Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Foreign.
[00:00:07] It's Rick. Welcome back to the Nomad Pastor Podcast.
[00:00:11] Sorry for the absence. Been traveling a lot for work and I, I know that's not an excuse, but sometimes it's just hard to, hard to fit in the time to do all the preparation and, and just getting ready for the podcast and just spending time with the Lord in prayer. And so I do want to welcome you back and, and just thank you for the.
[00:00:32] And today we're going to dig into Ephesians Chapter three.
[00:00:37] The last two episodes we did Ephesians one and Ephesians two. And so today we're moving into chapter three. And it's a chapter where. It's a chapter where Paul gets real about his calling. He gets real about God's plan and the immeasurable love and power available to each and every one of us in Christ. This chapter really gives us a behind the scene look into the heart of Paul, right into his mission, into his passion, and really into his prayers for the church.
[00:01:13] So if you've ever felt like an outsider, if you've ever wondered if there's room for you in God's story, if you've struggled with believing God really loves you, this chapter, Ephesians 3, this chapter is for you and for me. I've been through that myself. And sometimes it's hard when we have that struggle.
[00:01:38] I'm going to start with Ephesians 3:1:6 from the NASB. It says, for this reason I, Paul the prisoner of Christ Jesus, for the sake of you Gentiles, if indeed you have heard of the administration of God's grace which was given to me for you, and that by revelation, there was made known to me the mystery that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body.
[00:02:07] You see, when Paul writes this, Paul is in prison, but he doesn't call himself a prisoner. He's in prison in Rome, but he doesn't say, hey, I'm a prisoner in Rome. He says, I am a prisoner of Christ Jesus.
[00:02:24] That's two very different contexts and it's very powerful, right? He could have said, hey, I'm a prisoner in Rome as I'm writing this letter. But no, he says, I'm a prisoner of Christ Jesus for your sake, for the sake of the Gentiles.
[00:02:44] Paul knew who he belonged to.
[00:02:48] Even when he's in horrible circumstances. And those circumstances looked like a huge defeat.
[00:02:58] He still said, I'm a prisoner of Christ Jesus.
[00:03:03] And, and then he goes on and he talks about this mystery.
[00:03:09] He says, the mystery that had had Been revealed to him, right? Made known to me. The mystery.
[00:03:18] It's a truth that for a long time was hidden, but now it's revealed and it's a huge one, right? The mystery, it's just astronomically huge. The Gentiles are full members of God's family.
[00:03:38] You see, before Jesus and before Paul's ministry, the Gentiles were outsiders, right? If you weren't Jewish, if you weren't part of the Israel nation, you were not worthy.
[00:03:57] But here we are where Paul is saying the Gentiles, everybody not Jewish, are full members of God's family.
[00:04:11] Gentiles were looked down on, they were considered unworthy.
[00:04:16] But Paul teaches us right here that through Jesus, they're in, they're part of the family. They're coming to Thanksgiving dinner whether you like it or not.
[00:04:28] To the one who has ever felt like an outsider, listen, you belong, you are not second class in the kingdom of God. You have every right and every, everything given in glory. You are a full heir, fully loved, fully welcomed, right? It's just like when people fill out their paperwork for their, you know, their will, right? How is my estate being divided up? Right?
[00:05:01] I checked the box that says all living family members, right? All living children.
[00:05:07] Of course it says spouse and then if not spouse, then who? And it says all living children.
[00:05:16] Well, that's what this is, right?
[00:05:18] Jesus said all living children, Everybody, not just some.
[00:05:25] So I want you to think about that. Have you ever believed that lie that the world tells us, that lie that other people tell you no matter what your situation is? Have you ever believed that lie that you weren't worthy for God's love?
[00:05:43] And listening to this, I want you to really think about how, knowing that through Jesus you're in the family, full members of God's family.
[00:05:59] How does that truth change the way you look at yourself?
[00:06:05] That's an important thing to ponder, to think about, to pray about, right?
[00:06:11] Because a lot of times we are very self deprecating.
[00:06:15] We very much heap these coals on ourselves.
[00:06:21] I'm not worthy. I did this. I did that. God could never love me. No, he already does.
[00:06:31] So let's move on to Ephesians 3, 7, 13.
[00:06:36] And again, this is the NASP. It says of which I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace to me, the very least of all saints. This grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ so that the multifaceted wisdom of God might now be known through the church.
[00:07:02] You see here we learn how Paul is overwhelmed by God's grace, that someone like him, who was once Saul, once a persecutor of Christians, once a murderer of Christians, he would hunt them down.
[00:07:22] How someone like Paul would be called to preach the glory and riches of Christ and not just preach to anyone.
[00:07:34] He was called to preach to those who were on the outside, those who were not part of the family, those who were not in, those who were looked down upon.
[00:07:45] That's who he was called to preach to. Because God's grace is so overwhelming, it's unmeasurable.
[00:07:56] He calls in these passages, he calls God's wisdom multifaceted.
[00:08:04] Think about that. Multifaceted, he says, through the church, which is all of us, everybody listening. You know, you don't got to go to a building. The building isn't the church. That through the church, us.
[00:08:20] God shows his glory even to the spiritual realms.
[00:08:28] So let it sink in, right? Your life, your redemption, your healing, your salvation, your story, it's all put God's grace on display. That's what it does. It puts the grace of God on display for everyone else to see.
[00:08:49] And if you're listening and you feel too far gone, if you don't feel like you qualify, well, Paul felt that, too.
[00:08:58] And Paul was a lion for the church, and he felt the same way.
[00:09:07] But grace changes everything.
[00:09:11] You don't need to be perfect to be used.
