Transcript for:
Ephesians 1:15,23 -The Fullness- Pastor Rick Beaudry 2026-01-04

Ephesians chapter one verse 15 through 23, and would you please stand with me as we read God's holy word together. Wherefore I also after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and love and all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of glory may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of him. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened that you may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. And has put all things under his feet and has given him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that fills all in all. Father, thank you for your holy word. And Lord, as we as we study, Lord, we pray that you'd be our teacher, that we truly enter into the fullness, Lord. We don't wanna be babes in Christ, Lord. We don't wanna stay in a rested state of development. Lord, we wanna be stimulated. We wanna grow. And Lord, I thank you for this congregation. I thank you for this group of people that they can endure a two hour church service, Lord. They can endure an hour, hour and a half of bible study, and Lord, they not too many of them fall asleep. They're awake. They're attentive, and, I thank you for their zeal and their appetite and their desire for more. They wanna enter into all that you have for us, Lord, and we pray today that, Lord, we'd we'd have that completeness, that fullness, the flowing of your Holy Spirit just building us up, the overflowing of your Holy Spirit. And, Lord, that we'd be transformed and changed in the image of your son, being changed from glory to glory into his image. Help us to continue to grow, Lord, to grow spiritually in these last days to fulfill all that you have planned for us, In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Would you please be seated? You guys are a rare group of people, I'll tell you. In these last days, there's very, very, very, very few people who are men and women of God's word. And Paul is praying for the church of Ephesus and he wants them to be like you guys are. He wants them to experience the fullness of that which is in Christ. He hears that they're exemplary in the area of love and faith, which is which is a great place to be. But he's gonna pray for them in this passage, and he's praying for them that they would experience the fullness that's ours in Christ. So the Greek word, and that speaks of completeness, that you would be complete, that you would mature, that you'd grow, that you'd have the the filling, fulfillment of all that God wants to do in our hearts and lives. So Psalm twenty four one says, the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein. So Paul's described them as plutocrats, that plutos, that the riches that are ours in Christ Jesus. And now he prays that they might know the fullness of being in Christ. In verse 15, wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and love unto all the saints. So you're famous for your faith. Ain't that great? Without faith, we can't please God. And for your for your love, without love, we're nothing. And and yet, when we read in the book of Revelation, when it comes to the church of Ephesus, they'd left their first love. So you can start out really well as a Christian. You can be filled with faith and overflowing faith, and and you have challenges as new believers, and boy, your faith just gets you right through it. And, and then there's times, many times in our walk with the Lord where we faint, where we fall, where we doubt, where we begin to question God's love in our life and all. And, and the church of Ephesus was that way eventually, but the Lord exhorts them to come back to their first love, and we can do that. But God wants us to enter into the fullness, and so their their faith in the Lord Jesus and the love unto all the saints. So the Ephesians were known for their faith and love, but did they know the fullness of Christ? Do we know the fullness of Christ? Do you know Jesus to the full? Are you mining the spiritual riches that are ours in Christ Jesus? Are you students of God's word from Genesis to Revelation? And do you sit at the Lord's feet and allow the Holy Spirit to loom in your heart and mind that God might speak to your heart? Jesus said, he that has ears to hear, let him hear what the spirit saith to the churches. Somebody in the church here went around and looked at a bunch of bible studies during during Christmas time, church services during Christmas time. And several of the churches in our community, and we didn't check everywhere, but they all spoke on the very same thing, hope. And they all had templates templates for that verse, for that Christmas thing. All over the country, all over the world, people following pastors.com, their branding, and they're they're using a church growth effort, a marketing strategy to try and grow a church, grow a church numerically. We don't do any of that. We never have done any of that. Our objective is that you and I grow, that we hear from the holy spirit, that we learn from the study of God's word. Now these messages had very little scripture in them. Very little scripture. Capitalizing on a time of great anxiety, a great uncertainty, and basically a generalization that people are lacking hope. But do we point the people to the God of all hope? Do we do we remind people that of the blessed hope? Only 2% of the churches teach the rapture, the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and savior. So on the one hand, you're recognizing that the people are filled with anxiety, lacking faith, lacking hope, but you refuse to tell them prophetically that Jesus is coming again. You you leave them empty. You leave them searching for answers. You point them to psychology and humanism and technocracy or whatever, but you don't you don't fill them. You don't feed them. You don't feed their spirit. You just it's just a marketing ploy. And that's that's where much of the church today is, and that's because it's a time of apostasy. One of the fulfillments of prophecy is there'd be a great falling away, a great departure from the truth. And so you have a whole lot of protestant denominations where the Christians are just little babes in Christ, if not even saved. We don't even know if they're saved or not for many of them because it's it's become such a business such a business, Church Incorporated, to do social justice, you know. And we're gonna do good things. It's not it's not creeds. It's not learning the bible. It's not learning of the lord. It's deeds. Let's get them doing deeds. Let's make the protestants like the Catholics and do a lot of deeds. Make them feel good. If they feel good, then they'll keep giving and they'll think they're saved. But how many of you grew up Catholic and didn't know Jesus? Didn't know him at all. You were religious, but the church didn't teach you about Jesus. You didn't get to know him. Every week was the same. Every week, week after week after week, church dogma. And then when you finally broke free of that, you came to a church somewhere, maybe a Baptist church, maybe a Calvary chapel, and they began to teach the bible. You got into bible studies. You bought your first bible. Because many Catholics are told you can't own a bible. You shouldn't own a bible because only the pope, only the priest can interpret the bible. You don't know what the bible's saying. When Kathy and I first