Praise God for His Power

it's a good morning to be in the house of the Lord.

Amen, let's pray God, thank you for this morning and thank you for everybody in here.

Lord, we just invite you in here this morning to be with us and to cover us, and we just thank you for your blessings, even when we take them for granted.

Lord, thank you so much for all that you do for us.

Thank you for blessing us so we can bless others, and it's in your son's name we pray.

Amen.

Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest Lord, we thank your name in Christ.

With our souls, our souls we sing Exalted Lord, my God, hosanna, in the highest Glory, glory, glory to the King of kings, glory, glory, glory to the King of kings, lord, we lift up your name in praise we are told of praise.

We are told of praise.

Be exalted, lord, my God, hosanna in the highest, oh Santa in the highest.

Lord, we lift up your name with heartful praise, so we be insulted, oh Lord my God, oh Santa in the highest, oh Santa in the highest.

Sweetly, lord, every earthy calling come, follow me and we see where thy footprints falling, lead us to thee.

Footprints of Jesus that make the pathway flow.

We will follow the steps of Jesus where'er they go.

Jesus, where'er they go if they lead through the temple holy, preaching the word, or in the Lord.

Footprints of Jesus that make the pathway flow.

We will follow the steps of Jesus where'er they go, by and by through the shining portals, turning our feet, we shall walk with the glad immortals heaven's golden tree.

Footprints of Jesus that make the pathway flow.

We will follow the steps of Jesus where'er they go.

Amazing grace shall always be my song of praise, for it was grace that bought my liberty.

I do not know just why he came to love me so he looked beyond my fault and saw my need.

I shall forever lift my eyes to Calvary To view the cross where Jesus died for me.

How marvelous the grace that caught my falling soul.

He looked beyond my fault and saw my need.

Amazing grace shall always be my song of praise, for it was grace that bought my liberty.

I do not know just why he came to love me, so he looked beyond my fault and saw my need.

I shall forever.

Lift mine eyes to Calvary To view the cross where Jesus died for me.

How marvelous the grace that caught my falling soul.

He looked beyond my fault and saw my need.

Amen.

Please be seated.

Good morning.

Today's scripture reading comes from Ephesians 3, verses 20 to 21.

Ephesians 3:20–21

Now to him, who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.

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

Amen.

All right, let's begin with the word of prayer.

Dear God, we thank you for this day.

God, we thank you for this time together.

God, we're thankful for the opportunity to gather as a family, as believers, as brothers and sisters, to praise and to worship you for all of the amazing things that you've done, the love that you have for us, to praise you for your transformation, that you are able to make happen, and to praise you for your power.

God, we thank you for just an opportunity to look at your word and hopefully be encouraged and motivated to go out into the world and share with others the power that you have.

Thank you for Jesus, thank you for his example, and it's in his name that we pray.

Amen, good morning.

Good morning, what is?

Or think about this for a second how many titles do you have?

How many things?

How many titles do you have?

For example, you may be a friend.

You may be an uncle.

You may be a husband.

You may be a wife.

You may be a mom.

You may be a dad.

You may be an educator.

You may be a wife.

You may be a mom.

You may be a dad, you may be an educator, you may be a coach, you may be a banker, you may be an insurance seller, you may be all of those things.

We have many different titles and we have many different things to describe who we are.

My probably favorite title I've ever been given was when I was 16 years old, brett Peach hired me and I was a sandwich artist.

You know that kind of trumps, dad?

No, I'm just kidding.

A sandwich artist In the 830 service I think it was Tacey told us about her mom.

Who or was it mom Tacey Grandma who was a whopper flopper.

That's a pretty cool title right there A whopper flopper.

Today we're going to look at Ephesians, chapter 3, and Paul's going to give us one of the titles that he wore or he had.

Ephesians 3 · chapter mention

But before we do that, we're going to dive into the idea of perspective.

So I want you to look at a few of these photos.

Look at that one Now.

What's that look like?

That looks like he's falling right.

