Immeasurable Power

[0:00] people have been maneuvering and manipulating for more power and leverage to the dawn of civilization.

[0:11] People use physical or military power to do others and force them to do their bidding. They use verbal or political power to gain an advantage over someone, to win an argument or to really stir up the masses to pursue their own ends.

[0:25] People use magic, sacrifices to their gods, spells, astrology, tarot cards and talismans in an attempt to control their future than that of others.

[0:38] You might dismiss one or more of these methods as barbaric or superstitious or think that one of these methods works better than the others, but at the heart of it all, they are all the same.

[0:49] They are all the same because at the root of it is selfishness, fear and a desire for control over the circumstances in your life that seem to be out of your control. And none of them provide any kind of lasting security.

[1:06] Ephesians 1, 15 to 23 teaches us about a far greater power that is at the disposal of those who believe in Jesus Christ. That's why we are the spiritual power.

[1:16] And yet many Christians live without awareness of this power, spiritual power. Therefore, Paul prays on their behalf. More specifically, he prays on behalf of the Ephesian believers in this context.

[1:29] They would have the Spirit's wisdom to believe and experience Christ's power. That's really the main point of this passage. He said, we ought to also then pray to the Father of glory for the Spirit's wisdom that we might know Christ's power.

[1:45] And I'll follow that outline. First, talk about the Spirit's wisdom. Secondly, about the Father's glory. And then thirdly, about Christ's power. So first, Spirit's wisdom. We see that in verses 15 to 18.

[1:57] He begins, So the phrase, So the phrase, So the phrase, So the phrase, So the phrase, So having heard report that the Ephesian, the church, the believers have faith in the Lord Jesus, And that they also love the fellow saints, all the saints that are among them, He now knows that this spiritual blessings that he just talked about in verses 3 to 14 belong to them.

[2:54] That this, their faith in Jesus and their love toward the saints is proof, Evidence for Paul of the fact that these spiritual blessings now belong to them. And after realizing that, Paul now gives thanks to God.

[3:04] He thanks to, he praises God. And then now he prays on behalf of these Ephesian believers. And this is not a point to be glossed over, Because Paul's not mentioning just the faith and love of the saints in passing.

[3:17] This is a thoughtful theological statement, Because he says elsewhere in 1 Corinthians 13, 13, Faith, hope, and love are the defining marks of the Christian. The things that define the Christian above all things.

[3:30] And so here he mentions faith, and he mentions love, And later he will also mention hope in verse 18. That's what those things define the Christian, Because Christians have faith not in themselves, Or anything else, or anyone else, But in the Lord Jesus for their salvation.

[3:44] That's their faith that defines them. Christians also have hope, Because they have the Holy Spirit, Who is the deposit, the down payment, The guarantee that all the spiritual blessings that God promises Will be consummated and fulfilled.

[3:56] So we have hope in that spirit. And then finally, we have love toward God and toward our neighbor, Because the Father has loved us first. And so we receive that love, And are transformed by that love to love others, To love one another, and to love God.

[4:11] And so that's, So faith, hope, and love define us as a Christian. So that's why he's mentioning those things. And it's important to hold those things together as believers, Because it's easy to kind of separate them out.

[4:22] Faith in the Lord Jesus, And love toward all the saints. On the one hand, Some Christians seem to have faith, A lot of faith in the Lord Jesus. But not a lot of love toward the saints.

[4:34] Their faith is very private, And individualistic. They have their own private devotions, And prayer times. Which is great. I mean, we should all have that. But they do not gather regularly with other believers.

[4:46] They seem uncomfortable with intimacy, And commitment. And I can guarantee you that such a believer, May flourish for a little bit, But will not bear much fruit. Because their faith will soon dwindle, And they will be plagued by doubt and error.

[5:02] On the other hand, Some Christians seem to have love toward all the saints, But they don't seem to really have faith in the Lord Jesus. For them, church is more like a social club.

[5:13] They like hanging out with a whole bunch of really nice people, So they go to all the church events and function. But, They're mistaking their community's faith for their own.

