We Can Change

Good morning, Watermark. Today the scripture reading comes from the book of Ephesians, chapter 3.

Ephesians 3 · chapter mention

You can follow along on your own Bible or the screen here.

Starting in verse 14, we read,

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 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, the length, the height, and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge,

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

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think,

according to the power at work within us,

to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.

Amen. This is the Word of God.

Great. Thank you so much, Soda.

Let's pray together as we come and look at this passage.

Oh, Lord Jesus, this is an amazing, amazing passage of Scripture,

and we thank you so much that you've included it in your Scripture, in your Word to us.

God, I pray, won't you open the eyes of our hearts to see and to comprehend and to understand this, God.

Help me to make it clear, but God, won't you take the words of Scripture and write them deeply in our hearts.

Lord, I pray that we will leave church this morning with just a deep conviction and assurance of what it means to be your church and to be your people,

what it means to be anchored and grounded in your love.

Christ, come and have your way this morning, we pray.

In your wonderful name, amen.

If we were to take stock of our prayers, I wonder what our prayers would say about us.

You know, you pray for the things that are most important to you, most pressing on your heart.

We pray for our children.

We pray for that job interview that's coming up.

We pray for our careers.

Our prayers reveal what is most important to us.

Our lack of prayers reveal a lot about us as well.

Well, in this passage today, we get a deep view into the prayer life and the prayer journal of the Apostle Paul.

Paul opens up his journal and he lets us see into what are the things that he's praying about.

Remember, Paul's in prison here.

If you look back at chapter 3, verse 1, he says,

Therefore, I, Paul, a prisoner for your sake.

Paul's in prison.

If you and I were in prison, I wonder what our prayers would look like.

I can tell you what my prayers would be.

God, get me out of here.

Make some plan.

Send an angel like you did with Peter, right?

It's about time.

I've been in here long enough.

Let's get going.

God, now's a good time to do one of those miracles.

Well, Paul's in prison and he prays.

And look what he prays.

He says here,

For this reason, I bow on my knees before the Father.

And what is the reason?

Well, if you've been on this journey with us through Ephesians,

Paul's been saying some pretty remarkable things.

He's been revealing God's cosmic plan for the whole of creation.

This grand teleos to unite all things in creation under Christ.

And he's doing this through the church, amazingly.

The church has got this instrumental role and part to play in God's cosmic plan for all creation.

God's plan for those of us that are Christians isn't just to say a quick prayer,

to not go to hell and try and be good people.

That he's working all things to unite things under Christ.

And this happens through the church as the gospel is proclaimed,

as the gospel gets into our heart.

God is forming a new humanity, a new people called the church.

A foretaste of what heaven's going to be like.

A picture of heaven on earth called the church.

And through this church, he is working his cosmic plan.

Mark Ross, a pastor, put it like this.

He said,

Paul's great concern is that the church manifests and displayed the glory of God,

thus vindicating God's character.

Against all the slander of demonic realms,

the slander that God is not worthy living for,

God has entrusted to his church the glory of his name.

I mean, that's a remarkable thing.

Remember, we heard two weeks ago,

Neil said that through the church,

the manifold wisdom of God is being made known to rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

So demons can accuse God of all sorts of things.

God, you think you're so good.

You taught what your gospel,

what has your gospel really achieved?

And God can look at the church and say,

see that group of people,

diverse, different cultures, different backgrounds.

See how they forgive one another.

See how they love one another.

See how I'm changing them.

Listen, the church is a proclamation,

a vindication of God's glory.

And so Paul writes for this reason,

because when you hear that,

you can think,

oh my goodness,

that's a little overwhelming.

I mean,

who is worthy of such a task of that?

That you and your life should be an instrumental part of God's cosmic plan.

And so Paul says,

what does Paul do in light of this?

He gets on his knees and he prays.

He says, in light of this, if we as a church are to be anything like what God is calling us to be, we need to pray.

And so he gets on his knees and says, for this reason I bow my knees.

John Stott says that in Scripture, very few people get on their knees to pray.

They only get on their knees in desperate situations.

In the synagogue, most men would stand praying.

Some people would sit down to pray.

Very few people in Scripture get on their knees.

They do so in desperate situations.

And Paul here, he's almost, he's earnest.