got saved, she lived in the Catholic community there, that's what a lady across the street told her. Kathy, you you can't interpret the bible. Only the priest can tell you what the bible means. You know? And so these people there, thirty, forty years in that sort of a religious kind of a a system, but never knowing the basic doctrines of the bible. And it's our joy and blessing to learn, to be disciples. Jesus said go and make disciples. Disciples are learners. And so the main criteria of my job description, the job description God's given to me as a pastor, as a shepherd, is to feed the sheep. Peter, do you love me? Feed the sheep. And Paul said to the church of Ephesus, the elders of Ephesus in Acts 20, that he ceased not for the space of three years to give them night and day with tears. In bible studies, the full counsel of God. From Genesis to Revelation, you know, Revelation wasn't written yet, but all that was available, the apostle Paul went through the scriptures and, taught them the full counsel of God. And he said he was innocent of the blood of every single person there because their blood would be on their own hands because they've been warned, they've been taught. And I don't want your blood's on my hands. I don't wanna stand before God one day and the Lord say, why didn't you speak to them concerning my coming for them? My coming for my bride? Why didn't you speak and emphasize how I can come in an eminent manner? I could come at any moment. And he that has its hope in him purifies himself even as he is pure. So you're lacking hope? Teach the rapture. Beloved, now are we the sons of God that does not yet appear what we shall be. We know that when he appears, we shall be like him. And he that has this hope in him purifies himself even as he is pure. What hope? You're lacking hope? Titus two thirteen, looking for that blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and savior, Jesus Christ. Could it be that many people are losing hope cause they're not looking for the return of Jesus Christ? Could it be they're looking at government? They're looking at this world system as a as a as a means of security and peace and prosperity, and they're watching it fall apart, and they're becoming hopeless. Men's hearts failing them for fear of what's coming upon the earth. And you and I as Christians, we're looking up. We're excited. Hey, we know that our redemption's drawing nigh, and we're we're excited of the times in which we're living. So he says, Paul prays that we might know the fullness of number one, him personally. Verse 17, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of glory may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. Christianity is a relationship with God. Are you getting to know Jesus? Are you getting to know him day by day by day by day? And all of us grow at different different times and seasons and at different rates. The objective is just growth. That's all that matters, growth. It doesn't matter who's grown the most, you know. It it doesn't it doesn't work that way. It's just simply, are you growing? Are you are you growing in your walking relationship with the Lord? Can we see it as evidence in your marriage, and in your children, in your home, at work? Can we see the fruit of the spirit, which is love, in your love relationship with Jesus? Or are you just a professing believer that raised their hand, oh, yeah. I go to church, but people couldn't tell you from a worldly person? They don't see any change in you from prior to joining that church or going to that church? There's no change. No change at all. You're still the same person you were, same worldly person you were, and there isn't any real evidence of a person that would have a relationship with Jesus. You might know some of the Christianese. You might be able to say one day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not cast out demons in your name? And he's gonna say, away from me. I never knew you. Christianity is a relationship, not a religious exercise, and you need to enter into the fullness of God in Christ Jesus. Enter into the completeness. Let him fill you to overflowing. In John seventeen three, Jesus says he's praying, this is eternal life. Jesus is praying in John seventeen three. This is eternal life that they might know thee, the only true God, as he's praying to his father, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. This is eternal life, that they would know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. Can we say it any clearer? Christianity is a relationship. Do you know Jesus? Who do men say that I am? In Matthew sixteen thirteen. And the disciple said, some say you're John the Baptist. So what would that characteristic be? Well, he doesn't put up with anything. He's saying repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Jesus was not afraid of the religious leaders. He wasn't afraid of anybody. And John was a forerunner, a cousin John. And John was leading the way for the king saying repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Huge message. John's the one that would go to Herod and say, Herod, you're you're having a illicit relationship with your brother Philip, bringing Herodias in. And she's his wife, not yours. And it cost him his head, didn't it? All they that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution, and John suffered it. So you remind me of John the Baptist to some people. Other people would say you remind us of Elijah, all the different miracles that Elijah was able to do, the things that you're doing. You also remind people of Jeremiah. Jeremiah is known as a weeping prophet. Jesus must have spent much time weeping, interceding, praying on behalf of the people. And the disciples recognize this, you know, there's a whole lot of people rejecting you. Jeremiah spent forty years trying to turn the nation around unto God, but they wouldn't repent. They refused to repent. And the false prophets in Jeremiah five would come to the people, and they would tell them false things, and the people loved it so. But Jeremiah imploring them, begging them to come to that place of repentance, and they just would not, and it broke his heart. And they threw him into jail. They threw him into a pit and all, and tried to get Jeremiah to change his message. He wouldn't change one iota one bit. And Jesus, when he was rejected by the nation, they cried out, Hosanna, Hosanna, save now, save now. And then after that, he's weeping over the city of Jerusalem. How often I would have gathered you as a mother hen does gather a brood under her wings, but you would not, and your city's left here desolate now. In seventy AD, he could see up ahead that Titus would surround that city and destroy that city, Jerusalem. Not one stone would remain upon another, and millions, couple million people would die be simply because of their unbelief, because they didn't know the time of their visitation in his first coming. Do you know him well enough to know he's coming again? Do you know him well enough to know that he could come at any moment? And he wants you to have that sense of urgency? Do you know him well enough to know that the birth pangs are increasing in frequency and intensity? The birth pangs he spoke of in Matthew 24 and in Luke, where he says, when you see these things begin to come to pass and look up for your redemption draweth nigh. Do you know him that well? Do you know him well