The Secret to an Empowered Life
The Secret to an Empowered Life
In a world filled with distractions and competing priorities, many Christians struggle to understand how to live the empowered life that Christ promised. The Apostle Paul, writing to believers in Ephesus who lived in a thriving city much like our modern world, understood this challenge and revealed three essential keys to victorious living.The first key is recognizing that Jesus Christ has called believers to something far greater than anything the world offers. While many chase after relationships, careers, money, or experiences thinking these will bring fulfillment, Christ offers a life that transcends worldly pursuits. This greater life provides hope that remains constant through difficulties, job loss, financial struggles, or relationship breakdowns. The second key involves understanding that every believer is God's treasured possession. Even when we were at our worst, God saw us as worth dying for and chose us as His inheritance. This truth transforms how we see ourselves and sets us free from the fear of rejection that holds many people back.The third key is grasping that believers are empowered by the Holy Spirit, who imparts divine power directly into their lives. This power becomes most evident during times of grief, illness, or when everything seems to be falling apart. The empowered life means navigating both abundance and need while maintaining hope because the Spirit remains as a constant companion and source of strength. These truths aren't meant to remain as mere knowledge but should transform how believers live, love, and impact the world around them.
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The Secret of An Empowered Life: Three Keys to Living Victoriously
In a world filled with distractions and competing priorities, many Christians find themselves wondering how to live the empowered life that Christ promised. The Apostle Paul, writing to the church in Ephesus, understood this struggle. These believers lived in a thriving city full of commerce, wealth, and spiritual idolatry - much like our modern world. Despite their strong faith, Paul knew they needed a reminder of who they truly were in Christ.
What Does It Mean to Live an Empowered Life?
Paul's prayer in Ephesians 1:15-23 reveals three essential truths that form the foundation of an empowered Christian life. He prayed that believers would have their "eyes of understanding enlightened" to know three specific things. These aren't just theological concepts - they're life-changing realities that should transform how we see ourselves and live our daily lives.
Key #1: You Are Called to Live a Greater Life Through Christ
Understanding the Hope of His Calling
The first secret to an empowered life is recognizing that Jesus Christ has called you to something far greater than anything the world offers. This isn't about following rules or being "good enough" - it's about understanding that Christ offers a life that transcends worldly pursuits.
Many people chase after relationships, careers, money, or experiences thinking these will bring fulfillment. Yet countless individuals have discovered that even when they achieve these things, they still feel empty. The "after-party" mentality of the world - seeking happiness through temporary pleasures - leaves people helping others who are broken rather than finding true satisfaction themselves.
What Are You Settling For?
As Christians, we must honestly examine what we've allowed ourselves to get caught up in as if they were the most important things in life. Have we been pursuing careers, relationships, possessions, or popularity as our primary source of meaning? Jesus offers something infinitely greater.
This greater life isn't about restriction - it's about freedom. When we go through difficulties, lose jobs, face financial struggles, or experience relationship breakdowns, we have a hope that transcends all circumstances. We have something greater to live for.
Key #2: You Are Treasured by the Father
Understanding God's Inheritance
The second key to empowered living is grasping that you are God's treasured possession. When Paul speaks of "the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints," he's not primarily talking about what we inherit from God, but what God inherits - us.
Think about this: God doesn't need anything, yet He chose you as His inheritance. He made you in His image and declares you as His prized possession. Even when we were at our worst - lost in sin, broken, and unattractive - God still saw us as worth dying for.
How This Changes Everything
When you truly understand that you're treasured by your Heavenly Father, it transforms how you see yourself and how you allow others to treat you. You can walk into your workplace knowing that the Creator of the universe thinks you're amazing - not because of what you do, but because of who you are.
This truth sets you free from the fear of rejection that holds so many people back. You don't have to earn God's love or prove your worth. You're already His treasured child, loved equally with every other believer, chosen before the foundation of the world.
Key #3: You Are Empowered by the Holy Spirit
The Exceeding Greatness of His Power
The third key is understanding that you have been and will be empowered by the Holy Spirit. The Greek word used here, "endunamayo," means to impart power into someone. God takes His exceeding, amazing power and imparts it directly into believers.
This isn't about having power in yourself - it's about God giving you His power to use. Like a driving instructor who sits beside a learner driver, the Holy Spirit comes alongside you, imparting His power while guiding and directing your steps.
When Do You Need This Power Most?
The empowered life isn't just about feeling strong during good times. You need the Holy Spirit's power most when you're grieving, when something's gone wrong, when facing a cancer diagnosis, or when everything seems to be falling apart. That's when His strength becomes your strength.
The empowered life means going through both abundance and need, success and failure, while maintaining hope because you have the Spirit with you. It's about understanding that you never graduate from needing the Holy Spirit - He remains your constant companion and source of strength.
Living Out These Truths
From Knowledge to Action
God doesn't want you to sit on the sidelines waiting for Him to do everything. He says, "You drive - I'll guide you, fill you with My power, and give you direction, but you take action." This is why Jesus said that if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can move mountains.
Too many Christians are trying to live illegally in the Spirit - either not believing the Holy Spirit is there or not inviting Him in. Then they wonder why they feel powerless and ineffective.
The Church's True Identity
The church isn't just a small group of people trying their best until Jesus returns. We are the presence, the power, and the body of Christ on earth. We have the Holy Spirit, and where we tread, demons tremble. This should change how we approach evangelism, prayer, and believing for breakthrough in people's lives.