He's holding on for dear life.

However, it's just the perspective.

He's really just laying on the road.

All right, if you flip that photo, you see that Some of you all go back.

See he's hanging there.

You flip the photo, he's really just laying in the middle of a tunnel.

Then you have this one Uh-oh, alright, looks like he's dropped her.

I think it's a her.

Looks like he dropped her.

Really, she's just jumping over him.

Okay, you see that?

Just perspective.

The way you look at things, you got that one.

Looks like they're kind of floating there, just a reflection off the water.

They're laying on the what do you see?

How many of you see the duck?

Okay.

How many of you see the bunny?

How many of you see both?

Okay, good, in the 8.30, we spent about 10 minutes just now.

It wasn't this one.

We'll get to it.

We'll get to it.

How many of you see the horse?

How many of you see the horse?

How many of you have no idea what I'm talking about?

Okay.

How many of you see the frog?

You see the frog?

Okay.

How many of you see both?

Hey, good job.

Okay.

How many of you see the vase?

How many of you see two faces?

Okay, that's an easy one.

Okay.

How many of you see the young girl with the bonnet on her head?

How many of you see the old woman?

We spent 15 minutes in the 830 trying to show Gary Brown, that old lady.

He just couldn't capture it.

I mean, I had the laser pointer out, we were over there, we were doing everything circling that thing.

He couldn't capture it.

I mean, I had the laser pointer out, we were over there, we were doing everything circling that thing.

He couldn't find it.

How many of you see both?

Okay, very good, if you can't see both, I'll print that out.

It'll be in the back.

You can go home and study it.

This week.

It's all about perspective.

This morning, as we jump into Ephesians 3, verse 1 is where we're going to be.

Ephesians 3:1

But perspective is everything.

Sometimes we don't see things the way that others do.

Sometimes we have a whole different view than others based on the way that we are looking at something.

Paul this morning in Ephesians 3 jumps right into a moment, but I want you to notice what he says.

It says when I think of all of this.

I, paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, for the benefit of you, gentiles.

Paul is writing here and he says, yes, I'm a prisoner and it's for your benefit I'm preaching.

I was preaching and teaching Jesus to the Gentiles so that they could understand that the great news, that the gospel of Jesus Christ was for them as well.

And so Paul is just introducing the idea that, like he did in Ephesians, chapter 1, I'm in prison because I've been preaching and teaching the gospel of Jesus to the Gentiles.

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

Paul is actually in prison.

Actually, it's more like house arrest.

If I understand right, during the day he's free to roam around the house that he's in, but in the evening they would handcuff him to one of the soldiers so that he couldn't leave his spot until he was able to go to trial before Caesar.

But notice this who does he say he's a prisoner of?

It's Jesus.

It's not that he's a prisoner of the government, it's not that he's a prisoner, but it's a prisoner of Christ government.

It's not that he's a prisoner, but it's a prisoner of Christ Jesus.

He's got an amazing perspective of his current situation that he is a prisoner for Jesus, of Jesus.

So basically, what he's saying is Jesus is Lord, jesus is King of my life.

And so if Jesus is Lord or King of my life, I'm a prisoner of Jesus.

So if I'm a prisoner, I'm a prisoner for Jesus.

What a perspective.

What if we could all do that in life?

What if we could get ourselves to think that way?

We've said it before, you've heard it for years If Jesus is King, everything I do is for Him.

Paul becomes a disciple as a prisoner.

He's a disciple as a prisoner.

He's a disciple.

He's a disciple at whatever he does.

I'm a disciple that works as a sandwich artist.

I'm a disciple of Jesus that works as a sandwich artist if I still work the subway.

You're a disciple that sells insurance.

You're a disciple of Jesus that is a student at Meadowbrook.

You're not just a student at Meadowbrook, but you're a disciple of Jesus as a student.

You're a disciple of Jesus that works as a teacher or an educator.

You're not just a teacher, but as a Christian, you're a disciple, hopefully, teacher or an educator.

