Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:08] Speaker B: Good morning. How's everybody doing?
We are going to do a new song this morning. Does that sound good?
Well, let's worship and praise our Father because he is worthy. Amen. Yes, I have felt the hands that bear the scars Reach down and rescue me.
I have known the love of the Father's heart A prodigal now redeemed from where I was to where I'm now It's overwhelmed me.
But the more and more I see you move all around me course. Oh, I can't help but praise you Praise you Lord.
Oh, I can't help but lift up shouts of joy When I think of
[00:01:22] Speaker A: how good you've been Faithful now until the end.
[00:01:27] Speaker B: Oh, I can't help but praise you Praise you Lord.
For the blood you spill to save my life A debt I cannot repay.
For the cross you bore with open arms Salvation that called my name from where I was to where I'm now It's overwhelming the more and more I see you move all around me.
Oh, I can't help but praise you Praise you Lord.
Oh, I can't help but lift up shouts of joy When I think of
[00:02:24] Speaker A: how good you've been Faithful now until the end.
[00:02:29] Speaker B: Oh, I can't help but praise you Praise you Lord.
Oh, I can't help but dance.
I'm free. Got no chains on me. I'm healed and redeemed. Oh, I can't help but call on the name that buried my shame who opened my grave. Oh, I can't help but dance. Cause I'm free. Got no chains on me. I'm healed and redeemed. Oh, I can't help but call on the name that buried my shame. Who opened my grave. Oh, I can't help but praise you Praise you Lord.
Oh, I can't help but lift up shouts of joy When I think of
[00:03:25] Speaker A: how good you been Faith from now until the end.
[00:03:30] Speaker B: Oh, I can't help but praise you Praise you Lord.
Oh, I can't help but praise you Praise you Lord.
Oh, I can't help but praise you Praise you Lord.
Amen.
[00:04:20] Speaker A: Let praise be a weapon that silences the enemy.
Let praise be a weapon that conquers all anxiety.
Let it rise, let praise arise.
We sing your name in the dark and it changes everything.
We sing with all we are and we claim your victory.
Let it rise, let praise arise.
We'll see you break down every wall. We'll watch the giants fall.
Fear cannot survive when we praise you the God of breakthroughs on our side Forever lift him high with creation crown God, we praise you oh, we praise you oh, Let faith be the song that overcomes the raging sea Let faith be the song that calms the storm inside me oh, let it rise Let faith arise Let it rise we'll see you break down every wall we'll watch the giants fall Fear cannot survive when we praise you the God of breakthroughs on our side forever Lift him high with all creation our God we praise
[00:06:15] Speaker B: you oh,
[00:06:19] Speaker A: we praise you O.
This is what living looks like this is what freedom feels like this is what heaven sounds like we praise you, we praise you this is what living looks like this is what freedom feels like this is what heaven sounds like we praise you, we praise you this is what living looks like this is what freedom feels like this is what heaven sounds like we praise you, we praise you this is what living looks like this is what freedom feels like this is what heaven sounds like we praise you, we praise we'll see you break down every wall we'll watch the giants fall Fear cannot survive when we praise you the God of breakthroughs on our forever Lift him high with all creation Crown God we praise you we'll save you break down every wall we'll watch the giants fall Fear cannot survive when we praise you the God of breakthroughs on our side forever Lift him high with all creation cry God we praise you O oh, we praise you oh,
[00:08:06] Speaker B: we praise you oh,
[00:08:11] Speaker A: we praise
[00:08:13] Speaker B: you oh,
[00:08:17] Speaker A: we praise you.
[00:08:24] Speaker C: Let's give a shout of praise to the Lord. He's good. Amen.
[00:08:28] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:08:28] Speaker C: Well, go ahead and grab seat if we have not had the opportunity to meet. My name is Rob Zimmerman, lead pastor here at Westgate, and I'm thankful that you've chosen to worship with us on this beautiful rainy day.
And we're just excited that you are here, especially if you're a guest with us today or maybe you've been a guest in the last few weeks, months. We're just excited that you've chosen to come and worship with us today.
As we get started, I just want to share with you. I know that it takes time sometimes to want to take that step to get connected into a church. You want to feel things out, kind of learn about what opportunities are available.
But this morning, when you desire to take that first step to get connected here at Westgate, I want you to know that the best way to do so is to fill out a connection card. You can see that there's a connection card in the pew in front of you. For those of you that are at home worshiping Online today. You can also find that connection card there online and fill that out there. But we would love for you to take that step. And if you're here with us this morning, we would love for you at the close of our service today to take that connection card out into the main entrance. And at our guest center, we have hosts that will collect that card from you, but also have a gift to give you. But the biggest thing is they would love to answer any questions you have about ways to get connected here at Westgate. And so please be sure to take that step as well. I want to remind you the best way to stay connected, whether you're new here at Westgate or you've been here for 50 years, the best way is to download the Westgate Chapel app onto your cell phone. There you'll find all the information about everything that is going on. As we are in this fall season rapid moving towards Christmas. Am I allowed to say that yet? Okay, sorry.
I started looking at Christmas sermons this week so I know that it is coming and it'll come quickly, but there's so much happening in between and so be sure to check that out on the app. A couple of things that I want to highlight for you though that are coming up, especially if you are newer to Westgate. Another great step to take is to come to one of our new people parties. You'll see that not only here on the screen, but also on the back of your sermon notes this morning. Next Sunday, having a new people party following our second service in the refinery, Our lodge, a large auditorium just off of the atrium. We would love for you to come and join us next week. You can register for that in the app. You can do that online.
But we would love for you to come. Our whole staff will be there. We're going to have pizza and lunch together, salad and just have a great time getting to know one another. And so we'd invite you to come to that if you have never come before. And the other thing that I would love to say is, you know, I know you may go. Well, I got to check my schedule and then, oops, I forgot to register.
