714 Abundant Glory - Ephesians 3:21

What are some of the places where you tend to take credit for the things happening in your life?   Hi, I'm Mike Henry Sr. with Follower of One. Thanks for joining me again today on the Follower of One podcast. We've been talking about abundance for several episodes. Today, we'll finish Ephesians 3 with a challenge about the abundant glory of God. Let's read chapter three verses 20 and 21. Today, I wanna read from the New American Standard Bible. "Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever, amen."   Paul's closing out this prayer. We spoke yesterday about. God's abundant power beyond all that we can ask or think. Today, we want to give Him the glory, to Him be the glory in the church. What does glory mean? I sometimes think of it as credit. I often think that my finances solved a problem. My money solved a problem. When we see God for who He is, we will know the degree to which, or we will at least know more of the degree to which God is involved in everything that happens and the degree to which we are involved in everything that happens.   I think we way overemphasize our own ability to make a difference in the world and we underemphasize God's impact and power. And glory comes from the credit that we give Him for the things that He does. For the longest time, I actually thought that God said everything in motion, and it was kind of running and He was off somewhere just, you know, minding His own business. And if I minded my own business, He'd leave me alone and I'd leave Him alone.   But that's not the way it works. I wonder if God's not actively involved in every single thing that falls because of gravity. I wonder if God's not actively involved in holding every planet and every star in place. I wonder if God's not involved directly in the things that happen in our lives way more than we can imagine. Because I believe when we know Him and when we see Him, when He's no longer masked, and we see His glory, we will be blown away.   I don't think any of us will say, "oh, I thought you were bigger." Rather we will be so fascinated by God that we will do everything that He says and wants us to do just simply because of the joy that we get for being around Him and doing it. We experience some of that joy now when we obey Him. And that's my challenge to us today as marketplace Christians.   Let's obey Christ, let's trust him, and let's experience the glory that we see according to the power that works within us from the verse right before this, but the glory now is in the church, in the body of Christ. Those people who live forever because we followed Him. And in Jesus Christ to all generations, we will see God's glory forever. I don't think it will call us to just sing. I think it will call many of us to sing, but many of us will be. Working too. God is a worker. And we have these jobs that we have now, when we live them, looking for the glory of God, trusting in Him power, other people move closer to Him.   That's our job. And when we see that happen, we experience joy. Today, I would want to challenge you. Let's serve other people like we trust that God is able to do far more abundantly beyond all we ask or think. Let's appreciate others, knowing that God will receive all the glory in the church. One day, this will all be right. We'll be so blown away just as a course of our life. We won't know how to act. I believe God will direct us and His joy will motivate us in everything that we do.   Can you imagine the biggest God you've ever imagined and then do what you think He wants you to do? I believe that's our calling as Marketplace Christians.   Thanks for being a Marketplace Minister, and thanks for considering how to serve others in the marketplace. Consider, today, joining us at https://community.followerofone.org and taking part in this community. And if you're already involved or you've been familiar with our ministry, consider making a donation. It's not so much that we need the money as much as it is that we need individually to give.   We need to be giving our stuff our time and our energy and our resources to back up this premise that we believe that God is the answer and not our stuff. So consider making a donation, if not to Follower of One, to any ministry, get some place where God has to move, or we look like nuts. Let's trust him that far.   Thanks very much.