He's pleading with God.

Because if God doesn't answer this prayer, there is no way that the church can be anything like what God calls it to be.

And so Paul prays.

And what does he pray?

Well, when you look at this prayer, there are three sections.

It's broken up by the word that.

He says, I get on my knees and ask the Father that, verse 16,

that according to his glory, he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit.

Verse 17b, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints the love of Christ

and to know this love that surpasses knowledge.

And verse 19, that you may be filled with the fullness of God.

Okay, so three things.

And we're going to look at them in reverse.

We're going to start at the last one because I think the flow of thought is better.

So let's see what Paul prays.

He says, firstly, that we will grow into spiritual maturity.

Verse 19, Paul says,

I get on my knees before the Father and I pray that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now that's a strange sentence, right?

What on earth does that mean?

I pray that you'll be filled with all the fullness of God.

Well, my Greek professor, by the name of Niels van der Kastele,

tells me that the ESV translation, which is what we use, is actually not the best one.

That word with is actually better translated to.

Almost nowhere in the New Testament is translated with.

In other words, I pray that you'll be filled to or unto or until you get to the fullness of God.

Okay, well, what does that mean?

I mean, that's still pretty hard.

Well, if you've got one of these Ephesians booklets, turn off the page to next week's passage.

Look at verse 13.

He says the same thing.

He says,

Leaders have been given to equip the saints, verse 13,

Until we attain to the unity of the faith, the knowledge of God,

to mature manhood to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

It's almost the same sentence.

He's saying that I pray that you will grow into maturity,

till you become the people that you're called to be.

So, Claire and I have got two daughters, age 8 and 10.

And even at this age, we can start to see their personalities.

If you know them, you'll know Sierra.

Sierra likes to be in charge of everything, right?

She loves to be the center of the room and calling all the shots.

And she sometimes, you know, thinks she's an adult.

And we've got a reminder, okay, you're only 10.

That's her personality.

Shiloh likes to just retreat into corners.

She doesn't like to be sent to retention.

But she'll just cuddle up to someone and make good friends that way.

These diverse personalities.

And often I will say to my girls,

I'm so excited to see the woman that God's calling you to be.

I'm excited to see your personality grow to you,

grow to the fullness of the person that you're called to be.

At this stage, we can see their personalities,

but they're not fully mature yet.

They've still got some growing to do.

Well, that's what Paul prays.

He looks at this church in Ephesus and he says,

you're not who God has called you to be yet,

but I pray that God is going to mature you and grow you

so that you can attain the fullness of what God has called you to be.

Paul sits in his prison cell.

He's praying for these guys to mature.

He's got this grand vision for the church,

but it's not automatic.

It's not just attend church once a week,

go to CG, and that will happen.

It's not just plug and play.

No, Christians grow in a process,

and this is his prayer.

If you've recently become a Christian,

you may think,

okay, I've become a Christian.

I go to church.

I go to CG.

I try not to swear or do bad things,

and that's the end of the plan.

Actually, you're maybe like a child,

two or three, maybe five years old,

and God has got a plan for you to grow

into the fullness of maturity that God has planned for you.

And how does he describe this?

He says,

the fullness of God,

or the fullness of the stature of Christ.

In other words,

what does spiritual maturity look like?

Does it look like getting super involved in church?

So, Monday night you're at prayer meeting,

and Tuesday night you're in CG,

and Wednesday night you're at this course,

and Thursday night you're,

no, no, that's not what it means.

What does spiritual maturity look like?

It looks like becoming more like Christ,

becoming more like God himself.

That's what he means when he says,

to grow into the fullness of God himself,

that we would become holy like God is holy,

that we would become gracious like God is gracious,

that we would become compassionate,

and tender,

and forgiving,

and pure,

and holy like him.

Like most parents,

Claire and I have got great hopes for our children,

and when our girls were born,

we didn't just think,

okay,

our job is just to make sure that we feed them,

give them education,

and hope that they don't stuff up before they're 20,

right?

Okay,

that's like the lowest bar,

that's the bare minimum,

right?

As parents,

you hope for more than that for your kids.

No,

no,

our prayer is that our girls will grow to be mature,

contributing members of society,

that they will fear God,

and love God,

and love people,

that they'll have heart for others,

and compassionate,

that they'll be responsible contributors,

walk with wisdom in the world,

and it's the same.

