This will be my last opportunity to speak to you. I want to take this chance to express my deep appreciation for the invitation to minister to you, and then for your warm response and opportunity to talk to many of you. My regret is that I didn't have a chance to speak to each of you individually and get to know you better, but we'll have all eternity, so we'll pick up there what we left off here when we get to heaven. Thanks so much to the cooks for the wonderful food and those who served it. And again, for the fellowship and opportunity of remembering our Lord together this morning. When you kind of come to an end of a conference, and of course we have two more speakers coming up, but as I mentioned, this will be my last presentation to you. You kind of have mixed emotions. You feel sad to think of having to say goodbye. But of course, when we get to heaven, it'll be hello and goodbye in our vocabulary there. but great joy in having been here with you in fellowship. So, heartiest thanks from my heart to your heart. And we're talking about prayer this afternoon from Ephesians chapter four, verses fourteen through twenty-one. And since it is kind of late in the afternoon and sleepy time, we'll think about Luke eighteen one, then I'm always to pray and not to faint. So get a little sleepy, start praying with your eyes open, okay? We're actually looking at one of Paul's prayers here in Ephesians three, fourteen through twenty-one as he prays for the Ephesians, saints. And when we compare our prayers with the prayer of the Apostle Paul, I'm sure like me, you'll quickly discover that his key focus seemed to be upon spiritual requests more than physical needs. And I find it very easy to pray primarily for material, physical needs, for things that will make life more comfortable and convenient. And of course there's a place for these, Scripture says, to ask for daily bread. Pray one for another that you may be healed. So the physical material is a part of our prayer life. But I'm afraid sometimes it gets at the bottom and conveniences, comforts, material things and physical things really take the priority. And this was brought so sharply to me when I was sitting in a prayer meeting one time, and I believe over twenty requests were made that were in the material physical realm before anyone prayed something that was directly spiritual, as Paul does in this prayer. Almost reached the point where we were praying for someone's fifth cousin's loose liver or something like this. And this prayer really brings us to focus on the primary, the spiritual request. Let's start in verse fourteen and fifteen and notice that Paul first addresses the Father. He says, For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. of whom the whole or every family in heaven and earth is named. For what reason, Paul, do you bow in prayer? And this really goes back to the early part of the Epistle, chapters one, two, and part of three, because he's been considering our position, our possessions, and our privileges in Christ. We're blessed with all spiritual blessings. We have the privilege of access to the Father, and we're seated in the Heavenly in Christ. And when you consider what you are and what you have in Christ, you'll want to fall on your knees and pray, too, to the Heavenly Father for all He's given us in Christ. And He does take this physical position of being on His knees. And we would be the first to say it's more the attitude of the heart than it is the position of the body. And yet isn't there a teaching here of an outward expression of an inward reality, and that is a position of worship. And the prayer our Lord taught to disciples, which I don't take as primarily to be, wrote, repeated, but does give us some basic principles of prayer. We find worship the first thing. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. It begins with worship. Then submission, thy will be done. And it's also the position of humility. God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble. When our Lord was in the Garden of Gethsemane, he was on his knees, worshiping the Father, submissive to the Father's will, and humbling himself there to him who had the power and authority to deliver him out of death through the resurrection. And we believe it's appropriate that this prayer is addressed to the Father because he is the giver of every good and perfect gift. The general New Testament formula of prayer, of course, is under the Father, through or in the name of the Son, and in the Spirit. This gives a fantastic relationship. God the Spirit in me praying to God the Father above me. Now, I have an intercessor in heaven. And you'll notice we don't have time to turn to it. In the Old Testament, The people had to go through the priest even for their service to be accepted, you see. And even beyond our salvation, our service has to be offered through the person of Jesus Christ, our prayers for it to be acceptable to the Father as our mediator. So we have an intercessor in heaven, Jesus Christ, the right hand, and we have an intercessor in our hearts, the