(inspirational music) Hello, First Baptist Atlanta, and anybody else who might be joining us this morning, it is January 31st, the last Sunday of the first month of 2021 already, can you believe it? Hey, we're so glad you're with us. Come on. Let's worship the Lord today. Every praise is to our God. Come on sing with us now. ♪ Every praise is to our God ♪ ♪ Every word of worship with one accord ♪ ♪ Every praise ♪ ♪ Every praise ♪ ♪ Is to our God ♪ ♪ Sing hallelujah to our God ♪ ♪ Glory hallelujah is due our God ♪ ♪ Every praise ♪ ♪ Every praise is to our God ♪ ♪ Every praise is to our God ♪ ♪ Every word of worship ♪ ♪ With one accord ♪ ♪ Every praise ♪ ♪ Every praise is to our God ♪ ♪ Sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ Sing hallelujah to our God ♪ ♪ Glory hallelujah ♪ ♪ Glory hallelujah is due our God ♪ ♪ Every praise ♪ ♪ Every praise ♪ ♪ Every praise ♪ ♪ Every praise is to our God ♪ ♪ Every praise is to our God ♪ ♪ Every word of worship ♪ ♪ With one accord ♪ ♪ Every praise ♪ ♪ Oh yes ♪ ♪ Every praise is to our God ♪ ♪ Sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ Sing hallelujah to our God ♪ ♪ Glory ♪ ♪ Glory hallelujah is due our God ♪ ♪ Every praise ♪ ♪ Every praise is to our God ♪ ♪ Every praise ♪ ♪ Every praise is to our God ♪ ♪ Every word of worship ♪ ♪ Every word of worship with one accord ♪ ♪ Oh every praise ♪ ♪ Every praise ♪ ♪ Every praise ♪ ♪ Every praise is to our God ♪ ♪ Sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ Sing hallelujah to our God ♪ ♪ Glory hallelujah ♪ ♪ Glory hallelujah is due our God ♪ ♪ Oh every praise ♪ ♪ Every praise ♪ ♪ Every praise ♪ ♪ Every praise is to our God. ♪ Oh, let me give you this sound. ♪ God my Savior ♪ ♪ God my Healer ♪ ♪ God my Deliverer ♪ ♪ Yes He is ♪ ♪ Yes He is ♪ ♪ God my Savior ♪ ♪ He's my Healer ♪ ♪ God my Healer ♪ ♪ You are my Deliverer ♪ ♪ God my Deliverer ♪ ♪ Yes you are ♪ ♪ Yes He is ♪ ♪ Yes He is ♪ ♪ God my Savior ♪ ♪ You are my Savior ♪ ♪ God my Healer ♪ ♪ Oh You are my Healer ♪ ♪ God my Deliverer ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ Yes He is ♪ ♪ Yes He is ♪ Sing that again. ♪ Yes He is ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ Yes He is ♪ ♪ Every praise is to our God ♪ ♪ Every word of worship ♪ ♪ Every word of worship with one accord ♪ ♪ Every praise ♪ ♪ Every praise ♪ ♪ Every praise ♪ ♪ Every praise ♪ ♪ Every praise ♪ ♪ Sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ Every praise ♪ ♪ Every praise ♪ ♪ Every praise ♪ ♪ Every praise ♪ ♪ Every praise ♪ ♪ Every every every praise ♪ ♪ Every praise ♪ ♪ Every praise ♪ ♪ Yes it is ♪ ♪ Every praise ♪ ♪ Is to our God ♪ (drums rolling) Every praise is to our God. What a privilege it is this morning, to worship His name as His children. Come on please. ♪ Who am I that the highest King would welcome me ♪ ♪ I was lost but He brought me in ♪ ♪ Oh His love for me ♪ ♪ Yes His love for me ♪ ♪ Who the Son sets free ♪ ♪ Oh is free indeed ♪ ♪ I'm a child of God ♪ ♪ Yes I am ♪ ♪ Free at last He has ransomed me ♪ ♪ His grace runs deep ♪ ♪ While I was a slave to sin ♪ ♪ While I was a slave to sin ♪ ♪ Jesus died for me ♪ Yes. ♪ Yes He died for me ♪ ♪ Who the Son sets free ♪ ♪ Oh is free indeed ♪ ♪ I'm a child of God ♪ ♪ Yes I am ♪ ♪ In my Father's house ♪ ♪ In my Father's house ♪ ♪ There is a ♪ ♪ There's a place for me ♪ ♪ I'm a child of God ♪ ♪ Yes I am ♪ ♪ I am chosen not forsaken ♪ ♪ I am who You say I am ♪ ♪ You are for me not against me ♪ ♪ Yes I am ♪ ♪ I am who You say I am ♪ Say it again. ♪ I am chosen ♪ ♪ I am chosen ♪ ♪ Not forsaken ♪ ♪ Not forsaken ♪ ♪ I am ♪ ♪ I am who You say I am ♪ ♪ You are for me ♪ ♪ You are for me ♪ ♪ Not against me ♪ ♪ Not against me ♪ ♪ Oh I am ♪ ♪ I am who You say I am ♪ ♪ Yes I am ♪ ♪ I am who You say I am ♪ ♪ Oh I am ♪ ♪ Who the Son sets free ♪ ♪ Oh yeah ♪ ♪ Oh is free indeed ♪ ♪ I'm a child of God ♪ ♪ I'm a child of God ♪ ♪ Yes I am ♪ ♪ Yes I am ♪ ♪ In my Father's house ♪ ♪ In my Father's house ♪ ♪ There's is ♪ ♪ There's a place for me ♪ ♪ I'm a child of God ♪ ♪ Yes I am ♪ ♪ In my Father's house ♪ ♪ There's a place for me ♪ ♪ I'm a child of God ♪ ♪ Yes I am ♪ And it's so good to know, that in this climate that we live in the world wants to assign labels to us. But we know who we are in Jesus. We are chosen. We are loved. We