[5:23] They don't have a personal faith in the Lord Jesus. And so, What happens is when this person moves away, Let's say they move away to another state for college, Or they relocate for another job somewhere else, They don't plug into a healthy local church right away.

[5:39] And they begin to lose faith and be discouraged. Why? Because they never had their personal faith to begin with. It wasn't their own. They were mistaking their community's faith for their own. They had love toward the saints, But they had no faith in the Lord Jesus.

[5:52] It's kind of like coal. Like, If you guys have ever done barbecue, You put a whole bunch of coal in the barbecue pit, And then you burn them. You can never tell which coals have actually caught fire, Because it's all really hot.

[6:03] It's only when you spill them on the ground, And separate them all out, That's when you can tell when a coal has really caught fire. You have to have a personal faith, Believe in the Lord Jesus, And have love toward the saints.

[6:14] You can't have one without the other. Right? If you turn later in verses 22 to 23, Paul describes Christ as the head of the church, And he describes the church as his body.

[6:24] How can you love someone's head and not their body? How can you love someone's body and not their head? It's impossible, Because they're one person. You can't say, I love God, I love Jesus, But oh, I don't really love the church.

[6:36] There is no such thing. You can't say, Oh, I love the church, But I don't, You know, I don't really want to be exclusive, And have exclusive living. You can't do that. Faith in the Lord Jesus, Love toward the saints, They stay together.

[6:49] You have to hold them together. And then so Paul says in verse 16, I do not cease to give thanks for you, Because he has seen these evidences, Love toward the saints, And faith in the Lord. He now says, I do not cease to give thanks for you, Remembering you in my prayers.

[7:03] Now, Paul writes, The way that Paul writes this here, It's clear that this is not the only occasion Paul is praying for the Ephesian believers. This is his regular practice, Right?

[7:14] He says, I do not cease to give thanks for you. He's really putting into practice What he taught in 1 Thessalonians 5, 17 to 18. Pray without ceasing, Give thanks in all circumstances, Right?

[7:27] And Paul's not giving thanks to God Because of something specific That the Ephesian believers did for him. No, He's thanking them, And thanking God for them, And praying for them, Because he knows that they are God's people, That they belong to him.

[7:40] And what does it mean that Paul Does not cease to give thanks, Remembering them in his prayer? I mean, Sometimes people wonder, Like, How can you really pray without ceasing? Right? How do you pray without ceasing?

[7:51] Do you pray all the time? Is that all you do? Do you ever eat? I mean, Do you ever, You know, Go to the church service? I mean, Do you ever, I mean, How do you pray without ceasing? It's helpful to compare this To a parallel passage in Colossians.

[8:02] The book of Ephesians And the book of Colossians Have a lot of substantial parallels. And most likely, Because Paul probably wrote them In close succession to each other. He wrote them in a similar time In his life.

[8:12] And he probably had similar concerns in mind As he was writing those two letters. And in a parallel passage in Colossians 1, 9, It says this, And so, From the day we heard, We have not ceased to pray for you.

[8:25] Asking that you may be filled With the knowledge of his will In all spiritual wisdom And understanding. Very similar, Right? But that additional phrase Is very helpful. It's illuminating for understanding This passage.

[8:36] Because he says, And so, From the day we heard, We have not ceased to pray for you. So what he's saying here Is that since that day He heard about them And heard about this, He has continued to pray for them.

[8:50] He hasn't stopped praying for them. His prayer for them Doesn't have an expiration date. Right? And so some people, When they tell us, Oh, Hey, I want to pray for you, They'll pray for us Maybe a couple times And they stop.

[9:00] Right? Paul's saying, No, I haven't stopped. I keep praying. He's not saying That's all he does. He's not saying That he prays all day long Every second of the day. But what he's saying is, You know what? Every, I pray for you regularly.

[9:11] Every time I want my knees To pray to the Father, I remember you. I thank God for you. And I pray for you. I have not ceased To pray for you. It is still my practice To this day To pray for you.

