Open The Eyes of Our Hearts Lord

Amen. It’s good to sing with you today. And glad to see you at Gospel City Church. Go ahead and open your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 1. And somebody this morning said, “Man, I was pumped when we got to Ephesians. I grew up and we only focused on 4, 5, and 6 of Ephesians. And now we’ve been in Ephesians 1 for five weeks. And so this is where the richness is. You can’t get 4, 5 and 6 if you don’t get chapter 1 and chapter 2 and all the glorious doctrine that has put you in Christ. And so hopefully you have your Bibles open to Ephesians chapter 1. I’m going to finish up the chapter today. We’re going to look at verses 15 all the way through 23. Let’s hear the Word of the Lord together this morning.

For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. (Ephesians 1:15-23)

Let’s pray together one more time. Father, we just are in desperate need of Paul’s prayer today. And Lord, would you help us to have the eyes of our hearts opened to the greatness of God, to the hope of our inheritance, to the power that is available to all those who are in Christ. And would you just be in our midst and move us to a place of hope and faith and love today? In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Now I’ve told you as we’ve started in Ephesians, I love many things about the apostle Paul. I love that he was a worshiper, but I also love that he was a prayer warrior. And that’s what I said at the beginning of the service. Two of our greatest weapons are that of worship and prayer. And Ephesians chapter 1 is a great model of that.

The whole first sentence that we took three weeks to look at was this doxological statement of worship. And now he moves into a moment of prayer. And it’s a prayer of thanksgiving. It’s a prayer of enlightenment of the heart. It’s a prayer for more power now in the lives of these believers that they would know all that they’ve obtained in Christ Jesus, that they would realize all that they have in Christ, which he just got done proclaiming. It’s a prayer that rightsizes the power of God that is available to us who are the church. And Paul, he desperately cries out with this prayer because he needs the Spirit of God to answer it. He can’t grant these things to the church in Ephesus, and so he prays that God would.

Now the big idea of today’s sermon is this- the eyes of my heart need to be enlightened to the power of God available in Christ. The eyes of my heart need to be enlightened to the power of God available in Christ. This is a prayer that I have prayed for you this week. This is a prayer that every pastor, every elder, every small group leader, every parent should pray for their church or should pray for those that they are discipling.

Our staff stopped this week and prayed this prayer for this church. And its importance is monumental because without a constant, consistent and desperate reliance on God for the kind of power that only comes from Him, we will not be a church whose faith is worth hearing about. We will not be a people who live in the power that God affords us. We will not keep Christ exalted over all and we will slowly drift toward losing our first love.

And as we looked at God’s inheritance that we’ve already obtained in the last couple of weeks, many of you said, “Man, I was really convicted by that. I’m not tapping into the inheritance that I’ve obtained.” Many of you said, “I need to live differently. I need to change the way that I’m living.”

And Paul knew that the power that he was communicating in the first half of chapter 1 would be absolutely convincing as it was to us. But he moves to prayer so that these people would understand it and get it, because it’s something that we fail to comprehend all the time in the Christian life.

And it’s my prayer that as Gospel City Church we would have a conscious, experiential knowledge of God’s power here and now for His church, that we would actually have a faith worth hearing about, that we would actually stand against sin that we might resist the enemy, that we might be strong in the Lord. and the power to live this way is absolutely available, but it’s to be had through prayer. And that’s why Paul is writing, but he’s praying.

And I am preaching this morning but I am praying that we would understand the power of God that is available to all those who are in Christ. You are either here today and you’re not saved. So you’re in bondage to sin and you desperately need the eyes of your heart to be enlightened by the Spirit of God. But you might be here today and you may have the Spirit of God in your life, but you would honestly say, “Sometimes I live as if I’m in bondage to sin.”

I could raise my hand and say that sometimes I live my life as if I’m in bondage to sin. I desperately need the eyes of my heart to be enlightened to the power of God that is holding back the darkness, that is protecting me against the sinfulness of this world, that is keeping me anchored in Christ Jesus.

