're tuned into the same frequency.

I think his frequency is really frequency number channel number one, right?

If we're if we're to be honest.

His his voice.

Why do I say that?

Because what I want to do this morning is I want to put some some introductory thoughts before you before we jump into text about prayer.

Why do we pray?

Why why pray?

First thing is this is we're at war.

We're at war.

That this is not a peacetime that we are in.

Aaron, how can you say that?

The Bible says in Ephesians 6, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers and against the authorities and against the cosmic powers over this present darkness.

Church, the greatest enemy, whether you may think this or not, is not your co-worker, it's not your boss in the midst of Christmas season and being amongst family and spending a lot of time with them in close proximity.

I mean, they're staying at your house, you can't even escape them, right?

In the midst of that going on, our greatest enemy is not our siblings, it's not our parents in such a way, which I'll just say, all the students in the house, since I'm standing before you and I'm not back there with you in the warehouse, hey, your parents aren't your enemy.

Your parents are not, they're out and they're on the same team, and they want they want what's best for you.

So when I speak of enemy, when I speaking of an enemy, I'm not talking about the physical realm.

What I'm talking about is the unseen world in which Paul talks about.

Because we don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers and the authorities of this dark age.

Not only are we we are at war, church, but prayer.

Prayer gives us direct access to God.

Prayer gives us a direct access to God as he throws the walkie-talkie out.

When we pray to him, I love what Richard Foster says.

That prayer catapults us, it launches us into the heavenlies, or where we get to commune with God as long as we are tuned in to the same frequency he is.

Not only that, thirdly, prayer moves the heart of God.

Prayer moves the heart of God story after story throughout the Old Testament with Abraham and Moses.

You see his people coming before him, pleading and begging, and then God changes his mind.

We see Jesus coming to the gospels and in encountering people.

We see a Jesus who is moved with compassion based upon the prayers of his people.

Because prayer moves, it moves the heart of God and it changes things.

Fourthly, prayer involves listening.

It involves involves listening.

You ever been in a conversation with somebody and like you're trying to get a word in?

All right, you've been in the conversation with them, you're kind of talking and things are going and things are moving, you're kind of listening, like, oh, oh, they're going there.

I I could probably say say this, but you never get it in because the person you're talking to just can't keep their mouth shut.

Like they just won't shut up.

They like to hear the sound of their own voice.

Some of you thinking, that's my older brother or sister.

Like, do you get that?

You hear that?

They're talking to you.

No, I'm not, but we know those people that we get in conversations with, we can never get a word in.

And I wonder in our prayer lives, is God looking down within in a sense to saying, Hey, are you gonna listen?

Is there any listening within you, or are you going to continue to run your mouth?

Often our prayers are a monologue when God designed them to be to be a dialogue, to be both ways, because we're gonna see Paul who's gonna who's gonna be doing some talking ultimately because he was doing he was doing some listening.

I love what Richard Foster says also uh about prayer.

He says this prayer is a reflex action to God's prior initiative upon the heart.

Big words to say that when we listen, when we're in tune, we're in tune with the same frequency, God puts things on our heart that normally wouldn't be there on our own to bring about a response from his people.

It's a reflex action.

I love that.

I love that.

I love that comment.

It takes me back to when I was a kid and I used to go to the doctor, and the doctor would pull out an orange triangle, an orange rubber triangle.

Like I'm still scarred to this day of thinking of a triangle-shaped orange rubber triangle.

Uh, because why?

Because I'd show up in the office and they would want to test my reflexes, right?

And I'd show up to the doctor's office and hit my knee, and of course, as my wood, and if yours is yours is working properly, uh, would automatically do a reflex.

And uh I'm I'm I still think about as a kid how much of it a game it was for my knee not to move.

I remember thinking, oh, you want you want to play this game?

Let's play this game.

Like, let's let's do this.

And he'd take out his hammer, he'd say, he'd say, hey, just relax.

Relax.

Dude, you have an orange triangle and you're about to hit my knee with it.

How am I as a kid supposed to relax?

Right?

Are you kidding me?

And he'd take that thing and he would hit just a certain spot in my knee, and then before I knew it, my knee was was jolting.

Why would you say all that?

