New Testament Prayers: Week 1
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Well, good morning. Happy New Year. My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. If you will grab a Bible and go to Ephesians, chapter one. We are going to begin the year by. I got to get rid of this pen or I'm going to fiddle with it. Sorry. We are going to begin the year by studying prayer together and seeking to grow in prayer together.
As we start this year, I know a lot of people kind of think through, okay, how did last year go? What do I want to change, what I want to grow in? And as a church, we want to grow in praying. And so the way we're going to go about doing this is we're going to read New Testament prayers. We're going to see what they prayed for, how they prayed. At its simplest, prayer is just talking, talking to God. It is a gift from God to us that we would be able to speak to Him. He, that we, as intelligent, relational creatures, he's given us a way to relate to him in an intelligent way, who is the source of all relationship and the source of all intelligence. So he's given us a way to commune with him, to speak with Him. And we want to grow in this. And we're going to see how they prayed in the New Testament. We're going to practice it. We're going to mimic it, which is how we learn things. It's all the things that little kids do and the games they play and the ways they learn things. They just mimic the things that they're seeing. This is why you had an Easy Bake Oven. It's why you had a pretend little push lawnmower. It's why my dad spent most of his games as a child being a cowboy, because that's what he saw. Apparently, all the shows were cowboy shows. That's why I was a Ninja Turtle and why. Why I've been beaten up by Black Panther and Captain America more than I care to admit now with my two sons. It's because we see something and we want to practice it. We want to grow in it, we want to develop it, and we follow what we see. So we're going to do that. We're going to see how they prayed, what they prayed for, and we're going to practice it together.
So we're going to pray more in our groups over the next few weeks that we'll get together and spend more time in our groups praying. We always pray in our groups. It's a great time for us to share burdens with one another, pray for one another. Pray with one another for our missionary efforts and for our lives. But we're going to do more of that in the coming weeks. And as seems fitting, we're going to pray this morning as we begin, before we get into the text. Lord, we ask for your help and your mercy that as we study your word, your spirit would go to work to help us, to hear it, to see it, to believe it. So we ask for you to minister to us in this time. Lord, we're so often hard of hearing, so often dense, so often shallow, easily distracted, worried about other things. But we ask for your spirit to put away distraction and to open our eyes that we might see you in Jesus name. Amen.
So we're going to be in Ephesians, chapter one. We're going to pick up in verse 15. So Paul, the Apostle Paul is writing to the church in Ephesus and he's going to talk to them about him praying for them. And he's going to say what he's been praying for them. So he says, for this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints. So he that for this reason is a bridge statement. It's referencing what he's been talking about and where he's about to go, so that it's walking through all the things he's been saying already and then what he's about to say next. And. And so what he's been talking about is salvation. He's been saying that we have been saved by grace, by the work of God. It's what we read together a little while ago, that it's to the praise of his glorious grace that he has saved us, that he's predestined us, chosen us, adopted us as sons. And he's been talking about this and he keeps saying it's to the praise of his glory, to the praise of his glorious grace. And he says for this reason, all of that salvation and that you believe it since I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints.
So those, those things, salvation and your particular salvation, the church in Ephesus. Here's what I've been praying.
> For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
So he's thankful for them in his prayers. And then he says, remembering you my prayers, that so he can tell us what he's been praying for, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him Having the eyes of your hearts enlightened that you may know. So let's go back. So he's praying to the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory may give you the Spirit of wisdom. So right there we see the Trinity, we see the Lord Jesus Christ, God the Father and the Holy Spirit at work. And so what he's saying is, I'm praying that Jesus, who is our Lord, who's brought us into a relationship with the Father, I'm praying basically through Jesus to the Father. And he calls him the Father of glory, which is not a phrase he uses often, but in this whole context, he's got glory on his mind. He's been talking about all the salvation is to the praise of his glory, to the praise of his glorious grace. And we're going to see that he says glory multiple times as we keep going. We're actually going to take some time to consider glory this morning. So he's saying the Father of glory that he may give you the Spirit. So he's praying that the Holy Spirit, and he calls him the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him. So specifically what he's praying, he's asking the Father for the church in Ephesus that the Spirit would go to work in such a way that they would know God, that he would reveal God to them. He's going to say specifically what he wants them to know about God, what he wants to understand about God. But I want you to see that his primary, the basis of his prayer is that they would know God.