So point number one this morning is this- God’s power is displayed through our faith and love in Christ. God’s power is displayed through our faith and love in Christ.

Verse 15 he says, For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you.

So for this reason, he says. Based on everything that I’ve already told you. Based on the fact that you have been chosen before the foundation of the world. Based on the fact that you are holy and blameless, an adopted child of God. Based on the fact that you’ve been redeemed by the blood of Jesus and forgiven. Based on the fact that you have obtained an inheritance and you’ve received the Holy Spirit and He is your seal for glory and you have an inheritance that’s guaranteed for you, based on all of that that was to the praise of His glory and grace and because I’m hearing of your faith and love, I’m going to God in prayer for you. That’s what Paul says. I have not ceased to give thanks for you.

So the Christian walk at the church in Ephesus was worth hearing about. First, how did Paul hear about these believers in Ephesus? Well remember, he’s in prison back in Rome. And he’s allowed to write letters and receive letters. He was allowed to receive visitors. We saw that at the end of Acts. As people would come he would teach them the Word of God. He would share the gospel with them.

So Paul in prison would preach and print and pray. How’s that for pastoral alliteration? Paul in prison would preach and print and pray. And you might not be able to preach like Paul preaches. You might not be able to write like Paul could write. But you can undoubtedly pray if you are a believer. You can go to the Lord in desperate prayer, and that’s what Paul did.

Now also remember that Ephesus was a large port city. So there was probably a lot of traffic between Rome and Ephesus as they stopped by the temple of Diana or stopped to trade. And so Paul probably received a lot of visitors. And as he did, he was encouraged by what he heard about the believers in Ephesus.

So what made their walk so significant? What made it worth hearing about? Remember where Paul met these sinful people in Ephesus before. He met them in their unregenerate state. And he shows up. He starts preaching the gospel. People began to get saved. And then he saw revival break out in Ephesus. Remember? It’s a city steeped in the occult, in the dark arts. And they burned nine million dollars of dark arts books in the streets. And the Spirit of God was moving among them and the Spirit of God was regenerating people.

And he’s finally praising God that their faith is continuing as the Word of God continues to do the work of God in the city of Ephesus. It says that they had faith in the Lord Jesus. These followers in Christ at Ephesus were continuing to believe the gospel and to proclaim the gospel and to live the gospel. They had faith that was worth hearing about. And real faith is a saving kind of faith. Real faith is the kind of faith that is surrendered to the lordship of Jesus Christ.

At one point these believers confessed in faith that Jesus was now the sovereign Lord of their lives and they were continuing in that profession of faith. That is a faith that’s worth hearing about. But also Paul writes about their love toward all the saints.

I was watching recently the Jesus music documentary. Anybody seen the Jesus music documentary? I thought it was really good. It’s on Netflix I think. But anyways, there’s a moment where they show a Billy Graham crusade and it talks about the music that came out of the Jesus movement. And at a Billy Graham crusade outside there were all these believers gathered together, a bunch of hippies who got saved. And they’re singing a song.

“May they know we are Christians by our love, by our love.”

Sing it.

“And they’ll know we are Christians by our love.”

Why it had to be in a minor key I don’t know. It was like a hippie thing. Like we’ll try to write Jesus songs to the real cool minor thing. Didn’t work super well. But that was from the Word of God. John 13:35. By this all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.

The kind of love that should radiate among the saints should intrigue the world around us. Many will be repulsed by the love that is supposed to be had within the church because darkness hates light. And people of the world are children of darkness and you are children of the light. Many are repulsed by the church because it fails to have the kind of love that Paul is commending here of the church in Ephesus.

Christian brotherly love is what Paul is commending. It’s not a sin-accepting love. Our churches shouldn’t be churches where we accept sin for what it is. It’s not a non-intrusive love. Paul is not commending a squishy, impersonal love. Paul is commending a kind of love where the people of God feel known among one another, where the people of God know one another personally. They’re able to appropriately and vulnerably open up and talk about their sin.

