Calvary Church is dedicated to doctrine, and we want you to experience the life change that comes from knowing God's word and applying it to your life. So we explain the Bible verse by verse, every chapter, every book. This is Expound. So turn in your Bibles, please, to the book of Ephesians, chapter 3, and let's have a word of prayer.

Father, we still our hearts before you. We bring them to you, Lord. We bring our very being, and Father, we pray that you will meet us at our point of need, meet us at our point of faith as we reach out to you. We have different backgrounds, different expressions, and experiences, but we all need you. We have that in common. So some of us need a physical touch, some need an emotional touch, some need encouragement, some need rebuke, some of us need a course correction. You know exactly what it is that we need, and we as your people place our bodies before you as living sacrifices, as Paul encouraged us to do, and we just pray that you will work and that our lives would then be used for your glory to please you. In Jesus' name, Amen.

To catch you back up to where we are, Paul is writing this letter from Rome. Paul is in prison. He will be in prison for a total of two years in Rome. He was arrested in Jerusalem. I'll make a little more reference to that in a minute, but he is currently in Rome when he is writing this letter, and he is there for two years. At the end of the book of Acts, in chapter 28, once Paul arrives at Rome, it says that he was chained to a soldier but that he was allowed to live in his own rented house for two years. So he had to pay the rent on whatever flat, house, apartment he was in, but he was under house arrest. He was chained to a guard 24 hours a day, but he had a certain amount of freedom. It says he could receive all those who came to visit him, and he was preaching the kingdom of God and teaching things concerning Jesus Christ with all confidence, no one forbidding him. That's how Acts chapter 28 closes out.

While he is in Rome and he is receiving visitors and he is preaching the kingdom of God and he is teaching things about Jesus Christ, he is also writing letters. The four letters that he writes are this letter, Ephesians, he writes the book of Philippians, he writes the book of Colossians, and he writes that tiny little letter to Philemon. Those four books he writes from prison. So he's going to mention in chapter 3 his incarceration in a Roman prison and the fact that this bothered some of these believers in Ephesus, that their faithful leader was suffering in prison, and it bothered them. It became sort of an embarrassment even to them. You know, how could this powerful God of heaven and earth take the most prominent leader of the early Christian community and let him suffer for so long a time in prison for things he didn't do?

So when he writes the book of Philippians, I love what he says. He goes, "I want you to know, brethren, that the things that have happened to me—being arrested, being thrown in jail, staying in jail for two years—the things which have happened to me have actually happened for the furtherance of the Gospel. This is God's will for my life to be shut up in prison." And I'll just say tonight how glad I am that Paul went to jail. Had he not gone to jail, you and I wouldn't be sharing the book of Philippians or the book of Ephesians and then Philippians and then Colossians and then Philemon. So we get to enjoy the benefits of the teaching, the richness that he writes.

Now concerning this book, Ephesians, when Paul writes his letters, you have noticed that he has a pattern to it. He always front-loads his letters with doctrine and then he concludes this last part of it with application. So the first part is doctrinal, the last part is applicational. He follows this pattern in a number of his letters, most all of his letters. For example, Romans, the first 11 chapters are doctrinal. It's not till we get to chapter 12 that he decides to take all that he has taught them and begin to apply it: "I beseech you therefore," chapter 12 of Romans, verse 1, "that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable, which is your reasonable service."

So in Ephesians, the first three chapters are doctrinal, the second three chapters are applicational. So the first three chapters, it's about God's story, the Gospel. The second half of the letter is about how his story should affect our story, the application of those truths lived out in our lives. So doctrinal, applicational, chapter 1 through 3 doctrinal, 4, 5, and 6 applicational. But there's more. The letter can be divided by topic so that the first few chapters are the wealth of the believer. We are seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that's the wealth of the believer, all the benefits, all the blessings, followed by the walk of the believer, what to do with it, beginning in chapter 4, followed by the warfare of the believer. He'll talk about spiritual warfare. So in this book, he teaches us how to grow, how to walk, how to fight as believers, all very important practical things.