Because, church, there's when we listen, when we're tuned in, God takes out the orange rubber triangle to bring about a response from his people, and he really hits a chord with Paul.

That's why Paul says, Hey, for this reason, what reason?

We're about to read it in a second, but for what for this reason I bow my knees.

My knees are buckling because of what God has laid on my heart.

What has God laid on his heart?

Look with me for the sake of context, Ephesians 3, verse 8.

Ephesians 3:8

Paul writes, To me, this is Paul talking, to me, though I am very least of all the saints.

This grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for every everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things, so that, why are Paul's knees buckling, so that, verse 10, through the church, through us, the manifold wisdom of God might be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

That according to Paul, God has given this manifold wisdom to us so that we could make it known to the world.

And in that, in the manifold wisdom, Paul's knees are folding.

And he's praying and he's pleading and begging God to intervene.

A Bible scholar in the house, but I had to ask the question what is this manifold wisdom?

If you're with us throughout Christmas, or maybe you're out of town, came back in from school, what have what have you, uh you probably were here because our Christmas Eve services were packed and we piled in here uh this past Wednesday night to light the Christ candle and to celebrate Christ's coming, that He's here.

We no longer have to wait, fullness is made available.

And we got our candles, and Anil called us up, the shepherds, right?

Which, to be honest, I was really excited to be a shepherd because I got my candle lit and I lit all your candles.

I'm as I've added myself before, I'm a little pyro deep down within.

And uh it really still excites me that we light candles in a building.

That's safe, right?

Especially hand to little kids.

So I am really excited about I go to the Christmas Eve service and I'm we're lighting candles, and we start from the front, and then it's moving back and it grows.

And some of y'all are thinking, why can't you just go down the row, right?

Wouldn't that be so much easier?

But but what we wanted to do is we wanted to demonstrate that from the Christ from Christ's coming, he has given his light to us so that it would spread through the region as shepherds.

It would spread through the world and it would fold back.

And it's I had the privilege to stand in the back to kind of just look at it.

It was just a beautiful picture of that in the midst of darkness, in the midst of just chaos in which the world in which we live.

Christ come proclaiming to be the light, and the light was moving within the room, and then there was this moment at the end, like we're all holding our candles.

It's like, what are we gonna do?

We're gonna raise them up.

That's what we're gonna do.

So we're all raising our candles this Christmas Eve service to say the light has come and he's entrusted me with the gospel, and I'm gonna go out into all the world and tell everybody the good news that Jesus has come to die for you so that you can have life and joy and peace and hope and love and all these things that we talk about.

So you come, come to him.

Aaron, why you mention all of that?

Because that's that's exactly what the manifold wisdom is that God entrusts to his people, that he pours out his grace on lost men.

People get saved because of how good God is, not because of how good we are.

This is the manifold wisdom to which Paul buckles in prayer.

And the first thing that he prays, and what I want to point out to you, is number one, is to be strong.

Be strong.

According to verse 14, for this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory, he may grant you to be strengthened with power.

With dynomite.

Keep dynamite.

Like this is power that the Father has given, unleashed on his spirit within the inner being.

When I talk about being strong, I'm talking about a strength that comes outside yourself.

I'm not talking about a strength that you find in a gym.

Thinking, Aaron, wow, that's my number one resolution to join a d to join a gym.

I think the gyms around are banking around this season.

That's everybody's New Year's resolution.

No, I'm not, I'm not going there with this.

But what exactly the opposite, I'm talking about when I say be strong, I'm talking about a strength that comes outside yourself.

There's a commercial and there's a there's a company out there called Nike, and they have a slogan called just do it.

Everybody got the lace fashion, got the lace swish, knows Nike's slogan.

Just do it.

Paul's gonna put before you this morning, you can't.

You can't just do it.

You can't just do it on your own.

There's got to be something outside of us that is more powerful and bigger than us to come dwell within us to do what we ought to do.

So many of us in this room have been living with a sense of oughtness that have never found true life or never found any resolve because there's never been something, someone in particular who has come to make things right within you.

And the Bible says that you're blind and the things of this world have been planted deep within you.

And if you were to be honest with yourself, you lay in your bed at night staring at your ceiling, counting how many times your fan is going in a circle, because there's something out there that is bigger than you, and you don't know what it is.