It’s why we get into small groups in Gospel City Church. We break up into men and women and we share what’s going on in our lives. What we’re being tempted with, what’s a struggle. And we pray for one another. And we ask one another how we’re doing. It’s intentional accountability in one another’s lives. It’s meeting one another’s needs and seeing people where they are. It’s being able to disagree yet still sit in the same row and worship on a Sunday morning.

All of this was going on among the believers at Ephesus and it moved Paul to pray for them. The information of these believers’ faith and love in Christ Jesus continually moved Paul to intercede on their behalf.

Verse 16. I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. So before we move on and talk about what Paul prayed, is your life with Christ worth hearing about? Is your walk with Christ worth hearing about? Would people be able to write about your faithful dependence on Jesus, who is the Lord of your life? Is Jesus the all-consuming passion of your life?

Do people in your workplace or in your school know that you’re all about this guy Jesus Christ who has radically changed your life? Do they look at you and see that you have something different? They may not understand it but, man, that guy always seems to walk in integrity. That person always seems to want to ask how I’m doing and even offers to pray for me. Man, they always want to talk about this gospel, this good news. They seem like some kind of fanatic, but there’s absolutely something different.

Do you see people and think, or do people see you and think, “Man, that person really loves others really well?” Do you think people know that you’re a Christian because of the way that you love others? Paul heard about these qualities in the lives of these believers, but it didn’t cause him to say, “Good job. You’ve arrived.” It didn’t cause him to say, “You’ve reached the pinnacle of your salvation.” Hearing about their faith and their love moved Paul to pray that they would grow more and that they would know more and that they would live in the power that’s available to them now. All of us can have that.

And so point number two this morning is this. God’s power is our only hope for growing in Christ. God’s power is our only hope for growing in Christ. Let’s look at verses 17-18. I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you.

So let’s just stop there. First consider what Paul does not pray. Paul does not hear about their faith and he does not hear about their love and he does not pray that they would have prosperity. God, would you give these believers prosperity. He doesn’t pray, “God, would You help these believers never to face persecution? Would You help them to never face hardship?” That’s not what Paul prays. Paul first hears about their faith and love and he goes and thanks God because God is the source of all of it.

But then he prays that God would give them a Spirit of wisdom and of revelation and the knowledge of Him, having the eyes of their hearts enlightened. And so you say, “I thought they were already believers. I thought they were already chosen children of God. I thought their eyes had already been enlightened by the Holy Spirit.”

Why would Paul pray this? Because Paul knew what we learned last week that many believers are spending their lives looking for what they’ve already obtained. More specifically they’re not tapping into their inheritance. Many aren’t living with a true experiential knowledge of God that’s available to them. Many believers live defeated lives, struggling to find victory over sins that God has already granted you the victory over.

And so Paul, he asks that these believers in Ephesus would have a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. So remember the word wisdom back in verse 8, which God lavished upon us according to the riches of His grace. He gives us all wisdom. This was a word that opens us up to the spiritual realm. You have been let into the things of heaven if you’ve received the wisdom that only comes from God. You’ve seen God as God. You’ve seen you as sinful. You’ve seen your desperate need for redemption through the cross.

Proverbs 9:10. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Wisdom starts when you see God for who He is. Wisdom starts when you see God in all of his holiness.

Nwo the word “spirit” here in verse 17…that the Father of glory may give you the spirit of wisdom, it’s debated as to whether that’s the human spirit or the Holy Spirit. Theologians disagree on it a little bit. Might I just suggest that both are so important. We desperately need the human spirit to be ignited by the Holy Spirit to the wisdom and revelation of the knowledge of God.

Your human spirit without the Holy Spirit will never receive the kind of wisdom that can only come from God. So Paul is praying, “God, let them know more.” Paul is praying, “Let them not just say that they know you but let them have an experience with you. Let them experience you in everyday life as they face temptation, as they face the hardships of life, as they go through dark nights of the soul. In everything would they experience the power and the knowledge of God. Let them have a confidence in You as they face the enemy of this world.”

Jonathan Edwards, he describes a kind of knowing like this: “There is a difference between having a rational judgment that honey is sweet and having a sense of its sweetness.”

