The Faith Baptist Pulpit

Ephesians chapter 3 for our scripture reading this morning. I want to read verses 14 through, end of the chapter, 14 through 21.

Ephesians chapter 3, follow along in your copy of scripture as I read, beginning with the 14th verse.

Paul writes, For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his

Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end.

Amen. Just a brief prayer. Our Father and our God, may we see from this passage of scripture what your ultimate goal is for us as shown here.

And may that be our ultimate goal as well. We pray in Jesus' name.

Amen. Well, did you make any health -related resolutions for 2020?

You know, like maybe losing a little weight, or maybe lifting some weights, you know, getting some exercise, maybe eat a more healthful diet?

Why did you do that? Why did you establish a goal like that?

Is it not because you want to be able to more fully enter into the everyday experiences of life and maybe have a fuller life as a whole?

Think about it like this, okay? For example, you're feeling sluggish. You know, you just don't have any energy.

You don't have any enthusiasm about doing really anything physical. You just kind of go through the day, you know, day after day, just sluggish.

And you realize, well, you know, probably being 25 pounds overweight doesn't help. And so what you do is you set this goal.

I'm going to lose 15 pounds this year, 10 pounds next year.

I'm going to lose these 15 pounds. I'm going to change my eating habits. I'm going to eat more healthfully.

I'm going to eliminate most of the sugar from my diet. But again, why?

Because you have an ultimate goal. And the ultimate goal is you want a fuller, richer life.

You want more energy and enthusiasm. But to have more energy and enthusiasm in order to get there, you have to establish some other goals along the way.

Some goals that are going to take you to that ultimate goal. To get there, you need to eat more healthfully.

You need to get more exercise to get to that point of a fuller, richer life.

Now, I say all that because what we often do in terms of physical goals is pretty well understood.

We have an ultimate goal out there, and we realize we have some intermediate goals to get there physically.

Now, what we long for physically and what we establish in goals physically, the

Apostle Paul does spiritually here in this particular passage that we read, especially in verses 14 through 19.

He has an ultimate goal that he's praying for for God's people, and the ultimate goal is expressed at the end of verse 19, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God.

That's the ultimate goal, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God. But how to get there?

So he introduces a couple of intermediate goals that have to be established and met in order for that ultimate goal to be reached.

These stepping stone goals are equally important. So with that in mind, let's start with verse 14 and notice the motivation for this goal.

What is it that motivates Paul to pray this prayer, to have this goal, this ultimate goal and the intermediate goals established for God's people?

And this is what he wants for you and for me, not just the first century church in the city of Ephesus.

So what motivates this? You notice in verse 14, he begins by saying, for this reason or for this cause.

And that's a repetition of what he said back in verse 1. In verse 1, Paul said, for this cause,

I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ. And then in verses 2 through 13, he went off on a kind of a parenthetical digression, a purposeful digression, but a digression nonetheless.

He starts off for this reason and then he gets into this digression. And now in verse 14, he comes back to that statement for this reason.

For what reason? What is it that motivates him, that compels him to pray this prayer?

The for this reason is kind of like a summarization of what he's just written in chapters 1 and 2.

So we have to kind of go back there to see what is it that he has written that motivates him to have this prayer, praying for the ultimate goal that you and I, as God's people, would be filled with the fullness of God.

What is it that motivates this prayer? Well, I would suggest very simply the great immense work of God, the immense saving work of God in saving sinners and bringing them to himself.

So in chapter 1, he writes about the sovereign nature of God's saving work, whereby he does this work of salvation.

And that, as Paul reflects upon that sovereign saving work of God, it motivates him to pray this prayer.

What work was that? Are you looking at chapter 1? Look back at chapter 1 with me. And notice that God established that plan of salvation in eternity past in verses 3 through 5.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, according to Christ Jesus.

Now watch verse 4 here. According as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world.

This is a plan that was established in eternity past. And then it's a plan in verses 7 through 9 that God worked out in time and space.

Just notice the beginning of verse 7. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins.

Whose blood? The blood of Christ. So he talks about how Christ came to this earth and shed his blood as an atoning sacrifice for the sins of those whom

God in eternity past had chosen in him.

So it's a plan that worked itself out in time and place. And it's a plan that culminates in the future in verses 10 through 14.

That in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ.

And he's looking to the future. This is chapter 1 focusing on God's sovereign work in that saving of sinners.