You're not just a teacher, but as a Christian, you're a disciple, hopefully, as an educator.

You're a disciple of Jesus that plays football or baseball or basketball or volleyball.

You may play at Muskingum College, but you're a disciple for Jesus while you play baseball at Muskingum College.

Does that make sense?

Absolutely right.

Woody has said that before.

You've heard that said before.

You're a disciple in whatever you're doing, and that's what Paul does.

He has this great perspective.

Yes, I'm a prisoner, but I'm a prisoner for Jesus.

Everything that I've done is worth it because it's all for Jesus.

It all points back to Jesus and, specifically, a group of people is now hearing about the good news of Jesus, and so it's a good thing.

So if we summarize the rest of Ephesians 3, 1 through 13, we're not going to read through that this morning, but if we summarize it, you could summarize it in these few words Don't lose heart.

If the good news is being spread, paul shares with them.

Yes, there's some trials.

Yes, everything is not easy.

Yes, there's been some pushback, but don't worry about it, because through all of it the good news is being shared.

There's a whole group of people in the world that's learning about Jesus, and so I continue to be impressed by Paul as we read through Ephesians, because he's able to remove the selfishness and look at everything through a kingdom lens.

He's able to remove the selfishness and look at everything through a kingdom lens.

He's able to look at everything through a bigger picture than himself, which is hard to do.

We know that Oftentimes we think about me, we think about I.

Isn't there a country song that you think about Me, think about I'm a man in prison?

But all of these people are learning about the love of Jesus and discovering.

So don't lose heart.

I know hard things are happening.

Don't lose heart.

I want to say that, truly, I truly do believe that Paul's reaction to what is going on around him is furthering the gospel from being spread.

It's allowing the gospel to be spread.

The way that Paul's responding to his circumstance and his situation is only allowing the gospel to continue to be spread.

Imagine if he wrote this letter and he said it's all your fault, I'm in prison.

It's all your fault.

It's terrible.

You should try the food.

The food in here is terrible.

It's no good.

The chains hurt my wrist and they're hurting and my back hurts because I sleep on the floor and I'm doing this.

It's all your fault.

If he wrote the letter that way, would that encourage people to follow the gospel?

No, but his perspective is different.

It doesn't matter that he's hurting, it doesn't matter that he's aching, it doesn't matter that the food isn't great, because it's all for Jesus.

I've said it before and I'll continue to say it, that there is a ton of people in your life that are never going to walk through those doors.

There's, for whatever reason, there's experiences, there's past, there's whatever it is.

There is a ton of people in your life that you're hoping and praying will walk through those doors, but they're just not going to do it.

They're interested in Jesus and they're watching you.

Those same people that won't walk through those doors are interested in Jesus.

They're interested in the gospel and they're watching to see how you live your life.

They're watching you who claim to be followers.

They're watching to see how you respond when things go well.

They're watching to see how you respond when things go well.

They're watching to see how you respond when life doesn't go so well.

They're watching to see how you respond when things don't go the way that you wanted them to go.

They're watching to see how you handle situations and how you handle people.

They're watching how you respond and how you react, and you can either positively encourage them or negatively encourage them just by the way that you respond.

Paul has a great response here because he understands his role.

I think he's in tune with the Holy Spirit.

He's aware of the Holy Spirit, which points everything to Jesus, and that's exactly what he's doing.

He's allowing everything to point back to Jesus.

It's not pointing back to the prison, it's not pointing back to his chains, but it's pointing back to prison.

Does that make sense?

He's allowing everything he's doing in his life to point back to Jesus Because he understands how amazing Jesus is.

23 times I think this is on your outline 23 times you read through the Gospel.

We read that people were amazed or in awe of Jesus.

Most of them took place after he did a miracle.

Most of them took place after he taught a lesson, that there was a group of people that were just left in amazement of.

Wow, he can even make the winds stop.

He can even make the waves slow down.