He begins, as I said, in chapter 1, noting that we are seated in heavenly places in Christ. Then in chapter 4, that's chapters 1, 2, and 3, and we're going to finish chapter 3, God willing, but by the time we get to chapter 4, he moves from being seated with Christ to now walking with Christ. One of the problems I find in many churches, and I have found generally over the years in many churches, is they want to move right into and immediately telling people how to walk. And we need to know how to walk in faith and walk in our spiritual experience, walk following the Lord, etc., but we first need to sit before we can walk. A child learns to sit before a child learns to walk. When my son was born, the first week I didn't say, "Now get up, start walking." The poor thing's got to learn to sit and then crawl and then get steady and then eventually walk, let alone fight. So you need to learn to sit and enjoy the nourishment and the blessings, followed by the walk, followed by the warfare. So that is the pattern of this book.

He introduces something in chapter 2 I just want to go back to. He introduces what he will explain in chapter 3 as a mystery. I just want you to get a hold of that word. You're going to read it in a minute, but he uses that word here, mystery. He uses it also in the book of Colossians, a few other places. He speaks about the mystery, and we hear the word mystery and we think like a mystery novel or a mystery movie, you know, who did the murder? Was it done by that person or this person in that place or that place? What weapon was used? It's the mystery. But that's not the meaning of the New Testament term for mystery. The Greek word that Paul uses, musterion, where we get the word mystery, means something that was hidden but is now in the open, revealed for all to see.

And I think Paul used the term mystery on purpose because in Ephesus, this very pagan Gentile territory, the group that he's writing to, there were mystery religions. Mystery religions and the mysteries of these religious experiences were only given to the initiates of that religion. You have to go through certain rituals and certain incantations, etc., and once you get initiated, they reveal the secret only to you. So he uses a very popular term, a very often-used term for the Ephesians, but he puts a different spin on it. And what he means is this is something that was undisclosed in the Old Testament. The prophets didn't see it coming, but it is now wide open for everybody to see. Everybody can experience it. And what is that? It is that both Jew and non-Jew, Jew and Gentile, are in the same body. Now that is the theme of this book, the theme of the book of Ephesians. I think I told you whenever we started this book that it's God's new society. God's new society. It's filled with people who experience new life, have new values, have new relationships with God and with each other. They're a brand new society, and that new society we call the church, the church, the called-out ones.

Now in the past, there were divisions between Jews and non-Jews. And as you know, Jewish people in New Testament times and before didn't particularly like to hang out with non-Jews. Even Peter had a hard time hanging out with non-Jews. Even the Apostle Peter, after the resurrection, in the house of Cornelius in the book of Acts, goes into Cornelius's house and he says, "You know that it's unlawful for me, a Jew, to even be in your house. I don't even know why I'm hanging out with you guys, but God has shown me that I should not call common or unclean what God has cleansed." But it was a difficult lesson for Peter to learn, but he is learning it.

So you'll notice back in chapter 2, in verse 13, "But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off," you Gentiles, not under the covenant of the Jewish people, not under the same method of dealing that God dealt and promises that God gave to the Jewish people, "now in Christ, you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made both one." Who are the both? Jew and Gentile, both one. So that's the new society, "and has broken down the middle wall of separation." Remember we told you that there was an actual wall, oh, about that big, four feet tall, in the temple complex, and it separated the court of the Gentiles from the Jewish women, the Jewish men, the priests. The Gentiles could go to the temple, but they had the nosebleed section. They were way off in left field. They couldn't get very near. Those who were near were the Jewish people because they had a covenant with God through the Old Testament, through the law of Moses, etc., the sacrifices. So Gentiles could be there, but there was a wall of separation that had a sign that said, "If you cross this line and you get killed, it's your fault. You did it to yourself. So, you know, take your chances, suffer the consequences." But there's a wall. In Christ, the wall is taken away. In Christ, there's no division of Jew versus non-Jew. There's not like, "I'm a Jewish believer versus I'm a non-Jewish believer." You know what? You're just a believer. You're a follower of Christ. You're a follower of Yeshua, and that's enough. And one isn't better than the other.

So having abolished, the next verse, "in his flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in himself one new man from the two, thus making peace." So that's the mystery he's about to drill down with. So we get to verse 1, chapter 3: "For this reason," he says, and I wanted to read those verses to you because he begins chapter 3 saying, "For this reason." For what reason? For the reason that I just mentioned, that there's no separation, no division. God is making one new entity, Christians, not Jew versus non-Jew, not two different camps. "For this reason, I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles." Now notice, does your Bible have a dash after the word Gentiles? Yeah, mine does too, the New King James, maybe whatever version you have does too. And that is because Paul begins a thought and then immediately digresses, and he digresses for 13 verses. In fact, these 13 verses are one long sentence in the original language. So I just want you to notice verse 1: "For this reason, I, Paul," then go down to verse 14, "for this reason." So those two are connected, but he inserts something before he begins this, "I bow my knee, I start, I want to pray this prayer." He begins and then he digresses.

