Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Amen. Thank you.
[00:00:04] All right, so Ephesians 3, 2 verses tonight. That doesn't say that the sermon will be short, but it is two verses, verses 20 and 21 of chapter three.
[00:00:18] Now, as you find your way there, I want to share with you guys a little catechism that I share with my children.
[00:00:30] Honestly, we've been, it's like 120 questions in the catechism, which is, you know, sort of a question answer way of instructing. We've probably been stuck on the 15 questions for the last few years, but we're homeschooling this year, so we're, you know, gonna push through and learn more of that. But these first few questions are just, I love them for how foundational they are and for teaching my little ones just who they are and what they're here for. And so I'm going to teach them to you as well tonight. So let's give us some questions here.
[00:01:04] Alright, so first question, guys. You guys know the drill. Words in white, words in green. Got it. Okay, so who made you?
[00:01:13] Again, who made you?
[00:01:16] Alright, next question. What else did God make?
[00:01:22] I'm not getting participation from everyone.
[00:01:24] What else did God make?
[00:01:28] Great.
[00:01:29] Next question. Why did God make you in all things?
[00:01:34] Amen. All right, and then it gets into, how do we glorify God? Next question. How can you glorify God?
[00:01:44] Good job. One more question. Why ought you to glorify God?
[00:01:51] Okay, great. So let's go back to question three. This is where we're going to focus at tonight.
[00:01:58] Why did God make you in all things for his own glory. Now let's talk about what does that mean? What does it mean the glory of God and that we were made to glorify God.
[00:02:13] Two things here I want to share.
[00:02:16] One, when we speak of God's glory, we have to first of all understand that it's something that is intrinsic to his nature.
[00:02:23] It's just part of who he is. So we speak of the glory of God as part of who he is, or the intrinsic nature. But then we speak of what's our participation in bringing glory to God.
[00:02:36] But first of all, what is the glory of God? And I've given you a couple definitions from John Piper here. He just lays it out very well, I think. But he says the glory of God is the holiness of God put on display.
[00:02:50] That is, it is the infinite worth of God made manifest.
[00:02:56] You see Here in Isaiah 6, 3, he highlights how Isaiah beholding this vision of the Lord in the temple, he cries, holy, holy, holy. Is The Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory. And so in beholding the holiness of God, that is his glory, Piper says elsewhere that his glory is the shining forth of his holiness, the making known of his holiness.
[00:03:25] Him being holy means that he is not common. He is completely set apart. He is. He is high and above. He is. He is unique. He is better in every way. He is creator, we are creation. He is Savior. We are the ones, we are sinners needing to be saved. We could go on and on there, you know, but he is. He is holy, he is unique, he is special. He is set apart. And that shining forth, making that holiness known is his glory. The shining forth of his holiness.
[00:03:58] So then, what does it mean for us to glorify God? To, you know, if. Question three in the catechism, if we were made for the glory of God, what does it mean for us to bring glory to God? Another definition from Piper. He says glorifying means feeling and thinking and acting in ways that reflect his greatness, that make much of God, that give evidence of the supreme greatness of all his attributes and the all satisfying beauty of his manifold perfections. So feeling, thinking, acting in ways that reflect his greatness. He is great, but we are making that known. We are reflecting that. We are making much of Him. We are giving evidence to his greatness. In one word, if I can give you one word to remember, what does it mean to glorify God? It is magnify.
[00:04:52] You know, Psalm 34:3 says, come, oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together. And again, if I can, at the risk of relying too much on John Piper, I love the way he explains this, that it's not magnifying in terms of the way you do with a microscope, where you got something teeny tiny and you're blowing it up to make it look bigger.
[00:05:16] Now, that's what we do with ourselves.
[00:05:19] We exalt ourselves. We puff ourselves up and we take, you know, we who are small in the grand scheme of things, we exalt ourselves.
[00:05:28] It's the exact opposite with God. It's not like a microscope, but like a telescope, where you have this great celestial being in the heavens and you're bringing that huge planet or star or whatever into your view.
[00:05:44] You're magnifying it to see it for all its grandeur and greatness of what it really is. And so that's what we. That's the simplest way I can explain bringing glory to God.
[00:05:56] And so to hear that this is your purpose is to magnify God, to glorify God, to show how great he is.
