In 1995, Toy Story was the first entirely computer-generated film to be released. George Foreman was known more for boxing than for grilling. And Michael Jordan left baseball to come back to basketball. And Generation Z was born. Generation Z may not be a familiar term for you but are those young people born between 1995 and 2010. Gen Z will quickly become the largest American generation yet. They are today's teenagers and children 18 and under. This is the generation right after the famed Millennial generation. According to the US census estimates, there around 68 million of these young people in the United States, a little more than 24% of the total population. They have grown up in a world where nearly everyone has a smartphone, and a black president was no big deal. Racial diversity is a reality for this generation as the most popular last name in America is no longer Smith but Rodriguez. They love to use a device to communicate where more than 70% of their communication is akin to texting. In fact, their phone is often their wallet. They have even been called "screen-agers." When you add it all up, they will average spending nearly one day per week on their mobile device.
A Pew study last year found that nearly half of all Americans aged 13 to 17 said they were online "almost constantly," and more than 90 percent used social media. You already know this because you hand them your phone and your computer and ask them to fix it ?! Sadly, they have seen pornography as it has never been more readily available than it is online. When asked, they often describe themselves as being compassionate. For many of these teens, they define right and wrong by the criteria if anyone gets hurt by the behavior. And around 4 of every 10 of Generation Z will attend a religious service of some kind weekly.
Gen Z Sermon Purpose
Over the course of the next three weeks, I want to call our church's collective attention to this generation. I want to ask you to ponder how you can encourage them. How can we fan the flame of faith in this generation born between 1999 and 2015? And how can we specifically pray for them. Let me repeat this. I want to call our church to specifically encourage this generation to wholeheartedly embrace "the faith once delivered for the saints." And to pray for them.
Many of you have children and grandchildren that are Generation Z. I have three of them in and out of my home. And we have around 135 different teens at both of our campuses in the month of May. Around 200 different children at both campuses each Sunday. That's more than 330 Next Generation young people to choose from! I'm asking you to pick at least one of these to pray for by name.
George Orwell said, "Every generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it." Now, it's easy to play the "Get off my lawn" to the next generation. I want to challenge you to rid yourself of this tendency. I doubt I need to say this too much about our church family because you are so encouraging. Because this generation has some real problems aimed at them, they don't need a church full of "old codgers" grousing about them. Let's focus like a laser on fanning the flame of faith in Generation Z in the coming weeks.
Ephesians 3 Prayer
Keep your Bibles open to Ephesians 3, if you will. You are reading a prayer – a beautiful and moving prayer. You feel as if you are moved right into Heaven as you read it. It's obvious because it begins, "For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father" (Ephesians 3:14). The second clue we have that this is a prayer is just a few verses in front this when we read in verse 11: "This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, 12 in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him" (Ephesians 3:11-12). Now, this is the second prayer embedded in the book of Ephesians (Ephesians 1:15-23).
Specifically, I want to challenge you to pray this specific prayer as a model prayer for a believing teenager or young person in your life. Would you join me in adopting Ephesians 3 as a model prayer for one person of the Next Generation to have a spiritual breakthrough? Let's unite together to call out to Almighty with a tremendous passion that the next generation would have a spiritual passion and a hunger for God.
1. A Prayer for Power
One of the first things you notice about this beautiful prayer is it is a prayer for power: "that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being…" (Ephesians 3:16).
This is a prayer for a believer to know God more intimately. As you read it and reread it, notice carefully what you don't see.
1.1 A Focus on the Spiritual
Remember, the one who's writing this prayer is in prison. Now, if you were to listen to a prisoner's prayer, what would you expect to hear from him?
[Pause]
Maybe you would hear him pray for his safety? Might you expect to hear a prayer to deliver his family from pain and embarrassment associated with prison? Might you expect to hear a prayer to deliver him from the prison bars?
[Pause]
Notice that this prayer puts the spiritual before the physical. The Bible always places your spiritual health before your physical health. We are always doing the opposite. We nearly always talk about physical problems – money problems, marriage problems, and health problems. The Bible is just the reverse.
