Well, if you keep your Bible there, it'd be great
to have it open at Ephesians 1. And let's pray.
Let's ask God for help as we dig into His Word
now. Gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you that
you speak to us. We thank you that you love us
and you care for us. And please, Father, help
us to see how good it is to know you. And we
ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, I want you
to imagine you were walking along the beach at
Yorkies knob and As you're walking along, you
know, it's a beautiful day. The Sun is out. It's
beaming down It's just warming your face. There's
that nice little breeze coming in It's beautiful
and you're walking along and as you walk along
you notice something glistening in the sand You
go over and you have a look and you dig around
and you see it's one of these like old timey
lamps and there's some writing on it that you
can't make out so you you take your sleeve and
you try and rub it and all of a sudden a genie
pops out and this genie does the whole usual
spiel you've got your three wishes don't kill
anyone you know can't make anyone fall in love
with you all that make your first wish what are
you wishing for? Now, I should say, you can't
do more wishes. He said that in the spiel. But
what are you wishing for? A never -ending pack
of Tim Tams? World peace? What are you wishing
for? What do you want? It's funny, I think in
movies and things like that, you often see this
common trope of someone finds a genie and they
get their wishes and the genie ends up being
quite naughty and twisting the wishes, don't
they? And so you get these people where they...
They didn't really know what they should be asking
for. And so they wish for things, but it ends
up biting them in the end. It actually reminds
me a bit of that show. Do you remember that show?
I think they made a movie of it as well. Let's
see if... Oh no, that's not working. That's okay.
It's a show called Fantasy Island. And people
go to this mysterious island where any wish can
be granted. But the wish doesn't go the way people
expect It actually ends really badly and there's
this like running theme through the show of be
careful what you wish for Because what you want
isn't always what's best for you. I Think we
often run into a similar problem when we pray
Now don't mishear me. God is a good father. He
gives us what's best for us He's not like a sneaky
genie or some mysterious island. And prayers
aren't wishes either. They're requests to God.
They're not magical commands. Yet when we pray,
and many of us here pray about many different
things, I think we don't always pray what's truly
best for us and for others. And because we don't,
I think it robs us of joy. peace and security
that could be ours. It often means our hearts
start longing for things, shallow things that
aren't really good for us. And so there's a sense
in which I want to say to you today, be careful
what you pray for. Be careful what you pray for.
Do you know what you and others really need?
Do you know what's really best for you? Is that
your heart's desire? Does What's best for you,
dominate your prayers. You know, if you're there
at growth group and someone says, you know, I'd
like prayer for this and this, what's the best
thing you can pray for them? What's the best
thing you can pray for yourself or your family?
Well, today I want to show you what that higher
thing is. And I want to tell you upfront, it's
not a never ending pack of Tim Tams. What is
it? What's the best thing you can pray for yourself
or someone else? Above all else, pray that we'd
know God better. Above all else, pray that we'd
know God better. If you've got your Bible there,
come with me to verses 15 to 17. Here's what
Paul says to the Ephesians. for this reason is
linking it back to the thing we looked at last
week, all the blessings, spiritual blessings
we have in Christ. For this reason, ever since
I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and
all your love for all God's people, a sign that
they're truly converted, I have not stopped giving
thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.
So he's consistent in his prayers. He's thankful
in his prayers. But what's he pray for them?
I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Glorious Father, may give you the
Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation, it's Trinitarian,
so that you may know Him better. It's all about
knowing God better. Last week I talked about,
actually not last week is it? Last fortnight,
because we had family camp last week. Last fortnight
I talked about the worst year of my life, and
if you didn't hear that one you can jump online
and listen to it. My wife got burned out, my
dad got prostate cancer, we had 13 people in
our small country church leave, you know, I got
chicken pox, my grandparents died, there was
a whole bunch of things that all happened in
this one horrible year. What do you pray for
when things like that happen? Well, yeah, I prayed
for my wife's recovery, but it was a good thing
I was preaching through this at the time because
I went, I need to pray that her and I would know
God better. My dad got prostate cancer. I prayed
for his healing, but you know what? I wanted
to pray that he would come to know God because
he doesn't. Oh yeah, it'd be good to pray for
those 13 people who left and that God would bring
more people, but you know what? The best thing
I could pray at that time was that we'd lean
on God more as a church. Knowing God better is
the best thing you can pray for. Now I know that
sounds really simple and basic but actually there's
some real depth to it and that's what we see
in this passage. There's three aspects to pray
about if we're going to pray that we know God
better. Pray that we know God better, so pray
that you know God's plan for us. Pray that you'd
know God's passion for us, His love. And pray
that you'd know God's power in us. And as I said,
this passage is connected by last week's passage
for this reason, and these blessings, these things
we're praying are actually they mirror the three
blessings that we looked at last week. So really,
if you go over and pray the passage we looked
at last week, you're kind of doing this already.
