Amelia Church of Christ - Christian Church in Amelia, OH near Cincinnati in Clermont County

Special thanks to Steven Furtick and Elevation Church for the use of the resource materials and the inspiration for this sermon series.

Welcome to week #3 of our New Thru 30 series. We have all come together in a challenge to read the entire New Testament in 30 days. And we’re in the home stretch. Only one more week of reading left. For those of you who are still right on track, go all out this week. Finish strong! Get tenacious about it. Get pumped up about it. If you need to, get a little angry about. Just get that steeled determination that, “I’m going to do this. I’m going to finish this.”

For those of you who have fallen a bit behind, just pick up today and finish out the challenge. You can always go back and read the parts that you missed after this week’s reading is finished.

And if you’re just joining us, you can still jump in. We still have reading plans in the foyer. You can still get it on our website. Jump in and read this week with us.

I’ve got to tell you that I am blown away by what God has done in this series. It blows my mind how many people are doing this. Tons of people in our church are doing this. People all over the country are doing this with us. It is nothing short of incredible.

Each Sunday in the series, I’m preaching a passage of Scripture that we all read together in the past week. Today I’m preaching from the book of Ephesians.

That’s an incredible little book, isn’t it? If you were on schedule, then you read Ephesians on Wednesday this past week. It is a phenomenal little book. And in this book is a prayer written by the Apostle Paul that is also a prayer that so many pastors pray for their people. And the reason I want to share it with you is because this is my prayer for you.

This passage holds so much of what I hope and dream and pray will be true in your life and in our church.

It only seems right to open in prayer, and then we’ll jump into the Word in Ephesians 1.

Ephesians 1, starting in verse 15. “For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.” (Ephesians 1:15-23, NIV)

I know this is a little long, but we’re going to go back and work through this passage piece by piece. This passage is what I pray for you. I hope it’s what you pray for me. You can pray this prayer for anybody.

Let’s go back and unpack this. Starting in verse 15, Paul tells the Ephesian believers, “For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.” (Ephesians 1:15-17, NIV)

That’s my prayer for you. I want you to know Jesus. Paul prayed that the believers in Ephesus would know Him better. That’s my prayer for our church here at Amelia. That you would know Him better. That you would know the person of Jesus.

As a pastor, I like to be known. I admit it. I’m human. I like to be known. I enjoy being appreciated. I love it when people here at church encourage me. And it happens all the time, which is awesome on the one hand and I’m very thankful for it. But on the other hand, it is a pitfall that I have to constantly guard against.

A lot of pastors get to the point where they would rather people know them than Jesus. That’s the question that I constantly have to ask myself. “Do I want people to know me more than Jesus?”

The world doesn’t need more of Mike Edmisten. The world needs more of Jesus. In reality, I can’t do a thing for your family, your health, your finances, or your eternity. My sole purpose is to introduce you to someone who can.

Truth be told, Mike Edmisten can’t do anything for you. Seriously, when you stand before God one day, if you say, “I knew Mike Edmisten,” he will say, “Good. That earns you a cut in line to hell.”

I love the encouragement I receive as your pastor. I love it when the messages I preach have a radical impact for the gospel in your life. But I’m not what you need. Knowing me is not what you need. What we all need is our friendship with Jesus. Our reliance on Jesus. The salvation that comes only from knowing Jesus.

And that’s my prayer for you. I pray that you might know Him better. I want you to know Jesus. When you get to know me, you’ll be disappointed. Seriously. I will let you down. But Jesus won’t. He will never let you down.

I want you to know Him better this year than you did last year. That’s why we’re doing New Thru 30. That’s why we’re making such a big deal of this. Because I want you to know Him more.

I am here so that you would know Jesus. We are here so that the world can know Jesus.

Now, I do NOT pray that you would know about Him. That is not our purpose. That is not the purpose in reading the Bible. The purpose is not to Him more about Him. The purpose is that we would know Him more. That is a huge difference.

If the only thing you’re getting out of New Thru 30 is a better score in Bible Jeopardy, then you’ve missed the heart behind the whole thing. The goal is not to know more about the Bible. It’s not knowing more about Jesus. The goal is knowing Jesus.

If all you’re doing is getting better at Bible trivia, then the best thing you could do is stop reading the Bible. Seriously. You need to stop reading. Don’t finish New Thru 30. Don’t even pick up your Bible again until you have entered into a long period of prayer and fasting and repentance.

For some people, the Bible actually becomes their idol. The Bible becomes the god to be worshipped. This is not the object of worship. This tells us about Jesus, who is worthy of our worship. And if you’re not getting Jesus out of your Bible reading, then you have missed the whole point and you need to beg God to help you deal with the sinful walls of pride that are built up in your life.

