Knowing Power

Take your Bibles, if you would, please, and turn to Ephesians chapter one. Ephesians chapter one verses 19 to 23 are where we are today, and we get to finish chapter one. So you've made it through chapter one — six more chapters to go. No telling how long that'll take, but I praise God for the opportunity to preach His Word and ask Him for help in doing that. And today we're going to talk about the subject of knowing power, knowing power. That's His power, obviously.

In the text, the desire of the Apostle Paul to pray intercessorily for the Ephesian church is that they would know God's hope and God's riches and, today, God's power — that power that resides upon us for those who exercise their faith in Christ. And so let's read together in Ephesians chapter one verses 19 to the end of the chapter. Ephesians 1:19 says, "The surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of the might of His strength, which He worked in Christ by raising Him from the dead and seating Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection 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." Let's pause and pray. Father, thank You for this text, for this message. I pray that You would help us to understand this. God, we humbly come to You today and ask for You to open our minds and open our hearts to be able to understand these glorious riches, this glorious hope, and this glorious power. In Christ's name, amen.

And so thus far, Paul has thanked God for the faith and love that exists among the Ephesians. Look back with me in verses 15 and 16. In verse 15: "For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for the saints, do not cease giving thanks for you while making mention of you in my prayers." And so now Paul has a text that he is praying, and in this recounting of the prayer he then overflows into prayer and he starts to ask for more things. Look with me in verse 17: "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the full knowledge of Him." And so Paul prays for a spirit of wisdom there for them, and then for the full knowledge of Christ. Knowledge of Him in verse 17 is the main idea, and that is that he would go on to say, "I want them to know the hope that is in Christ, the riches or the inheritance that is in Christ, and today the power that is in Christ."

You can understand Paul's systematic or chronological way of praying. He is praying in a way that is attainable. And so he starts by reaching to their heart with hope. Where does hope lie? It's in the heart. And then he works that hope and understanding of the riches and the inheritance that they have out through their life — or you could say their hands — through the power. How did he get there? Well, he got there first of all through their mind, through their head, through knowledge. And so he is praying that they would know the hope and the power of Christ. And so this is something that we need to understand in our life. We don't want to get things mixed up. You don't want to start with the power — like, "I want God's power," and in your own strength be powerful — that won't work. And you don't want to be led by your emotions, that's backwards as well. You've got to start with the knowledge of Christ. And as the knowledge of Christ is fully obtained, then it's going to seep into your heart as hope, and you're going to know more about who you are in Christ and your inheritance, and how you have inherited Christ and you are an inheritance for Christ. And in that becoming wisdom — knowledge is one thing, and living out the knowledge that you know is wisdom. Wisdom is from the heart; it's from the mind through the heart and you live it out. So head, heart, hands is one way that you could remember this flow in the prayer and how it really works in Christianity.

And so knowledge of God is far more than an acknowledgment. You can acknowledge Christ but not really truly believe in Him. In fact, in James chapter two verse 19, the demons acknowledge and even say that they believe Christ exists. But knowledge of God is more than that — it's more than even observing the facts. Psalm 19:1 says, "The heavens are telling the glory of God." And so you can look around and see that there is a God, God has created what you see, there's no other explanation for it. And so that is observable. But here in the text, knowledge — this "epignosis" is the way the New Testament uses this word — is by way of discerning the divine. This knowledge, this word "knowledge," is used in the New Testament all over the place in regards to discerning the divine, to understand Christ. And so it truly is a true perception. It's not just an observation that stays in the mind. It is an observation and a knowledge that becomes intimate, a heart knowledge, something that affects the heart. So much so that you get a new heart when you get a true knowledge of Christ. This is a wealth of knowledge. This is a full assurance. Colossians 2:2 says that it's "a wealth, a full assurance of understanding unto a full knowledge of God." This knowledge is amazing. A full knowledge of God is after you know Him, after you have been made to know Him, after you have been made alive. In Ephesians chapter two verse five, it talks about how we have been made alive. And so He made us alive.

Before anyone knows this hope that Paul is praying for, anyone knows the riches, anyone knows the power that is available unto them through Christ, they first must have come to know Him personally. So many therefore claim to have the power of God, but they do not know Christ. You see them everywhere. I like what Steven Lawson said. He said that by an observable fact in the Bible, there were never many true prophets mentioned, but it's all over the place that there are many false prophets. And so there are many out there who claim to have God's power, but they don't have God's power. They pretend to have God's power. They fabricate God's power.

