Selected Verses - Ephesians, the Finale

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Amen.

What a great, great hymn.

One of the great themes that we've been talking about, the name and power of Jesus overall.

In the coming weeks, you'll be able to watch on television, if you enjoy this sort of thing,

a lot of year-in-review shows.

They start happening usually this week, I think, and you may be able to find the year

2015 in the news, or 2015 in sports, or in entertainment, or whatever it is you enjoy.

I really like watching those shows.

But what happens to me as I watch them is usually this.

I think, that was this year?

You mean that was just six months ago?

I'd forgotten about that.

I mean, it was in the headlines the day it happened, but it seems to me like I didn't

even remember that going on.

And I sit there and watch and think, well, it couldn't have been more than, you know,

11 and a half months ago or something like that.

And I've forgotten already.

We move on from things so quickly, don't we?

Life is very fast-paced.

There's a lot going on.

And things that seem like the most important thing in the world one day, we forget just

a few weeks later.

Many of us struggle to slow down and to process deeply things that are really meaningful, that

we think, oh, man, that's a really significant event or something important that I've learned.

And we struggle to slow down and consider, what does this actually mean for me?

How should it impact me?

How would I be different in light of that?

And I don't want us to be guilty of that with God's word.

Some of you are thinking, Will, you never rush through anything.

We're not going to be guilty of that.

Listen, we've spent most of a year and 25 sermons.

I know some of you were counting in the book of Ephesians.

And I want us to take the chance to slow down and do Ephesians in review, to look back and

to ask ourselves, what's God teaching me?

What have I learned?

What would he be doing in me and in us?

So this is going to be a different kind of sermon, covering a lot of ground.

It'll be different for me, so it'll feel different for you, I'm sure.

But pray with me, and we're going to read from all over Ephesians as we go.

Pray with me.

Father, because I know these people and their faith in the Lord Jesus and their love for each

other, their love for all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for them.

Thank you for this body.

Thank you for these people.

And Father, we pray this morning that you, God, the Father of glory, would give us a spirit

of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of you, that we would know you, that we'd have

the eyes of our hearts enlightened, that we would know the hope to which you've called

us, the riches of your glorious inheritance for us, and the immeasurable greatness of your

power towards us who believe.

That's Paul's prayer.

That's our prayer.

And we ask it now as we open your word in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

We looked last week at the letter to the church in Ephesus in the book of Revelation.

Stepped out of the book of Ephesians for a week, and we were reminded in that letter

the importance of keeping our doctrine and our life connected.

That what we believe must drive how we behave, right?

That it makes a difference.

And that's the way the book of Ephesians is laid out.

Three chapters of glorious gospel truths, and three chapters applying those truths to every

aspect of our lives.

So we're going to look back this morning first at those wonderful truths that this letter teaches

us as Paul writes it to the Ephesian church.

We're going to be asking as we look back through Ephesians first, what should we believe?

What is it, Paul, that's important for us to know and to believe?

I've put the answers to that question in two categories.

The first of those being that we have a new identity, a new identity connected in Christ

to our Father.

That's been a theme of Ephesians.

Over and over again, Paul says, let me tell you how important it is that you understand your

union with Christ, the value of being connected to him.

And that's what we've talked about over and over.

He uses phrases like in Christ, in him, in Christ, in the beloved, through Christ, in Christ

again, over and over and over in the letter because he wants to remind us how important

that is, the new identity that we have in relationship with Christ.

Remember how he started the letter?

Back in the beginning, this beautiful passage, what happens in Christ?

Where's our identity?

He's blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing.

Blessings like choosing us in him, like adopting us as sons through Jesus Christ, giving us redemption

and forgiveness in him, in him obtaining an inheritance, and in him being sealed with the promised

Holy Spirit over and over and over.

All of these things in our lives because we're connected to Christ, in Christ.

There's been a remarkable change, Paul is telling the Ephesians.

Something different about you.

You've gone from being enemies to sons.

You've gone from being left out to welcomed in.