are never forsaken. So when the world gets loud we just sing, sing above it all and you just say this, I am chosen. ♪ I am chosen ♪ As He's never forsake me. ♪ Not forsaken ♪ ♪ I am ♪ ♪ I am who You say I am ♪ ♪ You are for me ♪ ♪ You are for me ♪ ♪ Not against me ♪ ♪ I am ♪ ♪ I am who You say I am ♪ ♪ Sing I am chosen ♪ ♪ I am chosen ♪ ♪ Not forsaken ♪ ♪ Not forsaken ♪ ♪ I am ♪ ♪ I am who You say I am ♪ ♪ You are for me ♪ ♪ You are for me not against me ♪ ♪ I am who You say I am ♪ ♪ I am chosen ♪ ♪ I am chosen ♪ ♪ Not forsaken ♪ ♪ Not forsaken ♪ ♪ Oh I am ♪ ♪ I am who You say I am ♪ ♪ Say You are for me ♪ ♪ You are for me ♪ ♪ Not against me ♪ ♪ Not against me ♪ ♪ And I am ♪ ♪ I am who You say I am ♪ ♪ I am chosen ♪ ♪ I am chosen not forsaken ♪ ♪ I am ♪ ♪ I am who You say I am ♪ ♪ You are for me ♪ ♪ You are for me not against me ♪ ♪ And I am ♪ ♪ I am who You say I am ♪ ♪ Yes I am ♪ ♪ Oh I am who You say I am ♪ ♪ Oh I am ♪ ♪ Yes I am who you say I am ♪ ♪ You You say I am ♪ ♪ Who the Son sets free ♪ ♪ Oh is free indeed ♪ ♪ I'm a child of God ♪ ♪ Yes I am ♪ ♪ In my Father's house ♪ ♪ In my Father's house ♪ ♪ There is always ♪ ♪ There's a place for me ♪ ♪ I'm a child of God ♪ ♪ Yes I am ♪ Yes, it is good to be a child of the King. And you know what? It's also wonderful to be able to worship with you online like this but guess what? Starting next Sunday, February 7th, First Baptist Atlanta is open once again. You are welcome to be in this room to worship with your own church body. And I know that's been a long time coming, with this pandemic that we've been going through. But the room will be open next week and we invite you to join the rest of your church family, in praising the only One who's worthy, the One who suffered and bled and died on a cross, for you and for me. ♪ I cast my mind to Calvary ♪ ♪ Where Jesus bled and died for me ♪ ♪ I see His wounds ♪ ♪ His hands His feet ♪ ♪ My Savior on that cursed tree ♪ ♪ His body bound and drenched in tears ♪ ♪ They laid Him down in Joseph's tomb ♪ ♪ The entrance sealed by heavy stone ♪ ♪ Messiah still and all alone ♪ ♪ O praise the Name of the Lord our God ♪ ♪ O praise His Name forevermore ♪ ♪ For endless days we will sing Your praise ♪ ♪ Oh Lord oh Lord our God ♪ ♪ Then on the third at break of dawn ♪ ♪ The Son of heaven rose again ♪ ♪ O trampled death where is your sting ♪ ♪ The angels roar for Christ the King ♪ Thank you Lord. ♪ O praise the Name of the Lord our God ♪ ♪ O praise His Name forevermore ♪ ♪ For endless days we will sing Your praise ♪ ♪ Oh Lord oh Lord our God ♪ ♪ He shall return in robes of white ♪ ♪ The blazing Son shall pierce the night ♪ ♪ And I will rise among the saints ♪ ♪ My gaze transfixed on Jesus' face ♪ Can you just imagine what that day will be like. When all the pain and all the suffering and all the frustration, and all the pandemics, and everything else is over, and it's finished, it's done, and we're in glory, and we're worshiping Him for all of eternity. And here's the craziest part. After 10,000 years of doing that, guess what? We'll just be getting started. Can we just join and I think with the angels and sing this song together. Come on, sing it with us everybody. ♪ O praise the Name of the Lord our God ♪ ♪ O praise His Name forevermore ♪ ♪ For endless days we will sing Your praise ♪ ♪ Oh Lord oh Lord our God ♪ Oh sing it again. ♪ O praise the Name of the Lord our God ♪ ♪ O praise His Name forevermore ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ For endless days we will sing Your praise ♪ ♪ Oh Lord oh Lord our God ♪ ♪ O praise the Name of the Lord our God ♪ ♪ Praise His Name forever ♪ ♪ O praise His Name forevermore ♪ ♪ For endless days we will sing Your praise ♪ ♪ Oh Lord oh Lord our God ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ Oh Lord oh Lord our God ♪ Bless His holy name. (claps) Yes. ♪ Then sings my soul ♪ ♪ My Savior God to Thee ♪ ♪ How great Thou art ♪ ♪ How great Thou art ♪ Sing it with me. ♪ Then sings my soul ♪ ♪ My Savior God to Thee ♪ ♪ How great Thou art ♪ ♪ How great Thou art ♪ ♪ There's a different kind of peace ♪ ♪ In the middle ♪ ♪ Of the storm ♪ ♪ There's a different kind of strength ♪ ♪ When the weakness makes us strong ♪ ♪ There's a different kind of healing ♪ ♪ That cures the longing ♪ ♪ In our