Now in chapter 2, he brings that sovereign saving work to home, down to home, down to earth.

And applies it practically and personally and powerfully. As he writes in verse 1, you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins.

And in verse 3, he says, we all had our way of life in time past, in the lusts of the flesh and so on and so forth.

We lived in that sin in time past. But then in verse 5 he says, when we were dead in sins,

God has made us alive together with Christ. By grace are you saved.

So he applies that sovereign work of God that took place in eternity past.

He applies it powerfully and practically to the lives of individuals, to people who are those who comprise this church.

But then in the rest of chapter 2, as he applies this saving sovereign work of God, he points out the fact that God has saved people from all kinds of backgrounds and all kinds of ethnicities.

He points out to the Ephesians that some of you are Jewish people.

Most of you are Gentile people, that is non -Jewish people. And you have all been graciously saved by God and brought into this one place, this group, this church, this community of believers.

You have all been brought together with that diversity of backgrounds and ethnic and cultural inclinations that you've been brought up with.

God has saved you from those things and brought you all together as one people of God.

And he ends chapter 2 talking about this building that is fitly framed, that grows to a holy temple of the

Lord. And there he's talking about the church universal. All believers in all time, in all places that comprise this building fitly framed together, this holy temple to the

Lord. But then in verse 22, he applies that great building to a very local assembly.

He says, So God, in his powerful and sovereign saving work, has brought together and united the redeemed of the

Lord in one family. Now here's the thing. With people of such divergent various backgrounds and all the rest of that, who come together and comprise one family, that can be a recipe for disaster.

Because you've got all these different people and their different backgrounds and different ways of looking at things.

It used to be that the Jews despised the Gentiles and the Gentiles didn't get along with the

Jews and all the rest of that. But now they're all in one church. They're all in one building together. They're all in one place together.

They're all worshiping the same God together. And that diversity of background can create great problems in the church.

So all of that motivates Paul to pray this prayer that you might be filled with the fullness of God.

Why? Why? Well, because that will solve any potential problems that would come as a result of those divergent backgrounds.

So he continues this work of God, continues this work that he began in salvation by working in the lives of God's people who comprise the church, the local church as they meet together, the universal church as it is

God's people all over the world. But it is the work of God.

And we can't make a mistake about that. That's why Paul says as he begins this prayer in verse 14,

I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family, the whole generation of God's, in heaven and earth is named.

God is the Father of this whole family. But notice what he says next in verse 16, that he,

God, would grant you this. So what Paul is acknowledging right off the bat here is that if this goal is going to be accomplished, this ultimate goal is going to be accomplished and the intermediate goals are going to be accomplished, it's going to be something that God does.

God must do this. Now, specifically, when we look at these intermediate goals, what is he talking about?

What are those intermediate goals? The stage one goal is brought out here in verse 16.

He says that you would be strengthened with might by his spirit in the inner man that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith.

Now, what in the world is he talking about here? I thought Christ already dwells within his people.

What is he referring to here? He's referring to a work of God's grace through the

Holy Spirit. Notice how he says this at the end of verse 16, that you would be strengthened with might by his spirit in the inner man.

He's talking about something that would occur within you by a power that is not your own.

It's a power that comes through the work of the Holy Spirit as he works inside of you.

So Paul clearly is not talking about some kind of physical goal like losing 10 pounds.

He's talking about a goal that has to take place within you, in your inner person, in the inner man, as it's translated here in our translation.

That is, in your intellect, in your mind, in your thinking, in your inner man, in your emotions, in how you feel about things and why you feel what you feel.

He's talking about your inner man. He's talking about your will, the volitional aspect of your being.

He's talking about your spiritual nature. So this first stage of leading toward that ultimate goal is a work within you that is clarified in verse 17, as he says, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith.

It's a goal that we would experience Christ's abiding presence, that we would personally, individually, experience the abiding presence of Christ, to have

Christ dwell in your hearts. Again, you say, well,

I thought when I came to faith in Jesus Christ, he came and took up residence within me. Yes, he did.

He's there. The word that Paul uses here for dwelling is a word that communicates a constant, permanent residence.

In other words, that Christ doesn't just live in a tent in your heart, but this is his permanent dwelling place.

And here's what I believe he's talking about, that Christ, by having a permanent, constant dwelling within you, would be and provide a constant draw on your attention.