You're dearly loved children now when you didn't deserve it at all.

And all of that, why?

Because of Jesus.

We pull up a seat at the Father's table, so to speak, because our name tag reads, guest

of Jesus.

Our access to God, our seat at his table is earned by Christ.

So our relationship is based on what God has done for us, not on what we do for him, right?

That's the tenor of our relationship.

Our relationship with the Father is in Christ.

Every spiritual blessing in Christ because of what he has done.

We've said it, in fact, it's the Trinity, the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit that

works together for our salvation from eternity past into eternity future.

Those verses we were just looking at, the Father's love chose us in him before the foundation

of the world to be holy and blameless in love.

He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ.

In eternity past, the Father's love for us before we've done anything to deserve it.

And then the Son comes.

In human history, the cross purchasing our redemption and forgiveness by his blood.

And it's not just something that happens once and God just lets us go and says, I hope you

play this out well, it's forever.

There's an eternity future that's already secure.

How?

Because of the Holy Spirit.

A stake in eternity future that we've been sealed.

He's the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit working for your salvation.

It's not what we've done, is it?

It's not the basis of our relationship with him.

He's connected us to himself in Christ.

And so as a result of that, our relationship with God is all about his grace and his glory.

You remember the but God that Russell shared at the end of the confession?

You were dead in your trespasses and sins.

You lived this way.

And then that great phrase in Ephesians 2 verse 4, but God.

Ephesians 2:4

But God had something to do with that.

He came to change your situation.

He's rich in mercy because of the great love that he has.

He makes you alive.

That great love that we learn about in chapter 3, how wide and long and high and deep is the

love of Christ for us.

It's beyond measure, right?

We can't comprehend how much God loves us.

So that as a result of that, as a result of God's love for us moving towards us, we're saved by grace alone.

For by grace you have been saved through faith.

This is not your own doing.

Don't be confused.

This is a gift from God.

It's not a result of works so that no one may boast.

All of it is of God.

From the beginning, Paul is clear who the whole story is about, isn't he?

That it's chapter 1 to the praise of his glory.

To the praise of his glorious grace.

That even we would be to the praise of his glory.

Even our salvation.

When we think of our salvation, we think of that moment that we trusted Christ and we believed in him and accepted him.

The time we walked an aisle or prayed a prayer.

And that's oftentimes in our minds what we remember in terms of our salvation.

God says it's so much bigger than that.

It's not about you or what you've done.

It's about what I'm doing in your life.

It's amazing grace.

It's a gift.

So he deserves all the credit and the praise for all of it.

None of it goes to us.

We could stop right there, couldn't we?

And have reason for rejoicing and thanking God and praising him and worship for the rest of our lives.

That he has come to us and given us a new identity by what he has done.

We're united to Christ and loved by the heavenly father.

What an amazing gift.

But there's actually more.

Paul says there's more than that.

The book of Ephesians is not merely about individual salvation.

Paul is writing to a church here.

And he says your new identity, this change that God has brought in your life, connecting you to Jesus,

is more significant, is farther reaching than you might have thought.

Because of the power of that new identity in Christ, God establishes a new community.

That we're connected in Christ not only to the father, but to each other.

People who otherwise are disconnected.

People who are very different.

Different religious backgrounds.

Different races.

Different political perspectives.

They come together because Jesus is what's most important.

Right?

I say it this way.

God's presence in us outweighs our differences and unites previously disconnected enemies in the church.

The church is that new community.

Do you remember chapter 2?

What he says in verse 13?

Now in Christ Jesus, you who were far off, who were distant, have been brought near.

Because Jesus is our peace who's made us both one and broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility.

What's he saying?

That Jesus is bringing into one people who are otherwise separate.

Who are otherwise distant.

That he's breaking down the barriers between us and making us one.

How?

Just by wishing it were so?

No, because all of us are defined primarily by the fact that we're connected to Jesus.

By the new identity that transforms each of us, we're now a new community.

Gentiles and Jews here in Ephesians, right?

Paul's talking a lot about those.