And I'm putting before you this morning that this Christmas season, that one who has come as a baby to save sinners, to seek and save that which is lost is the answer.

When I talk about being strong, to be to be strong, I'm not talking about a New Year's resolution that you make on your own ability.

But what if we made New Year's resolutions, speaking of praying and listening and thinking about the coming year?

What if we made a resolution, a resolve within us that the Lord revealed to us to say, hey, I would I would like I would like you to take some of this.

I'd like to take your faith seriously.

I would like for you to think outside yourself.

I'd like to get plugged in to this church.

I'd like to see you commit instead of just sitting as bystanders week in and week out.

What if this morning God puts on our heart as a resolution to say, you know what?

I'm not gonna just suck the life out of this place anymore.

Hey, I've come to offer something.

Namely, Jesus and the strength that he has put within me.

For apart from him, we can do nothing.

When I speak about a strength, I'm talking about a strength outside ourselves.

Some of us coming into the end of a year and into a new year, some of us find ourselves frustrated, some of us find ourselves stressed out and done is because we're attempting to keep our marriage going, do school, raise our kids, provide for our families, fight for purity, and grieve over a loss on our own at the exclusion of God's strength.

And if we continue at this pace to say, God, I I got I got this, we will feel miserable and empty and we will fail.

Aaron, how can you say that?

That's why Jesus says, hey, if any man remains in me and I in him, he'll bear much fruit.

For apart from me, apart from Jesus, apart from having a relationship with him, we can do we can do nothing.

Because church, there's a there's a trusting.

There's a trusting that leads to doing.

I thoroughly enjoy sometimes saying things to students from up front.

And then as my boxer does sometimes when I say things to him like dog park or treat or there's certain things you just don't say in the house because whatever he's doing, his ears will just perk, right?

He'll just stare at you and do kind of cockeye look at you.

Like, what?

What'd you just say?

It is one of those things, there's a trusting that leads to doing.

Like, what what do you what do you what are you talking about?

My senior year of high school, we had this thing called bench a thon.

Uh, and it's where we got inside our gym, we gathered all the benches in the weight room, and we put them out front at in an open gym.

And and and and the goal of this event was to raise funds for our school.

And uh remember we had all our benches out front, right?

And we had uh all the weights that we transferred over, and uh, and then what we do is we invite everybody out.

Like, hey, everybody, come out, come watch me and how much I can do and how much I can throw up some weight, right?

This is a great idea.

Thank you, public school system, for this.

Let's get a bunch of weight, a bunch of benches, and an audience to prove how young men can prove themselves to be a man, right?

This is this is brilliant.

It's not brilliant.

So we go out there and there's benches all set up, and I remember looking at my friends and saying, hey, let's let's put 300 pounds on the bar.

Yeah, let's put some 300 on the bar because I'm about to prove to mama and daddy and brother and sister who's in the stands to say, Hey, I'm about to I'm about to prove myself here.

So put throwing 300 pounds.

I've never done that in my life.

Probably never well do that in my life.

And we're going there, about to throw, about to throw it up.

And I remember taking it off the bar, right?

And immediately taking it off and immediately my arm shot, right?

Luckily, I had enough strength to hold it up that where it didn't just take off my entire upper body, right?

I'm holding it and I'm sitting there and I'm straining, and my legs are going crazy, and my buddy's looking at me saying, Hey, I'm here, I'm a spotter, I'm here to help you.

Do you want me to get the bar?

I'm like, no.

I'm like, no, no, no.

I didn't do that because my hand was on the bar, but I just no, I I got this.

I I I'm going to exert enough strength to pull this thing up.

And I'm sitting there, I'm squirming, and I'm going to throw this thing up, and it just sits and sits and sits.

And finally, my buddy says, Hey man, you can't do this.

You can't, you can't do this, you can't do this on your own.

That's why, that's why I'm I'm here.

You're embarrassing, you're embarrassing yourselves.

And I wonder, church, as I look at you this morning, I wonder how many of us have gotten all the cares and the struggles of this world has loaded upon us.

We're going into we're going to 2015, just kind of like we're just trying to catch our breath, and we got so much weight upon us, and our God says to us this morning, hey, I'm here.

That's why he says, Hey, come to me all who are weary and heavy laden.

