 Well, this evening I want to ask you to turn to Ephesians chapter three with me. We're going to be looking at verses 14 through 21. Well, let's go ahead and pray. Father, we just come with hearts desiring to hear from your word and to hear from you, Lord. Bless us tonight. Allow your Holy Spirit just to have his way in our lives, Lord, and help us to be obedient to what we hear. We love you and praise you in your name. Amen. Well, by brief way of background, the city of Ephesus is located in the southern part of modern-day Turkey. And in Paul's day was a capital of Asia because it sits near the ocean and it became a very vital port for the Roman Empire and commerce. And it's the site of what's called the Temple of Diana, one of the seven wonders of the world. And if you go there today, you can still see the remains of a beautiful ancient library and a stadium that back then sat 25,000 people with incredible acoustics because if you can imagine they didn't have speakers or Bluetooth or anything like that. And there's a road and pillars on both sides of the road that lead all the way down to the port and the ocean and they're made all of marble. I mean, it's just incredible to think of what that city must have looked like back in Paul's days. And there's a lot of statutes on the roads, including the Greek goddess of Nike, the goddess of victory, if you wonder where that came from. But it also became the center for Paul's missionary work in that region. During his first missionary journey, Paul visited there briefly and then later on his third missionary journey spent three years teaching the Gospel and many people were getting saved and many lives were being transformed. And the epistle was written in about 60 AD when Paul was in a Roman prison chained up, proving that nothing would stop him from sharing the Gospel. It was during that time that in addition to writing to the Ephesians, he also wrote Philippians, Colossians and Philemon together known as Paul's prison epistles. If you ever hear that phrase. But let me share a couple of things from the preceding chapter that lead up to verses 14 through 20, which will be the focus of our study. And in chapter two verse 14, Paul writes, for he himself is our peace who has made us both one and has broken down the middle wall of separation. Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, the opposition, the hostility that is the law of commandments contained in the ordinances, the many ordinances that the Jewish religious folks had come up with expanding on what God had written. It says so as to create in himself one new man from the two, thus making peace. And in chapter three verse six, Paul shares what he calls a mystery, something that was revealed to him that hadn't been revealed previously. And that was that believing Jews and Gentiles were to be joined together into one body of Christ, one church, no longer separated before God and they would have equal access and standing in the church. And it's important to remember that while the Old Testament references the fact that the God, the grace of God would come to the Gentiles. It was still a very radical concept to the Jews because they saw themselves as God's chosen people and there were a lot of separations. When you go there today and you go to what's called the whaling wall, the wall of the temple, the men are on the left hand side, the women are on the right hand side. Back then, if there was a sign in what they called the Gentiles courtyard that said, if you enter the Jewish courtyard, you'll be killed. That's a sentence of death. And so they couldn't eat together. There were so many areas of division that that caused them to be divided. But now Christ through his death and his sacrifice on the cross is breaking down those walls of separation because he was reconciling the Jews and the Gentiles both to himself through faith in Christ and the church was now to be a unified body in Christ. No longer having those divisions between them. In chapter 2 verse 19, Paul wrote at salvation, our new identity is that we become the dwelling place of God. We become the dwelling place of God at that moment of salvation that God deposits his Holy Spirit in us as believers. And so with that in mind, this mystery in that he's revealing something that's just radical to all the people during that time, he gets to verse 14 and he humbly prays, for this reason, I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. You see, Paul knew that God's purpose in revealing this through this mystery was to unite his church, to bring peace, to bring unity in his church and knowing this because he knew it was God's will. God is revealing this. It's God's will. Then he can pray confidently the things that you're going to read in verses 14 through 20. In 1st John 514, Paul tells us John tells us that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us according to his will. And that's the key to effective prayers to know God's will because then you know that you will be praying consistent with what he desires, what his will is and not just something that we want or we're asking for. But people often ask, how can I know God's will? And how can I know God's will for me? What does he want in my life? And in Romans 12 1 through 2, Paul writes