I pray that you would know Jesus. Not trivia about Him. Not facts and figures about Him. I pray that you would know Him better. That your relationship with Him would grow stronger and deeper everyday.

The best illustration I can give you is marriage. When you are dating someone, you think you know all about them. But you have no idea. All the married people in the house…you know that’s true, don’t you? When you’re dating, you think you know this person. But you have no idea.

You have no idea that he leaves his toenail clippings on the coffee table. You have no idea that she’ll never tell you that the oil light came on in the car. When you’re dating, you think you know this person. But all the married people are looking at you and smiling because they know that you have no idea. You think you know this person, but you just have no idea.

For those of you who never pick up your Bible, you may think you know Jesus, but you have no idea.

For those of you who read your Bible, but it’s only for information and not transformation, you have no idea.

The goal is not to know about Jesus. The goal is to know Jesus. Because to know Him is to love Him. And to love Him is to serve Him. And to serve Him is to glorify Him. And to glorify Him is to obey Him.

Everything changes when you move from knowing about Jesus to actually knowing Jesus.

In Philippians 3, Paul wrote, “I want to know Christ [not I want to know ABOUT Christ] and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings…” (Philippians 3:10, NIV)

When you know Jesus, you know the power that raised Him from the dead. That same power of God that is alive in your life.

You will also know suffering just like Jesus knew suffering. But if you truly know Jesus, you’ll say, “It doesn’t matter what happens to me as long as I know Him better.”

Maybe you’re thinking, “I can’t honestly say that.”

I pray that one day, you can. This is my dream for you. This is my prayer for your life. That you would know Him.

Let’s go back to our text and pick it up in verse 18. “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.” (Ephesians 1:18-19, NIV)

I want you to know the provision of God.

Paul prayed “that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened to know the hope to which he has called you…”

You have a hope. Right now. Today. In this moment. I don’t pray for God to give you hope, but to open your eyes to see the hope that you already have. Hope is all around you. A lot of us just aren’t looking.

Some of you are staring down a hopeless situation. Your circumstances have just beat you down and they have knocked the hope right out of you. I pray that God would open your eyes. I pray that you would know the provision of your God.

There’s a poem that really illustrates this very well. I don’t normally share poems in my sermons. I know preachers who have a poem in every message they preach. It works for them. It just has never worked for me. But today, I’m making an exception. Because there is a great theological poem to drive this point home.

“Come and listen to a story about a man named Jed

A poor mountaineer, barely kept his family fed,

Then one day he was shootin’ at some food,

And up through the ground came a bubblin’ crude.

Oil that is, black gold, Texas tea.

Well the first thing you know ol Jed’s a millionaire,

Kinfolk said ‘Jed move away from there’

Said ‘Californy is the place you ought to be’

So they loaded up the truck and moved to Beverly.

Hills, that is. Swimmin’ pools, movie stars.”

Now, I know we’ve got some generational issues here. We’ve even got a group of college students leading our worship today. But let me tell you something…the day that I can’t quote from the Beverly Hillbillies is the day that I’m going to give up this preaching gig because there’s just no hope for humanity anymore.

Think about the words in this theme song. Jed went out hunting. He fired his gun and the shot went into the ground, which brought up a gush of oil.

Then the song says, “First thing you know, old Jed’s a millionaire.” That’s not true. Jed was already a millionaire. Jed was loaded the whole time. The oil was under him the whole time. This is just the moment of his discovery.

You’re sitting on bubblin’ crude, whether you know it or not, whether you see it or not.

The inexhaustible riches of God are at your disposal. I want you lay hold of that. I’m sick of Christians lacking in strength. I’m sick of pansy Christians just limping through life like they’re some bruised banana on a wheat thin. I don’t even know what that means, but I’m sick of it.

I want you to know God. And I want you to know His provision. The provision of God that is already yours.

You are loaded. You are rich. You have an inexpressible hope. You have strength for today. You have hope for tomorrow. It’s already at your disposal. I pray that you would know it…that you would seize it…and you would live it.

I pray that you would know “his incomparably great power for us who believe.”

And then Paul goes on in the next verses to remind us that this power “is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.” (Ephesians 1:19b-23, NIV)

I want you to know the power of the God.

Whatever you are facing is not stronger than your God. He is incomparable. He has incomparably great power. His hope trumps the hopeless situation you’re facing. His power trumps your powerlessness over your circumstances.

We serve a great God and I want you know the power of the Holy Spirit working in you. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead lives in you and in me! That is the power that is at our disposal.

All that power, and yet we live in so much weakness. All that power, yet we struggle to trust Him for our basic needs.