enough to be like the five wise virgins that had the oil and were looking and watching and waiting for the fetching of the bride? That he could come at any at any moment? If you don't know him, then he's gonna come as a thief in the night. You're gonna be caught off guard. You're gonna be caught unaware. You're not gonna know the times in which you're living. So you remind us of John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah in a general sense. So this would be like, who does Elon Musk say he is? Who does Rogan say he is? Who does Tucker Carl and Candace? And who do they say that Jesus is? Is he just a prophet? Just a good guy? Who is he? People seem to have opinions. And then he narrows it down. Who do you say that I am? And Peter says, thou art the Christ, the Greek Christos, the Hebrew Messiah. Thou art the Christ, the son of living God. And Jesus says, blessed art thou, Simon Bar Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you. This isn't a natural insight. This isn't flesh and blood that gave you this insight. Flesh and blood does not reveal this to you, but my father who's in heaven. The father's revealing to Peter through the power of the holy spirit that this is the Christ. Your spirit is bearing witness with his spirit that he's the one. This this is the Messiah. Isn't it great when the Lord speaks to your heart? You know that you know that you know that you've heard from the Lord, and you're not gonna budge. You're not gonna give in to any lie, because you've heard from the Lord. And you don't care what man says. You don't care what peer pressure is. You don't care how many people come up with a different or AI or whatever, a different solution or whatever. You're not budging. You're waiting for Jesus and he spoke to your heart. You have the rhema of God. You have the Logos of God, you've got God bearing witness by his spirit with your spirit. That's where Peter was at this point. He wasn't gonna back down. In verses 16 through 18, Paul prays that the Trinitarian God would reveal himself, That God would reveal himself to the people of Ephesus. They don't need to know Jesus from afar. I don't want a distant relationship with Kathy. Some people try it. It may work for a short term. My heart goes out to you in the military, you in the navy where your husbands, your wives are shipped out for months on end. That's a that's a relationship at a distance, and it may be may be incredibly exciting when you get home, but man, that's hard. That's really, really hard. And Jesus didn't want you and I to have a relationship from a distance with him. He wanted you and I to experience intimacy. And so although he's going away, he's going to send the comforter, the holy spirit to not just dwell with us, but to be in us. And so we're able to have the intimacy in our marital relationship with Jesus as the bride of Christ to have the fellowship of the holy spirit within our hearts and lives. And Jesus in his person, he said, go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you onto myself that where I am, there you may be also in John 14. And he said, and where I'm going in the way, you know. And Thomas says, Lord, we don't know where you're going, and we don't know the way in verse five of John 14. And then in verse six, you know verse six, I am the way, the ego I mean, the great I am. I am the way. Not Buddha Muhammad Confucius. I don't have a plan, a church growth plan, or a purpose driven plan. I've got a person myself. I am. Who can do that? Who can say, I'm the way. That's that you you've all know Harari. I think I said his name right for the first time. He said, God's dead. We just haven't buried the body yet. He's boasting that we're gonna live forever. Right? All he's gotta do is go be crucified. Buried, raised himself from the dead three days later, and maybe we'll listen to him. But until then, he's just another in a long line of pretenders. Liars is what the bible would call them. And so Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the father but by me. And and you've seen the father in me. And you should already know the father, he's saying to the disciples. And then Philip says, no, we don't we don't know. Show us the father and that'll suffice. And Jesus said, have I been have have I not been such a time with you, Philip? He that has seen me has seen the father. And so what's happening there is Jesus said, I'm revealing the father, not just through his word, not just by the spirit, but the incarnation. Jesus is the chip off the old block. People could see the character of God the father as represented in the son. The life that Jesus is living out is consistent. There's a oneness with the father in heaven. So we may have never seen our heavenly father in heaven. Right? But when we see Christ, we get a glimpse. Right? The two are one, the three are one. And that's why Isaiah nine six, unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder. Right? And his name shall be called wonderful, counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting father. How does the babe of Bethlehem be called the everlasting father? He that has seen me has seen the father, Thomas and Philip, you disciples. I represent him, and we're one. And so Paul's praying. He's praying for the church of Ephesus and to know the love of Christ in Ephesians three nineteen, which passes knowledge that you might be filled with all the fullness of God, to know the love of Christ. Paul said to the church of Ephesus, he uses this Greek word pleruma, pleru, fulfillment or or fullness, that love is the fulfillment of the law. Same word, fulfillment of the law. He said that he used that same word, blindness in part has happened unto Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles come in. The church age, the rapture of the church. That's the fulfilling there. And so Paul's praying that you would know the fullness of God. Why would you wanna know God from afar? Why would you wanna know just a tiny bit when you have access to come boldly from before his throne of grace to enter in. There's no there's no barrier anymore. The veil of the temple is renting too, and you can come boldly. You can set your phone down any day, and you can pick your bible up in your hand, and you can sit down with good lighting, and you can crank that chair back, and whether it's a lawn chair outside or in the house or wherever it is, and, man, you can get to know him. You can be the Psalm one guy or gal. Right? Blessed, oh, how happy is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of the sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his delight, in contrast to the world, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law does he meditate day and night. Meditation. Not a not a, you know, a cultic meditation, but a meditation of chewing on the word. Chewing and chewing on the word. You can read fast. You can read slow, but you're gonna squeeze every bit of nutrition out of that food. And in his word, does he meditate day and night? And he shall be like a man that's planted by the rivers of water, like a tree that's planted by the rivers of water and its leaf shall not wither and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. But the godly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away. So you receive your nourishment like the roots of a tree into the water of God's word, nourishing, and then the branches of your life bearing fruit, and