But let's have a look. Let's pray that we'd see
what we have in Christ clearly. Let's look at
the first one. Pray that we'd know God better,
that we'd know God's plan for us. Have a look
with me at verse 18. And there's two elements
here. There's calling and hope. and those two
have been put together. And it's saying all of
time, all of history is in our Father's hands.
If you're one of God's adopted children, God
chose you for glory. And God not only knows the
future, He determines it. Isn't that a comfort?
He's in total control of the future. The outcome
is certain. So you can know that you're chosen.
You can know that it's all going to plan. You
can know that the hope is going to be glorious
because it's going to be an unimaginable ending.
God will get you there. When you see that, when
the eyes of our hearts see these truths, wow,
it brings such joy and calm. And so Paul's praying
they know where they're headed. Know the hope
to which God has called you. Look forward to
the future that awaits you when you get to glory.
But know that God's the one who's getting you
there. He's holding onto you tighter than you're
holding onto Him. And it's nothing you've done,
it's by His gracious choice that you will get
there. When we pray this, Our assurance in God's
love and grace, our confidence that we are secure
because of what Jesus has done for us and in
God's election, it grows massively. It makes
us so calm and joyful. Which is good because
some days I feel like C -3PO. You know C -3PO
from Star Wars? Do you remember what he's like?
He's sort of jittery and he's going around and
he's always calculating the odds that something
horrible is going to happen. He's constantly
anxious and stressed and worried. And you know
what? C -3PO actually survives through all the
movies. And the good guys win. Imagine if C -3PO,
if his character could go speak to the creator,
to George Lucas. and read the script of what's
going on. I reckon he'd become a different person,
don't you? He'd be Chilpio. He'd be so different.
Now here's the thing, Christians get that. That's
what you get if you're a Christian. You have
the script for the universe. You know the Creator.
We know where it's all going. There's a plan
to everything. It's all going to be united in
the Lord Jesus. We know we are lovingly called
and chosen according to God's plan. We know that
God will turn our hope into a reality when Jesus
returns. Remembering there is a plan and that
God is making it happen gives us security, excitement,
joy and peace. And the cross, when we look at
the cross and go, wow, I've seen God work out
his plan before, you know, he was so in control
that people who murdered his son, he was using
that for the salvation of the world. Okay, I
know God's pretty good at executing plans. I've
got confidence he's gonna pull it off. Think
of those times where you feel like C -3PO. Where
you're worried about yourself, you're worried
about your family, you're worried about others.
What can you do? Pray. Pray. Pray that they know
God better. Father, help me to know you better.
Help me to see the bigger picture. Give me a
new perspective. Help me to see that even though
things are tough right now, even though I'm waiting
on those test results, even though work is hard
and, Lord, you know what my boss is like, Father,
help me to see that you've called me, that one
day I'm going to stand before you on the last
day, holy and blameless because of Jesus. Help
me to see that I'm your child and have been adopted
by you. Help me to see that heaven is going to
be better than anything I could ever imagine.
Amen. I need to pray more prayers like that.
That lift me above my circumstances and help
me see reality. We need to pray that we know
God's plan for us. But that's not all we need
to pray. We need to pray that we know God's passion
for us, his deep love for us. Take a look again
at verse 18 with me. 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. Now, for all the Greek boffins out
there, there's a great debate about what's going
on here. Is the inheritance something we get
from God, or is it something we are? Are we the
inheritance that God gets? And I think, if you
put a gun to my head, I'd say it's the second
one, but biblically both are true. But the reason
I'd say it's probably the second one is especially
because in the Old Testament, that's how it talks
about it. Here's one example. Moses bowed to
the ground at once and worshipped, Lord, he said,
if I've found favour in your eyes, then let the
Lord go with us. Although this is a stiff necked
people, forgive our wickedness and our sin and
take us as your inheritance. But look, either
way, both are true. God gives us an inheritance.
We get the new heavens and the new earth. But
also we are an inheritance to God. And so we're
precious to God. Both God gives us riches and
we are riches to Him. You are unimaginably precious
to God. He treasures you dearly. The other day
Laura and I went away for our 16th wedding anniversary.
I wasn't really looking forward to it. I'd rather
be golfing. So I booked the cheapest, nastiest
hotel I could find. I picked up some corn things
from Kohl's for our dinner. And I watched golf
videos the whole time. Because, you know, who
cares? No, no, that's true, by the way. Just
so you can breathe now, yeah? Laura is so precious
to me. So I was looking forward to our night
away for weeks. I found the best hotel and dinner
that I could afford. I planned little surprises.