Life Application
This week, choose to live from these three foundational truths rather than from your circumstances or feelings. Start each day by declaring: "I am called to a greater life through Christ, I am treasured by my Heavenly Father, and I am empowered by the Holy Spirit."
Look for opportunities to step out in faith - whether that's inviting someone to church, praying for a sick friend, or simply walking with greater confidence knowing who you are in Christ. Remember, the power of God flows through His love, so spend time receiving His love for you personally.
Ask yourself these questions:
What worldly pursuits have I been settling for instead of embracing the greater life Christ offers?
Do I truly believe I'm treasured by God, or am I still trying to earn His love through performance?
Am I living as someone empowered by the Holy Spirit, or am I trying to navigate life in my own strength?
What would change in my daily life if I fully embraced these three truths?
The secret to an empowered life isn't about what you do - it's about what you know and believe about who you are in Christ. When these truths become revelation rather than just information, they will transform how you live, love, and impact the world around you.
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A discussion guide for the sermon can be found here.
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Lord, as we come around your word today, we thank you that you're going to speak to us. Lord, we thank you God. Your word is life and it is life giving. It isn't boring, God, it isn't old, it is new and fresh.
It's like a two edged sword, Lord. And we're ready. Our hearts open, Jesus, like you said, those with ears to hear, let him hear what God is saying. And so we open our ears of our heart, Lord God, speak to us. We pray in Jesus name.
Amen. Well, good to see everyone here today. Great to see you. Well, I can't see you, but you can see us. And it's so good to have you join with us online.
And I get to hear people, you know, people who've in our church congregation many times. Their first part of connecting with us is through our online service. So thank you. And we're looking at ways to improve it all the time and please interact with us, you know, put some comments up there and I hope it's a blessing to you. Right.
God's good. Hey, so many good things happening in the life of our church and but we got to get into the Word. So. Ephesians, Ephesians chapter one. I want to go and do a little bit of a look at a couple of verses in Ephesians chapter one.
And I'm going to give you a little bit of background before we do so that it makes sense in the context of what we're talking the New Testament. The book of Ephesians is one of the letters that the Apostle Paul wrote while he was in prison. It was written in about AD 60 or so, about 30 odd years after Jesus had died and risen from the dead. And what had happened in that time is the church had risen up, people had given their lives to Christ. And the Apostle Paul had gone on some missionary journeys and he'd gone into a city called Ephesus, which was a thriving city in the Roman Empire.
And we won't go into all the details, but it was a rich city. It was full of commerce, it was a lot of. It was an epicenter. It was a thriving city like Melbourne was. We're a thriving, powerful city.
And so was Ephesus. And it was also the center of a lot of worship of other gods. There were a lot of temples there, Greek gods, Roman gods. And so there was a lot of spirituality going on. There was a lot of people pursuing their careers, pursuing riches, pursuing power.
And there was a lot of people pursuing their passions. And what feels good for me And I will do it. There was a lot of abuse going on, actually, of people, because it was like people being used. It's like sexual immorality was strong. People just doing whatever felt good for them to try and live their life.
And so in the midst of that, Paul went into that city and he preached the gospel. He preached about Christ. And something amazing happened. People turned their lives over to Jesus Christ and totally transformed and changed. They said, jesus, you're my Lord and Savior.
And they started living different. And what actually happened in Ephesus is a revival broke out. It was so strong that the people of the city, many of them were like, what is going on? And they tried to kill Paul. They tried to take him out, and he escaped the city, but there was a riots going on, but the church grew and was strong.
And so now we're years later, and Paul's in prison in Rome and he knows about Ephesus. He knows the people there. He'd been there for a couple of years, planting that church. But like anything, these are people that had loved God. Their lives have been transformed, like a lot of us.
Hey. And yet they still lived in Ephesus. Even though Jesus has changed our lives, we still live in Melbourne, and the world still exists around us. The same temptations, the same passions of others. There's spiritual idolatry going on.
People are doing what feels good for them and saying, hey, if it feels good, I should be able to do it. People are pursuing riches and money and popularity and fame, all of these things. And here we are as Christians in the midst of that. And Paul spoke into Ephesus and he said, I'm proud of who you are. I thank God for who you are.
But he wanted to bring them back to some keys about who they truly are and how they're to live the life God's called them to. And so we're going to read a couple of scriptures and we're going to take some points out of it, because I've titled today's message the Secret of An Empowered Life. The Secret to an Empowered Life. Because who knows that we're called to live a life for Christ, A life that's full of life, full of hope, that is different from the rest of the world. But I live in the world and it can get to me.
And Paul knew that of Ephesus, he knows that of us, and so he speaks into it. So we're going to go into Ephesians, chapter 1, verse 15 from the New Living Translation. And this is what Paul says to The Ephesian Church, and He says it to us. Ever since I first heard of your strong faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for God's people everywhere, I have not stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God.
I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called his holy people, who are his rich and glorious inheritance. I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God's power for us who believe Him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God's right hand in the heavenly realms. Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else, not only in this world, but also in the world to come. God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church.
And the church is his body. It is made full and complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere with Himself. I want to tell you this. The church is not peripheral to the world. The church is not a little subset, little bunch of people doing a little service while the world gets on with the important stuff.
In actual fact, in God's kingdom, in eternity, the world is peripheral to the church. Do we realize that? Do you realize that what God is doing in his church, in his people, in our hearts, is more important than what is happening in the world, what he is doing in his church, in his people? The body of Christ is for eternity. It is the kingdom of God.