Those who were far off and those who were near.

The outsiders and the insiders.

The ones who've always gone to church and the ones who showed up for the first time today

and never felt like they belong.

All of those are together because the cross destroys the barriers between us.

It humbles all of us, brings us all together to the same point in our need for him and in our finding what we need in him.

Look what he says as he goes on in chapter 2.

Jesus came and preached peace to the far off and peace to the near because through him we both have access in one spirit to the father.

So now instead of being strangers, we're part of the household of God.

The household where Jesus himself is the chief cornerstone and there's this structure being joined together, growing into a holy temple in the Lord.

In Jesus you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by his spirit.

You see the new community Jesus is creating?

He's making one family, isn't he?

How do you get people into the same family?

Because they have the same father.

He brings them into the same family because he gives them the same father through adoption.

He makes us one temple where together with Jesus as the cornerstone,

there's this new identity that we have in Jesus that unites us, right?

Jesus is the cornerstone of this temple and God's building us into something.

And not just any structure, not just a random building, but a temple where what's going to happen?

Where God dwells by his spirit.

Isn't that what makes all the difference?

Isn't that what makes the place holy?

That's what makes the temple significant, that God dwells there, that he's determined to live with his people.

That's what defines us.

God is determined to live among us.

And it's his presence that makes the new community so exciting.

Because God is there and present, it's not just this group of people who kind of are part of the same list somewhere,

or occasionally, maybe once a week, show up in the same building.

It's much more than that, isn't it?

It's not just a static, silent group of people.

God's resurrection power works on behalf of the church enraptured by his love.

That's the promise of Ephesians.

Do you remember the power that's on our side?

Do you remember the way Paul talks about it in chapter 1?

Look at verse 19.

The immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe,

the working of his great might that he used,

it's resurrection power when Christ was raised from the dead.

And seated where?

Does Christ have power?

Is it really all hail the power of Jesus' name?

It is.

Look at that.

That he's over everything, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion.

And every name that is named, not only in this age, but in the one to come.

And he put all things under his feet because he's powerful over all.

Resurrection power for those who believe.

Head over all things for the church.

That's the good news.

That he is powerful and we are his.

That's the gospel in Ephesians.

Jesus is powerful and we are his.

His people.

So how do we access that power?

Or is it just something that just kind of shows up?

It's magical?

It just happens?

How is it that in a church we see God working powerfully?

We saw it's the love of God, isn't it?

Having a vision of the incredible love of God.

The size of his love beyond what we can comprehend that does that.

That brings his power.

It's God's love and a vision of that rather than a focus on our own gifts or agendas.

Rather than any pastor or program that you could come up with.

It's seeing his love that's the fuel for the church.

That's what empowers us.

Ephesians chapter 3.

Ephesians 3 · chapter mention

What does he say?

I pray that you being rooted and established in love would have power, all of you together,

all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.

To know that love that surpasses knowledge.

That's what allows you to be filled with the fullness of God.

That's when he starts doing beyond all you can ask or imagine according to his power at work within us.

It's when we see his love as magnanimous.

As beyond what we could comprehend.

Right?

That glorious 4D love we talked about.

That chases us down.

Reaches even to those who are running away from him.

That stoops down to the lowest and the most hurting and depressed and downtrodden.

Those who thought they could never be worthy.

And exalts all of us to heaven.

That's what drives the church.

That's what fuels the church.

A great vision of the love of God is what enables great actions for God.

And that's true because it's his power that we're dependent on.

Right?

He's the one with the power.

Both individually and corporately.

This dramatic reality change that has happened in our lives.

That we have a new identity connected to Jesus.

That we're connected in him to the father and to each other.

It's not just something to believe and rejoice in.

Although it is that.

And Ephesians says just stop and praise God for that.

But it's not only that.

It's actually what gives us the power to live in a new way.

It's what transforms the way we live now, isn't it?

Let me see if I can explain.

We've talked this year about several images of our union with Christ.

It's hard to get our hands around that, isn't it?