I tried to make it really special. Because Laura
is very special to me, just so you know sweetheart.
So, she's feeling embarrassed now. But it's a
joy to be with her. And that's what it's like
for God with his people. Not because they deserve
it. but because He's so gracious and loving and
He sets His love on them and He goes, I love
them and I want to treasure them. I treasure
them so much that I would send my Son to bear
my wrath, my holy righteous anger, so that I
can spend eternity with them. That's how much
God loves you. It's incredible how much He loves
you. Now, what's the payoff of that? Well, some
of us here struggle with low self -esteem and
low self -worth. What would the secular world
say? They'd say, just tell yourself, you are
enough. And you know what? That's half right.
But the problem is, there are days where I don't
feel like I'm enough. Where I fail. where I'm
rejected, where I'm weak. And here's the thing,
when I look at the cross, when I see what Jesus
gave me, when I didn't deserve it, when I see
myself as God now sees me, I can say, I am enough.
Why? Not because I'm enough in myself. but because
the cross was enough. I'm loved. God deeply cares
for me so much that he gave his own son for me.
Jesus was willing to pay hell on the cross so
that I wouldn't have to for eternity. It's a
wonderful thing seeing how loved you are. So
if you want to build your self -worth, can I
suggest there's lots of things you can do, but
the best way you can do that is to look at the
cross and to pray that you'd see how precious
you are. Do it daily. Pray, Father, thank you
so much that you sent Jesus to die for me. Thank
you that I am your treasured possession. Thank
you that I've got eternal life awaiting me. Thank
you that you were willing to send your son and
experience that horrible wrath so that I wouldn't
have to. Help me to see how precious I am to
you. Amen. It's an amazing thing to see how loved
you are. Do you pray that, that you would see
it? Have you seen it? But there's one more aspect
we need to see as well. We not only need to see
God's passion for us, but we need to know God's
power in us and pray that we know God's power
in us. Look again at verses 18 and 19. There
is a great power at work in the lives of believers.
I don't see it. Can you? Is it under the chair
somewhere? You can have a look if you like. Well,
it can't be working, can it? Because, I mean,
Paul who's writing this, he's writing and he's
in chains. Is there really a great power going
on? Well, verse 19 and 20 reveal more about this
power. 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. Okay, so it's the same as the mighty
strength at the resurrection. This is resurrection
power. This is not everyday sort of power. And
the rest of the letter shows us that this power
is not just for us, but it's in us. It's that
God is giving us a spiritual resurrection now
that will one day become a physical resurrection.
I mean, Ephesians 2 is great on this where it
talks about we were dead in our sins and trespasses
and He made us alive in Christ and He seated
us in the heavenly realms with Him. We have had
a spiritual resurrection if you believe in Jesus
And the point of verses 21 to 23 is don't underestimate
this power It's that Jesus is far above all rule
and authority power and dominion every name that
is invoked You know God place all things under
his feet. He's head over the church. I mean It's
just trying to lift our eyes and see the greatness
and glory of Jesus. He's stronger than armies
and politicians He's stronger than Satan because
the spirit who raised Jesus to be resurrected
Lord of all He's at work in you who believe He's
made you spiritually alive, and he's making you
more like Christ So don't don't doubt that don't
don't lose heart See the power that's at work
in you. He will get you to glory. Nothing, nothing
can overcome God's power. When I was a kid, I
played AFL. Don't hold that against me. But one
week, we played this team in our comp. And I
don't know what happened. Maybe they were like
under 12s and we were under 14s and there was
a schedule. I don't know. But what happened was
we won 397 to 2. It was a slaughter. I kicked
five goals. I'm not very good and I was not even
the top goal scorer. I think there was one guy
who kicked like 13 on the day. It was pretty
epic. It was so brutal. It got so bad at half
time they put other kids, like put kids from
our team on the other team and that was still
the score line. I mean, I can't think of anything
that's so completely one -sided other than that
game. There was no way we were going to lose.
And the thing is, when we turned up to the game,
we didn't know it would go like this, but as
we played, it was awesome. We were all convinced
we weren't going to lose, and do you know what
it meant? It meant we were all going, yeah, let's
play bolder, let's be more confident, let's try
some things, you know, and we played better and
better and better because we knew we couldn't
lose, and we had a lot of fun doing it. Well,
you know what? It's the same with Christians.
I mean, I think it's so easy to get discouraged
and lose heart during the Christian life. I mean,
think about what Christians face in the Christian
life. There's suffering, persecution, fears,
doubts, divisions, discouragements. There's temptations,
false teachers, our sinful nature, ruts and sinful
habits that we have that feel unbeatable at times.