Come anyway. We would love for you to come. We will pray that Jesus will multiply enough pizza for you. So we would just love that opportunity to connect and be together next Sunday. Second thing that I want to make you aware of that is coming up in just a couple of weeks is our missions emphasis week. And inside your sermon notes you'll see this trifold. I'd encourage you to take a Quick look at it. But one of the things as a church that is part of the denomination, the Christian Missionary alliance, we are a large missions sending church and every year churches in the Christian Missionary alliance hold what is called a Missions Emphasis Week, a week where we celebrate what God is doing all around the world. And for us, we often have the ability to bring back our partners to come and to share from the countries that they are in. As you'll see within this pamphlet we have some of our workers that are coming from a closed access country that we've just developed partnership with in Central Asia. We're excited about them being here, both of them together and being able to share what God is doing. We can't wait for you to get to hear from them. We've also got Sean McLean who is with our partners in Vaden, Germany who's gonna be here and I'm super excited because we get a very special opportunity this year on the second Sunday of Missions Emphasis Week. I cannot encourage you enough to be here. The president of the Christian Missionary Alliance, Jonathan Schaefer, good friend, is going to be here with us sharing about what is happening in alliance missions throughout the world and really emphasizing the role and part that we have been able to play in that. And so I that you'll be excited and come out for our entire Missions Emphasis Week. You'll see in the middle that there are tons of different opportunities to connect for kids, for students, for adults, for those that are interested in missions. And so please be sure to check that out and we can't wait to celebrate that week with you. Now as we continue in our worship this morning, we want to take just a moment to stand on up, greet somebody you haven't said hello to yet this morning and ask them whether or not they love this rain.
[00:13:09] Speaker B: It.
Hope that's in the blood there's future grace that's mine the day that Jesus Christ has won so I can face tomorrow for tomorrow's in your hands all I need you will provide just like you always have W I'm fighting a battle you've already won no matter what comes my way I will overcome. Don't know what you're doing but I know what you've done Fighting a battle you've already won.
There's mercy in the waiting man of forest day and when it's gone I know you're not you are my hope
[00:15:16] Speaker C: and stay say
[00:15:19] Speaker B: when the sea is raging your spirit is my help he'll fix my eyes on Jesus Christ I'll say that it is well, oh, I know that it is well.
I'm fighting a battle already won.
No matter what comes my way, I will overcome. Don't know what you doing but I know what you've done.
Thank you, God.
I'm fighting a battle you already won.
I know how the story end.
We will be with you again.
You're my savior, my defense.
No more fear in life or death.
I know how the story ends. We will be with you.
We will be with you again.
Amen.
You're my savior, my defense.
No more fear in life or death.
[00:17:31] Speaker A: Come on.
I know how the story end
[00:17:40] Speaker C: we
[00:17:40] Speaker B: will be with you.
We will be with you again.
You're my savior, my
[00:17:56] Speaker A: no more fear,
[00:17:59] Speaker B: no more fear in life or I know how the story end oh, I'm fighting a battle you've already won.
No matter what comes my way, I will overcome. Don't know what you're doing but I know what you've done.
Thank you, God.
I'm fighting a battle you've already won.
I'm fighting a battle you already won.
[00:19:40] Speaker A: Worthy of every song we could ever sing Worthy of all the praise we could ever breathe Worthy of every breath we could ever breathe. We live live for you.
Jesus, the name above every other name Jesus, the only one who could ever save you're worthy of every breath we could ever breathe. We live for you, we live for you you holy there is no one like you there is none beside you.
Open up my eyes in wonder and show me who you are and fill me with your heart and lead me in your love to those around me.
Worthy of every song we could ever sing Worthy of all the praise we could ever breathe.
You're worthy of every breath we could ever breathe. We live for you oh, we live for you Jesus.
Jesus, the name above every other name Jesus the only one who could ever save.
You're worthy of every breath we could ever breathe. We live for you oh, we live for you you holy there is no one like you There is none beside you.
Open up my eyes in wonder and show me who you are and fill me with your heart and le in your love to those around me and holy there is no one like you There is none beside you.
Open up my eyes in wonder and show me who you are and fill me with your heart and lead me in your love to those around me.
Lead me in your love, Jesus.
[00:23:21] Speaker B: Oh,
[00:23:23] Speaker A: lead me in your love.
I will build my life upon your love it is firm foundation I will put my trust in you alone and I will not be shaken I Will build my life upon your love it is a firm foundation I will put my trust in you alone and I will not be shaken Holy There is no one like you there is none beside you Open up my eyes in wonder and show me who you are and fill me with your heart and lead me in your love to those around me Holy there is no one like you there is none beside you Open out my eyes in wonder and show me who you are and fill me with your heart and lead me in your love to those around me I will build my life upon your love it is of a foundation I will put my trust in you alone.
I will build my life upon your love it is a firm foundation I will put my trust in you.
And I will not be taken.
[00:26:47] Speaker C: Let's give glory to the Lord together.
Would you pray with me? Father, we thank you again for just all that you do for us. I thank you for getting us through this past week, Lord, that you have been present with us. I know in so many different ways, Lord, you've been more gracious than we deserve, Father. When we've needed you, you've been there, Father, even in the moments where it feels like you're silent. We have incredible hope because you have shown us your faithfulness in the past and your word tells us you will be faithful for all of time.
And so thank you Lord, that we can depend on you. Thank you that you've proven the depth of your love through us, through your son, Jesus Christ. It's why we worship you. We worship you. We come and we allow ourselves to fall into the depth of your and our hope and our prayer. God is that as our hearts are touched by your love for us, that it would naturally create a responsive worship, but also that that worship, Lord, would turn into just a beautiful witness to others of how good you are.
And so, Father, thank you for that. We worship you today God in song we worship you as we read your word. Our desire is that you would shape and that you would transform our hearts to be more like your son. And we worship you in our giving today, Father. Again, our joy is to give. It's our dependence upon you and our joy and desire to be a part of what you're doing and taking the gospel to the ends of this earth. And so, Father, be glorified as we give this morning of our tithes and offerings. Whether it is in this room or we've given online, whatever it may be, God, just receive that as an offering of our worship today. Be glorified. We trust wholeheartedly in you. We pray this in Jesus name, Amen. So we take our morning offering. Our offering buckets are here in the center aisle on the bottom floor. We'll pass those out to the sides and in the balcony. I think I see some of you up there with all these bright lights. They're in the corners and we'll pass those in. We'll just continue to worship the Lord in this time of giving for the next few moments.