Christ dwelling within you so works in you that you constantly are drawn to him.

He commands your attention in an ongoing, frequent way.

In other words, Christ dwelling within you impacts your thoughts, your plans, your responses, your aspirations.

So, you're driving along Lynn Boulevard and some guy comes up behind you.

You've seen those Allstate commercials with the mayhem guy?

You've seen that guy? He's constantly causing mayhem. This one about tailgating.

He's tailgating to get to his tailgating party. He comes up right behind some guy and he's tailgating right behind a guy.

The guy he's tailgating looks in his rearview mirror and sees mayhem behind him, right on his tail. He says,

I can't do anything. So, you're driving along Lynn Boulevard and along comes mayhem behind you, and he's tailgating you.

And you're going 35 miles an hour in the 35 -mile -an -hour zone over there, but he's right on your tail like he wants you to go 60.

You're not going to do it. I mean, you don't want to get the ticket, so you just keep going. And this guy behind you, and he's honking on his horn, and you say, why doesn't he just go around me?

And he doesn't do that. And then you come up to the stop sign at Freeport Road and Lynn Boulevard, and the guy who's been tailgating you comes around you, and he comes to your side as you get to the stop sign.

And there's guys on the four -way, you know, so you have to sit there for a few seconds before you can go.

And you happen to look over at this guy, and he's got this mean scowl on his face, like, what is the matter with you?

Why couldn't you get out of the way and let me through? All right, now right then is

Christ dwelling in your heart by faith, you see. How do you respond to such a thing?

Does the presence of Christ within you, does it have any impact on how you respond to that guy who's got this scowl on his face and maybe even gesturing with one of his hands, you know?

How do you respond to that? Are you able, with Christ dwelling within you, simply to look at him, smile, and then go back to your direct, you know, ignore the thing?

Or do you respond in kind, roll down your windows, and maybe use your fist as a, you know, how do you respond?

If Christ is dwelling within you, see, constantly, constantly calling for your attention, that's the idea, that he calls your attention and draws your attention to the point that he impacts your thoughts, your responses, your plans, what you intend to do, your aspirations, what you want in life.

Is Christ dwelling within you? Is he dwelling within you? Now, I could summarize this first stage of the goal.

See, and Paul says this is an essential stage. If you're going to get to the place, you're going to have that ultimate goal achieved of the fullness of God, then this is an essential stage, that Christ dwells in your heart by faith.

So I could summarize that stage, it would work like this. The stage one goal desires for you to be so strengthened within by the work of God's spirit within you, that the

Lord Jesus Christ's presence within you is a constant point of reflection.

But that constant point of reflection then brings up stage two in the goal.

Look at how Paul continues. This stage one, that Christ dwelling within you would be a constant point of reflection, so that, the end of verse 17, you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge that you might be filled with all the fullness of God.

This second stage of the goal ends at the middle of verse 19. That Christ, that you would be rooted and grounded in love, that you might be able to comprehend this love of Christ that passes comprehension.

I could just simply summarize this stage two goal in this way. The stage two goal is that you might experience this incomprehensible comprehension.

You might come to a place of comprehending this which is incomprehensible.

You reach stage one goal of that internal strength in order to reflect on the love of Christ and all of its implications.

You go back to Christ constantly. He's dwelling within you. He's a constant point of reflection.

You go back to him constantly, so that you might reflect upon the love of Christ and all of its implications.

Notice as he begins this discussion about the love of Christ and that which is incomprehensible, he points out that that love is fundamentally important.

He says that you being rooted and grounded in love, rooted and grounded in love.

He uses two different metaphors here, rooted and grounded. He uses an agricultural metaphor, and then he uses an architectural metaphor.

Agricultural metaphor is being rooted in that love, rooted in love.

It's like the tree that's planted in the backyard, your backyard.

Do you have any fruit trees in your backyard? If you do, you realize that below what you see beneath the surface of the earth from what you see of that fruit tree, this time of year without any leaves or anything to be sure, but you realize that beneath the surface of the earth, there is a root system that goes down deep, deep, maybe even deeper than the tree is tall.

The whole purpose of that root system is to give life and nourishment to the tree above the surface.

Likewise, being rooted in love means that you find in the love of God and in the love of Christ Jesus, the source of your spiritual life and vitality.