As a 17-year-old lad, I was at Neptune Road Baptist Church underneath Dr. Gerald Hicks, and we had a visitor there who seemed to be a somebody. And this somebody I was sitting beside at a fellowship meal, and he leaned over to me with a big smile and he said, "I used to tour with Benny Hinn." And I said, "Oh really?" And he wasn't proud of that. He smiled and I was kind of confused. And I said, "Oh really?" He goes, "Let me tell you what my job was. He used to run chicken wire along the bottom of the seats and run electrical current through the chicken wire, so that when Benny Hinn shook his hands, he would turn the electrical current up and they would feel something in their bosom."

So those who claim to know the power of God but know not God have to fabricate the power. Turn with me, if you would, to Matthew chapter seven. This is no new news. People who know not Christ have not the power of God. In Matthew chapter seven verses 20 and 23 are some of the saddest words in all of the Bible. Matthew 7:20: "So then you will know them by their fruits." Verse 21: "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, in Your name, did we not prophesy? And in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name do many miracles.' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you. Depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.'"

This is very clear. In the Greek, this word "knew" in verse 23 means to have been approved — it's actually rendered "allowed." So Christ has never allowed them into the kingdom. He never knew them. They have not been approved. And then as well in verse 21, the ones who go to heaven are the ones who do the will of the Father. In Matthew chapter six verse 10, in the model prayer, Jesus prayed, "Not my will, but Your will be done." We've got to be according to God's will. And when we're in sync with God's will and His power, all these things merge together — we don't have to fabricate a thing. We can be humble servants of the Lord Jesus Christ, and whatever He wills is whatever He wills and we give Him the glory for anything that is. So it really doesn't matter if you say, "I know God." It doesn't matter at all. It matters if God knows you, right? If God knows you, then you're saved. He truly is known by God. 1 Corinthians 8:3 says, "To be known by Him, to be allowed by Him." 2 Timothy 2:19: "The Lord knows who are His." Isn't that interesting?

The knowledge spoken of here indicates an intimate knowledge. This is more than head knowledge. Do any of you think that intimacy lies in the head? No, intimacy lies in the inner being, the heart, the soul. Intimate knowledge, working on the inside of you — those of you who know Christ and have been made to know Him have had an inner working that you did not do. God has saved you and transformed you. He's given you desires that you did not previously have. And now it is your desire to love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and with all of your mind and all of your strength. That has been a transformation that has happened on the inside of you. And you can see a difference between who you once were and who you are now, where you're going now and where you were headed before. There's a difference. There's been a regeneration that has happened there to bring you to a true and intimate knowledge.

A full knowledge is what Paul is praying for. So God has had to have opened up an intimate covenant relationship with you to obtain this true knowledge. True knowledge as opposed to a false knowledge. True salvation as opposed to false conversions. A true hope as opposed to a false hope. Have you ever hoped in something and it was empty and it let you down? There are plenty of things out there that'll give you a false hope. Hope truly is in Christ — we've talked about that. True riches as opposed to empty riches. And today, true power as opposed to a falsified power. There's true power to be engaged with. There's true power available. And in the superlative, the Greek is talking about a surpassing greatness of power. And this is above all of the others that have been mentioned in this prayer.

Today's prayer for the Ephesian church to know God's power is above all the rest. In fact, the rest of this text spends all of its time with adjectives describing this power. There's more information, more emphasis, more content in regards to the power of God in knowing this than anything else. It's more than hope and it's more than the riches — it's the power. And so Paul is praying that, based upon the fact that their eyes have been opened and have been enlightened, they would know this power. And to prove it to you again, in Ephesians chapter one verse 18, all of this is contingent upon you being saved: "So that the eyes of your heart having been enlightened" — for those who have been saved — "you can then know His hope, riches, and now power."

