The State of Israel: Struggles and Challenges

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

Father, we pray that Your word, which is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, would work in us. Jesus, You prayed that we would be sanctified by truth, and Your word is truth. We ask that You would continue to wash us by the washing of the water of Your word, that we would reflect Your glory more beautifully and more gloriously in the world in which we live.

Lord, we desire to be vessels of honor, even though we are earthen vessels cracked in so many ways. Yet, we are in awe of the fact that You, the King of kings and Lord of lords, have desired and decided to indwell us, that we become the temple of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, we have this treasure in earthen vessels. God, shine through our cracks. Shine through in such a way that people would not see us, but see You. For we ask this in Jesus' name, and all God's people agreed, saying, Amen. You can be seated.

Upon finishing Romans chapter 8 and our series that we called "Victorious" last Sunday, I sensed a desire to take a short detour from the book of Romans this week. The problem was that although I sensed we would not be, or should not be, in Romans chapter 8 or 9 today, I had no clear idea as to where we would be going. If you've ever had the opportunity to teach a Bible study on a regular basis, that's kind of a disconcerting feeling.

Then you're going, "Well, I have a sense that the Lord wants us to go in another direction, but I'm not entirely sure." By Tuesday, a couple of different people on the staff would ask me, "Hey, where are we going to be this next Sunday?" and I would respond, "I don't know." Then on Wednesday, somebody else asked me.

Where are we going to be on Sunday? I don't know. On Thursday, Karen, our receptionist, prints our bulletin, and normally there's a verse on the back. You'll notice there's no verse on the back of this bulletin. She asked me, "So where are we going to be?" I replied, "Well, I don't know." That was Thursday morning. Later that afternoon, she asked me a couple of times, and eventually, I said, "Well, you may just need to print the bulletin without a verse."

I woke up on Friday morning, thinking and praying, "Lord, I don't really know where or what You would like us to look at in Your Word." We want to be led by the Spirit and directed by Him to what He wants to speak to us. As I was driving into the office on Friday morning, I remembered that our office has now been closed on Friday mornings. We changed our hours, but I've been coming in because it's the perfect day; no one's here, and I can focus.

On my way, I thought I would stop by St. Arbucks, which is Starbucks for those who don't know. I went in and got a latte. As I was walking out, I decided to sit down at one of the tables there. I took out my notebook, my pen, and my phone, which buzzed constantly. When I looked at it, I saw an email from a brother in our fellowship who often sends me Bible verses. This last Friday, the verse he sent was Ephesians 3:20, a verse that I and many others appreciate, love, and have memorized and thought about many times before.

I wrote that verse down at the top of my paper in my notebook and started to think about it. Anyone who has ever studied the Scriptures knows that one of the first things we teach people when we're teaching them how to study the Bible is context. One of the first questions you always ask about a passage is, "What is the context?" So, I went back and read through the entire third chapter, reflecting on Ephesians 3 and what Paul was saying.

The setting and context are important because Paul, when he wrote this in about 62 or 63 A.D., was a prisoner in Rome due to his preaching of the gospel. He was there in chains not because he had done anything worthy of being imprisoned, but because he declared the good news. As a result of sharing the good news, he had upset the status quo. Thus, he found himself in a prison cell in Rome.

He wrote a number of different letters, and this is one of them. Ephesians chapter 3 begins in this way: "For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles, if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you." Paul knew his calling, and he recognized that even though he may suffer, he had a purpose.

In his writings, Paul spoke a lot about suffering. He is not the only one; many of the New Testament writers wrote of suffering because Jesus had promised His disciples that in the world they would experience suffering. They would go through trials and difficulties. By this point in time, all of Jesus' disciples had experienced difficulty in some way, shape, or form because of their preaching of the gospel.

I am speaking about things that go beyond the day-to-day trials that anyone would face. Anyone and everyone faces difficulty. There is always trouble; there are always trials. However, there are those who, because of their following Christ and their declaration of the gospel, suffer difficulty for that.

When Saul of Tarsus, the man who would ultimately be called Paul the Apostle and who wrote this letter, became a follower of Jesus, one of the first things that God revealed to him was how many things he must suffer for the name of Christ. In Acts chapter 9, right after his conversion, that is one of the very first things that God tells him. This is phenomenal. In our day, we see that many evangelists are declaring all the benefits of being a follower of Jesus. Yet, God Himself says that when Saul of Tarsus becomes a follower of Jesus, He will show him how much he is going to suffer for His name.

