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00:00All of us can look back in our lives and see where there are times and places where we failed
00:04and wish we could have done better. And then we have to decide how we're going to respond
00:09to those times when we realize that there have been failures. And sometimes we respond by being
00:15anxious and very regretful about things that have happened. Sometimes we just feel real guilty. We
00:22look back and see maybe we could have corrected this or that. Sometimes people just want to blame
00:27someone else. They look around to find someone else to put the blame on. And then there are those
00:32people who just like to have a pity party and talk about how terrible they've been. And then of course
00:36there are those folks who stop and say, well, what caused this? What happened in my life? Why did I
00:41fail in this particular area? And then there are those people who don't stop there. And so they
00:45ask the question, what can I do to keep this failure from happening again? Or how can I correct this?
00:52success. And those of us who are believers have a great advantage in life because we have someone
00:59to help us. This does not mean that the believer is going to always be successful in every single
01:04thing we do, but it does mean that our opportunities for success and whatever God calls us to do,
01:10certainly we have an advantage. And when we talk about succeeding, we're not talking about the world's
01:14idea of success, which is more prosperity, more prominence, more position, more power, what else?
01:19But what is success in the eyes of God? In the eyes of God, here's what success is. It is
01:25discovering and pursuing the will of God for your life in the power of the Holy Spirit. And that's
01:32what God intends for every single one of us. And oftentimes there are those who do understand the
01:38will of God for their life. They have been saved. And yet they say, in spite of all that, it
01:42looks like
01:43my life is just one continuous failure after the other. I'm up today and down tomorrow. I don't understand
01:48why I can't just be successful in living my life, living the Christian life. Well, you and I could
01:54probably think of a lot of reasons we fail, but there's one primary reason I believe above all
01:59the rest. And that's what I want to talk about in this message, the power within us. And I want
02:04you
02:04to turn, if you will, to Ephesians chapter three. And I want us to read beginning in the 14th verse
02:10through this 21st verses, which is really Paul's prayer. And I want you to turn there, if you will,
02:16because there are two primary verses that I want to deal with here. And this is one of those passages
02:20that Paul said so very, very much in such a very, very short length of space here. It'd be impossible
02:28to handle all this in one message. But there are two primary verses because we're talking about
02:33the power within us. Ephesians chapter three, beginning in verse 14. He says,
02:40for this reason, I bow my knees before the father from whom every family in heaven and on earth
02:48derives its name. And he says, this is what I'm praying for. I'm praying that he that is God would
02:54grant you according to the riches of his glory, which is unlimited, that we might be strengthened
03:00with power through his spirit in the inner man so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith
03:08and that you being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is
03:14the breadth and the length and the height and the depth and to know the love of Christ, which surpasses
03:20knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to
03:28do exceeding
03:28abundantly beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works within us,
03:34to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.
03:41Now I want you to look at two of these verses because they relate to what we want to talk
03:45about.
03:45He begins his prayer by praying that they, the Ephesians and us in verse 16, that we might be
03:52granted according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power through his spirit in the
03:59inner man. And then verse 20, he talks about that God is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all
04:06that we ask or think. How? According to the power, he says, within us. Now the source of this power
04:14is
04:15not some innate source or some innate power of which you and I were born. That is, we were not
04:20born with
04:21the power that the apostle Paul is talking about here in Ephesians chapter 3. Now there is within every
04:27person who's born some innate capabilities and strengths as well as weaknesses. But we're talking
04:33about not something that is inherent within us because we are born humans, but we are talking
04:39about a power that is beyond and above that. It is a supernatural strength. It is a divine strength.
04:46It is a supernatural power. It goes beyond what man is born with. It goes beyond what is inherent
04:52within our nature. Now people are born with different personalities. Some people are stronger in their
04:56personalities than others. Some people are stronger in their bodies. They're stronger in their emotional
05:00makeup. They can endure hardship and trouble and trial and persecution and criticism more than other
05:06people. Somebody else would just fall apart and tumble. Someone else would just keep moving along.