Power — "dunamis" — it's God's might. It's God's strength. And it's God's action. We talk about Christ through you. We want Christ to work through us. We want Christ to speak through us. We want those things to happen. We want to be submissive to Him and have Him use us like a vessel, like an instrument. Christ, speak through us like a horn. May Your words, Your everything, Your action, Your everything just flow through us. May we be a bright, beaming light for You. May when people see us, we reflect Your glory — in every way we want to do these things. So God's effecting and causing things to happen is in reference to His power. God's powerful force to create. God's powerful force to sustain. And God's powerful force even to destroy belongs to Him. It's God's power. And so He owns it, He created it, and power is of God. And so it's God's powerful wrath even that fuels hell — it's God's wrath, it's His fuel, it's His power that does this. 2 Thessalonians 1:9.

God bestows and exerts His power upon and through believers. Look with me in Ephesians 6:10: "Finally, be strong" — not in yourself. Be strong, not hoping in the government. Be strong, not in how much ammunition you have in your closet. Be strong, not in how much money you think you have in the bank — that's a weird false idea anyway, having your hope in money. "Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might." In His strength, in His might — this is the mighty power that we are to be tapped into. You're not the source. It's not your biceps. It's not your bank account. It's Christ's riches, right? It's Christ's strength. He has the power to enact things into action. He has the power to make things happen. He is the original cause and He is still causing.

He is sustaining. He is directing. He does all things for His glory and our good. A lot of times we don't always like it, but it's like a parent who does what needs to happen, not what you want. And so God is working all things. This is evident because He distributes His power. This power — it is Christ's to distribute — whether it's riches, whether it's wisdom, whether it's strength, whether it's sickness, whether it's honor, whether it's glory, whether it's being abounding or abased, whether it's poor or rich. Whatever it is, the power of life and godliness in your situation in life, it is Christ's to distribute.

Turn with me to Revelation chapter five verse 12. I want you to see that this belongs to Jesus and He has the power to distribute it. You remember, Christ said in the Great Commission, "All authority has been given unto Me, now go." So He has the authority to commission, to distribute that power through us. And so He's distributing ability and resources and knowledge and circumstances. But here in Revelation chapter five verse 12 and following: "Saying with a loud voice, 'Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.'" So He has the ability not only to have it, but to distribute it. And verse 13: "And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, 'To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be the blessing and the honor and the glory and the power forever and ever.'" This is the same "dunamis" ability. This might is through Christ. He distributes all of these things according to His will.

And so you may say to yourself, "Whatever I have is from Christ." Whatever I have — the ability to breathe, the ability to stand, the ability to walk — guys, the ability not to walk. There are so many God-ordained, wonderful men and women who cannot walk — God's will for them. And God works through our weaknesses. And we're made strong through our weaknesses because we're strong in Him and not in us. It's amazing, this paradoxical power. The closer you get to Christ, the weaker and weaker you're going to get. Seriously, the closer you are, the more you pray, the more you read, the weaker you get, the more dependent upon God you are. And then whatever happens is God's results in your life. To Him be the glory, whether I'm abounding or whether I'm abased. That's a skill, by the way. Did you know in Philippians 4:11 that the Apostle Paul said that he had learned to be content whether abounding or abased? That's a spiritual skill. And I really encourage you to learn that skill proactively and not reactively.

If you would say to yourself, "I'm going to give God glory no matter what happens in my life" — proactively, I'm going to learn this skill of contentment, whether I have my wonderful home or I don't have my wonderful home, whether I have my wonderful vehicle or I don't have my wonderful vehicle, whether everybody loves me or people don't love me — "I am in Christ and I'm secure." This is so strengthening, to be tapped into Christ, to know His hope and His riches and His power. Power for living. I can say I'm okay no matter what the seas may be doing. I can say I'm okay no matter what the turbulent times may be reading on the news. I can say I'm okay because I'm in Christ. His sustaining power has me. And so before you go through a terrible time, I encourage you to learn this spiritual skill of tapping into God's power and being sustained by Him. He fuels all of these things. And so if you say to yourself this pretty cool adage — if you ask me: if God sees you to it, He will see you through it.