Paul says,

he looks at the church,

he says,

I pray,

that I know what you are now,

but this is God's plan for you,

to be part of God's plan for the world,

and I pray that you will grow to spiritual maturity.

Okay,

so that's the first part of Paul's prayer.

But look at the second thing he says.

He says in verse 17,

I pray,

get on my knees,

and I pray that you being rooted and grounded in love.

Paul prays for this church community,

and it's such a great picture or image,

isn't it?

I mean,

think of these massive old trees,

like a hundred year old tree,

or these ginormous redwoods.

What makes them strong?

It's not the size of their trunk,

it's their root system,

right?

What makes them withstand typhoons,

and storms,

and all sorts of other things?

It's their profound root system.

Or think of these great big buildings in Hong Kong,

right?

One of the amazing things that I love about the buildings of Hong Kong,

if you've had a building site go up next door to you,

it feels like for years,

they're not doing anything,

they're just drilling,

right?

You just hear drilling for years and years and years,

and nobody's building anything.

And then suddenly,

one day they start building,

and the building just shoots up.

It's amazing how quickly it goes up.

But the reason is,

for years,

they are laboring at this foundation.

Why?

Because that's the strength,

the stability of the building.

Well,

look what Paul says here.

He uses these two images of deep roots and firm foundations.

And he says,

I pray you'll be rooted and grounded,

firm foundations in love.

Now,

whose love is he talking about here?

Is Paul saying,

I love for one another?

So,

I pray that,

Watermark,

you as a church will be overflowing with love for one another.

Well,

that's true,

that Paul does want that.

Okay,

we may not be a foretaste of heaven,

but that's not what he's saying.

He's saying,

I pray that you'll be rooted and grounded,

firmly established,

in Christ's love.

In Christ's love,

let this be the bedrock foundation of this church.

Yeah,

the church isn't perfect.

Okay,

we are made up of 100% sinners.

We're not perfect.

We're going to have mistakes.

We're going to misunderstand and hurt each other.

We're going to say silly things from time to time.

Yeah,

our hearts will be selfish.

But I pray the bedrock foundation of this church is not how good looking you are.

That would be disastrous,

right?

It's not how good your musicians are.

It's not how eloquent a speaker the leaders are.

Not how wonderful your building is.

Good thing Paul doesn't pray that how good the coffee would be,

because we don't have coffee.

That would be disastrous,

right?

If that was the foundation.

Now I pray the bedrock foundation of this church,

the thing that keeps you together,

the thing that's going to allow you to weather the storms and the typhoons,

and COVID-19,

and all sorts of other things,

is Christ's profound love for sinners like us.

that you,

being rooted and grounded in love,

then he says,

verse 18,

may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and the length and the height and the depth,

and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge.

And so what is it about Christ's love that he wants us to know?

Well,

the point here is to know the immensity of it,

the all-encompassing,

all-sufficient nature of it.

John Stott says,

the fact that God's love is so broad,

it encompasses all sorts of people.

Chinese,

Indonesians,

Filipinos,

Africans,

Indians,

Americans,

all sorts of people.

The smartest in the room,

and the least smartest,

the most aged,

and Chloe,

right?

That God's love is so broad,

there is nobody that is beyond its reach.

That God's love,

Christ's love is so long,

it can reach for all eternity,

never ending,

forever,

and ever,

and ever,

God's people will dwell in his love.

It is so deep,

it is able to reach to the bottom despairs of life.

Friends,

some of us feel deeply despairing of life.

You feel like you are in the deepest pit,

and you wonder how you are ever going to get out.

Christ's love is able to reach you,

and minister to you there.

Christ's love is able to reach into the lowest of sinners,

the worst of sinners in the world.

Friends,

maybe you feel like,

the things that I have done,

nobody can forgive me.

No,

that is not true,

Christ can forgive you.

Christ loves even the worst of sinners.

Christ's love is so high,

that it can take the worst of sinners,

like me and you,

and raise us up with Christ,

and seat us with Christ,

in the heavenly places,

for all eternity.

The breadth,

Paul's point here,

is that Christ's love is so all-encompassing,

so vast,

all-sufficient,

it is able to cover every person,

every scenario,

every situation,

every problem,

every fear,

every objection to His love,

including how much you love yourself.