Now he's writing to a church that he helped get started. And when he helped get it started, it was kind of a mess. At some point he gets run out of the city. But he now hears that they're still following the Lord, they're growing. He's excited about their faith. He's thankful. But consider what he could be praying for them, what he could have written. Here's what I've been praying for. You think about what you would be praying for. A church plant in a difficult spot that has faced opposition. I wouldn't be surprised and honestly might would find it more practical if he had said, I'm praying for protection, praying that the Lord would help you against those that would oppose you. I'm praying for your safety. I'm praying for the effectiveness of the gospel work. Like there's a lot of things he could be praying for them. I'm praying that y' all find places to meet and gather where you're not in danger. I'm praying that you can share the gospel well and people will receive it. But that's not what he says. He's saying, I'm praying that the Spirit goes to work in your heart so that you can know God. He actually says that the eyes of your heart would be enlightened. Okay. It's a real simple picture. What do your eyes do? They see. What does your heart do? It loves. It takes in the essence of things. It's what people talk about, that they feel something in their heart. If you looked at somebody and said, the eyes of my heart see you, they'd get what you meant. And let's hope it was appropriate for you to say that to them. It's probably not first date conversation, but you they'd get it. And that's what he's saying is, I want your heart to grasp this. I want you to know know it. Not just know it. I want you to know, know it. I want the spirit to go to work so that you really, really, actually, really, truly inside of you know this. He wants us to know God and y'. All. That is primary, that is essential.
If you live your entire life and it's a good life, a comfortable life, that you're kind, you're generous, you're well liked, you're well received, you get to enjoy life, you get to partake in some of the good things that the earth has to offer. And then you get to the very end of all things and you don't know God. You get nothing. Nothing. You have nothing. But if we make it to the end and we know God, then we've gotten everything. And it's essential that we know God, that we have God, that we participate with God, that we worship God, that we delight in God.
I want to take just a moment for the skeptic in the room, because I've heard before, I distinctly remember my grandmother was a missionary, and I remember her talking to my cousin and he was being antagonistic to this idea, but he was saying that he thought it was crazy narcissistic that God would create the world and then demand that his creation worship him, that he would make himself essential. Basically, for this to be essential for us to either get God and that's all that matters, or not get God and like that this is the bare essence of all creation and existence would be, do you know God or not? Do you relate to God or not? He just said, that's crazy. So if that's where you are, I just want to give you two things to consider One, it is the right ordering of the world that us as creatures would relate to God, know God and worship God. That if you said, why should I worship God? And I responded by saying, because He's God, that's not a cop out. That's a legitimate answer. Imagine with me for a moment that you are a headstrong, recalcitrant, cheerless teenager, rebellious, problematic, mouthy, and you say to your friend, I just don't know why my mom's all in my business and why she wants to ask me all these questions and why she wants to be my friend. And let's imagine for a moment that your friend says, because she's your mom. That's a legitimate answer. You understand? That's a legitimate answer. It's actually messed up if she doesn't want to know you, talk to you, care about you. That's where the brokenness comes in. Not when she's momming, but when she's not. And so when we say, well, why would God want us to know him, worship him, relate to him, because He's God, is a legitimate answer. Because it's the right ordering of the world. It's my first one. Second one, if God were to say, create the world and then say, hey, the most joy, the most delight, the most goodness, the most life can be found in blank, and he pointed to anything other than Himself, then that thing would be more glorious than him, and it would be God, not Him. So not only is it the right ordering of the world, but it's actually innate to the, to the intrinsic goodness of God, and it's for our good that we would know him and relate to Him.
So what Paul is praying for is actually that we would get what we've longed for always, which is a right relationship with God, that we would really, really know Him. That's what he's praying for them. He's going to give three specific things he wants them to know. So he says that you may know, Having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you? What are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints? That's number two. And number three, what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe? So the first one, That you may know what is the hope to which he has called you? Second one, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints? And the third one is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe.