What does it mean, Will, that I'm connected to Jesus?

What does that actually feel like and look like in my life that I'm somehow connected to Jesus?

We've talked about a lot of images to describe that.

This one may be my favorite.

You may have seen or heard of Team Hoyt.

Team Hoyt is a father-son duo.

They love doing triathlons and marathons together.

And they've competed in many of them.

And Dick is the father.

Rick is the son.

And so there's this father and son doing triathlons and marathons together.

Except they're a little different from a lot of father-son duos.

Rick, the son, has cerebral palsy.

So Rick's not really able to do much in a marathon.

Much less in a triathlon.

So here's how Team Hoyt does triathlons.

It starts with a bike race.

And so Dick, the father, straps Rick into this chair on the front of the bike before riding mile after mile after mile.

And they get to the end of the bike race.

He picks him up.

He carries him over to a boat, a raft.

And he lays him in there, straps it, connects it to himself and starts swimming mile after mile after mile.

Then he has to run.

So he picks Rick up out of the boat, puts him in this stroller-type contraption, and runs, pushing Rick ahead of him mile after mile after mile.

They get to the finish line.

They finished a lot of them, by the way.

Ironman triathlons multiple times.

And there they are, Team Hoyt, crossing the finish line together.

The power source driving it.

The father, Dick.

But what a beautiful picture of our connection in Christ.

As we go through the race of life, so to speak, as we have things to accomplish, challenges that we face,

but our power source doesn't change.

We're connected to Jesus.

Rick couldn't run, much less do a marathon or a triathlon.

But he's vitally connected to his father, isn't he?

He's got to be connected to him if he's going to make it to the finish line.

If anything impressive is going to happen in that race, it's going to be because Rick stays connected to his father.

So all the wonderful things we've learned, the things we're to believe,

they have to transform how we live each day.

It actually, it's not just that Rick would think,

well, it would be nice if I had a good relationship with dad today during this triathlon.

Rick must stay connected to his father.

And it has practical benefits.

It makes a difference in how he runs the race, doesn't it?

So we've got to ask not only what glorious things we should believe,

but what should believing these things look like?

Sometimes that's a little harder question.

We are not too bad on what we're supposed to believe.

I can write some things down and remember them and nod and say that's what I believe.

But Paul pushes in Ephesians.

He transitions in the middle of the book.

He says,

Therefore, in light of the first three chapters,

Therefore, walk in a manner worthy of the calling you've received.

Live in a way that fits these things you believe, the things God has done for you.

And so personally, that means living out our new identity.

Living as God's child.

There's something that changes in us when God begins renewing us.

And we don't live the same way anymore.

I'd say it this way.

Freed to respond to a smiling father,

our actions must reflect God's glory in every area of life.

Chapter 5 starts with,

Therefore, be imitators of God as beloved children.

Having his love and smile already secured,

love.

Knowing how he's loved you and continues to love you,

go love others like that.

He created and redeemed us for good works

and prepared them beforehand for each of us to do.

That's chapter 2.

So that as someone given a new life,

we would live in a new way.

In a way that's fitting with that new life.

Like someone in witness protection

who's given a new identity and a new home

and a new life.

We must live in a way that fits the new life.

In fact, the hope in the midst of that

is that God is constantly working in us

to restore us to what he intended for us.

How does chapter 4 describe it?

We're being renewed in the spirit of our minds,

putting on the new self created after the likeness of God

in true righteousness and holiness.

He's committed to that.

That's the way he's making you.

And that reality has implications for every arena of life.

The fact that God is making you into somebody new,

giving you a new life to live,

it's not just a new life on Sunday morning, is it?

Sometimes that's easier to picture.

I will now start to go somewhere different

on Sunday morning than I used to.

It's much more than that.

Paul says what's different, what's new,

the way you speak,

how you deal with your anger,

how you approach your work.

He especially spends a lot of time

focusing on relationships

and relationships within the family

and how you treat your children and your spouse.

In marriage, he says,

you've got this great chance

to tell the story of my relationship

between Christ and the church in your marriage.