So for this reason, for the reason that I just mentioned, that God has broken down the separation and brought a unity, "I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles." I find it fascinating that Paul the Apostle didn't say, "I, Paul, the prisoner of Rome," or "I, Paul, the prisoner of Caesar Nero," but "I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ." He didn't regard himself as being a victim of Roman justice or injustice. He saw himself being controlled by the sovereign mighty hand of God. You know, he could have said, "Here I am in prison. I've been unjustly accused for something I didn't do. This is a miscarriage of justice." He saw that this was the will of God for his life. "I'm a prisoner of Christ."

Now let me give you a little bit of background again of how he got to jail to begin with. You remember he goes back to Jerusalem, and he has a monetary gift. The monetary gift were offerings of the different Gentile congregations. They took up an offering for the poor saints in Jerusalem. Remember that? It's all over the epistles in the New Testament. He's taking a collection for the mother church, the mothership that has now fallen on hard times, and he wants to bring support and encouragement to them. So he brings this offering that he has gotten from all over Asia Minor. He goes to Jerusalem. When he gets there, James, the leader of the church, says, "You know, Paul, people are talking smack about you and saying that you're trying to speak against the law of Moses and against the old covenant. Well, we encourage that you put those arguments against you to bed by doing something. There are four men who have taken a Nazarite vow. You go to the temple and you pay for their expenses, and then people will say, 'Oh, he is keeping the law of Moses. He is actually helping people who have taken this Jewish vow to complete the vow.' We think it would look good, be good optics if you're the guy who pays their bill." Paul says, "Okay, I'll do it."

Well, when he gets to the temple, some of the Orthodox Jewish people who knew him—he had been a Pharisee—they spotted Paul, and they knew his reputation. They knew that he was going out to Gentile areas, telling them to believe in this Jewish God, and they had the same kind of standing by faith that Abraham had, and it ticked them off. And they made up an accusation that Paul had brought a Gentile into the temple, into the Jewish part of the temple, beyond the wall of separation, an Ephesian by the name of Trophimus. It wasn't true, but they made it up. So a riot broke out in the temple area, and they got a hold of Paul, and they were going to tear him limb from limb. They hated him so much. Well, the Roman soldiers in the Antonia Fortress, that large garrison that overlooked the temple, saw what was happening, and they rushed down to give Paul protective custody. So they got a hold of Paul and protected him from the Jewish crowd that was going to tear him apart. And Paul said to the captain of the Roman guard, "Hey, let me talk to these people." And he spoke to them in the Hebrew language, the Jewish leader. So he is protected by the Romans and by the Roman garrison. He goes up a few steps at the Antonia Fortress and speaks down in that temple area to the crowd that wanted to kill him. And he started telling his testimony, "You know, I was on the road to Damascus, and you guys know my background, that I was a Jew, a Pharisee. You all know me, but this is what happened to me on the Damascus Road, and God got a hold of my life, and I saw the heavens open, and the Lord spoke to me, and it was Jesus, and he told me to go share the truth of this message, this gospel, this good news to the Gentiles." Well, they were tracking with Paul through his testimony up until that word "Gentiles." As soon as he mentioned that God had commissioned him, which he had, to go to the Gentiles, you remember what happened. They threw dust in the air, they put it in their hair, they tore their clothes, and they said, "Away with this man. He's not fit to live on the earth." They wanted to kill him. I mean, it's like pouring gas or lighting, putting a match into a puddle of gasoline. Just the riot got worse. So they brought him into the Antonia Fortress, and they were going to beat him to find out what he said that angered the crowd. And Paul said, "You're going to beat a Roman citizen?" So he got out of that, but a conspiracy developed to assassinate Paul, find the right time. A whole bunch of men signed an oath, "We're going to kill the Apostle Paul." Well, Paul found out about this oath that they had taken by his nephew, and so Paul is taken from Jerusalem, based on that information, under heavy security to Caesarea by the Sea, where he spends the next two years going through three separate trials before Festus, before Felix, and before King Agrippa. Finally, he knows he's just getting the runaround. He's not getting a fair trial, and he, as a Roman citizen, pulls out the citizen card, and he could do this. If you felt like you weren't getting a fair trial, you could personally appeal to Caesar himself, and you could stand before Caesar and adjudicate your own case. So he finally said, "You know what? I've had enough of this stuff. These people are lying about me. I appeal to Caesar." So the King Herod Agrippa said, "You know, this man probably would have gone free, but he appealed to Caesar. To Caesar he will go." So he went on that boat ride in Acts 27, made it all the way to Rome. Now he is in Rome. Why is he in prison? Because he has been commissioned to go to the Gentiles, and as a consequence of obedience to Jesus Christ, he is in jail. That's why he says, "I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ."

