Core Value 6 - Praying And Worshipping Series

Note that I preached on our Core Values in 2010 - four of the six messages were very different to what was preached then, but this one is very similar. As such I have removed the older sermon and just updated it.

Message

Praying and Worshipping

A sermon on Ephesians 3:14-21

Do you have days when you are thinking about something important.

… then you get distracted by something equally important.

… then after that you come back to what was previously important.

It happens. When it does we might be tempted to think, “I shouldn’t be so distracted.”

So I want to give you some encouragement today through our Scripture reading.

The encouragement is that it is ok to let important matters be distracted by other important matters.

In fact it is so ok that it happens in the Bible.

Ephesians 3:1

For this reason … goes back to 2:11-22

… Gentiles becoming part of the family of God.

… unity in the body with the dividing wall of hostility broken.

… the power of being fellow citizens built on the foundation of Christ.

Back to Ephesians 3:1 For this reason

… read verse 3:2

then Paul goes on to talk about the mystery of Christ, and preaching grace, and the heavenlies, and not to be discouraged.

Now let’s keep reading

Ephesians 3:14

So what is the reason he kneels?

All of these reasons … 2:11-3:13.

It is this powerful kneeling prayer based on all these reasons.

It is all important.

It is what drives Paul to his knees.

Let’s read the prayer Ephesians 3:14-21

The Amplified Version of the Bible translates Ephesians 3:20 as:-

Now to Him who is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly more than all that we dare ask or think [infinitely beyond our greatest prayers, hopes, or dreams], according to His power that is at work within us

Is that how we expect God to work?

Far above all that we dare to ask and think. Beyond our desires, hopes and dreams.

Or are our expectations of the way God works limited?

It is a good issue to think about because the “Law of Expectations” basically says that we only get out of life what we expect to get out of life.

In Job 3:25 Job says,

What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me.

He focused on what he didn’t want and he got what he expected.

Paul on the other hand says in Philippians 1:20,

I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.

He expected God to make a difference even when life couldn’t be perfect.

We will see what we expect to see. We will achieve what we expect to achieve. It is our expectations which mostly influence our happiness, our attitude in life, and our relationships.

So what Paul is trying to tell us in this text is that our limited expectations can stop us from tapping into the tremendous resources that God has made available to us.

God works far above all that we dare to ask and think.

God achieves far beyond our desires, hopes and dreams.

No matter how big we think – God is bigger than that. When you hear that in the context of speaking about the core values of the church you can see how that opens up a whole world of opportunity.

Our current circumstances should never stop us from expecting God to work in powerful and unimaginable ways.

The picture on the screen is an aerial photograph of a prayer meeting being held in South Korea. I suspect that there are more people in this photograph then there are at an NRL grand final. That is amazing isn’t it … especially when you realise that In 1900, only 1% of the country’s population was Christian. In 2010 three-in-ten South Koreans were Christian.

Not only that South Korea—with a population of 59 million—has 27,000 Korean missionaries ministering all over the world. They are bringing the Gospel to 140 countries … including Australia.

God is able to do superabundantly above what we dare ask or think.

1. São Tomé and Príncipe 11.50%

2. Bhutan 10.21%

3. Niger 7.14%

4. Singapore 5.66%

5. Iran 5.51%

6. Benin 5.40%

7. Azerbaijan 5.31%

8. Senegal 5.13%

9. Honduras 5.13%

10. Laos 5.07%

This is a list of the places where Protestant Christianity grew at the fastest rate between 2005-2015

God is able to work beyond our hopes, desires and dreams.

What about the area around our church? What about our field of influence?

Do we expect God to work like this here? Do we expect God to work like this through our own church? From a practical point of view it feels like the events taking place all over the world won’t happen in Australia.