Great Reasons To Pray Series

Great Reasons to Pray

Ephesians 6:18-24

Sermon by Rick Crandall

Series: The Book of Ephesians

(Prepared September 8, 2024)

BACKGROUND:

*Today we will finish our study of the book of Ephesians, and this is a good time to review the background to this ancient letter from Paul to the Christians in Ephesus. J. Vernon McGee explained that "Around the year 60 A.D. four men left Rome bound for the province of Asia, which was located in modern-day Turkey. Each man carried a Holy Spirit inspired letter written by Paul. Officers in the Roman Army had no idea of the heaven-sent power and importance of these letters from this little-known prisoner. But if the empire had known, those four men would have been arrested and the documents destroyed.

*When the four Christians said goodbye to the Apostle Paul, each was given a letter to carry to his particular church. These four letters are forever part of God's Word. And they are called the 'Prison Epistles of Paul,' since he wrote them while he was imprisoned in Rome. Paul was there waiting for a hearing before Caesar Nero who was the ruler of the Roman Empire. As a Roman citizen, Paul had appealed his case to the emperor, and he was waiting to be heard.

*The four men and their home cities can be identified: Philippians 4:18 tells us that Epaphroditus was from Philippi, and he had the Epistle to the Philippians. Colossians 4:12 tells us that Epaphras was from Colosse, and he had the Epistle to the Colossians. In Philemon 1:10 we see Onesimus. He was a runaway slave from Colosse, and carried a letter to his master Philemon. The last of the four men was Tychicus. We will see him in today’s Scripture, and he carried the letter to the Ephesians." (1)

*Author John Phillips reported that "Ephesus was a large and important city in Paul’s day, with a population of about 350,000 people. It was on the western coast of modern-day Turkey, midway between two continents. There east met west. Crowds of government officials, Roman soldiers, and Jewish businessmen rubbed shoulders with Eastern pilgrims flocking into Ephesus to worship at the pagan temple of Diana. That temple is famous as one of the wonders of the ancient world, but it was also a shrine to a false goddess who was "worshiped" in sinful sexual ways.

*Ephesus was Paul’s headquarters during his third missionary journey. He stayed in the city for nearly three years and established a large, influential church. His fellow workers and the new Christians fanned out from Ephesus to the surrounding territory. There they planted new churches in city after city." Later, the church in Ephesus was blessed to be led by the Apostle John. With this background in mind, let's begin by reading Ephesians 6:18-24. (2)

MESSAGE:

*The scariest airplane flight I have ever been on was in 1981. I worked for the Air Force back then, and was going to Korea for a contract negation with Korean Airlines. When we were way out over the Pacific Ocean, we hit some bad weather, and I mean it was terribly bad. I looked out the window, and I’m not kidding, -- the wings of that big 747 were flapping like a bird! It was so rough that one of the flight attendants couldn't make it back to her seat. She sat on the floor in the aisle about 15 feet in front of me. And let me tell you, she was terrified.

*My rule of thumb on an airplane is this: If the flight attendant is happy, you are fine. But if your flight attendant is scared, you've got a problem! Before we hit that storm, you could hear people chattering all over that plane. But when we were in the storm, that plane got so quiet, you could hear a pin drop. Nobody was talking, but I guarantee you most of us were praying.

*You didn't have to ask the people on that plane to pray. We had a great reason to pray! And as we look into God's Word today, we can see some more great reasons.

1. PRAY FIRST, BECAUSE GOD PUTS A GREAT PRIORITY ON PRAYER

*We see this truth in vs. 18, where Paul tells Christians that we should be "praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints."

*Notice that this is an all-encompassing call for prayer. God's priority is for us to pray at all times, and on every occasion. God's priority is for us to pray with all "perseverance" or "persistence," never giving up on God. And God's priority is for us to pray "for all the saints." That means we should be praying for all Christians everywhere.