Hey, my yoke is easy, my burden is light.

I've come to give you, I've come to give you rest.

Church, are we restful this morning?

Are we are we restful?

In what area of your life are you most stressed?

Where are you most stressed going into the new year?

Maybe you let's go right now to this morning.

What man, when you think about it, it just oh it just stresses you out.

And whatever that is, is an invitation to take your hands from that, to acknowledge God Almighty, to say, God, I trust you.

Because, church, there's a trusting.

There's a there's a trusting and a clinging that leads to doing.

That's why he says in Isaiah 41, hey, fear not, for I am with you.

Be not dismayed, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you, I will help you, and I will uphold you with my righteous hand.

I'm here, I'm here to strengthen you.

Hey, you're not you're not on your own.

First thing, to be strong.

Be strong this morning, going to the new, be strong, not within your own self, but a strength that comes outside of you.

Number two, make room for Jesus.

Make room for Jesus.

Verse 17 says this, so that Christ, the Spirit that has come to dwell in us, within the inner being, who gives us power.

Verse 17, so that, so that Christ may dwell, or he may inhabit, or he may move in, he may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you being rooted and grounded in love.

Hey, Paul says, Hey, I Christ has come to dwell in you.

Throughout the entire biblical account, all the way from the Old Testament, God has made a progression of moving closer.

In Genesis 3, and people turn their back on him, he really pursues and offers a promise.

When the people of the Old Testament turn their back on him, he offers the tabernacle within the temple, and there's this process and this there's this movement.

And then you get to John 1, where the word put on flesh, and he he dwelt.

He ta he tabernacled, he tabernacled among us.

So not only is he now among us, but he dwells within us.

This is a game changer.

This this is the greatest blessing of all, church.

We get to participate in the blessing of God's indwelling spirit like no one else in history before.

He comes to dwell in us, he comes in to make room, to house, to dwell in us.

That's why John 14 says, Hey, me and the Father, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and I will come to him and I will make my home.

I'll make my home within them.

Not in a salvation sense, but in a in a fellowship sense.

God says, clear the way.

I'm coming, I'm coming in, I'm coming in to move, I'm coming in to dwell, I'm coming in to inhabit you.

I got married about a year, a year and a half ago, but who's counting, right?

Uh, and I remember uh I always considered myself as a single dude, a clean person.

Uh you would ask me, pick up your stuff, uh, you wash your own clothes.

Yeah, got that done.

Uh I I didn't realize how dirty I was until my wife showed up uh uh on the scene.

And I remember I got married and she was uh she was moving in, and I I remember there were certain things in my house uh that had been around a while, and one of those was the couch.

I've I've always had that couch since college, right?

And some of y'all are thinking in your minds, oh no, don't go there.

I am going there.

I've had the couch for years.

I had pets on it, dogs on it, cats on it, right?

And I never even thought to lift up the cushions underneath uh the couch.

And my wife, as she's going around the house, and she's just like on a rampage, just chunking things.

Hey, we gotta get rid of this, we gotta get rid of this.

These dishes, are you kidding me?

Hey, dollar store, same thing, right?

They're gonna do the same purpose as your fine china, whatever you got going on up here, which ain't really fine.

Like it just serves the same purpose.

She's chunking things.

She goes over to the couch and she tells me, Hey, have you ever even looked underneath the cushion?

I was like, why?

Why didn't you look underneath?

She was like, just do it.

So I looked, I go to lift up the middle cushion, and there's this big old gaping hole, right?

And inside was Frodo and all the Hobbit family living amongst my couch, infested probably with dust mites.

I always wonder, like, hey, why do you never sit on the couch?

Because it's disgusting, right?

So that goes.

She's not only going in the living room, but then she's going in within our bedroom, and then she's going into my drawers, and then she's going saying, Hey, this shirt right here.

I'm like, are you serious?

I got that in my freshman year of college for free.

Like, it's still good.

It's my good working shirt.

It's gotta go.

I'm like, I'm like, I still have that shirt, by the way.

All right, I didn't get rid of it.

I didn't get rid of that one.

Amen.

But I realized how dirty one I was, and I remember my wife coming in, and then she got these things uh where they're called cinsies.

I don't know if you guys are familiar with this.