soul ♪ ♪ And it's a different ♪ ♪ Kind of hope ♪ ♪ More than we see ♪ ♪ It's who we know ♪ ♪ We will praise you in the center ♪ ♪ Praise you in the center of it all ♪ ♪ The center of it all ♪ ♪ Every valley every victory ♪ ♪ You are with us in the center of it all ♪ ♪ The center of it all ♪ ♪ There's a different kind of joy ♪ ♪ That won't be weathered ♪ ♪ By our loss ♪ ♪ It's a different ♪ ♪ Kind of love ♪ ♪ Where fear is shattered ♪ ♪ At the cross ♪ ♪ We will praise you in the center ♪ ♪ Praise you in the center of it all ♪ ♪ The center of it all ♪ ♪ Every valley every victory ♪ ♪ You are with us in the center of it all ♪ ♪ The center of it all ♪ ♪ We will praise you in the center ♪ ♪ Praise you in the center of it all ♪ ♪ The center of it all ♪ ♪ Every valley every victory ♪ ♪ You are with us in the center of it all ♪ ♪ The center of it all ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ Oh Lord I praise you in the center ♪ So no matter what comes your way, our job as His children is to do this. ♪ We're just gonna keep praisin' You ♪ ♪ We're just gonna keep praisin' You ♪ ♪ We're just gonna keep praisin' You ♪ ♪ Through it all ♪ ♪ We're just gonna keep praisin' You ♪ That's right. ♪ We're just gonna keep praisin' You ♪ ♪ We're just gonna keep praisin' You ♪ ♪ Through it all ♪ That's right now sing that with us. ♪ We're just gonna keep praisin' You ♪ No matter what comes our way, as His children we're gonna trust Him. We just gonna rely on Him, put our faith in Him, put all that we are in Him and just trust Him and keep raising Him and never stop. ♪ We're not gonna stop praisin' You ♪ ♪ We're not gonna stop praisin' You ♪ ♪ We're not gonna stop praisin' You ♪ ♪ Through it all ♪ ♪ We're not gonna stop praisin' You ♪ ♪ Oh never gonna stop praising You ♪ ♪ We're not gonna stop praisin' You ♪ ♪ For every mountain ♪ ♪ If we're busy ♪ ♪ I'm gonna praise You Lord ♪ ♪ Through it all ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ There's a different kind of battle ♪ ♪ When you know ♪ ♪ The war's already won ♪ Amen. ♪ Oh and it's a different ♪ ♪ Kind of power ♪ ♪ When by your death ♪ ♪ We've overcome ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ We will praise you in the center ♪ ♪ Praise you in the center of it all ♪ ♪ The center of it all ♪ ♪ Every valley ♪ ♪ Every valley every victory ♪ ♪ You are with us in the center of it all ♪ ♪ Thank you Lord You're with us ♪ ♪ The center of it all ♪ You're gonna wait us. ♪ You are the Savior. ♪ You're the center ♪ ♪ We will praise you in the center ♪ ♪ Oh thank you Lord ♪ ♪ Praise you in the center of it all ♪ ♪ Center of it all ♪ ♪ Every valley ♪ ♪ Every valley every victory ♪ ♪ You are with us in the center of it all ♪ ♪ The center of it all ♪ Sing it again, sing it again. ♪ We will praise you in the center ♪ ♪ Praise you in the center of it all ♪ ♪ The center of it all ♪ ♪ Through every valley every victory ♪ ♪ Every valley every victory ♪ ♪ You are with us in the center of it all ♪ ♪ The center of it all ♪ Will you sing that one more time. We'll praise you Lord. ♪ We will praise You in the center ♪ No matter what you're going through, you just trust the Lord. Turn your eyes on Him. Lean on Him. Don't trust your own understanding He's with you. Even in the valleys. ♪ Every valley every victory ♪ ♪ You are with us in the center of it all ♪ ♪ The center of it all ♪ ♪ Thank you Lord You are in the center ♪ ♪ Hmm ♪ You remember this old song, ♪ Through it all ♪ ♪ Through it all ♪ Even in the pandemic. ♪ I've learned to trust in Jesus ♪ ♪ I've learned to trust in God ♪ Yeah you got it. ♪ Through it all ♪ ♪ Through every battle ♪ ♪ Through it all ♪ ♪ I've learned to depend upon His Word ♪ Let's do that again everybody. Sing it with me. ♪ Through it all ♪ ♪ Yes You are ♪ ♪ Through it all ♪ ♪ I've learned to trust in Jesus ♪ ♪ I've learned to trust in God ♪ ♪ Through it all ♪ ♪ Yes You're with us every step ♪ ♪ Through it all ♪ ♪ I've learned to depend upon His Word ♪ Sing that last time once more. ♪ I've learned to depend upon His Word ♪ (inspirational music continues) In just a few moments from now, I'm going to wrap up a sermon, walk down this steps up this aisle, down the stairwell, and I'll walk out to my car and I'll drive home for lunch. And that trip will mark