And Paul did suffer. He recognized that it was for Christ's sake and on behalf of those for whom he was called to minister that he was now a prisoner in Rome. For this reason, he states, "I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles." It does not say he is the prisoner of Rome or the prisoner of Caesar, unjustly confined and chained. He says, "I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you, for whom God has called me to preach."

Over the last several weeks, as we've been going through Romans chapter 8, we've considered suffering and the reality that, in the life of a Christ follower, suffering is a reality. Paul understood this both theoretically and practically. It wasn't just a hypothesis in his mind that one might suffer; he did suffer. Paul recognized that suffering was a normal and regular part of the walk and work of Christ. It wasn't something that stumbled him. As I mentioned last week from Acts 20:24, he says, "Neither do these things move me." He was not moved by the fact that he would be suffering and going through difficulty. He saw that as something for which Christ had called him to endure. In recognizing that, he could face it with a level of peace that may not be known to someone who lacks that recognition.

He continues in verse 3, explaining how, by revelation, God made known to him the mystery, as he has briefly written already. He states that when we read, we may understand his knowledge in the mystery of Christ. In verse 5, he notes that this mystery, which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets.

Not only did Paul understand and recognize that suffering, imprisonment, and difficulty were a part of his life and walk as a Christian, but he also understood that he had been given, by God's grace, a stewardship over a wonderful revelation. God had revealed to Paul the awesome things of His grace and glory. The risen Lord Jesus, from heaven, had personally revealed by His Holy Spirit to the Apostle Paul the great things of the gospel, the gloriousness of the good news of God.

In this revelation that Paul received, he held that which the prophets of old and angelic hosts had desired to look into. Peter mentions this in 1 Peter 1:9-12, stating that the prophets of the old covenant desired to know what this revelation was, what this mystery entailed, and even the angelic hosts longed to look into these things. By virtue of the fact that this mystery had been revealed to Paul, and not only to him, Paul was one of many who had received this revelation of the mystery.

Paul counted himself a debtor to carry the good news of the gospel, of this revelation, to all whom God would give him the opportunity. To anyone that God would allow, Paul said, "I am in debt because God has given this gift to me that is actually a gift to all humanity. He's committed it to my trust." Therefore, he wanted to be a good steward of the gospel to ensure that he shared it with all who he had the opportunity to reach.

In Ephesians, specifically chapter 1, verses 9 through 11, Paul has made a passing reference to this mystery. Now, in Ephesians chapter 3, he returns to the topic once again: the mystery that is revealed in the gospel. It is important to understand that a mystery, in a biblical sense, is not a mystery like we often think of it. When we think of a mystery, it is generally something that cannot be known. We hear people speak of unsolved mysteries, often in reference to UFOs or Sasquatch. There is always someone on the edge of figuring out the unsolved mystery, but it remains elusive. In our culture, we tend to think of a mystery as something that just can't be known; it is mysterious.

Yet, the biblical picture of a mystery is best illustrated by a Christmas gift. A Christmas gift, although wrapped and concealed, is intended to be opened at an appointed time so that people might see the revelation of the mystery and be excited and blessed by what it is. Under the old covenant, before Jesus came, there was this concealed, wrapped mystery. Peter tells us that the angels desired to look into these things. They wanted to know, "What is it? What's inside the box that's wrapped and concealed?" The prophets longed to know what it was.

How many of you can relate to that feeling? As Christmas approaches, you long to know what is in the package with your name on it. The way the prophets spoke about these things, meditated upon them, and thought about them is as if they were picking up the box and shaking it. Has anyone ever done that? Guilty as charged? They wondered, "Just what is it? It's about this big, and there are a few things I want that could fit in this box, but I don't really know what it is." So, you shake it and wait, wondering what the surprise might be.

And I don't know, maybe you're like some people I know who like to throw others off by changing the weight of what's inside something, perhaps by putting concrete samples in there or something similar. You might think, "Man, that's heavy. I wonder what it is." The prophets longed to look into these things, wondering what the revelation and the mystery were. They trusted God for what it would be, but they didn't quite know.