05:11Some people have a very difficult time making decisions in their life. And some people physically
05:15are just not as strong as others. So we're not talking about those inherent strengths. We're talking about
05:21that which is given, that which we possess that is above and beyond all that. And it is the power
05:28of the
05:29Holy Spirit. Somebody says, well, does everyone have this power? And the truth is absolutely not.
05:37It is not the possession of everyone. It is a possession that is given and it is given to an
05:45exclusive
05:46group of people. You say, well, is God partial? Well, you might accuse him of being partial if you want
05:51to. But what I want us to see here is this. This is not a power that we work up.
05:55It isn't a power that
05:57comes on you because you've been a Christian a long time. It isn't a power that is the accumulation of
06:03years and years and years of being obedient to God. It is not any of that. Nor is it a
06:09power that you get by some
06:12spiritual experience or some particular gift of the Holy Spirit. This is the gift of God to every
06:20single believer. So when you and I come to this passage and we understand what Paul is saying here,
06:27he's talking about the Holy Spirit that God has given us. If you go back to Luke chapter 11 for
06:32a
06:32moment, and you'll recall in the 11th chapter of Luke is Luke's account of what Jesus said in the
06:40Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 7, when he's talking about prayer, he says, asking it
06:44should be given you, seeking you shall find, knocking it should be open to you. And then he
06:49comes to conclude that by saying, you know, if your son asked for a piece of bread, would you give
06:54him
06:54a stone? Certainly not. If he asked for a piece of fish, would you give him a serpent? Certainly not.
06:59Then he compares us with the father. And so this is how he concludes. He says in verse 13,
07:05if you then being evil, that is we who have sinned against God, if you know how to give good
07:10gifts to
07:11your children, and we do, how much more should your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those
07:17who ask him so that the Holy Spirit is a gift. So with the Holy Spirit comes the power of
07:23the Spirit.
07:24The Spirit of God is a gift. It isn't something that we get. That is, you don't have to pray.
07:30Now,
07:30God, I want to get the Holy Spirit. When Jesus spoke in these days, this was before the Holy
07:35Spirit came at Pentecost, which baptized the whole body of Christ into the Spirit. And so that now
07:41when you and I trust the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Savior, we are given the gift of the
07:47Holy
07:48Spirit. That is a gift of God, as we said to a very exclusive group. And who are they? They
07:53are those
07:53who are the children of God. You say, well, is God being partial? No, he's not being partial. God's being
07:59wise. Because I want you to look at what he said. Paul is speaking here of the fact
08:04of this power. He's talking about this power that works within us. And what is this power that works
08:11within us? This power that works within us is supernatural power, divine power. So ask yourself
08:16this question. Would God give supernatural divine power enablement, an enablement to make wise decisions
08:24in difficult times, supernatural energy for the physical body. And that is to be able to
08:29to quicken the emotions that we are able to love when things are very difficult. And we are able to
08:35have peace when everything around us is falling apart. And we can be kind when people are persecuting
08:40us. That is, why would God give supernatural power to those who are not his children? Well, he doesn't.
08:47And here's the reason he doesn't. For example, a person who is unsaved has a body and, of course,
08:54a soul, mind, will, and emotion. They also have a spirit that is dead to the things of God.
09:00And that's why when Paul talks in Ephesians chapter 2 about we were in times past dead and
09:05trespasses in sins, what was dead? We certainly have a physical body, a mind, will, and emotion.
09:10What's dead? Our spirit is dead. So that when a person receives Jesus Christ as their Savior,
09:15the Holy Spirit comes into their spirit, makes it alive. That's what the new birth is all about.
09:21The new birth is about the dead spirit, dead to the things of God, becomes alive by the presence
09:27of the Holy Spirit. And then from that moment on, the Spirit of God begins to do what? Exercise his
09:34guiding, guarding, governing power in the life of that believer. How? From the innermost man of the
09:40spirit to the soul, mind, will, and emotion to the outer body. And so that you and I relate to
09:46God
09:47by our spirit. We don't relate to God physically because he's a spirit and we're a spirit.
09:51So we don't relate to God physically. We can't touch him. He's not rubbing us on the shoulder.