[9:21] And why does Paul do that? Why does he pray continually? And we can see why he does it By looking at what he prays for In verses 17 to 19. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, The Father of glory, May give you the spirit of wisdom And of revelation In the knowledge of him, Having the eyes of your hearts Enlightened, That we may know, That you may know What is the hope To which he has called you, What are the riches Of his glorious inheritance In the saints, And what is the immeasurable greatness Of his power toward us Who believe.

[9:53] Right? So the motivation For Paul's prayer Is very simple. We can't know God Unless he gives us The spirit of wisdom And of revelation In the knowledge of him.

[10:06] Paul has to pray For the Holy Spirit To work in our lives Because we can't know God Apart from the working Of the Holy Spirit. And many of us Sitting here Were raised up In Christian homes And grew up As part of the church And consequently We know a lot of things About God.

[10:27] But the fact that We know these things Don't mean that We actually believe them. We know them But we don't Cognitive knowledge Doesn't automatically Translate into Experiential knowledge.

[10:38] Theoretical knowledge Doesn't automatically Translate into Practical knowledge. And it's the spirit of God That takes the knowledge In our heads And impresses them Deeply in our hearts So that we actually Believe them And live by them.

[10:54] And as Christians I think we have All experienced this. There's a Perhaps you heard This truth in a sermon One time And you know You've heard it Countless times actually But then there's That one particular Sunday morning And you're sitting In the pews And you hear The same sermon The same truth But then all of a sudden You have an Aha moment.

[11:14] It clicks for you. The penny drops. You guys know that expression? The penny drops. Like I mean If you have a vending machine Right? Like you try to put A quarter in And often times Like it gets stuck Right?

[11:26] And you have to Kind of shove it A couple times And then the penny drops. Right? It clicks. And then now The machine works. Right? So that's like that For a lot of us. We have a lot of truths Rammed in there. Right? But the penny Hasn't dropped For all of them.

[11:38] We haven't really Quite got it. And it's the spirit of God That works in our lives And in our hearts To bring that To bear on our lives So that we really believe it And live by it. And that's essential.

[11:49] And because Paul Is so aware of this truth That the spirit of God Has to make these truths Work in our lives He prays for them Because he knows He can't make that happen In his own strength.

[12:00] I hope you have thought About this As the church Because what that means Is all our preaching All our ministry All our evangelism Is in vain Apart from the illumination Of the spirit of God.

[12:13] It's no wonder then That Paul prays Without ceasing For the vision It's no wonder then That every place Everywhere Revival was always preceded By concerted efforts To pray together.

[12:29] If we really want To see each other Grow in our knowledge Of God We must pray To God the Father For the Holy Spirit And the spirit of God We pray for one another.

[12:40] Our praying for one another Is one of the strongest Most reliable evidences Of our love for one another. Why is that?

[12:52] Because if we love one another If we really love one another And we will look At each other's lives And we will see a brother A Christian brother And a crippling sin In his life And we'll see a sister Whose lack of faith Is hampering her growth And we will see A member of the same Family of God Whom Satan is robbing Of joy in God And we will desperately Want to help them Because we love them But we will feel helpless Because we can't Bring that change In that person's life We can't get that person To believe the truth of God And so that will drive us To our need To pray.

[13:34] That's why Our prayer for one another Is one of the clearest Evidences of our love for one another Since we began meeting As a church For corporate worship In my house Like a couple years ago We have always emphasized Prayer for this That's why we have A prayer service Every week On Friday nights Friday nights Of all times Right?

[14:00] That's prime time For you know End of the week You know Relax Unwind Social life But we gather to pray Why? Because we believe this We believe that this Has to happen in our lives Spirit has to work That's why we pray For 45 minutes Before church starts The service starts On Sunday morning We pray together For the service That's why we pray During the service too We pray because we know We desperately need God's help Because we know That the spirit Has to illumine The spirit's wisdom Must be at work In our lives For us to see For the scales To fall from our eyes And for us to see The truth To know the truth So I encourage you That the three days Of prayer and fasting Participate in this This week Thursday Wednesday to Friday And we created Some guides for you That can help you To pray To inform your prayer During that time It's based on Ephesians 1 After praying For the spirit's wisdom Paul specifies