by their fruit, you shall know them. And what's your secret? I know Jesus. Jesus said, no man can come unto me except the father which has sent me, draw him and I'll raise him up in the last days. And whosoever comes to me, I'll know why is cast out. God drew you by his spirit. God revealed himself unto you at conversion, and you responded, the holy spirit came to dwell within you, and the holy spirit's job is to bear witness of the son. And the Holy Spirit, as you study God's word, bears witness of Jesus. You see Jesus. The volume of the book is written of him, and you spend time getting to know him. Job said, I esteemed his word more than my necessary food. The appetite for God's word. That's why you guys show up on Sunday. You have a tremendous appetite for God's word. Because I'd already worn you out by now. This place is a sifting church. I watch new people come and very seldom do they return. Right? And many leave before the first sermon's over. And they leave angry. They don't have an appetite. They don't have the affinity. They don't have the spiritual ability to and and the attention span. One big named pastor in Texas said he's gonna have to shorten his sermons to, like, fifteen minutes, I think he said because of TikTok. The attention span of the young people is waning, getting less and less and less. Well, I prefer to raise their attention span than to give into that. I I prefer to feed and and nourish and make sure that your blood's not on my hands. Make sure that you're the most loved and the best fed church in our community. And I'm fine with just a few people. I'm fine because if I capitulated and I gave into the norm, if I gave in, then what do I got? I got seats filled with unbelievers dictating to me what I can say and what I can't say and how long. Why wouldn't I listen to Jesus that you're his sheep? Why wouldn't I do what he tells me to do for his sheep? You love me, Peter, feed my sheep. Nourish them. And the content has to be the word of God. You should be able to evaluate every single pastor by what is the content. What is he saying? Because a lot of them are gonna get their wisdom from AI moving forward. And it's gonna sound kinda palatable. It's gonna sound like, well, I don't know where that is in the bible, but that sounds good. Well, you better be a Berean moving forward or you're gonna be deceived. You better know the word of God. You better be able to take the word of God and say, you know what? Where's that at in the bible? Where where where do I find God helps those that help themselves? You know, where where is that in the bible? And they all know this one. Judge not lest ye be judged. Pulling it out of context when you when you say, no, I'm not gonna go watch that movie. I'm not gonna do that thing that everybody else is doing. I'm not gonna subject my kids to a Harry Potter series at church. We're not gonna move our teenagers into Dungeons and Dragons, even though it may be popular in a youth group. We're just no. No. And it's a capital n o, and I don't wanna cuss, but it's no. Alright? Don't make me angry. Dealing with the kids. Right? You don't seduce these kids. They're impressionable. They need guidance. They need leadership. They need help in sorting through all these pressures that are upon them. They don't need you as an adult giving into the pressure. Stand up. Lead the way. Say, as for me and my house, we're gonna serve the Lord, man. I don't care how many of you go down that road. We're not going down the road of the occult, of witchcraft. We're not gonna Christianize it and say, at least my kids are reading. Whole lot better books to get them started in reading. Right? Such wussies, such cowards, and yet they get away with it. They come across as pseudo intellectuals. They know nothing. And yet because the people are dumb as stumps, they get away with it. But they can't get away with it with you because you're not dumb as stumps, because you're growing. You get more in one sermon on Sunday morning than they get in six months or a year. They're not being fed. They have to self feed if they wanna stay there for the relationships. Oh, there's good relationships for our kids and for us and there's families and all blah blah blah blah blah. Well, are these families men and women of the world? There's a small percentage that go and self feed on their own. Who maybe you're a part of when it was good. I'm not sure how good it is now. I'm hearing things, but bible study fellowship. So you're in a you're you're following systematically through the bible with a group of other believers who want to know God's word. That's a very small percentage in these large churches though. But you gotta do it if you wanna stay afloat, if you if you wanna have a chance of surviving spiritually. You want your marriage to to survive? Do you want your kids to survive? Did James Kennedy used to say, if you send your Christian children to public school, will they come home Christians? It's a means of brainwashing. It's a means of not education, but indoctrination with the world. And we try to Christianize it. We try to say, oh, my kids are evangelists in the public school system. No. They're not. They're being overwhelmed with the filth of the world. They're being overwhelmed with fairies and transgender and stuff that makes absolutely no sense at all that's demonic. And they're afraid to speak up. If they do speak up, they're ostracized and get in trouble. Time to get them out of there. Homeschool, Christian school if you can afford it. I know. I know. I know. Having two cars today cost 2,000 a month. Well, you might need to give up one of those cars. You might have to drive a used car to pay for the tuition to get your kids in the school that will actually teach them the word if you wanna work, both people working. There's sacrifices. It's gonna cost you. You think the devil's gonna make it hard for people to put kids in the public school? It's easy peasy. Heck, you can can develop day cares and make tons of money with no kids in the world, you know. They got unlimited funds for their evil. Do you know his love? Paul prays that we might know the fullness of him personally, and secondly, his plan. Do you know his plan? Paul was praying that the Ephesians would know God's plan for their life. Do you know God's plan for your life? Do you pray, Lord, why'd you make me? Lord, how can I serve you best? Lord, what's your what's your unique plan and purpose for my life? He says, verse 18, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened that you may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. He wants you to be plutocrats. He wants you to know the tremendous wealth, the tremendous inheritance that awaits you as a person in Christ, as a believer. He wants you to know the hope of your calling. He wants you to know that this light affliction that you may go through is but for a moment, and it's working a far more in eternal weight of glory while we look not at the things which are seen in the temporal, but at the things which are not seen in the eternal. Have an eternal perspective. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. So Paul's looking at the beatings he's receiving. He said, it's just it's just light affliction. But you look at his list of things he's been afflicted with, it's anything but light. Rods, scourging, imprisonment, making this shipwreck. Yeah. Just over and over and over. Being stoned, left at Lister dead. And he says, if I evaluate this, it's just a light affliction. Same way Moses evaluated Egypt. He esteemed the reproach of Christ as greater riches than all the splendor of Egypt. What should it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul, or what what should a man give in exchange for his life? That's an evaluation that you make. Do you have Christian values? Those Christian values come as a result of being in fellowship with Jesus. Lord, I wanna be like you. Lord, I consider it a privilege to be whipped in your name, to suffer for righteousness in your name. What are your plans for my life? Well, the apostle Paul, Ananias, let him know my plans for his life. This is a Joel Osteen moment. Your best life now, Paul. So he's a killer. He's a hit man. Paul the hit man. Saul the hit man. And man, he's going after Christians. He's incarcerated and I'm getting letters and splitting families up and all. And he's frothing. He's the coats are laid at his feet when Stephen, the first martyr's killed, and he's after him, man. He's going all the way to Syria, all the way to Damascus to find these old boys and girls. These Christians is a derogatory term. Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Who art thou lord? You see his conversion. Boom. The Shekinah glory of God speaking to him. Boom. On on his face. I'm Jesus whom you're persecuting. Jesus identifying with his persecuted church. God's calling for them was to be persecuted. To go through the the rigors of tribulation, affliction, that we through much tribulation, Paul said, enter into the kingdom of God. So he's stoned there in chapter 13. Right? In chapter 14, he's coming to Iconium, Lystra, Derby, same place as he was when he was stoned. And he goes right back into those cities, and he doesn't give them a Joel Olsteen. He says, and you guys need to understand that we, through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers us from them all. He wanted the Christians to evaluate and count the cost of what it means to be a Christian. And so Ananias, as Paul's converted, the Lord says, go over to the street which is called Straight. There's one Saul of Tarsus that prays. Be behold, he prays and he's blinded. He can't see. And lay hands upon him and pray for him. And Ananias says, man, that guy's a hitman. That guy's dangerous. He's the chiefest of sinners. He's a blasphemer. He wastes the church. And you want me to go over there and what? And God says, no. He's a chosen vessel unto me. Don't you love that you've been chosen by Jesus? That you've been predestined by the father before the foundation of the earth as a plutocrat? That you've been purchased by the son with his precious, precious blood? Is there any doubt ever that Jesus loves you or doesn't love you with his precious blood being the the the payment for your sins? And sealed by the holy spirit, you've got the engagement ring on. You belong. You belong for all eternity, and you're looking up. You don't have a lack of hope. You're looking up. You're looking for the blessed hope. You're watching. You're aware of the times you're living in, and you've got the seal, the earnest of the holy spirit. There's more to come. He's coming for you. And so Ananias, you show him what things he must suffer for my name's sake. There's your calling. Uh-huh. A calling of suffering. And Paul said, you know, when I was being raised at the feet of Gamaliel, and I was raised in a in a Jewish home, you know, I was a Pharisee of Pharisees. I exceeded all my contemporaries. I was numero uno. I was raised at the feet of Gamaliel, man. And I was gonna be a really, really top notch upper echelon member of the Sanhedrin. I was being groomed, But I considered all as dung, all as refuse. Do I need to find those words? For the excellency, Marlene knows what they mean. For the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. To know him. When the light bulb went on and the Lord revealed himself to me, man, all that stuff was like dung and refuse. Had I become that, had I engaged in that, had I received all that I dreamt of, I'd be a nothing. I'd be a zero. Without knowing Jesus, none of it makes sense. My life's for nothing. What's God's plan for your life? God wants you to know what he has planned for you. In Jeremiah twenty nine eleven, the Lord's saying to the nation of Israel, it's pretty rough. It's pretty rough what what what you have to go through first. The time of Jacob's trouble, the tribulation period, because you guys are so obstinate. You are so stiff necked and stubborn. But I want you to know up ahead, it doesn't matter what the preterists say. It doesn't matter what all the the replacement theology people say at the end of the age. It doesn't matter that people try to say, you know, the Rothschilds and the Schofield Bible, that all those things, you know, brought forth a Zionism in 05/14/1948. What they neglect to understand is I move the hearts of those men because I was gonna fulfill Ezekiel thirty six and thirty seven that a nation would be born in one day, reborn in one day. 05/14/1948. And I want you to know that I know the thoughts that I think towards you, Jeremiah twenty nine eleven. I know the thoughts that I think toward you, Israel. Thoughts of peace and not of evil to bring you to an expected end. You're gonna make it into the millennium. And Christian, you're gonna make it into the millennium. You're gonna make it through all the difficulties you're facing today. And you have the help of the holy spirit because you as the bride of Christ, your eyes are open. But the nation of Israel, blindness in part has happened unto Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. Two thirds of the Jews are gonna perish and die. It's gonna be so difficult in the tribulation period. A one third remnant's going to be saved and preserved, but it's it's through hell that they go. And then they're at the brink, at the very end of their lives, they're and they cry out, blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord. And a 144,000, 12,000 from each tribe, they're sealed, they're ready, and they're rumbling, and they're evangelizing. And the angel overhead evangelizing. Greatest revival in the history of the world is in a time of the great tribulation period. The definite article, the tribulation period. The day of the Lord. Not tribulation in general. We're promised tribulation in general as part of God's plan for us. Means pressure, but not the day of the Lord. That's a time of wrath where God's gonna eradicate wickedness, where God's going to punish the nation of Israel, where God is going to punish the worldlings, the earth dwellers as he pours out his wrath. And upon the satanic, unholy trinity of the devil, the antichrist, and the false prophet. The audacity of these people thinking that they can take over my planet. The audacity of these people in thinking they can bring forth a utopia, a golden age, a messianic age without my son. Oh, how the heathen rage in Psalm two and imagine a vain thing against the Lord and against his anointed, and God holds them in derision. He's laughing at humanity. He's laughing at these technocrats, these bankers, everybody. They're actually putting everything in place. Revelation seventeen seventeen, God's put it in their hearts to do according to his will that the stage would be set, that God would be glorified in pouring out his wrath against those who reject him. He's