SERMON OUTLINE:
(1). So that we can know God (vs. 17b):
(two). So that we know the call of God (vs 18a)
(3). That we may know the riches of God (vs 18b)
(4). So that we can know the power of God (vv. 19-23).
BODY OF THE SERMON:
III:
Many years ago, the prince of Granada, who was an heir to the Spanish crown,
He was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment in solitary confinement in the old Madrid prison.
The prison was so hideous, so dirty, and so gloomy in nature,
That he had earned the nickname “The Place of the Skull”.
Everyone knew that once inside, you would never come out alive.
The prince was in that prison and in solitary confinement for 33 years.
They only gave him one book to read at all times: the Bible.
With only one book to read,
Imagine that he read it hundreds and hundreds of times.
The book became his inseparable companion.
After 33 years in prison, he died.
When they came to clean his cell, they found some notes he had written,
He made them using nails to scratch into the soft stone of the prison. walls.
The annotations were of this type:
Psalm 118:8 is the middle verse of the Bible.
Ezra 7:21 contains all the letters of the alphabet except the letter J;
The ninth verse of the eighth chapter of Esther is the longest verse in the Bible.
No word or name of more than six syllables is found in the Bible.
This individual spent 33 years of his life,
Studying what many believe to be the greatest book of all time.
However, he was only able to deduce trivialities.
Unfortunately, from what we know of his engravings,
He never made any kind of commitment to Christ.
He simply became an expert in biblical trivia.
TRANSITION: May God prevent us from knowing facts about God,
May our studies in the Bible lead us to a deeper knowledge of God.
That was the prayer of the apostle Paul for this Church in Ephesus,
And it must be the prayer repeated by all the people of God.
Note: A true knowledge of God begins with a person’s conversion.
If you are not converted, saved, born again, follower of Jesus,
You will only have knowledge in the sense of facts about God,
> But when a person is saved, he can begin to experience friendship with God.
ill:
In the news this week (August 2020).
There was a story from Wellington, New Zealand.
Three men were rescued from a small Pacific island,
After writing a giant SOS sign in the sand that was seen from above,
The men had set out to reach another island called Pulawat,
But something went wrong with his 23 foot boat,
And they sailed off course and ran out of fuel.
The men had been missing (in the Micronesian archipelago) for almost three days
And they lived on the uninhabited island of Pikelot.
When rescuers detected his distress signal.
The men were found about 118 miles from where they had started.
And you’ll be glad to know they were found in good order,
and an Australian military helicopter was able to land on the beach
and give them food and water until a patrol car could pick them up.
TRANSITION: We noted last week in the Apostle Paul’s prayer of praise,
That he gave thanks that these Christians had been rescued.
10 times in the first 14 verses of chapter 1.
We read the expression or phrase “in Christ”, “in him” or “in whom”.
Without Christ we are like those men stranded lost on Pikelot Island.
But when we shout SOS (Save Our Souls),
God in his grace and mercy heard that cry and rescued us.
And just like those people in the Amazing Grace video we saw earlier on the service*,
Whatever country you’re from and whatever language you speak,
And whatever time you were born in history,
All Christians will tell the exact same story.
They couldn’t save themselvesv es,
“’It was Grace that taught my heart to fear,
And Grace eased my fears.
How precious did that Grace seem to me
The hour when I first believed.”
It was all by grace, from God.
He saved us, he rescued us, he loved us!
p>
And that is the beginning of when any person really begins to know God:
Until then if you had Christian parents,
Or you were sent to Sunday school etc you will have known of God (information).
But when we come to faith, we begin a relationship of knowing God.
ill:
It has rightly been said many times in our type of Churches,
That Christianity is not a religion.
It is a relationship with the living God.
Now any personal relationship will not work on autopilot.
Relationships take work, sometimes hard work!
TRANSITION: Like most people in the world,
We all apply a good shortcut,
But there has never been a discovery of shortcuts to building a relationship,
Not with people, and especially not with God.
All of us as Christians can have a greater knowledge of God.
But that won’t happen instantly,
It will always require two things, hard work and time.
ill:
Søren Kierkegaard was a philosopher, theologian, poet,
Danish social critic and religious author.
An intelligent man but difficult to read,
However, he often used the simplest illustrations in his writing.