All right, the same power manifested in the resurrection is the same power that is afforded to us to live life in the text. Look with me in Ephesians chapter one verse 20. The same power is illustrated by the resurrection, and this is an amazing illustration. This is one where if you were to say to yourself, "If I teach this text, if the text stopped at verse 19, how would I illustrate this power toward us?" You see it in verse 19 — "the surpassing greatness of His power toward us" — how would you illustrate the power of God to us? Well, if it stopped right there, the last thing that I would think of is the resurrection. It's the resurrection power. That amount of power — look in the text and it says: "power toward us who believe, according to the working of His might and His strength, which He worked in Christ" — and here it is, the illustration — "by raising Him from the dead." That's a massive amount of mind-boggling power. The same power that was used to raise Christ from the dead is the same power that God uses to sustain your little measly life. And so why do we doubt Him? Why do we doubt Him?

Comprehending that the same power that raised Christ from the grave is the same power that raises us to life, and it's the same power that keeps us alive, it's the same power that we live by — which is a surpassing greatness — I said it already, it's a superlative statement in the Greek. This is an amazing continuation of this power. And so this power to live godly, this power to live in a moral and excellent way, this power to influence others toward Christ, this power to resist temptation — this power for living is dynamic. It's almost unexplainable. It is overwhelming to understand how much power is available to the Christian.

This dynamic power of God is toward us, and it is according to Him, it's according to His will. God's power is, in verse 23, "the fullness of Him who fills all in all." Look in verse 23: "which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all." As power is unfolded here, you see all of these verses following this idea of power to illustrate it. So the same power not only raised Christ — look back here again in verse 20 — the same power not only raised Christ, but it elevated Christ. In verse 20: "which He worked in Christ by raising Him from the dead" — illustration — "and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places." This is the elevating power, the ascension power, which seated Christ beside the Father at the throne in heaven. This power that raised Christ from the grave and elevated Him to heaven — the same uplifting current, this action is available for Christians.

The same power — not only it raised Christ, elevated Christ to the right hand — is for us. Paul is praying: "Ephesians, know this. Congregation at Ephesus, listen — I know the marketplace, the center of town, is saturated with paganism. I know that in order for you to be able to do business, you have to interact with some of the grossest, sin-saturated situations ever. I know that, Christians — this is the center of town — I know that you've got a temple to Artemis, I know that there's a temple to Diana, I know that these gross sexual orgies called worship are happening. I know that in this secular society all of this has happened. But you have the power to live according to the Word of God. You have this ability to reject evil, to resist the devil, and he will flee from you. You have the power to live in Ephesus and worship Yahweh, to worship God. You don't have to worry about Nero, you don't have to worry about Domitian, and you don't have to worry about these emperors that say, 'I'm God, worship me.' You don't have to worry about pinching incense to get into the market to be able to buy and sell." One way in, one way out in the Ephesian market — if you wanted to buy, if you wanted to sell, if you wanted to do business, if you wanted to go grocery shopping, you had to pinch the incense and give your offering unto the emperor. Emperor worship. Christians were forced to do that. That's terrible, isn't it?

Would you go into the marketplace if you had to do a head nod to Buddha or something like that? Would you go into the same marketplace if you had to kneel down, pinch some incense, and offer it up to a false God? Paul is saying you have the power not to do that. You have the power to live righteously in a sin-saturated world. This is the power that we need to be tapped into because in and of ourselves we are empty and we are weak and we are temptable, we are susceptible, we could be tricked and we can be skewed. We need the power of God. We need His wisdom, His righteousness. We need Him living and fueling us. Exceedingly great power — Paul is emphatically praying that they would have it. Paul is confidently praying that they would have it, and he is asking for God to bestow upon them this great power for life. And so Paul doesn't doubt because he knows that the same power that raised Christ and elevated Christ is available, and His power is continuously available. It is a continuous operation of God toward us. It's not like it stops. It's a continuous action. And so the steady stream of dynamic, divine, unending power is available to those who believe but also who are exercising their faith.

You see, you may believe but you may not be walking by faith. You may believe and you may have faith, but you may not be exercising your faith. Were there not opportunities for you to exercise your faith? For the Ephesians, they had to exercise their faith. "I have faith, Lord, that You're going to feed my family without me having to compromise and go into the pagan market and worship a false God just to be able to stay alive." They were exercising their faith. And James chapter two verse 20 says that faith without works is dead. You have to exercise your faith. When there's an opportunity for you to stand and to be strong or to speak up, exercise your faith. There are going to be consequences. There are going to be those things in this world. We live in the world but we're not of the world. We need God's power given to us to be able to do this. And then, being saved ones, we have the opportunity to take a step in the right direction, in the direction of righteousness, and believe God will work it out for His glory — and you're good whether you're going to be abounding or abased.