[15:01] Why he wants The spirit of wisdom To help us understand And I sum that all up In the phrase Father's glory And that's to summarize The two points That he prays for In verse 18 First notice that He addresses God As the father of glory In verse 17 The glory of God Is really the Display of the attributes Of God It's the deity On display All his perfections His beauty His holiness That's his glory His displaying of that That's his glory And that's why Truly to be strict Nothing in the world Is glorious Except for God Because he alone That's his To preach Glory is deity On display So when we say Something is glorious We're saying that Oh it reflects God's glory Right A mountain range Is glorious Because it reflects God's magnificence And now If that's the glory Of God See what Paul says In verse 18 This is mind boggling He prays that You may know What is the hope To which he has called you What are the riches

[16:01] Of his glorious Inheritance In the saints God's glory God's deity On display His perfections His beauty His holiness His power Is not displayed Primarily in the Seemingly infinite cosmos But in Us We Are God's Glorious Inheritance Paul wants Believers to see That Believe that Throughout the Old Testament The people whom God redeemed For himself Were described As his inheritance For example Deuteronomy 9 29 He says They are your People And your Inheritance Whom you brought Out by your Great power And by your Outstretched arm Right This is really A reiteration Of what Paul Said early In verse 14 When he says That we are God's prized Possession Right It's the hope That God Has called us To The spirit Of God Has put a Still on us Saying this Is God's This belongs

[17:01] To God It says His inheritance And so we Are God's Glorious Inheritance The father Of glory His glory Is displayed In us His glorious Inheritance What that Means is This We're not Just You know Cheap Trinkets In the Father's Treasure Of little Value We are His Riches We are The crown Jewel We are The glorious Inheritance That's That's How God Sees Because we Are in Christ Jesus The glorious Son That should Fill us With wonder And gratitude And unwavering Security In Jesus And so he Prays for a Spirit of Wisdom Spirit's wisdom And he Prays for the Father's glory And then lastly He prays for The Christ's Power And he Emphasized this Third point Because it's Something that The Ephesians Really need to Get And he Says in Verses 19 to 21 That you May know

[18:02] What is the Immeasurable Greatness Of his Power Toward us Who believe According to The working Of his Great Might That he Worked In Christ When he Raised him From the Dead And seated Him at His right Hand in The heavenly Places Far above All rule And authority And power And dominion And above Every name That is Named Not only In this Age But also In the One To come The Gentile Converts To Christianity In Ephesus Whom Paul Particularly Has in Mind As he's Writing This Letter Were Still Very Much Enticed By And Entangled In The Spiritual Forces Of First Century Paganism And you Can Find Example Of This In The Bible But Before I Get To That So Ephesus Was Even Though It Was A Religiously Pluralistic City It Had One Really Prominent Idol And Religion It Was The Cult Of Artemis Artemis Is The Greek Goddess Of Fertility The Wild Animal And But They

[19:02] Elevated Her To The State Of Supreme God And They Called Her Lord And They Believed That She Ruled Both The World Above The Spiritual Realm Of Spirits As Well As The World Of Earth The Terrestrial Forces And As Well As The World Under The Spirits And Under World So They Believe That Artemis Ruled The Whole World And To Illustrate How Big This Cult Was Like They Had A Temple Of Artemis Which Was Have You Guys Seen A Picture Of The Parthenon In Athens Right So That's The Largest Surviving Greek Temple That We Have Today The Temple Of Artemis Was Four Times The Size It Was One Of The Seven Wonders Of The World So This Revealing Story About The Context The Religious Context Of Ephesus So What Happens Is There Are These Jewish Exorcists They Make A Living By Exorcising Demons And They Travel Around And They Were Sons Of A High Priest Named Sceva And

[20:03] It Says That They Began To Invoke The Name Of The Lord Jesus Over Those Who Had Evil Spirits Saying I Adjure You By The Jesus Whom Paul Proclaims But To Their Great Embarrassment When They Invoked The Name Of Jesus Whom Paul Proclaims The Evil Spirits Pounced On Them Overpower Them So That They Fled Naked So When This Happened Paul Luke Continues To Record This Right After This Happened It Says This Became Known To Everyone In Ephesus And That Fear Fell Upon Them All And The Name Of Jesus The Lord Jesus Was Extolled Now Because Of That Many Believers It Says Who Were Secretly Indulging In The Magical Arts And Basically Seeking And Treating The Idol Artemis They Brought Out All Their Books Full Of Incantations And The Magical Practices And They Burned Them In Public In The Public Square Recording All Of This In Acts 19 And

