You may be wondering about the sunglasses. Let me just explain. These lights are so bright, y’all. They hurt my eyes, and I don’t want to have blindness one day from this. We don’t have workman’s compensation at Rise Church. And honestly, I just feel comfortable behind these glasses. They give me a little bit of confidence. People compare glasses, so, you know, a little extra pep in my step. How weird would it be if I preached this entire message this way?
Is there a point to this madness? Of course there’s a point to this madness. I think our lives sometimes look just like that, spiritually. We look through lenses that really don’t give us the right perspective. You ever gone indoors somewhere and seen somebody wearing sunglasses in a very dark room, and you’re like, "Man, you don’t have an eye condition." It’s like the person who has an emotional support dog. I think it’s probably good, but also, you might just love dogs. I’m not sure which.
Sometimes we spiritually look through a lens. We look a certain way at God, and it’s actually a very limiting thing for our lives. Because here’s the premise of this whole series: we serve a limitless God. We serve an amazing God who is indeed limitless, and we might need to take the glasses off, so to speak. We might need to change our spiritual perspective, so that our sight isn’t limited, so that we don’t limit our ability to see God and to see what God wants for us.
So for the next four weeks, I’m not going to wear sunglasses ever again. That’s my promise. But we are going to talk about what it’s like to live a limitless life. We are limited in human terms, but God lets us take some of those limits off. Spiritually, we can lead limitless lives. And it’s actually a study in the book of Ephesians, so we will be anchored in that book over the next four weeks.
The Power Is Already in You
I would say we all believe God is limitless. I almost brought you a whole thing about how limitless God is, and then I thought, most of us probably understand that already. I’ve even met people who are far from God who marveled at His power. They had doubts that kept them from believing, but they still recognized there was something limitless there.
Here’s the problem. Most of us live as though God’s power is just for God. Or maybe some of us live as though God’s power is for somebody else. We see a pastor, or a small group leader we love, and we think, "Well, that person has the power of God." No. The power of God is available for everybody. The power of God is available for you. And what I want to show you today is that the power of God is already in you. That’s really the thesis of this series. You already have it. The question is whether you are going to keep living a limited life, or begin to lead the life God intended for you, which is limitless.
I know we all feel limited from time to time. Limited time. Limited energy. I would have loved to sleep in this morning, but thank God for Dunkin large cold brew. It is about that tall. I looked it up this morning, and there are 350 milligrams of caffeine in that thing. I have always wondered what that shake was all about. Some of us feel limited in patience, especially when you drive the roads of Chattanooga, Tennessee. My patience runs as thin as the asphalt. We have got to do something about these potholes.
But the limitations you have actually run deeper than those things, because we are the ones who place the limitations in our lives. God has not designed it that way. And if you are living limited, it is going to hold you back from something really special that God has for you. That takes us to our theme verse. We are going to stay in this for the whole series. It is a prayer from Paul.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21 (NIV)
Immeasurably more. Those are two great words. We can’t measure it. It is beyond our imagination, beyond what we could even conceive. That is what our God can do. And according to what? Not according to His power in heaven, or His power around Him. According to the power that is at work within us. The same power is within us. Then Paul gives God all the glory, because this is the conclusion of a prayer.
So the big idea for this whole series is simply this. God made you for more. Say it: I was made for more. God made you for more, and He has the power to get you to that place. And that power happens to already be resting in every single person who calls Jesus their Lord.
I Didn’t Know How Limited I Was
I got glasses at the age of 12. My teacher noticed I was straining to see the chalkboard, so she moved me to the front row, and then she talked to my mom. My mom took me to the eye doctor, and sure enough, my vision was not 20/20 at all. So I got my prescribed glasses. When I got fitted and wore them, I could see the difference right away in the office. But it wasn’t until I got outside that I was startled by how bad my vision had been.
Two things happened when I put on those glasses. First, I got 20 IQ points smarter automatically. For all you glasses wearers, congratulations. But the second thing was, I could not believe how clearly I could see, and how far. I was looking outside and I could see this oak tree. I still remember this day. This was 1993. I saw this big oak tree, and I could see the definition of the leaves. It was like high definition, and we didn’t have high definition back then. It was standard definition, TVs were square. There was this tree, and I could see every leaf. It wasn’t a green blob anymore. Things came into focus. Things became clear.
What had happened was that my eyesight slowly got worse over time, and I didn’t notice. My ability to see was slowly limited, just over time. In fact, my eyesight was so bad, my hindsight wasn’t even 20/20. That one took at least 10 minutes of prep. But I didn’t know my eyesight was limited until I got glasses. I didn’t know I couldn’t see clearly until the correction came in and helped me see.
