When we left, it was just, I think it was the last service that we were here. One of the things was that I handed my set of church keys to Sean, and I turned in my church key to Sean. And he says, you know, Pastor, he says, why don't you keep it? You're still part of this family. And so now on my key ring, I have the church key. for Berean here. And every time I'm fumbling around to open my office door or open the church in Connecticut, I always see that key and it reminds me of all of you guys. And praise the Lord. You know, you never forget. You never forget. It's not out of sight, out of mind. You guys are always on my mind and appreciate all of you and all you've done over the years. Support me and my family and everything that you've done. I brought a gift for you today. It's a pineapple. And you may say, what in the world does a pineapple have to do with anything? Well, out on the East Coast in the port cities, particularly in Newport and other places like that, When the fishing boats and the whaling boats used to come back from the Caribbean, they would stick pineapples on the front of their boat if they did really well, and they're coming back with prosperity and blessing, almost as kind of like a, hey, welcome us back. and hey, good to be back kind of thing. And so wherever you go on the East Coast, like I said, particularly port cities and Newport, you'll see pineapples everywhere. Even light fixtures are made of pineapples and wrought iron pineapples in the fences and gates and things like that. It's all a symbol of blessing and prosperity upon return. And so I thought, well, we've got to bring some pineapples with us. Although these pineapples are not from the Caribbean, and they're not even from the East Coast, they're from Cobb. We thought we would just, the gesture would be good enough. So we brought a pineapple and many other pineapples that we'd like to share with all of you at the fellowship after the service, just as a way to say it's good to be back. And so that's what that means. So take your Bibles this morning, and I wanna start off at Hebrews chapter number four. Hebrews chapter number four. And I want to read a familiar passage of Scripture. This is not where I'm going to be this morning, but this is what I want to springboard off of or from this morning. And it says in verse number 16, it says, Come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. And you know, I was thinking about that verse as I was putting this message together, and I just praised the Lord this morning that we have a God that we can bring our burdens and our requests to. Meaning that if we are having a tough time, we can get on our knees and say, God, I'm having a tough time. I praise the Lord this morning that we serve a God who has not only told us that we can do this, He's given us a command in Scripture that we're supposed to take our burdens and lay them upon Him. And why is that? Well, we learn in 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse number 7, he says, casting all your care upon Him, for what reason? He cares for us. You know, so I was thinking about that this morning, that this whole thing of prayer, and the idea that God not only says we can, but we're supposed to bring our requests and our tribulations and all of the weight that is put upon our shoulders, we're supposed to bring them to His throne, and the Bible says we can find mercy and grace to help in our time of need. I'm just here this morning and saying, Praise God that we serve a God that cares about us enough to say, hey, why don't you bring your problems and lay them at my feet? Why don't you bring your problems and put them upon me because I care for you? We serve a living God, a loving God, but we serve a caring God. who is intricately involved in every aspect of our lives and all the things that we go through, whether we're on the mountaintop or whether we're in the valley, hey, our God is there with us. And He says, no matter what you're going through, just take that thing and bring it to Me, and I'll help you bear that burden. I'll bear it with you. you, you know, I'll bear it for you. And so I just praise the Lord this morning and say, I love that about God, that we can go to him and say, God, I need help. I need something. But you know, it was about a year ago, and I preach from my experience. I preach from things that I go through, what God reveals to me. And it was about a year ago, a little over a year ago, I've got to be very candid and honest with you here this morning, and say that I became disgusted with my prayer life. And you say, well, what was it? Because you weren't praying enough? No, it wasn't about the time, the quantity of the prayer. It was about the quality of my prayer. And it seemed like every time I was going before this great place called the throne of God, it seemed like I was always asking for something. You know? And it even seemed like when I was praying for other people, I was asking for things for them. And I thought to myself, Lord, there has got to be more to this prayer life than just asking you for things. You know, there's got to be more to this prayer life than just saying, Lord, can you give this person money? Can you give this person help? Can you help them with their health? Can you help them find a job? It just seemed like my whole prayer life revolved around getting things from God. And I became disgusted with that. And I said, Lord, there's