[00:06:07] How does that sit with you?
[00:06:10] I'll be honest and say that when I started reading works that just made that plain to me in my early 20s, that I was created to glorify God, it rocked my world.
[00:06:24] I did not like it, honestly. I think I was being confronted in my soul and my spirit. And I loved the ways that God made much of me, that he forgave me, that he promised me his unconditional love, that he gave me eternal life. I loved those aspects of God. But when it came to recognize that I am to live, to show how great he is, honestly, I think I could identify with the jealousy of Satan in that moment, if I can be quite honest, just the envy of.
[00:07:00] I wanted to be exalted and be made much of. And you're calling me to make much of you, but what a foolish response, right? Who am I to want to be the center, to want to be made much of?
[00:07:13] And who is He? He is the One who is rightfully made much of. You know, again, the telescope bringing him into view to see him as he really is.
[00:07:23] God again is not like us. He is holy. He is completely worthy of glory, completely worthy of exaltation and praise.
[00:07:33] He deserves this and it's just right and good. And if I can give you more children's lessons, here we have an image from one of my kids books. Here you see the sun here at the center of the solar system. That's the way it is to be with us and God, that God is the center. He is the glorious One, the One shining forth. And we are created to orbit around Him. And that is shalom, that is things being set right and things being as they should be, is orbiting around God. And so that's what we were created for, is to know God's glory and to glorify Him. And that's where everything is headed, you know, when we try to make much of ourselves and try to be the center.
[00:08:19] The next page of this book just talks about cataclysm. You know, just planets crashing into each other. It's not meant to be that way. But it's really God's goodness that he would create us to know his goodness, that he would create us to know his glory and to behold Him. That is love on his part. And so as we get into Ephesians 3:20, you'll see where I'm going with this. We are created for the glory of God and we are called to bring him glory. And so Ephesians 3:20, just a doxology, as he closes out this prayer, he has just been, I mean, just unfolding every spiritual blessing that we've been given in Christ and praying that we would grasp that he's unfolded how God has done this. You know, he's unveiled this mystery of reconciling Jew and Gentile together, and he's given Paul this work and he's just been praying here in this last passage that we would be strengthened to know this, that we could know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, which is he's saying, it's a miraculous thing that you would know that, and it's a miraculous thing that you would be filled with all the fullness of God.
[00:09:31] Verse 20 of Ephesians 3.
[00:09:34] Now, to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Let's pray.
[00:09:56] God, you who raised the dead, you who parted the Red Sea, you, Lord, who gives us the Holy Spirit to endure through every trial and temptation, you who is preparing a glorious home for us where we will behold your glory with completely unveiled faces, with hearts that can handle the grandeur of your glory.
[00:10:24] God, you are able to help me tonight to communicate. You're able to help these hearts to understand.
[00:10:33] God, indeed help us to worship you according to your due tonight. God, I just confess my need, but I thank you for your strength and I pray in Jesus name, Amen.
[00:10:44] Okay, so glory to God for several reasons. And he's going to give several reasons. Glory to God. And then we're going to give two locations for where that glory is and then two time markers for where that glory, you know, when is that glory to be?
[00:11:02] And then we'll conclude. So first of all, glory to God who hears and answers our prayers.
[00:11:10] Glory to God who hears and answers our prayers.
[00:11:16] There's two other locations in Paul where he concludes there's several doxologies. The doxology is just. It literally means speaking glory, speaking praise.
[00:11:28] He's been praying this great prayer and then he closes with a word of praise.
[00:11:35] But there's two other locations where he closes the doxology in this way where he says now to him.
[00:11:42] And it's interesting to notice the common themes. And I think I have them up on the screen here for you.
[00:11:47] The now to hymns. Do you have that? Okay, so the first one is Romans 16 he says now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my Gospel, in the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages, but now has been disclosed through the prophetic writings, has been made known to all nations according to the command of the eternal God to bring about the obedience of faith to the only wise God, be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ. He's saying, glory to him who is able to strengthen you, who is able to bring about the obedience of faith. He's able to help us to live for him and to cross the finish line into glory.