The same is true for you spiritually. Some of you are living your life, but the way you are experiencing God has been limited. Maybe a few years ago you got a degree or two off course, and you have been drifting, slowly further apart from God than you expected to be. That is my story. I had that moment in college. I was just away from God, and I didn’t even realize how far I was until I looked up and went looking for Him, and realized, "Man, I am a long way from Him." I had become limited.
I think many people live limited by default. We have a poverty mindset, or a scarcity mindset, or a mindset we got from growing up that is just ingrained in us, and we don’t really know why we are dealing with so much of what we are dealing with. We were shaped by an experience growing up, and we have seen other people live limited lives, so we just think, "Well, that must be all it is." We can only know so much. We can only feel so much. We can only live so much.
But how we see makes all the difference in the world. Jesus knew this. It affects everything in our lives.
The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! Matthew 6:22-23 (NIV)
Now, this is in the Sermon on the Mount, and He was actually talking about money and some other things in this moment. But this truth stands firm, because what He is saying is that the things we see, the things we let into our lives, will determine whether we are people of light or people of darkness. That is how much our eyes matter.
I want to be clear, especially with a series called Limitless, about what we are not talking about. We are not talking about limitless sin. We are not talking about just living however we want. We know boundaries and direction are a good thing. Staying focused is a really good thing. We are talking about the fact that we are held back, not able to experience all that God has for us. And it is not His fault, because He wants to give it to us. It is us placing limits on our view of what God can really do.
When the Limits Fight Your Faith
The worst part is that the same limits can actually oppose our faith. This often happens in doubt. But I also see doubt expressed in fear, and I see it in insecurity. Somebody is walking around weak, not strong, because they are insecure all the time. Or the fearful person, always thinking about the worst-case scenario. Now, in some ways we need some of those people to help us with safety and security. It is not necessarily a bad thing. But it is when you live there all the time, when you can’t get unstuck, when every word out of your mouth has a what-if attached to it. What it starts to prove is that you are not trusting God. You are limiting your view of God and His power to set you free, to take care of you, to handle those bills, to make sure your kids are going to turn out okay. Come on, we have prayed that prayer many times.
Sometimes we get trapped thinking, "I’m not a great person. I’m not a great parent. I’m not a great friend to that person I love so much." Really what it is, is the enemy using that against you, causing doubt in your heart, causing you to live a limited life. Sometimes we get caught up on just surviving, when God never meant for us to come and just survive. He meant for us to thrive. To have an abundant life.
This whole wrestle is not new. The people of God were facing it thousands of years ago.
They spoke against God; they said, "Can God really spread a table in the wilderness? True, he struck the rock, and water gushed out, streams flowed abundantly, but can he also give us bread? Can he supply meat for his people?" Psalm 78:19-20 (NIV)
Look at that. They recognized what God had done. He struck the rock, water gushed out, they were nourished. But then, "Can he also give us bread? Can he supply meat?" Look at that doubt.
Now I want to explain something. I am calling this unbelief for a reason. There is a difference between no belief and unbelief. I have found in ministry it is actually a lot easier to help somebody who has no belief, because they have no starting framework, and it is just a matter of getting them to believe. But over 25 years of ministry, I have met a whole bunch of people who follow Jesus, and the fruit of their lives is not no belief. They have believed. It is unbelief. They have said, "Yes, I trust Jesus for my salvation," but then they don’t trust Him for the rest. They don’t trust Him when they have a financial need. They don’t trust Him when their marriage is messed up. They don’t trust Him when a friendship gets broken. They go into control mode and try to fix it themselves.
That is exactly what the Israelites did. They watched God split a sea. They watched Him bring water out of a rock. And they still said, "Well, that must be all God can do. That must be His ceiling." Instead of understanding, "Oh no, God has no ceiling."
Again and again they put God to the test; they vexed the Holy One of Israel. They did not remember his power— the day he redeemed them from the oppressor, Psalm 78:41-42 (NIV)
They vexed the Holy One of Israel. They did not remember His power. They were totally set free by God, and then they wondered, "Can He give us bread?"
I have a pastor friend who was launching a church a few years ago. He had zero people and zero dollars, and he started that church totally on faith, saying, "Lord, if You say go, we’ll go." And the Lord provided every step of the way. He was sitting across the table from a businessman who wanted to be generous toward the church. The man said, "I’d like to be involved. Can you share what it is that you need?" My friend wanted to be nice. He had just met the guy, he didn’t know what he was worth, so he said, "Thank you so much. Five thousand dollars would go a long way and really bless us." And the guy starts writing the check. As he is writing it, he says, "By the way, this check could have been 20 times larger than this."