You may feel like,

okay,

I know Christ loves those people,

but surely not me.

No,

no,

Christ's love,

is sufficient for you.

Do you remember what Paul writes,

in Romans 5,

Romans 5:8

verse 8,

God showed His love for us in this,

that while we were still sinners,

while we were His enemies,

while we were shaking our fists at God,

and rebels,

Christ went to the cross,

and said,

I love them this much.

And friends,

the basis of God's love for you,

is because Christ loves you,

not because of what's in your heart,

or in your life,

but what's in His heart,

and His life.

See,

if Christ's love was,

for me,

was based on my condition,

or my faithfulness,

man,

it would go up and down,

right?

But if it's based on His heart,

His heart is steadfast.

And friends,

I know that,

many of us struggle,

to receive,

and comprehend,

Christ's love for us.

Sometimes it feels like,

it's just too good for it,

to be true,

right?

Or maybe you grew up in a home,

that was devoid of much love.

Maybe you grew up in a home,

where our parents' love for us,

was conditional.

Conditional on our grades.

Conditional how well we did,

or how well we behaved.

Or maybe it's conditional on how,

well our parents were doing.

Maybe it's conditional on how,

well our parents' business was doing.

So when business was going well,

yeah,

they were good.

But when it wasn't,

actually they withdrew their life.

Friends,

some of us grew up in homes,

that were very fractured.

You're always walking on eggshells,

never sure when,

mom or dad are going to explode.

Maybe you grew up in a home,

where you were blamed for everything,

or accused for everything.

And many of us instinctively feel,

in our hearts,

that God's love for us,

must be the same.

Yes,

we've heard the sermons,

we've read the Bible verse,

but,

but surely God's love is the same.

And the functional reality of our hearts,

is that we don't truly believe it,

or receive it.

And the consequence,

is that our relationship with God,

is very anemic.

It's very weak.

Because we can never really,

open up our hearts,

and say,

Christ have your way in my life.

Because what happens,

if he's going to take advantage of you?

What happens,

if he's just going to point his finger,

in your face once again,

like everyone else has?

And that's why God,

puts this in the Bible.

Because we will never,

grow into maturity.

We will never be the church,

God's called us to be.

Unless we are deeply rooted,

and anchored in the gospel,

or Christ's love for us.

And that,

and Christ's love requires,

more than just cognitive understanding.

It requires our hearts,

to grasp it.

And that's why Paul prays.

Look what he says in verse 19.

There's an amazing line here.

He says,

I pray that you will,

know the love of Christ,

that surpasses knowledge.

And that's interesting.

How do you know something,

that is unknowable?

I mean,

that doesn't make sense,

right?

But Paul's point here,

is that,

you can,

you might not understand,

in your head.

You can read all the books,

but you might not get it.

But in your heart,

he wants us to have the conviction,

the deep,

rooted,

anchored conviction,

that,

come what may,

there is a God in heaven.

His name is Jesus,

and his love,

is an anchor,

for your soul.

A love,

that transcends,

all understanding.

He wants them,

and us,

to experientially,

know,

what we cannot explain,

with words,

Christ's love.

Now,

briefly,

how do we grow,

in knowing Christ's love?

How do we know this?

Well,

a couple of things.

First thing is this,

you look at the cross.

You look at the cross,

right?

Romans 5,

when we were God's enemies,

Christ died for us.

We looked at Jesus,

what he's done on the cross.

Robert Murray McShane,

one of my favorite quotes,

for everyone,

look at yourself,

take ten looks at Christ.

He is altogether lovely,

altogether tender,

altogether beautiful.

You look at what Jesus did,

on the cross.

But secondly,

look here,

you stay in community,

because look at what Paul says,

in verse 18.

I pray,

that you may have strength,

to comprehend,

and then look at the next four words,

together with all the saints,

the breadth,

length,

height,

depth of Christ's love.

Do you know what that means?

It means,

it's almost impossible,

to know the love of God deeply,

apart from Christian community.

It means,

you know,

you need the whole people of God,

to know the whole love of God.

And so,

Christian community,

is a vital way,

to know God's love.

The breadth,

and length,

and height,

and depth of it.