[00:09:16] You just have to be willing.
[00:09:20] You just have to be willing to say yes. If you've spent any time listening to this podcast, you know that for over two years, God was calling me to sit down in front of a mic and talk.
[00:09:35] That's not me. That's not who I am. It's not who I ever wanted to be. I don't need fame or any of that stuff, right?
[00:09:43] And certainly I'm not famous. But I'm just saying that this wasn't what I thought I was perfect to do.
[00:09:54] And I am far, far, far, far from a perfect person.
[00:10:02] But I was willing.
[00:10:05] You don't have to be perfect. You just have to be willing. You just have to say, yes, Lord.
[00:10:14] So if you think about your story, right, your walk with God, what part of your story do you think God wants to use to show his grace to other people?
[00:10:32] That's a very big question to answer. Because everybody's story is different.
[00:10:41] Everybody's walk is different.
[00:10:44] And God has a plan for each and every one of them.
[00:10:48] Because your story may touch somebody else, and my story may touch a different person.
[00:10:56] And that's why it's Important to tell it.
[00:11:02] Just ponder that for a little bit.
[00:11:05] And as you think about that, I'm going to move on to Ephesians 3, 14, 19.
[00:11:12] For this reason, I bend my knees before the Father that He would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend the width, length, height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge.
[00:11:39] This is a prayer, and to me it's one of the most beautiful in Scripture, because in this prayer, Paul's not praying for money. He's not praying for success. He's not praying for his glory.
[00:11:58] He's praying that the church would be strengthened inside, that we would be strengthened inside because we are the church.
[00:12:09] And he's praying that it be rooted deeply in the love of Jesus, because Paul wants us to grasp how massive God's love is. It's wider than sin. It's deeper than our pain. It's higher than our thoughts. It's longer than our failures.
[00:12:32] The width, length, height and depth.
[00:12:38] And to know the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge that we may comprehend the width, length, height and depth, that is powerful, just absolutely powerful.
[00:12:58] So if you're listen, listening right now, and you've never felt fully loved, you are, and you can right now. You don't have to earn it, you just have to receive it.
[00:13:14] God's love isn't small, and God's love isn't limited. It is overwhelming. And it's for you and me and everybody else.
[00:13:27] So what do you think it would look like to be rooted and grounded in the love of Christ for the next week, for the next two weeks, for the next month, for the next year, for the rest of your life, what would it look like to be rooted and grounded in love, to comprehend the width, length, height and depth? If you did that, if you could comprehend it, how would that change the way you treat yourself?
[00:13:59] And how would that change the way you treat others?
[00:14:05] That's a big question.
[00:14:09] If you could comprehend that, right, this podcast to be released like the Wednesday after Resurrection Sunday, and trying to comprehend this, that on Good Friday, Jesus went to the cross, went to the cross and suffered horrific pain and agony because of the abundance of his love for us, how would that change? Knowing that, how you treat yourself, how would that change how you treat others?
[00:14:51] Let's move on to Ephesians 3, 20, 21 says now to him who is able to do far more abundantly, beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within him, within us, to him to be. Glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus, to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
[00:15:15] Paul ends this with a declaration of praise.
[00:15:22] And what a declaration it is. He says God can be immeasurably more than we ask or imagine.
[00:15:30] Not just a little more, not just next week, more, far more, beyond all that we ask or think.
[00:15:40] And he does it through his power at work in us.
[00:15:47] That means, and if I can try to simplify it, that means God isn't distant from us.
[00:15:55] He's not watching from afar.
[00:16:00] His power is working in us right now through the Holy Spirit, through grace, through transformation.
[00:16:09] He's with us, right next to us, inside us, working in us. He's not sitting up somewhere far away.
[00:16:23] And that glory, right, that comes from through the Spirit, through grace, through transformation. The glory begins with him, not just in our lives, but in the church body.
[00:16:39] That's the beauty of the body of Christ. That's the beauty of the church body. It's not about perfect people, it's about forgiven people, showing the power of God.
[00:16:54] So if you're, if you're praying like for this breakthrough, that feels impossible.
[00:17:00] This is your reminder.
[00:17:03] God can do more. Don't stop asking, don't stop believing. He can do it and he is able.
[00:17:15] You know, what if you stopped asking because it felt too big? What if you stopped asking because it's just too impossible?
[00:17:27] I have personal experience to say, don't stop asking, don't stop believing. He is who he says he is and he is capable of fulfilling it all.
[00:17:46] You see, as we look back through Ephesians chapter three, it reminds us of a few kind of life changing truths.
[00:18:01] You belong in the family of God. No matter what your past is.
[00:18:08] Your story, that story has purpose.
[00:18:13] And God's grace can use it to reveal his wisdom. God's wisdom.
[00:18:21] You are loved more deeply than you can imagine. And God wants you to be rooted in that love.
[00:18:32] God's power, it's at work in you. And he can do far more than you think possible. You just have to be willing.
[00:18:43] So this week, maybe listen to this message again. Think about the questions that I've asked.
[00:18:52] Take Paul's prayer and make it your own.
[00:18:58] Ask God to strengthen your inner self with the Holy Spirit.
[00:19:05] Spend some time to meditate on how wide and deep his love is for you.
[00:19:14] And pray boldly because the God who is able is listening.
[00:19:24] Look, I want to thank you for listening today.
[00:19:27] You are seen. You are loved. You are called to so much more than just what this world has to offer.
[00:19:36] So much more than just surviving.
[00:19:40] You are called to a life of abundance.
[00:19:44] So I want you to remember. This is Rick from the Nomad Pastor Podcast. And always remember to love God and love people.