[21:03] It Says That What They Burned That Is A Reference To The Greek Drachma The Currency So One Silver Is A Day's Wage So That Is A 50,000 Days Wage So If You Count $15 As The Average Rate For An Hourly Wage That About Six Million Dollars In Today's Currency So This Is And These Are Believers Who Are Bringing Out The Stuff That They Had In Their So This Reveals The Extent To Which This Cult Had An Influence Over The Lives Of The Christian Converts In Ephesus Six Million Dollars Worth Of Books I Mean Even If They Got Fleeced For Every One Of Those Books I Mean That's A Lot Of Books That These People Had Right So After This Event And Then Luke Continues That There Was A Silversmith Named Demetrius Who Made A Living By Selling Little Craftsman

[22:04] And Starts A Riot Trying To Drive Paul And His Companions Out Of The City Of Ephesus So That's The Context To Which Paul Is Writing This Letter To The Ephesians Now This Is Really Helpful For Understanding It Because One It Tells Us That The Magical Arts Were Still Highly Influential And Lucrative But Also That Christianity Was Making Significant Inroads In That Context But Old Habits Die Hard Right And So Christians A lot Of Them Were Still Holding On To These Habits And Paul Is Aware Of This As He Writes This And He's Saying Basically You Don't Use Incantations And Charms To Gain Control Over Your Problems Of Daily Life Turn To The Lord Jesus And That's Why He's So Emphatic In Verses 19 To 21 Read That Again With Me And As We Do That Notice Just The Proliferation Of All These Power Words Right What Is The Immeasurable Greatness Of His Power Toward Us To Believe According To The Working Of His Great

[23:04] Might That He Worked In Christ When He Raised Him From The Dead And Raised Him At His Right Hand In The Heavenly Places Far Above All Rule and Authority And Power And Dominion And Above Nearly Exhausts The Bank Of The Greek Vocabulary For Terms Related To Power He Uses Them All Like Almost All Of Them Right He He's Emphasizing That Immeasurable Greatness Power Great Might And All Of These Words Are Words That Were Characteristically Used In The Magical Arts During That Time You Find Them In The Magic Books That Have Survived In Inscriptions On Buildings And Stuff Like You Find These Incantations They Use These Words And So And He's Saying That Basically That These Gods That You Relay On These Idols That You Seek Are Impotent Compared To Surpassing Greatness And Power Of Christ Christ Power And What's The Proof Of This Power That Christ Has How

[24:05] Do We Know That He Has The Immeasurable Greatness Of His Power How Was God's Immeasurable Power When He Raised Him From The Dead And Seated Him At His Right Hand In The Heavenly Places Far Above All Rule And Authority And Power And Dominion And Above Every Name That Is Not Only In This Age But Also In The One To Come And He Put All Things Under His Feet And Gave Him As Head Over All Things To The Church So Basically the Proof Of Christ Immeasurable And Him Subjecting All Things Under His Feet And Being Given To The Church As Head Over All Things Those Four Things Is What Proves To Us That He Has Victorious And Conquered All Things And Now He Has Been Given To The Church And What Are The Things That He Subjected

[25:06] Under His Feet The Words Rule And Authority Can Be Used To To Human Authorities And They Can Be And The Spiritual Realm Is Seen Throughout Scripture As One That Is More Significant Than The Earthly Realm So When You Have Spiritual Authority You Don't Need I Mean You Should Understand That It Is Involving All Kinds Of Authority And The Words Rule Authority Power And Dominion Are Also All Words That Are Very Commonly Used In Jewish Texts And Gentile Magical Texts Now To Refer To Angelic Powers Rule Authority Power And Dominion And Paul Consistently Uses Them In That Way In His Epistles So Paul Is Saying That All The Spiritual Forces Are Subject To Christ And The Popular Belief At The Time Was That The Spirits Dwelled In The Realm Above And And So Intentionally Paul Writes Here That Christ Is Far Above All Authority Right All Rule Authority Are Dominion He's Saying That You Know What He's Not Even On The Same Plane Right You Think Of Spirits As Being In The Realm Above Christ Is Far Above

