So welcome to those of you who are joining us online. Thanks for being part of that, especially those of you who are joining us in person. It's a great day to be together in the Lord's house as in on the Lord's day. And so we're glad that you are here in a very special time as well. As we look forward also to a couple more young people who get to tell their story of what Jesus has done in their lives and to encourage and challenge us as we walk with Christ. And if you don't yet know Jesus, we would invite you to know him. The first song that our praise team let us in was certainly a great one that reminds us of that. Well, this morning I want you to see and understand that prayer can really change your life. So often there are individuals who think that prayer is often that last thing you do because nothing else seems to work, right? You know, well, I've tried everything else, so I guess we need to pray. And I want you to see this morning that prayer can change things for you and in your life, but also for your family, for your spouse, for your children. It can change the lives of those around you. Prayer really does change things. And especially for those who have walked with God for some period of time and have come to know Him. I'm not referring to some sort of gimmicky prayer. There are certainly those that are out there or some mantra that perhaps if you cycle through on almost on a repeat kind of thing that that will do something for you. I'm not talking about those kinds of things, those mantras that will remove physical difficulty, provide financial health and security and make sure that all your investments go the right way and all those other kinds of things that we face these days. Quite a few years ago, There was an individual who wrote a book, he should have known better, he published a book, and it was based on a short prayer in the Old Testament, and it was called the Prayer of Jabez. Some of you perhaps remember that. It was a New York Times bestseller. And basically what he says, that if you prayed the prayer of Jabez, which basically is this, Lord enlarge my borders, that you will be much more healthy, that you will be much more wealthy, that everything will turn out well in your life. And all you need to do is pray that every day. And there were individuals who purchased a book who didn't even know Christ, but they began to pray that and say, you know, it seems to work. Friends, that's a good luck charm. And that is not the kind of prayer that we are talking about this morning. The prayer that we want to look at this morning is a prayer that the Apostle Paul prayed for the Ephesian elders. Actually, he prayed it for the Ephesian church. And even by implication, if you recall, the letter to the Ephesian church was meant to be a cyclical letter. It was meant to be passed on to other churches. Although it was addressed to the church in Ephesus, it had the idea that it was to go broader than that. And because Paul wrote it, you and I have it today. We have the privilege to read this particular prayer for ourselves and to understand what prayer is all about, how Paul prayed. We often learn to pray by listening and watching others pray. It's one of the purposes, certainly, of public prayer is to talk to God and to express our heart to God. Not that God doesn't know what we're thinking, but that's part of public prayer. But another part of public prayer is it becomes a teaching moment. That we teach by the way we pray individuals around us. Those of you who have young children, you understand that. Pretty soon it doesn't take very long and you listen to them and you begin to realize you hear that yourselves in those prayers. And so I do trust that parents, whether you sitting around the dining room table, eating dinner, or if you're out and about, or if it's a prayer before bedtime, that you're doing something publicly with your children to teach them to pray. That's what Paul is doing here as he expresses for himself and by the way by extension grandparents you have a significant part as well as you lead your children. So Paul is instructing us on how to pray though he is specifically addressing some specific needs in the church at Ephesus. And so I invite you to grab a Bible. Turn to Ephesians chapter 3. We'll be throwing some verses up on the screen so that you can see them there. But I encourage you, if you have access to a Bible, there are some in the chair around you. And it's page 1170 if you want to follow along in one of the church Bibles there. And by the way, if you don't have a Bible, Let us know, we'll be happy to get you one. You can take one of the ones from here. You're not stealing, it's our gift to you. And just let us know you're doing that so we can replace it. Or if you would rather have a different one, let us know. Because this is God's word to us. This is our textbook. In the next couple of weeks, we'll be able to celebrate some of the graduation of some of our young people from high school. And one of the things that is done by way of our church family is to give them a Bible. Again, it's not meant to be a good luck charm that if you just, you know, kind of keep it with you. I heard one gentleman say, yeah, I got my good luck, I've got my Bible on a seat right sitting next to my pickup so I don't get in any accidents. That's not the purpose of a Bible. It's so that we might open it and that it might change our lives. And so this morning, Ephesians chapter three that we're going to look at together, a prayer, a life-changing prayer. There are five specific requests that Paul gives to us in this section in verses 14 down through verse 19. And I would encourage you to write these down, the main points down, so that you might pray this for yourself. so that you might pray this for your spouse, so that you might pray this for your children, for your families, for your relatives, for