He once said that Christians reminded him of schoolchildren
Who want to look for the answers to their math problems in the back of the book?
instead of solving them.
TRANSITION: In other words, we all crave shortcuts.
But shortcuts are usually away from growth, not towards it.
I think that’s one of the reasons why God doesn’t answer all of our prayers instantly.
Because prayer and study, and meditation,
They are designed primarily for our good, not for God’s.
Human beings grow by striving, working, striving,
And in a sense, human nature needs more problems than solutions.
That is why EVERY Christian must walk the same path of spiritual discipline,
That path can sometimes seem like tedious, monotonous and hard work,
But that’s how God designed it!
(1). So that they can know God (vs. 17b):
“I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you can know him. better.”
ill:
An atheist may claim that there is no God that we can know,
An agnostic may say that if there is a God, we cannot know him.
But the apostle Paul says that there is not only one God,
but it is knowable,
Remember that Paul met him on the road to Damascus (Acts chapter 9).
We can know (experience) God in two ways:
(a).
Knowing God personally: This is what the Bible calls salvation.
We have already mentioned this.
Jesus spoke of it in one of his prayers, for example, John chapter 17 verse 3:
“And this is the way to have eternal life: to know you, the only true God,
and to Jesus Christ whom you sent to earth.”
ill:
There are many ways to Jesus,
If we had a testimony time this morning, we would all have a different story to tell.
Those stories would show a real mix, a variety of ways to find Jesus.
But there is only one way to God the Father.
p>
Jesus said: “I am the way, the truth and the life…”
(John chapter 14 verse 6).
(b).
Knowing God more and more – this is called sanctification,
Chapter 1 verse 17b: “…that they know him better.”
“I continue to ask that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.”
When it comes to knowing God, we all start from the same point:
For some, having a famous father or a good last name could help them in life,
for example, Prince William or Romeo Beckham will probably be favored,
For a job or membership in an exclusive club before you and me.
For example, for some, their school or university could open up career opportunities for them.
Going to Harrow, Oxford or Eaton is more imp ressive than Mosley Junior School!
TRANSITION:
Did you realize that knowing that God has nothing to do with our social position?
It has nothing to do with our education,
It has nothing to do with our natural talents or gifts.
Every Christian can know God by two things:
God through the Holy Spirit gives Christians ‘wisdom & revelation’
LB: “Wisdom to see clearly & really understand who Christ is…”
Wisdom: means insight to understand the things of God.
ill: Spiritual shows to help us focus and see clearly.
Revelation: means that we will always be learners,
Because God is always revealing truth and knowledge about himself.
ill: The Bible is a bottomless ocean, there is always more to discover.
So, the first prayer point of the apostle Paul,
It is for Christians to get to know God and not just know about him!
(two). May we know the call of God (vs. 18a)
“Pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know the hope to which he has called you…”
wrong:
(a). Most days I get a call,
It’s usually from someone who says, “I’m not trying to sell you anything.”
And then they proceed to try to sell me something. .
Once I sarcastically point this out to you,
The caller hangs up and we part ways.
(b). My wife Penny, on the other hand, gets a lot of calls,
Often from friends and may be on the phone for long periods of time.
For her, the phone is an important way to keep in touch with people.
TRANSITION: This verse tells us that God has a calling on our lives:
That call is not to bother us or get something out of us,
Rather, his call is to please us, to benefit us.
Note: The word ‘called’ or ‘calling’ is an important word in Christian language.
p. For example, the apostle Peter wrote in his letter:
Every Christian has been “called out of darkness into his marvelous light”
(1 Peter chapter 2 verse 9),
For example, every time we use the word ‘Church’ it is a reminder of God’s call.
The word church means “called out.”
For example. In his letters, the apostle Paul often testifies that God called him “by his grace”
(Galatians chapter 1 verse 15).
eg And once he reminded Timothy that every Christian has a “holy calling.”
(2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 9).
eg And in this chapter, the apostle Paul reminds us in verse 18,
“That you may know the hope to which he has called you,”
He also repeats this idea in chapter 4 verse 4,
“There is one body & one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you are called”
That every Christian has hope for this vocation.
For all in Christ, the future is positive for it is in him and one day with…