Sermon Tone Analysis
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I LOVE YOU
Do you remember the first time you heard that from someone? (Expand on this; the feeling); - insert personal illustration
What about when someone showed you their love (Mom, Dad; friend, husband/wife)
There is great wealth, riches in love, especially in the riches of Gods love.
Love is a great thing, it is verb, an action, Christ has showed us His love and the riches of His love.
(Slide) God’s love is displayed in the Sufficiency of Christ
(Slide) In the Riches of His grace
(Slide) In the Riches of His glory
(Slide) In the riches of His Mercy (and grace too)
(Slide) In the riches of His peace
(Slide) and then there is you, the riches of the mystery!
All of this leading to Paul trying to explain so we can apprehend the glorious riches of His love for us.
Paul is picking up on a prayer started back in 1:15-23, and now again, but the shift is from enlightenment to enablement, from knowing more to being empowered to do more.
More than position it is about possessing the riches of His great love.
This prayer as well as Paul’s other prayers in Phi1:9-11; Col1:9-12 are about the spiritual condition of the inner man, not the material things.
By faith we know God will take care of all of our needs.
Maybe a reminder of some of the previous part of prayer
So let’s journey together as we look at this great section of scripture that builds on the foundation of God’s great love for us.
I.
The Invocation
(Slide) Our spiritual posture is important more than our physical posture, we can see several physical postures listed in the scripture
(Slide) Abraham stood before God (Gen18:22) - his prayer was about Sodom and Gomorrah
(Slide) David sat before the Lord (1Chr17:16) - his prayer after God’s spoken covenant with him
(Slide) Jesus fell on His face in the Garden (Mt26:39) - his prayer just before His arrest
(Slide) Paul draws upon spiritual posture her in Ephesians
(Slide) Buried in graveyard (Eph2:1) -dead because of our trespasses and sins
(Slide) Seated in the heavenlies (Eph2:4-6) - when we received Christ through baptism we were raised up and seated
(Slide) We walk to please Him (Eph4:1, 17, 5:2, 8, 15) - so we may walk in a manner pleasing to Him.
(Slide) We stand (Eph5:10-13) - so that we can withstand, or stand for our battle against the spiritual forces
Through prayer we are able to lay hold (apprehend) God’s riches that enable us to be Christians, act like Christians and battle like Christians.
(Slide) What is your position in possessing the riches of God’s great love?
(Expand on this)
Now that brings us to (v.15)
All may be fathered by God, son’s of God, but not all are children of God.
Adam was a son of God by creation (Lk3:38)
Believers are sons of God by rebirth (Jn1:11-13; 1Jn3:12)
It is important to understand many are children of wrath.
Now today is not about going back to the severity of sin, but the riches of Gods great love for us and Paul’s desire for us to understand, comprehend and apprehend it!
II.
The Petition
Eph3:16-17
Several items Paul puts in his petition.
I’m sure you would love someone to pray these things for you, or maybe you pray for others.
To apprehend something.
is more than just to grasp something, to know something, but to get it.
hold of something.
The something here is the greatness of God’s love and the fullness of God (v.19)
This is progressive prayer, let me show you.
(Slide) First is strength and power (v.16)
(Slide) So that you can be rooted and grounded (v.17)
(Slide) To comprehend the great love of God (v.18)
(Slide) And apprehend it; and be filled (v.19)
A. Petition one - Strength (v.16)
The strength the power is the Spirit of God that is evident in the believer.
=
Rom
It is the strength, the power of the Spirit that enables us today to do the Lord’s work today and to live for Him today.
The same power Jesus had in His ministry is available to us, minus the miracles that are no longer needed.
We are called to walk in the Spirit not the flesh, God’s power at work in us
This strength, this power is given to us according to the riches of His glory (v.16).
This is not power out of His riches, but according to His riches, let me give you an illustration.
If a billionaire gave you $20.00 he is given out of his riches, but if he gave you $1,000,000 then it was be according to his riches.
The first is a portion the second one is a proportion or his riches.
(Slide) This strength/power works in you
(Slide) Raised you from the dead (Eph2:1, 3:6) - while you were dead, he raised you up to sit in the heavenlies
(Slide) So all your senses come to life too.
- let me show you.
So the inner man, since we are talking about spiritual things today, can see
So you can hear
so we can taste
so you can feel
and then put to use (or exercised)
ACt17:27
This Spirit that strengthens us cleanses us
Feeds us
while in this body we are decaying, our spiritual body is empowered by the Spirit so we can succeed.
We are strengthened by the power of the Spirit so we can grow in the Lord to the unity and fullness of the faith.
This Spirit helps us to then start to comprehend the incomprehensible
Heb
It starts with love!
The great love of God in Christ Jesus through faith, we are rooted and grounded in that.
The roots are what holds us in the storms of life, the grounding in the foundation in which our faith is founded.
rooted - deep roots make a strong and well nourished tree.
grounded - an architectural term meaning the foundation in which something is built on.
The grounding and the rooting is vital, for I read:
“if you don’g go deep
(Slide) “the most important part of the building is the foundation.
If you don’t go deep, you can’t go high.”
-Author Unknown
“If you don’t go deep, you can’t go high.”
-Author Unknown
Now I have mentioned the word apprehend a few times today, the words comprehend and apprehend come from Latin word prehendere which means “to grasp”
Our word comprehend carries the idea of mentally gasping something and apprehend suggests laying hold of it yourself.
(Expand on this)
To Abraham he was to walk the length and the breath of the land (Gen13:17), but we today are called to our inheritance in Christ Jesus which is four dimensional.
(Slide) Breadth, length, depth and height.
(v18)
Paul wants the church, them then and we can take it for today too the love of Christ or in other words the rich love of God.
The love that passes all knowledge (v.19).
why does Paul want us to know, so that we may be filled up to all the fullness of God (v.19)- interesting thing, Paul tells us we are full already in col2:9-10
So positionally we are full, complete in Him, now what Paul is talking about is practically or possession wise (apprehension).
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