[00:29:02] Speaker A: Sam.
[00:29:36] Speaker C: Well, if you I have just a little bit of news to share with you before we jump into our message this morning, but if you have been around Westgate for some time, I've been the lead pastor here at Westgate for about 17 years.
Prior to that was Pastor Larry and Mary Fay Cary were here. And then prior to them, about I believe 25 to 30 years ago, we had Pastor Jim and Connie Armstrong. We we found out this weekend that Connie has gone home to be with the Lord. And we know that many of you, your lives were touched and impacted by the Armstrongs and Connie specifically. And so we wanted to let you know that they have been living down in Houston, Texas. And you know, in our sorrow over her passing, we are so grateful that today she is worshiping with Jesus in heaven. And so that is a glorious joy that we have as followers of Jesus Christ. But I know of many of you that they were special to you. And so we don't have any information yet about services, whether they would be online, but I know some of you may want to send cards. Our hope is that the family's gonna send us soon some of that information as well as an address. If you'd like to send a card to the family or Jim.
And so feel free if you would like to do that, you can send an email to myself or to Pastor Randy Fall, our care pastor. And once we have that information, we will forward that along. But just be praying for Jim, be praying for the family in this time.
As we move towards our message this morning, you'll remember that last week was our annual Vision Sunday and we are in the final year of our five year vision. Deep roots and broad reach. One of the things we talked about last week is how as we grow deeper roots in Christ, one of the ways that God naturally helps us to grow deeper in our relationship with him is by being engaged in in intentional community with one another as the church. And I want to make sure you know that this morning, if you haven't already, there were a bunch of people out in the cafe in between services. Today is A life group connecting event that we have as a church. We believe that life groups are one of the best ways that you can get connected.
Doing life with other people, encouraging one another, and growing together in your relationship with Christ. And we would love, if you are looking for, for that way to get connected here at Westgate, for you to stop by after the service today. We've got some of our life group leaders that'll be out there. You could connect into one of their groups potentially as well. If you're like, I don't know if there's a group here for me, but I'd like more information or to get connected. There's a form where you can just fill out your name and your contact info. But we would love to help you take that step of connecting into the life of church and into relationship as you are growing deeper with Christ. And so please be sure to stop by after the service today if that is the next step for you in getting connected.
As I mentioned, our series that we are in is Deep Roots and Broad Reach. And you'll see on the screen that I kind of gave it this tagline for this last year of grow Deeper, reach farther, finish strong. And you could easily take that idea of finish strong as in finish strong. We're in the last year, finally of five years of this. But what I would actually say is that as I was thinking through this, it was actually the truth that all of scripture points us to continually be growing deeper, to continually be reaching farther with the good news of the gospel until the day that Jesus comes again. And so may we as his church, finish strong by being committed to these things every single moment and breath that God gives us. Amen.
As we prepare for our message this morning, I entitled it very simply Grow Deeper. I want us to talk about again this idea of growing deep roots in Christ. You may say we've heard this before, but I want you to hear it maybe even a little bit differently this morning. Directly from the Apostle Paul. It is something that he talked about all throughout his writings in the New Testament. And specifically, as we'll see this morning with the church in Ephesus, we're going to be in the book of Ephesians. If you have your Bible, I'd encourage you to turn there with me. Now we'll be centering in Ephesians, chapter three. Many of you know that just a few weeks ago, Rochelle and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. Finally. It was last November, but we finally took a trip. We went over to Europe and one of the Places that we got to go was to Ephesus. I have been chomping at at the bit to teach from the book of Ephesians. So I'm excited to dive into this message this morning with you. But one of the things that I want you to see as we begin is this truth. Paul's letter to the church in Ephesus gives an extraordinary biblical picture of the relationship between spiritual depth and evangelistic reach. What do I mean by that? We have talked about to as a church how our reach with the gospel to other people is a natural byproduct of our growing deeper roots in Christ and his mission and passion for the lost becoming ours. I would also say it this the church fulfills its God given purpose only so far as it is rooted in and empowered by the Spirit. Spirit of God. There is a natural relationship between spiritual depth and evangelistic reach. And I want you to see how Paul begins this letter to the church in Ephesus. He is speaking here to Gentile believers. Ephesians begins with Paul reminding the Gentile believers of a few things, namely letter A this that the depth he reminds them of of the depth of the former predicament that they found themselves in in Ephesians 2:1,3. I'm not going to read the entire thing, but this is the Cliff Note version, if you will, of what he says. He says to the Gentiles, he says you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you once walked, he says, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind. And you were by nature children of wrath, life like the rest of mankind.
I want you to think about that. He paints a picture for the Gentile believers and says this is who you were, number one, you were dead in your sin. And when he says you were dead in your sin, he means dead. He means with no sensitivity at all to the things of God. Your heart was not for God. You were not pursuing God. Your sensitivity to him and his spirit was non existent.
And he says not only were you dead in your sin, but number two, you were carrying out the desires of the flesh.
The things of God were not even on your radar. Your desire was only to find your greatest fulfillment in the broken things of this world, pursuing hard after them, even in rebellion against God. And because of that number three, he says you were children of wrath. And in other words the wrath of God is your destiny or it was your destiny that eternal separation from him, eternal destruction is meant for you. Eternally spending life separated from God in the fires of hell all of it. That the Bible says this was your destiny.
Letter B.
He also wants them to understand not only the depth of their former predicament, but also God's merciful and his costly intervention. And In Ephesians, chapter 2, verses 4 through 5, it begins with but.
One of the most beautiful buts in all of Scripture. Am I allowed to say that the depth of their former predicament was dead in their sin, carrying out the desires of flesh children of wrath. But God, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loves, loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved. That's the glorious news of the gospel. Amen. That while we were separated from God, destined for eternal destruction, God, rich in mercy, though we sinned against him, rebelled against him, sent his son to die on a cross to pay for the penalty for our sin, that if we might place our faith and trust in him, we would spend eternity with him. And the point that he makes, letter C is also this. Not only God's merciful and costly intervention in our future destination, but letter C. He talks about the nature of their new status as the people of God in Ephesians 2, 11, 22.