the beginning of our road back to being a regather church. I'm under no mistaken notions. It won't be a short road back, it'll be a long road back. And it won't be an easy road. It'll be a difficult road I'm sure, but at least it's a start. And a start it is. And there'll be people here one week from today. And as I think about all of the challenges we might face, my questions about this long road in front of us are not just questions that I have about my life and about our church, but these are the kinds of questions, that everyone is dealing with right now. Questions that families and businesses and organizations of all kinds. Government leaders and even churches like ours. Everyone is curious about, how long the road back will be, and what kinds of experiences we can expect to encounter. But I have to focus on God instead of my circumstances. And if I look at God, my questions is this, does God know everything that we're going to face? And I can tell you yes, He does. Will God show us every step that we are going to need to take? And I can tell you yes, He will. (chuckles) Here's another God question. Does God have the power to get us through it? And the answer to that is, you'd better believe it. And that's the title of the message. You'd Better Believe It. God has the power. And what I want you to do is open your Bibles with me to Ephesians 3. Ephesians 3 and we're just going to look at two verses, written by a man named the Apostle Paul, and these verses come on the heels of a beautiful prayer that he described, that he prayed, for the people to whom he was writing this letter. And at the conclusion of his description of how he prayed for them and lifted them up to God and gave thanks for them, this is what he closed with, in the last two verses of Ephesians 3. He says, "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, "to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus, "to all generations. "Forever and ever, Amen." I love these two verses of Scripture. They're called according to Bible scholars, passages like this are referred to as a doxology. It's an overflowing expression of praise, assigning glory to God the way Paul does. And this is probably one of the most well-known doxologies in the Bible. "To Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all "that we ask or think. "To Him, be glory in the church." And I want us to talk about these two verses, with just a few highlighted points for you to jot down. And I hope you're taking notes. I hope you take time to write down as God's Spirit speaks to you. Write in the margin of your Bible, write down on a piece of paper, write down in your notes app on your phone or your iPad. These truths are truths right out of this passage that need to be a part of the fabric of our faith. And the first point I want you to write down is a three word sentence, that is one of the most important sentences that you can commit to memory as a Christian. And it's simply this, God is able. God is able. And he refers to God that way in verse 20. Underline it. "To Him who is," underline the word, "able." "To Him who is able." God is able. And then he goes on to describe, "To do exceedingly "abundantly above," but we can just stop right there for a moment and camp out on those three words, God is able. When I consider all that God has done, beginning with the first verse of the Bible. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." I'm telling you, God is able. He spoke things into existence where there was nothing prior to that creative act on His part. God is able. Then we sinned and we fell into disobedience and we were separated from God. And then God overcame our sin and provided a Savior, that spanned the gulf through the shed blood on the cross to bring us back to God. God is able. That Savior laid in the tomb dead but on the third day, He was raised because God is able. And through all the miracles we read in the Bible, and all the things that you and I have witnessed God do when we thought there was no way and God made a way, it's because God is able. And if God can do all these things, God can do anything. He can turn your emptiness into fullness. He can turn your tragedy into triumph. He can turn your pain into praise. He can turn your mess into a