[26:06] He Surpasses Them And This Is A Spiritual Rain We Know That Because He's In The Heavenly Places He's Not Reigning From An Earthly Political Place Of And God Displayed His Infinite Power In Christ Jesus Ultimately In Christ Jesus And Colossians 2 13 To 15 Also Speak Of This Same Reality And Is Very Revealing And Helpful For Us As We Try To Think About How Did Christ Attain This For Us How Did Christ Display God's Power He Says And You Who Were Dead In Your Trespasses And The Uncircumcision Of Your Flesh God Made Alive Together With Him Having Forgiven Us All Our Trespasses By Canceling The Record Of Debt That Stood Against Us With Its Legal Demands This He Set Aside Nailing It To The Cross He Disarmed The Rulers And Authorities And Put Them To Open Shame By Triumphing Over Them In Him Do You Guys Follow That So What's Going On Here Is This Is We Had Sinned Against God And Because We Had Sinned Against Him There

[27:06] Was A Record Of Debt Against What That Means Is The Spiritual Forces Of Evil Had A Claim On Us Satan His Name Means The Accuser He Had Basis To Make A Successful Accusation In The Court In The Heavenly Court They Had A Claim On Us There Was A Record Of Debt That Stood Against Us With This Legal Demand And How Did In That Context God Intervene And Show His Power And He Rose From The Dead Defeating Sin And Death And He Was Raised To The Heavenly Place And Seated By The Father's Right Hand To Reign Over All These Evil Spirits And Forces And In Doing That What God Did Was He Silenced Our Accuser And He Erased The Claim That Our Accuser Had On Us So That We Are No Longer In The Dominion Of Darkness For

[28:16] That Reason Christ Is Above Every Name That Is Named Not Only In This Age But Also In The One To Come Name A Name To Name A Name That Expression Is A Technical Expression That Is Also Used In Incantation You Name The Right Names That That's Great That's Typically Use That's How You Gain Control And You Invoke The Right Spirits You Name Name And So That's Why It's Really Interesting That This Really Rare Phrase It Only Occurs Two More Times In The Entire Greek New Testament And That One Of Times Is When The Jewish Itinerant Exorcists The Sons Of Sikiva Are In Ephesus And They Name The Name Of Jesus In Vain Of Course Because They Don't Actually Believe They Don't Know Him What Paul Is Saying Is This You Don't Need To Name Any Other The Fears You Have The Powers And Influences Over Your Life You

[29:16] Don't Need To Resort To Any Other The Name Of Christ Is Above Every Name That Is Name Unless You Think That Oh Maybe In The Future There Will Be Other Greater Names No Not Only In This Age But Also In The One To Come There Will Never Be A Name That's Greater Than The Name Of Jesus Christ He's So Emphatic I mean You Can't He Doesn't Leave Any Room For Speculation All Rule All Authority All Power All Dominion Subjected To Him Every Name That Is His Name Is Above All Of Those Things That Means Our Futures Are Not Determined By Petty Fickle So Called Gods And Goddesses But By Our Loving Sovereign God Our Life Our Future Secure In Jesus Christ And That's Why We Pray For One Another To The Father Glory

[30:16] For The Spirit's Wisdom So That We Get Christ's Power In Many Parts Of The World We Still Find Animistic Cultures That Are Very Similar To When Hannah And I Went On A Missions Trip To Myanmar In 2009 To Support A Missionary That Was Already There We Met A Burmese Guide I Mean He Makes Living That Way So He Speaks A Little Bit Of English And He Knows The Area Really Well So He Just Looks Around For Foreigners Basically And When He Sees Them He Comes Over And Says Hey We Could Tell Her About The Lord Jesus Christ And When We Told Him That He Was Aghast He Was No You Don't Want To Go To The Spirit Doctor And This Is Ridiculous Because We We Paid You What Do You Don't Want To Go And