All that you are spiritually, are you alive in Christ?

If so, it's because you are rooted in the love of God and in the love of Christ Jesus.

Are you alive in Him on a day -after -day basis?

If so, it's because you're rooted in the love of Christ. You are rooted in Him.

And then he uses this architectural term of being grounded in Christ. This has to do with a foundation of a building.

Think of that parable that Christ told about the two builders.

One built his house on sand and the floods came and totally destroyed that house.

Why? Because it had no foundation. The other guy built his house on the firm foundation of a rock.

And then when the rains descended and the floods came, the house was able to stand against that flood and against the storm.

Why? Because of the foundation. Now he says you are rooted and you are grounded in love.

The sole foundation of your spiritual life is the love of God.

It not only nourishes your spiritual life, that love, it's the sole foundation for that life.

In other words, watch. If it were not that God in Christ loved you, you'd have no life spiritually.

You'd be still dead in your trespasses and sins. But God, in his great love for you, sent his son to be your savior.

You are rooted and grounded in love. That love is fundamentally important.

Secondly, I would have you notice that this love that you are to comprehend is vastly expansive.

Again in verse 18. So that you may comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height.

The breadth, the length, the depth, and the height of Christ's love.

What is that breadth? What is the depth of his love? What is the height of his love?

What is the length of his love? Ian Hamilton, in his commentary on Ephesians, he puts it this way.

He says, the love of Christ is so broad that it embraces the world.

John 3 .16. God loved the world in this way, that he gave his only begotten son.

It is so broad that it embraces the world. Listen, God's love in Christ is not limited to white

Anglo -Saxon Protestants living in the United States of America. It is not provincial.

It is not so limited. The love of God is broad enough to embrace the whole world.

People of all colors, people of all backgrounds, people of all intellectual abilities, people of all nations and tribes and tongues.

It's broad enough to embrace the whole world. Hamilton goes on to say, it is long enough, the love of Christ is long enough to last for eternity.

Paul asks it this way at the end of Romans 8. What can separate you from the love of Christ?

And the conclusion is nothing. Neither life nor death. Nothing can separate you from the love of Christ.

You who are in Christ Jesus, it is high enough to lift us to heaven.

Jesus said, I'm going to prepare a place for you, that where I am, there you may be also.

And if I weren't so, I would have told you, I'm going to prepare a place for you. Where is that? He prayed in his priestly prayer in John 17.

Father, my will is that they will be with me. Where I am with you.

The essence of his prayer. Where is that? In the eternal heaven.

It is high enough to lift us to heaven. Listen, it is deep enough to reach the most degraded sinners.

It is deep enough. The love of Christ is deep enough to reach the most degraded sinners. Do you think there is anybody that is beyond the reach of Christ's love?

You might think of a lot of people who are far beyond the reach of your love.

Degraded. Violent. Vile. Filthy.

Wretched. But I would remind you, were it not for the grace of God, there would you be.

And I would remind you that there is no sinner that is too great of a sinner for the love of Christ to reach.

So, the breadth, the length, the height, the depth.

This vast, expansive love of Christ is beyond comprehension.

But it is something that you and I are called upon. And Paul prays that we might comprehend.

His love is vastly expansive. Now notice in verse 19, the first part of verse 19, that this love is something that is essentially experienced.

Look at what he says and how he puts it this way. He says, I pray that you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth, the length, and depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ that passes knowledge.

To know the love of Christ that passes knowledge. Now you say, well, wait a minute.

How can you know something that passes knowledge? I think a good way to understand this would be to paraphrase it.

And I think the paraphrase would go like something like this. That you might come to know by experience what can't be known by mere learning.

You may come to know by experience what can't be learned by mere, or be known by mere learning.

Let me give you a couple examples of this. As you know, I like to hike.

I like to do some backpacking. Now a few years ago, I got into hiking when we lived in Vermont, but just did day hiking.

I put a little day pack on the back and put some trail mix in there and some emergency kind of stuff.

Like if it was going to rain, we had little ponchos. I threw those in there and little pouches, carrier things for water bottles on either side of the day pack.

The thing weighed probably six pounds at the most, at the very most, fully loaded with water.

And those were just day hikes. We'd go out for three or four hours, hike a few miles, and so forth. And got into it, enjoyed it immensely.