message. Your testimony of how He got you out of the mess. He can turn setbacks into comebacks. He is the God who is able. And this is the faith reminder we need for every challenge, every obstacle, every need, every crisis that we go through, because what we're seeing is 2021 is like 2020.2. It seems to be as crazy as pain filled. As laden with confusion. And what we need to come back to is the truth that no matter if this year gets better or not, hey, I'm hanging my hat on the truth that God is able. God's power is not limited by man's activity. God's power is not confined or bound by what Satan is doing in our world today. God is able no matter what. And I'm always reminded when I think of those words God is able, of the passage that tells us when the angel was talking to Mary that she was going to have conceived in her, by the Holy Spirit, the Son of God who would be called Jesus. He went on to say, and in addition to this you need to know, that your cousin Elizabeth, has conceived a baby in her old age. And the angel commented on that part of the conception of Elizabeth her cousin, who would give birth to John the Baptist. This is what the angel said in Luke 1:37. "For with God, nothing will be impossible." Nothing will be impossible. And this is what should undergird our approach to God's throne in prayer, is that nothing is impossible for God. And why is nothing impossible? Because God is able. He goes on to tell us what He's able to do. He is able to do in verse 20, "exceedingly abundantly, "above all that we ask." Let's talk about that, because this power of God which is His ability, God is able by His power to exceed what we ask for. Write this down, His power exceeds our requests. His power is bigger than anything we even think to ask Him for, anything we actually do ask Him for. There are many times that we ask God for things and the problem is, that our requests are not big enough, aren't bold enough. We all know there are times when we have asked God for big things and for whatever reason, whether it was due to something He was doing in our lives by not answering that prayer the way we hoped or something that He had down the road, that He knew was going to be more perfectly aligned with His will. We all know God reserves the right not to answer prayer, but here's one of the things that I don't wanna be guilty of and I know I am. Probably weekly. And that is, praying to God based on my limited belief in what He's able to do. He says here, that God is able to do exceedingly abundantly. You know what? Just summarize that as being big time. God is able to do big time more, than I even think to ask Him about. Or to pray and ask Him to accomplish. So we need to approach God in prayer as this God who can do anything. And for whom nothing is impossible. One of my favorite passages in the Bible about God giving someone permission to pray as big and bold as He wanted to, was when God approached Solomon who was the new king over Israel. And you may remember, Solomon asked God for wisdom but I love the setup question. Is found in 2 Chronicles 1:7 where it says, "That night God appeared to Solomon" and this is what God said to Solomon. "What do you want? "Ask, and I will give it to you!" Look at that. Let's read it again. "What do you want?" This is the Lord saying it. "What do you want? "Ask, and I will give it to you!" And you know I believe that God tells us the same thing. Ask Him what you want. He's big enough to say no, He's big enough to filter it out and say, well, that's an impure motive. But God gives us the freedom to make big and bold requests of Him. And this makes prayer an exciting adventure, because you think about what are the things that I've never asked Him for. I wanna go for it now in prayer. I wanna say Father I'm being bold before your throne which you told me I could do. Father, I'm coming before you with these requests that I've never made before. But you've told me in your Word that you're able to do exceedingly abundantly even beyond what I have ever asked for. So I'm going to ask for more. I'm going to ask big. So He says He's able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or then underline in verse 20, the word think. Think. Which tells me that God's power not only exceeds our