long suffering, not willing that any would perish, that all would come to repentance. But there is a day of reckoning, there's a day of judgment, a day where he's gonna remove all wickedness so that you and I can finally have that peace, that security that he promised from the prince of peace, Jesus. That's his plan. In Psalm sixteen eleven, he says, thou will show me the path of life, in thy presence is fullness. There's our word, fullness of joy at thy right hand. There are pleasures forevermore. Do you know the fullness of his plans? Do you hope in his promises? That blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and savior Jesus Christ? Or did you watch the Left Behind series and gave up hope? Lord, that was thirty years ago. Lord, I waited long enough. I don't believe in it anymore. Well, what are you gonna replace it with? What do you got that's any better? What do you got? You got nothing. You better come back to Square 1 because the church has been waiting two thousand years. God designed it that way, And it's gonna bring the world to the brink, the brink of destruction except those days be short, no flesh will be saved. But for the elect's sake, for Israel, the Lord intervenes during the tribulation period. But the rapture is glorious and has been taught by Jesus himself in John fourteen one through three. Right? Taught by the apostle Paul to the church of Thessalonica, taught by John the beloved in first John three two, taught by the apostle Paul to the church of Philippi in Philippians chapter two, taught by John the revelator in Revelation three verse 10. The doctrine of the pre trib rapture that we're not appointed under wrath. Those are that's hope. There's where my hope is. Not to that I'm afraid of the tribulation period of suffering in general law, but but the glorious blessing of being a part of the bride of Christ and knowing that he's chose to take his bride to heaven for that marriage ceremony. And that we are gonna stand before him in the beam of seat judgment, he's going to reward us, and and the earthlings, the world is gonna suffer the wrath of almighty God being poured out upon them, and the rich people, the globalists in their bunkers and all trying to hide from the wrath of the lamb. But a glorious, glorious time of of revival for many people upon the earth coming to Christ during that time. The two witnesses being a witness for three and a half years and nobody able to touch them at all. And the return of Christ in chapter 19, and you and I are with him, the bride of Christ returning with him in our new wedding garments, unspotted, unblemished, and and he comes to earth and he rescues the nation of Israel, the wife of Jehovah. And he's gonna march into Jerusalem. He's gonna come up through the Mount Of Olives and gonna break in half and his triumphal entry. Is that your hope? Have you lost sight of the hope of the believer? The return of Jesus Christ? Or are you gonna place your hope in men? Men who are gonna use machines to bring in a a golden age, the age of Aquarius, The seven mountain mandate, the new apostolic reformation. Take control of the earth first, and then Jesus might come back according to them. A preterist view, a post millennial view, an amillennial view, and we're pre millennial, which means the millennium's future after the church age, after the tribulation period. And so Paul prays that we might know the fullness of him personally, that we might know the fullness of his plans, that we might know the fullness of his power. Verse 19, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power, Greek word, to us word, who believe according to the working, which is a Greek word, the energy. To the work in the energy of his mighty, which is the Greek word, ixis, which means strength or endowment. And then he comes to the word power again, this time it's kratos, this power. Man, he wants to get it through to us. There's power. Do you want power? Can you handle the power? Can God entrust you with the power? What would you do with that power? Well, if I got 600 horsepower in my car, I'm gonna show you what I can do with that power. I'm doing donuts out front there and make the wheels fall off. Well, what if I had real power? Would I call down fire upon my enemies? James and John, the sons of thunder? How would I use that power? Would I use it for good or for evil? Jesus is tempted by the devil to use the free exercise of his deity in a selfish manner. Would I do that? Could I handle that kind of power? Well, Paul's praying that we would receive that kind of power, so apparently, some of us can handle that kind of power. I got a lot more breaking to go through before he entrusts that to me. Gosh. If I could just pray that one person would be healed, just one. Just one in my lifetime. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever, and he calls it gifts of healings, plural. Paul couldn't pray every time and heal people. Paul himself was sick and couldn't heal himself. He left Epaphroditus sick. Right? He told Timothy to take a little wine for his stomach's sake. We'll just pray for him if he can heal all the time. No. It's a sovereign work of God's spirit. We don't know when he's gonna heal, but we know he can and he does still heal. So silver and gold, have we none? We're a poor church. But Lord, in the name of Jesus Christ, stand up and walk. Well, if I'm praying for a demoniac, he said this come kind comes not out but by prayer and fasting. How are gonna pray and fast? You're gonna empty yourself? How bad do you want it? You're gonna ask, seek, not, and then we always fall back to, which is good. Nevertheless, not my will, but thy will be done. But still we see power. We see dynamic dunamis power represented in the book of acts. And we're not cessationists. We don't think the gifts and the calling of God ended with the end of the apostles in the apostolic era. We believe the gifts of God, the power of the holy spirit is still in operation today. And we hear of stories in Iran, dreams and visions and such. We hear of God moving and working in a radical way in these countries where the gospel isn't so freely disseminated as here. So Lord, we want that power. We want the power, the work of the Holy Spirit, the gifts of the Holy Spirit to be operational for your kingdom and for your glory, Lord. Not for our show, not to not to build a church on lying signs and wonders, know. But genuine, real authentic moving and working of the holy spirit. You're the same yesterday, today, and forever. And Paul is praying that he wouldn't just sequester this power just for himself. No. He wants the Ephesians to grow and enter into all that God has for them, and that they would experience the power. If Uticus drops from the mezzanine, drops down to the ground, Paul's gonna go over there and lay on him like Elijah, and breathe life back into him, and Uticus gets up alive. Peter's gonna pray over Dorcas, and she's gonna come back to life. Lord, we want that power. We won't settle for anything less. We want your power, Lord. We wanna serve you in the energy and in the might of the Holy Spirit. It's not by might nor by power, not natural might nor power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts, in Zechariah four verse six. Lord, we wanna have an afterglow, and we wanna glow. We wanna radiate bright, reflecting your glory. Verse 20, which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead. Oh, that