got to be more to this prayer life than just coming to you every time we need something. We're supposed to have a relationship with God. That doesn't sound like much of a relationship. So I became disgusted and I said, God, I can't communicate with you on this basis alone any longer. Now, I got to tell you, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with asking God for things. God's told us that we can. There's nothing wrong with getting on your knees and saying, Lord, I have a friend of mine who's sick. God, I pray that you would help them and heal them. There's nothing wrong with that. God says to do that. There's nothing wrong with somebody who maybe is out of work and saying, God, boy, I'm praying for them right now, and Lord, I just pray that You would intervene on their behalf and give them a job. Give them something they can do, a way that they can earn money for their family. Lord, I know they're going through a tough time with this situation or that situation. God, intervene for them. There's nothing wrong with that. But there is something wrong when that is the depth of our prayer life period. Okay? And so about a year and a half ago, God gave me this passage of Scripture, and He said, if you want to go deeper in your prayer life and your understanding, then here's a passage of Scripture for you. And that's where I want you to turn this morning, in Ephesians chapter number 1. Ephesians chapter number 1. is a great passage of Scripture, because the Apostle Paul lays out for us exactly what he is praying for the church of Ephesus. The things that he is asking God. Now, I want to stop just here and say, this is a church that we're talking about. If you're not familiar with Scripture, this is a letter that the Apostle Paul wrote to the church that was in Ephesus. And so it's called Ephesians. And so this is a church, I would assume, much like any other church. There were probably many needs represented in this church. I'm sure if you were to get into a DeLorean and go back in time and pop into this church, you'd see a lot of similarities of the church that you see right here today. There's probably some families who are struggling with some things. There's probably some people in this church who are a little short on cash, and they've got bills to pay. There's probably some folks who are dealing with health issues in this church. Look, that's what church is. Church are people, right? And so we look at this and we say, well, the church of Ephesus, they weren't a spiritual superpower. They didn't have a place where they were able to get rid of all of their problems and erase them from the books. No, they're a church like anything else, anybody else, anywhere else. They have their problems. They have their needs. But I want you to notice what the Apostle Paul says in chapter number one that he's praying for them about. I want you to see this morning that I'm sure, without a doubt, the Apostle Paul was on his knees praying for things for them. I'm sure that he was praying for somebody with health problems. I'm sure that he was praying for somebody who was without a job. But I want you to see what he mentions in what he wrote to them. And he says, I'm praying for you. But I'm praying for three things that go a lot deeper than just getting and obtaining from God. And that's what I want to talk about this morning. Let's go to the Lord in prayer and let's just seek Him before we look at this passage. Father, it is good to be saved this morning. God, it is good to know that You, Lord, are our provider. God, it is good to know that you have told us that, Lord, if we have needs and burdens, Lord, you've said, bring them to me. God, you've told us that we can cast our cares upon you. God, for the sole reason, because you care for us. Oh, God, help us not to believe This mindset that tells us that you don't care about us, that you're not intricately involved in every piece of our life. God, we need you in every way this morning. Lord, this morning we're asking that you help us from your word. Lord, I pray that you would give us ready minds to understand what your word is trying to say to us. Lord, what the Apostle Paul was trying to say to the Church of Ephesus. Lord, we want to go deeper in our prayer life. We want to know you more. We want to have a better, more intimate relationship with you, the God that created us. God, you are wonderful in every way. God, I ask this morning that if there's somebody here today who's never received Christ as their Savior, Lord, that you'd prick their heart, not me, not anybody else here today, but that you and your Holy Spirit would deal with them on a personal level. Lord, if there's somebody here who's struggling with something, Oh God, help them to know that they can take their burdens, bring them to you. God, we have the great privilege of being able to walk right in to that throne room and put our burdens at your feet and say, God, would you sift through this and work your will in your way? So Lord, we lift this up to you. God, if you are not present here today with us, it's a waste of time. The most important thing that we need this morning is for you to be with us. So God, we're asking this. We're bringing this to your throne, asking for your help. So Lord, we pray this in the only name we can pray anything. And that, of course, is the name of Jesus. So we pray this in his holy and precious name, the Lamb of God that take away the sin of the world. We ask it in his name. Amen. So we come to Ephesians chapter number 1, and what I want to do is read verse number 15. He says, He says in verse number 16, Boy, you know that's a powerful statement right there. The Apostle Paul is saying, you know, Church of Ephesus, I love you, I care about you, many of you, I led to the Lord, and so here I'm writing to you, and I'm letting you know that I'm making mention of you often in my prayers. And you say, well, what is he praying for? Is he praying for money, for prosperity, for health, for all those things that he can obtain from God, that the Church of Ephesus could attain from God? No, not those things. Look at what he says. He gives us the list in verse He says that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. Look at verse 18. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened that ye may know what is the hope of His calling. and the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe according to the working of His mighty power." Praise the Lord. You know, He doesn't take this occasion to pray to get something. He takes this occasion to pray to get someone. And that someone is the Lord Jesus Christ. And I want to break this down and unpack this a little bit here this morning because within this is a great message. A great message to us that will teach us that we have to go deeper in our prayer life and the reason for it. I don't know about you, But I just can't bear another minute of only going to God when I need something. I want to go to God for something much greater than that. And what is it? Well, look at verse number 17. He says this. He says, I'm making mention of you in my prayers. In verse number 17, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Father of glory may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. You know what he's saying? He's saying, Church of Ephesus, the first thing that I'm praying for you is that you would get to know God. Now, I want you to understand something. He's talking to save people. He's not talking to people who are lost and without Christ and praying for their salvation. He's talking to people who are as saved as you and I are saved. And yet He says, My prayer for you, the most important thing that I can go to that throne and ask for, for you, is that you would get to know God. Do you want to know something? A lot of our problems revolve around the fact that we don't know God like we should. Amen? I'm telling you something. Listen, religion does not help you know God. It doesn't. Religion is not a relationship. The Bible teaches that you and I should have an established personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Amen? I hope you have that here this morning. I hope you've received Christ as your Savior so that you have the beginning, the establishment of a personal relationship with your Creator God. And I'll tell you something, as your relationship goes on and as time grows on, you should grow in your relationship with God. The Bible says, growing in the knowledge of God. That's where you and I should be. We should always be growing in our knowledge of God. But it seems like so often, even Christians, born-again Christians, we get content to stop growing in our relationship. And we think, well, I'm far enough along to get along, and that's good enough for me. Listen, God's up there saying, I want to know you more. I want you to know me more. I have so much more that I can reveal to you that I can teach you so much more that I can give you so much deeper level that we can go to. And yet we're sitting there saying, well, I think I've known I know you good enough. Paul says, no, I pray for you, I pray for you always. I pray that you would know God. Boy, I'll tell you what, that's something that we ought to pray for. That's something that we should be praying for as a church, for each other. God, I'm praying right now for this person, Lord, this person you've laid on my heart. God, I pray that you would help them. Give them the revelation. of the knowledge of you. Boy, imagine how that would transform a family, how that would transform a church if we were revealed the knowledge of God on a regular basis. Amen? Look at this here in this passage in in verse number 17, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. Notice what the Apostle Paul says there. He says that this revelation is something that is given to you. It is not something that you can even work for or earn. Think about that for a minute. You know what we think? We think, oh, the more I do and the more I perform and the harder I push and the more I know, the more I'll know God. That's not the way it works. You don't know God from the outside in. You know God from the inside out. Does that make sense? And I'll tell you something, that's the mistake that the Pharisees made. They thought, boy, if I could just study a little more, or follow these rules a little more, or do this, or do that. Look, that's religion, and religion doesn't help us to know who God is. I tell you something, look at this with me in John. The Pharisees made that mistake in John chapter 8. Is everybody doing okay this morning? John chapter 8. Jesus Christ is talking to the Pharisees, and He's chastening them a little bit. And look what He says in verse number 19. Then said they unto him, Where is thy father? And Jesus answered, Ye neither know Me nor My Father. If ye had known Me, ye