But then,

there's a third way we know it,

and that is,

to do what Paul does,

and that's to pray for it.

To get on our knees,

and say,

God,

we need you,

Holy Spirit.

Romans 5,

Romans 5:5

verse 5 says,

the love of God,

is poured into our hearts,

via the Holy Spirit,

by the Holy Spirit.

And so,

we pray,

God,

we need you.

And that leads us,

to the third part of Paul's prayer,

which is this,

to be empowered,

by the Spirit.

Look what Paul,

says here,

I think it's verse 14,

he says,

for this reason,

I get on my knees,

and I pray,

the Father,

from whom every church is named,

every church is established,

verse 16,

that he may grant you,

to be strengthened,

with power,

through his Spirit,

in your inner being,

that is,

that Christ may dwell,

in your hearts,

through faith.

Now once again,

this is one of Paul's,

long sentences,

that you need to,

kind of like,

what is he actually saying?

Think of this,

high calling,

that Paul has for the church,

right?

To be an ambassador,

for heaven on earth.

That through the church,

God is,

bringing about,

this cosmic plan.

We are,

this new humanity,

a billboard of his grace.

Paul's painted,

this extremely high,

view of the church,

and what it means,

to be a Christian.

As we said earlier,

it's not just,

hold on to one day,

I get to heaven.

Actually,

a Christian is someone,

who's been delivered,

from darkness to light,

from death to life.

You're an agent,

of his grace.

And now Paul gets on his knees,

and he prays,

for God's power,

and God's Spirit,

to be at work,

in these new believers,

that God will do something,

inside of them.

And he prays this,

I pray that God,

will grant you,

to be strengthened,

with power,

through his Spirit,

in your inner being.

The Greek word,

for power there,

is the word,

dunamis,

dunamis,

which is where we get,

our English word,

dynamite.

This burst of explosion,

this burst of energy,

and power.

That's what Paul prays,

is that,

you,

me,

us,

Christians,

will have this,

power,

inside of us,

deep in our hearts,

that changes us,

and,

calls us to be,

the people he's called us to be.

In Colossians 1,

Paul prays,

almost the same thing,

he's got almost the same words,

listen to how he says it,

actually,

I don't know if it's up there,

there it is.

He says,

I pray that you may be strengthened,

with power,

according to his glorious might,

for all endurance,

and patience.

That's what we need,

right?

Many of us have become Christians,

recently,

in the last few months,

or few years.

The Christian journey,

is a marathon,

it's not a sprint.