And then I started reading about these people who do really long hikes. They go out for weeks on end.

They live out of a backpack, and they figure out how to get food transported and all this kind of stuff.

And I'm reading about this, and it's fascinating. I read about what they need to do and read about their experiences and all this kind of thing.

I say, oh, man, this looks interesting. I'd like to do this. And so I would read and read, and I get all this information up here in my head.

And a couple of years ago, I said, okay, it's time to put some feet to the interest.

And I went to REI and got myself one of these big 65 -liter backpacks that I could fill up and be out on a trail for weeks at a time and got the right sleeping bag and the camp stove and all the stuff, all this equipment that you have to have.

And I had to figure out, well, how do you put that in the pack? How do you range that? And I put all this stuff in the pack and got the food together, put that all in the pack, and finally loaded the pack up in the car and drove up to Wisconsin and was going to go on the

Ice Age Trail in the southern Kettle Moraine South Forest State Park.

And I took that pack. I got some water, and I had one of those – they call it a platypus.

It's like a water container that can go inside the pack. It has a little hose that comes out.

So I filled that thing up. It was like a gallon and a half of water, it seems, and it wasn't quite that much. And then

I filled my water bottle up and went to put that pack on my back.

I was like, wow, that's heavier than it was when I was doing the little

Hennepin Canal practicing. And I parked at Camp Joy and walked to put the pack on my back and walked to the trailhead, which is about a half a mile away.

And I'm walking along, and all of a sudden I get this really sharp pain in my hip. I'm like, oh, man,

I've got to go like nine miles today until my shelter. I shelter tonight, and then I've got to do another 11 miles tomorrow.

I mean, man, this really hurts. And you know what? All of the book reading that I could learn about backpacking, really, it was just information.

It was the experience of getting out there and putting the pack on the back and then walking for several miles and figuring out how to adjust this thing so it doesn't hurt so much and then figuring out, you know, what can

I do without in this pack? What do I not have to have so it doesn't weigh so much? And what can

I do with my socks and all the rest of that so I don't get blisters on my feet?

And you could read about that, but then you've got your own feet to deal with. See, it's experience.

There's a knowing that comes by experience that is far different than the knowing that comes just by reading about it.

Isn't this true, husbands and wives with marriage? Did you go to premarital counseling before you got married?

Did you read any books about it? Maybe some of you did. Maybe some of you didn't.

But I guarantee you one thing. All that you read, all that you read was just a fraction of the experience, of what you learned by experience.

When you saw the nuance of the look on the face, wait a minute, did

I read something about how to read that nuance of the look on the face? No. You learn how to respond to one another in marriage by living together in marriage.

Now, this is what Paul is talking about here. He's praying that you might know the love of Christ by experience in such a way that you cannot know just by reading about it.

See, here's the deal. You can know and learn a great deal about Christ's love intellectually.

You can take the Bible and you can read books about the Bible and read books about Christ, and you can hear about his love in action, how he came upon blind people, and they said, would you give me my sight?

And he restored their sight to them. You read about that and you say, wow, that's really cool. Look at that love in action.

He healed a blind man. Or here's a crippled person who can't get up, and Jesus said, do you want to get up?

And he says, yeah. And then Jesus says, well, stand up and walk. And the guy could stand up and walk. And you say, wow, that's really cool.

Look at that love in action. Christ loved that guy. And lepers. Nobody touched lepers, but Jesus touched lepers.

Love in action. You can read about that. And you can say, wow, that's really cool. Love in action.

And you can hear about his love as it's expressed in his teaching and in his promises.

He says, come unto me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you.

Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly. And you read about the teaching of Christ.

You read about the promises of Christ. You say, wow, yeah, there's some love expressed in that teaching.

And you can hear about and read about his love poured out in death, in his death on the cross.

John writes in 1 John 4, 10, and this is love, not that we have loved

God, but that he loved us and sent him to be a propitiation, a satisfaction for our sins.

And you can read about that. And you can read about the definition of propitiation and atonement and all the rest of those things.

And those things can, those things can, they can titillate you. They can, they can fascinate you.

It's one thing to know about Christ's love intellectually. It's another thing to experience that love personally.

To experience his love in his unseen presence.

In his, in his subtle, faithful guidance.

How many times, you who are Christ, have you looked back on a, on a series of steps that you've taken?

And in looking back, you realized he was with me all the way.