requests, God's power exceeds our imagination. It exceeds our imagination more than we think. We can't begin to fathom God's greatness. And the truth is, there are things that we just not thought about praying because it's not even being a part of our imagination, that God would do something like that. That's what He says. His power is big time, more than we've ever imagined it being. There's a verse in the Bible that talks about "Eye has not seen, an ear has not heard, "nor has it entered into the heart of man "the things which God has prepared, "for those who love Him." You know that verse is talking about heaven. But I believe the same is true about the power of God, which we could apply to verse 20 of Ephesians 3. That eyes have never seen an ears have never heard, nor has it ever even entered into the imagination of a man or woman or boy or girl, what God's power is capable of doing. Our finite understanding cannot even comprehend His infinite power. It defies our ability even to imagine what God can do when He chooses to do it. And if this verse should do anything, it should inspire us to pray with this idea of, oh God, I am talking to you. The Almighty One, the Omnipotent One, the One who is Omnipresent, the One who is Omniscient, the One who knows everything. The One who is the infinite personal God. Who created the infinity of the universe, and all of the luminaries in the heavens, every single star being its own planet of a sort. And God made all of this out of nothing. And that's just scratching the surface on what He's able to do. I'm telling you what Paul is writing here, exceedingly, abundantly above all that we have ever even thought He was capable of doing. We can't even imagine how much God is capable of. We've never seen what He's capable of. And there are many times when I'm praying to God, this is the truth so help me. There are many times when I'm praying to God, and I know that I'm limited and I can't even imagine what He's capable of doing. And I'll say God if there is something that I have not thought to mention or to trust you for, something I don't have the good sense to ask you for, because my faith is weak or because I have simply put you in a box, I will say God, please do what only you can do. Even if I've not asked you for it oh, God please do not let your movement in my life, be limited by my ignorance and limited thinking about your greatness. The great anointed speaker daughter of Pastor Tony Evans at Oakland Bible Fellowship, and now of world-renowned on her own Priscilla Shirer. We've done some of her studies here at the church. She wrote a book that really based on this verse, God is able. And this is one of the prayers in Priscilla's book. "Lord, please do this...or do something better!" Look at that. I mean is that powerful or what. Lord, please do this. Please do what I'm asking you to do. But if what I'm asking you for is too small, if what I'm asking you for is boxing you in, if my requests are too small for your greatness, then God I'm trusting you to do something better than what my imagination has limited me to ask. God is able. And in this verse he says, "He's able to do exceedingly, "abundantly above all that we ask, above all that we think," and notice the next expression says, "according to the power that works in us." So all of this power that we're talking about which is the ability of God, which we can't even fathom or comprehend, write this down. His power is at work in us. It's not just above us, or around us, or behind us, it is at work in us. How is this indescribably awesome power at work in us? It's at work in us through the Holy Spirit. Because if you're a Christian you have the Holy Spirit. You've been baptized with the Holy Spirit. You've been indwelt by the Holy Spirit. You're empowered by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the gift of Jesus, to those who trust in Jesus. He promised in Acts 1:8, "But you will receive power, "when the Holy Spirit comes upon you." The Holy Spirit is God's power. So I want you to listen to me today. If you are a follower of Jesus, you've believed in Jesus, you're saved, you need to make this confession. I have the power of God within me. Say it with me. I have the power of God within me. I am strengthened by