It is what he has established. And as Christians, we need to get an understanding of what God is doing in my heart, in my life, in his church, his body, not the building, the people of God. What he is doing is far more important than anything else that is happening in the world. That we are called to live an empowered, supernatural, on fire, for God life. Not a life where it's like I fit God into that little pocket there when I can.
And Paul wanted to say that to the Ephesians, said, I thank God for what he's doing in you. But my prayer for you is that you would have a revelation of who you really are, of who God's truly called you to be, of what he wants to do in you. There is a secret to the empowered life he's called you to live. And his prayer was, I want you to Be enlightened, that you would grab a hold of it and then you would go out and live it. And so today I want to talk about three things of the secret of an empowered life.
What are these things that Paul prayed in this passage? And to do that, I'm going to go to the new King James Version and reread verse 18 and 19 because we find them here. It says this. This is Paul's prayer. He prays that the eyes of your understanding being enlightened.
He said, I want you to have a revelation that you would see this clearly, that you may know three things and this is what they are. What is the hope of his calling? What are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints? And what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe? There are three things that the apostle Paul says, you want to know the secret to living the life Christ has for you?
Realizing that what God is doing in you and in us is more important than anything else. These are the keys and I want to talk about them today. The first one is this that he wants us to know. God wants you to know. Paul wants us to know.
I want you to know that you are called to live a greater life through Christ, the hope of his calling.
We gotta get this in our heart because this should be one of the most exciting things. Some of us remember when we first got saved. Some of us have just gotten saved. And it's fresh and it's new and it's life giving, but it should stay there. The hope of his calling.
Do you understand what he's talking about? There's so much depth in that. But he's saying, Jesus Christ came to give you a new life, to be born again. Remember when we hear the water baptism testimonies. I once was lost.
I was caught up in drugs. I was caught up in pain. Some people have been suicidal and said I didn't know what was living for anymore. And then I met Jesus. And what happened?
They were called to a greater life. They were given a hope through Christ, not through our own works, through the blood and the precious sacrifice of Christ. He said, I've got a new life for you and brothers and sisters. That should be the first. And for that needs to be the foundation of our lives, the calling God has given me.
I am called to live a greater life than anything else I see in the world. And when I'm not, I need to get back. I need to say God, will you enlighten me? Will you show me again? Will you reveal to me again, because I've lost it here.
I've missed it. I've missed it. Talking about people missing it. There's so many people in the world, they think they know what Christianity is. My daughter just had her formal and year 12 formal.
Who remembers their year 12 formal? About three of us. I still remember mine. Very, very valuable. I approached, I thought I knew what a formal was.
Yeah, you just, you know, you just, you quickly get, you know, have a shower, get dressed and put some shoes on and off you go. Right. That's what blokes do. And well, I've got a 17 year old daughter and I discovered that that's not the process. There's a far deeper process.
Men, fathers, women, you know what I'm talking about, right? The process started with the selection of a dress and that took a fair while. We trying different dresses on this one, maybe this one, maybe this one. So that took a while. All right, we've got the dress done.
Now we've got to find the shoes to go with that dress. Now you've got to find all the different options of how high are the heels? Can I walk in these heels properly? Man, we don't even understand what is going on. I don't get women.
What are you doing? I mean, I'm not going to do it. I watch my daughter trying to walk really high ones, shorter ones, we got to work that out. And then I thought, right, we've done that, now we're done. Nuh, now we've got to get our hair done.
And that's a specialized process. And I'm like, okay, right, okay, we'll do that. Then I picked my daughter up from work and she's like, dad, I need to get my brows done. I'm like, I want to go home. She's like, dad, it's either going to be tomorrow or now.
You choose. So we went to the Brow place where she got her brows done. And while she was waiting, she had to go to the shop to get more makeup and get her nails to put on. And then on the Saturday of the formal, Kat from church, DJ Kat, Kat, who used to work in this and does makeup, used to do it for a living. She came around our house and spent like two hours doing Ella's makeup so she could apparently look beautiful for the formal, more beautiful than she already did.
What? I was like, you already look beautiful. What are you doing? This is what guys think sometimes. What are you doing?
But she looked as beautiful going to the formal all dressed up nicely as she always does and was very nice and pretty, and it was all nice. But I was like, my goodness, there's a lot of work that goes on, all right? And women are probably going, yeah, Adrian, Yeah, Wake up. All right, this is what goes on. And so we took Ella to the formal, and she was beautiful, and everyone's dolled themselves up.
And then my job was to pick her up. And so she messaged me while she's at the formal, and she goes, dad, she goes, there's an after formal party. The after formal party is on afterwards. And she goes, can I please go? And we'd talked about this, and she hasn't gone to these things before.
And I was like, well, she's 17 now. I'd gone to one when I was younger and told her it was rubbish. You don't want to go to him. But she wants to experience it for herself. So we checked it all out.
We looked at who the parents are, where's the place, all of this. And I said, okay, you can go. And then as the classic father, I'm messaging her. And then I got there early, and I just sat in the car outside the house waiting for her. And she came out after being at this party for an hour or so, and I said, how was the after formal party?
And she looks at me and she said, it was very eye opening, dad. Eye opening. And we left it at that, because I knew what she meant. Because I remember when I was younger and I was about 16, 16 years old, I went to an after musical party with my friends, and this was a Christian school. And I remember going there, and I didn't drink, and I had a mate who didn't drink, but all these other guys were drinking and they were getting drunk, and one of them had one drink and he threw up because he wasn't used to drinking.
And then people were starting to kiss each other, who we knew at school, didn't even. Like, they couldn't stand each other at school. But suddenly here. And it was like. And so my job at this after formal, after musical party became helping people on the couch and lie down on the couch.