09:56And so we relate to him in our spirit. Now, our relationship to him when through the spirit
10:03is going to affect everything else in our life, when the spirit of God is in control and guiding
10:09and governing your life in your soulishness, that is, in your mind, your will and in your emotion,
10:15these are all under his control. And so what does he do? He's releasing his power to what? To make
10:21it
10:21possible for us to think wisely, to illumine our minds, to quicken our emotions, to energize our body
10:29and to enable our will so that these things that you and I, the way we function in life,
10:35physically, spiritually, emotionally, mentally, the way we function in life, the spirit of God living
10:41on the inside of us, his responsibility is what? His responsibility is to exercise that power in and
10:48through us so that you and I can be the persons God wants us to be. And so every single
10:53believer
10:54possesses the Holy Spirit. Now, there are lots of people who think that you get the spirit under
11:00certain circumstances, but no, because the Bible says that when you and I received him, the Lord
11:06Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit sealed you and me unto the day of redemption. Now, how did he seal us?
11:13Not on their hands or your feet or any other part of your body, nothing stamped of your heart.
11:16Right. And so we're talking about the seal of the spirit is the very presence of the Holy Spirit
11:23himself. That's what makes you a believer. Now, the tragedy is this. The tragedy is that most people
11:30who go to church will go to church for years and years and years, and some of them will not
11:34never be
11:34saved because nobody teaches them. Secondly, many people will go to church and at some point in their
11:39life, they'll receive Jesus as their savior. Nobody instructs them about the Holy Spirit. Nobody says to
11:46them, you can't live the Christian life apart from the Holy Spirit. Nobody says to them, you have
11:51the power of God on the inside of you. No one says to them, now that you've trusted Jesus as
11:56your savior,
11:57the spirit of God will give you guidance and direction and empower you and strengthen you and
12:01help you all through your life and the decisions you make. So they go through life struggling. And
12:06that's what brings us to what I want to talk about here in this whole message. And that is we
12:10fail over
12:10and over and over again. Wonder why we fail. We say, God, now I do believe you. I do trust
12:15you.
12:15Lord, I know you're there. I know you answer prayer, but God, why do I keep failing? Why do I
12:21keep
12:21giving into the same old thing over and over again? Why do I keep making the wrong decision? Why can't
12:25I get my emotions under control? Because we are not exercising and not calling upon, not relying upon,
12:35not drawing from this, listen, this inexhaustible well of supernatural power that is within us available
12:41at every moment to meet every single need of our life. That's the ultimate primary reason. It isn't
12:48because we can't, because the power within us will make it possible. It is because either we don't know
12:55any better or oftentimes we just choose not to do that. And so when you think about the whole idea,
13:02you and I possess this awesome power within us. Now the question is, why didn't he just save us and
13:07let
13:07us do our own thing? Well, there's a very specific reason he did. You know why? Because he knew we'd
13:12never make it. How many times have we failed as believers just living the Christian life? All of
13:19us have failed. And the tragedy is we'll fail again and again and again, not because we have to, but
13:25because we're just natural and normal. Now watch this. The reason that God sent the Holy Spirit is
13:31because all of us still have within us who are believers a lot of naturalness. Now what I mean by
13:38that is
13:38this. Before you were saved, it was your nature to be disobedient to God. Because you see, here's what
13:44happened. In the garden, when Adam and Eve sinned against God, what happened? Before, they were absolutely
13:49perfectly united with the Father. And being united with Him, this supernatural power that was in the Father
13:55was in Adam. Does this mean they were equal? No, I didn't say that. But I'm saying that Adam had
14:00this
14:01supernatural uninhibited power within Him. What happened when he sinned? When he sinned, there was
14:06a disconnection between man and God. When that disconnection happened, what happened? The power
14:13line was severed. Sin severed the power line so that now Adam and all who've been born after him
14:20live. Listen, we are born in what we call the flesh, which is our naturalness, our five senses. We do
14:27what
14:27we want to do, what we feel like doing, what gratifies what we call the flesh, what gratifies
14:33and satisfies the natural part of man, which is man without God. And so we look around us and see
14:39people living in all kinds of sin. What are they doing? If there are people who are unsaved, they're
14:44just doing what comes naturally. In the fallen nature, disconnected from God, power line severed,
14:51what does man have? The only thing he has is his five senses. The only thing he has is he
14:56wants to
14:56gratify himself and satisfy himself and protect himself and meet his needs. And this is why pride
15:01and arrogance and greed and covetousness and selfishness and these things dominate our society.