for I beseech you, their brethren, I beg you by the mercies of God that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable to God which is your reasonable service and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove that which is good and acceptable and perfect will of God. That's how you know you use your bodies to serve and obey God. And instead of being shaped by the values of our day, we allow God to transform us into his image as you study his word and you apply it in your life and you're obedient to the things that he's writing. And oftentimes we don't do that for whatever reason, right? We know what God's word is. But we're going to be even voluntarily rebellious in some cases and God's not going to bless that. He wants us to be obedient. I took my kids to the courthouse one day and we were upstairs looking at all the people if you're familiar with the Rancho courthouse. Hopefully you're not. Yeah, I see people shaking their head. But there was a ton of people coming in and out. You know, they had cases, tickets. They were in court and all the personnel, the clerks, the bailiffs, the sheriffs and all of that. And I looked at my kids and I said, imagine how many of these people wouldn't be here if they just walked in God's ways. You know, don't steal. Don't murder. Love your family. Love your wife. Not your neighbor's wife. Love your own wife. And we could keep going, right? Imagine how much of the staff, how many of the people that are in and out wouldn't be there. But Paul continues and he writes, I bow my knees to the father of our Lord Jesus Christ from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. Now, he's not saying that every human being is part of his family. I remember our neighbor when my daughter was really young said, you know, we're all God's children, right? Almost like a hippie. She said, like, we're all God's children. But John one 12 says as many as received him to them, he gave the right to become children of God to those who believe in his name. And in Acts 1126, it tells us that the disciples were first called Christians in the city of Antioch. So what Paul is saying here is that all of God's family, believers, regardless of race, of gender, of nationality, whether you live in Southern California, Africa, South America, Iceland, all believers in him are called after his name. Christ followers or Christians. So in verses 16 and 17, Paul's prayer continues as this. He says that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might through his spirit in the inner man. Paul wanted the Ephesians, Ephesian believers strengthened not by their power in might, but by God's might by God's power according to his riches. And it's a strength that comes through the Holy Spirit working in your inner man. And just as we have physical bodies, we also have an inner man. Second Corinthians 5 1 tells us and Paul writing refers to our earthly bodies. This house as a tent. It's just a tent. It's a covering. It's a shell. And at funerals, I've pointed to the casket and I've said he's not here. He's not here. This is his tent. And because the real you, the real me is that spirit that is within us, your personality, your emotions, your intellect, your character, the real you is that spirit that dwells within you. And God wants to strengthen you from the inner man. We know that it's important to take care of our physical bodies, especially as you start to get to my age, you kind of appreciate it if you have some kind of modicum of health, right? But it must not be at the expense of neglecting your inner man. And let me repeat that, that we know how important it is to take care of our physical bodies, but it must not be at the neglect of your inner man. First Timothy 4 8 says for bodily exercise, profits a little, right? Have you seen Arnold shorts and nigger lately with his shirt off? Oh my. It profits a little. Don't laugh, Mike. But he goes on to say, but Godliness is profitable for all things, for all things. All the answers that we need for life and everything that comes at us through life are here in that word, that that love letter that you're holding in your hands. The answers are there. You just have to dig into it. And imagine, you know, I come down pipeline and there's a couple of gyms on the way in Sunday mornings. Parking lots are full. And I tell my kids, a lot of people went to church today. That's their church. And I get it. They're not saved or maybe they are, but they're taking the time, you know, to get up when it's still dark and go to the gym and get the physical outer body going. But imagine if we have that same commitment, that same dedication to knowing and understanding God's word and allowing it to strengthen our inner man because that's what God wants to do. And that some dedicate that amount of time to their outer man. And again, first Timothy says, it profits a little a little compared to the inner man, right? And being spiritually equipped. In verse 17, he writes, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. In John chapter 14 verse 23, Jesus said, if anyone loves me, he'll keep my word and my father will love him and we will come to him and make our home with him. Now, one use of that word home or to dwell in is like somebody coming to pay you a visit at