And I was going to the kitchen and getting them water and helping them just look after themselves and do all that. And I was like, that's the last one I ever want to go. I realized when I looked at that and when I talked to my daughter, I went, this is what people are living for in the world. They're caught up with this calling. Is that a life?
And it's like people after work, they Go. They just want to go to the pub. I want to go out with mates, I want to go party. I want to go to a nightclub. And some people don't like that.
But they're pursuing their careers and going, that's my goal. Or they're pursuing a relationship and going, that's going to make me happy, or this is going to make me happy. And all these things the world thinks are going to make them happy. You know, people are looking at religion and spirituality that's gonna make me happy the whole time. Jesus Christ has a calling that supersedes all of that by an infinite amount.
And we need to get that in our hearts. Not having a go at people that are caught up in that stuff. They're looking for happiness, they're looking for hope. They're looking for something. They're looking for meaning.
People are looking for relationship. They want to feel something. They want to feel okay about life. Jesus Christ is the one who does that, greater than anyone ever could or ever would for us. And as Christians, we need to realize, I'm called to a greater life.
Can I ask you this? What are the things you're settling for? What are the things you've allowed yourself to get caught up with? As if they're the most important things in life? When Jesus Christ is offering you something far greater, we know this, don't we?
How many of us have pursued relationships thinking, that's going to make me happy. And then you get into a relationship and you discover, oh, that ain't what I thought, or it goes terribly wrong. And it's like, oh, I want to tell you, that's the same for everything in life. People are pursuing other gods. They're pursuing spirituality and things like Buddhism and other things, trying to find happiness and peace.
And the whole time Jesus is there saying, I have a greater life for you. You. It's not a life restricting you, it's a life that releases you into freedom. The great tragedy of what I was talking about before is that the places I went to this party with and my daughter, they were Christian schools. And these people, their parents were brought up Christians.
And yet as Christians, they were pursuing the things of the world before Jesus Christ, thinking it was the thing that satisfied them. We're not here to be goody two shoes. We're not here to be holier than thou. We're here to be humble. We're here to say, hey, we've all got our temptations and our faults, but actually we've realized that the only hope we really have is in Jesus.
And when I go astray, I come back to him and say, can I encourage you? Maybe you've been pursuing things. Maybe it's been a career, a relationship, money, possessions, popularity. Maybe it's been sexual immorality because it feels good and I just want meaning in my life.
Come back to the Lord Jesus and say, lord, can you give me that greater life? I want a greater life in you. These things won't satisfy. I'm called to a greater life through Christ. There are people all over this church that have been coming into this place.
You know why you're here? You're not here because you decided, I'm going to follow all the rules and I'm going to be a brilliant Christian and God's going to be really happy with me. You know why you're here? You discovered there was something greater. There was something more worth living for.
And it wasn't found out there. It was found in the heart of Jesus Christ. And he drew you. He's drawn you. He's given you a hunger.
And he said, I've got a life for you. It's greater. Oh, come and partake of that. You've opened the word. I know people have been reading half the Bible before they even started coming to church because they got a hunger in them, because they realize there's a greater life for you.
Are you living in that? Are you living Christians being saved for 10 years, 15, 20 years? Come on. Called to a greater life. Paul said, come on, Ephesian church, you're rich.
You've got your church sorted out. You love the Lord, but you've gotten comfortable. We can look at our church and go, oh, look at us. Oh, isn't that nice? We got great worship.
We got plans for the future. You know, without the Lord Jesus Christ and our passionate heart for him, it's all useless. It actually becomes a negative. You know what? I can tell you all about the plans for expansion and, oh, we're going to build a church and all of that.
You know what if we get comfortable and say, that's why I'm here and that's what's going to draw me in. Oh, Lord, I don't want to be a part of that. Lord, I don't care about that. You know what? As for me, I've been in places in Mozambique, in Africa, out in the country where they don't have electricity or running water, and we've had meetings literally with a tent covering on dirt ground where the spirit of the Lord was and God was moving in People's hearts and lives.
I don't need a building. I don't need the lights. I just need Jesus Christ in here. That's what you need. That's what we need.
And everything else flows out of that. You want an empowered life, realize you're called to a greater life through the Lord Jesus Christ. And when I go through difficulties, brothers and sisters, when I go through pain, I've got a hope. When I lose my job, when my finances look bad, when the interest rates go up and I go, oh, no, my rent's gone up, all of these things that happen and mishaps and relationships break down, I go, thank God, I've got a hope in you, Jesus Christ, that transcends all of it. Thank you, Lord.
I got something greater to live for, because here's my hope. That's the first one, right? Settle down. That's to me. Now, don't settle down, because it's exciting that you would be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of his calling.
And then he says this. And this is incredible, right? This is amazing, but we've got to explain it. He says, what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints? That you'd know the hope of his calling and that you would know the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.
What a mouthful. What does that mean? And sometimes we look at that word and go, well, inheritance. Oh, what do I get out of it? Oh, I've got something good.
And it's true. When we come to Christ, we get some beautiful, wonderful things. The promises of God are yes and amen, or we get blessed and we receive his life and his love. And it's so beautiful. But this passage, most scholars don't believe it's talking about our inheritance.
It's something greater. It's something more profound. It's something that will change your life if you live it and have a revelation and be enlightened to it. It's talking about God's inheritance. What does God inherit?
And you know what? He inherits? Us. So the second thing that you got to realize if you want to live an empowered life is that you have a calling to a greater life. But you are treasured by our Father.
