7. Lesson 7 Ephesians Chosen for power Chapter 3 verses 12 to 21

Ephesians "Chosen to be ..."  •  Illustration  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  36:22
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Church of Christ Dapto The letter to the Church in Ephesus Lesson 7 - Chosen for power Ephesians 3:12-21      The prayer resumed Ephesians 3:14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, The reason Ephesians 3:12 In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. I can ask of God because He has allowed me to because of Christ. The very Creator of the world has made Himself available to me to ask Him for help. I can ask of God and have confidence that He will hear and answer because of Christ. Ephesians 3:13 I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory. Because I can ask of God and have confidence that He hears and answers, I can know that all that has happened to Paul, and other Christians, did not happen to discourage me. All that happened to Paul was as a result of asking God, and God revealing Himself to Paul and to me. I kneel Paul asks of God because he has this confidence that God gave in Christ. One part of the confidence is that God will hear and answer my prayers if I ask in His will. 1 John 5:14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. Because Paul had confidence in God hearing his prayers, I should have the same confidence. It is of God that I am to ask, because I know that God alone has the power to answer. The supremacy of God the Father Ephesians 3:15 from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. “I bow my knees,” says Paul, “to the Father after whom all fatherhood takes its name.” …every (type) of fatherhood in the universe is derived from the original, … fatherhood of God His is the only .. fatherhood which did not come from having a father. So the more our earthly fathers show God’s fatherhood, the more they reveal what fatherhood is intended to be and glorify the Father of all 1 God the Father showed us what fathers were supposed to do and how fathers were supposed to live. 1Bruce, F. F. (2012). The Epistle to the Ephesians: A Verse-by-Verse Exposition (p. 68). Bath, UK: Creative Communications. He chose us in (Christ) before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. Ephesians 1:4 Dapto Church of Christ Sermon Series The Letter to the Ephesians – Lesson 7 Chosen for power November 3, 2019 Page 2 The first request Ephesians 3:16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, His riches This request from Paul to God is for my benefit. In many ways it is asking that I believe God enough to know that He has glorious riches that He is sharing with me in Christ. Philippians 4:19 And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. His strengthening In believing enough and then knowing of God sharing His riches with me, I know that one of the riches He gives is strength and so I can receive strength through the power that His Spirit gives me. This strength is not a stubborn resistance to opposition or distraction so I stand still where I am. This strength is a positive power to overcome opposition, distraction and temptation, and thus move on to a more glorious position in life. This strength is not based on my own strength for then it would be insufficient. This strength is not coming from within me, but is given from outside. The strength is not bigger muscles on my body, but a change in my real self inside so that I am able to overcome any attempt to turn me from the Way. This strength comes from, and shows, God’s power. Only He could make you into Christ Jesus. His power Power is the ability and authority to act without anyone or anything preventing the action. The change that Paul prays for in me is meant by God to be permanent because it is done by His power. I am to grow stronger and stronger with more and more of God’s power. The power God gives me to stand and grow makes it possible for me to see and accept the changes in my life that Christ has offered. Paul has to ask this strength and power of God, not because God does not want to do it, or because God cannot do it, but because I have to realise that God sent Christ so I could receive a generous portion of His strength and power. Paul is praying that through Christ God may cause me to see what He is ready to do for me. Ephesians 1:19-20 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, Colossians 1:11-12 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. He chose us in (Christ) before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. Ephesians 1:4 Dapto Church of Christ Sermon Series The Letter to the Ephesians – Lesson 7 Chosen for power November 3, 2019 Page 3 the result of the request Ephesians 3:17a so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. The strength and power God gives me has an aim beyond just making me stronger. When God reveals His strength and power in me through His Spirit, Christ will, and can, dwell in my heart. The Word indicates that when I was saved Christ in His Spirit came to live in my spirit. This verse does not mean that Christ comes and goes from me. This verse means that Christ will come to feel at home in my heart because of my faith and obedience to Him. Christ will feel a stranger in my heart if my heart is focussed on something other than Him.      The second request the foundation Ephesians 3:17b And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, Paul’s next request for me cannot be answered unless I am living on a foundation of love and growing in Christ’s love. the power Ephesians 3:18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, Having God’s love as a foundation and a stimulus for my spiritual growth, I am to see the power that God has given me to understand how great and limitless Christ’s love is. This understanding is not given to anyone else but those who are Christ’s people. This understanding is given to all those who are Christ’s people. the greater knowledge Ephesians 3:19a and to know this love that surpasses knowledge I am to know this love, not just know about it, but to have it as the most significant fact in my life and have it as the foundation of all I do and all I believe. I am to know that God’s love is supreme and to show it in my active faith in this fact. the effect Ephesians 3:19b that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Having the power to understand and know the greatness of Christ’s love, and the grace to live in it, I will realise that God is pouring out His blessings on me to fill me with all of Him. I am to realise that there is nothing beyond God, and nothing that He withholds from those who really believe in Him. He chose us in (Christ) before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. Ephesians 1:4 Dapto Church of Christ Sermon Series The Letter to the Ephesians – Lesson 7 Chosen for power November 3, 2019 Page 4 His Power at work Ephesians 3:20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, God can do more than I can ever ask Him. God always does more than I ask Him. God always does better for me than I ask Him. God can do these things if it is His power working in my life. He can do none of them if I am using my own power. My power is limited by my imagination and strength. God’s power is not limited by anyone or anything. The Glory is His Ephesians 3:21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. His doing all these things for me is the reason that I thank God and give Him the credit for all the good that happens to me. I am to bring others to thank God and give Him credit so that God is glorified.      How do I use the power? Strengthen with power I must believe that God gives me all the power and strength that I need through His Spirit in me. I must consider if I am using this power in my life. Am I still “trying harder”? Am I still thinking “I cannot reach the standard?” Do I want to use the power of God in me? How can I use the power? The power to overcome and to persevere comes from the strength that God gives. The strength that God gives comes from the Words He has given me. If I take Him at His word and live out the Truth I have been told, then I will see His power and be able to use the strength it gives me. If I only use the power so I can feel good once or twice a week, then go back to living in the light of my own candles, then I never gain the strength that the power is intended to give me. I will only be strengthened with power when I believe that God is doing it! I show I believe that God is doing it when I live by His light, not my own. He chose us in (Christ) before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. Ephesians 1:4 Dapto Church of Christ Sermon Series The Letter to the Ephesians – Lesson 7 Chosen for power November 3, 2019 Page 5 What does this verse mean for my life? Ephesians 3:16-17 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. If God answers Paul’s prayer then his requests to God have been granted. God has the most glorious riches that He is sharing with me. One of the glorious riches He shares is strength through the power of the Holy Spirit in me. That strength is deep within me in the very foundation of my soul so that it is not shallow or temporary. That strength is given for me to use so that I may become more and more like Christ Jesus and turn away from the sin of the world. That strength is more than sufficient to overcome any distraction or temptation if I use His Word as my guiding light. The strength God gives is stronger than anything else in this world. The strength God gives is stronger than me. The result of this strength from power is that Christ may feel at home in my heart because I show faith in Him by believing this verse. I am to live by His power and His strength by listening to and obeying His Spirit. If I refuse to use His power and His strength, I am relying on my own power and strength and that attitude is what I needed Christ to save me from in the first place. I need to be going ahead in the power and strength of God, not retreating, or staying in the same place. I want Christ to feel at home in my heart. I want to live by His power and His strength and give up trying to live by my own power and strength.  Next Lesson: Chosen to live worthy Focus Verse: Ephesians 4:1        Ephesians 4:1-6       He chose us in (Christ) before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. Ephesians 1:4
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