I'm not going to read all 11 verses, but he makes a couple points really clear to the Gentiles, and I'll walk you through those. He says, you were separate from Christ.
You were alienated from the commonwealth of Israel. You see, as Gentiles, they were not part of God's chosen people, the Israelites, the Hebrews, the Jews, they were separate from that. And not only that, he takes it a little bit deeper. He says, not only were you alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, but you were strangers to the covenants of promise, the promises that God had made to his people. And it says, having no hope and without God in the world, but now you have been brought near by the blood of Christ, you are citizens and members of the household of God. Whereas God began with his people, the good news of the Gospel has come to the entire world, to all Gentiles. And what he is helping them to understand is their new status as the people of God, citizens of. Of heaven, members of the household of God. The bottom line of what Paul is saying to the believers in Ephesus is this. The door is wide open to you. And the gloriousness of this is the fact that Paul himself, were it not for the ministry that God gave to him, you and I would not have the Gospel.
The Message to the Gentiles is a message to us. And when Paul speaks to the Church about their former way of life and predicament, that they were dead in their sin, carrying out the desires of the flesh, children of wrath, that is a message to you. That is what we all were. But God, who is merciful, rich in mercy, lavished us with his love through Jesus Christ and we can now be members and citizens of the kingdom of God. Amen. There's good news.
And Paul says this to the Church and he speaks to the Gentile believers. And in chapter three he comes and he prays this prayer over them that I think is so essential for us to understand what it truly means to not only be rooted in Christ, but in an even deeper way to understand its essential reason that we must be. Follow along with me. Ephesians, chapter 3, verses 14 through 16.
Paul says these words. For this reason I bow my knees before the the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, and according to the riches of his glory, that he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his spirit in your inner being.
I want us to take a look at this together and kind of pick it apart. He says, for this reason I pray that you would Letter A. The first thing he says is essentially to rely on and to live in the power of God's strength. That's what he wants for these believers. And here's how he says it, here's how he describes it, if you will. Number one.
God's power to transform is limitless.
I want you to think about these words. Paul says, I pray that according to the riches of his glory, that he would grant you to be strengthened with power. When he uses the word riches and says, according to the riches of God's glory, the word riches carries the idea of abundance. As Rochelle and I were on our trip in Rome, one of the things we did is we took an excursion one day to the Vatican. We went. It was like a two hour little excursion that we took going around the different museums, looking at the art collection that was there. Honestly, there was so much stuff we could have been there for, for four, five, six hours. We spent about two hours walking around. There were beautiful paintings as you'll see on the screen. Everywhere that you went there were halls upon halls of statues. You'll see a picture of those statues. The only picture I'm showing because the other statues, I would get fired if I showed them to you. They were all naked, so not doing that.
Not only that, there was incredible art all over their ceilings. I mean, if you look at. At some of these domes, it is. I mean, as you walk through, you're just like, wow, this is beautiful. Like, incredibly beautiful. Just keep scrolling through these pictures here, Sherry. And this next room that you'll see. I mean, I just walked in, I was like, wow, look at that ceiling. It's incredible. And then when we got to the end, we walked into the Sistine Chapel. And let me tell you, Father, forgive me, I've sinned. I was not supposed to take that picture. And they yelled at me really loud.
And when they did, I looked at Relle and sinfully said, let's go to the middle of the room. And I took one more. So that's. That's this one.
It only happens once in life, my friends.
I am repenting right here in front of all of you. Okay? But looking at that fresco by Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel was unbelievable. Like, it was so beautiful.
Did you know that of all the art that is in the Vatican Museum, it is around 10 to 15 billion dollars in value? The artwork that they have, it's incredible. You would have thought they could have put air conditioning in that building. But aside from that, someone's been there. And here's the deal. The Vatican has incredible riches and an abundance of valuable art. When we think of the word riches, think abundance. The riches of God's glory. When we talk about the riches of God's glory, we're talking about the abundance of his majesty, of his holiness, of his power. It's a picture of God in all of his might, perfectly ruling over all things. I think of the words of David in 1st Chronicles, chapter 29, verse 11, as the people are bringing in resources for the building of a temple. And he says these words, he says, yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are powerful power and might. And in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. You see, in the same way that David here expresses the abundance of God's majesty, holiness, and power. Speaking of the riches of his glory, Paul himself says, according to the riches of his glory, may he grant you to be strengthened by his power.
God has limitless power, and he wants to use it to transform out our hearts in our lives. There is nothing that can stand in the way of what God wants to do. He has all power. And he says, number two, that the Holy Spirit is the one who transforms us.
He says, the Holy Spirit is the one that transforms us according to the riches of his glory, that he may grant you to be strengthened with power. What through His Spirit, in other words, the Bible teaches us in many different places that spiritual rebirth is a part of what the Holy Spirit does in us at our regeneration.
He guides us into all truth. He changes our character. He produces spiritual fruit in our lives. He empowers us with giftedness. This is the role of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the one who transforms us.
And what it also, Paul also makes abundantly clear as he says this is that God's power to transform is limitless. The Holy Spirit transforms us. And number three, that our transformation becomes. Begins where? In the heart.
He says, in your inner being.
And I believe that one of the biggest mistakes that we make in the Christian life is this itself, is that we try so desperately to bring about change and transformation through our own strength and through our own power, rather than relying on God's power through the Holy Spirit. And in the process, we quench the work that God wants to do in us. I would illustrate it this way for you. When I was in college, I loved to play pranks.