You are treasured by the Father, by Father God, our heavenly. You are so treasured that he has declared that you are his inheritance. Oh, yeah.
All of creation. Romans 8, brothers and sisters, is one of my favorite passages in the world, in all of scripture, that all of creation is groaning in anticipation of the Day when we will be revealed as the sons and daughters of God, the whole of the universe. And God chose you as his inheritance. He made you in his image.
Not just so you could do some good things, so that he could declare, look at my children, look at my family. Oh, I love who I've made. Look at who they are. You're his inheritance. God doesn't need anything.
He doesn't need anything, but he wants you. And he declares you as his inheritance. So much so that when we were just a shell of ourselves, when we were lost in sin, when we were all mucky and just think of when you get really sick, guys, when you get really sick. And it's like, you know, we the man flu. And it's like, oh, poor me.
And we haven't had a shower and we're sweaty and we're not attractive and you smell. You're just lying there in bed and it's like some of our spouses and are going, get up and do something. Come on. I've gone through childbirth. What's this?
We're lying in our pain and our agony and it's all, poor me. God takes you like that and says, let me restore you. Let me breathe life into you. Let me send my son for you. I'll take you just like that.
And I'm gonna resurrect you into who I've truly called you to be. Cause you're my inheritance. This is the beauty. When we were at our worst, God still died for us. When we were at our worst, God still saw you as his inheritance.
Some of you, I've seen some of us like people in this church, like doing up cars behind the scenes, you know, Frank connect together. He brought his old done up car and it's like he parked it right out the front and it was like, what's this? Because he's done it up and it's been polished and all, it's been restored. I've got another friend and he's. He had a car from his grandfather, really old and it's all.
And he spent all this money to restore this car because it's like, this is my prized possession. Oh, look at this. And it's like it used to be a bit of a wreck, but now look at it. And far beyond that, when God looks at us, he says, you are my treasured, precious possession. You are mine, child.
You are mine. I'm gonna restore you. I'm gonna love you, I'm gonna save you. I'm gonna forgive you. I'm gonna make Something of you that you were always meant to be.
Not cause of anything you've done, but just because I said it. Isn't this the joy of it? You don't have to do anything to be God's precious possession. You just are.
Now, how does that change how you think about things? How does that change how you treat yourself and how you let others treat you and how you walk and talk. Because imagine if you walked into your workplace tomorrow and you walked in saying, I'm treasured by God. My Heavenly Father thinks I am amazing. He's called me.
He's made me just the way I am. And I'm not perfect, but I am his. And I don't care what my boss says or my colleague says or the color of my skin or my age or how rich or poor I. I am a son. I'm a daughter of the most high God. Just think how you'd walk in and how you talk and what you do.
Some of us are so scared to get involved or push forward. Cause we're scared of rejection. Cause we've been rejected. Cause people have said things, done things. They don't even have to say a word.
It's just the tone or how they treat it. And we feel it, don't we? We've all been there. Some of us worse than others. Some of us have been abused and hurt.
And this world has sent all kinds of stuff to us. And that's why you need to know this truth. How do you live the empowered life? You've got to know you're treasured by your Heavenly Father. You are treasured beyond what anyone else could ever imagine, to the point you can't comprehend it.
I'm a son and daughter of God. The angels are in awe of us. You get that? The angels are in awe of us. And God's not looking and going, well, that's my favorite one there.
It's not looking over there going, oh, they're the great preacher. Or look at them and how confident they are. They're my favorite inheritance. He looks at every single one of his creations and he loves us equally. You know that.
Some of you don't believe that, but it's true. And he wants to lift you so that you believe it. You gotta get this. It's not what you do. It's who you are.
All right? You don't have to do something great for God to be loved and to be his inheritance. You're already treasured. He already died for you. Jesus came onto this earth before the foundation of the world.
He loved you before you were even formed in your mother's womb. The Bible says he chose you. And he called you. And Jesus said, I love you. And Jesus says, father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.
And he said it about me. He said it about you, said, adrian, even when you turned to me, even when you sinned, even when you did that stuff, he said, I still loved you. And I was going to love you for eternity.
So choose me. Why don't you choose me, Adrian? Because you're not going to find that anywhere else. I mean, my wife's very loving. We had Valentine's Day, and I was very good.
I got her a rose and some chocolates. She didn't expect it because I've been very good. I've got her expectations way down. They're so low that when I got her, Rosa, she was in shock. She's like, whoa.
Then she was like, you got this on a deal, didn't you? I was like, maybe. But I love my wife and she loves me. And we do love each other. There's beautiful moments there over all these years.
But my wife can't love me the way the Father loves me. I can't love my wife the way Heavenly Father loves my wife. No one can love you like he does. Do you realize how treasured you are? It'll set you free.
It'll transform your life.
And then the third thing happens.
You gotta be enlightened. These things, you can't just hear it. You gotta get it in here. You gotta hear from the Holy Spirit grabbing a hold of you. What is the hope of his calling called to a greater life?
What are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints treasured by the Father? And then he says this. And what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe? Oh, my brothers and sisters, you gotta realize when you know you've called by Jesus Christ, when you know you're treasured by the Father, then you get a realization. Or, I have been and will be empowered by the Holy Spirit of God, the Trinity, working in perfect unity together, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, to say, here I am.