So it’s one thing to see a jar of honey and it’s labeled “honey.” And you say, “Yeah, that’s absolutely honey.” It’s another thing for there to be no label, you taste it, and you know by your senses that absolutely that is honey. To someone who has never tasted honey, they’d be like, “What is this goo that I’m tasting?” Right?

But your senses if you know what honey tastes like, your senses have come alive to the glory of honey, its sweetness, its taste. And that’s what Paul is praying, that believers wouldn’t just know like the demons know God, but believers would know that God is for them, that believers would know that God is with them and fighting for them and He has power for the battle.

And that’s why in verse 18 he says that we need to have the eyes of our hearts enlightened. That’s what he says. Give them the spirit of wisdom and the revelation and the knowledge of Him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened. This side of heaven, the eyes of our heart or the understanding of our new self are being in Christ and in power. You are a new creation created in Christ Jesus to do good works.

That whole thing, that new inner self, the eyes of your heart, they can be really dull this side of heaven. Our sight becomes dull and our experience with God can be dull. It’s like walking into a dimly lit room. You know when you walk from a bright room into a dimly lit room, you kind of have to let your eyes adjust. And you’re trying to put the right foot in front of the other and you don’t want to run into anything. You’re not sure what is in front of you.

It’s like looking through a telescope. And you see like a blurry image, but it’s not fully there. What do you do when you look through a telescope? You start to turn the dials and you want to bring it into crystal clear focus. That’s what Paul is praying. Paul is praying that the light would turn on in the lives of every believer in Ephesus. Paul is praying that the inheritance and the power would come into full on focus.

It’s you praying desperately as a believer whose convicted about not living in the inheritance that you’ve obtained. It’s you praying, “Lord, I’m not thinking right. Lord, I don’t have it all together. Lord, I’m not living in victory. I’m not seeing You as You truly are. Would You open the eyes of my heart that I might experience You to the fullest on this earth? Let me see and know and feel Your power that’s keeping me from sinning, that’s holding me in the darkest nights of my life, that’s molding me and transforming me under the weight of this world.

And prayer, it has the power to show us God’s power, and that’s what Paul is praying that these believers would live in conscious awareness of. Do you live in conscious awareness of the power of God for your life? And then Paul, that was kind of like one main prayer that the eyes of their heart would be enlightened by the spirit of wisdom and revelation. But then he gives three specific prayers, and I think they’re three specific prayers that every believer in this room should be praying, ok?

So here’s three prayers for every believer. The first one is this. Let me hope in heaven. Let me hope in heaven. Verse 18. Having the eyes of your heart enlightened (here’s the first one) that you may know what is the hope to which you have been called or the hope to which he has called you.

I don’t know how people go through this life without knowing that there’s something greater to live for. Have you ever wondered that? Like where would you be without God in your life? The world is so full of heartache and it’s full of brokenness and it’s full of let downs and it’s full of disappointment and questions. And maybe you have a great life. Maybe you look at your life and say, “Man, I have everything that I absolutely need.” But none of us are safe from grief. None of us are safe from trial.

So where do you go when life gets hard? Where do you hope when there seems to be no hope? Many people turn to alcohol. Many people turn to drugs. Many people turn to meaningless relationships that lead to all sorts of heartache. Maybe you get absolutely depressed and defeated and down on yourself. You don’t eat or you run to eating. Many of us try to numb the pain of our lives by turning to Netflix and by turning to tv. Maybe you scroll through Instagram and TikTok and Facebook, living vicariously through others because you’re just dissatisfied with everything in your life. So maybe if I look at everything in everybody’s else’s life that’ll help me and it’ll help me drown the feelings that I have.

Even we as believers grow dull in our knowledge of God through these types of things. You’re not in bondage to them, but absolutely they can rule your life. But you have a hope that is beyond the grave. That’s what Paul is praying that these believers would be enlightened to, the hope that’s beyond the grave. You have been called to the hope of heaven.

So when the troubles of this world come, you don’t have to try to numb the pain with what the world has to offer. You just need to get your eyes up. You need to get your eyes on the hope of heaven that you’ve already obtained. Life is not hopeless if you are in Christ.