Now, that is kind of a mean thing to do. But in some ways it is an interesting principle, a kingdom principle. He was telling that young pastor, "If you needed it, ask for it." Because we serve a God who has immeasurably more for us. It is not even about the checks. This is not a message on blessing, it is a message on power. But how many of you know God loves you, and He cares for you, and He does want your needs met? Most of us are looking to have our needs met in some body, or some thing, or some business venture, or some investment. We are doing it on our own. Like that young pastor, we don’t see with eyes of faith and say, "God, what is it that I really need? I know You want to bless me. How can I know what it is? Help my unbelief. I don’t want to have a sight problem. I want to fully believe. I want to have my eyes opened."
God Has Secured More for You
Let me show you what will happen if you go through this next week with your spiritual eyes open. There is a story in Scripture about Elisha, a prophet in Israel. There was a king of Aram who kept setting up ambushes against the people of God. But it was kind of funny, because God kept telling Elisha the plans. Every time the king set up an ambush, the Israelites would just win. It was like playing Battleship when you already know where the other person’s ships are.
The king of Aram got so frustrated he thought he had a traitor. But his officers said, "No one has betrayed you. It’s this prophet named Elisha. God himself is speaking to Elisha, and Elisha knows the very words you speak in your bedroom." So the king sent chariots and horses, the mightiest force he could muster, and they surrounded the whole city at night to capture one man. I just think it is funny. The king was already told the guy knows what you say behind closed doors, and he still launches a campaign thinking they won’t know.
Elisha’s servant wakes up early, walks outside, and sees the city surrounded. "Oh, Elisha, what shall we do? We’re surrounded." And Elisha isn’t worried one bit.
"Don’t be afraid," the prophet answered. "Those who are with us are more than those who are with them." And Elisha prayed, "Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see." Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. 2 Kings 6:16-17 (NIV)
The power was already there. Just because the servant didn’t see God’s army didn’t mean it wasn’t there. When Elisha prayed, he didn’t even say, "Help us win the battle." He said, "Would you just show this servant what is actually going on, so that he may see?" The army of God didn’t show up when Elisha prayed. It was already there. The servant’s eyes changed.
And Paul prayed that same prayer for a church he loved so much, the church at Ephesus. He spent six chapters showing that God has more for us, that we can open our eyes and see clearly what God has for us. If you are taking notes, here is the first blank. God has secured more for you. Say it: more. God has secured more for you.
I wrestled with that word, because I always want to be as clear as possible, and I wondered if "more" was too generic. But God has more for you in every area of your life. Pick an area where you are lacking. Pick an area where you just need to give up control and let God intervene on your behalf. However far you were able to take that thing with your limited abilities, when you let God have it, you live a limitless life. You let the limitless God take care of it and propel it forward. I promise you, your mind is going to be blown. It will be immeasurably more than you can fathom.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. Ephesians 1:3 (NIV)
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, Ephesians 1:7-8 (NIV)
Look at those verbs. Blessed. Chosen. Lavished on us. Forgiven. We are adopted. We are sons and daughters of the Most High God. And these are things that are past tense. They have already been accomplished by God. It is ours to receive. It is up to us whether we make it a done deal, like shaking hands at the end of a deal. Are you in agreement with God that you are receiving those things?
And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory. Ephesians 1:13-14 (NIV)
You were marked with a seal. The power God has given you is only there because Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to live in you. God secured that for you. And "secured" is a guarantee. He gave you the Holy Spirit as a deposit that says, absolutely, because of the Holy Spirit living in you, you now have an inheritance. So He has secured more for you on earth, the abundant life Jesus talked about. And He has secured more for you in heaven as well, where Jesus is right now preparing a place for you.
Open Your Eyes to What God Has Given You
Here is the second blank. Open your eyes to what God has given you. When I later got contact lenses, I promise you I could not see you if I did not have them in. Negative 4.5 prescription for the win. When I put those lenses in, I was given something that let my eyes open, so I could actually see. A lot of us have let some dimness in. We have let a lack of focus and a lack of understanding, and maybe even some sin. Maybe there are some things in your life you know need to go, and you have been wrestling with them a long time. I promise you, this next step will go a long way toward living a holy life.
I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, Ephesians 1:16-18 (NIV)
The eyes of your heart. Not the eyes of your head. Paul took it to a different place. He said, "I pray those eyes of our hearts would be enlightened."
There is a specific aircraft known as a glider. A glider has wings and a body, it is in the shape of an airplane, but it has no engine. It has no thrust. It has nothing on its own that can get it aloft. Usually another plane with power will tow it up, and then the glider will fly and detach, and the other plane peels off, and now the glider glides. I have friends in aviation, and they all say it is the most peaceful thing ever. No engine noise. Just you and the air and the altitude.