And one of those pranks that I did was on a couple of my quad mates. We had a hall with four different rooms, and Matt and Phil were in the back left corner. Their room was atrocious. Like, it was disgusting. Every mom in this room would have just been horrified. Clothes everywhere. It smelled horrible because they never washed clothes. Like, there was just stuff everywhere. They also had these really large speakers in the room, played loud music all the time. That was kind of fun. But one of the pranks that we decided to play because the room was so dirty and to try to get them to clean it, is that we took a gallon of milk, took the top off, and we stuck it behind these massive speakers that they had in the room. Now, the dorm that we lived in in Southern California Biology University had no air conditioning and it was hot. So you can only imagine two days later, the smell of curdled milk permeated their room. And I can remember for a week's time, Phil and Matt, like, they were perplexed. Look, we don't know. We've got something that died in here. And so we're like, it's always been like that, but it's even worse now. So they're looking Head and toe. And so finally they come to the Point weekend and they're like, we're going to clean this place. And so they go, they do all of their laundry, they fold it up, they put it away, they're disinfecting with bleach, everything. And at the end of the weekend, they're like literally standing in their room. It has never looked so good. And yet the smell of curdled milk is just permeating everything. And they were perplexed. So we finally gave in and we pulled out the gallon of milk and then we ran because they were so mad at us. But I want to ask you this question. When we pulled out the milk and we actually showed what the issue was, how much sense would it have made for Phil or Matt to go grab a rag and some bleach or maybe some spray and to just clean the outside of that jug and put it back?
It would have been stupid, right? The issue is not on the outside of that thing. There is something dead and rotten on the outside inside. You clean what is broken on the inside, not the outside.
In the Christian life, I believe this is one of the gravest mistakes that we make. We try desperately to clean up our issues and struggles with sin by shining the outside rather than going to the heart of the issue which is our hearts and allowing God and the Holy Spirit to root out sin and evil in our lives. We try desperately to cling things that are rotten on the inside by addressing things that are external. We seek at times to manage our sin rather than allow the Holy Spirit to remove it from our hearts. We do this by minimizing or rationalizing our behavior, thinking it's not that bad. We compartmentalize areas of our lives where we go, hey, I've surrendered these areas of my life. And we hold on to control over here. Sometimes we hide behind our routine religion. Hey, I'm going to church. I'm hanging out with good people. I read my Bible, I pray.
And yet we don't allow the Lord to have certain areas of our life. Sometimes we utilize human, external, human means to aid our willpower to have a white knuckle approach to sin. We think to ourselves, if I just have enough knowledge or if I just have enough tools in my tool belt, all of this I can do to externally control my actions. But the Bible says that that is a recipe for failure. What is needed is a transformation of the heart that only God can accomplish.
Our transformation begins in the heart. And Paul begins this prayer over the church and says, rely and live in the power of the strength. He has limitless power. He has given you the Holy Spirit who transforms you. And it begins not on the outside, but on the inside. And then he continues. Ephesians 3, the beginning of verse 17. And he says these words, remember, this is what he said just previously before. He says, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being. Verse 17.
So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. You see, letter B. Experience Christ's lordship. He wants them to experience Christ's lordship growing in every area of their life. You'll remember over these past few months we've talked about this truth, that the idea of giving Christ lordship is this picture that I typically, as a human being, created with a sinful nature, try to sit on the throne of my life. I want to go guide and direct the things that are happening, choose the things that make me happy, that make me feel fulfilled, even if it goes against God's plan. The picture of the lordship of Christ for the believer in Jesus Christ is that we get up off of the center place throne of our life, step aside, allow Christ to take the seat, and we kneel at his feet and say, you, God, are the Lord of my life. The things you desire, the things that you want, what you want to develop in me, the ways that you want to use me, all of it is yours. My greatest heart and my greatest desire is to do that which you have called me to. You know what we call this in the Christian life? This idea of yielding lordship. We call it, number one, sanctification.
Sanctification, It's a really big word that simply means we go through a lifelong process of becoming more and more and more like Jesus. In other words, giving lordship to Christ is not a one time prayer or decision.
It is a daily active choice to submit and to surrender every area of my life to God where I am becoming more and more like him, because the Holy Spirit is producing that holiness within me and setting me apart to be more like Christ. You know, as I was going through, it was filled with all of these incredible sculptures that you could look at, but every single sculpture, in all of its beauty, when it began, was nothing more than a slab of marble on a sculptor's table until the sculptor would come along and day by day, chip by chip, remove unwanted pieces and with every strike of the hammer and chisel, it would serve the purpose as the sculptor crafted a beautiful masterpiece. I think that's such a beautiful picture for us of the Idea of sanctification is that as we yield ourselves to the hands of the sculptor and the hammer and the chisel, giving ourselves over to Christ, giving Christ lordship in our lives, we are allowing him to shape and to shave away the things that are sinful and the things that are not of God to create as the beautiful creation that he has always designed for us to be.
But I want you to understand in all of that work, Number two, we do participate in this process. And Paul says we do so through what faith?
Through faith, he says, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts. Through faith we have a participation. What is faith? Faith is trust and confidence in God, God that produces action and obedience to his will.
In other words, I can trust God, pursue Him and allow him to transform my life through the Holy Spirit, or I can quench his work in my life, bringing it to a halt by pursuing the world rather than Christ.
What Paul calls these believers to and Ephesus is that they would surrender lordship of every area, that Christ would dwell in their hearts through their faith and trust in him. And then he continues in Ephesians 3:17, the second part of the verse, and says that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and the length and the height and the depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses all knowledge.
What he wants them to understand is this truth. Letter C.
As he says that I pray that you would experience the overwhelming depths of God's love.
He uses words that are very familiar to us from things that we've been talking about and studying together. He says that you would be rooted and grounded in love. Number one, that word rooted is. The word means abiding.
The Apostle Paul uses an agricultural metaphor here that would have been incredibly familiar to the people of Israel that day.
It was the idea of roots, of trees that would grow deep down into the soil, receiving all of the nutrients that they need in order to grow and produce fruit. It's the picture of John, chapter 15, when Jesus says that I am the vine and you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit. The branches remaining in the vine, deeply abiding, deeply connecting, provides everything that they need for the spiritual growth that God wants to do in us. That's the picture that's being painted here. What Paul does is he prays that their roots would be sunk so deep into the love of God that their lives would be transformed, that they would experience God's love to A degree that it would naturally produce an outflow of their love to him.