people that you know. These are five specific prayer requests that Paul gives to us. Now frankly, This is the best I could do with my outline. If you know anything about Paul, and we've spent a little bit of time there, it's hard to outline. In fact, I changed it this morning as I was going through it, thinking, you know, that part just doesn't fit. We're gonna go with five instead of four. And you say, why do you do that? Because we look at the text, and there are five different times that Paul uses the phrase that, so that, or in order that, which means it is what kind of a clause? Purpose clause. This is why I'm praying. And so we find that together. So the first specific request, it's a little bit longer section because Paul goes back into some background about how to pray. And so in verse beginning, in verse 14 of chapter three, Paul writes this, therefore, I ask you not to lose heart at my tribulation. That's verse 13. For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father. If you remember, that takes you back to chapter 3, verse 1. So if you've got a Bible open, you can see the flow of the text, where Paul says, for this reason, I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ, for the sake of you Gentiles. And then he goes off on a rabbit trail from verses 12 to 13. And he's reminded of the gospel, and for this reason, and then he thinks through what God has done, and then you've got to flip back to chapter 1, and the fact that God has chosen and sealed individuals and called them to be part of his family. And we see in chapter two that we are saved by grace. It's nothing that you and I do to earn God's merit, that we all come on equal plane before God. It isn't a matter, baptism is important, but baptism doesn't save. Being part of a local church is important, but that doesn't save us. Being here on a Sunday morning is important, but that doesn't save us. That we are saved by faith in what Jesus has already done for us. It is finished. That's what Jesus shouted from the cross in victory. It stands finished. It's finished from this point on forever. It's the tense that is used. It's a perfect tense. That means from this point on, this decision, this action has occurred and now it goes on forever. We don't need to repeat it. And our salvation was purchased by Jesus. And so we are saved by grace and we go a little bit farther in chapter two, we are united into one body. It doesn't make any difference what our racial background is, what our economic background is, what our religious background is until we know Christ. We are then brought into one body, the church. And it's a mystery, Paul says, beginning in verse two of chapter three. And then he says, oh, let me get back to my prayer in verse 14. And so Paul says his first request is that we would be strengthened with God's power. That's verse 14. therefore I bow my knees before God from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name verse 15 that we should that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power through his spirit in the inner man so Paul starts off with saying here's my prayer you say so what's the verb what's the prayer and you ultimately get to it in verse 16 that you might be strengthened Peter writes of the Apostle Paul that Paul writes some things that are hard to understand No kidding. For this reason, we just looked at that, I bow my knees. There are many different postures of prayer. In fact, in the New Testament, most often it was individuals stood to pray and they would look up and they would look up to heaven, reminder of who God is. But bowing their knee reminds us that there is submission. That I am bowing my knee before Almighty God. that I bow my knees and there's authority that is assumed that God is sovereign over everything. And so I am bowing my knees before the Father. And we wrestle again with the phrase from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. We know that not everybody's part of God's family. We aren't part of God's family. We're not born as part of God's family. We have to accept what Jesus has done and we're brought into God's family. So it may be that Paul is saying that this idea of the fatherhood of God is kind of archetypal, that when we see families and we see fathers, that ultimately God is the ultimate father. This is what fatherhood looks like. for those of you who are dads and fathers. This is what it looks like. It's also possible to understand this from whom the whole family, whether in heaven or on earth, and so referring specifically to the Christian family, those who have trusted Christ. But there's the fatherhood of God. But notice what Paul says. He doesn't start off with, Oh, eternal King of glory. There's a familiarity. that Paul has spent so much time in his life praying that it isn't as if, you know, God who's so far off, God who's this distant being, God you're like a father to me. And I realize that there are some individuals whose dads didn't measure up to what they probably should have or what they should have. But nevertheless, we have the ideal picture of what a father is like. And so Paul refers to the fact that we have this familiarity with the sovereign ruler, the God of the universe. Notice verse 15, that this is my prayer. He says, I'm praying for you to be strengthened according to the riches of his glory. Well, the riches of God's glory is infinite. God's not stingy. Someone has put it this way. If you were to go to, you know, you needed some funds, and so you would go to meet a billionaire, and you say, hey, I just, I'm running short on cash. Can you help me with my mortgage for this month? And they give you a thousand dollars. You know, what that individual has done, he's paid just out of his funds. But if you said, sure, and he writes you a check for a million dollars, he's paid you according to. And there's a difference