All the men in the house are like, brother, are you serious right now?

You're going to Yes.

I walked in my house one time and I thought literally Peach Cobbler was cooking in my house, right?

I walk in and something is smelling so good.

I'm like, just got done working long day, you know what I'm saying, man.

Like coming home, right?

And uh and I come in, there's a peach, I smell peach cobbler.

I'm like, man, my wife is hot and she can cook.

Like, yes, I'm I got a deal right here.

And I come in and she's like, there's no peach cobbler.

I'm like, ah, then what is that smell coming from?

And I'm going amongst the house and I'm I'm smelling, and then I go to our our guest bedroom, right?

I go in the guest bedroom, and it is just a fog of just just peach cobbler, like just fresh.

And I remember sitting down and my wife, uh Chloe came over.

Uh her name's Chloe.

She came over and she looked at me and she was like, What are you doing?

I'm like, I'm just eating the air.

This is so, this is so good.

My brother came in the other day.

He's like, dude, your house is totally new.

It has been totally, totally renovated.

I never dusted in my life, right?

Until my wife showed up.

Because when she came in, things got reoriented, things moved around because it was out with the old and in with the new.

Aaron, why in the world would you go on and talk about that?

Because when Jesus says he comes to dwell within us, he comes to inhabit us, he's come to move in.

He's come to not rearrange, but he's come to say, hey, out with the old and in with the new.

There's this a book called My Heart and Christ, Christ's Home.

And it's just a great picture of what Christ does when he comes into our life.

And as Robert Mungner paints out for us, we see this Jesus going within the library, and he's saying, Hey, this library represents what you know.

Hey, what are you filling your mind with?

What are you doing within the library of your brain?

Is it filled with trash?

Is it filled with evil?

Is it filled with perverted images?

Is it filled with countless sport stats?

Is it filled with meaninglessness of Twitter posts and Facebook posts?

Is it filled with materialism?

Man, what does he find within your mind?

For whatever it is, he wants to replace it with his word.

And Christ isn't done.

He goes in, he moves into the dining room and he says, Hey, what uh what what appetites are you meeting here?

Hey, what do you what do you long for?

What's on your menu?

What did you order?

What satisfies you?

For whatever that is, he wants to replace it with all that ill illegitimate stuff with himself so that he alone can satisfy you.

And then he ain't done.

He goes into the living room where there's supposed to be a place of fellowship and conversation.

And in this particular story, Christ shows up and no one comes to meet him, no one ever shows up.

What happened to prayer?

What happened to communion?

What happened to fellowship and to a relationship?

And then he went to the workshop and he saw all your saws and he saw all the black and yellow, and he saw all the dewaltz and he saw all the tools and all these things, and he says, Hey, what are you making?

Hey, what where are you using your gifts to produce something of eternal value?

And then he goes and starts talking about, then there was this stench within coming from the house.

And Christ goes to a closet and he opens up the closet door to find something foul, something dead.

And the play and in its place was hidden personal sins.

And Munger says, I was angry.

Christ, I gave you access to the living room, to the dining room, I gave you access to my workshop, right?

I gave you all these places.

How dare you go and open up my closet door?

I mean, the guests are about to arrive in about five minutes.

You know I just stuffed it full of things.

How in the world are you gonna go open up that closet door?

What am I saying?

As you see, the lordship of Christ extends to every part of our lives.

Church, where in our lives are we saying, God, yeah, you can have this.

When I say I surrender all, I just mean a part.

And I'm gonna keep this over here within this closet.

This morning, what I want to put before you, when Jesus says he comes to inhabit, he comes in to swing the door open and move in.

He's saying, No, let's let's talk about that.

Because I want to fill myself in place of that to where you can find true contentment and true joy.

Is Christ a stranger to your home?

Is he like your neighbor walking on the door and you're thinking, How dare you invade my privacy?

Honey, someone's ringing the doorbell, go get it.

Or is he welcomed?

Is he comfortable within within you?

Or is he cleaning things up?

And are we giving him full full access, not only to be strong, not only to make to make room for Jesus when he comes to inhabit and dwell us, but thirdly to love, to love regardless, no matter the situation, no matter the circumstance, no matter how one treats you, to love people regardless, because that is exactly how Christ has loved you.

