John K. Jenkins Sr - According to The Power

Grab your Bibles; let me see what I should preach on today: Ephesians 3:20. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us. Father, bless Your Word and our time in Your Word today; challenge and change us in Jesus' name, amen. You can be seated. Today is our final installment in our series from Ephesians 3:20. For the benefit of our guests and those who have not been here, allow me just a few moments to rehearse what we have been dealing with since December 31st. We’ve been looking at this passage, verse 20 of Ephesians, and it is our theme verse for 2010. We have examined this verse in light of its context. The Apostle Paul writes to the church in Ephesus. He gives them instructions on how to be an impactful church and impactful people, and what he shares with them is dynamic, significant, and powerful. As a matter of fact, it is such a dynamic church that when Jesus sends letters to the seven churches in Asia Minor, most of what He has to say to the church in Ephesus is positive. He celebrates them for being hard laborers, workers, and servants; they are responsible people who listen carefully to the preaching of the gospel. The only thing He rebukes them for is that their passion for Him is not what it used to be. He gives them instructions to return to their first love. This church became an impactful church, I believe, because they embraced what Paul taught them in the book of Ephesians. There are some significant things that you and I must learn from this book of Ephesians. We need to learn who we are and what our position is in Christ. Somebody say, «Amen!» I have to learn my position, and so he spends chapters two and three helping them understand their position in Christ. Some of you will never reach the place that God has for you until you understand who you are and where you are in Christ. He says in chapter 2, verse 1, that we are made alive. God awakened us out of death and made us alive. In verse 5, he states we’ve been made alive, and in chapter 2, verse 6, he says we are seated together in heavenly places; God has placed us in heavenly realms. In verse 7 of chapter 2, he writes that God has chosen us to show the exceeding riches of His grace. God picked you out so that when people see your life, witness what you 've gone through, and see the drama and the pain, yet observe you rise up and handle it like a champion, they will recognize that something helped you get through that. And that something is the grace of God poured over you. Hallelujah! Somebody ought to give God praise for that smear of grace over you! Verse 7 states that in the ages to come, He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. God smeared us with grace to handle whatever we face in life; that’s the benefit of being a believer, a Christian, a follower of Christ. God covers you with grace. Yes, we’ve been jacked up, yes, we’ve struggled with addiction, yes, we’ve been alcoholics, yes, we’ve experienced depression and suicidal thoughts, yes, we’ve had our issues in life. But God has smeared us with grace that got us out! In chapter 2, verse 13, he says we have been brought near to God; God drew us close to Him. That 's great news! We were once far away, but He drew us near. In verse 19, it says we’re no longer strangers and foreigners; we are fellow citizens with the saints. In verse 22 of chapter 2, he states we are building together a dwelling place for God. We are collectively working together to create a space for God to hang out. Wake up the person next to you and say, «Please don’t sleep while the pastor is preaching; he might have to come down and wake you up!» In chapter 3, he says we are fellow heirs of the same body, partakers of the promise. In verse 12 of chapter 3, he tells us we have boldness and access to God with confidence. Boldness and access to God with confidence! He concludes this dialogue with the benediction of verse 20 of chapter 3. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we could ask or think. That 's a powerful benediction because he reminds us that all of the things he’s discussed in chapters 2 and 3, and all that he has prayed and asked for, is made possible by a God who can create everything we need- and even more! Now to Him who is able to do- see, the wonderful thing about the God we serve is that He has the ability to do. Some of you have friends who want to help but lack the means; they want to assist you out of a financial jam but don’t have any money. Y 'all have probably met someone who wants to help but doesn 't even have a dime! They want to lift you from your jobless state but don’t have a job to offer you. But here we serve a God — here’s what I love: He says, «Now to Him who is able to do .» God is able; He has the ability!