Paul tells us here in the book of Ephesians and elsewhere that God has revealed to us in the gospel just what this mystery is. He speaks of it here. What is the glorious mystery that has now been revealed by the Spirit of God to God's holy apostles and prophets? Look at verse 6 of Ephesians chapter 3. It states that the Gentiles—Gentiles, which we should read as unbelievers in our modern context—should be fellow heirs of the same body and partakers of His promise, which is in Christ and comes through the gospel.

God's promise, which I believe is ultimately the resurrection, is available to all peoples, Gentiles included. This promise comes in Christ, the one who was raised from the dead and is revealed to us through the gospel. This is why Paul, in Romans chapter 10, said it is so essential and important that the gospel be preached. How shall they hear unless someone preaches?

So, the Gentiles should be fellow heirs. Fellow heirs with whom? With the Jews, who are the children of God by faith. The Gentiles would be fellow heirs of the same body and partakers of this great promise, of which Paul says, "I became a minister." That is, a servant. He became a servant according to the gift of the grace of God given to him by the effective working of His power.

Paul recognized that all he was doing in declaring this gospel was because he had a debt to pay. God had committed it to him, and it was by God's grace and power that he was even able to do this: the declaration of this great and glorious good news, the promise extended to all humanity. One of the problems, because of our sin nature, is...

Because of the fact that we are fallen, we like to think in exclusive terms, as though the gospel is only for us. This is why we can skew the doctrine of election, as it is revealed in the Scriptures, to make it seem like it is only for us. Our flesh loves exclusivity; it loves it. But God's aim is for all peoples. God's aim has always been for all nations. He has given us the gospel not so that we can hoard it, but so that we can carry it forth to all peoples.

Paul says in verse 8, "to me, who am less than the least of all the saints." Paul recognized his position. There is nothing special about Saul of Tarsus. In fact, everything that was special about Saul of Tarsus, which he lists in Philippians chapter 3, he says, "those things that were gained to me I counted loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord. I count all things loss and even rubbish, trash, that I may win Christ."

Paul states that God has called him by His Spirit and has given him power to be a minister, a servant of the gospel, to him who is less than the least of all the saints. He feels unworthy. In 1 Corinthians chapter 15, he says, "I am not worthy to be even called an apostle because I persecuted the church." Now, here he says he is less than the least of all the saints, and yet this grace was given to him. Why? That he should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. That he may declare among those who do not know it yet the unsearchable riches of Christ.

Do you realize, church, that the riches of God are beyond comprehension? The riches of God are so great that we could never fathom the depths of them. We will never be able to grasp fully in this life the great riches of His grace.

But look at Ephesians chapter 2, one chapter before, verse 7. Actually, start at verse 6 to lay this context: Ephesians 2:6. "And God has raised us up together and made us to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus."

To come, He might show the exceeding riches of His grace and His kindness toward us in Christ. What does that mean? It means that God, in the future and eternity, will be revealing to us the exceeding riches of His glory in Christ Jesus. It will take all eternity for us to grasp the greatness and righteousness of the riches that we have in Christ.

So, Paul says here and now that he has been called as a minister of the gospel to declare among Gentiles, among unbelievers, the unsearchable riches of Christ. And what else? In verse 9, he states that he aims to make all see, to bring them to a place where they comprehend, to help them understand what is the fellowship of the mystery. This mystery, which was concealed, has a meaning that he wants to reveal. He expresses a desire to bring these people, who do not yet know, to a place where they grasp and begin to understand the meaning of this mystery, which from the beginning of the ages was hidden in God.

God is the one who has it hidden, concealed in Him, who created all things through Jesus Christ. It appears that God created all things with the intent that He would reveal this mystery. Well, how does He do that? Look at verse 10. This is phenomenal. To the intent that now, now is the time, the manifold wisdom of God is revealed.

Now, how many of you recognize that God is wiser than us? Take all the mental power of not just this room—although this is probably the greatest mental power in all the world, I'm sure. Take the combined mental power of all the 7 billion people upon the earth today and add to that all the computer technology, all the mental processing power. Link them all together as one giant earth supercomputer. The manifold wisdom of God is so infinitely greater that we don't even begin to scratch the surface of it.

Of God. All the terabytes, all the petabytes, all the things we could build with our phenomenal intellect amount to nothing compared to the manifold wisdom of God. We recognize that His wisdom is grand, and I think "manifold" is a great word to describe it because it's not even a word we use very often. The greatness of His wisdom is astounding.

