“You will never know the fullness of Christ until you know the emptiness of everything but Christ.” Charles Spurgeon
Sermon Title: WHAT WE NEED MOST
Sermon Text: EPHESIANS 3:14-21 (NIV)
Sermon Series: EPHESIANS: GOD’S PLAN FOR GOD’S PEOPLE
By: PTR NESTOR SY
Sermon Notes:
EPHESIANS 3:14-21 NIV
14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
What do you want? What do you want more than anything else?
I. RECEIVE STRENGTH
Only the power of God can enable you to live for God.
dwell | Greek: katoikeó
“to settle in, [be] established in (permanently), inhabit.”
The question is not, “How much of the Lord do I have?” but rather, “How much of me does the Lord have?”
If you consider the way you have lived your life in the past week, were you so strengthened in your inner being by the Holy Spirit that Jesus felt right at home in your heart?
II. EXPERIENCE LOVE
Our affections determine our actions.
God’s love for us is the starting place in the Christian life.
1 JOHN 4:19 NIV
19 We love because he first loved us.
grasp | Greek: katalambanó
“to lay hold of, seize.”
know | Greek: ginóskó
“to know, especially through personal experience”
When we experience the love of God more, it changes everything.
Is God’s love overflowing out of your life?
III. BE FILLED
You are either full of yourself or you’re full of God.
“You will never know the fullness of Christ until you know the emptiness of everything but Christ.”
Charles Spurgeon