Jesus led me all the way. And I didn't even realize it until now looking back, you see.

Kind of like that, that little poem about footprints in the sand, you know, when there's just the two footprints.

And you say, well, where were you? No, I was, I was carrying you along. And you experience that love of Christ in his subtle, faithful guidance.

And you, you come to experience that love of Christ in his gracious and merciful forgiveness.

The blood of Christ Jesus cleanses us from all sins. We confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from it all.

Oh, there is nothing like the experience of knowing my sins are forgiven.

And how about the love of Christ as you experience his, his joy.

The, the, the settled calm that he gives within you, in what would otherwise be a terribly difficult and traumatic experience.

That's the love of Christ experienced. You see, you can't read about that. And you can hear me talk about that.

But you, you need to experience that. You need to come to the place, and this is what

Paul's praying for, that you would come to such a, a constant, a place of constant reflection upon Christ, that you then secondly will come to the comprehension of that which is incomprehensible.

Let's summarize these two stages of the goal so far. Stage one, the stage one goal desires for you to be so strengthened within that the

Lord Jesus Christ's presence is a constant point of reflection.

That leads to stage two. The constant reflection upon Christ leads to the accomplishment of stage two, where you increasingly experience the love of Christ.

But why? See, why? What is so important about this?

What is it, what is so important about me constantly reflecting upon Christ and coming to the comprehension of this incomprehensible love of Christ, experiencing that love of Christ?

Why is this so important? Because of the, because of the ultimate goal, that you might be filled with the fullness of God, as he brings out at the end of verse 19.

The ultimate goal is this supernatural fullness. Hendrickson, William Hendrickson, the commentator, describes this supernatural fullness in this way.

He says that you might contemplate the glory of Christ's love means to be increasingly transformed into that image.

Be increasingly transformed into that image. So, for example, reflecting on and experiencing the love of Christ fills you with a self -sacrificing love like that which

Christ showed. Reflecting on and experiencing the love of Christ fills you with a compassionate mercy that Christ showed.

It fills you with a patient endurance like that which Christ showed.

It fills you with a tender kindness like that which Christ showed.

It fills you with a biblical faithfulness that Christ showed.

And now see, look at why Paul is praying for this. Remember his audience, remember chapter 2.

He says, you, this local church in Ephesus, you're comprised of a bunch of people who, if you don't, find yourself strengthened in the inner man so that you contemplate frequently the presence of Christ and come to experience the incomprehensible love of Christ, then you're all going to be going your own separate ways, demanding your own way, demanding your own thing, and before you know it, this whole thing is just going to blow apart and disintegrate.

There will be no church. You see, Paul is writing to and praying for a local church and even for the church, which would include us, comprised of people from all kinds of different backgrounds and all kinds of different ways of thinking about things who grew up in different religions, who experienced different sins and were controlled by different kinds of sins.

All this in the background, all of this is there, and they need this prayer answered.

We need this prayer answered for the health of each believer, for the sake of the church, and I would say for the glory of God.

It is this, reaching this goal that accomplishes all that God sees for His people in a local assembly, in a local church, that we might be filled with the fullness of God.

That we might reflect Christ in our everyday life, wherever we are, scattered through the course of the week.

That we might reflect Christ as a congregation, as a body of believers. We might be filled with the fullness of Christ, fullness of God.

So, where are you on this path? Where are you on this path toward the ultimate goal of supernatural fullness, being filled with the fullness of God?

Where are you? Are you even on the path? Are you Christ's?

Have you come to that place of repentant faith in Christ where you realize that He died on the cross for your sin, and you have repented of that sin, and you have turned to Him in faith, calling upon Him to save you?

Are you even on that path? Is Christ's presence a constant point of reflection in your life, or is it rarely considered?

Does Christ love your daily experience, or is it rarely noticed?

Is the image of Christ your consistent reflection, or is it rarely displayed?

May God, in His grace, grant the answer to Paul's prayer in your life, my life, and our life as a church.

Our Father and our God, we are grateful today that those who are

Christ can reflect Christ. Those who are Christ can experience this incomprehensible love of Christ.

Oh, may your people who comprise this local body of believers, oh

Lord, may we be strengthened with might in the inner man, and we might come to know this love of Christ that is beyond knowledge, beyond comprehension, that we might be filled with the fullness of God.