So do not have any fear of the consequences. Do not be pragmatic. Don't live pragmatically, saying to yourself, "Okay, well, whatever ends I want to achieve erases the means, so I can do whatever I want along the way as long as, in my good-heartedness, the end result is what I think is best." You see how you are usurping God's power and determining your own goals? No, no, no. It's our job to remain faithful, to continue in the Word. It's our job to allow God to work out our lives according to His will, not our will. Don't usurp even the model prayer and make for yourself a goal and get there however pragmatically you can. "It's gonna be better if I just fudge my taxes just a little bit. It's gonna be better if I shave off a little bit over here. I can compromise my ethics to be able to reach a better goal because I need the money to do..." — see, none of this type of living is for those who submit to the power of God. But you have the opportunity to walk by faith and exercise these steps of righteousness, and you will see the power of God in your life in amazing ways.

And so it seems that there are perhaps two variables in the extent here: the extent that we are willing, and then the extent of God's will. The extent for which you are willing to walk by faith and not by sight is a limiting factor, and then the extent of God's will is obviously an extent of His power. So Paul describes this in this great and exceeding way, and perhaps through him heaping on all of these emphases and specifics and motives in verses 19 to 23 will help us to understand God's unlimited power. In fact, there is an intensification of these specifics in the text.

There's a list here of examples of His power, and this intensification is seen by looking at the words in verse 20: "raising" and "seating," "far above," "all things," "gave unto Him as the head," "the fullness," and "who fills all in all." It's almost like here is this wonderful prayer and Paul is chronologically working out in his mind the intensification of a comprehension of His power that's available to us — so he reaches to where they are in their limited knowledge and he stretches their knowledge. Paul is not randomly, sporadically scatterbrained on this subject. In verse 20 he starts at earth — "raised Him from the dead." Then he goes to heaven in verse 20 — "seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places" and "far above all rule and authority and power." Then in verse 21 he goes over into eternity, "the age to come." And then he circles back around to the now in verse 22: "And He put all things in subjection under His feet and gave Him as head over all things to the church." So this power described by Paul — God's power — starts with the here and the now on earth, and then it takes our minds up to heaven, and then it circles over into eternity, and then comes back to the here and now.

So this is an attainable intensification of God's power in your life. Should you not think that you'll grow in your faith? Should you not think that you should grow in how you move from milk to meat in the Word and be able to live out God's truths? Do you think it is not logical for God's power to start in a very small way in your life — for Him to test you and to work and see how faithful you are, and then bestow upon you a little bit more and more and more based upon your faithfulness — and how He would watch you to see if you take the glory for the powerful thing that happened, or if you give God the glory for any little thing that happens in your life? Anything of good that comes from us is of God, right? And so we give God the glory and we thank Him every single day in every single way. And so He is helping us to see that this intensification of reasonings and meanings is for us to continue to grow in our faith and know His power. It's according to Him. He distributes this power gradually and helps us to be able to walk by faith and not by sight.

And so Paul's descriptive imagery here — it's literally just pregnant with deep meaning. And let me zoom in on verse 20 and the phrase "at His right hand." Verse 20: "which He worked in Christ by raising Him from the dead and seating Him at His right hand." It's been said that God's right hand is symbolic of His power. It's also a position of honor and happiness. Three points: seated at His right hand is an illustration of the power that is available to Christians. And to be empowered by God, by way of application, is — number one — to be in a place of honor, a place of honor, which is above all.

In verse 21 it says, "far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age to come, but also in the one to come." This is an honor. It is an honor to have obtained an ounce of God's power. To have any type of God's power at all, to be on His behalf — it's an honor. So to be at the right hand of God is an honor. Number one, it's a place of honor. You're above, you have been lifted up, you have been placed above others, and this is honor. And so you can say to yourselves, one another and each other, "Your honor."