should have known My Father also." Now you have to understand something. Who is He speaking to? He's speaking to the religious authorities of the day. If there was anybody who should know God, it should have been the Pharisees. And here Jesus Christ is saying, you have no clue who I am because you don't know my Father. You've never gotten to know Him. But why? What's the purpose? Well, look back up what He says in verse number 15. Ye judge after the flesh. Man. Boy, I'll tell you what. There's a lot of Christians out there. There's a lot of people who are concerned about the presentation. And you know what I've learned? And I'm sure I've got a lot more to learn. But one of the things that I've learned is that when you're so concerned about the presentation, the knowledge of God and getting to know who God is goes by the wayside. because you're consumed with what I look like, and how I present myself, and what I'm doing, and what this and what that is. Listen, all of those things, those really don't need to be sought after so much, as much as it is fruit that is produced naturally. But the Pharisees didn't know God. He says you cannot know God, because you judge after the flesh. It's all about the presentation to you. That's the most important thing to you. And when the presentation is the most important thing, you cannot know God. It gets in the way of knowing who God is. And so the Apostle Paul says, I'm praying for you, Church of Ephesus. I'm asking God for some things on your behalf. It's not money, it's not a job, it's not health. What I'm asking for is that God would reveal Himself to you so that you could know who God is. Now, I'll tell you something. When you start to know who God is, don't think it's an easy street. You think, well, the better I get to know God, the easier things will be. Oh, I'm sorry to say, not in this world that we live in. Not in this world that we live in. In fact, quite the opposite. Look at John chapter 16, I think it is. And in John chapter number 16, look at verse number 1. He says, these things have I spoken unto you that you should not be offended. What did He speak unto them? You know what He's telling them? About how the world is going to hate you. The world is going to despise you for the cause of Christ. The world is going to beat you. The world is going to imprison you. The world will not like you. You know what I find strange is that we all know that we're supposed to be like Jesus. You know. But what does it say about Jesus? Says he was a man of sorrows, says he was despised and rejected of men. Maybe that's not the Jesus we want to be like. Look at what he says in verse number two, he says, I'm writing these. I told you about this persecution so that you won't be offended. But look at verse two. They shall put you out of the synagogues. Yea, the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God's service. Look at verse three. And these things will they do unto you. For what reason? Because they have not known the father nor me. Hey, look, I got news for you. If you're going to know who God is, I mean, if you really want to know who God is, and I'll tell you something, I'll be real candid with you this morning. Look, there was a time about three or four years ago in my life when I just wanted to know who God was. I got sick of the religion. Amen. I got sick of the presentation. I got sick of all of these synthetic things that were standing in the way between me and knowing who God is. And I said, God, just get these things out of the way so I can see You. God did that. But you know, as you get to know God and as you grow in the knowledge of God, same thing's going to happen to you that he said, and here in John, to his disciples. He said they're going to despise, they're going to reject you, they're going to persecute you. Notice what he says here too. He says they're going to think that they do God a service. These might be people you go to church with. Right? And the closer you get to know God, You know what? The more conviction you are to the people who don't know God. And they may have the presentation. but the knowledge isn't there. And you grow closer and closer to God, and you know what happens? Just like the song says, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. And you know what? All those other things just kind of melt away. They go to the wayside. Did you need something? No. They just go by the wayside, you know? But I tell you this too, with knowing God, it doesn't come cheap and it doesn't come easy. You know what Paul said at the end of his ministry? He says, you know what? I bowled it down to this whole Christian life, down to one thing. He says that I may know Him. Didn't he say that? He says in the power of his resurrection. You know what he says next? And the fellowship of his suffering. It don't come easy. Wow. Amen. You know, I shared this with you, I think last Sunday night. Job goes through everything he goes through. God allows him, well, God allows him to go through it pretty good. Job had his mountaintops, did some things right, Job had his valleys, did some things wrong. You know what he says at the end? Chapter number 41, almost the last words that he speaks in his own book. He says, there was a time when I heard about you. You know what he says next? But now I see you. He says, through all this suffering that I went through, through everything that I lost, through all the pain and