[31:17] We We Paying Him A Handsome Some Too But He Will To Forgo A Day's Wage To To To To To To To He We Visited With My Family And He Mentioned That She Became Possessed By A Demon And Started Speaking In This Really Deep Demonic Voice And He Got Frightened Out Of His Daylights Out Of Him And So After That He Said He Had Dreams Every Day Of Amulet I Don't Remember If It Was An Amulet Or Tattoo But And Then After That He Says The Demons Stopped Appearing In His Dream So I Mean Obviously Evil Spirits In Cahoots To Keep Burmese People In Bondage And So That Was His So He Wouldn't Go So We Went By Ourselves And We Told A Spirit Doctor About The Lord Jesus And We Told Her I

[32:27] But She Listened To Us Politely And We Left And He Warned Us Before We Went Our Tour God Truly If You Go She Will Appear To You And Bother You And Haunt You In Your Dreams Every Day None Of Us Had A Dream Like That Why Because Christ Is Lord Overall They Have No Power Over Us And I Think You Know This We Might Dismiss As All In The West You Don't Really Have To Worry About It We Will See Increasingly More Of That We In A Post Modern Context Where There Is A Surge Of Interest In Spiritual Things You Don't Need To Go To Salem To Find Spirit And Medium They Are All Over The City Turning To Them And We Have The

[33:33] Even For Those Of Us Who Dismiss Spirits As Figments Of The Imagination Even Those People Turn To Something When They Feel Like They Are Losing Control When They Feel Like They Are Losing Control Some People Turn To Anger They Get Angry When Things Spiral Out Of Control And Their Anger Is Not Just An Expression Of Their Frustration But It's An Attempt A Veiled Attempt To Control Their Circumstances Right An Angry Husband Skulks Around The House And Gives His Wife The Silent treatment So That He Can Manipulate Her To Do What He Wants An Angry Driver Hawks Angrily And And Cuts Someone Off And Then You Know Glares Out The Window Why Because He Wants To Cower Other Drivers Into Subjection And Letting

[34:38] Our Worldly Desires For Superficial Comfort Grow In Ordnance So That We Grow Angry When Those Things Are Threatened And We Quarrel With Other People It Says Scripture Describes That As Demonic Activity James 4 7 It Describes The Ephesians 4 26 27 Tells Us That Anger Is Something That Gives Opportunity A Foothold To The Devil You Might Not Believe In Devils But That Devil Is Some People Turn To Fear And Anxiety When They Feel Like They Are Losing Control They Worry Excessively And Then Their Mind Is Going To Overdrive And They Take All Things Into Their Own Hands To Find A Solution For Themselves Rather Than Casting Their Anxieties On God And Entrusting Themselves To God's Care And First Peter 5 6 To 8 Tells Us That Anxiety In The Mist Of Suffering Also Leaves An Opening For The Devil Who Prowls Around Like A Lion But As Christians We Don't Need To Turn To Anger We Don't Need To Turn To Anxiety

[35:38] We Don't Need To Turn To Earthly Comforts For Our Security We Don't Need To Name Any Other Name Christ Is Seated Far Above All Rule Authority Power And Dominion And When We Feel Embattled By The Situations In Our Lives We Have To Remember That Christ Is Still Enthroned Above He's Not Rattled By What's Happening In Our Lives He's Not Fazed And We Pray For Each Other So We Can Know Christ And Live In Light And The Implications Of This Truth Are Staggering Read 22 To 23 With Me And He Put All Things Under His Feet And Gave Him As Head Over All Things To The Church Which Is His Body The Fullness Of Him Who Fills All In All Right Notice The Relationship Between Christ And His Church Christ Is Head Over All Things And Has Been Given To The Church And The Church Is Not Described As His Body Right That Means The Authority And Power