He uses the word grounded as well. This word is meant to convey the idea of the very foundation of their lives. It would have been another familiar metaphor that Paul would use from building construction. He prays that the foundation of their lives would be established on God's love for them, that they would be so overwhelmed by it that it would transform them. I remember when my son Garrett, who, by the way, turned 22 yesterday. It was great, great birthday yesterday. No, so two days ago, turned. Yeah, I remember we went golfing together. It was a lot of fun. And he wanted me to tell you. He beat me handily. So we went golfing together. It was a lot of fun. He turned 22. But I remember when he was just like 6, 7 years old, when we had moved to Ohio, we were building our house over in Sylvania, and they had just dug the hole and they had put the foundation, and we rode our bikes over to look at it together. And I can remember standing there looking at him and saying, like, he was asking me about the walls that were kind of under the ground. I said, garrett, that's the foundation. Like, the foundation is what keeps the house strong. And it gave me an opportunity to talk with him about, hey, man, like, one of the greatest things we can do is build the foundation of our life on Jesus Christ, because He is the one that gives us strength. He is the one that helps us to weather any storm that may come our way. And in the same way, Paul is using these words of abiding and rooted or grounded, the very foundation to help us to understand that when we are abiding or have our very foundations in the love of God, that that is the thing that gives us the strength that we need to weather the storms of this life and to stay true to God. He says these words, Ephesians 3:19b. All of this, that you would be filled with the fullness of God.
He wants them to experience everything that God has in life. Letter D. That their life would be centered wholeheartedly on Him.
Why is this prayer so essential?
Why was Paul taking such great time with the church, with the Christians in Ephesus, to share with them and remind them of their former way of life, the beauty of what God had done and accomplished through Jesus Christ, the fact that they are now heirs in the kingdom, and reminding them of all of these truths, that their transformation comes through the power of the Holy Spirit, and that they need to be rooted in God's love, not Just a one time choice, but a daily decision. Why was it so important?
This will help you to understand why it is so important for us today. I want us to look at the history behind what was taking place in Ephesus during this time. If you're following along in your notes, why was this prayer essential? Letter A. Because of the daily pressure that they would face. Living in the pagan culture that they were coming out of, Living in the pagan culture that they were coming out of.
These Gentiles lived the life that you're about to hear about.
They were rescued by the good news of Jesus Christ.
And yet the greatest temptation would be to go back to that former way of life.
Number one, idolatry was woven into the everyday life of Ephesus. When Rochelle and I went to Ephesus a couple weeks ago, you can literally see this as you walk the streets. And I'll tell you if you've never been able to go to whether it's Israel or to some of these other places where Paul ministered, doing a Footsteps of Paul journey, if you ever have the opportunity, I will tell you, you will read scripture so different than you ever have in your life. It's not just now theoretical or things that you've read or theology, but it really brings it to life. And I was able to see that again in this place as we walked those streets. You see, during this time there was a growing imperial cult that was happening during the time of Paul. Roman emperors could be deified. So if you were a Roman emperor, either sometimes prior to death, but often after death, they would essentially declare that you were a God. And so they would build temples in your honor and people would come and bring sacrifices and worship. The different emperors. You would see in Ephesus in this picture that there was a temple of Caesar where people in that background people would go and they would worship Julius Caesar because he was declared to be a God. They would worship people like Emperor Augustus. This was up in kind of the state Agora area, the civic center, if you will. The top portion of Ephesus, the walls have just been uncovered here of what would have been a temple to him and a place where people would come to worship. As you would go from the state Agora and kind of the civic center down into the lower part of the city. You would travel this street that you see here called Curate street. And it's lined on each side by all different kinds of things like shops and places where you could buy things, but also different temples and different things that were erected as part of the Roman imperial cult. Like eventually, after the time of Paul, they had this fountain of Trajan that was put in where people could come, and it was meant to give him glory and to give him honor. There was a temple not too far away in Pergamum that would also worship Trajan as well. You'll see that on this same street was the temple of Hadrian. Again, this came after the time of Paul, but it was also added as a place where people would come to worship these emperors, believing that they were deities that somehow would increase and make their lives better.
But not only was there an imperial cult, and this was rampant, everyone in the city would participate in this. It was also they were living in the midst of a pluralistic Greco Roman religious culture. In other words, they worshiped all of the Greek gods, gods like Tyche. And you can see here, in the same Hadrian's temple, right at the top in the arch, is this God, Tyche. Tyche was the Greek goddess of fortune, chance or luck. On the backside of this same one, you would see Medusa, who wasn't necessarily a goddess, but they believed that she was a spiritual security system to ward off evil spirits. This next God, you will at least recognize a name as we go to the picture. The Greek goddess Nike, the goddess of victory in war and athletic competitions. They worshiped them all. Zeus, the chief deity. Athena, the goddess of wisdom. Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty. All of it because they believed that the worship of these multiple gods would somehow make their lives better and appease them so that they weren't against them. But there was one God that stood out above all of them in Ephesus.
It was the God Artemis. You'll see here in this picture the statues that are on that picture that I took as we got to the lower part of the city. Artemis was. There was a Greek goddess, Artemis, but this, the Artemis of Ephesus, was totally different.
Artemis always had as an idol a tall, elaborate headdress, was covered with robes of rounded objects and stood rigidly.
But rather than being the God of Greek mythology, had become the primary Ephesian God. She was a mother goddess, represented fertility, life giving and abundance. In other words, this was the primary goddess that they worshiped, believing that this goddess would provide everything they needed all in one. She was intertwined with religion, economics, civic identity, politics, tourism, local pride. You name it, she was involved. And from that idolatry and that culture that they were living in, there was number two, materialism and greed that were intertwined with this religious Faith. Now, materialism generally in Roman society was something that was exalted. The pursuit of wealth, the pursuit of status, the pursuit of things. But even more materialism was connected to this worship of Artemis. And we see that when we read about Acts chapter 19 and Paul has been ministering in the city of Ephesus. And what happens, you see, people came from all over that region to worship Artemis. The temple of Artemis was one of the seven ancient wonders of the world. If you look at this picture, this is all that's left of it. Currently there is one big thing. They have some artifacts that they also took from the site and took to the museum in Ephesus. But this is a picture of what it used to look like. And this was this massive temple where people would come from all over the region to worship. And when they came, they would bring these gold and silver idols and they would leave them there as their act of worship. Well, that, that created incredible wealth for the city. But even more, they would have to buy those idols from somewhere. When we read Acts 19 now, this actually brings it to life. In Acts 19, it tells us about Demetrius the silversmith, who gets rather upset because he's been creating these idols. And Paul is going around telling people the idols that are made with man's hands are not God's at all. And the problem is, is that not only is Paul saying it, but people are listening. And so the economics of what they were earning were going down. Demetrius tried to start a riot in the city. He would love to see Paul dead. Why? Because this wasn't just an attack on religion. It was an attack on their religion, their way of life, their economy, and the city itself.
