I feel like there's a refreshing spirit in this
place that wants to give people something perhaps
that they haven't had in a while, and that is
the gift of hope. Hope. Hope deferred. makes
the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a
tree of life. Praise God. He wants to give people
hope. I'd like you to turn with me to Ephesians
chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1 hallelujah hallelujah
Paul in Ephesians chapter 1 offers one of what
we have come to call the apostolic prayers and
they are places in the New Testament where the
Apostles Many by Paul in his letters, but others
as well, actually pray prayers for the church
that are powerful. And this is one of them. And
in verse 16, he says, I have not stopped giving
thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.
Remembering you in my prayers. I believe... that
God is calling our church to a new season. And
part of that new season is fanning prayer into
flame. I want you to join me in prayer. There's
an act of obedience that God has called me to.
And in fact, I don't think it was an audible
voice, but it felt like one. I've never heard
the audible voice of God. It felt like one because
I was sleeping, and I was in that place where
I was half asleep and half awake. Have you ever
been there when, and God sometimes can speak
to you. Now sometimes it can just be your own
imagination. You need discernment in it for sure,
but God can speak to you in that place. And there
I was and I felt the Lord speak to me and say
this, mobilize the seniors in the region to pray.
And I woke up and I felt that just. go into me
just and something is going to happen. A movement
that goes way beyond this house that mobilizes
people that thought that they were forgotten.
And God brought me to Simeon and to Anna in the
New Testament that were waiting for God to work
that had given themselves for in one case. decades
had been giving themselves to prayer and God
wants to mobilize people that thought that they
were forgotten to re -engage in the kingdom in
an assignment that they can fulfill. Intercession.
And so I feel like God is about to bring us into
a new season. And I just throw that out there
for you to pray with me because I don't know
what that's gonna look like yet. But I believe
that God is gonna mobilize seniors. One reason,
because seniors have time. Another reason because
seniors have seen God work and move. But this
is not to get together and reminisce about the
old days. It's not to get together and to just
talk about all of the difficulties that we're
having as seniors. You know, the older I get,
the more people talk about their body functions.
Am I wrong? You what? The other side. Organ recital.
Organ recital. Oh, recycle, recycle. Oh, yeah,
yeah, yeah. This and that. But I want to see
I want to see seniors help usher in the new move
of God for the next generation, for their generation,
but for the next generation. I believe a key
to what God is doing is the older generation
imparting into the younger generation. Amen?
Amen? Praise God. And so he says, I remember
you in my prayers. How many of you prayed for
Faith Church this week? Oh, wow. Look at that.
Look at that. That is incredible. You don't know
how encouraged I am right now because this is
the reason God is working, because people are
praying. Hallelujah. as we increase prayer for
one another for the church God begins to move
in power and he begins to do incredible things
I have not stopped giving thanks to you remembering
you in my prayer hallelujah Connie do you want
to share your testimony come on up here I want
Connie to share what what happened in her life
recently and this happens because of prayer At
the first of the year I told the Lord I really
want to dig in I want to know him more and Deeper
and one thing I was praying was God your perfect
love casts out all my fear And I didn't have
any particular fear at that time But it I just
wanted to pray that over and over after I prayed
it for a few months I was having trouble with
my eye And they took a picture of it and said,
my ocular nerve is swollen, which is usually
a sign of MS. So he sent me to a neurologist.
And they took all sorts of pictures and stuff.
And he said, I want you to take one more test.
It's a lumbar puncture. And then I'll decide
definitely that you have MS. I said, so there's
a chance? He said, no, there's no chance. He
said, well, next time you come in, we'll discuss
medicine and our treatment plan. And what he
didn't know was I served the great physician
and I have wonderful Christian praying friends
and I had no fear and I think Lord had been preparing
me all that time and I had no fear and I went
into the thing I took my son and we were sitting
there and the doctor opens the thing and he looked
at it and he said Your spinal fluid is clear
He looked at it again and he was reading and
he goes you don't have any sign of MS Come on
give God a shout of praise. Yeah Hallelujah Oh,
glory to God. Now, we don't know if she just
never had it or if God healed her from it, but
she's had symptoms. And we're believing, we're
believing in this house for an increase in miracles
and for God to be touched. Two weeks ago, on
Monday, I got a bunch of texts that people forwarded
me. There was a back that was healed. There was
a shoulder that was healed. There was something
else, a hand, a hand that was healed right, right
down there, right down there. God is touching
people in small ways and in big ways in things
that only He can do. And do you know why that
happens? Because we pray. Yes. Wow. Wow. Praise
God. That's amazing. That's the power of God
at work. And that's what Paul said. Paul said,
when I came to you, brothers, I did not come
with wise words of human wisdom. He didn't want
their faith to rest upon his ability to persuade.
