Takeaway Verse: Ephesians 3:20
Now all glory to God, Who is able, through His mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.
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Transcription:
Welcome to The Bible for Busy People. I’m Erica Parkerson. This is the place where we meet up to read half a chapter of God’s Word together and remember how loved we are. Jesus extends an amazing invitation to us in the Bible. He says, come to me and I WILL give you rest. This is us RSVPing: Yes!! to that invitation. So, take a deep breath and let’s get started.
Today’s episode is called, “Sprinkles on the Bottom”, and I will tell you that story after we read some of the most powerful words in scripture. Wow. We’re gonna be diving into the second half of Ephesians chapter three today. This is Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus, that’s a little bit more formal than his other ones, but it’s also for you and for me. It’s as if Paul sat down at his Apple computer and sent an email to you. He wants you to know this, he wants me to know this. I love the words we’re about to read so much. It is going to feel like we are diving into this deep ocean of God’s love for us. So get ready.
First, let’s go to our Lord. Father, we come to you in the name of Jesus. And we, we are just in awe today of how much you love us. Would you help us to understand just how much you love us? Open our eyes and our hearts, to what you want us to see and understand in your word today. In Jesus Christ’s name, we pray. Amen.
Some of these words were read at my wedding, so they’re extra special to me. I just, I pray that you take a moment and just take a deep breath, and just let these words not only fall on your ears, but let them fall into your heart and let them take root there and grow. These words are for you. No matter what you’ve done, they are for you. God loves you. There is forgiveness, there is hope, and there is an ocean of love for you to swim in.
So here we go. The second half of Ephesians chapter three. Paul writes, “When I think of all this”, and he’s referring to the first half of this chapter where he says, “because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence.” that’s what he’s referring to. He says, “when I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources, he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong.”
Did you hear that? Do you want to feel strong? Oh, I do too. “And may you have the power to understand as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.”
I don’t know about you, but I want strength and power that comes from God and fullness of life, in my life. Don’t you want those things? God’s love makes it possible and backing it up even more Christ’s death on the cross opens the way for us, so that we can go to heaven and live forever and be with God. When we tell him we’re sorry for our sins and that we believe he is who he says he is, and that we get peace on this planet. We receive strength. Oh, it’s incredible, it’s beautiful. Here’s our takeaway verse today. “Now all glory to God, who is able through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.” Praise God. “Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations, forever and ever, amen.”
That is some power packed scripture right there, and it’s beautiful. Earlier I told you that the name of this podcast episode is called, “Sprinkles on the Bottom”, and there was a time many, many years ago when I left a job that I absolutely loved with all my heart, because I knew that God wanted me to. And I wanted to be back in radio so badly. I cried so much that I would soak my pillowcase at night. Sometimes it was hard. And one night I had a dream. And in the dream, Jesus was handing me a dish of ice cream with the sprinkles on the bottom. Now I love sprinkles. I’m embarrassed to tell you how many sprinkles I will put on a dish of ice cream. Let’s just put it this way, the Brits call sprinkles, “hundreds and thousands”, it’s probably close. And Jesus, because he knows you, and he knows me intimately, knows that. And in the dream, I was like, Lord sprinkles on the bottom? And what he said to me in the dream was: I save the best for last. And that makes me cry because God used something that was special to me to explain how special I was to him.
And it wasn’t long after that, that God gave me an incredible job in radio, and I met a wonderful morning show partner, and God did unbelievable things with that show. But he showed me that dream that take away verse today, “all glory to God who is able through his mighty power at work within us to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.” I had no idea what God was gonna do, but I knew it was gonna be good. And you can know that today too. And now, you know why I like my sprinkles on the bottom of the ice cream dish: he saves the best for last. He loves you. You are loved. Can’t wait to dive into Ephesians chapter four with you tomorrow.
Thank you so much for listening to the Bible for Busy People. If you need prayer or you’re ready to go a little deeper in your faith, we’ve posted some resources for you in our show notes. We’d love for you to share this podcast with a friend and leave us a review. It helps us reach even more people with the hope of Jesus. This podcast is part of Purposely, a podcast network designed with practical podcasts to help you find and live in God’s purpose for your life. Find more podcasts that will recharge you at onpurposely.com.