Can I encourage you, if you feel you are incarcerated by some circumstance, some person, married to this gal for 40 years, she's a ball and chain, or "I've been stuck with this gal my whole life, man, I feel like I'm just shut up in prison with her," why not say, "I, a prisoner of Jesus Christ"? Why not see your life as under the sovereign control of God? Nobody's more powerful than God, than Christ. Or some disease has befallen you. All sorts of things happen to all of us. The best way to view life, good or bad, is this way. It's the most freeing. That's why one time Paul, when he's writing from prison, he goes, "I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ," although he said, "the word of God is not bound." And the word of God wasn't bound. He was able to teach people who came to him, preach those who came to speak to him and see him, and write letters. The word of God was not bound. So for this reason, "I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles," that's why he is there in prison.

If indeed—boy, I'm going slow—if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you. Now I know the translation says "dispensation." That's just sort of a big fancy word. You read that, a lot of us go, "What is he talking about?" It's a translation of the Greek word "oikonomia." We get the word "economy" from it, and it means stewardship or responsibility or calling. I realize that I have been given a special responsibility, a special stewardship, a special dispensation. He's called me to be an ambassador to non-Jewish people, to tell them that they can be saved. Now remember Peter, back in Galatians, when Paul wrote that, he said the church recognized that Peter was especially gifted to bring the gospel to Jewish people. God has given me the apostle to be the apostle to the Gentiles. So if indeed you have heard of this dispensation, the stewardship of the grace of God which was given to me for you, how that by revelation he made known to me the mystery, as I have written briefly. Now he mentions that mystery back in chapter 2, but I just want to take you to chapter 1 because that's where he first mentions it. That's what he's referring to in the verse I just read, chapter 1, verse 9: "Having made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in himself." Now he gets back around to that, and he says, "How that by revelation he made known to me the mystery, as I have briefly or have already written to you briefly." In other words, I mentioned it back in chapter 1, verse 9, "by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the"—there it is again—"mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to his holy apostles and prophets." Here it is, here's the mystery, here's the musterion: "That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs of the same body and partakers of his promise in Christ through the gospel, of which I became a minister, a servant, according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of his power."

Now in the Old Testament, the prophets didn't see this. There was no vision that God's plan included taking non-Jewish people together with Jewish people and making no distinction between them in terms of salvation, bringing them together in one body called the church, a new society. That was kept hidden. That was a mystery he didn't disclose. Now it's disclosed. Now it's unveiled. Now this shouldn't surprise you because when you read the book of Daniel, for example, the book of Daniel closes out as Daniel's trying to figure out all that he has seen in his visions and the revelation of the future. The messenger says to Daniel in chapter 12, "Seal this book, seal the words up until the time of the end, for many will go to and fro, and knowledge will increase." Now we read the book of Daniel, we have a broader view of understanding because we have more that has been disclosed, but there was so much that was undisclosed about the end times and, according to Paul, especially about the church.

So what do we know? In the Old Testament, God ordained the nation of Israel to be his chosen people. Deuteronomy chapter 7: "I have chosen you above all the peoples on the face of the earth." And later on, he commissioned the Jewish people to be a light to the Gentile nations. They would be the witness of God on the earth. But as time went on, they failed to do that. They became very inward. They didn't want to include Gentiles. They separated from them. They didn't want to get Gentile cooties. They didn't want to get too close to them. They didn't want to walk on the same street. They didn't want to eat food with them. So when Jesus is born and brought into the temple, there's an old man that takes Jesus, the baby. Do you remember what his name was? Simeon. And Simeon looks at Jesus, and he looks up to heaven, and he says, "I can die in peace, Lord, for my eyes have seen your salvation." Listen, "a light to the Gentiles." What Israel, my people, my servant, failed to do, the Messiah will do.