Jesus Christ has saved you and given you a new calling. The Father loves you and treasures you, and the Holy Spirit comes alongside you and in you and empowers you for greater things. I'm being empowered by the Holy Ghost, the power of God, the greatness of his power, the exceeding greatness. You know the word. Some of you heard this when I talked about it on Wednesday, a couple of Weeks ago, at vision night.
Dunamis is what it comes from. This word that's used here, though, is endunomio. Endunamayo means to impart my power into you. So what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us given to you? I don't have the power.
But he takes this exceeding amazing power and dunamis into us, and now it's like we have the power, but it's not from us. It doesn't rely on us. It's straight from Him. It's the Holy Spirit of God. That's why he says, you shall receive power, you shall receive dunamis.
When the Holy Spirit comes upon you in Acts 1:8, you shall receive power. Philippians 4:13 says, that's why I can do all things. Through Christ, who gives me endunemeo, through Christ, who gives me his strength. And he talks about it through thick and through thin, when things are going well. And when things are not going well, it doesn't talk about, oh, Adrian, when you get up to preach and you're feeling awesome, that's when you've got the endunameo on you.
Oh, you've got the anointing brother. That's good. We want that. We want those powerful moments. Do you know when I need the indunamea the most?
When I'm in grief? When something's gone wrong, when someone's just been diagnosed with cancer, when something goes terribly wrong, when you feel like it's all falling apart on you? That's when I need the Holy Spirit's power imparted into me. And then I live the empowered life. The empowered life is not about living success the way the world sees success.
It is about living a higher ideal than that. It is about going through thick and thin, through pain and sorrow, and saying, I've still got a hope, I'm still treasured and loved by the Father, and I've still got the Holy Spirit. His power gives me strength to go through anything. I've learned to go through much, and I've learned to go through little, and I've still got the Spirit with me.
So in Victoria, we have a problem for teenagers. Some of you guys know this and that is that you can't get your peas in your license till you're 18. Every other state you can get it when you're 17. And my daughter is now 17, and she's very aware of this fact. She goes, dad, if we still lived in South Australia, I would have my peas by now, and I could drive by myself.
And I Say, thank the Lord that we don't. Because I don't know when I'm going to let her drive a car by herself, but it ain't in the next little while. At least I got till 18. But you know what happens when you're learning to drive, right? My daughter doesn't have power herself.
She doesn't have access to a vehicle she's not allowed to drive, right? I do. I'm the one with the power. Where's my. Where's my keys?
Oh, there you go. Victoria's taken it. Have you got a photo of me yet, Victoria? Have I smiled or done anything yet? No, not yet.
I've got a smile. Apparently I don't smile. So they try and take a thumbnail and I don't smile. So my apologies, everyone. I'm too passionate.
Gotta stay still and smile, apparently because I move around too much as well. Anyway, here we go. I have the keys. I have the power. That vehicle has great power.
You can accelerate to. I don't know what it is. Probably 180 if you really wanted to, but 100's the limit. 110 certain places. But my daughter doesn't have access to it until I impart that to her, until I say, I'm getting in the car with you and now here's the key and you go for it.
But the whole time I'm there with her, I've imparted the power that I have available to me to her. It's not her power, but she's able to use that power. She's able to receive that power. She's able to see the result of that power. Here's the reality of our Christian lives.
We never progress off our Ls. There's never a point where you suddenly get the power. You know these self help books, You've got the power. You can do it. Just.
You'll make it happen. Our whole Christian lives. It's an understanding. The Holy Spirit of God needs to be right there with me. He is the comforter to comfort you in times of deep sorrow and pain.
He is your Paraclete. The Bible says he's the one that comes alongside you. And he sits there with you and there's a song, old song that says, oh, Jesus, take the wheel. Jesus, take the wheel. Actually, God says to us, ah, you take the wheel.
You have authority. I give it to you. I give you my power. The exceeding greatness of my power. I impart it to you.
He says, you drive. We know this is the truth. So many of us Are trying to say, God, you Lee, you do it. You do it. You do it.
He's saying, I'll guide you. I'll lead you. I'll sit beside you. I'll come alongside. I'll fill you with my.
I'll give you direction, but you drive. You do the work. Jesus said, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, be cast thou into the sea, and it will be cast off. That all things are possible for those who believe. Do you understand?
The key to the empowered life is saying, God, you've given me a greater calling because of what you've done. Father, you're the one who's treasured me and chosen me as your inheritance. Holy Spirit, you're the one who gives me your power. And then you tell me, now, go and live. Go and live.
It's your responsibility. But he's right there with you. My power, my strength. What are you gonna do with the power of God? What are you gonna do?
Too many of us, we are sitting by the wayside. We're literally gone. We're driving illegally in the Spirit. We've told the spirit of God. God, we either don't think he's there or we haven't invited him in.
And then you're trying to make decisions like an el plater trying to park a car. Don't do that. You need the Holy Spirit guiding me, guiding you. Then he says, come on. What does the Holy Spirit do?
Push the accelerator down? Come on, it's time to go. It's time to say yes. It's time to believe for more. Some of us are sitting in the driveway, and he's like, it's time to go somewhere.
Come on. Do you know what I mean? The empowered life. The Holy Spirit grabs a hold of you, and then he says, you go, I'm giving you my power. I'm impassing it to you.
Now. You've got to have all the other things. You've got to understand his calling and Christ in your heart and life and his forgiveness and power. You got to understand the treasure that you are to God. And then you got to understand the Holy Spirit saying, come on, let's go.
I'll give you my power to believe these things, to be enlightened in these things, to step into your workplace and with your children and say, I'm believing for your salvation. I'm believing for the things on your life. God can use me. If I ask some of you, do you believe God can use you in the natural? You'll say, no, I don't.