[00:12:34] And he gives several reasons, several ways in which he strengthens us. But then notice some common themes as well. In Jude, the last two verses of Jude, he says, now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority before all time and now and forevermore. And I said this was Paul, but this is Jude, of course. But again you see this common theme of being able to keep us from stumbling and falling away from Jesus. He's able to preserve us, to present us blameless before his presence with great joy.
[00:13:21] And for that reason to him belongs glory and majesty and dominion and authority.
[00:13:26] I went here, but I don't need to stay here. So let's go back to Ephesians 3.
[00:13:31] But the first thing is just notice that the now to him he's been praying this great and awesome prayer that we could be filled with the fullness of God, that we could know God in our inner being and be strengthened to know this great love that surpasses height. There's no height, length, depth and width to it. It's just this amazing love. I'm praying that you would know this.
[00:13:58] And then he says, now to Him.
[00:14:01] Now to Him. Glory to Him. You know, now to him he's saying he's the one who's going to answer this prayer. He's the one who is able to do this. And I remember, you know, Tim, several years ago you taught this passage and you gave me an analogy that stuck with me as a basketball player. It's like he's praying this great player and then trespass to him.
[00:14:23] Pass it on to him. Pass it on to Jesus, who is able to fulfill this, the Father who is able to fulfill this psalm. Give us that psalm there. Psalm 34:5. Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be Ashamed. We look to him to answer this great prayer. We look to him to finish the game.
[00:14:46] You know, if I was playing basketball with any one of you here, I would choose John Lock Bomb to take the winning shot. And so. And you probably would foul him. But if it's. If the game's on the line, John, you think I could do it? Kendall Marshall, chest pass on a line all the way over to you.
[00:15:04] Yeah, I had to get the Carolina reference in there. Kenny Smith, Raymond Felton, one of those.
[00:15:10] Yeah. It's now to him. Who do you want finishing the play?
[00:15:16] Whose hands do you want the ball in?
[00:15:19] Now to him, now to the Lord, now to the one who is able.
[00:15:25] So glory to him who hears and answers our prayers. He's the one that we look to. And those who look to him are radiant. And you will not be ashamed, you will not be disappointed in looking to the Lord.
[00:15:40] Glory to God as well.
[00:15:43] Who can do far more, exceedingly, abundantly, above and quite beyond all measure of what we could ask or even dream.
[00:15:52] If you were to look at the Greek or look at the English of those who tell you about the Greek. Here he uses. One thing that Paul often does is he breaks the conventions of Greek writing. And he says here the Greek word is. I think it's huper, ekpene, parasu.
[00:16:10] But he says hooper twice. Hooper, Hooper, ek parasu. And you're not supposed to do that. And Hooper is where we get the word hyper from. And not hyper like, you know, ate too much sugar, but hyper like turbo drive. Right. So he's saying him who is.
[00:16:26] Since Paul broke the conventions, I thought I could break the conventions too. And I just mashed up all these verses to try to help you understand that the greatness of God's power, the greatness of God's ability that he can do far more, exceedingly, abundantly, above and quite beyond all measure of all we could ask or even dream.
[00:16:50] God is able.
[00:16:54] He is able.
[00:16:55] What can God not do? Let me just sort of give you a catalog of God's ability throughout the Old and New Testaments. God is the One who created the world with just a word.
[00:17:11] God is the One who gave Sarah the power to conceive up in her old age.
[00:17:18] God is the one who gave Mary conception, having never been with a man.
[00:17:23] God is the one who provided a ram for Abraham in the thicket so they did not have to sacrifice his own son. God is the one who parted the Red Sea and. And opened a path that no one knew was there. God is the one who had the thick walls of Jericho fall down simply by his people obeying and circling it seven times. God is the one who made the sun stand still so Joshua could have more time to kick the pagans butts.
[00:17:50] And God is the one who raised Christ from the grave.
[00:17:55] Can I get an amen? Can I get a glory to God?
[00:17:59] God is able.
[00:18:02] Now, what I want to draw out for us is that, yes, we should look to God when marriages are failing. Yes, we should look to God when things are troubling you at work. Yes, we should look to God when there's no food on the table. Yes, we should look to God for anything that we need or desire.
[00:18:25] But we should chiefly look to God for is that which he is longing to give to us. And so, as I come to this, I want to give you another catechism question. Can I do that? Are you guys eager learners?
