The Power Of The King
Ephesians 1:20–23
And He put all things under His feet and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. (Ephesians 1:22–23)
Worship Notes
Scripture Reading
Transcript
Hear now the reading of God's word as it is found in Ephesians chapter 1, beginning in verse 20. This power, he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
We're in Ephesians, finishing up the first chapter this week. And as you remember, the outline of Ephesians is this little handbook of the faith, and it teaches faith, hope, and love, or what to believe, how to pray, and how to obey. Those are the three categories that we have. And last week, we stopped quite rudely in the middle of a prayer. I broke it into two sections, and Paul is praying. And if you could summarize the entirety of what Paul prayed, we often don't know what to pray for, especially as someone shares something very difficult in their lives. And you say, can I pray for you? And you begin to pray and realize, I don't even know what to say. If you could summarize what Paul prayed for, it's this. He prayed that the Father of the Lord Jesus would give them the spirit of wisdom. And that's, if you pray for that, then you have covered all of your bases. And this is what we're looking at. And then he prayed that the spirit would come and give them eyes to see three things, the hope of their calling, the riches of their inheritance, and the exceeding greatness of his power. Which is, as the King James puts it, usward. God's power is directed towards you.
Well, this is what we pray, that you might know how much hope you have. Well, let's pray for that even now before we open this scripture. Our Father, we thank you that you have sent Jesus. And Jesus told us on the cross, it is finished. You love us. You have redeemed us. And so, Lord, we now ask that you would give us the spirit so that we might know the hope of your calling and the riches that we have in Jesus and the greatness of your power that is at work even today. So we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.