Holy Spirit, Romans, eight, twenty-six, and twenty-seven. Now think about it. God the Spirit in us praying to God the Father above us. Jesus Christ is God representing us before God and the Holy Spirit is God praying through us to God. And we're on the same frequency. And you think how in communication you've got to get on the same frequency to communicate. You have to have an able transmitter and an able receiver. Friends, we don't have to adjust the dial one bit. The Holy Spirit is in perfect harmony and frequency with the Father's will. The only adjustment needs to be us in adjustment to the Holy Spirit. Yield it. No one confessed sin. As a matter of fact, is there any other way to pray than in the Spirit through the Son to the Father? There's no other way to pray if you want to get through to the Father. An experience of praying in this manner is just as real as talking on a live telephone. You know the Father's on the other end. And I say this reverently, you can just almost sense his ear bending over heaven and saying, Yes, my child, the answer's on the way. In the Spirit, through the Son, and in the name of the Father. And you see, he mentions the family here, what Brother Jim has been talking about, from whom or of whom every family in heaven and earth is named. Even an atheistic family is a family because God instituted the family with the creation of the human race in Genesis chapter two. They're families because God designed human organization in that form and it's the most basic unit in our society, the family. But if we apply this in the area of the spiritual family, then that's part of the bases of prayer. The spiritual child. responding to the invitation of a heavenly father to come boldly to a throne of grace and make his needs met. And this helps us to see the reason we pray is not to inform God. Our missions does not need to be informed. God is not leaning over the banisters of heaven, waiting for one of us to giving the weather prediction for tomorrow, to tell him who won the ball game, to tell him if the stock market went down or up. And we say that facetiously, we say that foolishly. Because it's obvious that we don't pray to God to inform him. He knows what we have need of before we ever ask. But sometimes our prayers appear to be to tell God something that he doesn't know. And that's not the purpose of prayer at all. The purpose of prayer, number one, is to obey the Father. Pray without ceasing. He commands it. And if that were the only reason, that'd be enough reason, wouldn't it? Just to love him and obey him. But another reason we pray, we mentioned earlier, a heavenly father invites spiritual children to come before the throne of grace. What child of God could dare send an RSVP? No, I won't be there. Who can stay away? He invites us to come. We pray because he commands us and because a loving heavenly father invites his children to come and pray. Now there's some things that the Lord seems to almost automatically give us in spite of our failures and our shortcomings. There have been times when I'm not felt as close to the Lord as I should be, but the food was still on the table. The clothes were still on my back. And yet I can't presume because the Bible makes it clear there's some things we won't have if we don't ask. If God sent him, we couldn't see him. We wouldn't know him if they hit us on the head. because we don't have the spiritual sensitivity to perceive them and to ask for them. Some come, it seems automatically out of the very goodness of God, but some won't come unless we pray. We have not because we ask not. In the next few verses, we're going to look at five spiritual requests that Paul makes here. In verse sixteen, he gives us the preface to these requests. Ephesians three and says... that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory. Not out of the riches of his glory. A man had a billion dollars and gave you two cents. He could say, I've given you out of my riches, right? But he couldn't give you two cents out of a billion dollars and say he gave you according to his riches. God says, I give you up to the standards to measure my riches. And when it's God's standard, it's a big one. And when it's his riches, well, it's just infinite. It's limitless. And the first request at the end of verse sixteen is to be strengthened with power through his spirit in the inner man. The Christian is like a battery. He needs constant spiritual recharging by the Holy Spirit. And we've been warning ourselves of one of the most subtle dangers that what the Spirit does through us in reality and freshness one day Satan seeks to imitate the next day through the power of the flesh. You can imitate the work of the Spirit, but you cannot duplicate it. Not by might or by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord. And the more we see the use of gadgets and gimmicks about us, the more tendency there will be in the church to capitulate this and allow Satan to offer substitutes for what only the Holy Spirit can do. Only the Holy Spirit can convict the sin. Only Holy Spirit