according to the riches of Christ. This is what God does for us. Every time I come across this phrase, according to the riches of his glory, I'm reminded of one of our church family members who've gone on to be with Jesus. It was always a privilege to pray with him. It might have been on a Wednesday night prayer, some other time of prayer would be gathered together. And this was one of his favorite phrases, the God that you would do this according to your riches and glory. The individual was Harold Clark. A guy who walked with God for a lot of years and just a faithful individual. And God would you do this according to your riches in glory. And so they finally come to the specific prayer that you would strengthen the inner man. That's the inner man versus the outer man, the inside of us. Because for those of you youngsters, you think you've got strength and you've got health and you're looking forward to all of that. And for some of us past that piece a bit, we realize that there are more aches and pains than what we used to have. You know, we've rolled the ankle just a few too many times and now there's a little bit of arthritis that's building up in there. Or your hands are getting, you know, you did a lot of work and so as a result of that, you know, twisting dials and maybe wiring houses and doing plumbing and carpal tunnel has set in. And we realize that this outer body is beginning to decline. I saw a t-shirt that said, I gotta quit hanging around with all these old people my age. Now I don't wanna quit hanging around with all of you my age. But the point that Paul makes is though our outer man, our outer body is declining in health and he goes on, this is very important. And yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. We can complain about the aches and pains that we didn't used to have. And we realize that, you know, we've passed that pinnacle, whatever of what it used to be, we're not sure. But the inner person, the person, the spiritual part of us that is walking with God can be growing. That even though the outer part is declining, yet the inner person ought to be, but it's not automatic. It isn't automatic that I grow in my inner person with Jesus just because I add another year to my age, or another month to my age. It's not automatic. And we need to be strengthened in the inner man, and that's what Paul is praying for right here. That the outer man is declining, but the inner man can be renewed. And we don't have to pray, well, if this be your will, because this is God's will. And so Paul says, I want us to be strengthened in the inner man. It's almost like he continues to build a set of ladder rungs as he goes through. And so the first prayer request that he has is that God might grant you strength with his power so that the inner man might be restored, the inner man might grow, the inner man might mature. Secondly, Paul's second request is found in verse 17. So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, and that you being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth, length, height, and depth of Christ. That Christ would dwell in our hearts. Say, well, I thought when I became a Christian, Jesus came in to live within me, the Holy Spirit came to live within me. That's absolutely true. So what does Paul mean by this word dwell? The word dwell has the idea of be at home. That Christ might be at home in my life, in my heart, in my inner person. You see, Christ didn't save us to be a guest in our life. You just kinda hang out over there. You know the difference, you go into somebody's home and they say, make yourself at home. And you know they mean it. That means you have access to the refrigerator. You have access to the special chair. You have access to anything in the house. They really mean it. There's nothing off-duty, out of order, and you're not allowed to go to. There's nothing like that. And probably most of us have been in some homes where You know, they might have said make yourself at home, or maybe they never said it. But you knew you didn't dare do it. Man, that's a... I'm just going to stay out of there. And so, you know, what is being said here is that Christ would have full access to our lives. That it isn't a matter where we say to Jesus, hey, come live, but don't open that closet door. Don't go into that room, that's the junk room, and I kind of keep it to myself, and don't go down there, that's the man cave, that's my territory. That Christ has full access to every part of our life, and that's what Paul is praying for. And so I ask the question of myself, are there certain areas, I need to pray for this, are there certain areas in my life that I've kind of put off limits to the work of Jesus? Notice it says in verse 17, by faith, by faith. Faith is not passive, it's active. When we put our faith and trust in Christ, that's merely the beginning or that's only the beginning, it's not the end, it's kind of like a, at a wedding ceremony where that's not the end of the process, that's the beginning of a life together. And so when we trust Christ, that's the beginning. It's not like, okay, I got that part of my life kind of in a category, now I can go on with the rest of my life. And so Paul says, I wanna see this happen in your life. I wanna see God at work by faith as you exercise your faith. And it doesn't happen by osmosis. My biological father went to be with Jesus early, about 43 years of life, and we were going through some of his things, and we found a speaker about yea big, and it was about a five inch, and had a quarter inch plug on the end. And I asked mom, I said, what in the world's this? Well, he was going through seminary, he was trying to learn Greek, and there was a set of tapes, reel-to-reel back in the day, at least it wasn't 8-track, but anyway. You know, there was a set of tapes that you could buy that was going to teach you Greek, and