But in the Spirit, you'll say, I know he can. So God's not asking you to go alone. You get it? When I step up to preach, I ain't alone. I can't do this in my natural self.
I'm nervous. I go, I don't want to preach. I don't want to. Oh, it's too much responsibility. Oh, I'm an introvert by nature.
That's the truth. But you give me the Holy Spirit filling my heart and life and his power and him directing me and him leading me, or there's a fire that comes alive. And I say, God, as long as you're there with me, as long as you're right here with me, God, we're going to blitz it and we're going to build your church and we're going to see the gates of hell come down and not withstand what you want to do. So listen to this.
Flip it back. Because this is the power of God that you have. What is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe according to the working of his mighty power, which 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 principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named not only in this age, but also in that which is to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. You think the church is just a little group of people giving it a crack for Jesus until He comes again?
Brothers and sisters, we are the presence, the power, the body of Christ. We have the Holy Spirit. Where I tread, where you tread, all the demons tremble. Do you realize that it's time to get a hold of these truths and live them out? Say Holy Spirit, I'm going to believe that I'm treasured, Holy Spirit.
I'm going to believe that I'm called Holy Spirit. I'm going to believe that I'm empowered. And you watch what he does. Hey, who's seen God do some good things when they've believed the Holy Spirit is with them and guiding them. Greater things I prophesy yet to come.
Greater things yet to come. We're just getting started. God's done good things in this church, but we're just getting started because there are thousands and thousands and hundreds of thousands of people that need to hear the gospel, that need to see Christ in Action. And they're going to see it through you.
An empowered life. There's the secret. It's what you know, it's not what you do, it's what you know. I know I'm called. I know I'm treasured.
I know I'm empowered. And if I have those things in my heart, I can't help but get in that car and drive it and get into fifth gear. And let's go for a cruise. And let's go make some things happen. And let's go make some demons tremble.
Oh, they're gonna rue the day that they try to take me out. Because the spirit of God is in you and he's in me. And we're gonna show him. We're gonna show this world. That's what Jesus said.
I will build my church, my people, and the gates of hell won't withstand it. So who's got a loved one? Who's got a kid? Who's got a son, a daughter, a parent who needs Jesus Christ. And the devil's got a hold of their lives.
And you're going to declare over their lives, God, through me, through my life. Use me to speak life over them. Use me to save someone. Use me to invite someone to Alpha. Oh, come on, guys.
I'm too nervous. What if they reject me? I'm not an outgoing person. Yeah, I'm a pastor and I've got those issues.
We all got the same excuses. When I get a hold of these truths, I'm going to go change some lives. I'm going to go change some lives. You're going to go change some lives. I'm going to overcome the devil and death and sin.
You believe me? He's got you. You watch. You watch. You watch what he does.
The devil wants to tell you a lie. But this, this is the truth. This is the truth. And so we're going to declare together today. We're going to declare together today.
I'm empowered. Holy Spirit, fill me. This is what we're going to do. We're going to say a prayer. Maybe you need to give your life to Christ.
That's the first step. Accept the greater life. Accept his forgiveness. Accept him as Lord and savior. And then we're going to say, lord, I receive the love of God for me.
Maybe you need to come and sense his forgiveness for you. Maybe the condemnation keeps coming on you and saying, you're not good enough because you didn't, you're not a good Christian. And just get rid of that garbage. Right? Because good Christians are Not good people.
They're just people who've had a revelation that God's done it all. And they come into that alignment and say, God, I come to you humbly and I receive forgiveness and I get. It's a new day, fresh mercy, fresh season of following him. And then we're going to say, lord, empower me. So let's bow our heads and close our eyes for a second.
We're going to say this prayer. If you say you need to say it with me. And afterwards, I want you to go and get a Bible from our bookshop area, get a new Bible and get into the Alpha course and say, I'm going to pursue my relationship with God and I'm taking this seriously right now, maybe for the first time or you've been away from God. Let's pray. Dear Lord Jesus, I believe that you're the Son of God and you died on the cross for my sin and you rose again from the dead.
So forgive me, Lord. Be my Lord and my Savior. I will follow you. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.
That's step one for some of us. Step two, we need to say. Some of us need to say, lord, thank you that I'm loved. Thank you, God. Some of us have felt unloved, we felt demotivated.
We've treated God like he's a judge instead of a loving heavenly Father. He's not looking down judging you. He's looking down and looking. Well. He's not down.
He's around and surrounding us, drawing us, saying, son, daughter, come into my arms, Phil, let me love you. Let me draw you. Let me embrace you. Let me cherish you. You're my inheritance.
You know, I made you for this. I made you for a relationship. I made you and I'm going to give you life. Trust me. And we need to accept the love of God.
And then we need to say, God, come and empower me. Come and empower me. So this is what we're going to do. We're going to sing this song and we're going to take a couple of minutes. Right now, I'm going to invite us to stand to our feet and we're going to lift out our hands, the Lord and say, lead me on.
Lead me on. Holy Spirit, I'm hungry for you. And maybe you're in this place and you say, I would like prayer. I said, we're going to pray for people from our pastoral team and say, lord, I need your empowerment. Or maybe you're going through something right now and you say, I'd love some prayer this morning.
I want to invite you to come down the front. It's not scary. It's very beautiful and natural. All our services are having. If you'd like some prayer this morning while we're singing, whatever, you come down the front and we're going to have our team come and pray for you today and impart the presence, the power, the beauty of Christ into our hearts and lives today.