That's a joke. So, "Your honor" — you're in a position of honor. For those of you who know Christ and you're walking in Him, you are honorable. This is wonderful — to be a Christian, to hold your heads up, to walk around with confidence in Christ and not yourself. Not that we have a chip on our shoulder at all. It's just that we are at peace with God. This is a place of honor. And we need to act like who we are, being children of God. It is a place of honor in how we live with dignity, how we live honoring Christ, how we live respectfully, how we live above reproach, and even loving our neighbors and loving and being a blessing to our enemies. This is a position of honor. This is an honorable way to live and be. And so to know God, to truly have a full knowledge of Him and to know His power, number one, is a place of honor, because like Christ in the illustration here, He has been seated far above.

Number two, it's a place of power. This is something that we need to know — that you have within your ability to simply walk with Christ. "Nothing formed against you is going to prosper." Just walk with the Lord. If God allows it, it's His will. And you're confident in that. And there's power in knowing that whatever happens is God's will, and I praise Him for it. And so I'm going to walk confidently, empowered by God. And so when you have the opportunity to live out this power inwardly, proceed by faith and be empowered to speak when you need to speak, to live as Christ calls you to live in these things — the place of power. All things are in subjection and He is the head. This illustration of power now is the illustration of us being empowered. So it's a place of honor, it's a place of power.

Thirdly, it's a place of happiness. This is an amazing thing to think about — God's right hand. There are joys evermore. Psalm 16:11 says, "At Your right hand, there are pleasures forevermore." This illustration of Christ being at the right hand of God is not only a place of honor and power, but of happiness as well. Our inner disposition is that of joy. My inner disposition, because I'm saturated with Christ, because I'm saturating myself with the Word of God, is that of inner joy. I have a place of happiness because I've been placed here by God. It's an amazing thing. And so when we delight ourselves in the Lord and He gives us the desires of our heart, the motives of our heart, the words that come from our heart are all that of rejoicing evermore, of joy. And so we are able to live from a standpoint of joy and happiness because of this.

And you know that one day there's a percentage of us in here that'll get dementia. And at that point, when the words start coming out of your mouth, it reveals the condition of your heart. Oh, I pray that I'm a happy old man. I don't want to cause my girls or my family just to burn. That raunchy negative — old guys always complaining every single day. If he only knew what he was saying. I want to be so saturated in the Word of God, so saturated in the power and the honor and all these wonderful truths, that it just washes out all the negativity, washes out all of the criticism, washes out all of the doubt in God.

It's so easy to stoop into worriedness, into anxiety, into negativity. When you watch too much of the news, when you fill yourself with the world, when you see the decline of our nation, when you see all these different things — when you see the public school system and all the atrocities going on, allowing pornography in the libraries, and when you see selfism as a new religion for our younger generation and how they are so selfish and self-centered rather than Christ-centered — when you see all these things, it's real easy to get down. It's real easy to be negative. It's real easy to talk about those things more, but that's not being a part of the solution. Pray about those things and then be a part of the solution. Live in an honoring way. Live in power to make a difference in this world. Do what you can while you can. Truly live out this power for living, this power for Christ, this power that Christ wants to work in and through us. He has given you by His authority this power. He has commissioned you and He's told you, "I want to do this through you."

So therefore, to the one who remains aloof and skeptical of God, they forfeit honor, they forfeit power, and they forfeit happiness. The ones who are skeptical of fully being devoted to Christ — being all in, I mean heart, soul, mind, and strength, all in — for those who are not fully bought in and fully committed, they're not fully becoming disciples of Christ. They forfeit a whole lot and they reserve for themselves their own power for living, their own way of spending their money, their own way of expending their energy. This is a big one, church — listen to me.

If you want to summarize Christianity, you can say one, two, three: salvation, sanctification, and service. I've seen it all my life. Salvation's first, sanctification — growing in Christ — is second, and then service. The ones who truly love Christ and are truly saved not only grow in their faith, but they serve Christ with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. But I have seen many and buried many whom reserved their energies, said, "I don't want to do that." And at the end of the day, when that funeral comes, it's really strange as to what their true priorities were, because when you get around their family, you find out the facts of their life behind the scenes. I'm like, "Well, that doesn't match up with Christianity at all. I can't believe that he was dedicated to the Masonic Lodge all these years. No wonder he reserved his money and time. No wonder he reserved himself. No wonder he was always counting the cost as to whether it would be worth his time to come and serve in the local church. No wonder he was reserved." He forfeited, she forfeited this life in Christ, this happiness, and so much is understood through that.