kind of power. Resurrection power. As he raised Lazarus from the dead. Lazarus come forth. This kind of power. Wow. Which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in heavenly places. Oh, the resurrection, the ascension. Jesus says king of kings is lord of lords exercising as a priest now. He was as a prophet. He's crucified, buried, raised from the dead, and he ever lives to make intercession. He's coming again as king of kings and lord of lords. Prophet, priest, and king. Lord, we want that power. And Paul, in Philippians three ten, the gist of his life, what do you want? Solomon, choose a wish. What do you want, Solomon? I want the wisdom to govern your people. Good job. Rick, I'm gonna give you three wishes. What do you want, Rick? A house at the beach. A lot of sun, health. All for myself. Right? Selfish. Paul says that I might know him. That's what Paul wanted. That I might know him. That's what I want. And the power of his resurrection. Oh, stop there. I wanna know him and the power of his resurrection. Stop there, Paul. Can't stop. Paul says, how am I gonna get to know him? Oh, he's a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Oh, no. Let's don't go to Isaiah 53. Let's not go there. That I might know him and the power of his resurrection. Let's snuff out those Romans. Let's snuff them out. Not yet, Paul. Not yet. That I might know him, the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, plural. That's how I'll get to know him, is in suffering. Because when I'm suffering, he's suffering. He's suffering with me. I'm experiencing fellowship with him because he's a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we hid as it were our faces from him. He's despised and rejected of men. Yeah. I wanna get to know him. Do you think that'll sell? You think you can build a church on that? Not today. People don't wanna suffer. They want the power. They want the crown without the cross. That I might know him and the power of his resurrection, the fellowship of his suffering being made conformable unto his death. In Revelation one eighteen, Jesus said, I am he that liveth and was dead and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And have the keys of hell and of death. The power of change, the power to change you, the power to change me from a wretched sinner. Oh, wretched man that I am in Romans seven, and you can fill in the blank whatever your sin is. Because we've all sinned and come short of the glory of God. What kind of reform? What kind of steps? What kind of program can I enter into? And the reason there's so many programs and so many counselors and psychology and psychiatry in the church today is because the word of God is not taught. And the counselor, the comforter, the holy spirit isn't able to minister to people because they don't know Jesus, and they don't have his word to minister unto them. So they don't know him. They know him from afar. So you have to use rudimentary, lower level methodology to try and bring people to the place where they can cope, if they even can. But God wants to change us. God wants to take all that the enemy means for evil and cause us to change. If any man be in Christ, he's a new creation. The old things are passed away. All things are become new. Move forward. Quit looking back. No man putting his hand to the plow looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. We all have abuses. We all have mistreatment. We all have bad things that have happened to us. But we don't need to stay there. We need to move on. Forgetting those things which are behind and pressing forward to the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, pressing toward the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, making progress in our growth and relationship with him. Where I'm crucified with Christ, nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. In the life that I now live, I live by the faith of the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. It's not about me. The power to change me from glory to glory into the image of Jesus Christ. Paul prays that we might know the fullness. This is a heavy prayer. This is a prayer of depth. This is the guy that wants these people to go deep to the deeper things of the Lord. Paul told the church of Corinth, you know, I wanted you to go deep. I wanted to give you meat, but I had to in in first Corinthians three, I had to speak unto you as unto babes, as carnal. I wanted to give you the meaty stuff, but you weren't ready for it. You couldn't have it because you're babes in Christ. If you're a babe in Christ, don't stay there. Grow. Desire the sincere milk of the word, and then transition into meat. Be a carnivore, the meat of the word. Veggies, all of it. Just don't use that Bill Gates food, the synthetic, the phony, the fake stuff. Paul prays that we might know the fullness of him personally, that we might have the fullness of his plans and understanding of his plans for us, that we might experience the fullness of his power. And fourthly and finally, he prays that we might know the fullness of his preeminence. His preeminence. Verse 21, far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. Paul told Timothy, first Timothy six fifteen, who is the blessed and only potentate, the king of kings and lord of lords? His preeminence, his rank, numero uno. Verse 22, and he has put all things under his feet and gave him to be the head over all things to the church. So his pierced feet are upon the necks of his enemies, and the earth is his footstool, And he's lion of the tribe of Judah, only he is worthy to take the title deed to the earth and to open the book, to open the scroll, to loose the seals. He's the only one that can defeat the devil. He's the only Adam that would live a perfect life and justly, in a holy manner, live a perfect life. He's the only one that could be the propitiation, the substitute for our sins. The lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. The lion of the tribe of Judah, the kingly lion. He's the only one, and John wept, there was no man worthy, but worthy is the lamb. 23, which is his body, the fullness of him. There's our word that fills all in all. So Christ fills the church. The church is the fullness of Christ. Colossians one eighteen, he is the head of the body of the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminent. So it speaks of rank. First born rank priority. For it pleased the father that in him should all the fullness dwell filled up to the full. Colossians two nine, in him dwells all the fullness of the godhead bodily, the the pluruma, the completeness. In him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, God incarnate, God in the form of a man, the son of man, the God man. And you are complete. The world wants you to think, the church today wants you to think that you're missing something, and we've discovered something new. We got something new that nobody else ever thought of. We got a new way to brand church. It's not your grandparents' church anymore. We got something new. We're gonna try some Harry Potter here. We're gonna try some people flying on things and smoke and glitter and entertainment and we're gonna entertain people. We're gonna use amusement. You know what amusement means? Like, all millennial, all is no. No millennium. Amusement muses to think. No thinking. You come to church for amusement, you're being deceived. You're being