God desires that His manifold wisdom might be made known. It's awesome! He wants us to understand how great His wisdom is, not just for us, but for all of creation. Notice at the end of the verse that it mentions principalities and powers in heavenly places. He wants to reveal just how awesomely smart and clever He is to all humanity, to the entire universe, to all things seen and unseen, including angelic beings and spiritual hosts.

So, how is He going to do this? The intent is that the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church. You and I, God's church, are the canvas upon which He will display His manifold wisdom. I don't know if we quite grasp the gravity of that. In our lives, walking together in Christ, following and serving Him, being saved by His grace, and manifesting His glory, we are the canvas upon which God is going to say, "Look how wise I am."

Now, I don't know about you, but sometimes, when I think about it, I wonder if that's the best method. Because I know me, and I'm a bonehead. I think, really? Paul talks about this in other places where he says God has chosen to use the foolishness of preaching. Just imagine, with our limited minds, how great God is and what He could do to show just how awesomely wise He is. I could imagine a whole bunch of impressive things that God could do to say, "Look, I'm really wise, wiser than you are." Yet, He says, "I've chosen to use the church to show forth my manifold wisdom according to the eternal purpose."

Verse 11 states that this has been God's purposeful plan for all eternity, and it is accomplished or fulfilled in Christ Jesus our Lord. God reveals His awesome wisdom in Christ and through His church.

In verse 12, we learn that in Him we have boldness and access with confidence through faith. In Christ Jesus our Lord, we have boldness, and it is only through Him—there is no other way. In Jesus, we have boldness, which means free and fearless confidence. We have access with confidence, and this word translated as "access" is only used three times in the Scriptures. In each of those instances in the New Testament, it always refers to access to God, the King of kings and Lord of lords. Therefore, in Jesus Christ our Lord, we have bold and confident access to come to God.

How do we gain this access? Is it by our good works? Look at what it says at the end of verse 12: "Through faith." This means trust and confidence in Him.

Returning to Ephesians chapter 2, verse 7 states that in the ages to come, He might show the exceeding riches of His grace and His kindness toward us in Christ. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. It is by grace, not by anything we have done or could ever do. It is by grace through faith that God has made the way open for us to have bold confidence to come before Him at any time.

We do not have access because we possess some sort of key card or pass, but because He has set a seal upon us by His Holy Spirit and called us His children. Ephesians chapter 1 says that we have been adopted in Christ. Galatians and Romans, as we have already considered in the last several weeks, tell us that we cry out to Him, "Abba Father."

Because of all this, verse 13 reminds us to keep in mind that I ask you not to...

Do not lose heart at my tribulation, my suffering. The church in Ephesus, a key city in Asia Minor, knew from those who had brought the news to them that their beloved apostle Paul, who had spent nearly three years establishing the church, was now a prisoner of Rome, facing a day of execution that would come about four or five years after the writing of this letter. They knew this, and their hearts were heavy.

Sometimes it's easier for us to face difficulty and go through trials ourselves, but when someone we love goes through it, we feel more pain and stress. Witnessing the suffering of another person we love can be incredibly hard. So, here is the church at Ephesus, receiving word that their beloved apostle Paul is now in chains. He is in chains because he preached the gospel to them, and their hearts are heavy. Paul says, "Therefore, I ask that you do not lose heart at my tribulation for you, which is your glory."

Now, Paul is preparing to give a prayer for the church at Ephesus in the next verses, verses 14 and onward. One of the wonderful things we have in the epistles of the New Testament is the recorded prayers of the saints. This gives us an opportunity to see how they prayed and what they prayed for. It's awesome. I encourage you, if you've never done it before, to take some time to study the prayers of Scripture. They are phenomenal and helpful.

In verses 14 through 19 of Ephesians chapter 3, Paul is going to pray. You might anticipate that, if you were in the situation the apostle Paul was in at that moment—a prisoner of Rome facing execution—your prayer might be something like, "Father, get me out of this mess." You might expect that the prayer would be somewhat focused on yourself. Praying for yourself is not a bad thing. In fact, as Jesus instructed us to pray, which you can read in Matthew chapter 6 and Luke chapter 11, He tells us even to pray for our daily bread. That's a personal prayer. So, there is the reality that yes, we do, can, and should pray for ourselves, but we notice...

In the midst of suffering, in the midst of trial and tribulation, Paul does not pray for his circumstances to change, as one might expect. Instead, he focuses on the spiritual well-being of others. In verse 14, he writes, "For this reason, I bow my knee to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named."