And so you can begin to see the pressure that the Ephesian Gentile believers were facing. On a daily basis.
The entire city was wrapped up in this worship, not only of the emperor cult, but these many gods, and specifically of Artemis. And it created materialism and greed because how it was woven into every single everyday life. But number three, there was also rampant sexual immorality.
It was an accepted. Not that should be acc by the way there, but sexual immorality was an accepted aspect of the surrounding pagan culture. Many people would claim that the temple of Artemis had thousands of temple prostitutes. Good scholarship doesn't necessarily support that idea. But Ephesus was a major, wealthy Greco Roman city. It had a very large population, extensive commercial activity with a massive port, public baths, taverns, festivals and entertainment. And in that world, prostitution existed. And archeological evidence points to the fact that there was a brothel Right on that main street of that picture that I showed you, where it was normal and routine for people to participate in sexual immorality. You see, Ephesus was a sexually permissive culture, like every other Roman city in the Roman world, which meant that the problem wasn't that there were prostitutes. There was a deeper issue in that culture that had a fundamentally different understanding of the body, of sexuality, of marriage and sexual morality. Committing adultery with another man's wife was a punishable offense in Rome. However, even if you were married, intimacy with one's slaves or prostitutes or anybody but someone else's wife was allowable. It was a completely different culture.
Do you begin to understand now why it was so essential for Paul with these believers coming out of this lifestyle, living surrounding by this culture, why he is so adamant about their being rooted and grounded in God's love and allowing the spirit of God to daily transform their lives? This prayer was so much more than just a prayer. It was an exhortation as well. What Paul is saying is, listen, church, you are in a battle for your soul. You are surrounded on every side, and the world that surrounds is trying to take your heart back from Christ. That it would be given over to them. And the pressure that was on them because of that culture that surrounded them every single day would have been intense.
And what Paul is saying here is you're in a battle for your soul. You're surrounded on every side, but you have one hope. And that hope is Jesus Christ. Amen.
Jesus Christ is the only hope that you have.
And he tells them and he encourages them and he exhorts them to push into that relationship.
Church, family.
When you read about what Ephesus was like, does it not feel eerily familiar to you in the world, in the country and in the culture that we live in today?
It is incredibly sexually permissive.
So much so that so much of that has become common and every day, and we have been desensitized to it.
We, in our own culture today worship idols. They may not look like gold or silver statues that we purchased from a silversmith, but what is an idol?
Anything that takes the place of God in your life.
One of the greatest things that I see in our world today and in our country and culture is materialism, greed.
Those types of idols that we worship, those are the things that we want. They take precedence over so many other things. We could make a list all day long of the ways in which our culture, idolatry is a huge issue. Materialism and the pursuit of that issue is such a Huge issue.
You know, we are not that different from the experience of what the believers in Ephesus were going through. And Paul's message to them is equally important. And that's why I say, you may have heard me say in the past, we need to grow deep roots. We need to be growing continually in Christ. But church. It's because we are facing a battle every single day of our lives. We are facing temptation every single day of our lives. Many of us are wrestling with sin in our own lives that we want rooted out. But we kind of forget it. We kind of excuse it. We let it stay there. We kind of make all of those excuses. And yet what Christ says through the Apostle Paul in His Word is that the answer is not trying to make yourself a better person. The answer is found in rooting ourselves in God's love. Because when God's love comes into our hearts and lives, the natural response is that we love God and surrender all that we are to Him. And his spirit changes and transforms our life.
You see Paul here. Why is this prayer essential? Because of the daily pressures they would face in a pagan culture. But let her be. Because the power of their witness would come also through their transformed lives.
I want you to see this as we close number one.
A deep love for Christ produces naturally a transformed life.
It flows from a place of understanding our need for God, of understanding our unworthiness of his love, and that's our brokenness. And I would actually venture to say to you this morning that I wonder if this is one of the greatest breakdowns in the Christian life, is that we don't feel brokenness over our sin.
Oftentimes, as I mentioned, we are more satisfied to just manage our sin than to be broken by it, to feel brokenness, we want to try to minimize it, push it off to the side, ignore it, act like it's okay, rather than recognizing what Paul said from the very beginning.
We were once lost and dead in our sin, giving ourselves over to the things of this world and by nature children of wrath.
But God, because of his great love for us, sent His Son to die in our place for the penalty of our sin. That if we would trust and put our faith in him, that he would transform our lives. But not only that, but we would live and reign with him forever.
You see, what Paul wants us to understand, I believe, is also the necessary nature of being broken by the sin that is within us, of hating it, of wanting it rooted out, that we would experience the breadth, the length, the height and the depth of God's. Love because in turn it will produce a deep love that flows from the depth of our gratitude, which then produces a response of faith from within us.
And this is why he uses the language of abiding.
It's not a one time decision, being rooted in Christ. And abiding in Christ means to remain.
It is a day by day walk with the very Spirit of God, asking him to change and to transform us. That he would be, that Christ would be the Lord of our lives. And when this happens, number two, it develops. There is a deep love for Christ that produces a passion for us, for his mission.
We now begin to care about the things of God, not the things of this world. Number three, A deep love for Christ will produce the courage to share Jesus. Jesus with other people.
We will no longer fear, like the Ephesians, what people may say or what they may do, or that we may become outcasts.
We only care about those things that will remain forever and that other people know the good news of Jesus that we ourselves have experienced and received. And number four, a deep love for Christ will then produce trust that God will accomplish everything he desires to do in and through us.