This morning we're going to look at a story in Mark, chapter 7.

Mark 7 · chapter mention

It's one of my favorite stories in all of the Gospels and I like it because it's weird and I'm weird, so it's a good story.

We pick up in verse 32.

It says A deaf man with a speech impediment was brought to Him and the people begged Jesus to lay His hands on this man, to heal him.

So Jesus led him away from the crowd so that he could be alone.

What's the problem with the man?

What's the problem with the man?

He can't hear and he can't speak, and so we talked about this in the 830.

He has no way to communicate, but we learned something amazing in this story.

He's got some great people around him.

He would have not heard that Jesus was in town, he would have not been able to communicate hey, get me to that man.

But we read that a group of people do what?

Grab him and take him.

Now that would have been terrifying, I'm sure, from his perspective.

Think about it You're just grabbed, you don't know where you're going, you can't ask questions, they just grab you and bring you through this man.

So it would have been scary for him.

But it's an amazing moment for his friends because they see an opportunity where their friend needs something and only a Savior can help.

So they do everything they can to get that man to the Savior.

Imagine what the world would be like if we just all had that mindset.

There's a Savior that can fix every situation.

So I'm going to do everything I can to get that person to the Savior.

So that's what they're trying to do.

They try to get this man to Jesus.

There's a large crowd.

It tells us that Jesus does what with this man.

Does he leave him in the crowd, takes him to the side?

Why Think about that?

Why does he take him away?

He's going to do something right.

Has Jesus healed people in front of everybody before?

Yeah, yes, right.

People of witnesses.

I think Jesus was in the relationship business.

Everything that we read throughout the Gospel is Jesus making connections with people, connecting with people in only the way that the Savior could do it, and so I love this story because he's about to do one of the weirdest things in all of Scripture.

But what he's really doing, what I believe, is he's building a relationship with this man.

He's trying to connect with this man in only a way that he can.

He's trying to build a relationship with him Because Jesus was, in fact, fact in the relationship business.

I don't have the verse up there, but if you read through this part of the story, jesus takes this man to the side and he does something with his fingers.

Does anybody know what he does?

Gives the first ever wet willy Right.

He takes his fingers and he sticks them into this man's ears.

Then it gets grosser.

I just thought about this.

At the 8 30.

He then remote, remote, removes.

He removes the fingers from the man's ears and then what's he do?

Spits on that finger and then touches his.

That's a weird story.

That is a weird story.

So why does Jesus do it that way?

What is the reasoning behind it?

One, I think he's showing I'm the Savior of the world.

I'm not a cookie cutter Savior.

I'm not going to do it the way that everybody thinks I'm going to do it.

I'm not going to do it like the last guy tried to do it.

I'm going to do it the way that only I can do it.

I can speak and heal.

I can touch and heal.

I'm not a one trick physician.

Here's how I can do this.

I can do it all because I'm not a savior.

I'm the savior.

And so he takes this man to the side, and only the way that Jesus could.

I think what he's doing is communicating to this man and building a relationship with him.

Mark brought up a good point.

If he's not able to hear and he's not able to speak, his other senses would have probably been very sensitive and really good.

So he would have known touch.

That's what would have been how he communicated.

And so I think I really do believe Jesus is saying I'm going to open your ears.

I can't tell you that, but I can show you what I'm about to do.

I'm going to take you to the side, because this isn't a magic show, this isn't for everybody else.

This is for you and I to connect.

This is personal.

I'm going to open up your ears, and else this is for you and I to connect.

This is personal.

I'm going to open up your ears and oh, by the way, I'm going to make your mouth work.

I'm going to take care of you.

And it's not to put on a show for the people, because Jesus was in the relationship business.

Now Paul, I think, was in the relationship with Jesus business.

He writes in Ephesians 3, verse 16,.

Ephesians 3:16

It says I prayed that from His glorious and unlimited resources that he will empower you with the inner strength through His Spirit.

Then Christ will make His home in your hearts.