the power of God. I'm going to keep going by the power of God. I am upheld by the power of God. I'm protected by the power of God. I am provided for by the power of God. I am sustained by the power of God because the power of God is at work in me. And this is the kind of Sunday when I'm feeling something happening in my spirit in my heart, where I just wanna start shouting, but this room is empty and there's nobody here to shout back at me, but there will be one week from today. Hallelujah Thine the glory. Here's something else I want you to write down. We look in verse 21 it says "To Him be glory in the church." Write this down. God will be glorified! He'll be glorified. And you know something, we're to give Him glory. And the Bible even commands, "Let all the earth fear the Lord and give Him glory." But whether or not we glorify Him as we should, and we know that unbelievers do not glorify Him as they should, you mark this down. He will be glorified. He says "To Him be glory. "Glory in the church by Christ Jesus "to all generations forever and ever." Just underline that word glory. To Him be the glory. To Him be all the glory. To Him alone be the glory, because He won't share His glory with no one. Here's what I wanna do. I wanna take verse 21 which we just saw written as a Bible verse will be written, but I want to without altering one word, break it down into bullet points. Look at it on the screen. "To Him be glory." And this is what Paul goes on to say, "glory," where? "In the Church." Glory through whom? "Through Christ Jesus." Glory how long? "To all generations and then forever and ever, and ever." And I want us to break each one of those down to "Him be glory in the church." First of all, the church exists to glorify God. We know that our mission is to share the Gospel around the world with every nation and tribe and tongue Jesus made that clear. "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations." He's told us what we should be doing. But that is our task. Our purpose is to glorify God in all that we do. This is why when churches gather, churches worship. This is why we have music. This is why we have preaching. It is not so people can perform, it is not so I can just study, and put some notes together and get up here and spout off a bunch of knowledge, and more information just to fill your head with more facts. We have worship services. We have music. We have an orchestra, we have a choir. We have a band. We have praise teams singers. We have sermons that are preached. All of this is because God is to be glorified in His church. That's what it says in verse 21. "To Him be glory in the church." And let me tell you, when a church ceases to glorify God, that church might as well hang up, hang up. It's business. It's done. You're glorifying anybody but God, you're not a church anymore. The church exists to glorify God. Not only that, but by Christ Jesus. To Him be glory in the church, To Him be glory by or through Christ Jesus. And the reason that we glorify God through Jesus is because we would not know God, unless we came through Jesus. Jesus Himself said, "I am the way the truth and the life, "and no one gets to the Father, God, except through Me." So he says to Him be glory in His redeemed blood-bought church, we worship Him and glorify Him as the body of Christ. But to Him be glory. To the Father be glory through Jesus Christ, because the cross of Jesus Christ gives us access to the Father. So when we glorify God, you hear us talk about Jesus. We sing about Jesus. We pray in Jesus name. I preach about the Lord Jesus Christ because to Him, be glory in the church, through Christ Jesus. But I love that next expression. He says, "To all generations." One of the realities that becomes more vivid the older you get is that, you're not gonna be here on this earth forever. I attended a service yesterday, for someone whom we love here and will greatly miss from our staff but only three years older than I am. And the speakers at the service did a fantastic job reminding all of us, including me I was listening, that life is short, and we're not guaranteed another day. But when you realize that God's kingdom goes on beyond our lifetime, think about all the believers who've died before we came along. And