Thank you, Lord. Yeah, why don't you come down? We're going to pray with you this morning. God's presence is here.
Leading me.
Oh, Jesus, keep leading me oh Jesus, keep leading me.
Holy.
I am you be led by you won't you come and try the Lord come and feel us.
All we need all we want you are you.
Jesus?
Leave me on, leave me on. Leave me on Please leave me on you tell me I'm leaning on. Lead me on oh, Jesus, keep leading me, lead me on. Come on, church, you sing it out. Lead me on.
Lead me on. Please lead me on. It's not me I'm leading on. Lead me on. Oh, Jesus, oh, Jesus, keep leading me.
Lead me on. Lead me on. Lead me on. Please lead me on. It's not me I'm leaving on.
Leave me on the. Oh Jesus, keep leaving me on.
Please leave me on. It's not me, I'm beyond. Oh, Jesus, Oh, Jesus, keep me to me. Oh, Jesus, oh, Jesus, keep leading me.
Oh Jesus, keep leading me.
Thank you.
So worthy Jesus. Yes, you are. Yes, you are.
You are holy.
Holy, you are holy. Lord Allah, come on this church, let's sing this out. You are holy. You are holy.
Holy. You are holy. Lord of all, We declare you are holy.
Holy. You are holy. Lord, you are, you are, you are holy.
Holy. You are holy. Lord, we declare you are, you are holy.
Oh, holy. You are holy, lord.
Jama.
Holy, Holy. You are holy. Lord of all. Come on, church, let's just continue to worship him. Let's sing in this atmosphere here.
You are holy, holy, Holy. You are holy. Lord above, yes, you are. You are holy. Holy.
You are holy.
This is what we're going to leave here with today. We need the power of the Holy Spirit. We want to be empowered.
But I'll tell you this, and this is the greatest truth you'll ever hear. The power of God flows through his love, through experiencing and knowing his love. When you know the love of God, you come to know God.
And I want to tell you when we receive that, we can know it. We can know the word. We can study the Word. We want to do that through growth nights. We want to hear these things.
But I tell you, the love of God is what will transform your life. It's when you receive the love of God. You've received him. God is love. It's not just an emotion.
It is who he is. It's hard to explain, but we're going to ask the Holy Spirit of God. We're going to say, lord, will you help me reveal your love to me? Will you show, not just show me, but let me receive of it. And the beautiful thing is, when you receive of the love of God, guess what happens?
You love back. And that's called intimacy with the Father. That's called being a son and daughter of God. That's called why you were created. That's called your destiny.
You know, your destiny is to love the Lord as he loves us. To love him back. That brings him glory and honor. The greatest thing you can do with your life is to love the Lord your God with all your heart. But to do that, you gotta let him love you.
So can we do that this morning? Because I'm praying for you. I've got that prayer. I love that prayer because I pray for that for you in this church watching online. My prayer is that you would know these things and receive these things, but more than anything, that you would receive the love of the Father for you.
And out of that is strength and power and overcoming and forgiveness. When you know you're loved, you know you're forgiven, don't you? When you know you're loved, you know you've got his strength. You know he's going to be with you through the darkest times. So can I invite you?
Maybe we close our eyes and maybe you want to lift out your hands before the Lord.
We receive.
Thank you, Father. Thank you, Father.
Thank you, my Father.
This is not a flesh and blood, Lord, but this is of the Spirit.
We receive your love.
Every heart, every soul.
You cherished, treasured. We're loved, we're forgiven, we're healed.
Thank you, Father. All of the promises. Promises of God are yes and amen.
Thank you. You're my strength. Your love is my strength. And it's going to flow to my children, my workmates, my friends and everyone around me. Lord, I receive afresh.
Let your people know the love of, of our heavenly Father, Lord. Let it transform our lives.
Let us live that greater life that you've called us to.
Let us show the world that they too can know the love of. Heavenly Father.
Is your strength in temptation. The love of God helps us overcome the things of the world.
Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Father.
Let it be a revelation unto us, Lord. Let it be a catalyst in our heart to hold on to.
So holy you are holy. Lord of all, You are holy. O so holy, you are holy love.
Thank you, Jesus.
You are holy. O holy, you are holy, Holy Lord of all.
Thank you, Jesus. So Lord, as we go from this place, I pray for my brothers and sisters, your sons and daughters, that we would hold that truth, that we would be enlightened by that truth. Lord, the gates of hell shall not withstand. That we would live in victory with the Holy Spirit sitting right beside us, right with us wherever we go, empowering us, strengthening us. You would bring healing and life and light to this world.
In our hearts, we pray it in Jesus name. All God's people said Amen. Amen. Hey, thank you guys. I love you.
You guys are amazing. Go have a blessed rest of the week and day. We'll see you again.
Related Bible Verses
Ephesians 1:15-23 (NLT)
Ever since I first heard of your strong faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for God's people everywhere, I have not stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance. I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God's power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God's right hand in the heavenly realms. Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else—not only in this world but also in the world to come. God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church. And the church is his body; it is made full and complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere with himself.
Click here to read Ephesians 1:15-23 on Bible.comEphesians 1:18-19 (NKJV)
the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power
Click here to read Ephesians 1:18-19 on Bible.comRomans 8:19-22 (NIV)
For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.
Click here to read Romans 8:19-22 on Bible.comActs 1:8 (NKJV)
But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.
Click here to read Acts 1:8 on Bible.comPhilippians 4:13 (NKJV)
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Click here to read Philippians 4:13 on Bible.com