As you trust in Him, your roots will grow down into God's love and keep you strong.

And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high and how deep his love is.

May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great for you to understand.

Paul is writing to a group of people from prison saying I hope that you experience everything that Jesus has to offer.

I hope you understand how deep it is, how wide it is, how tall it is, how long to offer.

I hope you understand how deep it is, how wide it is, how tall it is, how long it is.

I want you to understand every ounce of Jesus's love for you, because Paul was in the relationship with Jesus business.

Jesus wanted to build relationships and Paul wanted people to build relationships with Jesus.

They worked together as a team.

What Paul was really doing was just being a disciple.

He was just doing discipleship.

I'm going to teach you about God so that you can be a follower of his.

We learn a few things as we go through this.

God's love is wide enough to include every person.

God's love, jesus' love for you, is wide enough for every person.

So if you have your outline that's why the cross is there you can write these there.

God's love is long enough to last all eternity.

He loves us so much that we get to spend eternity with Him.

We get to go to heaven with Him.

That's how much His love is.

God's love is high enough to take us to heaven and God's love is deep enough to reach all people, all people.

Paul prays that we may know and experience the love of God, that it not be something that we have to speculate on, it, not be something that we have to guess on, not be something that we have to feel, but that we know that we are loved by the King.

That's what the man experienced in Mark, chapter 7.

Mark 7 · chapter mention

He experienced that he was loved by the King, that he was loved by the Savior.

We read in verse 37, it says they were completely amazed and said again and again everything he does is wonderful.

He even makes the deaf to hear and he gives speech to those who cannot speak.

Ephesians 3 ends with a beautiful verse where it says it's now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us.

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

Amen.

Now Smith was supposed to read that and Steeler ended up there.

So, smith, come on, let's read this again.

This is a good verse, smith, I want everybody to hear this.

I asked Smith right before church.

I said, hey, will you do the scripture?

Yeah, I got it, I'll do it.

And then I'm sitting there and Steeler ends up there.

Read that verse for us, brother.

I grabbed it with a pin for everyone that's wondering God's hand was able to do measureably more than all he has to imagine according to his power that is at work with us.

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

Thank you, smith.

All right, so if I ask you to read scripture, don't bail on me.

I'm just kidding.

I wanted to read that verse twice anyway, so it worked out perfectly.

I'm not just picking on Smith.

You read through that.

It says he who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we ask and think.

It's so abundantly that it exceeds any measure or description.

And I was thinking about this.

What does this mean?

He's able to do more than we can ever imagine or more than we could ever ask.

And I was just thinking about this the greatest moments in my life where I've seen God work and been in amazement at what God is doing.

He can do more than that.

Think about that those moments in your life where you've seen God work in a way that only he could work.

The person you prayed for was healed.

The person that you asked for forgiveness from forgave you.

The moments healed.

The person that you asked for forgiveness from forgave you.

The moments where God worked tremendously and you identified it as God working.

He can do more than that, even more than you can ask or imagine.

Now I don't read that, as he's going to do whatever you ask him to do, but just everything he's done in your life.

He can do even bigger.

He can do even more.

Paul's mission was for people to discover the love of Jesus, to make disciples.

His purpose was to glorify the Father.

You've heard that before.

Your purpose in your mission is to make disciples and glorify the Father.

You've heard that for years.

That's what he does here.

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

To him be the glory, glorify the Father.

So here's what Paul did as we wrap up.

You got some homework this week.

As you read through Ephesians 3, we didn't read through every verse, but if you'd go through, paul prays for four of these things to happen and he doesn't pray for him to experience these things, but he prays for you and I to experience these things and this is what he asked for.

He prays that we would have spiritual strength.

So you can write that there on your outline Spiritual strength.

Paul has a prayer in Ephesians 3 where he says I hope that you all experience spiritual strength.

He also says that I pray and I hope that you experience the indwelling of Jesus.

Then he continues on to say that I pray that you have the knowledge and the understanding of God's love.