So the first one is that you may know what is the hope to which he has called us, called the Church? He's talking to Christians. What is the hope? Well, there's a hope of salvation. There's a hope of heaven. There's a hope of eternity. There's a hope of joy. There's all these things. But there are some places where Paul specifically references this hope that we have. And I want to point them out to you because I think he's getting at something specific here. It is all of those things, but it's bound up in something.
Romans 5:2.
> through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Through him, that's Jesus. We have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand. Okay? This is how we're saved. By the grace of Jesus, by our faith in Jesus. Grace meaning that he has freely gifted salvation to those who will believe. And then we just trust him. We believe in him. So if your New Year's resolution was to get your act together and be moral enough to please God, we're glad you're here. And that will never happen. I don't even know you. And I can already tell you that will never happen, because that's not how it works. So we receive salvation by grace. We receive it by the work that he's done. That's why it's good news that we place faith in him and that he saves us. That's what he says. So it's in faith, by grace, through faith. But then he says this, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. So we're hoping our hope is the glory of God.
And he says this other places, says it all over the place.
> To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Colossians 1:27.
> waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,
Titus 2:13.
That's our hope, that he's going to show up in glory, that we're going to rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. That's Wonderful if we know what glory is, because it's like, that's great. What's glory? It's glorious for sure. But what is it? What does it mean when we're hoping in the glory of God, he's our blessed, that we're awaiting the appearing of the glory of Christ. What does it mean when he says he's the father of glory? Tim Keller, who I thoroughly appreciate, he passed on recently. He was a pastor in New York for a long time. He said that if you'll notice that sometimes when you read a theology book that there's no that when it talks about the attributes of God, sometimes it won't even list glory. It'll just talk about his power, it'll talk about his omnipotence, it'll talk about his love, but it won't say that he's glorious or that he has glory. And he said the reason he thinks that, and he actually thinks that. Herman Bavink and his theology work puts it best when he says the glory of God is the infinite, indescribable perfection and beauty of all the other attributes. John Piper says that it's the beauty of his manifold perfections. And John Piper, when talking about glory, said, one of the reasons it's hard to define glory is that the word glory is a lot more like the word beauty than it is the word basketball. If you didn't know anything about basketball, in about 10 minutes, I could describe both the object and the game to you in such a way that you could walk into a room and pick a basketball out of a whole bunch of other balls and get some people together and basically play the game. Doesn't take much to describe it. You can do that. But if you don't know anything about beauty, you've never heard of the concept, and I've got to describe beauty to you, we're going to have a harder time. Piper says that we know beauty because we have the ability to point, say, that is beautiful. It's right there. And that's kind of how glory works.
But when the Bible talks about glory, it does talk about glory, and I think three distinct ways. So even though it's hard to describe, we've got to try to wrap our minds around it this morning. So I'm going to show you three ways that the Bible talks about glory, and then we're going to try to understand what it means that we have a hope of glory and why it's so important to Paul that our hearts know that this is the three ways that the Bible Talks about glory, talks about intrinsic glory, ascribed glory, and manifest glory. So if you just went right now and word search glory in your Bible and started reading all the places that said glory, you're going to see that it uses the word differently. And that's because it's going to use it in basically these three categories. Intrinsic glory is glory that is essential of the nature of something. God has intrinsic glory. He is glorious, whether you know it or not, whether you see it or not, whether you enjoy it or not. He is glorious that there are things that have glory. This is where Paul can say that there's a star differs from star in glory. It means it's intrinsic glory. Then there is ascribed glory, which is most often used for us to ascribe glory to God, meaning that we're responding to his intrinsic glory and we're saying that he has glory. This is when the angels show up to the shepherds and the stories that we read around Christmas and they say, glory to God in the highest. That's how they're using it. Give glory to God, acknowledge his glory, ascribe glory to him. And then there is manifest glory, which is God's glory on display. Glory that can be perceived, glory that can be received, glory that can be enjoyed. This is when the angels show up and it says, the glory of the Lord shone around them. He made some of his invisible attributes visible so that glory is displayed.