the agony and the trials and tribulations that my life has consisted of in the last months and years and days, you know what he says? He says, there was a time when I heard of you, Lord, but now through all of that, now I see you. You know what he's saying? He says, through the hard times, I got to know you. You know what it's really hard to do is get to know God in the easy times. Boy, that is a difficult thing. And since God is in the business of growing Christians, he'll sometimes send difficult times our way because he knows I need to pull them in. They need to get to know me. They know that through the suffering and trials and tribulations, that's going to happen. You know, the apostle Paul says, I'm praying this for you. I'm praying for you, Church of Ephesus, that God would reveal Himself to you, that you would have the revelation of the knowledge of God. Getting to know God. Boy, I'll tell you what, there is nothing like a life that is devoted to getting to know who God is. Amen. It's transformational. Everything else is conformational. Do you know what I mean by that? It means that if you're apart from a quest of getting to know God, all you are at best is conforming to the system around you, to the people around you, to the church around you. What we need is less conformity and more transformation. Does that make sense? More transformed lives. We've got enough conformity. We need transformity. People being transformed by the power of God. Hallelujah. And to know him and the fellowship of his. So here he goes. He's praying. He's praying this, he says in Ephesians chapter 1. He says that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. Look at verse number 18. He says, the eyes of your understanding may be enlightened that you may know what is the hope of His calling. and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. You know, not only does the Apostle Paul pray for the church of Ephesus on a deeper level so that they would know Him, know God, but he's also praying that they would see what he's doing. Amen. He gets on His knees and He says, Oh, I'll pray for you, Church of Ephesus. I'll pray for all of you Christians there. I'm going to pray, first of all, that you would get to know Him. And secondly, I'm going to pray that you would start seeing what He's doing. Amen. Now, what is He doing? Well, look at this. He says that the eyes of your understanding be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His calling. Hallelujah. Glory to God. The hope of his calling. What is that? What is a calling? A calling is your purpose. You know what he's saying? He's saying, I want you to see what God is doing in the here and now. Amen. Here, I'm going to say this, and I hope I don't make you upset. Some of you may be upset. That we up and left and went to Connecticut. You want to know why you're upset? You just haven't seen what God's doing in the here and now. That's all. For whatever reason, your eyes haven't been enlightened to the purpose, His purpose for us and for this church and for you. And so you're angry, you're upset. Why did they leave? Why did they go? Why couldn't they stay? Well, listen, best thing we can do is pray for you is say, you know what you need? Boy, you need to have your eyes enlightened and understand the hope of His calling, what He's doing in the here and now. Amen. Because you know what? What He's doing in the here and now isn't about you, and it's not about me. What He's doing in the here and now is bigger than you, and it's bigger than me. Right? You know why you don't get with the program? Because you're not understanding what God is doing in the here and now. You know why you've been to five churches in as many years? Because you're not understanding the here and now, what God is doing. You know why you're bitter at somebody here today? Because you're not understanding the here and now. You know why you have hatred towards somebody? Because you're not understanding the here and now. You know why you're angry? Because you don't understand the here and now. You see, we get angry and bitter when we start to think it all revolves around us. God's program runs in a different direction. And that friction creates tension. And that tension manifests itself in anger and all kinds of weird ways. Yeah. Hey, I'll tell you something. God is at work. God's at work in Berean. God's at work in Hastings. God's at work in Minnesota. God's at work anywhere in the United States. He's at work on the East Coast. Amen. You could tell me stories. I could tell you stories. God's at work. You know what we need, Lord? I do not understand what you're doing. I want to get with your program. Help me to understand the hope of my calling. What's your purpose? That's what he's saying. You know what he's saying? He's saying, I hope my prayer for you, Church of Ephesus, is that each and every one of you would find your why. You say, why? What's that? You know what you need? You need to find your why. What's your why? Your why is your purpose. Your why is why you do what you do. Amen? Listen, if your why is you, well, that's the extent of your life then. Right? See, the whole idea in the Christian life is to find the calling of God, find what God wants you to do, find why you're here doing what you're doing. You know what my job is? Here's what I help people with. I help people find their why. Pastor Bob helps people find their why. Pastor Trenton. That just