So more revelation came that God wanted the people of Israel to be the light to the Gentile world. They failed to do that. The Messiah will do that, has done that. In fact, when Jesus says, "I am the Good Shepherd," in John chapter 10, "my sheep know my voice, hear my voice, will come to me," etc., he then says, "Other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them I must also bring, that there may be one flock and one shepherd." Now he starts revealing the church slowly but surely. And by the time of Paul's, the Apostle Paul, he was given a revelation directly by God. After the Damascus Road, where did he go for three years? Anybody know? Spit it out if you know it. Arabia. Arabia for three years and was tutored directly by the Holy Spirit. Now he's writing a letter and says, "You know, God revealed this to me, this mystery that has been hidden is now known, that God's plan was to make a new society called the church, not Jewish versus Gentile, but just believer, follower, made righteous by faith, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs of the same body and partakers of his promise in Christ through the gospel, of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of his power."

To me, he says, to me—now watch what he says about himself—"who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ." When we read a statement like that, we're a bit flummoxed, taken back, because we don't regard Paul the Apostle as the least of the apostles. Many of us would regard him as the greatest of the apostles. I'm amazed at the Apostle Paul. I can't wait to meet him. It would be a great honor. He's such an example. And so when I read this statement, I'm taken aback because it sort of smacks like false humility. "Oh, you know, I'm nothing." You know, some people like to do that. Paul meant this sincerely, and he explains what he meant to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 15. He says, "I, who am the least of the apostles, I don't even deserve to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God." Paul always felt an embarrassment. He carried it with him, his past, his background, that he hunted Christians down, that he incarcerated them, and he watched as they were being stoned to death. That haunted him because that chief antagonist eventually became the chief protagonist for the gospel, but he always remembered that time. And so he said, "To me, who am less than the least of all the saints." What humility, and it's genuine. And I'll be careful how I say this. It's a humility I'd like to see more of in the ministry. Sometimes I watch people on TV or on YouTube, and they seem to strut like a peacock and just seem so full of themselves. I wonder, where is the humility of a man like Paul the Apostle? "I don't even deserve to be here. I'm less than the least of all the saints." And then he just, he realized, "that I should proclaim, preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Christ Jesus, to the intent that now the manifold"—manifold means many-colored, variegated—"manifold wisdom of God might be made known to the church"—oh, excuse me—"might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in heavenly places."

Now I want to ask you a question, just to consider this. Here Paul says God has kept this hidden all through the Old Testament. Now it is revealed, this idea of this new society, the church. We might ask the question, why? Why would God wait so long to reveal this plan? Let me suggest two reasons. Number one, to give Israel the opportunity to step up to the plate, to give Israel as a nation the opportunity to fulfill its God-ordained destiny of bringing light to the Gentiles. Number two, he waited this long to instruct the angels. You following me here? To instruct the angels. What do I mean by that? Well, look at verse 10: "To the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to whom? Principalities, powers in the heavenly places." You know what that's speaking about? Principalities and powers, we told you, are rankings of angelic beings, good or evil. It's an organized system, ranking system, often mentioned in the New Testament that refer to angelic beings.

There is a passage of scripture in 1 Peter. Let me read it to you. 1 Peter chapter 1, he says, "Of this salvation," Peter writes, "of this salvation, the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ was in them was indicating when he testified beforehand of the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. To them it was revealed that not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things which angels desire to look into." The church, this new society, the salvation offered to anybody by faith in Jesus Christ, is a graduate course in salvation for angelic beings. Angels don't know about the grace of God. There was a whole group of angels who sinned, and they were cast out of heaven and will never be given a second chance. So they were there for that. They saw that. But the idea that God would grant salvation, would grant fellowship, would grant intimacy, would grant relationship with human beings, and God continually pours out his grace to us, the angels sit back and go, "Wow." And one of the things they go "wow" about is they probably look at some of you and go, "I don't get these people here. God has given so much to them, done so much for them, made so much available on their behalf, and they don't use it. God says, 'Pray, and I'll answer you.' They don't even pray. They worry, and they fret, and they call their friends, and they look up on social media what to do, but they never talk to God. And yet God loves them still and forgives them still and is patient with them still." And it's a graduate course on salvation by grace to the angelic beings. He's showing, he's in the classroom of the universe. God is the teacher, the angels are the audience, the illustration is the church, the subject is salvation by grace. So he mentions that in Ephesians, "to the principalities and powers in heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom," that is, in him, in Christ, "we have boldness with confidence through faith in him."