The story of the prince, right,

who steps off his throne

and steps down to rescue the one that he loves

at great cost to himself,

who would love like that.

And so that the one who is loved

desires to respond with respect

and joy and trust.

All those areas of our life

that are changed

by what God has done.

And so we're living a new life.

Everything's different, right?

And it's all just the way it was supposed to be

except that at the same time

as we're embracing this new life

God has given us,

we're reminded it's not always so easy.

At the same time,

we must remain aware of our spiritual warfare.

We must battle against sin

by abiding actively in Christ.

We can't think we're all right now

just to go off on our own.

That we've got the strength,

that we've got this under control,

this is easy,

there's no more challenges left.

Sin still wars against us, right?

And so Paul says,

don't live like peace in the midst of war.

Don't act like there's peace all around

in the middle of a war.

Don't declare a truce with an enemy

Jesus died to defeat.

Instead, fight.

Fight against falsehood,

against idolatry,

against seeking fulfillment in wine

or anywhere else other than Jesus.

Fight against the spiritual forces of evil, right?

Fight.

Over and over again,

he's calling us to fight.

And how?

We do it by trusting day by day in Christ

and his power to which we are connected.

It's what he's saying.

In chapter six,

he gets to the armor of God, right?

What's he gonna tell us?

How are we gonna fight?

Tell me how strong I am

and what I'm gonna do.

And he says,

be strong in the Lord

and in the strength of his might.

Put on not your armor,

the armor of God

that you may be able to stand

against the schemes of the devil.

Don't try to do it on your own.

Don't try to run in your own strength.

Stay connected to Christ.

Jesus is the strong one, right?

It's his power,

the strength of his might.

And we stand only in him

and actively arming ourselves

by depending on him,

having faith in him,

believing his promises.

That's how we're,

each of us,

called to live the new life

God has called us to.

But there's another area

that our connection to Jesus transforms.

And that's our corporate lives

as a body.

So there's also a new community

where we need to figure out

what does it mean to live

as God's church?

Now that Jesus has connected us

to each other,

we've established that,

we believe that,

Jesus has broken those barriers down,

what does that mean

for how the church operates?

First, we must passionately pursue unity

with each other,

crossing any barriers to love

and partner with people

different from us.

We saw Jesus brought enemies together, right?

He did that.

He made them a part of the same group,

but that doesn't mean

they're gonna get along.

Now that they're there,

we actually have to love each other

because of his love for us.

So chapter four, verse two says,

with all humility and gentleness,

with patience,

bearing with one another in love,

being eager to maintain

the unity of the Spirit

in the bond of peace.

Notice, eager to maintain

the unity of the Spirit,

not the unity of the people like me.

Not the unity of those of us

who are easy to get along with,

the ones I prefer.

The unity of the Spirit, rather.

All of us who have the same Savior

and therefore the same Father.

It's that unity we're to be seeking.

Humbly, gently, patiently,

lovingly, moving toward

different relationships,

cross-cultural relationships

with people who love Jesus

but who are different in their ages,

in their income levels,

in their skin colors,

in their moral values,

in their political perspectives,

celebrating our differences, actually.

Finding the beauty in the diversity

within the body.

Repenting of our self-righteousness

that actually we believe

my way is actually better than yours.

And repenting of that

and eagerly pursuing each other,

moving toward the other,

the one who's different.

Partnering, right?

We need each other.

Partnering with all sorts of people

for the sake of the gospel.

That's what God has for His church

for this new community.

And as they do that,

we must connect truth and love

so that we reflect God's heart

to the world.

Remember what a mature church looks like?

What does God say this new community

is gonna be when it grows up

and gets to be real mature?

Sure, speaking the truth in love,

we're to grow up in every way

into Him who's the head,

into Christ.

That's what Christ is like.

Truth and love connected.

Truthing in love, we said.

We've got to hold on to both of them.

And that's gonna cost us, isn't it?

How do we know that?