[00:18:40] Okay, this is question 13. So we've skipped a few. But can God do all things?
[00:18:48] One more time. Can God do all things?
[00:18:51] Yes, God can do all his holy will. God can do all his holy will. That's an important caveat. That's an important distinction to make because these philosophers who talk about, can God create a rock that's too heavy for God to lift? What a dumb question.
[00:19:08] Actually, you know, they say there's no dumb questions, just only dumb people.
[00:19:12] Okay, when you ask a question like that, you're conveying that you.
[00:19:17] I mean, this is where you get the idea of people groping around the elephant trying to find, okay, well, here's a truck. You know, these are people grasping in the dark. They don't know the Lord.
[00:19:29] They have this foggy idea, okay, well, he's powerful, but is he so powerful that he can do. You don't know the Lord because when you know the Lord, why would the Lord want to create a rock that he can't lift? Is he dumb? No, he's not. Okay, it's just a silly question.
[00:19:46] Can God do all things? Yes, he can do all his holy will, all that he desires. And what does God chiefly desire to do in you?
[00:19:55] To conform you into the image of his son, Christ Jesus, to bring you into Christ likeness.
[00:20:02] God, who has adored his son for all eternity, created this world that that adoration might spill over into many sons, that he might bring many sons into glory.
[00:20:14] His chief desire is to make you like Jesus.
[00:20:22] And so this is glory to God, who is working powerfully within us to transform us into Christ likeness.
[00:20:34] What Paul is praying for here is something that I Think that we.
[00:20:40] We don't realize just how necessary the power of God is to accomplish it.
[00:20:49] We see ourselves as pretty good people, as doing all right and not needing but just a little bit of help.
[00:20:57] But he's saying no. For you to be made like Jesus, man, you need the power of God that created the world with a word. You need the power of God that raised Christ from the dead and part of the Red Sea. You need the power of God that made the sun stand still to make you like Jesus.
[00:21:13] Now, that's humbling, and it should be.
[00:21:20] He's saying, God has the power here to preserve the saints through trials. God has the power here to preserve us through testings of temptations and sickness and persecutions and the snare of the devil and the lure of the world and the cravings of the flesh. All these many things that want to make you stumble. But as Jude says now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his, glory to him be glory.
[00:21:53] That's the power that we need.
[00:21:56] We need the power to resist temptation. We need the power to live obediently. We need the power to suffer faithfully, and we need the power to serve confidently. And what I want to also point out here is that he says that this power is at work in you. It is at work in you. And you might say, I don't feel like it's at work in me.
[00:22:24] Let me just clarify.
[00:22:26] You're not supposed to.
[00:22:29] Because when we feel powerful.
[00:22:35] When we feel powerful, we're prone to rely upon ourselves.
[00:22:49] You know, I so often just want to feel strong.
[00:22:52] But God's never promised that he would make me feel strong.
[00:22:56] He promised that he would be with me and that I should believe him by his word and trust him by faith.
[00:23:04] Weakness is part of the point.
[00:23:07] You know Paul in his weakness with his thorn in the flesh. We don't know exactly what that was, but in his weakness, he cries out to God, would you just take this weakness away from me?
[00:23:17] And what does God say to him? He says, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. When you know you need him, that's when he's strong.
[00:23:28] Strong through you.
[00:23:30] When you know that you have nothing apart from his working that opens a way for him to work.
[00:23:36] And he is working that at you, in you, believer. He is the Holy Spirit in you. And that is his aim. He is working in you. This, the word for work is energe, where we get the word energy. Just Think of God's energy at work within you, working powerfully to make you, to transform you into the image of Christ. He is at work in you. And as you surrender to him day by day, through daily decisions, that inner strength that he prayed for back in.
[00:24:14] Where is it? Verse 16, if I can see.
[00:24:19] He said, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being.
[00:24:27] That inner man is strengthened more and more as we yield to the Spirit, more and more.
[00:24:35] It's like a muscle. As you surrender to the Lord again and again and again, you're strengthened within more and more and more and there is decreasing sinlessness and increasing spiritual control. The Holy Spirit taking over you. That's what he's praying for. And that is what is working in you. Praise God.
[00:24:59] Okay, so glory to God who hears and answers our prayers, who can do far more above and beyond all we could even ask or even dream.