placated. You're placated, put in a spot for an hour or so where you don't have to think and escape from reality. Made to feel good. Oh, I got the feel goods. Oh, did did you hear that when he said that? Got I got goosebumps. Oh, ran down my back. So you're living from goosebump to goosebump experience. Goosebumps. Yeah. Jesus got goosebumps. Oh. Oh. And you are complete, plerue, filled up fullness in him, which is the head of all principality and power. Do you know him? Do you know his fullness? Peter says he's given us everything we need for life and godliness. You're lacking nothing. If you're not growing, it's because you're not abiding. You're not staying close to him. You abide with him, you're gonna grow. His life's gonna flow through you. You're gonna bear fruit, much fruit for his kingdom and glory. Do you know him in his fullness? Are you getting to know him? Who do men say that I, the son of man, am? Who do you say that I am? Who is Jesus? And this is life eternal that they might know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. Do you know Jesus? And more importantly, does Jesus know you? There was a time where in the book of acts, where these seven sons of Sceva tried to cast out demons, a demon in a guy as they saw the apostle Paul casting out demons. And they went and they began to do their voodoo on him and try and vex the guy and get rid of the demon. And the demon began to speak through the guy. And the demon said, Jesus we know, Paul we know, but we don't know you. You're a pretender. You're no threat to the kingdom of darkness. You're operating outside your element right now. And they the guy beat up the seven sons of Sceva and pulled their clothes off him and made him run away and all that. Do you know Jesus? Does Jesus know you? Do the demons know who you are? Are you a threat to the kingdom of darkness? Do you wanna be known? Do you wanna be a threat to the kingdom of darkness? Get to know Jesus. The closer you draw to him, the greater target you become. The enemy wants to silence you. For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea in the millennium, Isaiah eleven nine. Jesus is gonna say to those in Matthew seven, away from me, I never knew you. You that practice iniquity. He will rule and reign as the preeminent king of kings and lord of lords. Revelation five ten, we're told that we are a kingdom of priests and we shall reign on the earth with him. In Revelation 20 verse six, we're told that we're a part of the first resurrection and that we're gonna rule and reign with him for a thousand years in the millennium. In Revelation chapter 22 verse five, we're told that you and I are gonna rule and reign with him on into eternity. On into eternity. Do you know him? Do you want that fullness? Do you want that fullness of being a part of being kings and priests and ruling and reigning with him on the earth? To be a part of his church, his bride that he's coming for? Do you wanna enter into all that he that he has for you? I don't I don't wanna bury. I don't wanna put into the ground that which he's invested in me. I wanna reinvest in the lives of others, and I want you to take that which you receive and you, in turn, invest in the lives of others. Give them Jesus. Give them the Jesus that you know. Give them God's word. Teach them prophecy. Be able to give an answer to them of the hope that lies within you. Why do you have hope? The world is falling apart. And you still have peace, a peace that surpasses all understanding. What is it about you Christians? Let's pray. Father, we come before you, Lord, and we thank you for the heritage that's ours. We thank you that we, Lord, are plutocrats. The tremendous riches of ours in Christ Jesus. Lord, we want the fullness. We don't wanna live like paupers, Lord. We wanna enter into all that you have for us, Lord. The fullness that's ours in Christ Jesus. So Lord, help us to nurture that relationship with you. Help us to respond and to yield to the holy spirit. Help us to say no to things that are time wasters. Time is so precious. And Lord, our relationship with you requires time. It requires the time to pray, the time to read, the time to serve, the time to worship, the time to evangelize, the time to work by the sweat of our brow, to treat it as a mission field, Lord. Use our lives, Lord, for your kingdom and your glory. If we can't get out of the chair, if we can't get out of the house, Lord, we can be a prayer warrior. We can strategically bomb the wicked one's territory with prayer bombs. Lord, we can intercede and hear from you and know exactly how we're to pray and whom we're to pray for. Lord, we ask that you give us a word of knowledge and wisdom. We ask that you open the gifts of the spirit and which you've given severally to every man as you will. Lord, help us to operate in the exercise of these gifts, Lord, for love, for edification, for your glory. Let us not live powerless lives, but Lord, let us enter into all that you have for us. In purity, Lord, we wanna live lives of purity and of holiness. We don't wanna defile your church, the garment of righteousness that you've given us, Lord. Lord, we thank you that the blood of Jesus, your son, continually cleanses us of all unrighteousness, That we can have access, that we can have fellowship as we confess our sin, you're faithful and just to forgive us of our sin, and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness, Lord. But we don't wanna live just at the door, Lord. We wanna enter in. We want more. We want it all, Lord. We want all that you have for us. We don't wanna settle. So help us. Help us, Lord, to enter in to that fullness that Paul's praying for the church of Ephesus. Let us, as your bride, let us enter in. And while your heads are bowed and your eyes are closed as you continue to pray, if there's anybody here this morning and God's tugging on your heart and God's saying, hey, there's more. There's more. You think you know me, but you don't. It's the relationship that gives you the more. It's the relationship with Jesus that gives you all that he has. He's not holding back. He said, whosoever comes to me, I'll know why he's cast out. As many as received him, to them gave he the power to become the sons of God, even they that believe in his name. Do you wanna receive Christ even now? Christianity is a relationship. Do you know him? Just lift your hand up. We wanna pray with you. We wanna pray with you as you receive Christ this morning. There's rejoicing in heaven among the angels when just one sinner repents. When one sinner turns from their sin and they say, Lord Jesus, come into my heart and life. God, be merciful to me a sinner. The angels of heaven are rejoicing. Anyone here this morning? Here's your moment. Here's your time. Today is the day. It's your day. Father, thank you once again. Lord, we pray for those watching on Facebook. Anybody wanting to respond that, Lord, that they simply cry out to you, God, be merciful to me a sinner. Come into my heart and life. Make me new. Thank you for writing my name in the lamb's book of life. Thank you for predestinating me before the foundation of the earth. Thank you for purchasing me with the blood of your dear son, and thank you, Lord, give me that engagement ring even now. Let me live a life that's entering into the fullness of all you've promised, of all you've made available in Christ Jesus. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.