When Jesus held on most tightly

to truth and love at the cross,

it cost Him.

When He said,

your sin, I'm not gonna sugarcoat it.

It's serious.

That's the truth.

Your sin needs to be addressed.

And He said,

I'm gonna do it

and it's gonna cost me.

I'm gonna love you at the same time.

And so He does that at the cross.

And we're to be like Him,

truthing in love.

What a great opportunity for Southwood

to hold passionately to the truth

at the same time holding to the rejected

and the marginalized

and those who are outsiders

to hold tightly to both of those things

at the same time

and actually bring them together.

Absolute truth without compromise

and amazing grace without end.

That's what God offers us.

It's what He calls us to as His church

because that's His heart, right?

It's the way He treats us.

And so how are we gonna do it?

We tap into Him, rely on His power,

pray for Him to continue pouring out His grace

as He has promised

so that His character increasingly

overflows from His church

so that we love the way He does

so people recognize Him when they see us.

Slow down this morning.

I have to take a drink to make me slow down.

Slow down and ask what God has taught you.

How is He renewing you?

How is He renewing us?

I think it'd be great to write something down.

That always helps me.

He promises to do both of those things.

He promises to be making you a new person

and to be making us a new church.

So think about those questions.

In light of Ephesians,

this may be the first Ephesians sermon

you've heard all year.

That's all right, you got the whole thing

in one sitting, good strategy.

You may have heard all 26.

What's God teaching you?

Where's He challenging your heart?

How's He renewing you?

How is He renewing us?

Think not just of yourself,

but of the church God has called you into.

Encourage you to think about those,

to write something down.

In the meantime,

I got to think ahead.

So I asked myself those questions.

God has changed me so much

through this study this year.

I'll just mention a couple of things

that He's done

because y'all don't want my whole list.

A couple of things on mine.

My view,

and I think a little more slowly,

my practice of prayer.

I've seen the need for it,

the need for myself,

for my family,

for my church family,

the need for being dependent

on God's power.

How much I need that,

I've seen it more.

And at the same time,

the beautiful thing about prayer

that I've loved this year

is God's provision

that's equal to our need.

We see more of our need for it.

We also have greater confidence

in Him and in His power.

However,

I'd ask you,

are you more dependent on Him?

Not just theoretically,

would you say you were,

but do you pray

like you're more dependent on Him?

Do you pray

like you're more confident in Him?

Like you really expect His power

to come through for you?

I think God is molded

and is molding my view of the church

through this book.

I've seen more of the beauty

of this church family.

There's so much love here.

So much that I'd love for us

to be able to share

with more and more people.

And I've seen more of the barriers

that can separate us from others

and those who need to experience

the love and grace of God

that He's shown to us.

As I've thought about it,

I've realized the nearest schools

to our building

are noticeably more diverse

in many ways

than our sanctuary.

And that that's true

in no small part

because they're more diverse

than my circle of friends.

And one of those

is likely to drive the other.

Who am I in relationship with?

Listen, we have the message

of the gospel,

the hope for all kinds of people,

the good news for those

who are very different

and don't look like us

or live like us

and we actually have

the good news

that they need to hear.

Are we actually

moving towards them?

Who do you,

who can you think of

that would expect

to be held at arm's length

by Christians,

by the church,

that's gonna find a welcome

at your dinner table?

Maybe before they ever sit in here.

Which brother or sister

have you allowed

your relationship

to stay at arm's length

rather than healing

and bringing them in?

I'm so excited

about what God's gonna do

at Southwood

in the years ahead.

It is so exciting

to imagine

what God will do.

I believe part of

what He's gonna do

is He's gonna make us

a refuge for people

who are hurting,

who are in a sense shipwrecked,

whose lives have crashed.

And we'll be able

to be a refuge

not because we're so great

but because we're anchored

to the rock.

That we're gonna,

by God's grace,

hold on to truth.

I believe that.

I pray for that.

But at the same time,

not just hold on to the truth,

we're gonna live out

the unending,

sacrificial love of God

to all sorts of people

because that's what's happening

in our culture right now,

isn't it?