Here we have a prayer that is exclusively spiritual. Why? Heaven runs the universe. Heaven determines what happens on earth. Remember this: the spiritual always determines what happens in the physical. If you are going to pray – really pray – then you must prioritize the spiritual over the physical. When you pray for the physical first, you're starting on the wrong end.
1.2 Why Do I Need Power?
Next, you'll notice it's a prayer for power and specifically a pray for God's power. Here is a beautiful prayer for a believer to experience God's surpassing power in their life.
1.2.1 Power to Overcome Evil
We pray for power because some problems are unfixable without prayer. "For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named…" (Ephesians 3:14-15). Those three little words "For this reason" are pointing back to earlier in chapter 3. It's a prayer to experience God's inner power, so we don't lose heart (Ephesians 3:13). It's so easy to be discouraged when you do anything for God and righteousness. Then, we need nothing less than the power of God to unite us (Ephesians 3:6, 8).
Paul has gone to great length lengths to explain that God has created a third race if you will. Not Jews, not Gentiles but the body of Christ. We are all the family of the redeemed! Some of our family have already graduated to Heaven while others of us are here on earth (Ephesians 3:15).
Never think of yourselves in terms of your race first. Never think of yourselves in terms of your class first and foremost. Think of yourself first as a child of God with many brothers and sisters in Christ. You are a child of God in the family of God.
So it's a prayer for spiritual power to accomplish all of God's purposes in our lives. We need nothing less than the power of God inside of us to accomplish this kind of thing! We pray for this inner spiritual horsepower to kick in so we can overcome the problem of evil that overwhelms us in life. Remember, Jesus taught us to pray that the Father would deliver us from evil (Matthew 6:13).
There is sin-killing power.
There is sin-stopping power.
There is chain-breaking power.
1.2.2 Power to Experience Christ's Presence
Second, we need the supernatural power to more fully experience God! "that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts …" (Ephesians 3:16-17a). The odd thing is that Paul is praying for things that he has already said we possess.
1.2.2.1 Asking for Something You Already Have
Imagine if we sat down at the beautifully set table together. My wife has some of her finest china set before us. It's a beautiful dinner with all the fixings. And I ask you to pass me a knife. Yet, when you look up, I already have a knife. Why would anyone ask for something they already have? No, you would not ask for something you already have. So why is Paul asking in prayer for something Christians already possess?
In one sense, Christ is already living inside you as a believer. The Bible says if you are a believer that Christ has come to already dwell inside of you (John 14:17). In fact, if you don't have the Spirit and Christ living inside you, then you are not a Christian at all. So why ask for what you already have?
1.2.2.2 Lady Use Limited Electricity
There was a lady who lived way, way out in the middle of nowhere years ago, and they finally were able to get electricity to where she lived. She hadn't had electricity, but now they were able to run the cable to get her the power. When they ran the cable and turned on her power, they noticed something after months, that very little of the power that had been run to her home and to her property was being used. She had the power, but she wasn't utilizing it. So they wanted to try to discover what was going on or whether there was a problem because when they viewed what was being used, it was very little. One of the representatives from the electric company knocked on her door and said, "Ma'am, are you using your electricity here that we've run to your property?" "Oh!" she says, "Well yes, I use it." He says, "Well, our indication is that you're not using it." "Oh!" she said, "Absolutely, I use it!" "Well, could you tell me how you're using it?" "Oh!" she said, "It's very simple. When it begins to get dark, I turn on the lights long enough to light my kerosene lamps; And then I turn it off!" This lady didn't understand the use of the power.
1.3 The Abundance of Power
There is an extraordinary power available to believers, a power that can accomplish far more than we ordinarily think or imagine. Paul is just layering up the terms for power in this portion of Ephesians. He prays that "according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being …" in verse 16. And in verse 19, he prays that "you may be filled with all the fullness of God." And in verse 20, he says that God "is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us." This power comes by the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit. The power is in accordance with the riches of God's glory. Lastly, it is the very fullness of God, as unimaginable as that sounds.
Christ makes His power available to you.
You give me the fingers of Mozart, and there is no tune I cannot play.
You give me the arms of Mike Trout, and there is no home run I cannot hit.