So I encourage you today — do not withhold yourself from Christ because this unlimited amount of power for life is understood gradually. If you simply walk by faith and not by sight, God will work it out. His will for your life will be paid for. His will for your life will be blessed as you simply walk in Him. So there's no neutral ground with Christ. You're either climbing or declining. You're either growing or you're not. You're either becoming brighter in Christ or dimmer in Christ. And so it's an honor to know God, to be an ambassador for Him, and it's an honor to be in a place of honor, and gradually you become more and more powerful. And God's power is going to help you to cultivate a godly marriage, to cultivate godly children, to cultivate a godly church, to cultivate the simplest decisions that you make every single day in a godly way. This is God's power for you, and I praise God for the power.

Now, as I start to land this plane, by looking at the verbs that are tied to describing God's power, it reveals some amazing things. God's power toward us who believe in the text: number one, is presently working; number two, it is by His might; number three, it is by His strength; number four, in times past He has worked; number five, it is by raising; number six, it's by seating; number seven, it is by putting all things in subjection; number eight, it's by giving; number nine, it is presently the fullness of life; and number ten, it is presently filling all in all. All of this compounded detail, all of this language, is helping us to understand that Paul is emphasizing the power that is available for Christians who walk with Christ, and he wants them to know this. This is worthy of our study. It's worthy of our attention.

So how important is it for the Ephesian church to comprehend God's power toward them? Well, it's enough to have put this subject last in this first prayer, to place emphasis upon it, and to put all of these verbs and all of this description on top of the idea of power. And plus, he precedes power with what is called an invocative, emphatic expression, to place emphasis upon power. If we were fluent in Greek, we would be astonished at how the Apostle Paul adds meaning and places emphasis upon this particular expression of power. Furthermore, Paul goes on to repeat the word "power" in the Ephesian letter four more times — in 3:7, 3:16, 3:20, and 6:10. This is no simple subject.

And so as loudly and as clearly as Paul can write — it would almost be like it's in all caps — he is screaming here to the Ephesians saying: "Listen, reject and run from the evil powers in your day. The pagan cults, the magicians, and all the earthly powers — resist and run from those and stay in tune with the power of God." As much as you can see that you need to — like he said to the Romans — "hate what is evil and cling to what is good." This is power for life. This places you in a position of honor. This places you in a position of power. And this places you in a position of happiness. And that's just an ounce of what can be mined out of verses 19 to 23.

May I mention as well that physical power and strength are simply weak and worthless as compared to the power of God. Our physical power and our might in our own strength is useless. Paul said, "When I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Corinthians 12:10. If you take anything home today, remember Paul — highly educated, mighty man of God, empowered by the Holy Spirit. He knew how to disciple men. In Colossians chapter one verses 27, 28, and 29, it was the mighty power of God working through him, and he gave glory to God for it. But he said, "When I am weak, then I am strong." And so the closer you get to Christ, the weaker you become because of how dependent you know you are upon Christ. You recognize that — "I can't do it. I need Jesus."

A huge sub-point in this idea is that the power is bestowed not only upon individuals but upon the corporate church as well. When the church meets corporately, there's power. When you come together as a church to worship Jesus, there's encouragement, there's direction, there's all kinds of inner strengthening when you come to church. And so remember, God's power is not just expressed toward individuals but also to the church when they meet corporately. That for which you benefit when you come to church cannot be obtained in your pajamas in the bedroom watching online. There's a power that you miss out on completely when you're not in person worshiping. There is something that is just not right — it's the lack of power, it's the lack of God's working in your life by being a part of the body. How do you know this? Because He uses words like "us" and the word "body" in verse 23: "which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all." And so the church is refilled with hope and power when it gathers.

And now, by way of conclusion, I simply say to you by observation that I have found that more power in your life means priorities change. When God gives you more power, when you yield to Him, it changes things in your life. You say no to meaningless things and you say yes to meaningful things. Meaningful things — fulfilling God's will in your life — require all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And so as you engage in God's power for living, uselessness goes by the wayside. And you start spending your time on the things of God. And the things that do not build up for the things of eternity in people's lives — like making disciples and sharing the gospel, like studying the Bible — other things seem to fade away. We're not looking for hobbies to fill up our time and take our money, as Christians. We're looking for ways to spend more time with God and to know Him. And so I say to you: those of us who engage with God, who seek Christ, who tap into this power, have already seen their life priorities start to change.