People are looking for safety.

They're looking for fulfillment.

They're looking

in all sorts of places.

They've got different worldviews.

They've got different answers

to the questions you ask.

They're trying out

different behaviors.

They're trying out

different beliefs.

They think about things differently.

And they're looking

in all sorts of places

to find what God provides

through Jesus,

to provide the relationship

that is ours in Him.

And what's gonna happen

is that the world's going

to let them down.

they'll end up disappointed

and hurting

and distressed,

fearful,

not able to find the answers.

And they'll be hopeless.

And the great opportunity for us

is to be found

not shaking our heads,

looking in all the wrong places.

Wish you would've looked

where I looked.

not in shaking our heads,

but in showing them grace,

in welcoming them in,

in pointing them

to a God of truth

and love

that they've been looking for

and didn't even realize it.

Don't you want

to be a part of that?

Isn't that something

that you'd love

not just to see

from a distance,

but actually get to

be a part of,

to get engaged in,

that as the flood of people

would come running in,

as the Spirit moves,

as Jesus is lifted up

and people find Him

as their place of refuge

and say,

oh, that's what my heart

has been longing for.

Don't you want to be there

and be a part of that?

Don't you want to be

bandaging their wounds?

Don't you want to be

giving hugs,

sharing smiles,

offering hope?

Getting to actually

be a part of the

incredible things

God is going to do

because He is

and He lets us

be a part of it.

I want to leave you

with one last image.

One more picture

of Team Hoyt.

When you see them

crossing the finish line,

you almost always see

Rick, the son's

excitement.

Usually he's pumping

his fist like that.

They're finishing

a race here.

Yeah!

I did it!

Finished the marathon!

The joy,

the excitement,

the celebrating.

I look at him

and I see myself

in Rick.

I see us in Rick.

Aren't you going to be

celebrating?

Wouldn't that be so exciting

that God starts to

do things

and continues

to do things

in Huntsville

and we get to be

a part of it?

And we'll be so excited

and we'll be celebrating

and high-fiving

and pumping our fists.

And yet at the same time

realizing that

we really didn't

have a lot to do with it.

Who deserves

all the credit?

Is anybody confused

at the end of the race

who gets the credit here?

Who's been

the power source

of this whole operation?

God says,

listen,

stay connected

to Christ.

Press into him.

Stay there.

Don't move past it.

I've got great things

for you.

In fact,

beyond anything

you could ask

or imagine,

we're going to make

triathlons seem

like child's play.

He's absolutely

committed to that.

To doing things

that are beyond

what we could ask

or imagine.

Isn't that how

he's always related to us?

That we get to have

this joy.

Our joy becomes great.

We love it.

We experience it

and at the same time

his glory is great.

He gets the glory

and we get to be

a part of it.

He's always treated us

like that.

He poured out

his grace to us

to overflowing

in our salvation.

To the praise

of his glorious grace,

right?

That it would be

all about him

even when he saved us.

And he's going

to keep pouring it out.

To keep working

in and through us

and we'll get

to enjoy it.

We'll get to pump

our fists.

Don't you love that?

Yes!

We did it!

We finished!

It happened!

And there will be

the Father.

He'll be there.

The one without whom

we couldn't have

entered the race.

The one who's carried us

all the way along.

Every step of the way

the one who's

done the work.

And he'll always be there.

Why?

Why do we know that?

Why when he does

those great things?

When he even lets us

be a part of it?

Why do we know

he's going to be there?

Because we're connected

to him in Christ.

Connected in Christ

forever

to the praise

of his glorious grace.

Pray with me.

Father, we want

to see that happen.

We want to be

a part of that.

Would we,

your church,

being rooted

and established

in love,

have power

together with

all the saints

to grasp

how wide

and long

and high

and deep

is the love

of Christ.

And to know

that love

that surpasses

knowledge

that we would be

filled to the measure

of all the fullness

of God.

Would you do that

for the glory

of your name?

Amen.

Amen.

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