Because friend, if you can be persuaded by words
into Christianity, guess what? Somebody smarter
is going to come along. and will persuade you
with words out of Christianity. And Paul said,
I don't wanna just give human words of wisdom.
He said, I came to you. When I came, I came with
a demonstration of the Spirit's power. Hallelujah.
So that your faith might not rest merely on words
of teaching, but that your faith might rest upon
the power of God. Hallelujah. Oh, glory to God.
My son. who's away from the Lord. One of the
last things he said to me is, Dad, I could never
deny God. I've seen too much. I've seen too much.
Do you know what is in his heart? The demonstration
of the Spirit's power. Glory to God. Okay, I
gotta get to my word this morning. Because prayer
is the foundation of it all. And it's no wonder
the enemy works so hard to keep you and to keep
me out of the prayer closet. He works overtime
to distract you and to keep you from praying.
But we are in covenant relationship with one
another. And so we're praying for one another
and we're believing God. We are standing with
you. We are standing with you. Amen? We are standing
with you. Praise God. We're standing with each
other glory to Jesus Joshua was in the valley
fighting But Moses was up on the mountain with
his hands raised up and as long as Moses continued
with his hands raised up in intercession Joshua
fighting the battle was victorious glory to God
verse 17 This is my main text this morning And
I'm reading in the New International Version
today because of how this verse is phrased in
verse 17. 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. Isn't that good? I want
to I want to read that verse one more time 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 might know
him better This is called discipleship This is
what it's all about Becoming a follower of Jesus
Christ knowing him more and More now we're gonna
talk about some keys to that and some some things
that will happen as you know Jesus more and more
Primarily we talk we just talked about miracles,
but you know what we are not miracle chasers
Right We are not just after the latest goose
bumps and We go through seasons as a church where
it feels like God isn't working as much in the
realm of miracles our Faith and our in our foundation
and our pursuit Primarily is not miracles Our
pursuit is Jesus the miracle worker Amen We are
not just looking to his hand We are looking in
his face Amen Now as you have children you have
children, you know, they often look to your hand
Right. I want I need I wish Can I do this? Can
I do that? Can I have some money? You know what
they're looking for? Your hand. And you know
what? Your hand is a good thing. Aren't you glad
your kids don't look to somebody else's hand?
But they're looking to you. God designed family
for kids to look to the hand of their mom and
dad. But as they grow up, my daughter's birthday
was yesterday, and she turned 28. she's out she's
out west on the coast sitting by the ocean looking
at looking at not seals the bigger one not a
walrus what'd you say no sea lion sea lion she
was watching a sea lion swim in the ocean while
she was talking with us it was awesome actually
And you know what? She doesn't look at our hand
anymore. You know what she does? She looks at
our face. Because now it isn't about what mom
and dad can do for her. It's about relationship.
And we are in pursuit not of what Jesus can just
do for us. But we are in pursuit Him Jesus I
want to know you I Want to know you better I
want to know you more Hallelujah Hallelujah There's
little ones in the house today And we can hear
them it's wonderful if you ever had a little
one That you try to lock eyes with that little
one and it just looks everywhere else But doesn't
it feel good when all the sudden they just stop
and they just look at you. I love that Because
they see and so often times we're looking so
many other places But God wants us to know him
Do you understand the privilege that it is to
be invited to know Jesus? To walk in relationship
with Jesus? To know God? This has been His heart
all along. He wants His people to know Him. Hallelujah.
Glory to God. Let me read to you some verses
John 17 verse 3 Now this is eternal life That
they know you The only true God and Jesus Christ
whom you have sent This is eternal life that
they know you The the scriptures honestly were
talking about what heaven is like. There is really
not a lot of material in the Bible about what
heaven is like. There is a little bit in Revelation,
but people ask me all the time, is my pet going
to be in heaven? Am I going to have relationship
with my spouse in heaven? Some of those answers
are very obscure. There's a few verses. We don't
know a lot. And so we know some things that are
for sure about heaven, but this is eternal life.