[36:39] Incumbent Upon Christ Who Was A Supreme Lord And Head Over All Things Is Available To Us As His People As His Body We Have All The Resources To Fulfill Christ's Commission To Us Verse 23 It Says That We Are His Body The Fullness Of Him Who Fills All In All Right That Means Of Course If You Are Not Yet A Believer This Power Doesn't Belong To You You Are Not Yet A Part Of The Body Of Christ You Need First To Repent And Submit To The Lordship Of Christ Then You Can Be A Part Of His Body There's Only Two Types Of People In The World Those Who Willingly Submit Them To The Lordship Of Christ And Those Who In The Future Will Be Subjected To Him He Will Reign His Name Is Above All Name Will You Please Align

[37:39] Yourself To For The Church Then As The Family Of God This Means That We Are The Fullness Of Christ We Have Been Filled By Christ And Later In Ephesians 5 18 Paul Also Speaks Of Being Filled With Spirit Of Christ So We Are The Receptacles That Have Been Filled By Christ And Therefore We Are As A Church His Fullness That Means We Are Now The Means The Instrument By Which Christ Fills All In All We Overflow We Fill All In All That's Our Commission As The Church All Things Under His Feet And Gave Him As Head Over All Things To The Church All Things That's What It Means Everything In Heaven And Above Will Be Subjected To Christ And Our Commission Is To Fill All In All With The Glory Of Christ God's Original Charge If you Guys Remember From Our Series In Genesis Just Before

[38:39] This Genesis 128 His Original Charge To Humanity Was Be Fruitful And Multiply And Fill The Earth And Subdue Have Dominion They Failed To Fulfill That Commission And Subsequently Their Successor The Nation Of Israel The Sons Of Jacob Also Failed To Fulfill In The Full They Did They Work With Friends They Multiplied Because God's Grace God Fulfilled His End Of Bargain He Fulfilled His Promises They Were Not Loyal To Him And That Commission Has Been Fulfilled By Jesus Christ As His Perfect Sign Now His Body It's Our Ongoing Commission To Fill All In All With The Glory Of Christ Prophet Habakkuk Prophesied In 2 14 Of His Book That The Earth Will Be Filled With The Knowledge Of The

[39:39] Lord As The Waters Cover The Sea That Time Is Now And This Is Important Because Our Lord Is Not Some Local Parochial Deity Our Lord Is Not Limited In His Interests And Influences To The United States Of America Our Lord Is The Lord Over All The Lord Over The Heavens And The Earth And That's Why It Is Right That He Is Worshipped In All Of The World And That's Why It Is Wrong That In Parts Of Cambridge There Are People Who Don't Acknowledge Him Or Worship Him That's Why It Is Wrong That In Throughout The World There Are Muslims And Hindus And Buddhists 86% Of Whom Don't Even Know A Christian There's Something

[40:39] Profoundly Wrong And Amiss About That Because God Is The Glorious Lord Over All And He Should Be Worshipped In The Ends Of The Earth That's Our Glorious God That's Why Some Of Us Made Personal Sacrifices Family Sacrifices Career Sacrifices Part Of This Mission That We Have Here Christ's Power That Gives Us Confidence For Our Ministry And Mission As The Church Because If We Truly Grasp The Breath And Death Of Christ's Power The Way We Live Would Be Different Think About Your Life For A Moment Think For A Moment About The Most Stubborn Intractable Sin In Your Life Maybe

[41:40] You Tried To Deal With For Years Believe In Christ's Power Or How Do Think About A Neighbor Or Family Member Or Friend That You Try To Witness To But In Your Mind As You Think About Them Oh She Is Never Going To Believe Or He Will Never Come To Believe We Have Christ's Power At Our Disposal To Push The Spiritual Forces Of Evil Into Retreat And To Reclaim And Rescue Those Who Are Still In Imprisoned In Their Camps But We Have A Tendency To Forget This Truth And That's Why This Passage Remember To Exhort One Another Remind

[42:41] One Another We Pray For One Another For To The Father Glory For The Spirit's Wisdom That We Might Know Christ Messiah God He He to know you give us the spirit of wisdom and of revelation so we may truly know you as we ought to know to know you in your glory oh father to know your son in all his power and might and rule and authority grant us faith to live not by sight but by faith so that we can truly be the fullness of the son of God who heals all in all in Jesus name you pray

[43:45] Amen