1 Corinthians 2:9-10 says, What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined what God has prepared for those who love him. These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit.

Paul is praying that the incomprehensible would become comprehensible to us if we are truly believers. That’s where you have to get your eyes. So the first prayer, let me hope in heaven. The second prayer is this. Let my identity be God’s inheritance. Let my identity be God’s inheritance. Look at what it says. Having the eyes of your hearts enlightened that you may know the hope to which you have been called. And then two, what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints.

Identity is a huge deal in our culture today. Many are trying to find their identity. And the same was true for the Ephesians in this occult city, highly sexually perverse with the temple of Diana. But the same is true in our culture. It’s no different. In fact our culture says if you don’t like your identity you can change your identity. And you can find your identity that way. Just explore and experiment and follow your heart and do what’s best for you and talk yourself up. And be encouraged.

And that’s not leading. For the believer, we must come to see ourselves how God sees us. When you see yourself how God sees you, you see the foolishness of this world that is looking for identity in all the wrong places. That’s Paul’s prayer that they would know what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints.

God wants you to find your identity in Christ. And then in Christ you will recognize everything that He’s taught us in the first sentence of Ephesians, that you are a chosen holy and blameless child of God, that you are an adopted, beloved son or daughter, that you are free from the bondage of sin, that you are sealed and secured for eternity all to the praise of His glorious grace. When you see yourself how God sees you, you will live in the spiritual blessings of the heavenly places. That’s Paul’s second prayer.

And the third prayer that’s important for us is this: let me live with resurrection power. Let me live with resurrection power. Look in verse 19. That the eyes of their hearts may be enlightened to, verse 19, what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe. Paul stacks these two power words, immeasurable greatness of His power, more powerful than God speaking the world into existence, more powerful than God parting the ocean for the Israelties to come through, more powerful than God sending food from heaven or appearing in a burning bush.

God wants you to be consciously aware and experience the power that’s available to you. And what power is it? Look as it goes on. According to the working of his great might, verse 20, that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.

What can this power do for you? What can this incomprehensible power do? Well, it has the power over spiritual forces and darkness. Satan is absolutely serious and prowling around like a roaring lion, seeking to devour you. Ephesians chapter 6 says that the enemy fires fiery darts at all those who are in Christ Jesus.

Ephesus was tapped into the dark arts. But if you only knew the evil that God’s power was holding back for you every day, you would have a new appreciation for God’s power. And yet you don’t know the full force of the enemy that God’s holding back, but you certainly know that the little bit that you do experience, it’s powerful and it opposes the Spirit of God that is within you.

And so every day you wake up with great intentions to follow Christ and yet for some reason you just can’t get out of your head. And for some reason you can’t get your heart in a right place. And for some reason you just fight with God and try to resist God. That’s the spiritual forces of this world opposing the Spirit of God that has been put in your life that is your desire for righteousness. But man, are you aware of the evil and the power of this world?

Paul is praying that your eyes would come alive to the power of God that’s holding back the darkness. The enemy does not have power over you if you are in Christ. He does not have power. He’s already been defeated. He’s already been conquered.

But you know what? If the enemy can get you to think that he has power over you, then you’re going to be living in sin. You’re going to be defeated. You’re going to fall prey to the enemy’s attack. That’s what the enemy wants to do. He wants to speak lies to you until you feel defeated even though he’s been defeated. And then he will get you to fall for his trap. It’s why we sin. It’s why as believers we often live defeated lives. It’s why we give in to temptation over and over and over again. It’s because we miss the immeasurable greatness of God’s power toward us who believe.

Not only is it holding back the darkness, but it’s a death-defeating power and it’s a ruling, reigning and sovereign power. Paul’s prayer for these believers is that they would hold fast to the power that rose Jesus from the dead. And no matter how corrupt or dark the rulers and authorities of this world around them would become. Christ is still reigning over all. And in the midst of my bad day, in the midst of my faith and love, I desperately need this prayer to enlighten my heart to the power of God that’s available to me every day.

