Welcome to Bible on the Beach.
Again, today we're in the hills up here right by my house.
Got some beautiful waves this morning down at Trussells.
So glad that you can be with us today.
We'll be in Ephesians chapter 3, verses 14 through 21.
Paul says, so I kneel humbly in awe
before the Father of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah.
So right away Paul points out our relationship with God.
We're to kneel and we're to be humble.
Now it sounds simple, but it's amazing to me
how many people miss this all the time.
Our relationship with God is not premised
upon us telling God all the things that we're going to do.
Our relationship with God is premised upon he's God,
we're not, which means we come to him with humility.
Famous theologian was once asked,
what are the best Christian virtues?
The response was humility, humility, humility.
That's how it is in our life.
God asked us to come to him with humility.
And so you'll find this in the writings of Paul.
We see it pointed out very clearly again right here.
He says, the perfect father of every father and child
in heaven and on earth.
So it may feel like at times that earthly parents were
either really planned or really a mistake.
Well, there might be accidental parents,
but there aren't any accidental people.
God knew each and every one of us
were going to be born where we were going to live,
how our upbringing was going to be.
You come to the place in your life
where you pivot from your earthly parents
to looking to God to be your father.
Parents, some of them do a wonderful job.
Some of them are in process.
I know I myself am, but God's perfect.
So we look to God to meet all of our needs
according to his riches in Christ Jesus.
He says, and I pray that he would
unveil within you the unlimited riches of his glory and favor
until supernatural strength floods your innermost being
with his divine might and explosive power.
A lot to unpack here.
Did you know that there's a supernatural strength that
comes from God each and every day when we call upon him
to help us?
You may just want to say right now,
God, I ask that you would give me your supernatural strength,
that you would flood me with your living water
from the inside out to meet my needs and the needs
of the people around me.
That is the abundant life that Jesus came to give us.
Verse 17, he says, then by constantly using your faith,
the life of Christ will be released deep inside you.
That's that living water that it's
talking about in John 4.
Jesus offers us a water, a living water
that flows up from the inside that comes to us
with explosive power, talks about.
It's what we want in our life, that living, flowing water
in us and through us.
Now, verse 17 says, then by constantly using your faith,
the life of Christ will be released deep inside of you.
Every work of God is a deep work of God,
meaning that God transforms us literally from the inside out.
He says, and the resting place of his love
will become the very source, the root of his life.
Everything good in our life flows out of our understanding
of God's amazing, unfathomable, deep and wide love.
His love makes us secure.
His love makes us safe.
His love allows us to live for him and him alone.
He says in verse 18, then you will
be empowered to discover what every holy one experiences,
the great magnitude of the astonishing love of Christ
in all of its dimensions.
How deeply intimate and far reaching is his love?
I think about when I was 17 years old, over 30 years ago,
God's love reached into my life and changed my life.
God met me where I was at.
God will meet you where you're at today.
He'll come to you.
The Bible says he's a manual God with us, not God far from us.
God with us right next to us.
Invite him into your life.
Ask him to help you right now.
And Jesus will.
He'll come and help you right now.
He says how enduring and inclusive it is.
Endless love beyond measurement.
That's what I've experienced in my life.
Endless, amazing love that transcends our understanding.
This extravagant love pours into you
until you are filled with the overflowing
of the fullness of God.
Our best beliefs, ideas, and theology
are rooted in the simple, amazing love of Jesus
for each and every one of us.
Verse 20 says, never doubt God's mighty power
to work in you and accomplish all of this.
You see, when we understand God's love,
his mighty power begins to flow and operate in our life.
He says you will achieve infinitely more
than your greatest request, your most unbelievable dream,
and exceed your wildest imaginations.
Now, I've known that's been true in my life.
I never would have imagined about three years ago
when I took a step of faith from a large church
that I really loved working at, Saddleback Church.
I wanted to be there for the rest of my life.
God tapped me on the shoulder, told me,
no, I want you to do something smaller.
I want to use you to go into all the little nooks and crannies
that the big church has missed.
People ask me, how was it to work at Saddleback?
How was it to work at a small church?
My answer is, both of them have been wonderful.
Just a matter of what God asked you to do with your life.
I never would have imagined that we'd start myself, Bobby Ramsey
and Adam in a Jiu-Jitsu studio.
Three years later, we'd have produced 6,695 liters of water,
clean water for people, and help plant 24 churches in five
countries, helping about 800 people each week.
Amazing.
Never thought that would even be possible.
But when you step out, you take a step of faith,
God goes with you, God gives you the favor, God helps you.
God does it all versus us thinking that we did it.
I didn't do it.
God did it.
And that's a wonderful feeling.
He says, he will outdo them all, and his miraculous power
constantly energizes you.
Boy, I found that to be true in my life.
God's amazing, miraculous power, every time I needed it,
God came and he helped me to do it.
I give him all the credit, all the glory,
in every possible way.
Now, verse 21, he says, now we offer up to God
all the glorious praise that arises from every church
and every generation through Jesus Christ,
and that we will yet be manifest through time and eternity.
See, this is God's will, the constant planting
and regeneration of the church and the people of God.
It's never ending.
We just get to be a part of it.
Jesus called the first 12, he discipled them.
Day of Pentecost came, he gathered more believers,
he called them, he scattered them,
and that's what he's been doing from the beginning
of the church.
What God's done in a small way through myself
taking a little step of faith, that's what God's been doing
from the beginning.
This isn't new.
This is what God's always done, the constant regeneration,
the constant planting, the constant expansion
of the kingdom of God into every nook and cranny,
into every space, place, and race for every face
so that Jesus can be known all over the world.
That's what we get to be a part of.
It's exciting.
That's why I love to pastor people.
I love to preach the word.
I love to plant churches.
I love to help provide water all for Jesus,
and it's a great, very fulfilling, exciting life to live.
Thanks so much for joining me today.
I hope that this is encouraging to you.
Life's hard enough.
I hope when you turn on Bible on the Beach,
it brings a 10 to 12 minute encouragement
smile to your face every single day.
Until next time, love you, be blessed, have a great day.