[00:25:06] Okay?
[00:25:09] And glory to him who is working within us to transform us into Christlikeness. And then two locations for where that glory is. Number one, glory to God in the church, the loved bride of Christ.
[00:25:26] We really don't look like much, do we? I'm not, no offense, y' all are pretty, but I mean, we just looking at the church, I love this church, but looking at the church globally, I mean, we're just a beat up people. We're a bedraggled people.
[00:25:43] You know, I'm telling you that we should live for the glory of God. And yet I see my heart so often just admiring other things and wanting to live for this glory or that glory or my glory.
[00:25:55] We're a people who are beset with temptations and so often just, you know, thinking of giving up, throwing in the towel.
[00:26:06] But glory to God in the church, the loved bride of Christ.
[00:26:12] God is that he is working holiness in us.
[00:26:18] And praise Him.
[00:26:20] Praise him that he is preparing us for the day of glory, for the day when we will be clothed in dazzling white garments, presented holy to our bridegroom, the Lord Jesus. God is working through his church. His church is plan A and he has no plan B.
[00:26:42] And it's just.
[00:26:43] I love the Book of Judges.
[00:26:45] As you read through the Book of Judges, I've shared this with you guys before, but there's this theme of these judges who are sort of like rescuers who come and rescue the people from their mess, of them picking up all sorts of random objects as weapons, you know, like the jawbone of a donkey or a tent peg or a rock Being dropped on somebody's head, tying foxtails together and lighting them on fire and banging jars and torches. I mean, just all sorts of random weapons. Not something you'd want to pick up, right? Aidan, you would choose a different weapon in battle. But God, it doesn't matter what weapon is in his hand. I think that's the point of that theme of Judges. It does not matter what weapon is in his hand because of whose hand it's in. And so we are the Church and know on our own we are not much but in the hand of God, who is able to do far more above and beyond all we could ask, even dream. Glory to Him. What can he not do? He will accomplish his mission and his promises through us. And glory to him also in His Son, Christ Jesus, the head of the Church.
[00:27:59] You know, one thing that commentators point out is how inextricably linked Christ and the Church are throughout Ephesians.
[00:28:10] In Ephesians, I'll just give you a couple examples, but pretty much every time he mentions the Church, he mentions Christ and the connection that we have to Christ.
[00:28:21] In chapter one, verse 22, it speaks of the, you know, Christ is the head over all things of the Church, which is his body, the fullness of him who feels all in all. And then you guys know Ephesians 5, where we are the bride of Christ and He is our bridegroom, and here as well. But the glory, what this is saying is that the glory of Christ is the glory of the Church, and the glory of the Church is the glory of Christ. He has so married Himself to us that we receive his glory. We share in his glory. We share in his victory, we share in his reign.
[00:29:08] God has raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand.
[00:29:14] Tells us that in Ephesians 1, and then Ephesians 2, it says, we have been raised and we have been seated with Christ. We reign with Christ. His glory is our glory.
[00:29:25] But let us also say that Jesus, by His very nature, is the glory of God. He's the radiance again, the shining forth, the radiance of God's glory, the existence, exact imprint of his nature. Thank you, sister. In Colossians 1, he is the image of the invisible God, the man, my brain, the exact.
[00:29:48] Okay, let's drink some water.
[00:29:52] In John 1, he is the Word. He is the expression of the glory of God.
[00:29:58] No one has ever seen God but He who is in the Father's bosom.
[00:30:02] He has made the Father known to us. He is the glory of God. He is the Shining forth of his holiness.
[00:30:10] So glory to God in the church. Glory to God in his Son, Christ Jesus. And then when two things throughout successive generations and for all eternity. Glory to God in this age. Glory to God in the age to come, as we are faithful to pass the gospel down through the generations. Glory to God in the generation that comes, comes after that. Glory to God in the generation that comes after that. And glory to God all through eternity. God is worthy of glory throughout all eternity. And we will not tire of knowing the glory of God, of enjoying the glory of God and bringing glory to God in eternity.
[00:30:50] We will have this sin nature completely thrown off.
[00:30:54] If you feel like the glory of God is at all a bore or a chore to you now, man, repent of that. Number one.