When my dad,

became a Christian,

he was 19 years old,

and he was,

a real mess,

he became a Christian,

at university,

and he,

he dropped out,

of university,

because,

he got so involved,

in church life,

like every day,

he was just,

at church meetings,

and he,

pretty much failed,

first year university,

and,

that was the end,

of his university,

because he,

just became this Christian,

and he thought,

it's a sprint,

I'm going to change the world,

now,

today,

no,

no,

no,

it's not a sprint,

it's a marathon,

and what that means,

we need endurance,

we need steadfastness,

we need patience,

to become the people,

God's called us to be,

the vision,

of the Christian life,

Paul paints,

is not something,

you can do,

or accomplish,

on your own,

it requires this deep,

Holy Spirit's power,

the resurrected,

living God,

inside of us,

and as God's spirit,

has a work in us,

he will,

do the work,

that we can't do,

on our own,

you know,

I was recently,

at a meeting,

with a bunch of pastors,

in Hong Kong,

and one of the pastors,

stood up,

he's a big guy,

and,

he,

he,

he was very stirring,

and he said,

I know it's been a,

it's a tough time,

it's been difficult,

but come on,

put yourself together,

we need some fire,

in our bones,

and we can do this,

you've been called here,

for a reason,

come on pastors,

you can do it,

get some fire,

in your bones,

that was his,

his phrase,

that he used,

and,

and I thought to myself,

that's not what Paul does,

Paul doesn't,

give this rousing speech,

and,

Paul on their emotions,

say come on,

toughen up,

we can do it,

what does Paul do,

he gets on his knees,

and he prays,

and he says,

God this church,

in Ephesus,

this young,

small church,

if they to become,

the church,

that you called them to be,

they need something,

that they don't have,

on their own,

they need you,

to do something,

inside of them,

that they can't accomplish,

on their own,

they need your power,

and they need your strength,

and so Paul gets,

on his knees,

and he prays,

and he says,

I pray,

that God,

will strengthen you,

with power,

through his spirit,

in your inner being,

and then he says,

the same thing,

another way,

that Christ,

may dwell,

in your hearts,

in John 15,

Jesus says,

abide in Christ,

and here he prays,

that Christ,

will abide,

in them,

in 2 Corinthians chapter 4,

2 Corinthians 4 · chapter mention

there's this amazing,

verse,

I forgot to put on the slide,

so you're going to have,

to listen up,

he says this,

Paul says,

we are afflicted,

in every way,

but we're not crushed,

we are perplexed,

but we're not driven,

to despair,

we are persecuted,

but we're not yet forsaken,

we're struck down,

but we're not destroyed,

so he's talking,

about the difficulty,

of the Christian life,

right,

I mean,

he's going through,

a tough time,

afflicted,

perplexed,

persecuted,

struck down,

life is tough,

and then he says,

this amazing thing,

he says,

but we do not lose heart,

though our outer self,

is wasting away,

our inner self,

is being renewed,

day by day,

isn't that an amazing thing,

because as you get,

older in life,

your body starts to,

age,

right,

I'm not looking at any of you,

in particular,

I'm just going to keep my eyes,

to myself,

as you get older,

your body starts to,

waste away,

starts to age,

creaks,

aches,

lose your hair,

right,

but,

he says,

our inner self,

gets renewed,

and isn't that an amazing thing,

have you ever seen somebody,

who,

the older they get,

the more passionate they get,

the more gracious they get,

the more in love with Christ,

they get,

the more like Christ,

they become,

that's what Paul prays,

that as God,

by his spirit,

as Christ dwells,

in our inner being,

in our hearts,

through his spirit,

he renews us,

and he sanctifies us,

and he changes us,

friends,

this is the kind of prayer,

that we should pray,

for Watermark,

for our children,

for our families,

as your children grow up,

Mick and Graham,

you're going to be,

dedicating Calum next week,

as your children grow up,

don't just pray,

for their teachers,

and that they get,

into a good school,

and they get a good job,

yes,

those things are good,

friends,

what we should be praying,

for our families,

and for our church,

is that Christ,

by his spirit,

will indwell our hearts,

that his power,

will be at work,

in our lives,

that we will be rooted,

and grounded,

in the gospel,

in Christ's love,

that we will grow,

to become mature,

that we will become,

the fullness of God,

that when,

when the world looks at us,

and our children,

they will see something of Christ,

that we will grow,

into maturity,

and can change,

friends,

this is Christ's high calling,

for us in the church,

this is nothing less,

than what God envisions,

for us,

and for that,

we need the spirit's power,

and for that,

we need to pray,

now there's one last part,

of this verse,

that we didn't look at,

verse 20 and 21,

and that's this,

now this call,

to become mature,

disciples,

to be rooted,

and anchored,

God's love,

to be filled,

with God's power,

and his spirit,

and this vision,

how are we going to,

become these kinds of people,

feels overwhelming,

and why should God,

answer our prayer,

I mean maybe you feel like,

life is hard enough,

as it is,

and now I've just come to church,

now the pastor,

just told me to do,

a whole lot more,

and you can feel like,

oh my God,

just add another weight,