your home. They come to your door and knock, you greet them, you let them in, you invite them into your living room, you chat, you visit and then they leave when you're done. Some earlier than others, but they leave. But here Paul is using a word that means to make a place. His permanent home. He's not visiting. When you invite Jesus into your life, he wants to come in. He's going to move in and not just visit and he wants to make your home, your life, his permanent home. And sometimes what we do is we invite him in and we show him into the living room. But we want him to stay there. Like, I'm okay that you're here in my living room, but don't go into my closet because I'm terrified at what you might find. Or I shut the TV off because I don't want you to see what I was watching or magazines that I have or whatever's going on, right? The computers and all of that because we have things that we're holding onto and we think that these are kind of like our little secret sins. But God knows. God knows. And he wants to be able to come into your life, into your home and go into any room that's there. Your living room, your bedroom, your bathroom, your kitchen, whatever it is he wants to make that his personal home. It's his now. And so when you invite him in, it's important to give complete access to him in all areas of your life. But you can only do that through faith, which means that you need to trust him to work things out and clean things up, including any sin or sins that you might be struggling with and holding on and kind of trying to keep from him. And sometimes I've had people say, well, you know, I want to get my act together first. And I think that's just an excuse, right? To put off having faith in Christ. It's just an excuse because there's a saying that says a fisherman first catches the fish and then he cleans them up. It's not the other way around. And so in verse 17, he goes on to say being rooted and grounded in love. God wants us to be like him. He's shaping us and molding us into his image. But it's only when you yield your life to him and the power of the Holy Spirit that he can settle down and begin to show his love through you and in you. He says being rooted and grounded, rooted and grounded. I don't know if you've ever dealt with roots, but I had one time when I had a leak in my sprinklers and I started digging and digging and digging. And I found the leak, but there was a root that had grown and almost like if you can imagine a weld. It was like welded around the pipe where it was looking for that water that was leaking out of the PVC pipe. And after I had been digging and kind of working on this for about 15 minutes, you know, my my lovely wife comes out and says, are you almost done? And I'm sweating and I'm digging and I'm going deeper and I'm seeing more and more roots wrapped around this pipe and 10 minutes later and I'm thinking, I think the phone's ringing. Somebody's trying to get a hold of you like go back inside and you know, and it took me literally I think two days and I wound up having to cut the roots with a chainsaw that I borrowed from my neighbor. I dug this huge hole, got in there with a chainsaw and had to cut out these roots. Our love for one another has to be like those strong roots. First Peter 122 says love one another fervently. That means enthusiastically and passionately with a pure heart. Love each other fervently. And John 1334 says love one another as I have loved you. He gave us the example, right? Like how am I love? How am I supposed to love? Follow the example that he gave us. Romans 5 8 says, God demonstrates his love for us that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. How much does he love you? Sacrificially and unconditionally. Then he says being grounded in love like a building that has a strong foundation that's not going to crack. It's not going to fail. Our love must be grounded in him because when we allow Christ to freely dwell in our hearts and dwell in our lives, then then you can be settled in him as your strong foundation. But without him, it's impossible. So in verse 19, he says that we may be able to comprehend with all the saints. You see, Paul really wanted the church to understand the extent of God's love for them, the extent of God's forgiveness for them because when we don't or when we can't, we struggle with those things. We struggle with loving people. We struggle, you know, with maybe it's a homeless person and you stop at the end of a freeway off ramp and they're dirty and smelly and you know, instead of saying that's God's creation. He was made in the image of Christ and we have to love. We have to love. But Paul tries to describe it this way. What is the width and length and depth and height? God's love has various dimensions to it because it's real. It has width. If you can tell how wide a river is by how much area it covers, how wide is God's love for you if it covers all of your sins, past, present, future. It has length. When did God begin to love you and how long will it last? Jeremiah 31 3 says, I have loved you with an everlasting love. It has depth. Philippians 2 8 says, I'm being found in appearance as a man. He humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Can't get any deeper than that. And it has