Now, I don't know if you know this, but you are hungry for glory. We thirst for it. We love it. You know when you watch a movie or a television show or you go to a concert or you go see a play, or you go watch someone play a sport, you know what you want? You want the most glorious version of that. You've never gone to a concert and been like, oh, I hope they come out 30 minutes late and they're off their game. I hope this is the most mediocre spot on their tour. Now you want the best one. If I told you I had a time machine and we were going to go watch Michael Jordan play, and then I took you to Birmingham, Alabama, so that you could see him play minor league baseball, you'd be furious. If I took you to 2003 when we could see him play for the Wizards, you'd be less mad but still annoyed. You want to go to early 90s Chicago because we want the most glorious version. We want to see. This is why we go see great sights. This is why we want to be in awe of things. We want to participate in glory. We Want to see the original cast sing the songs? Because we want the most glorious version. We're chasing it all the time. We want those things that when we look at someone and we go, I can't describe it to you. You should have been there. I mean, I can try to tell you about it, but all I can really say is, it was beautiful. You should have seen it. It's etched in my mind. I'll never forget it. And what he's saying is, I want your heart to know that the glory of God has never fully been revealed to man. It's been shielded for us. And every little bit of glory we've ever gotten is just a wisp of a vapor of a taste of a hint of a smell of the glory that is bound up in his person, in who he is. And our hope is that one day, full, unadulterated glory will be ours to partake in, to receive, to enjoy forever. That everything we've ever chased and wanted, that one day, it's just there. This is why the book of Revelation says, and I saw no sun, because the glory of the Lord is their light. You ever just walked out after being cold and stood in the sun, close your eyes and just let it kind of cook you for a second. You ever done this? Am I the only person who does this? Ever just stood and been like, oh, there'll come a day when there is no sun. It's just the glory of the Lord that we're standing in, soaking and delighting and enjoying that every bit of every little hint of glory we've ever tasted pales in comparison as we are brought up into the glory of the Lord forever. And if you belong to Jesus, that is your hope. And Paul's saying, I'm praying that the Holy Spirit would come into your heart and open it up so that you might see that, so that your heart might wrap around it. Because I can tell you, if it does, it changes what we care about and what we chase after.
That's the first thing he wants for us, that we would know what is the hope to which he has called us. Second thing, he's praying for the church. What are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints? What are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints? I want to highlight two words for you because I think it's quite possible that we've just read this backwards. The two words I want to highlight are his and in. Now, we read together earlier the passage leading into this. And in that, it talks about our inheritance, meaning that we Have a hope of something that we're going to receive, that he's set aside for us, that we have an inheritance that's kept in heaven for us, undefiled and undefeating, unfading. That's the way Peter puts it. But this doesn't say our inheritance. It says his inheritance. And it doesn't say for the saints. It says in the saints.
Now, if it said his inheritance for the saints, we would just think it's worded a little oddly, but we would understand what it meant. Because if your granddad came to you and said, hey, I want to talk to you about my inheritance, you're like, you mean my inheritance, but you wouldn't say that. You just wait and see. If that's what he was talking about, the thing you're going to inherit, meaning the stuff that he's going to give, you'd be like, that's cool. If he said, I want to talk about my inheritance for you, then you'd go, got it. So if that said for the saints. Got it. If it said our inheritance in the saints, then we'd go, okay. It just means as we are in the saints, as we belong to the church. But it says his inheritance in the saints, meaning that it's talking about the thing that Paul wants your heart to grasp is that he intends to have the Church, that God will have his people. It's a rich and glorious inheritance. And the reason we invert that is because without the Spirit helping our heart see it, we reject that idea. What do you mean? I want to show you this. This is throughout the bible. It's real.
> But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
1 Peter 2:9.
First Peter 2. But you Christians are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that when Jesus came, what he came to do was to claim a people that are going to be His.
> I will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me, "You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession."
Psalm 2:7-8.