can convert the sinner, and only the Spirit of God can change the saints. You cannot change people by nagging them. You can't change them by manipulating. You can't change them by force. The Spirit of God, who has to change us if we're really changed. Now, we have to be open. We have to be willing. One person said to me, he said, you know, we could do ninety percent of what we do in our assembly and never even bother with the Holy Spirit. Now that brother was concerned, and we had better be concerned, because if it's out of the flesh, God can do nothing but burn it. And we can be very active and build a big haystack that's all going to go up in smoke. And I'm sure we're serious enough here that we don't want to come out of the judgment seat of Christ smelling like we came out of a fire sale or something, that we want to have jewels, precious minerals and metals that will stand the fire of that test. And God can only accept from us what the Holy Spirit produces through us. But isn't it wonderful that through the Spirit God undertakes to produce through us what He requires from us? I think Paul was right on target, that you might be strengthened in your inner man by the Holy Spirit, recharged. And you see, I can say, well, I'm physically strong, I'm healthy, I feel good, I'm happy. Engage my Christian life by that. An individual might call me up and say, well, how's your Christian life? Oh, it's great. The stock market went up. The weather's clear. I caught a lot of fish. And I feel good. My Christian life is just right on the top of it. Now suppose the person had called up and said, how's your Christian life? And I would have said, oh, it's terrible. My ball team lost. The weather's rainy. The stock market went down. Whoa, wait a minute. I'm gauging my spiritual life by how I feel physically and by what the circumstances are, and that in no way at all is a thermometer of the true spiritual life." There were times when Paul was physically super weak, but God's super grace was operative through this man's life. Second Corinthians chapter twelve. There is no substitute for the strengthening of the inner man. by the Holy Spirit. And there will never be a substitute for the Holy Spirit. God has sent us the helper from heaven, the Spirit of God. Now, the second request here, verse seventeen, so that Christ may dwell in your heart through faith. This is puzzling. Why does he pray this when the believer is assured that Christ is in his heart and life? This word for dwell is what we call an intensive word, and we could translate it Christ is there but we want you to allow him to dwell intimately deep down at home types of dwelling you see you can be in a person's house but not feel welcome and have the run of the house I've been staying with the heart and I just feel relaxed at ease at home with their wonderful hospitality and with Christ sometimes people say something that seems so great he's unseen yet He's more than that. He's a permanent resident and he wants to be president. He wants to have the full run of the place. We could preach a whole sermon on this, but I recommend a little booklet by Emil McDonald. I forgot the exact title about letting the Lord have the full run of your house and other Robert Boyd monger has written a book, My Heart, Christ, Home. Get a hold of these booklets and they simply build on the illustration that you let the Lord have the run in every area of life. If I'm a businessman and I've been in about three different businesses, I know the temptations for under the table deals. Could you let the Lord come in your business life? Could he come in your home life or would he just see a lot of distinction and bickering and barriers between parents and children and husband and wife? Is my devotional life a disaster area in my devotional life with my family? And the point is if Christ is not at home in any of these areas, friends, we need some house cleaning. We need to do business with God that Christ may have an intimate, deep-down dwelling in your heart and be at home there. So real in His presence again, we hardly sit down to a meal, but we feel like filling up a chair for the Lord Jesus Christ. That close, in a sense, of His power and His presence. Now, what will happen if we're strengthened with power through His spirit and inner man, and Christ is at home in our hearts through faith? Well, the results will be the end of verse seventeen. The purpose of this is that you being rooted and grounded in love. The root reminds us, as Wescott points out, the vine with its depth and its growth. The grounded, that word is connected with the temple and its foundation. So we really have growth to maturity. What our brother was talking about is the purpose of trials and stability. And the latter of these, stability, is what I find young people want the most. And they'll give some real illustrations. They'll say, how do you get off of this roller coaster Christian life? I feel like a yo-yo Christian, just up and down in my Christian life. And they're sincere. They say, I want stability and maturity in my Christian