height. Ephesians 2 4 6 says, but God who is rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved and raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Try to comprehend the love of God that includes every person that's ever existed on this planet. Again, past, present, future. Or if you listen to AOC for the next 12 years because then the world's going to end, right? But his love is a love that lasts for eternity. A love that reaches even the worst of sinners. And I don't care. He doesn't care what you've done. Yet he loves us. He forgives us, wants to draw us to himself. And he's a God of love. The extent of his love that can even take someone like that to heaven. You see, God's love for you is so vast and so complete. It's not lacking in anything. That it was otherwise possible for Paul to describe love, God's love. But he did the best he humanly could. In verse 19, he says to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. You see, some say that religion is a matter of belief like a blind faith, not knowledge. But Paul tells us that we can know the love of Christ. We can indeed experience the love of Christ. The world doesn't understand it because it doesn't understand Christ or his love. To the world, love is based on attraction. And that's why sometimes a worldly love only lasts as long as the attraction lasts. I was telling the men Tuesday morning at the study that I see God's love every Tuesday morning at the study to know that men are getting up when it's still dark. It's dark four or five in the morning and coming and making food in the kitchen to know that men are coming and setting up tables and chairs and then when we're done breaking them down just to see them have a time of fellowship to be in the word to pray for one another when I see the guy standing and kind of arm in arm and praying for each other. That's a demonstration of God's love because I wonder how many of these guys would be here and doing this if God's love was not in them. I don't know. Maybe a lot of them wouldn't be. Maybe some would. But I see God's love working in them and through them. And it's a godly love that loves for what it can give and not what it can take or get. God's love is real and we have those opportunities to see it at work. In verse 20 he writes now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we could ask or think according to the power that works in us you see because there's really no human word in any language that could adequately describe the love of God and because in reality it's just beyond our being able to describe it or to understand it. Paul tries his best by putting two words together. You know it doesn't otherwise make sense to say God's love you know it's exceedingly abundantly that he can do in your life. Who can do all the incredible things that Paul has been writing about? Only God. Only God can take a person who may be living an empty and hopeless life and save him and transform him into a new creation. Only God can take a broken marriage and restore it. Only God can take hurting hearts and heal them overcome addictions and bring love where there was none. You can ask and you can think to your blue in the face but God can do exceedingly abundantly more. How does he do it? Paul explains that it's according to the power that works in us. It's through the power of the Holy Spirit who dwells in every believer in Jesus Christ and he concludes with verse 21. He says to him be the glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. You see the only proper response to such a great God who has empowered you who's loved you who's filled you with his spirit is to worship him and give him glory. If God has done something in your life and I'm sure he has praise him worship him serve him yield your life so completely to him that you say come in take over you're the master so that he can work through the power of the Holy Spirit to accomplish the plans that he has for you. We know that right? God has plans for each one of us because the God we serve is an awesome God and maybe you're here tonight and for whatever reason you've never invited Jesus Christ into your heart to come and make your life your heart is permanent home or maybe it's busyness and distractions in your life that you have as you think about it neglected the inner man and you're holding things back from him but you know that it's time to give him complete control and if we do our will it never really works out very well. I want to give you an opportunity to get right with him tonight. If any of that describes you you're not here by chance. God has drawn you. God loves you so much. He wants to draw you to yourself. So I would ask if if that's you if everybody would just bow their heads and close their eyes but if you're here tonight and you have any of those kind of situations that you know what I'm done. I'm tired. I feel hopeless. I don't know what the purpose in my life is but I know that what I need to do is give my life to him so that through his Holy Spirit he can work. He can have power and exercise power and his love through me. I want to pray. So if if that's you raise your hand so I can pray with you. I see you up front. I see you in back. I see you in the back as well. I see you in the back. God bless you. Let's pray.