Okay, now this is quoted in the New Testament to tell us it's referring to Christ. This is the Messiah. What's he say in verse 8? Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession. In the Book of Revelation, when the tribes, when all the tribes and language and tongues and people are gathered around the throne, that is Jesus's inheritance. Those are his people that have been made his through his work and through the gift of the Father, who set it up this way and preordained by his will to do it. It's a glorious inheritance.
> But the LORD's portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage.
Deuteronomy 32:9.
Deuteronomy 9:29 says, for they are your people and your heritage, whom you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched army. Deuteronomy 32:9 says, but the Lord's portion is his people, Jacob is his allotted heritage. Heritage. That's why Jeremiah 10:16 in the same verse will say it both ways.
> The portion of Jacob is not like these, for he is the Maker of all things, but Israel is the tribe of his inheritance; the LORD of hosts is his name.
Jeremiah 10:16.
Not like these is he who is the portion of Jacob, meaning that Jacob gets him, Israel gets him, for he is the one who formed all things and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance. The Lord of hosts is his name, so that we have a hope of glory, which is that we get him and that he intends to get us. That the church is his glorious inheritance that he plans to bring to himself.
You know, this is written in our hearts too. You can be one of the most non romantic people, but if you watch a show that has a love interest, you're still kind of like, alright, get it together. Fall in love already. I know, I'm just watching Cheers or the Office because I want to laugh, but I also now I'm somehow invested in you two dating. I care and I'm annoyed that y' all haven't gotten it together yet. I'm not a. I'm not a sappy person, but in the Office, when they started messing with their relationship at the end of the sea, the end of the series, I was having problems, you guys, I was distraught. Can't do that. There's something in you that wants this to work out. And y', all, that's what he's doing, that we're going to get him and he's going to get us. And Paul says, I'm praying that the Spirit would show up and help your heart to grasp that. That he intends to have the church as a glorious inheritance and that we get him. Do you know that? Do you know know that? I think it's so easy sometimes for us to just be like, yeah, well, I'm like lagging behind. I'm not really. It means in general, but it doesn't mean me specifically. That he loves generally, but not specifically. The enemy comes in right now and goes, sure, if the Bible says that, sure. But not really. And not really for you. You're in on like a technicality. You think Jesus Christ shed his blood and chose you in him before the foundation of the world on a technicality. Do you think that he bought you as a treasured possession on a technicality? Or do you think that the God of all the universe, who specifically Saved individuals made you an individual and specifically went to work to save your soul and has been at work in you to change you and to redeem you and to make you more and more glorious and. And to be made into the image of Him. Do you not think that he will not, with tears in his eyes, delight to welcome you? Let's not besmirch his glory by thinking that it's somehow beneath him to be that wonderful? Oh, he's glorious, and our hope is glorious, and his redemption of the saints is glorious. And it magnifies his glory that he goes to work to save you. And Paul says, I want your heart to know it. I want you to respond to it. I want you to see it, I want you to feel it. I want the Spirit to go to work so that you know know it.
And then he says, third thing he wants third thing he's praying for, that we would know what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe. So this is, if you believe, this is all for the saints, it's all for the Church, it's all for those who've placed faith in Jesus. But he says, I want you to know what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward you according to the working of his great might? And then he's going to describe where his might is found according to the working of his great might, that he worked in Christ when He raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places far above all rule and authority and power and dominion above every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come.
I'm just going to read that again because it's a lot to try to take in.
What is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe according to the working of his great might, that he worked in Christ when He raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. He goes on to say, he put all things under his feet and made him the head of the body of the Church.
And I love how these three things pair together. Paul says, I want the Spirit to help your heart know where you're headed and what we're longing for. I want the Spirit to let your heart know that he intends to have us. And I want the Spirit to let you know there's not anything ever going to come remotely close to stopping it. I want your heart to know the immeasurable greatness of his power, that he has worked in Christ when He rose him from the grave, when he seated him above all things, and that he has the name above all names in this time and the next time and all times forever. And not a single thing will stop his intended will from taking place. That's the kind of hope that we have. It's not even close. It's not a toss up.