You give me the legs of Michael Jordan, and there's no dunk I cannot make.
You give me the mind of Einstein, and there's no mathematical formula I cannot unravel.
1. A Prayer for Power
2. A Prayer for Everyone
This is a prayer for every Christian. Let me encourage you to adopt this prayer. I challenge you to personalize this prayer. Historically, Christians have used a word to pray for other Christians, and it's the word "intercession." To pray for another person is to intercede on their behalf.
Paul is encouraging us to pray: "So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory. 14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father…" (Ephesians 3:13-14).
It's so easy to lose heart. In effect, he says, "Because you have a tendency to lose heart, I drop to my knees." Let me encourage you for a moment.
2.1 Jesus Intercedes for Believers
Life is tough, and we need to pray for one another. And you need to know you have a running head start before you pray. First, the Bible says the Lord Jesus Christ is praying for you. Did you know that Jesus is in Heaven, and He's praying for you right now? The Bible tells us that Jesus intercedes for us: "Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them" (Hebrews 7:25). Elbow the person next to you and ask them, "Do you know that Jesus is praying for you right now?" Isn't that great news! It's that encouraging! So you have a running head start. The Lord Jesus is already praying for that teenager in your life. The Lord Jesus is already praying for that child in your life. Can you picture that for just a moment?
2.2 The Spirit Intercedes for Believers
But it gets better! But not only that, the Holy Spirit is interceding for you as well. "Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words" (Romans 8:26). The Holy Spirit is already praying for that teenager in your life. The Holy Spirit is already praying for that child in your life.
In a Barna survey, Generation Z's goals were focused primarily on professional success and financial security. In this study, most Gen Z indicated that their ultimate goal in life was "to be happy," and they defined happiness as financial success. Personal achievement was central to Gen Z's identity more than family and religion.
Maybe the Spirit is praying something like this for your child or teen right now, "Father, this is what Noah thinks he needs, but Father, this is what Noah really needs. And Father, even if his prayer is wrong, Lord, don't give him what he wants but give him what he needs. And, this is what he needs."
Two Lumberjacks
Often God works as two lumberjacks who came into a forest. They were about to cut all the trees down. They looked up and noticed there were two birds beginning to make a nest in one of the trees. So they took the flat part of the ax, and they hit the tree hard – really hard. The entire tree shook until the birds way up at the top were getting their heads rattled around, and finally, the birds moved and flew away to the next tree. But the lumberjacks didn't want them to stop there. That tree was going to come down too. So they hit that tree too, and they rattled the poor birds around until they moved to the next tree, and they continually rattled the birds in the next tree, and rattled the birds in the next tree, until finally, the birds started building their nest on a rock.
Friends, don't you see things that have been happening in your life that perhaps you may have been pretty angry at God for? What He's saying to you is, "This tree is coming down, this thing you build your life on, this thing you say you must have to be happy. Don't you realize you will never be free, you will never be free from ups and downs, you'll never have lasting, infallible, unassailable certainty and joy until you build your nest in some tree that's not coming down? That's me."
Again, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are both praying for you.
2.3 Will You Intercede for Gen Z?
"So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory. 14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father…" (Ephesians 3:13-14).
Fathers, what if you adopted this prayer for your daughters?
Mothers, what if you inserted your son's name inside this prayer?
Students, what if you prayed this very prayer for your teammates?
What if you pulled out the pronouns in verses 13-21 and put in the name of someone of the next generation? Let me show you how this could be done. According to the Social Security Administration, the most popular name for anyone born between 2010 and 2019 is Emma.
"For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom [Emma] is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant [Emma] to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in [Emma's] inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in [Emma's] hearts through faith— that [Emma], being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that [Emma] may be filled with all the fullness of God.
20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within [Emma], 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen" (Ephesians 3:14-21).
Just plug and play if you will. And you can take it a step further by personalizing the words.
Adopt Just One
And we have around 135 different teens at both of our campuses in the month of May. Around 200 different children at both campuses each Sunday. That's more than 330 Next Generation young people to choose from! What if you adopted one of these young men or women to pray for a spiritual breakthrough? What if you dropped to your knees and humbly pleaded with God to move one young next-generation son or daughter to more intimately experience Christ-like they have never before? Pray their minds would think through the Christian faith implications.