What good is all that power if you’re not going to use it? It reminds me of the Hummer craze in our culture. They’re not as popular as they used to be, but you still see Hummers everywhere. These things were designed for any terrain. If you can see it, you can drive over it. That’s the idea.

And yet most Hummers are driven by suburban soccer moms in the school car pool. All this power is at their disposal. They could drive this thing up a telephone pole if they wanted, yet they just drive around the nice, safe, paved roads of suburbia. All that power, and it never gets used.

Our God is a Hummer. He can go over or through anything.

Most of us are soccer moms. Playing it safe. Staying between the lines. Never accessing the power at our disposal.

I want you to know the power of God’s Spirit that lives inside you. It’s the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. I want you to know His power. Power over sin. Power over doubt. Power over mediocrity and limitation. Power over inadequacy. Power over brokenness.

If you are not living a life fueled by the power of the Holy Spirit, then you are not living the life that you were designed to live.

My hope, my dream, my prayer for your life is that you would know God. That you would know His provision. And that you would know His power.

When a church is filled with people like that, that church becomes absolutely unstoppable.

In Matthew 16, Jesus said, “…I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18b, KJV)

Jesus promised to build His church. He promised that even the very powers of hell wouldn’t be able to take His church down.

So why is that so many churches seem to just limp along? Why is the church usually seen as weak and impotent instead of powerful and dynamic?

Because we have forgotten that Jesus promised to build HIS church. It’s not our church. This church doesn’t belong to you. And it doesn’t belong to me. It belongs to Jesus.

And Jesus promised that He would do the building. He would supply the power and the muscle to build His church. The problem is when we start believing that we have to do it. It’s our church and we have to build it. And when that happens, the end result is weakness and stagnation and fear.

Earlier in our New Thru 30 challenge, we read through the book of Acts. And it’s so inspiring because you read about the mighty and powerful things that happened in the early church. And it’s also depressing, because we wish that kind of thing would happen in our church today.

But here’s what we have to remember. In John 14, Jesus said, “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.” (John 14:12, NIV)

Think about what Jesus is saying here. Jesus performed amazing, incredible miracles in His life. He did things that were ridiculous…outlandish…beyond belief.

And then He promised that, if we believe in Him, we will see even greater things done in our lives because Jesus has returned to the Father. And when you consider that we have the indwelling of God’s Holy Spirit in our lives, you see that you and I have the power of the entire Godhead at work in us. The entire power of the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is at work in your life. And in my life. And in our church.

When you read things like the book of Acts, it should inspire you. But then it should also motivate you, because if we will get out of God’s way, He promised that He would do even greater things in our time.

We have to remember that this is God’s church, fueled by God’s power. If our church ever limps along and operates out of weakness or fear, it is because we have shifted our focus off of the power of God and onto our own power.

Anytime you tiptoe timidly through your life, it is because you believe that everything depends on you. You are living on your power instead of the abundant, inexhaustible power of God that is already in you.

That doesn’t mean that there won’t be challenges. That doesn’t mean that you won’t go through seasons of struggle. But it does mean that fear gets completely redefined for you.

In Psalm 23, David wrote, “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me…” (Psalm 23:4a, NIV)

When you realize that God and His mighty power are ever present in your life, it redefines fear. The dark valleys are still there. The unknown is still there. But they get completely redefined.

But instead of fearing the dark times, you start to see it as a place for God to shine. Instead of worrying about the unknown, you start to wait for God to come through. Instead of seeing an obstacle for you, you start to see an opportunity for God.

It totally redefines the unknown. It redefines the dark times. It redefines obstacles and struggles. It redefines fear.

That’s my prayer for you. That’s my prayer for our church. But for this to happen, we’ve got to get out of our own way.

It means we’ve got to start thinking about things in terms of “God’s” instead of “mine.” In the church, we’ve got to remember that Jesus promised to build His church. It’s not mine. And that means that if I don’t like everything about it, that’s ok. I won’t complain and criticize and argue because it’s not mine anyway. It belongs to Jesus, and as long as the church is reaching people for Him…as long as people are crossing over from death to life…as long as people connect with Him and grow in Him and serve Him…then I’m good. Because it’s His church fueled by His power.

This is my prayer for us. It’s my prayer for our church. It’s my prayer for your family and mine. It’s my prayer for your life. It’s my prayer for my own life.

I pray that we would know Jesus. Not just trivia. Not just facts. But that we would know Him. And we would see his provision and understand His power. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is alive and well in your life. It’s here in our church.

My prayer is that we would know it. Embrace it. Leverage it. And use it to the glory of God.

Mike Edmisten

Tags: Bible, Ephesians 1, God's power, God's provision, Knowing Jesus, New Thru 30