See, I think if we can wrap our minds around it, the Spirit can help our heart see that God intends to have us. Then the next thing where the enemy goes to work and goes, well, let's hope it works out. We'll see if he does it. We'll see if you make it to the end. I don't know. We'll see. I sat on my couch yesterday and I watched the Carolina Panthers try to win a division. And I had hope. It's the word I would use. It did not work out. I now have to cheer for the Falcons. Today I coach Little League football. I got invited to coach tackle football with seven and eight year olds. I don't know if you've ever seen a seven or eight year old wear football pads. It's awesome looking. It's basically just pads with hands poking out. One of the things that happens in the world of Little League sports is people intentionally bring in older children because it makes a massive difference. And then because that happens every once in a while. I don't think it happens a ton, but it does happen. All parents are paranoid and angry forever. And if your kid just happens to be tall, people want to see their birth certificate. I've had coaches come over and ask children on my team what grade they were in. It's like, dude, quit talking to these children and get back over on your side. But imagine for a moment that somehow Lexington county allowed the Carolina Panthers to play against 8 year olds. Do you think they'd win the league? I mean, mentally picture the tackles that would take place. What would happen when we handed the ball off to a Carolina Panther and then watched 8 year olds try to take him down? If there weren't so many injuries, it might be fun to watch. Paul is saying, it's not even close. It's not a toss up. It's not in doubt. Do you see the resurrection of Christ? Do you know the immeasurable greatness of the power that was at work not in him, just in him, but toward you? That when he did that it was aimed at you. The redemptive work at Christ was aimed at you, the church. That he might claim you, that he might wash you, that he might make you new. This is why the Bible talks about all the time, that he's going to present us to himself. This is why in Ephesians 5, it calls us his bride, that he came to claim and to keep forever. And not anything is going to stop him from doing that. And Paul says, that's my prayer. I heard you believed. I'm so thankful. And I want you to know what that means.
There's some new Christians in our church, Paul saying, I want you to get on your face before the Lord and I want you to ask that you would know what this means. If you're trying to disciple somebody and help them grow, this is what you're praying for them. I want them to know what it means that Jesus has claimed them. I want them to know that there is no doubt. I want them to know that they will be kept. I want them to know what. What they're hoping for and longing for and what the end will be. I want them to know that if he says, you're his, you're his, and there's nothing stopping. We want to pray that the Spirit would be at work so we would know that the hope of salvation is the eternal delight in the manifest glory of God. That we would know that he has a rich and glorious inheritance in the saints. His church is beautiful. And that we would know that nothing is going to stop that from taking place because he has a powerful, immeasurable greatness of power at work toward his church in the resurrection of Christ. And that he's seated above all things, all rule, all authority, all power, all dominion. He has a name above every name, not only in this age, but in the age to come.
So we're going to pray. I would invite you to keep your Bibles open to Ephesians 1. We're going to put back, if you don't mind putting back on just the three things that he prays for. We'll have it up there. But I'd encourage you to look at what else he says in here. We're going to take a moment to pray. I'm going to start us, then we're going to pray. You pray where you are. Pray for your own heart. Pray for the heart of those in your group. Pray for our church, that this would be true, that the Spirit would go to work. And then I'll close this in prayer and we'll sing.
Lord Jesus, we're thankful for the salvation and the hope that we have. And so we ask you, Father, Father of glory, that the Spirit would come to work in our hearts. That you would send the spirit of revelation and knowledge of you. That he might open the eyes of our hearts to see this, to see you, to know you, to know the greatness of the salvation that you have offered. That it is not some small thing, that it is not some little moment in our life. That it is not fitting into our life in some way as if this is our religion, but other religions are somebody else's. And this is my thing, but that's their thing. That it's not little, but it is cataclysmic, glorious, eternal. And we ask that you'd help our hearts to see it and that your spirit would go to work. So, Lord, we're. We're going to pray. We ask you'd help us to pray and that you would answer our prayers. Lord God, may you answer the prayers of your people. May you open our hearts to the work of your spirit. To know you, To know the hope to which you have called us. To know what is the immeasurable riches of your inheritance in the saints. And to know. The great power that was at work toward us who believe in Jesus name. Amen.
We're going to sing together. If you need to keep praying, keep praying. Band's going to come back up.