6/30/23 Eph. 3:14-21 “The Greatest Power and Love Ever!”

25 Jul 6/30/23 Eph. 3:14-21 “The Greatest Power and Love Ever!”

6/30/23   Eph. 3:14-21       “The Greatest Power and Love Ever!”

We live in a world where food is one of the most important parts of our lives.  I would think that this is the same for every generation in the past and maybe into the future.  Of course, today all we have to do is think that we aren’t hungry and presto!  We aren’t hungry.  I mean if it works when you’re a boy and think you want to be a girl, then it should work for hunger also.  Anyway, one of my favorite meals is breakfast.  Just give me a couple of eggs, hash browns and toast with a little jelly or peanut butter and I am a very happy camper.  Maybe some of you feel the same way.  About 5 years ago, I had a massive heart attack.  They told me that maybe my favorite breakfast should not be my favorite anymore.  So today, I eat some cold cereal that is made out of cardboard but loaded with fiber, low fat milk and decaf coffee.  Once in a while, I will sneak to a restaurant and have an old-time meal.  It really tastes good.  The reason I mention this is that there is another breakfast food that is far better than anything I have said.  It is called prayer time with Jesus.  Now you are in the midst of starting a brand-new church.  You need to begin this journey with prayer and keep praying all the time.  That is why I suggested a prayer committee or a few prayer warriors who can do this all the time for all your projects.  And this is what we will be talking about today.  Jesus has done everything for you.  All you have to do is pray to find out what all of this means.  He is always waiting to hear from you.

“Some years ago, in the great State of Minnesota, that some call the Granary of the West, there came a scourge of grasshoppers that threatened to destroy the whole wheat crop. The Governor, who was a very devout Christian, called upon the people to observe a day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer for the removal of the plague. Secular papers, if you can imagine this, secular newspapers laughed at this action.  They scorned and derided the idea of an appeal to God. Spring came, the wheat appeared and the grasshoppers with it, and then the secular press said, ‘What is the result of your day of prayer?’ But after a little while as the grasshoppers grew, there came a parasite that not merely made the grasshopper impotent to destroy the wheat, but also impotent to propagate itself. And from that day there has been no scourge of grasshoppers in the State of Minnesota.”  People, you have to understand that prayer works.

Here’s a personal story of prayer.  Several years ago, we decided to remodel Zion Church west of Colfax.  It was just too small.  One of the first things we set up was a group to pray for this project.  Well, we had to fund this or pay for it somehow.  So, we decided to have a pledge Sunday or Miracle Sunday before we started.  We needed about $560,000 to fund the project.  The first Sunday we raised well over $400,000 and the next Sunday that went up to almost $500,000.  That, folks, was a miracle of God and they have never forgotten it.  That is the power of prayer.  We have many wonderful stories like this from that project.  So always remember that prayer works.

As we begin, I would like to spend a moment on the very first line.  Paul says that he kneels before the Father.  He kneels.  In other words, he puts himself in a position to pray.  This is pretty important to us.  For years I thought that my prayers were lesser because I couldn’t kneel or get down on my knees.  I am physically unable to do this.  I found out that it wasn’t necessary to do this.  What is necessary, is that you find some sort of position and give yourself up to Jesus.  I know that many of us cannot kneel anymore due to age.  Just remember that is ok.  But also remember to put yourself in position so that you can talk to Jesus.

Paul now prays for the Ephesians.  He prays that out of the riches of God, He would strengthen them with the power of the Holy Spirit.  What we need to ask ourselves here is that ‘Where is Jesus?’ and ‘where is God?’  They are not here.  Jesus has gone back to heaven to be with God the Father.  This leaves the Holy Spirit here in our midst.  Remember when I told you last week that I didn’t understand some things in the Bible and I’m ok with that.  Well, here is the Trinity.  Only the Holy Spirit is left here on earth.  Also, the Holy Spirit is God so the confusion continues.

I don’t want you to dismiss the Holy Spirit here because He helped the disciples perform many miracles.  They had gone out in pairs and performed many miracles close to the hometown of Jesus.  They healed a lame man and they even raised someone from the dead.  They did many things because they were from God.

Unfortunately, we live in a time where most people don’t believe in miracles and don’t believe in God unless they can define God themselves.  Jesus even had problems doing miracles in His hometown because of the unbelief there.  Ever since around the 1600’s and the dawning of the industrial age, we have relied pretty much on science more and more.  Now don’t get me wrong here.  I believe that for the most part, science is a great thing to have.  But did you know that science comes from God also?  He gave us science to better our selves and to help solve our curiosity a little.  I love science and it is totally compatible with Christianity.  I see no conflict.

The problem is when science reaches the end of its boundaries like in the case of evolution.  Now most of us know that there is evolution to a certain degree within species.  But then science made a forward leap of faith into the area of all species.  And that isn’t right.  There has been no evidence that we ever evolved from anything other than Adam and Eve.  To top that off, the UMC decided that most of the book of Genesis was a folk tale and meant nothing.  Science, in this case, was rolling along fine until they decided to make that leap of faith into this area of evolution and it just doesn’t work.  Today, most reputable scientists will totally disregard these evolutionary thoughts along with the Big Bang Theory.  Anyway, I’m getting a little off track here.

The point I’m trying to make here is that the Holy Spirit has all the power here on earth.  This is the power that I ask that you grab onto with all your might.  This is the power that will give you miracles.  This is the power that solves impossible problems.  This is the awesome power that you can have if you just ask for it.  The Holy Spirit is everywhere and He wants to become a vital part of your life.  I’m just touching on some of these things because of time constraints.  But remember to pray for any and all things.  I remember when I was leading confirmation, I used to tell the students that the only bad prayer is the one you didn’t pray.  Think about that next time you go into prayer.