life. Ask God to strengthen your inner man by the Holy Spirit. Let Christ be at home in your heart. and you'll begin to see the vine of your life grow and the stability like the foundation of that temple begin to take place and that will lead you further so verse eighteen that you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth i believe what he is dealing with here in terms of our comprehension again is all that we are and have in christ to comprehend the full spiritual dimension of all that we are and have in Christ. That's what the first three chapters of Ephesians is basically about. In Christ. Now, I felt I earlier misinterpreted this, and here's my viewpoint now. It's the picture of a saint suspended in an infinite cube. It's a cube because it's four-dimensional, you see. Not only has breadth and length and height, it also has depth. So this saint's not standing on the bottom. He's floating suspended in this infinite cube. In other words, we've been placed in a position surrounded by an infinite ocean of blessings. Now we can't fall out of the blessings, but we can sure fail to appropriate those blessings. Remember we mentioned this morning, when you own a grocery store, stand right in the middle of it, starve to death unless you're appropriating. Apostles, I want you to comprehend it with all the saints. I want you to understand what you are and what you have in Christ. May we digress just a moment and say, so often when saints find themselves depressed, discouraged and down on themselves, in me dwelleth no good thing. That's true. Without Christ, I can do nothing. But what is the counterpart to that? The counterpart is to realize I'm blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ. I couldn't have more. That I'm seated in the heavenly places. I couldn't be seated in a higher position. and I couldn't be seated in a better position than to be in Christ accepted in the beloved. If you're really down and depressed because of what you are and having yourself, you ought to be. But when we stop and consider what we are and have in Christ, that's the list up and that's the pickup we need. If that won't lift us up, nothing will, brothers and sisters, but it will every time. And then he says, verse nineteen, to know the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge. You kept the paradox here. To know... the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. Paul says, I want you to know the unknowable. And he's really saying, you can never fully know it. This is out of glory. Philippians three ten, that I may know him to know the love of Christ. And I think this is the key to having a greater love for him. Probably not a true believer here that wouldn't say, I want to love him more. Paul is always praying for the believers, that your love may abound more and more, just bubble up and build up. But I found that I can't pump up this love. I can't work it up from my own flesh and nature. But I found that automatically I seem to love him more, the more I appreciate his love. We love him because and only because he first loved us. And our love for him is simply his first love. bouncing off of our breath back to the bosom of the Lord Jesus Christ. Want to love Him more? Consider Him. Consider His loss for you. I really feel in the life of the Apostle Paul, probably the greatest single motivating factor, is Galatians two twenty. He loved me and gave himself for me. Sitting in that old Philippian jail, they could have really been singing the blues, but they weren't doing that worldly type of thing. They were rejoicing. That old jailhouse began to jump up and down. and they had an opportunity to witness. Why? Christ loved me and gave himself for me. Now, in this prayer, these requests seem to work in stages with each one building on the other. He's saying, I want this to happen, so this will happen. And then when this happens, this will happen. And this will happen. And it reaches a crescendo, a climax, a peak here in verse nineteen. To know the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge, that ye may be filled up through all the fullness of God. Paul says, I want the Lord to completely have everything you are, and I want you to enjoy everything that he has for you. That's asking for it all. That's opening the valve all the way. Bill Moody, in a moment of deep yieldingness to the Lord, said the Lord began to just fill him and overpower him so much he just had to tell the Lord to cut it down a little bit. He just couldn't take anymore. He probably felt like he was going to pop like a balloon that was filled up. too full. Asking for it all, the fullness. If someone has put it, till Christ is all and everything to you. And the Lord wants us to pray in such a way that our expectancy really exceeds our request. Look at this in verse twenty, where Paul acknowledges God's ability. And if you're trying to follow the order here, here's what we've said. Paul prays to the Father, bow my knees unto God the Father. Now he does this in the name of the Son, in the Spirit. We see that in other passages. He