So your life changes. Not only do your priorities change, but perilous times come. God grows us by stretching us. God grows us by breaking us down and building us back up. There are a lot of things that cannot be weeded out of our lives unless our life is just shattered. And then He puts back into place the things that ought to be. And God does these things and we just have to hold on for all of our abilities. And so if you were to engage in God's power, not only would you have priorities changing in your life and go through perilous times, but you will have passion. A passion that is far beyond all worldly things. You will have more passion, more fellowship, more wonders inside of you, more on the inside than you can even put language to. Christ is your all in all. It's like everything. It is so beautiful and so wonderful to be tapped into the source of all creation that all you can think about and speak about and want to do and be around is things of Christ. Christ is your life, and you're so passionate about these things. Everywhere you go — I have this T-shirt, my favorite, I don't want to... never mind. All right, so passion.

Not only that, you will be perpetually falling on your knees. For those who tap into God's power realize how weak they really are. The disciples of Christ knew where His power came from, and they asked Him to teach them how to pray. And you will realize that whatever the Lord has placed in front of your life will not be accomplished unless you bow down and pray for help. You ask Christ. And so the things that are before you are ordained by God, and they will not happen unless you yield by prayer to His power, and He'll work it out. It's a beautiful thing. And at the end of the day, He gets all of the glory, and we are more and more in awe of Him. It makes you want to come back to church and sing louder and pray more and tell people about Jesus. It makes you want to live brighter in Christ. All of the things of this world just seem to become dimmer and dimmer, and Christ gets brighter and brighter as you walk with Him. It's a wonderful, wonderful walk with Christ.

And so in conclusion, I say to us always: the problem is sin and the solution is Jesus. If you've never been saved, then the Bible commands every person everywhere to repent and believe the gospel. Mark 1:15. What is the gospel? It's specified in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verses one through four. The gospel is the death of Jesus Christ in your place as a payment for your sin's consequences. He was the one who was beaten, battered, and bruised in your place. Your sin's consequences are death and eternity in hell. You cannot pay for that, but Christ did for you. He is your substitute. And so on the cross, Christ paid for your sin debt. And we're eternally indebted to Him, and we will eternally praise Him for doing for us what we could not do for ourselves. And so the death, the burial, and the resurrection — like we've talked about today, the power of God that raised Christ from the dead — if you would confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you can be saved. Romans 10:9. And so the ball is in your court. You have the gospel. You have the truth of God's Word. If you have never responded by repenting of your sin and placing your faith and trust in Jesus, you are encouraged, even commanded, to do that today before it's too late.

Pray with me if you would. Father, thank You for today. I pray that You continue to demonstrate Your power to those of us who would be willing to walk by faith and not by sight, to be willing to be a bold witness, dear Jesus, to be willing to engage fully in prayer and Bible study and all that You have for us. Inch by inch, foot by foot, mile by mile, You would take and lead us, dear God, to knowing You more. Paul made it a purpose statement to know You more, in the fellowship of Your sufferings, in the fellowship, Lord, of being able to walk with You. I pray, God, for this dear congregation, that You would bless us indeed, that You would help us to understand Your power, like Paul prayed for the Ephesian church. I pray for us all, Lord, to know Your hope and Your riches and Your power. I pray, Father, that You would have a special bestowal of Your blessings upon us, to cause us, Lord, to seek You, to know You deeper and more. May this remainder of this wonderful year of 2024 be a mile marker in our spiritual walk. May it be something where we decided to fully engage with You, dear Jesus, by prayer, to know Your power, to walk by faith and not by sight. I pray, Father, a special bestowal of Your blessings upon us all, that we would be able to share the gospel and make disciples, that we would worship You in truth and in Spirit, that we would dive deep into Bible study, that we would become evangelists and disciple-makers and true worshipers of You, dear Jesus, reserving nothing, holding nothing back, aiming at heaven, loving You with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. I pray that You would make us fully devoted disciples. I pray that if anyone here is not saved, that You, by Your good Holy Spirit, would draw that soul unto You, unto a sorrowful repentance that proclaims You as Lord, as Master, as Savior. God, we ask these things in Christ's name, and we all said amen.