sounds weird. Helps people find their why. You know what? You can help children find their why. You can help teens find their why, Josh. Pastors, you can help adults find their why. Paul says, I have prayer. My prayer for you is that you would get to know God. My prayer for you is that you would see what God is doing in the here and now. But it doesn't end there. Look at what he says next. He says, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. You know what that is? That's not the here and now. That's tomorrow and beyond. Amen. You know, when you find your why, God says, I've got a great reward for you. I've got a great inheritance for you. There's a whole chapters in the Bible that are devoted to God rewarding His people, giving His people the inheritance when they faithfully fulfill their why. Amen. He says, I want to give it to you. I want to pour out my blessing on you abundantly. Amen. But until you want to get to know God. You'll not be enlightened to the hope of his calling. And until you're enlightened to the hope of his calling, you're not going to see the inheritance that he has laid up for you. It's the here and now and it's tomorrow and beyond. You see, we've got to operate beyond what we see around us day to day. Amen. Spiritual life is like anything else. It's an investment. Invest today, reap tomorrow. Amen. Now look at this in the last part. He says in verse 19, he says, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power. Boy, think about that. The exceeding greatness of His power. To what? To usward, who believe according to the working of His mighty power. which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him up from the dead and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places." Listen, Paul says, I'm praying for you that you would know God. I'm praying for you that you would see what He's doing. Listen, there's a lot of confusion because there's Christians who can't see what God is doing. Amen. There's a lot of people who have disdain for other people in the church because they don't see what God is doing. Listen, there's been people who have hurt me and my family. Hey, listen, I go back to Genesis, where Joseph said, hey, what you meant for evil, God means for good. You know what? Now I look at those situations and I say, thank you, Lord, for putting me through those things, because I'm a different person now. Thank you, God, for having that person be so mean. because they've transformed me. You've used them, God, to transform me into somebody who is more like the image of your Son. Thank you. I mean, I can honestly say, thank you, God. And there's no bitterness or malice with that. It's like when you run into those people at the store, you want to run up to them and say, thank you for what you did. I can't tell you how much you helped me grow in the Lord. Amen. But it's all about getting to know him. And then what does he say? He says, I'm praying that you would know God. He says, I'm praying that you would see what God is doing. And I'm praying that you would experience His power. Now I know, a lot of us think in terms of God's power as something happening to us. Like a flash of light. Or we pray that the rain would subside and the clouds stop. We ask for something and see God work right before our eyes. Do you know that's not how God's power works? Turn to this. I'll show you this passage. We have just a couple of minutes. He says in First Chronicles. I want to show you something. First Chronicles chapter number 13. There's a man. called Obed-Edom. And in fact, the Israelites and David took the ark and stored it away at Obed's house for, I think the Bible says a period of three months. And look at what it says here at the end of this passage here in verse number 14. It says, And the ark of God remained with the family of Obed-Edom in his house three months, and the Lord blessed the house of Obed-Edom and all that he had. Now I want you to see this. What does the ark in Scripture represent? Well, briefly it represents the presence and the power of God. Right? Everywhere that art goes, that's the presence of God. Everywhere that art goes, that's where the power of God goes. This man brings it into his house. And the Bible says that as he has it in the house, the Lord blessed him. He welcomed the presence and the power of God into his home. I wish we had more people like that. She had more Christians like that. Amen. I mean, just think about that. Revelation says Christ stands at the door and he knocks. He wants to come in. He wants to have a relationship with us. Amen. He wants us to know him. Hey. We'd be wise if we did everything we could to get the power and the presence of God into our homes, into our lives. You say, well, what does it look like? Well, let me show you that. Look at chapter 14. You know what? Jump down to 15. We'll make this short and look at verse number 18. David goes back to pick up the ark. And he says, we're going to take the ark out of your house, Obed. You'd think maybe Obed would be like, no, no, not yet, not yet. Keep it a little longer. We want it here, you know. No, he says, we'll take it. Obed says, all right, that's fine. We can take it. David says, all right, listen up, everybody. We need some singers and we need some instruments to go before the ark. Look at the name that appears in verse number, I think it's 18, isn't it? At the very end, and Obed Edom. You know what he did? He said, you