prays to the Father. Second thing he does, he asks for spiritual requests. And we've seen that here. Now what he does, he acknowledges God's ability. You're wasting your breath in God's time unless you really believe when we pray, God's going to do something. I mean, prayer changes things and changes people. Ephesians now to him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we can ask or think according to the power which worketh in us a great God who does things in a great way many biblical illustrations just too quickly remember Hannah Samuel's father prayed for Samuel she didn't have name then but she prayed for him maybe she had it picked out Johnson and Johnson list or something there but she prayed for Samuel ask of God She prayed for one son, and God gave her at least a half a dozen. This means if some of you parents have children, you're praying for two, you might get a dozen. Watch out. God did exceeding abundantly above all that she could ask or think. Nehemiah asked for a leave of absence from Shushan the palace to go to Palestine, to revive the people, to rebuild the walls. The king not only gave him what he requested, a leave of absence and letters of passage through the foreign countries, the royal escort and the right to requisition materials, exceeding abundantly above all that he can ask or think. And see, it goes back to our concept of an able God. Do we picture God as standing in heaven with just an eyedropper, measuring out the blessings like some precious drug is formula, or is he just causing the cups to overflow? Well, of course, you know. And if you need a gallon of something that's really in the will of God, then you'd better take some barrels because they're going to overflow. He's a great God who does things in a great way, exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think. And I think one of the reasons that he does it this way is he wants us to know that it's really, it's really... of the Lord. Such a stupendous work, such a clear-cut work, you know it's really of the Lord. Because Satan will come right along and say, oh, don't get so excited, Christian, it would have happened anyhow. Have you ever had that happen? But God wants to do it in a way where you have to say, like Nehemiah, it was a great hand of God upon me. It wouldn't have changed. It wouldn't have happened unless God's hand had been in it. So distinctly different. They'll know it's of God. Some of us have been sharing the little joke that one preacher presented. He said there was this person who said how much they really appreciated and thanked him for the message, how much it had helped him. And the preacher tried to be humble and say, well, you shouldn't thank me. You should thank the Lord. And the person said, oh, well, it wasn't that good. And so we want the work to be so distinguishable that people will be able to tell. It's really of the Lord and we'll be out of the picture and the Lord will get their glory. And when God answers things exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think, It will lead us to do what we have in verse twenty one, to give in the glory in the church in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. But we come full circle and again we ask the question. If we take this prayer of the Apostle Paul and we compare it to our prayers, do we not find a great neglect of emphasis upon spiritual requests And because of the weakness of our bodies, we're praying for comforts, we're praying for conveniences, we're praying for material, physical things primarily. Don't leave them out. If you know a person who's ill, pray if it's God's will. He will raise them up. Pray one for another that you may be healed, but qualify it with the will of God. And if you know someone who's in need, pray for daily bread for yourself and for them too. But let's give emphasis to where God gives it as the priority and primary These spiritual things. Brothers and sisters, I think when we take care of these things, God will take care of the material and physical in a way that we never dreamed of before. And if you happen to be here and you'd say, I'd sure like to enter into these blessings in Jesus Christ, you can through prayer. Now, praying never saved anyone unless it was a prayer of faith to Jesus Christ. Romans ten, thirteenth, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. As they say in the South, that's my favorite right verse because that's the verse that explains my salvation. In April of nineteen fifty six on a Saturday in an apartment alone in Dallas, Texas, I did what Romans ten thirteen says. And the Lord saved me on a spot. My roommate the next day said, your life has changed. You're different. I didn't know everything had happened about me. I had all the salvation I'd ever get, but I've been finding out what was in the package ever since. And if you'd like to have the full package of salvation that's found in a person. Jesus Christ. You can almost see him offering the package as he leans out of heaven. You call on him and you'll receive it. Just do it now. Let's pray.