If there's a sermon that we could listen to just on that point alone, go listen to the podcast of last week when Neil talked about love.

When he talked about God's love being demonstrated throughout the entire Old Testament, God going on record to relentlessly pursue after his people.

When he tells Abraham, hey, go look at the stars and count them if you can.

Oh, wait, you can't.

Because this is how big I am, this is how vast I am, and yet how big and how awesome I am and how majestic I'm about to do wonders among you, Abraham.

Churches, do we believe he's gonna do wonders among us?

Do we believe he's just dis and he's out there and he's big, he's awesome?

We sing about him on a Sunday morning, but how has the love of God affected you throughout your week, throughout your moment?

It affects everything.

The fact that God demonstrates his love towards us, according to Romans 5, that while we were still in the midst of our sin, as we were giving God the stiff arm, as we were saying, I don't want anything to do with you in the midst of our rebellion, Christ died.

That will be a love that shatters the coldest and melts the hardest of any hearts in the room.

No one can take and look at that and just say, ah.

But we do.

When you put it in terms like that, it's like, how can we not?

Because love has been demonstrated, and in God's demonstration of his love, we no longer live for ourselves.

We love regardless.

That's why Paul says, for the love of Christ, it compels me, it controls me, according to 2 Corinthians 5, verse 14.

2 Corinthians 5:14

Because we have concluded this.

One has died for all, therefore all have died.

And he died for all that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but but for him who died.

This love is big.

Paul says it's so big that it roots and it grounds us, it stabilizes us.

That's why Paul talks about being tossed to and fro by every wind and doctrine, church.

We have an anchor, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul because Christ's love has been poured within us.

We are rooted and we are grounded in love, according to verse 17.

He's demonstrated we're rooted and we're grounding.

And it changes us.

When is the last time the love of God has affected you and changed your thoughts and behavior?

Because Christ's love for us, it removes all entitlement or thinking we earn the right to treat those whoever we want.

However, you treat others demonstrates whether or not the love of God is in you.

Too often, church, too often we put we put conditions on people.

Well, if you do this for me, then I'll then I'll then I'll do this for you.

If I were to be honest with you, which I will be always, is sometimes when I look at my vows that I said on my wedding day, I can't help but laugh a little bit.

For richer or poor, sickness in in health.

Sometimes I look at it, I'm like, that's impossible.

How often, how easily it can creep in the Pharisee within us to treat people based upon what you're gonna do for me.

That's why Christ set up marriage, that's why he set up him himself to say, hey, love others regardlessly.

Not based upon how you treat me, but based upon who I am and Jesus, therefore I love.

Regardless.

It changes things, everything.

Therefore, we don't have to walk in entitlement.

Means the way we students, the way that we talk to our parents, the way we talk to those in authority, is a direct reflection of your relationship with the Lord.

What you're posting on Twitter, what you're posting on Facebook, or let's talk about the real thing.

Whatever you're doing on Instagram is a direct reflection of your relationship or lack thereof with the Lord.

Parents, how we raise our kids, how we live amongst lives, how we talk to people is a demonstration of how in tune we are with this love that has been poured out for us.

To love regardless.

That's impossible on our own.

But he's given us our spirit, his spirit, to strengthen us.

Not only to be strong this morning, church, not only to make room for Jesus, but not only to love regardless, but also to be filled with fullness.

To be filled with fullness.

Verse 19 says it says this.

It says, May we have the strength to comprehend with all the saints, the breadth and length and height and depth, all these things, to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness, all the fullness of God.

That in Jesus, fullness has been extended to you this morning.

Not only to this morning, throughout every day of our lives, fullness.

That's why Paul says, hey, be be filled.

I was telling my students last week, uh, I spent some time before uh I was here at the church.

I worked at Lubi's over there in Katie.

Loved every second of it.

Those old people put me through college, right?

Uh with me filling up tea.

And one of the things I loved about Lubies was their coconut meringue pie.

I love, I love coconut meringue pie, right?

Anytime someone puts out a request, hey, cooking up some desserts, what what do you want?

I I love some coconut meringue pie and make that meringue just just just a little bit, and then that coconut filling, I want a lot of that.

Like fill me up.

Yes, fill up the coconut part of the meringue, okay, sure.