Not that you have been healed of this or that,
not that you have gone through religious exercise,
all of that. This is eternal life, that you know
Jesus, that you are walking with Jesus. Hallelujah
now Enoch did not know the Lord as Jesus because
he hadn't been revealed the the Son of God has
not had not been revealed until the New Testament
as Jesus but Enoch in the book of Genesis has
an incredible testimony and Enoch it says it
says of Enoch that he Let me just read it to
you. Genesis 5, 21. When Enoch had lived 65 years,
he became the father of Methuselah. After he
became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked
faithfully with God for 300 years and had other
sons and daughters. Altogether, Enoch lived a
total of 365 years. Enoch walked faithfully with
God, and he was no more because God took him
away. This is the substantive testimony that
we have from Scripture about Enoch. There's some
extra biblical works about Enoch, but in the
Scriptures, this is what we have. Enoch walked
faithfully with God. Do you know what that sounds
like to me? That Enoch knew God. He had a relationship
with God. Nothing else is revealed. All the testimonies
along the way of this happening and that happening
are not recorded. Just the fact that Enoch walked
faithfully with God. Wouldn't that be awesome?
Wouldn't that be awesome for that to be said
about every person from faith church? That we
walked faithfully with God Whatever else happens
Whatever else takes place praise the Lord for
it, but the people of faith church know God and
They walk with him. Oh hallelujah How many of
you are on that journey? now listen knowing God
and walking with God is incremental it is incremental
it is you start on the journey when you receive
him as your Lord and Savior and So you get on
the path But then there is this growing in your
relationship with God an understanding of who
he is that increases. And Paul knew this because
he experienced it in his own life. He thought
that a relationship with Jesus, he thought that
all that was just cultish. In fact, he was trying
to squelch it out, but then guess what happened?
He met Jesus. He met Jesus on the road to Damascus
and he went, whoa, I was wrong all this time.
And he got on the road and he began a relationship
with Christ that increased and increased and
increased. And so as he is praying for the Ephesian
church, he says, I am praying that you might
know him. Better and better. More and more. And
that's my heart for you. Now I want to ask you,
Christian, that, you know, how many of you have
been a Christian for longer than 15 years? Okay.
Longer. So how many of you less than 15 years
have been walking with Jesus? Okay, fewer hands
are up. This is a church of a lot of established
believers. When you are an established believer,
it can become easier to coast. Right? It can
become easier to just rely on the fact, well,
I'm in it now. I'll be in it. I know I'll be
in it. And you quit. having expectation of increased
relationship with Jesus. The newer you are in
the faith the easier it is to get excited about
every little thing that you discover. But Paul
did not allow that to be part of his life. In
fact, at the end of his life, I don't have this
in my notes, I don't have the exact scripture
reference this morning, but at the end of his
life, he said, I want to know Christ. Sharing
in the sufferings of fellowship, of everything
that Paul had experienced, he was still pressing
into more of God. I want something fresh to come
on you today that will say, Jesus, there's more
of you for me to have. There's more of you for
me to know. There's more of you. And so I'm believing
for something fresh. Perhaps you feel like you've
stagnated in your walk with God. The Lord wants
to jumpstart you this morning, and He wants to
get you going. Hallelujah. And He wants to get
you seeking and pressing in and having expectation
of Him again. Hallelujah. Jeremiah chapter 9
says this. This is what the Lord says, nor the
strong boast of their strength, or the rich boast
of their riches." Now, let me tell you something.
This is all things God does. Okay? God gives
wisdom, right? But let not the wise boast of
that wisdom. God gives strength, right? He gives
strength. Isaiah 40, it's the promise. They that
wait upon the Lord shall renew there When you
got that word from the doctor Connie, did you
feel strength come into you? Yes Strength comes
from God. It's something that we need but let
not the strong boast of their strength or the
rich boast of their riches is there anybody in
this room that got wealth from Somewhere else
than from the Lord. It all comes from him. Right?
These are things that God gives. He gives wisdom.
He gives strength. He gives riches. Oh, but let
us not boast in that. Let's not boast in those
outward fruits of our relationship with God.