Here is his prayer: in verse 16, he expresses his desire that God would grant unto you, according to the riches of His glory, which we have already seen is exceedingly great. As stated in Ephesians 2, verse 7, Paul prays that you would be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man. He encourages the believers not to be troubled on his behalf; rather, he is praying that God would strengthen them with might.

The word "might" is the same word used in Acts chapter 1, verse 8, where it says, "And you shall receive power when the Spirit comes upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the world." This indicates that Paul is referring to a spiritual power. He emphasizes that he is not telling them to simply drum up strength on their own; rather, it is God who strengthens them in the inner man.

What else does he pray for? In verse 17, he prays that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. This means that through your confident trust in Him, Christ may dwell in your hearts. Paul desires that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend. He prays that you would understand, along with all the saints—not just the saints of Asia Minor—what is the width, the length, the depth, and the height of God's love.

In verse 19, he offers an awesome prayer for the church. At this time, Paul is facing execution. He has been in prison, transferred from Caesarea by the sea on the coast of Israel to Rome after more than two years in prison. He was taken on a ship that ultimately...

Paul was shipwrecked and then came ashore on the island of Malta. We will be studying this in the Book of Acts when we return to it after the Book of Romans. He was shipwrecked there in Malta, and at this time, he was in his sixties. He began to gather sticks as rain was coming down because of the storm. He cast these sticks into a fire, and a venomous snake came out and latched onto his hand. He shook it off into the fire.

The people who lived on the island of Malta, which Pastor Tony loves to hear about, said, "Oh, he must be some wicked man. Although the gods spared him from dying in this storm, now they won't allow him to continue on. Justice has come because now he's been bitten by the snake; he's going to die." Yet, God healed him, and he did not die. Then they began to reverence him as a god because he should have died, but he didn't.

After this, Paul was transferred to Rome, where he awaited the day of his trial. He said, "I'm going to pray now for you that you would be strengthened with all might by the Spirit in the inner man, that you would be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width, depth, and height of the love of Christ that surpasses all knowledge. You might be filled with Him, filled with all the fullness of God."

Upon praying this great prayer, Paul made an even greater proclamation. In verse 20, he had just prayed for these things for the church, and he said, "Now unto Him, God, who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen."

Paul prayed for the church in Asia Minor that they would be given spiritual might, that they would be rooted in God's great love, and that they would be filled with all the fullness of God. He declared that God, to whom he was praying for this, is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that he can ask or think because it is His power at work in us. It is not us trying to drum up our own strength, energy, or power; it is His power at work in us.

If it were us doing it on our own, we would fail every single time. Yet, it is His power at work in us; therefore, He is able to do far greater than anything we can think or imagine. Why? Why would God...

Do this well. Again, verse 21 tells us, "To Him be glory in the church." He is going to use the church to display His manifold wisdom. To God be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations.

So why does He do this? Because, church, listen: it's about His glory. He gets glory by His power at work in us, doing things that we could never do in our own strength. To Him be the glory! He does all this so that He would get glory.

Why do I bring this up today? Because I'm convinced, based on what we see in the Word of God, that God desires to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask, think, or imagine. Brothers and sisters, I have a big imagination. It gets me in trouble. I've been a daydreamer my whole life. Can anyone relate? My mom says amen.

How many of you can relate? How many of you have big imaginations? You think big things. God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we can think, ask, or imagine. What that means is that our prayers are often too little for God. Just think about that. Our prayers are often too little for God. We often constrain God by the limits of our imagination that we vainly assume to be grand, and we limit Him.

God wants to do exceedingly abundantly above all we can ask, think, or imagine. We can imagine big things, and I am so very thankful that God is a big, big God. I believe that God wants to do great things through this church—greater things than we can even fathom.

Now, the mission of our church is simple: know, grow, and go. It's simple. The vision statement is centered around those realities: know, grow, and go.

Why do we exist as a gathering of followers of Jesus here on the border of Escondido and San Marcos, North San Diego County, in the year 2013? Why are we even here? Because of the cross of Christ, we know that we have been connected to God and one another in life-giving and satisfying communion. We know this; it's not because of anything that we did, manufactured, or came up with by our own ingenuity. We know that it's because of the cross of Christ that we've been connected to God and to one another as a body in life-giving and satisfying communion, and as the family of God.