And then he goes on to say I pray that you experience the fullness of life, and so your homework is not to pray for yourself to discover that, but I want you to think about somebody in your life this week, for them to discover one of those things.

Pray for somebody in your life to discover the indwelling of Jesus.

Pray for somebody in your life to experience the spiritual strength that only God can provide.

Pray for somebody in your life to experience the spiritual strength that only God can provide.

Pray for somebody in your life to experience and understand the knowledge of God's love, because that's what Paul did.

He's in prison, praying for you and I to experience the love of God in only the way that God can show it.

Let's pray, father.

We thank you so much for your love.

God.

We thank you for the way that you work in our life.

God.

We thank you for just the examples of your love that you've shown us.

Throughout scripture we can read stories and events that take place and just be amazed at the way that you worked, god.

We're thankful for people that helped get us to you.

We're thankful for the story that we read there in Mark 7, of the friends that were able to get their friend to the Savior.

God, I pray for opportunities this week to get the people in my life to the Savior, to the King, so that they can experience the knowledge and the love and the fullness that only you can provide.

God, give us the courage this week to step out of our comfort zone to have those conversations with people.

God, give us the courage this week to step out of our comfort zone to have those conversations with people.

God, give us the courage and the energy and the passion to pray for somebody this week, not that it would be a one-time thing, but that we would consistently seek you to work in somebody else's life.

God, we thank you for Paul and his message.

God, we pray that we can have an understanding this morning of the great love that you have for us, of how wide it is, how deep it is, how long and how high that love is that you have for us.

We thank you for Jesus.

We thank you for his example of all of this.

We pray for opportunities to see your love this week and we pray for opportunities for you to work in our lives that we can point people to you.

So, in Jesus' name, we pray amen.

So this idea of praise we've been talking about the last few weeks.

There's so many things that God has given, that God has done in our lives, that we can praise him.

This morning we're talking about the power that God has, and we can praise God for his power.

Last week we talked about the idea of God's transformation and how he works in our lives, and we can praise God for that.

And so next week we're going to conclude our series on praise and we thought it would be fitting to spend that morning in praise and worship.

And so next week, as we come to worship, we're going to spend a lot of time in praise and worship, singing and praising.

God for everything that he's done.

We're going to reference some of the scriptures that we've been studying.

It really is going to be a time of praise, so we're excited for that and hope that you join us next week as well.

If you need to pray as a church family in any way, we'd love to pray with you and for you.

Or if you'd like to be baptized and pledge loyalty to King Jesus.

This morning.

Lord, you are more precious than silver.

Lord, you are more costly than gold.

Lord, you are more beautiful than diamonds and nothing I desire compares with you.

Lord, you are more precious than silver.

Lord, you are more beautiful than diamonds, and nothing I desire compares with you.

I love you Lord.

Oh your mercy never fails me.

All my days, I've been held in your hand.

From the moment that I wake up Until I lay my head, I will sing of the goodness of God.

All my life you have been faithful.

All my life you have been faithful.

All my life you have been so, so good.

With every breath that I am able, I will sing of the goodness of God.

I love your voice.

You have led me through the fire In darkest night.

You are close like no other.

I've known you as a father.

I've known you as a friend.

I have lived in the goodness of God.

All my life you have been faithful.

All my life you have been so, so good, with every breath that I am able, I will sing of the goodness of God.

Your goodness is running after it's running after me.

Your goodness is running after it's running after me.

It's running after me With my life laid down, I surrender now I give you everything.

Your goodness is running after.

It's running after me.

Your goodness is running after.

It's running after me.

Your goodness is running after.

It's running after me.

With my life laid down, I surrender.

Now I give you everything.

Your goodness is running after it's running after me.

All my life you have been faithful All my life you have been so, so good, with every breath that I am able.

I will sing of the goodness of God.

I will sing of the goodness of God.

Amen.

God bless you everybody.

Have a great week.

Tell somebody about Jesus this week.