And I remember working at Luvies, it'd be I'd be working all day, and then I just have the craving for some coconut pie, and then what they do with those, secret to you, is they'd throw those things away at the end of the night because they got meringue on them.

I'm like, as a college kid, score, absolutely, I'll take some some coconut meringue pie for dinner.

Yes, so I go back there and I'm filling up on coconut meringue pie, and I remember in that moment just loving it, but also in that moment, I remember thinking about no one goes to a restaurant and orders meringue.

Hey, would you like for dessert?

I'll take some meringue.

The server would look at you and be like, what do you just just just moraine?

Like it, no, like it's almost like if you were to show up at a place and just be starving, and you're like, you know what, I really want some cotton candy.

Uh you know, cotton candy and Skittles sounds great.

Uh load me up on some of that.

And some of y'all thinking about your junior high days.

Uh, when you used to load up on that, as your kids do, and then they come to you all sick.

Oh, my, I feel like I'm gonna throw up rainbows.

I just ate all this junk and it's sitting in my stomach, and then you gotta, then it's there before and you gotta clean it up, right?

That was our fifth and sixth grade retreat.

Uh when I talk about fullness, I'm not, I'm not talking about I'm not talking about fluff.

I'm not talking about meringue.

I'm I'm talking about filling.

I'm talking about steak and potatoes.

Alright?

Some of y'all thinking about lunch already.

I'm I'm I'm I'm talking about when we talk about fullness that has been presented and given unto you, we speak of contentment.

We speak of satisfaction, we speak of we speak of joy.

Let me ask you a question, church, this morning.

The question is this is what are you filling your soul with?

What do you fill what are you filling your soul with?

Things out there that are attempting to satisfy you on the inside?

God has created you with a God-shaped hole that He alone can fill.

Nothing else.

He alone satisfies.

That's why He says, Hey, come be filled.

Come feast upon me.

What controls you going into the new year?

Is fear?

Is anxiety?

Is guilt?

I mean, are we just controlled by approval or acceptance or recognition of others?

Is it beauty?

Is it money?

Is it things?

Because we're all created, church, with a desire for more.

Some of us in this room have been wandering and searching for too long.

Because there's a moreness to God, there's a far mourness to God that He wants to extend to you this morning.

To say, hey, I am available.

The reason why you're feeling feeling so empty and feeling like there's something missing is because I'm not there feeling it.

What closet doors are you just wanting to remain shut when Jesus is saying, no, let's talk about that.

Let's let's deal with that.

Because the more we are looking for can only be realized and understood in the person of Jesus.

I love the word more.

I love it.

Why?

Because of this.

Look at verse 20 with me, and we'll be done.

The Bible says, now to him, now to him who is able to do far more, far more abundantly than all we ask or think, according to the power at work within us.

To him be the glory in the church, and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.

Amen.

I'm gonna ask Clyde to come up.

He may play a little bit, may sing something over you, but as he's playing, I want to ask you a question, church, because this is this is much more if you've been here a little bit.

You that verse probably looks familiar to you because it used to be plasted up against our walls back here until we took it down.

But this is just this is much more than a verse that we just hang on the wall.

But this is this is a verse that we trust to, that we that we cling on to going into the new year.

Going into 2015, into the realm of the unknown, of where our kids are at, what they're doing, how old they are, or where we're going with our work, with our job.

I don't have a job.

Wherever you may find yourself this morning, God is able to do far more.

And with that, I'm able to ask you the question what is the most craziest thing to pray for going into 2015?

What is the most craziest and ridiculous thing you could pray for?

Because we serve a God who is in the realm of the impossible.

Sometimes I wonder when our prayer lives, we're like, God, I don't know.

I can you?

And he's in this morning.

He says, Yes.

I don't care how far your kid has gone off the deep end, no one is hopeless, no one has gone off the reservation so far enough that I can't come and and and seek after him and pursue him to win him back to myself.

That's why Mary says, God, this is this is this is impossible, but it's made possible with you.

That's what's offered to us this morning.

Could you do me a favor?

Stand your feet for me.

I want to speak a speaker blessing over you.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all we can imagine or think of.

Leave this place thinking big, praying big, and serving big because that's who he is.

Fullness has come.

In the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.