need some singers? You need some instruments? Okay, my family will volunteer. Then David says, you know what, not only do we need some singers and some instruments, look at down to verse number 23, we need some doorkeepers too. Look at who's on that list in verse number 24, Obed-Edom. He raised his hand and said, okay, you need some doorkeepers? Me and my family will be there. And then David says, all right, we've got the instruments, we've got the doorkeepers, now we need some ministers to walk before the ark. Jump over in chapter number 16 and look at verse number 4, whose name appears there in verse 4 or 5. Obed-Edom there at the end. You know what he says? He says, me and my family, we'll volunteer. Look at what's next. He says in verse number 37. He says, actually, you know what? We're going to need some people to make a bigger commitment than that. We're going to need some people to go before the ark on a continual basis. Who do you think raised their hand? Obed said. Hey, me and my family will do that too. Can I just say this and listen to me carefully about this? Because I think sometimes we have a wrong perception of the power of God. The power of God is not something that happens to us. The power of God is something that works through us. You know what I think sometimes? I think sometimes we are lazy and we like to sit down and say, okay God, I'm ready for you to show your power. And we wait. And we wait. And we wait. All the while God is saying, you want to see my power? It doesn't happen to you. Get up on your feet and do something and it'll happen through you. Listen. Paul says this very simple statement in about five verses. He says, I'm praying for you, but I'm not satisfied to just pray for things. I want to pray that you would get to know God. And I'll tell you what, when you get to know God, it's like being born again, again. And then he says, I'm going to pray for you not only to know God, but I'm going to pray that you would see what God is doing. Because it's a whole lot easier to get with his program when you can see what God is doing. And then I'm going to pray that you would experience His power. The working of God, not to your life, but through your life. Paul says, you want to go deeper with God? You want to know God on a different level? Are you sick of knowing God on a surface? You want to go a little deeper? He says, let's pray this for each other. Let's pray that we would know God. Let's pray that we would see what God is doing. Let's see that we would pray that we would experience the power of God through our lives. Listen, that's where I want to be. That's what I want. Listen, we've had all kinds of things happen to us the last year and a half that we'd be gone. I'd love to regale you with the stories and the hardships we've had. You say, well, everything on Facebook looks good. Well, everything on Facebook looks good. Nothing like an edited life, right? What you see on Facebook is not everything. You don't see the times when Tanya and I are crying in our bedroom, praying for our son who's having heart surgery. You don't see the hardships that we've had along the way. You with me? So here's what I ask for us. This is what I ask our church back in Connecticut. Stop praying for us for things. Amen. Stop praying that we would obtain stuff. That we would get things, you know, half the time you're praying against what God is trying to do anyway. Do you realize that? We're praying, oh God, please get them out of this hardship. And God's like, I have a lot to teach them through this hardship. Why are we trying to pray away what God's doing? Right? Listen, you want to pray for us? Pray that God would give us, grant to us, doesn't come from us, doesn't come from us pushing and prodding and that God would grant to us revelation in the knowledge of Him. Pray that God would give us more knowledge about who He is. Pray that God would help us to see what He's doing. Amen. Because there's been some times where I've scratched my head and said, God, I don't understand what you're doing. I'm sure many of you know about Sharon being sick. You think we're not halfway across the country going, God, why now? We just left. You know what I told God? After I prayed similar to what Paul's praying for the Ephesians, I said, God, you owe us no explanation. He doesn't. Just help us to get with your program. Whatever you're doing, just help us to get on board. Man, then pray that we would experience God's power working through us. Listen, let's transform our prayer life. Let's stop so much praying for things and start praying for this. Imagine you have a church. Never heard it once in a prayer meeting somebody raise their hand and say, yeah, just pray that I would get to know God better. It's a legitimate prayer. Yeah, I don't, you know, have any really normal prayer requests. I'm just requesting that my eyes would be enlightened to what God is doing. Yeah, my prayer request tonight on Wednesday night prayer meeting is power of God would work through me. Let's pray that way. Father, God, that's what we want. We want to know you. Lord, sometimes it gets in the way. Sometimes our lives get in the way. God, what we need right now, today, in this church, in every church, is that we would know you, that we would see what you're doing, and we would experience your power. Help us with that. God, we lift this up to you. Pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.