think about the people whom you love, who worshiped God and who knew the Lord Jesus who've passed away. And when you look in verse 21 it says, "To Him "be glory in the church, through Christ Jesus." But did you see the next three words "To all generations." It places upon us this responsibility we have, to continually be passing the torch of worship to future generations. This is why here in our church we value, the opportunities we have to invest in children. We are getting ready to open our preschool ministry, and our kids ministry, and our student ministry, and our special needs ministry on February the 21st. And here's what I love about the team that we have. The directors and the pastors who are over these ministries to children. Their heartbeat is not just to draw a paycheck and work at a church. Their heartbeat is to instill in future generations, the generations who are coming along after us, to instill a heart for God in future generations. Why? Because this verse says, "to God be glory "in His church, through Christ Jesus, to all generations." To all who are coming up after us. And our church is going to make a shift of our resources, of our energy in the days to come, to say we're glad to have a lot of older people here. A lot of middle-aged people here. They the bills, keep the church running and bring glory to God in the church. Thank God for the makeup of our church but we have got to take ever more seriously, the challenge of calling the future generations to the cross. Of instilling in young people the heart to worship. And of raising the flag on the flag pole of our church to say, we are a church for young people as well. We are the children's church of Atlanta. We are the student church of Atlanta, because God desires to be glorified. Underline it in verse 21, "To all generations." One generation doesn't capture the torch and say, we are the worshipers. We are the ones who glorify God. These young people they're being brainwashed indoctrinated. As someone said to me that these millenniums, these millenniums, they're millennials with an A-L-S on the end, not millenniums. These millenniums, oh listen, we got to stop thinking about all of the generational divides and us versus them, and we've gotta realize God's will, is that He wants to be glorified through all upcoming generations. We've gotta be a torch passing church, engaging the next generations. I'm excited about it can you tell. And then how long will we glorify God? Let me tell you something. It'll be long, long, after this world exists. He says here "Forever and ever and ever." How long will we glorify God? We're gonna glorify Him down here as long as we have life and breath and strength. But when we check out of here, (laughs) we're gonna glorify Him forever and ever, and ever, and ever. And listen to me, they're not gonna be two services in heaven and three services in heaven, and this service at this time and a service at that time. God's throne in heaven is going to be surrounded by every redeemed child of God, whether it is those from Israel who were justified by faith, or those who lived since the cross of Christ, who have been justified by faith, all the saved will be around the throne giving God glory forever. No clock ticking. No one wondering if they're gonna get out of the parking lot before someone else. Nobody leaving that service early because they have somewhere to go. Oh, no, no, no, no. We will glorify Him forever and ever, and ever and ever and ever. And as I face the future, I still have a lot of questions. As you face the future, I know you've got a lot of questions. Most people do, but does God have the power that we need to get through our uncertain future? You better believe He does. Father we praise You today, for Your limitless power. We thank You for this reminder from Paul in Ephesians, that You are able, You are able, Holy God, loving Father, Almighty One, You are able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we ask or think. May the trues of these two power packed verses, fuel our prayer life this week, and in the days to come. God we trust You because we know You are able. And I pray that You will rivet these words to every heart in life who has listened today, in Jesus name. In Jesus name, Amen. Amen.