That's what we are described as—the family of God. We grow together into His likeness; that's our aim. We want to grow more and more into His likeness. How? By worship and the application of His Word. As a community of faith, we labor together for the joy and justice of all peoples. What does that mean? As the family of God, as we grow in our understanding of Him through worship and the application of His Word, we go as one body to see the peoples of this community and of this earth, to the uttermost parts, to see them saved.

That's what it means to seek the justice of all people—that they would inherit joy in God. That is our desire. We want to know God more fully; we want to grow in His grace. We want to fulfill His commission locally and globally, to go into all the world declaring the good news that is joy in Him.

In fact, as I was thinking about this yesterday, all that God is doing in and through us, I started to wonder how many of you are new to this gathering, this church, in the last three years. Lift up your hand high. Look at that! God is doing a great thing.

How many of you are serving Jesus in some capacity—men's, women's, children's ministry, youth ministry, as an usher, a greeter, in any capacity, whether it's here at this campus or somewhere else in the community? How many of you are serving in some way? Look at that! Why is that? Because in Ephesians chapter 4...

Paul says to equip the saints for the work of the ministry. Many of the same people who are new to this church in the last three years are also serving in the work of the ministry. Now, what I'm about to say, I want you to recognize and understand that I am saying this because you are the church that is Cross Connection Escondido. You're the church; you're the body that is the church. Many of you raised your hand, saying that you're on mission with what God is doing through this ministry in some way, shape, or form.

I'm not saying this by constraint or compulsion. Please recognize this. If you've been here for any length of time, you understand that I don't talk about these things often. However, as the church, I felt compelled to share this at this present time in our history. It takes just a little over a million dollars a year to fund the basic budget of Cross Connection Church to fulfill the mission and vision that God has given to us as a church.

Now, that may seem to some like a lot of money, unless you follow the news about our government. I'll stop there with the politics. Over the last six years, we have watched as God has steadily increased the giving of our church, and as a result, the budget has grown too, because we are fulfilling the mission and vision that God has given to us. What this means is that God is doing exceedingly abundantly more than we can ask, think, or imagine.

As we began 2013, by faith and in accordance with the previous trends in giving at our church, we increased our budget by about eight percent, eight and a half percent conservatively, because the Lord was continuing to move in that direction. I feel compelled to say that after the first 20 weeks of the year, we have seen a decrease in our general fund giving by just under eight percent.

So, what that means is that God is doing more things through us, but it has been a little bit more difficult because we've seen a downturn in giving. Now, as I said, I'm not saying this to compel you to do anything other than pray. Why? Because God is able to do exceedingly abundantly.

Above all, we can ask, think, or imagine by His power at work in us. It's not our power to drum it up and make it happen; it's His power at work in us. As we had our board meeting yesterday and discussed various matters, I was so blessed because none of the board members expressed any concern about these issues, which is phenomenal. I often get concerned over these things, but they didn't. That's a blessing; they're not concerned. Why? Because we're going to pray, we're going to seek the Lord, and God always provides.

We want to lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has laid hold of us. Of course, as good stewards, we make adjustments, as any wise steward would. However, you are the church; we are a part of the body of Christ. I bring this before you today to say this: I am asking that you would ask the God who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we can ask, think, or imagine, that He would provide and guide us to do greater things in His name. Amen.

I'm not going to pass the bags again, so don't worry, but I am saying, as the Apostle John said, turn in your Bibles to 1 John chapter 5.

1 John chapter 5, verse 14 states, "Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, in Jesus, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him."

So here's my request of the church, Cross Connection Church: that you would agree in prayer with us that God would do exceedingly abundantly above all we can ask, think, or imagine, that He would get the glory, and that He would be honored and lifted up in our community. Would you stand with me and pray towards that end today?

Father, we thank You that You are our God. We look to You to be the one who...

Leads, guides, directs, and provides in every way. We trust God that you desire to do great things through us, your church. We ask God that you would increase our faith and our boldness to follow hard after you.

We know that in our community, within a very small distance from this church, there are hundreds and thousands of people who don't know you and who don't know the joy of your Son. God, would you enable us to more effectively declare the good news of the Gospel to those in our community and beyond?

Lord, continue to raise up from this body men and women who have a passion to carry your love and your grace to those who don't know it yet. For we ask this in Jesus' name. Holy, which community is going to accept what you love? Thank you.