[00:31:02] Number two, the Lord is just going to cast all that away. And we will see with unveiled faces, with eyes that have been completely baptized. We will behold the glory of God for what it is and glorify him for all eternity. And I look forward to that. So glory to God who hears and answers prayer, who can do far more above and beyond all we could ask or think, who is working in us. Glory to him in the church, in. In his Son, throughout all generations and for all eternity.
[00:31:30] Amen.
[00:31:32] Amen. It's supposed to be green, but glory to God. Amen.
[00:31:35] Yeah. So, yes, amen just means, so be it. Let it be. Glory to God.
[00:31:41] Amen. Amen. And so let me ask you here.
[00:31:45] What does your heart run after?
[00:31:49] Whose glory are you living for? Are you like that image of the solar system that I gave you, where you delight to orbit around God? You delight in that, to join in that dance of beholding the glory of God and giving glory to him and showing forth his greatness? Or have you been running after lesser glories, things that really have no glory at all apart from the Lord, the Creator, the giver of life?
[00:32:19] You know, as sinners, we.
[00:32:21] I mean, we can make an idol of anything.
[00:32:25] I mean, we make an idol out of Carolina basketball. And I've already established that's just a pathetic thing to do.
[00:32:33] Yeah, I'm dragging on my own team now. But yeah, I mean, we should just make an idol out of pleasure seeking, out of sex. We can make an idol out of food. We can make an idol out of power, out of status, out of others thinking well of us.
[00:32:51] We're just prone to orbit around any petty thing.
[00:32:56] I love the story of in First Samuel, where the Ark of the Covenant had been captured by the Philistines and the Ark of the Covenant, if you don't know, is, you know, God's glory dwelled over this ark that. That held the Ten Commandments.
[00:33:13] And the Israelites sort of thought that they could use it, sort of use God to help them to get victory. If we just take the Ark out there with us into battle, then God is bound to give us victory. Sort of like it's a good luck charm. And so they misused that and God disciplined them for that and allowed the Philistines to capture it. And the Philistines thought that they could, you know, sort of maybe set that up in their temple alongside their God Dagon. And I don't know how you say it, but that's how I like to pronounce it.
[00:33:45] But.
[00:33:46] And it's like they're saying, well, maybe we can worship both of them.
[00:33:49] I don't know what they're going for, but what I love is what happens the next morning is they come, the Philistine priests, they come into the temple and there's the ark and there's Dagon, and he's fell over, toppled over, and the head of that idol has come up, come off, just rolled off into the floor. And the Philistines, they beheld it and they said, well, Dagon shouldn't worship this God.
[00:34:19] We didn't know really what they did is they had to get the Ark of the Covenant out of there, and they returned that. But I just want you to think about that. What has a hold of your heart? What do you admire? What are you pursuing?
[00:34:35] It needs to topple over like Dagon.
[00:34:40] You need to set the glory of God beside him and see. There is no comparison.
[00:34:46] There is no comparison.
[00:34:48] Who is a God like ours? Who pardons iniquity?
[00:34:53] Who is a God like ours? Who can part the Red Sea?
[00:34:57] Who is a God like ours? Who is rich in grace and mercy? Who is a God like ours? Who can sympathize with our every weakness and temptation?
[00:35:07] Who is a God like ours? Who is with us through every trial?
[00:35:12] Who is a God like ours? Who created the world with a word?
[00:35:17] Who is a God like ours? Who loves us as faithfully as he does?
[00:35:22] To him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations and for all eternity.
[00:35:29] Let's pray.
[00:35:31] Father God, I pray for my hearers. Lord, if there is anyone here who surely there is, who has been running after lesser glories, Lord, identify that by your spirit and call us into repentance and show us your glory.
[00:35:53] God, for those who have never repented and never trusted in you, who all their lives have been living for their own glory and coming up upon frustration after frustration.
[00:36:06] I just pray for surrender that they would recognize the purpose for which they were created and the purpose for which we are brought alive. Lord and God, I long for the day when I can worship you without any hesitation or reservation. God, hasten that day and assure the Church that you will present us without stumbling blameless before you with great joy. God, we love you and we thank you for your power that works within us. We ask for more, Lord, we ask for more love, more power at work in us. For your glory, in Jesus name we pray. Amen.