Here is what is interesting. A glider can actually stay in the air almost perpetually, if you find the right current, the right place in the atmosphere where there is natural lift. It is often around ridges, where the terrain creates these places of lift. You have seen birds soaring on a current, and they are not flapping their wings, because they don’t need to. They are just being propelled along. The same is true for gliders. In fact, back around the 1930s, humans did what humans do, and we had competitions to see who could stay in a glider the longest. I thought that was a great idea, until some of the glider pilots fell asleep, because that is how long they were in the air. One glider pilot holds the world record at 56 hours in the air, and he only came down because he was so exhausted he couldn’t fly anymore. He could have stayed up longer.
That is the kind of power I am talking about. We do need Jesus to jumpstart our lives. We absolutely need Him to help us get out of the pit, out of the place of sin, over our yesterdays. But so often we are flying this glider, and we steer right out of the current, which takes us straight back to the ground. Instead, the Holy Spirit is always here. He is always working in your heart. You can always depend on Him to lift you, to help you get over the situations and out of the weeds, out of those low-altitude places where you have way too many details and too many things you are trying to control. He gets you to some altitude, to a place of peace where it is just you and God. We can’t see those currents, but it doesn’t mean they are not there. The same is true spiritually. We just need to open our spiritual eyes to see the current, the power of the Holy Spirit.
Here is what I wrote down. Don’t let the eyes of your heart stay closed to what God wants for you. You can never limit God’s power, but you can absolutely walk around blindly, limiting what He could be doing in your life. Some of you have been wearing sunglasses for a long time, spiritually speaking. Maybe you feel comforted in your situation. Maybe that thing gives you some kind of false confidence. Maybe you are afraid that if you go all in for God, there is going to be something dangerous about it. No. He just wants you to see Him clearly. He wants you to see His power clearly.
Live Every Day in the Power God Gives You
The last thing today. Live every day in the power God gives you. Why would we have the greatest power, the Creator of the universe living inside us, and not live in it? What power did it take to raise Christ Jesus from the dead? We can actually live in that power.
and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, Ephesians 1:19-20 (NIV)
Incomparably great power, available for you, for me, for every person who believes in Jesus. You can receive it. You can experience it. In fact, you have already received it. It is really just a matter of whether you have opened your eyes to the power of God that is inside you.
Have you depended on Him? Maybe one day you had to have a hard conversation, and you said, "Lord, I’m following Your lead. I don’t know exactly what to say, but I trust You’ll give me the words." Pray that prayer. Or, "Lord, I don’t know how to make ends meet this month. The bills way outpace the budget. I want to give, I want to be generous, but I need some provision." How about the One who owns the cattle on a thousand hills? Let Him step into your situation.
Maybe you are walking through a need for healing today. I didn’t get permission to share this story, but I believe he would not mind at all. One of our dear friends in the church, Brian, had a recent cancer diagnosis. He came up to me this morning in the lobby, and he said, "Hey, I met with my oncologist this week. My prior report, the cancer markers were at a level of 700. I just went back this week and got a new report. You know what God did? The markers are at 100." Can we give God glory for that?
I know many of you are believing for healing in many areas of your life. God’s healing is here for you. It is available for you. You can have faith, just to believe, just to trust that God is moving in your scenario. You can trust Him with your life. And if He ever calls you home, we will celebrate, because you have great purpose and you will be in eternity with Jesus. We don’t fear death. That is not something Christians have to fear ever again, because God has paid it all.
I want to end where we started, with our theme verse. Because if you put your faith in Jesus, there is already a power at work within you.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21 (NIV)
God is saying, go ahead and ask. Go ahead and imagine. He is giving you permission to let your imagination run wild with whatever might be possible. Limitless resources. Limitless life. Limitless joy. You have a companion walking with you through every circumstance, the Holy Spirit, right there with you. And that is according to the power God has already given you.
When Brian gave that story this morning, he was giving glory to God. He wasn’t saying Rise Church did this. He wasn’t saying he had anything to do with it. I am thankful for our prayer team, and I believe God heard our prayers. But make no mistake, the power is in the Healer. The power is in God. As you experience His power, as you experience the more, you will give God glory. You will be in the church saying, "I can only say glory to God."
If you walked in this morning and you have not been seeing God clearly, this is the moment for the blindness to go away, for the darkness to come off. You will be transformed if you open your eyes to see who God is, and to see the power He has already made available to you.
Here is one more thing about that power. Don’t say yes to Jesus because of some power you are going to get. As amazing as that is, it is actually power for a purpose. It is power so you can live a holy life. It is power so you can draw closer to God. It puts limits on the old life, but it takes the limits off what you will experience spiritually. And the greatest limitless experience you will ever have is eternity in heaven with Jesus, the only One who can save you. He is the way, the truth, and the life. The beautiful truth is that He paid the price for you. Make Him Lord. Believe He is who He said He is. And you will live a limitless life.