to my load,

pastor,

thank you very much,

well look at verse 20,

Paul prays this,

he says,

now to him,

that's God,

who is able to do,

far more abundantly,

than all we ask,

or think,

according to the power,

the dunamis,

the dynamite,

and work with this,

that is within us,

to him be glory,

in the church,

and in Christ Jesus,

through all generations,

forever and ever,

amen,

Paul ends this great prayer,

with the doxology,

doxology is a burst of praise,

and he praises God,

for the fact that,

God is able to do,

more than we can do on our own,

more than we can imagine,

and this verse of verse,

we love to use,

when we're facing difficulty,

right,

God I've got a job interview,

tomorrow,

but thank God,

that you are able to do,

abundantly more,

than even I could ask,

or imagine,

or God,

I really want my kids,

to get into that school,

please God,

well you are able,

to do abundantly more,

than I could ask,

or imagine,

or God,

I know I've committed,

this crime,

Lord I need the judge,

to let me off,

please you can do,

abundantly more,

than I could ask,

or imagine,

no that's not,

what Paul's saying,

he's saying,

this vision,

for the church,

to be heaven on earth,

it's impossible,

never going to happen,

unless,

he who is able,

to do abundantly more,

than we are able,

to ask,

or imagine,

by his power,

and his spirit,

and work within us,

can change us,

and mature us,

and grow us,

to become the church,

that we call to be,

and so Paul prays,

and he gets on his knees,

and he prays that,

God will do this,

and his confidence,

is that God is able,

to do it,

but also,

his confidence,

that God is committed,

to do it,

why?

Because God is committed,

to his own glory,

he's so committed,

to his own glory,

that he's willing,

to do it,

friends,

Paul gets on his knees,

and he prays,

that God will impart,

his power,

to these believers,

and touch their lives,

deeply,

they'll have a,

deeper experience,

of his profound love,

for them,

and that as that happens,

he will,

God will grow them,

and mature them,

to the full stature,

of the measure of God,

to him be glory,

in the church,

in our church,

in Watermark,

in the church in Hong Kong,

in Christ Jesus,

through all generations,

both now,

and forever,

Amen.

Let's pray together,

and let's ask God,

to do this in our midst.

Friends,

this passage,

tells us,

God's plan for our lives,

and for the church,

what God's desire is,

let's respond.

God's plan for some of us,

maybe we've been Christians,

for many years,

20 years,

30 years,

but we're still,

baby Christians,

maybe God wants us,

to grow,

and mature,

maybe for many years,

you've been putting it off,

you've been prioritizing,

other things,

you've been putting Christ,

into the back burner,

and today,

God wants,

to change that,

he wants you,

to grow up,

into the maturity,

that he's got,

that he's called you to,

to abide in Christ,

and to have Christ,

abide in you.

Why don't you come before him,

and ask him to do that?

Why don't you,

freshly surrender?

Friends,

for some of us,

we need the spirit's power,

we need for Christ,

to dwell in our hearts,

you feel like you're,

just walking this road,

on your own,

you feel like your Christian journey,

has maybe been a slug,

it's been hard work,

and you maybe,

just want a fresh,

encounter of the,

God the Holy Spirit,

God come and do it,

I pray.

Friends,

for some of us,

we need to know,

the love of Christ,

we need to know,

it's with the knowledge,

that surpasses,

knowledge,

that surpasses,

understanding.

Why don't you ask God,

to come and do that,

in your life,

in your heart?

Why don't you,

like Paul,

metaphorically,

get on your knees,

say Jesus,

I need you,

I want you,

I want you to come,

and,

pour your spirit,

into my heart,

strengthen me,

for the journey,

with patience,

and endurance,

to walk this road,

and God,

I'm tired of putting you,

in the back burner,

prioritizing other things,

as Jesus,

I want to grow,

to the fullness,

of what you've called me to be,

I don't want to still be,

20 years old,

and acting like an,

eight year old,

I want to be the Christian,

you've called me to be,

or maybe you want to say,

God,

I know,

I've heard about your love,

and I know it in theory,

but actually,

I want to know it in my heart,

I want to experience it,

I want to know,

the love of Christ,

why don't you ask God,

to do that in you now,

Holy Spirit,

come and,

minister to us,

I pray God,

come and,

come and,

come and stand,

come and stand,

come and stand,

come and stand,

Father, I pray that you will pour your Spirit upon us, Lord, and in us.

God, you'll strengthen us, those that are weary and anxious and heavy laden,

those that feel exhausted and worn out.

God, pour your dynamic Spirit in our hearts and empower us and strengthen us.

God, for some of us that have lost hope and we are despairing,

Jesus, pour your Spirit into our hearts.

Carry us and sustain us.

God, think of Isaiah 40 where you say even youths will grow weary and grow tired,

but you will carry us.

You will raise us up on wings like eagles, God, and carry us.

God, by your Spirit, do that.

God, I pray, pour your Spirit into our hearts and open the eyes of our hearts to see the love of Christ.

Won't you anchor and root us in the Gospel, God,

that though we are more sinful and broken and twisted than we can imagine,

we are infinitely more loved than we could ever hope to be true, God.