One mother said this about her teenage son, "I consider it a particularly positive sign when my teenage sons raise theological disagreement with me; it means they're thinking deeply and critically about Christian doctrine! This is far better than disinterest, and it sparks rich (and sometimes very long) conversations in which I am able to demonstrate intellectual respect for them while offering gentle guidance."
1. A Prayer for Power
2. A Prayer for Everyone
3. A Prayer for Your Inner Being
Lastly, this is a prayer for your inner life, your inner spiritual life.
3.1 Your Inner Being
Pray for real depth for your Gen Z student: "that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being…" (Ephesians 3:16).
Your great need is not physical strength on the outside, what the Bible calls your "outer man." Your great need is spiritual strength on the inside, what the Bible calls your "inner man." We hear so many prayers from believers like this "Lord, heal me. Heal my heart, heal my lungs, and my knees." Something is wrong with us, and so we pray, "O God, heal this," and, "God, fix that." But how many people are saying, "You know, I just don't believe my neighbor's as strong spiritually as he ought to be. I don't believe my granddaughter is up to snuff spiritually. God, strengthen him with might in the inner man. Father, cloth her with power on the inside." This is where our prayers need to focus.
Don't tell me there weren't a lot of sick people in this Ephesian church, but Paul never mentioned them. And, I'm not saying that we ought not to pray for the sick, but I am saying the weight of our prayers ought to be for spiritual strength. When he prays, Paul never says anything about their outward circumstances. He doesn't say, "O Lord, protect them." He doesn't say, "O Lord, spring me from prison so I can get out and encourage them." He doesn't say, "O Lord, heal them of their sicknesses." He makes no reference at all. Why not? Instead, he does say, "I want them to be strengthened by Your might in their inner being."
"So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day" (2 Corinthians 4:6).
3.2 Faith Really Dwelling
"so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love…" (Ephesians 3:17). The term "dwell" means "to be at home," not just live in our heart, but settle down to be at home. Here in the middle of verse 17, is a plea that God would really take over. A prayer for God to be the undisputed owner of your heart and your life. Where God is NOT a renter, a tenant, or a squatter. Instead, God had complete control.
Imagine you come to my house, and I lie through my teeth to you when I say, "Make yourself at home." Yet, I don't want you leaving the living room and making your way into my bedroom and rifling through my closets. I don't want you meandering through my house. The truth is the rest of the house is a mess! I threw all the junk that was in the living room into my bedroom. There is nothing but chaos in my closets. I want you to stay in the living room because I want you to have a certain impression of me.
A lot of us have done just this with Jesus Christ in our hearts and lives. We have this one room we have given Him access to but no more. It's the Sunday morning church room, and Jesus is to stay in that room. The problem is Jesus wants access to all the rooms of your house. He wants to clean up every room in your house. Don't hide rooms from the Son of God. Instead, invite Him in so He can clean up every room in your life.
What He is calling for is a deeper experience with Christ. We must trust Christ to move into the rooms of our lives. In some rooms, Christ would go into like the library. He will find that our minds are full of trash. But He wants to go in that room so He can replace it with God's Word.
Some rooms are dining rooms where He'll find inappropriate appetites. He wants to replace it with the fruit of the Spirit. Some rooms are that He wants to go into, the workroom, but they are full of toys that distract us from Him. He wants to replace it with productivity. What He wants to do is have access to all of life so that He can be totally at home.
Conclusion
God can move mountains. And prayer moves God. Prayer does change things, all kinds of things. But the most important thing prayer changes is us. Again, prayer is powerful because prayer connects us to the ultimate source of power – God. When we pray, difficult situations change. And unexplained miracles occur.
Prayer opened the Red Sea and brought water from the rock. Prayer called bread down from Heaven and made the sun stand still. Prayer brought fire from the sky on Elijah's sacrifice, and prayer overthrew Sennacherib's army. Prayer has healed the sick, and prayer has worked to save men's souls.