Now we can tell that Paul really loved these people.  First, he tells them that they have the power of God through the Holy Spirit.  If you thought about this real close, you might think that there really cannot be much more to give them than this but you would be wrong.  Paul also wants them to realize the love that Jesus has for them.  He wants them to know how wide, and long and high and deep is the love that Jesus has for them.  What Paul means by using these dimensions is that the love Jesus has for them is really infinite.  He has stamped you.  He has chosen you.  He has given you everything that you could ever desire or want and more.  I always like to say that Jesus loves you and loves you and loves you.  And when you get thinking that He has about loved you enough, He comes along and loves you some more, a lot more.

This love comes from Jesus.  He is the author of love.  Everything that you ever wanted to know about love can be found in Jesus.  But just a word of caution here.  Many if not most things the world considers to be love are not actually love.  The world really knows nothing about agape love which is the love that Jesus has for us.  It is totally unconditional.  It is totally for every person in the world.  It’s totally free.  If they world would begin to use agape love in the things they do, we would have a much better world.

Remember this when you are asking someone to join us in worship.  Also remember, that over 80% of the people who come to a church for the first time, come at the invitation from a member of the congregation.  You have a nice café just up the street.  When you ask someone to join us, be sure to offer to take them out to lunch after.  Or make sure they know that they can come early to have a little coffee.  I remember that we started coffee in a church 17 years ago.  When we started, they didn’t want to do it because it would be just too much work.  They are still having coffee and fellowship and loving it.

This church also had a couple of prayer warriors.  They prayed for all sorts of things for the church.  They were very important in the building project.  They were very important in helping me get started as a first-time pastor.  Contrary to popular belief, ministry didn’t come easy for me and I praise the Lord we had people praying for us.  I had people praying for me as I went in to seminary at age 55.  Let me tell you, it was very hard to start school at that age and the prayer warriors got me through.

It is the same way with you folks.  I don’t know what is happening here, but I know that Jesus is working.  I feel that people are praying for what we are doing.  I can feel the power of the Holy Spirit moving.  Someone told me that they felt this during last week’s worship hour.  You feel this when the love of Jesus combined with the power of the Holy Spirit.  Whoever are your prayer warriors, I ask that you keep praying because it is working.

And it always has.  John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, was a man of prayer and truly remarkable in many ways.  Anyway, here is an exert from his journals.  Sunday morning, May 5, preached at St. Ann’s and was asked not to come back.  Sunday P.M., May 5.  Preached at St. John’s.  Deacons said ‘Get out and stay out.’ Sunday, May 12. Preached at St. George’s.  Kicked out again.  Sunday A.M. May 19.  Preached at St. somebody else’s.  Deacons called a special meeting and said I couldn’t return.  Sunday May 19, P.M.  Preached on the street.  Kicked off the street.  Sunday May 26, A.M.  Preached in meadow, chased out of meadow as a bull was turned loose during the service.  Sunday, June 2 AM.  Preached out at the edge of town, kicked off the highway.  Sunday PM, June 2, afternoon service. Preached in a pasture, 10,000 people came to hear me.  People, this is an amazing true story.  We are never called to give up and we are to never stop praying.  This shows how much the Holy Spirit was with John Wesley and how much Jesus loved him.  It is the same thing with you.

This is one of those topics where I could just keep going and going.  But I want you to see that when you have the power and love of God in you, then you have the fullness of God in you.  This means a little more than just knowing and loving God in the traditional sense.  It goes a step beyond.

I think that it is when we do more than what God asks.  It is rising up and taking charge of getting this new church off the ground.  It is going out and being contagious about your faith.  You belong to the very maker of the universe so tell people.  In the fullness of God, you will show people the love that Jesus has for anyone and everyone.  People will see in you the passion you have for Christ.  You will be dripping with passion and love which in turn will make you contagious for Jesus.  And when all these things start to percolate a little, then you will be relevant to all around you.  All these things are tied together.  They all feed off of each other and the result is the person that is in love and on fire for the Lord.

Speaking about fire, here’s a story about a man who loved campfires.  He said, “I love to make a campfire. Many years ago, I remember going on a fishing trip in the mountains of Arizona. There were about 10 men from our church and it was a great time of fellowship. It was my duty to get the fire going. Well, get it going I did. I had it so hot in that cabin that everyone was down to their shorts. The good part about a fire is that it gives off heat. The bad part about a fire is that you have to work to keep it going.

If I’m not mistaken, this church has been around for many years.  It has been the pillar of the community.  It has served as a place where there was the fullness of God.  Now I know that it is very hard for us to have this fullness all the time because we are a broken people living in a broken world.  But just because we cannot be like this all the time doesn’t mean that we should quit trying to be like this.  If you can begin to do this, then next week, do it a little more.  It’s like a lot of things we do.  It just takes some work on your part but the rewards are tremendous.

Please always remember that you have the greatest power and love right at your very fingertips.  Jesus is always there for you and for everyone.  With practice, you will get better and better at being like Jesus in this world.  People will see this and they will be drawn to you like a moth to a flame.  This church is going to grow back to be bigger and better than ever before.  And when all these things are happening, don’t forget to be humble before God.  He is doing all the work and He is doing all the work through you.  That is his promise because He loves you and this church so much.  And don’t forget.  Thank you, Jesus, for first loving us.  Let’s pray.