But let the one who boasts boast about this that
they have the understanding to know me that I
am the Lord who exercises kindness and justice
and righteousness on the earth for in these I
delight If you're gonna boast, make this your
boast. God's given me understanding to know Him.
And I've discovered that He is good. And that
He is kind. And that He loves people. Lord, you
are here in this moment right now. Do you know
that one of the jobs of the Holy Spirit is to
enable you to know God? Do you think He's big
enough to do His job? Yeah? Let me read a verse
from 1 John chapter 5. Verse 20 says, we know
also that the Son of God has come and has given
us understanding so that we might know Him who
is true. And we are in Him who is true by being
in His Son Jesus Christ He is the true God and
eternal life If you don't know how to increase
in your relationship with God guess what you
can do You can ask God to help you Lord give
me understanding of who you are Do you think
that if you pray that that God will answer it?
He certainly will Lord my prayer this morning
isn't that you would bless me or that you would
heal me or that you would provide for me My prayer
this morning is that you would help me Understand
you more Do you think that God will answer that
prayer throughout your day? Oh, He will. He will.
He doesn't just want to do things for you. He
wants to walk with you. More than that, He wants
you to walk with Him. Hallelujah. There's a difference,
you know. We find that out every time we go to
Kickapoo Park Because the sign there's a sign
on the gate that says walkers go this way Well,
which of us Kami or myself Do you think is more
of the rule follower? So which way do you think
I want to go? I want to go left every time. Do
you know what I discover in that moment? I discover
this, she's not walking with me, I'm walking
with her. Because she goes this way to follow
the rules and which way do you think I go? You
know sometimes we say Jesus I Want you to walk
with me, but there is a difference when we say
Lord I Want to walk with you There is a yieldedness
There is a humility There is a willingness Hallelujah
Hallelujah now So we want to know the Lord. Three
things that need to happen. These are my three
points. One minute for each point. Jesse is laughing
at me. Verse 18. I pray that the eyes of your
heart might be enlightened. Linda prayed this
this morning in prayer Lord let the eyes of our
heart be enlightened You have eyes in your spirit
that go beyond your physical eyes isn't that
right brother bill we have eyes in our spirit
and Those are the eyes that are blinded before
we come to the Lord But when we come to the Lord
just like Saul our spiritual eyes are opened
And Paul is praying for the believers, and he's
saying, God, keep their eyes open. And what are
they open for? May be enlightened in order that
you might know the hope to which he has called
you. Hope. Hope. Now the verse says other things.
But I want to focus on this because we live in
a hopeless world. But Jesus wants his people
to walk in hope and victory. And that can happen,
friend, this morning because our hope is not
rooted in temporal things. Our hope is rooted
in eternity. Glory to God. Our hope is rooted
on where we're headed. Hallelujah Cathy's looking
at her watch am I over a minute? I'm over a minute
already God wants to restore hope to his people
Shake your neighbor right now and say God wants
you to walk in hope Glory to God. He wants you
to walk in hope. He wants you to walk in victory
Not because of your circumstance in fact the
glory of the church is that we don't lose our
hope even in seasons of suffering even in seasons
of difficulty Connie did not lose hope even before
she got the good news and So it does not matter
the believer has hope beyond the grave and So
that's the hope that we walk in in Jesus name
if you have sacrificed your hope pray, God, enlighten
my eyes that I might understand the hope that
you've called me to. You want me to be a believer
that, God, you are going to do it. God, you are
going to make a way. God, you are going to come
through. God, you want me to walk in hope. When
nobody else has hope, believers should have hope
in Jesus' name. Glory to God. Eyes of your heart
being enlightened. Secondly, as you know Christ,
as you make Christ your aim and your understanding,
don't be surprised when His power manifests in
greater ways in your life. Verse 19, His incomparably
great power for who? for us Who believe The power
of God is something that Pentecostal people talk
about often because it is our portion Okay, I
just got done saying we're not chasing miracles
we're chasing Jesus But as we know him better
the power of God is going to work amongst you
in incredible ways What's the source of that?
Let's keep reading. That power is the same as
the mighty strength he exerted when he raised
Christ from the dead. If you believe in the resurrection,
that took an incredible amount of power. for
God to raise. In fact, He stretched forth, the
Father stretched forth His right hand to raise
Jesus out of the grave. And what Paul is saying
is we have no different source, that our power
is exactly the same. Now we need our understanding
of that power to increase. so that we can tap
into it, so that we can see it work and see it
operate. It's no wonder Paul saw peculiar miracles.
