Give Our Prayers and Praise to Jesus- Introduction to sermon series on prayer: (Eph. 3:14-21)

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Give Our Prayers and Praise to Jesus– Introduction to sermon series on prayer: (Eph. 3:14-21)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, January 11, 2026

Tim Keller writes:

Blaise Pascal, great French philosopher and a Christian believer, great mind … Some of you may know, and you can find this on the Internet. Just look up Pascal and put in the word fire. When he died, they discovered he had sewn into the inner lining of his coat a journal entry, a kind of a spiritual diary where he wrote down about an experience he had one night. This is what it said.

I’m paraphrasing a bit, but this is the first part of it. “In the year of grace 1654, Monday 23 November … From about half-past ten in the evening till about half an hour after midnight, FIRE. God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, Not of the philosophers and of the learned. Certainty. Joy. Certainty. Emotion. Sight. Joy! Joy! Joy! Tears of joy. My God, never leave me. Let me not be separated from you.” And on it goes.

Notice what he said there. “That night. FIRE. God of Abraham. God of Isaac. God of Jacob. Not the god of the philosophers and the learned.” But he was a philosopher and the learned. He was talking about himself, because that night he actually got what Paul is praying for you and me to have. That is something he had in principle, something he believed and knew in principle, that he actually experienced in his inner being, experienced in his heart.[1]

My Theme:

Paul prays for them to have spiritual strength.

Application:

Seek the Lord and gain spiritual strength in Him.

  1. Paul prays, notice that first.
    1. Paul gets down on his knees and prays.
    2. Ephesians 3:14–15 (ESV)
    3. 14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named…
    4. Paul says, “For this reason…” and that must look back. That looks back to what he had been writing about. He had been writing about salvation and unity to Jews and Gentiles alike. Remember Ephesians chapters 1-3 are all about our great, awesome, and glorious salvation. This made Paul pray and praise.
  2. Paul desires us to have strength.
    1. See that in verse 16:
    2. Ephesians 3:16 (ESV)
    3. 16…that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being…
    4. You see that? Paul wants us to have strength in the inner man. How do we get strength? Through the Holy Spirit. Notice the wording: “Riches” of “His glory” that you would be strengthened through His Spirit.
    5. John MacArthur preached on this passage and talked about being charged up by God. He preached about starting your engines.
  3. So, Paul also prays that we would know, or comprehend.
    1. See the next few verses:
    2. Ephesians 3:17–19 (ESV)
    3. 17…so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
    4. Paul prays that Christ may dwell in our hearts…. How does Christ dwell in our hearts? Through faith. Then Paul prays that we would be rooted and grounded in love.
    5. The word used for dwell in our hearts is the same type of word that would be used to live in our hearts. The word literally means to settle down and feel at home. Do you think that Christ feels at home in your heart right now?
    6. Paul goes on to pray that we would be “rooted and grounded in love.”
    7. A root needs to go deep to get water. That means that our root must go deep down to get water from the well that doesn’t go dry, which is Jesus.
    8. “Grounded” would be comparable to the foundation of a house. We want to have a solid, firm foundation in love.
    9. Verses 18-19 speak of God’s love.
    10. Paul had prayed that we be strengthened by the power of the Holy Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ will feel at home in our hearts through our faith, and that we are rooted and grounded in love, and now Paul prays that we understand the love of God, which we cannot understand.
    11. Verses 18-19: How wide, how long, how high, and how deep is the love of God.
    12. This is simply showing how vast and complete the love of God is.
    13. When believers accept Jesus Christ’s revelation of the mystery of the church, they are able to comprehend that God’s love is broad enough (“breadth”) to embrace both Jews and Gentiles in the church. They can appreciate that it is long enough (“length”) to reach the far off (Gentiles) as well as the near (Jews), and to stretch from eternity to eternity. They can see that it is high enough (“height”) to raise both Jews and Gentiles into the heavenly places. They can understand that it is deep enough (“depth”) to rescue both kinds of people from sin’s degradation and from Satan’s grip (Dr. Constable, Dallas Theological Seminary).
    14. God’s love is immense.
    15. Now look again at verse 19: Paul prays that we know the love of God that surpasses knowledge
    16. Can we know the love of God if it is so complex that it surpasses knowledge? I think we can. It surpasses knowledge in the world; however, through the Holy Spirit, as God’s children, we can know the love of God. We experience the love of God in a spiritual way!
    17. If we do know the love of God, we will be filled with the fullness of the Spirit. So, this passage is saying that God loves us. God loves us so much that he will never renounce us. God loves us so much that we can’t comprehend that love without the Holy Spirit. God loves us so much that we can only experience His love.
    18. How do we experience God’s love?
  4. We must seek the Lord in prayer.
    1. Ephesians 3:20–21 (ESV)
    2. 20 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, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
    3. Look at this passage.
    4. Now, to Him…
    5. Paul is going to the Lord.
    6. The Lord can do far more abundantly.
    7. Notice the modifiers- far more abundantly. There is superlative language in this.
    8. God can do more than we ask or think.
    9. So, we can ask the Lord for things, but He can do far more abundantly than we ask.
    10. He can do far more abundantly than we think.
    11. This is according to the power at work within us.
    12. The power at work within us is the Holy Spirit.
    13. Tim Keller makes this come alive:
    14. In the old days photography required something called film. It also actually in some cases required photographic paper. Film and paper were sensitized by chemicals, so it was sensitive to light.
    15. Here’s a camera. The shutter opens, and in comes light bouncing off of a tree. It comes and hits the film or hits the photographic paper. If that film or that paper has been sensitized with chemicals, then it grips the image. It permanently stays on there. The light from the tree hits it, and it creates an image of a tree on the film. If it has not been treated, it opens, it shuts, the light comes in, and no difference.
    16. Without the work of the Holy Spirit … Maybe I should actually say to the degree you’re experiencing this work of the Holy Spirit, when you have presented to you Christian truth, God is holy, God is wise, God is absolutely sovereign, God is unconditionally loving and gracious, if the Holy Spirit has sensitized your heart and you are presented with a sermon, with a book, with a talk, with an idea, with a text of the Scripture, you’re presented with the idea of God being absolutely sovereign and good, if your heart has been spiritually sensitized, you feel safe.[2]
    17. Eph. 3:21 is a doxology.
    18. …to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
    19. The end of Paul’s prayer is worship.
    20. Paul bows his knees before the Father.
    21. Paul worships.
  5. We must go to the Lord.
    1. The Apostle Paul was closing three chapters of theology, and he closed with prayer.
    2. Seek the Lord in prayer.
    3. But don’t simply pray and be done with it. Live with Jesus (John 15).
    4. We have the Holy Spirit within us (Rom. 8:9).
    5. Please- if you know Jesus- join us in prayer this year.
    6. Think of a few close family members or friends who do not know Jesus and pray daily for their salvation.
    7. Pray daily for your spiritual growth. Notice that Paul’s prayer in this passage is spiritual; it is not for physical needs.
    8. Remember what I shared about Pascal, pray to experience Jesus in your life.
    9. Spend time each morning, afternoon, or evening in prayer.
    10. Start with 5 minutes in prayer and 5 minutes in the Bible.
    11. Take time in the car and turn off distractions and pray.
    12. Pray as you walk and do dishes.
    13. There are different types of prayer, and we will get into that in the coming weeks.
    14. Some prayer is interceding. We are asking for God’s help.
    15. Another type of prayer is worship.
    16. Another type of prayer is listening to the Lord for direction.
    17. As a church, we will be having prayer meetings, prayer walks, and other times to focus on prayer this year.
    18. Join us.

Let’s pray.

[1] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

[2] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

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