the idea was that you would put it on your reel-to-reel player, and you would put this device under your pillow, the speaker under your pillow, so that you could go to sleep and you could learn a language that way. Some of you have tried that with math. You put your math book under your pillow. You don't do that. It's active, it takes work, it takes investment, and that's true in our Christian faith. That God is not after a brill cream Christianity. Now for some of you, again, younger folk, you're gonna have to learn, I did look it up, it is still being sold. It is still being sold. But if you, and it's for guys primarily, but if you read the advert, the advertisements used to be what? Do you remember? A little dab will do ya. Yeah, some of you just got an education. But that's not Christianity, that a little dab, if I do something for an hour on a Sunday morning, or a couple times on a Sunday morning, you know, a few times a month, or whatever it is, that that's what Christianity is all about. No, it's a walk with Jesus. It's life transforming, dear friends. And so what Paul is praying for is that Christ might settle down and be in our hearts and be the rightful owner. The third request, last part of verse 17, that we might comprehend the love of Christ, and that you, and that you might, it's kind of an ellipsis, that you might be rooted and grounded in the love, and may be able to comprehend, and there's the prayer request, first part of verse 18, that you might comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height of God's love. That's a rather convicting verse for me because I'm thinking, you know, I haven't really gotten to comprehend. It's my fault. Comprehend God's love for me. Because I don't take the time to think in terms of it, to pray for this particular thing. To comprehend, to understand that the God of the universe loved you while you were still an enemy of His. In fact, before you were even born. and is calling you to be part of His family, He's called me to be part of His family. And that Jesus went to the cross to pay for my sins and my failures. So that I might have those sins and failures covered and forgiven and put in the past. And that Christ continues to live within me and to seek my good and the best for me doesn't mean it always ends up really nicely as the way I might write the story. That we might comprehend with all the saints. Notice he said rooted and grounded. That this love that we're to have to understand, to comprehend or apprehend is to be rooted and grounded. If you've had a, maybe planted a tree sometime and soil was really, really wet and the storm comes through and it blew it down and you looked at it a few years later and you realize the roots didn't go down very deep. It couldn't withstand the storms of life. And so we're called to be rooted. So when the storms do come and Jesus talks about this in Luke 16, which they will, That we are grounded in Christ and comprehend His love. That God has, it's not because He hates me or because He's too busy someplace else. That I might comprehend God's love for me. That you might comprehend God's love for you. And then Paul does something that would drive grammarians nuts. He mixes his metaphors. Rooted and grounded. Rooted is botanical. Grounding, it has to do with building and architectural. If you've built a house, you know it takes some time to build a good foundation. It takes some time. All they're doing is digging a hole in the ground. I remember hearing somebody, they were in the process of doing an addition, not to a house, but to a building. And he was semi-complaining to the builder about, you know, you've been at this for a long time. God is this hole in the ground. What's going on? And the response of the builders, if you don't go deep, you can't go high. If we don't go deep in the love of Christ, we can't build on that very high. And so that's what Paul is saying, that we might know the breadth and the length and the height and the depth, and I don't know that we need to try and identify specifically. It means that God's love is all-encompassing. And Paul says, I'm willing to sacrifice everything I know to know the love of Christ, which surpasses, which surpasses knowledge. Say, wait a minute, that's an oxymoron. How are you praying to know something that's unknowable? Well, it's fact is that we set out on this journey and we'll never get it all. We'll never come to a point and say, got that mastered. I have now comprehended the love of Christ. Check. There's a fourth request that Paul gives to us, that we might know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge. The first to say, well, how's that different from the previous one? Well, I think comprehend, understand, but this is an experiential kind of thing. that we experience within our own lives the love of Jesus. Paul elsewhere talks about the idea that the love of Christ is shed abroad, is poured out into our hearts and into our lives, so that it fills up and spills out on other people. Maybe, you know, sometime you've been asked to pour something, maybe coffee into a coffee cup, and all of a sudden you're not paying quite as much attention as we could or should have, and it spills out. It is overflowing. Dear friends, that's what should be part of our life. If we comprehend the love of Christ and the work of Christ is at work within us, then it ought to spill out on other people. To know it in a deeper way. Stop and think about what that would look like in our homes. If the love of Christ were spilling out, if it's so overflowed my life that it spilled out on the people and the relationships that I have. Wouldn't that revolutionize home? Now many of you are in the process of doing that. It doesn't mean there are not some disagreements that you might have from time to time because we are different people. but for an individual to go through