He didn't glory in the miracles. He gloried in
the God that gave them. As you pursue Jesus,
the power of God will increase in your life.
Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. And finally,
there is There is so much more in these verses
that happen. But Jesus is in love with His body,
the church. I want you to look around right now.
I don't know offhand how many people are in this
room, maybe a hundred. or in the building, maybe
100, maybe 75 in this room right now, I don't
know. This is your church family. And Jesus loves
the body of Christ. He calls his church his body.
Just got this picture of him being a bodybuilder.
Listen to the description of Paul concerning
the church in verse 23. His body The fullness
of Him that's Jesus the body is the fullness
of Jesus Who fills everything in every way The
church is the fullness of Christ Jesus fills
everything in every way But the church is the
fullness of Jesus Wow The church is not just
a building on a corner The church is the fullness
of Christ And people have come to the conclusion
that I do not need the church. I'm a lover of
Jesus. I love Jesus. I follow Jesus. I don't
have anything to do with the church. And I do
agree that there are groups of people that are
masquerading as the church. That are not the
church. But the church that he is building The
church that that Jesus shed his blood for to
purchase from every tribe and every tongue and
every nation That church is the fullness of Christ
And when we come against the church We are coming
against Jesus I don't understand at all. It's
a mystery. It's a mystery. He loves his body.
He loves this small expression. There's over
a billion, some people say close to two billion,
forms of Christianity people in the earth today.
Two billion. We have about a hundred of them.
Pretty small deal, but not to Jesus. This church
is the expression of the fullness of Christ.
In each of us lives the King of Kings and the
Lord of Lords. Every single one of you that are
following Christ can can teach me something about
Christ that I haven't currently known We need
each other We need each other so I love what
happens at breakfast tables around the tables
people talking about What Jesus has done for
them if you've not been to breakfast tables at
at nine o 'clock? Come an hour early And you're
sharing Jesus with each other. You're not looking
at the back of somebody's head listening to a
sermon that's probably too long. You're touching.
You are touching people. You are imparting what
God has done in your life to others. I encourage
you to become a part of faith groups because
you're going to share Jesus with other people.
Ladies, go to the bonfire this Saturday night.
You're going to share Jesus with somebody. Amen?
Part of the fullness of Christ is locked in you,
and you share that with the other believers,
and the believers grow and become everything
that God wants us to be. It's why It's why it's
so vital that we're in relationship with one
another more and more And so these three things
as we draw near to Jesus as we know him better
and better our Hope increases the power of God
increases our love and affection and connection
to the body increases Why because we are after
his heart. Oh Hallelujah Hallelujah If you are
new to the church family, I want you to know
that there this this church is not perfect Because
I'm a part of it But I want you to know that
this church has love for one another and we stand
with one another. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Praise
God. My new friend back there, Carlos, that C
stands for Carlos. And his wife and beautiful
family are from Puerto Rico. This is their second
Sunday here. And I just want to welcome you guys.
And I want you to know that we are in your corner.
And we are going to love you and your family.
And we're going to care about you and your family.
Others of you that are here. The body of Christ
is so important. I told you three minutes and
it's been 15. But can you sense the love of God
in this room? I pray that the eyes of your heart
will be enlightened. Hope. Power. Love. The spirit
of wisdom and revelation. That you might know
him better He loves us oh He loves us oh He loves
us oh He loves us. Oh He loves us. Oh He loves
us. Oh He loves us. He loves us. He loves us
Oh He loves us Oh He loves Hallelujah Lord I
pray for the people in this room. I feel like
we're all at an altar together right now I just
ask God that you would stir in your people hope
Lord some in this room have had their eyes on
the wrong thing They've had their eyes on their
on their family on their spouse on their kids
Not that they shouldn't be concerned But they
have not had their eyes on Jesus this morning
Lord I pray that you would help us to get our
eyes back on Jesus that hope will be restored
God I pray that the power of God would be made
manifest in our midst not just here in this building
but in living rooms and bedrooms in phone conversations
and in in social media I pray God that the power
of God will be released. And God, I pray that
our love for one another will get bigger and
bigger and bigger as we draw near to Jesus. Hallelujah.
Hallelujah. And everybody's sad. Amen.