15:07Man's just doing what comes natural. Now, once you become a child of God, that naturalness is set
15:14aside. At any moment you and I choose, we can begin to act like we used to act. Why? You
15:21say, well, didn't
15:22you get a brand new nature when you were saved? Yes. Does that mean that everything else got eradicated?
15:26I wish you'd had. I wish you and I could live absolutely and never sin, don't you? But listen,
15:31there's enough something left over now. You can call it anything you want to, but it is the naturalness
15:37of our pre-saved life before salvation that is still here. And we have the capacity to act just like
15:45the world acts because that naturalness is still there. But now we have the power of the Holy Spirit.
15:52And the reason he sent him is because God knew that you and I living in this sinful world with
15:58naturalness still there is what the Bible calls the flesh still there that we could never live the
16:05Christian life. We could never become what God wants us to be, nor could we ever achieve and accomplish
16:09what God wants us to achieve and accomplish. And so when we think in terms of accomplishment and
16:15achievement, as we say, you know, we're talking about success in the eyes of the world is prominence,
16:20prestige, and power and promotion in the eyes of God. It is discovering and pursuing the will of God
16:27and the power of the Holy Spirit. It doesn't mean that you'll always gain this success or that success
16:31in the eyes of the world, but success in the eyes of God, what really counts is that we discover
16:37the
16:37will of the Father. And we walk in the will of the Father by the presence of the power of
16:40the Holy
16:41Spirit in our life. And so when we talk about the purpose, the purpose is twofold, to enable us to
16:47become the persons that God wants us to be, enable us to do the things that God wants us to
16:52do.
16:53And so we look at our life and some people get along pretty well, it seems, without God,
16:58but they're not really getting along. They don't know what they're missing. You see,
17:01if you've never had a good taste of something that's really delicious, you don't know what you're
17:04missing till you have it. And so people who think they're getting along rather well, they really
17:09aren't. Because deep down inside, the peace isn't there, the joy is not there. And they're always
17:14striving and looking and searching and seeking and trying to fill it up with something else,
17:18when the only thing that can fill up your heart and satisfy you is the person of Jesus Christ.
17:23So the reason, the purpose for this awesome power that exists within us is because we are inadequate.
17:31And you see, one of the things that happens to people who are believers, they get hurt back
17:35young in their childhood or in school, or they get in a situation, they get emotionally damaged.
17:41And so they grow up feeling like they are nothing, worth nothing, can't accomplish, can't achieve,
17:46not gifted, not talented. And you'll hear people say, well, you know, I guess I was under the steps
17:50when God gave out the gifts or something like that. Well, God didn't put anybody under the steps to
17:54give out anything because you see, all of us are worthy in the eyes of God as far as being
17:59persons.
17:59He loves everybody. Now, the question is, the issue is, you know, how do we operate on the basis of
18:07that?
18:07And so if we feel like we can and it won't work, then what do we do? We, listen to
18:12this, we will
18:13always act out according to the way we see ourselves. That's just life. You're not going to change that.
18:22That is a principle. The way you and I see ourselves is the way we're going to act out life,
18:27the way we're going to live out our life. If you think you are nothing and you can't and you
18:30don't
18:31count, then you're going to keep backing off of relationships in life and backing off of
18:35opportunities. If you know by the power of the Holy Spirit, I don't mean prideful and egotistical
18:40now, but, but you know in the power of the Holy Spirit that God, even amidst your weaknesses and
18:44your frailties, that he will equip you and enable you to become and to do the things that God wants
18:49you
18:49to, then you're going to move forward in life. And there are a lot of godly people,
18:53a lot of precious people who are missing the best of life because they've never learned
18:58to tap into this awesome resource of the power of the Spirit of God who indwells them and resides
19:04within them.
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