I draw back to the words of Jesus in John chapter 15, verse 9. As we close, he said these as the Father has loved me, so I have loved you.
Abide in my love.
As we learn to abide day by day in the love of Christ.
The gratitude that comes from all that he has done for us brings us to that place of surrender and submission, giving him lordship so that the Holy Spirit can then transform our hearts and our lives. And not only do our lives then bring glory to God, but he uses our lives to be a testimony and a witness to our other people of what he can do in theirs as well.
Father, I thank you so much for your word this morning.
I ask, and I pray that it would not return void.
Lord, your Holy Spirit, I ask in this very moment that you would move and you would sweep through this room as we consider the words that Paul spoke over these Gentile believers in Ephesus and over the church as a whole.
Father, help us never to forget who we were dead in our sin, giving ourselves over to the things of this world that are broken and will never last.
And by nature children of wrath, that was our lot. But God, because you are rich in mercy and you loved us so much that you sent your son Jesus into this world. Father, you paid the penalty for our sins so that we could be reconciled to you.
Father, may we never forget who we were and what you have done so that every single day we fall on our knees and our response is one of love and of gratitude. That Father, as we immerse ourselves in the depth and the height of your love.
That Lord, the natural response response would be one of surrender that you would have control and that we would learn every day to abide in you and in your strength. To change and to transform and to use our lives for your glory.
So God, wherever we are today, speak and help us to continually, day by day, take more steps to growing deeper roots in our walk with you. In Jesus name we pray.
[01:16:58] Speaker A: Amen.
[01:17:28] Speaker B: For my waking breath.
For my daily breath.
I depend on you.
I depend on you.
For the sun to you rise.
For my sleep at night.
I depend on you.
I depend on you.
You're the way, the truth and the life.
You're the will that never runs dry.
I'm the bridge and you are the vine.
Draw me close and teach me to abide.
Where the Spirit leads.
I as I fall away.
I depend on you.
I depend on you for the victories stealing from
[01:19:03] Speaker C: me.
[01:19:06] Speaker B: My deep depend on you.
I depend on you.
You're the way, the truth and the life.
You're the well that never runs dry.
I'm the br and you are the vine.
Draw me closer and teach me to revive. Be my strength, my song in the night.
Be my own, my treasure, my prize.
I am yours forever, O mine.
Draw me close and teach me to abide.
When I pass through death as I enter rest.
I depend on you.
I depend on you for eternity, eternal life to be raised with Christ.
I depend on you.
I depend on you.
You're the way, the truth and the life.
You're the will that never runs dry.
Are the br and you are divine.
Draw me close and teach me to abide. Be my strength, my song in the night.
Be my all, my treasure, my prize.
I am yours forever.
Would you teach me?
Would you teach me to you?
I depend on you.
I depend on you.
I depend on you every hour, every day. Mighty depend on you.
I depend on you.
I deepen on.
[01:22:27] Speaker C: Let's give the Lord more. He's good.
He's good.
My prayer this morning is that God has been speaking into your heart in one way or another. And I know that sometimes when we talk about like, hey, we need to abide in Christ, we need to be deeply rooted. Sometimes we go, that sounds good, but I don't quite understand that or how to do that. And I would just encourage you with this.
If you don't have a Daily practice of being in God's Word, spending time praying and seeking Him. That is one of the greatest ways that that we as followers of Jesus Christ can abide in him on a daily basis. That we find ourselves learning about God and who he is and what he has done through His Word, falling deeper in love with him, and then praying and recognizing that we have a God in heaven who, while he is over all things, he eagerly desires to hear the things that are heaviest on our heart. The best way to grow and to abide and to allow the Spirit to transform us is to have a regular rhythm and routine of being in God's Word and seeking Him.
What does that look like? And many people would say, where do I start? I want to just give you a couple of simple tools this morning. If you have ever downloaded our church app, you would see that if you go to the middle button, at least on my phone, where it says Connect at the bottom, you can also go to a tab that says grow.
On that Grow tab, there are Bible reading plans. There are all different sorts of Bible studies that you can download. There are many different resources that are here to help you and to teach you to daily get into God's word. And to encourage you. I want to encourage you to begin this is a new season, right as we move into the fall season, school starts like we have natural rhythms that are shifting and changing. Use this season to begin a new season of daily abiding with Christ.
Use the tools that you have. I would encourage you as well as we've said that one of the greatest things you can do is to be in community and fellowship with other believers. Join a life group, a Sunday morning community, one of our midweek Bible studies. Get into a deep roots group where we have more mentoring that takes place. You can connect with Pastor Adam just about each of those. We would love for you in this season to take that next step in learning to daily abide. So that as we allow Christ to be Lord of our lives and put our full faith and trust in him, the very Spirit of God can transform us.
The natural byproduct of that will be that he will produce holiness, that he will produce spiritual fruit, but not only that, he will use your life as a testimony, testimony to other people of his goodness as they see him transforming you. And so church family, use this season to go deeper, grow deeper roots in him and trust and see what God can do in your life. If you're here this morning, you've never placed your faith in Jesus Christ, but you go Today is the day I want to say yes to Jesus. I believe in all that he did. I want to invite you at the close of our service to come. We have our, our prayer team that is here this morning. We would love to talk and to pray with you if that's a decision that you would like to make today. And if you have any prayer needs, church, family, things that you would like somebody to just walk with you in, whether it's for healing or things that you've been wrestling with with God, they would love that opportunity to talk and pray with you. So come as we close our service this morning and with that being said, allow me just to pray a prayer of blessing over you. Father, as we go out into this week, there is a world that surrounds us that is constantly trying to get our hearts away from you, that we would give ourselves over to so many other things. And the truth is, I know God, that your spirit can reveal in this room right now, in each of our individual lives, ways in which we are holding something back from you.
Lord, as we abide, would you teach us to surrender?
Would you take us to a new place of deeper walk with you this year? And Lord, in that, would you use our lives as a testimony to other people that they would find and follow your son, Jesus Christ?
Father, do a powerful work in this congregation. I pray this in Jesus name. Amen. God bless you church as you have a great week serving the Lord.
[01:26:49] Speaker A: Sa.