Now point number three this morning as we kind of land the plane on Ephesians chapter one is this: God’s power holds all things together in Christ. God’s power holds all things together in Christ. Ephesians 1:22 says, And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

All things are under the feet of Jesus, and Jesus is the head of the church. The church is not Gospel City Church. The Church is the universal Church made up of God’s chosen beloved, adopted children around the world who have hoped in Christ, who have put their faith in Christ alone and who love God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength and who love the saints who are in Christ.

Those who are redeemed through the blood of Christ are the Church, and Jesus will always be the head of His Church. You might come to Gospel City, but are you a part of the Body of Christ? Are you a part of the true and the redeemed saints that Christ is building up and He is the head? Paul is showing us the union that believers have in Christ Jesus through this passage.

If you’re saved, you are a part of the Body, and Christ is the Head. When my arm doesn’t want to do what my head and my brain are telling it to do, things don’t go super well. Some of you have experienced that probably. But that’s the truth. Everything in my body needs to follow the brain that God has given me. And Paul is praying that the Church, the true Church, the truly redeemed, would live and move and operate as if Jesus was their head and their brain, as if Jesus, all of their life and godliness was flowing from Jesus Christ who is the King.

That is a powerful church. That is a church that is full of the power of God. That is a church that is full of resurrection power. And it’s the kind of church that we want to be as we gather together at Gospel City Church. But if we’re to live in the reality of all that we’ve been given in Christ, if we’re to continue in faith and in love, if we’re to experience the resurrection power available to us, then we’d better be a people of desperate prayer.

And I just think there’s something to Paul’s praying of this. It shows me that you can’t teach it. And I’ve been in church my whole life and I have sat through Bible School and a million different things where people are teaching me the Bible. And I’m growing in my theology and my understanding of the Lord. But all of that can’t help me depend on the power of God like prayer can. Prayer moves the people of God into the presence of God and it calls on the Lord, the Holy Spirit, to do what only the Spirit can do.

And I’ll just be honest. As a pastor it’s easy sometimes to stand up here and to just say all the words that God I think wants me to say. And I’m just like, “I’ve got nothing apart from the Spirit.” We need the Spirit of God to move among this church and I think we have a special church. I think we have a great place. I think the glory of God is here. I think people are hungry to move and to grow.

But like Paul who was a special guy and who God really used and who went around and planted churches and saw the fruit of churches, he was a man of prayer. Even as he wrote these letters he went to prayer so that God’s power would move among us.

And so whatever your victories are, whatever you look at your life and say, “Man, that was a victory in Jesus Christ,” may it move you to pray and thank God for it like Paul did. Whatever lack of power you’re feeling or if you leave this place convicted, more than the conviction, I hope it drives you to your knees to pray that the Spirit of God would move and give you more, more resurrection power now in your life. Because it’s available. We just don’t live in it. We just don’t tap into it. We stay defeated sometimes when we desperately need the Spirit of God to move.

So here’s what I want you to do. I want you to stand to your feet and we’re going to close in prayer together in prayer groups. And some of you are like, “I don’t like prayer groups.” And I would say to you, you need prayer groups in your life. You need desperate prayer in your life. You need people around you who aren’t scared of prayer and who will pray powerful prayers. And you need those prayers to move you to become more desperate on God. Ok?

And so I want this to be a praying church. And we need prayer to be woven through everything that we do. And if Paul is praying it, then we need to pray it desperately. All right?

And so here are three prayer points on the screen. Pray this. Father, would You help me, would You help my faith and love to be worth hearing about so that (you fill in the blank). Number two, Lord, I confess to not living in the hope, identity and power available to me. Open the eyes of my heart so that (blank). Father, would You let us as a Body of believers at Gospel City Church keep Christ exalted over all by (blank) so that (you fill in the blank). All right? A few minutes. Break up into groups of five or six around you. Let’s get to prayer. No introductions. And let’s start praying. Let’s let these prayers ring out and I’ll come back and close us in about five minutes. Ok? Let’s pray together.