You remember what the writer of Hebrews says about how we should come before God? "Seeing then that we have a great high priest," Hebrews chapter 4, "who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may be able to obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Then also in Hebrews chapter 10, "Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus." Why do we come so timidly into his presence? Why don't we come boldly? Well, what right do we have to come boldly? Because he said come. He said ask, and we're told how? By the blood of Jesus Christ. If Jesus on the cross said, "It's finished," and God said, "That's enough," why do we think it's not enough? We should be able to come boldly. "Well, I don't deserve it." That's irrelevant. It's irrelevant. He made you worthy. He justified you. So we should come boldly. So in whom, verse 12, "we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in him. Therefore I ask that you do not lose heart at my tribulations for you, which is your glory."

Remember I said that it would seem that some of these Ephesians were a little bit embarrassed, maybe, if not let down, if not just feeling sorry for Paul that he had to go through imprisonment. And Paul says, "Don't feel bad for me, man." He tells the Philippians, "This is by the will of God. This is for the furtherance of the gospel. Therefore I ask you not to lose heart at my tribulations for you, which is your glory."

There's something else before we finish out this letter, and by God's grace, we will finish chapter 3 tonight. I say by God's grace, but notice something in verse 11. It says, "According to the"—what are the two words?—"eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord." Do you realize that God's purpose will never be thwarted? It'll never be thwarted. It will never be pushed aside. God will do what he said he would do. The question is, like Paul, will you allow yourself to be an instrument through which God moves? God's going to fulfill his purpose with you or without you because he can do it, and he will do it. But the glorious assignment we have is to say, "Here am I, send me."

Remember your Old Testament? Remember the story when there was, in the Persian court of Ahasuerus, there was a man, an evil man, by the name of Haman, who signed a decree that all of the Jews in the empire should be killed on one day. And the reason he gave that order, and the king said it was okay to give that order, the reason he gave that order is because there was a man by the name of Mordecai who worked in the temple complex of Ahasuerus, who refused to pay homage and bow to Haman when he would go into work in the morning. Mordecai just stood there, "I'm not going to bow down to you." So Haman didn't like that, and he realized Mordecai was a Jew, and he said, "Let's kill all the Jews in the empire." So Mordecai talks to Esther, his relative, and says, "You've got to do something. You've got to go into the king and approach the king and put an end to this." And Esther says, "Man, Uncle, you don't understand protocol here. I can't just go into the king's chambers anytime. I have to be invited. If I'm not invited, my head will come off or could come off. So you don't understand how things work here in Washington. You know, I can't just go in." And so Mordecai writes back to her and said, "Listen, who knows that you haven't come to the kingdom for such a time as this? But if you don't step up and say something, deliverance will come from another quarter. God is going to deliver his people because he's made promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It's going to happen. The Jews aren't going to be slaughtered. God will bring deliverance from another quarter, but you have the opportunity, Esther, to be used. Will you do it? Will you say, 'Here am I, Lord, send me'?" So she finally wrote back and said, "Okay, pray for me. I'm going in." And God used her to do it.

So according to his eternal purpose, he's going to accomplish it. You and I have the great honor of being instruments through which he works. When Saul of Tarsus was on the Damascus Road, the first question he said is, "Lord, who are you?" Jesus said, "I'm Jesus, whom you are persecuting." Second question, "What do you want me to do?" Every Christian asks and gets answered the first question, "Who are you, Lord?" They understand who Jesus is as they give their lives to him. But not every Christian gets around to asking, "Lord, what do you want from my life?" And when you do, man, that's when the fun begins. That's when the adventure begins. That's when you ride the wave, and it's an awesome wave to ride. So get into the flow. Ask him.

For this reason, now he's back to the reason that he began chapter 3 with, "For this reason, I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named." Now you'll notice that Paul begins a prayer here, which is interesting because he's already prayed, like he does in a lot of his letters. He prays sort of at the beginning. He lets them know what he's prayed for about them. He does it again. He says, "For this reason, I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." Now if he really meant this literally, it would have been a fun sight to see Paul chained to a Roman guard saying, "Excuse me just a minute," and he has to stand up and then get down on his knees and start his prayer. [Processed]