life saying, I'm a follower of Jesus. Long face, make everybody's life miserable, say, I don't know, do you approach it and say, you need a little more Jesus in your life. And so the Christian family ought to exemplify God's love toward each other. And then lastly, number five is fifth request. And that might be filled to the fullness of God. That's the last part of verse 19. And that you may be filled with all the fullness, all the fullness of God. And you see how each of the requests are built on the previous one. So that we come to a point in our lives where all the fullness of God is spilling out on others around us. That means in a marriage relationship, husband and wife, yes, there may be some disagreements, but the love of Christ spills out within it. It means between brothers and sisters, the love of Christ is spilling out. And if there's a continual animosity and say, well, we're Christians, but we just don't like each other, there's something wrong. There's something wrong. And I can assure you it's not because God's love isn't sufficient. And then Paul, as he comes to the conclusion of his prayer, so often happens, he breaks out in a doxology. When he begins to think all that is ours because of Christ, it's a doxology, it's an item of praise, it's saying to God how great, as we just begin to comprehend a little bit, and that's in verses 20 and 21. God, now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all that we ask or think. So we're praying for these things. God can do a whole lot more than what we're thinking. And in fact, what Paul does there, notice, exceedingly, abundantly, beyond. Now that's one, in English, or excuse me, in Greek, it's one word, but it's three words compressed together. So you just can't say it any better than that. That I want you to know God's love, which is exceedingly, abundantly, beyond all that we ask or think. What we think even possible. according to the power that works within us. We've already been exposed to the fact that the power of God is able to raise Jesus from the dead. The power of God created this world, just spoke it into existence. The power of God, we see the evidence of that. There's nothing outside of his ability. The power of God that works in us. No wonder Paul breaks forth in a benediction, right? God's power, if you're a follower of Jesus, is working and alive in you and in me. That's a phenomenal thought. So to him be glory, verse 21, in the church and in Christ. Again, we saw last week that it was through the church that God makes his wisdom known. saving work of Jesus. It wasn't known to the extent until the church was formed. It becomes a demonstration to the world. The church is important. It's not one of those things, well, you know, I hope they get it all done and maybe I'll show up. It isn't. In your Christian life, it's not just Jesus and you or Jesus and me. It's in the church. and in Christ Jesus for all generations, forever and ever. Doesn't end. Never ends. And then Paul tags on, amen. Now let me assure you, when you say amen, it doesn't mean you're letting God know you're done with your prayer. Amen means so let it be. It's a stamp saying, God, this is what's really on my heart. And so Paul says, may it be so. That God would grant you strength with His power, that Christ would dwell in your heart, that He would be at home, that God's love would be comprehended, that the love of Christ, which surpasses all knowledge, would be part of our life, and that we might be filled with the fullness of God. It's a great prayer for each of us who are followers of Jesus, and for those who know Him. So, friend, I ask you, have you trusted Christ? Have you put your faith and trust in Jesus? I'm not talking about being religious. Religion will keep you from heaven. We see that emphasized in the New Testament. Oh, I'm good. I do these things. No. It's faith and trust in Christ. What will keep us out of heaven is pride. I don't need that. I'm a pretty good person. I compare myself to somebody else who might be whatever. that Jesus himself loved you so much he went to the cross to pay for sins and failures, that whosoever believes in him will have eternal life. That's the words of Christ. So right where you are, you can put your faith and trust in Jesus. It begins now. In fact, that's the prayer you ought to be praying before you pray this prayer in Ephesians 3. Then for those of us who have become followers of Jesus, let's pursue a deepening walk with Christ. It's profitable, Paul says, for this life, and also for the one to come. Let's pray. By the way, before we do, those of you who are being baptized, if you can go ahead and slip on out, and then we'll pray. Lord, thank you so much for truth that you give to us, you care about us, you love us, and you offer to us the ability to know you and to walk with you. You offer to us life transformation. You offer to us the privilege of walking with you on a daily basis. And Father, this life-changing prayer, may that be part of our lives. May we pray it for ourselves. May we pray it for a spouse. May we pray it for our children. May our children pray it for us. May we pray it for family and relatives. But Father, if there are those who do not yet know you, That Father, even today, right where they are, when they leave, they can say, I need Jesus. I'm willing to put my faith and trust in Him. It's not based on church membership. It's not based on baptism. It's not based on some religious work. It's not based on comparison. I see myself as Jesus, someone who needs Him. And so I'm trusting Him for that. And Lord, those of us who have put our faith and trust, may we be an encouragement to those around us to transform, to see God transform us, but also relationships that we have. Bring hope to a world that is desperately looking for that, and so it's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.