We might have a difficult marriage. We might
be struggling with singleness. We might have
kids and... Workplaces that are difficult. And
hey, not to mention there's Satan and his forces
and his schemes. And you know what? Sometimes
it feels like too much. Until we see the power
that's working toward us and in us and for us
in Jesus. I think sometimes the Christian life
feels like we're on that other team that's losing.
Actually it's not. It's that we're on the team
that can't lose. Because God is for us. He's
risen Christ over everything. He's at work in
us. It's one -sided, all right, but it's His
side that's 397. It's bold. It's so good, isn't
it? When you see this, you become bold and joyful,
and you want to try things and take risks. Yet,
I know my heart easily loses sight of all this.
And that's why we've got to pray. Pray in every
circumstance, constantly. Pray that God's Spirit
might impress the reality of God's power on my
heart. That He'd give me the strength to know
Christ's love for me and to trust that He will
be victorious. And we need to rely on that. Look
to that so that we joyfully obey and resist temptation.
So that when we're hurt, we maintain Christian
unity. The unity that Christ created in his death.
You know, Satan's real power, his real weapon
is actually just lies, isn't it? When Christians
believe the lies that they're losing, that Satan's
winning. That's when the Christian life becomes
a struggle. But prayer opens our eyes. It helps
us see reality. So, can I encourage you, pray
on your own, that you'd know God better, that
you'd know His power at work in you. Not only
just on your own though. Come along to Revive
prayer meeting on Friday morning, 7 o 'clock
at 119 Camarunga Road. Come pray with us there.
Come pray at the boiler room at 8 .30 every Sunday
here at church and pray together with others
that we'd see God's power so that it changes
our lives. Alright, let's sum up. What should
we pray for? What's the best thing to pray for?
Well, I mean, like always, there's lots of good
things to pray for. But I hope you've seen today
that each of those things should always be tied
to the greatest thing, knowing God better. Above
all else, pray that we'd know God better. And
there were three things we looked at. To pray
pray that we know God better how by praying that
we know God's plan for us by praying that we
know God's Passion his love for us and pray that
we know God's power in us So that's what we looked
at but let's get real what's this mean for us
here today Well, there are some of us here who
don't yet know God And we are so glad you're
here, if that's you. So glad you've turned up
to church today. Can I encourage you to pray?
Pray that you'd want to know God. Pray that God
would reveal Himself to you. Pray that He'd show
you whether He's true or not. Ask Him. Ask Him
to show you how wonderful it is to be His child.
If you're not sure how to do this or if you want
to talk more with someone, come up the front.
I think we've got Steve up here this morning
who can pray with people. So please come and
pray with Steve or come find me and I'd love
to pray with you too. But if you're hearing you're
a Christian, I hope this will be a shot in the
arm for your prayer life. I hope that you'll
try praying like this for a month or two. Just
try and get in the routine and the rhythm of
it. Pray that we'd know God better. Link your
other prayers to this and see what happens in
your heart. And maybe you need a reminder, maybe
you need to set something in your phone. Yep,
what am I doing? Oh yeah, I'm going to pray that
I'd know God better. Maybe you need to tell a
friend, hey, can we meet up just every month
and check in on me? How are you going with your
prayer life? How are you going? Yeah, cool. I'm
praying that I'd know God better. And have you
found that? And just talk about it with another
Christian from church here. But find ways to
make sure that you pray to know God better. And
here's the thing. If we do that, I reckon God
will do amazing things through our prayers. I
actually reckon he'd do things better than we
could imagine or wish for. Yes, be careful what
you pray for, but if we are, I think God's gonna
do things far better than we could have ever
expected. So linking my prayers to knowing God,
that's awesome. And I say that as someone who's
gone through it. that awful year in Broken Hill,
and I happened to just be preaching on this,
it helped me cope in one of the darkest seasons
of my life. It was so good for me and for others
around me to be praying that myself and them
would know God better. Will you pray like that?
Let's pray now. Gracious Heavenly Father, we
thank you so much that through the death of the
Lord Jesus we are able to be your treasured possession.
We thank you so much that you've chosen us and
elected us to be your children if we trust in
you. We thank you so much that we know that you're
in control and that you're holding on to us tighter
than we're holding on to you. And we thank you
that you've given us your spirit who's opened
our eyes to see how great and glorious you are.
We thank you that your spirit gives us great
assurance that we will not be overcome because
you are with us. Please help us to be people
who know you better and to be people who constantly
pray that we'd know you better. And we ask this
in Jesus' name. Amen.