The sermon 'Prayer: The Power of the Gospel pt1' by Carl Provost explores the vital role of prayer in the life of Christians, using Paul's prayer for the Ephesians as a foundational example. The speaker emphasizes the transformative power of prayer throughout history, citing the impact of collective prayer during the early church as described in Acts, and historical figures like Martin Luther, who relied on prayer during pivotal moments of spiritual warfare and reformation. The sermon addresses the current spiritual darkness and moral bankruptcy in society, urging believers to engage in fervent prayer to turn the world upside down once more. It highlights the importance of the attitude and posture of prayer, drawing on biblical examples to illustrate how humility and reverence should be communicated through prayer. The sermon concludes with a call to action for believers to recognize their identity as part of God's family and to embrace the privilege and responsibility of prayer to effect change in the world.

Please turn with me and your copy of God's Word to Ephesians chapter 3. Starting in verse 14. Starting in verse 14. For this cause I bow my knee unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be glory unto the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end.

Amen. Heavenly Father, we come before you as we look at this prayer of Paul for the church. Father, we recognize that you've given us an example of prayer for Paul's prayer for the Ephesians here, Father. And Father, we pray that you would open our hearts to the knowledge that you would share with us and how we are to pray. And Father, we come before you and we pray in the precious name of our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus.

Amen. In Acts, you find 120 gathered, it's said, with one accord. And the Holy Spirit comes upon them as tongues of fire, and it empowers them for the ministry of the Gospel. And Peter preaches and three thousand are saved. And the Gospel goes out with great power.

Later in Acts we're told that these men are accused as those who turn the world upside down. Throughout history, we see different reforms that take place. And it's always through the prayers of God's people that He changes cultures. He turns the world upside down as they were accused of in Acts. We see this clearly in the story of Martin Luther.

Martin Luther who was known to be a man of prayer. See, God raised Martin Luther up in a time of great darkness. And he wasn't the first one that was raised up. There were many before him, but They were martyrs. They were killed by the Popish church.

But Martin Luther was a great man of prayer. And if you study his life, you learn that God had given him a sensitive conscience. And he spent many hours in prayer and confession, recognizing that it was by the power of God. And in fact, God used him in a great way to turn the world upside down. Martin Luther understood his enemy.

He understood that we were in spiritual warfare. And in fact, as is portrayed in the most recent movie that was put out very well, when he stood before the Roman Catholic Church and was told to renounce his writings as heresy, He asked for one more day to contemplate things. And he fell on his face before God, and he prayed that God would strengthen him for what he must do. And he came back and he said he was willing to renounce those writings that were written too harshly against men, but all the things that were in his writings that contained the Word of God, that he could not renounce them, that it would be a violation of his conscience. And he said, here I stand, I can do no other.

And it was by the power of prayer that He stood there with that strength and confessed the truth even when it seems like the world was against Him. By providence, He was rescued from the hands of the church, and unlike those who came before Him, He was not murdered by the Roman Catholic Church. And God used Him in a mighty way. And He never lost sight of the power of prayer that's necessary for the transformation of the world. You see this throughout God's people.

People who are persecuted greatly. People who turn to God and cry out, and God delivers them in mighty ways. We are the time of darkness in our nation. It hasn't been the first time. In fact, early in our history, there was a time of darkness in our nation.

We were founded as a Christian nation, but it didn't take long for things to become corrupt, for darkness to prevail. And through the prayers of many men, and the preaching of men who were willing to stand up for the truth of the gospel, God pushed back the darkness and brought a great awakening to this nation. Through men like George Whitfield and Jonathan Edwards, men who were known to be great men of prayer. We read stories of men in groups praying for hours and days and weeks, and we see great outpourings of the Holy Spirit. We see the transformation of nations.

Cities where unspeakable things were going on were transformed overnight by the Spirit of God. We are a time in our nation where things are bleak. Things are dark. And in fact, the same area where this great awakening took place now is only represented by maybe 3 to 5% as Christian. And those that live in southern cities, for the most part, can only claim 30, upwards maybe 40 percent Christian.

We are in a post-Christian era for our nation. We are morally bankrupt. Our people are blinded by their own self-interest. We need men of prayer to turn the world upside down again. As we come to the text today, we're going to look at what God's word says about prayer through the prayer of Paul.

And we're going to do that over the next couple of weeks. Today we're just going to look at verses 14 and 15. And we're going to look at an attitude of prayer, a posture of prayer, and a people of prayer. An attitude of prayer. Let us remember Paul's circumstances.

Paul is an apostle of Jesus Christ. And he's been establishing churches and preaching the gospel. And there have been many that have opposed Him. He's been beaten. He's been left for dead.

He's been stoned. He's been shipwrecked. And He currently finds Himself in prison. He's not able to visit the Ephesians in person. He's not able to visit them and preach for them.

He's not even able to attend a worship service in Rome while he's in prison. He's under house arrest. Some commentators say that he would have had a Roman guard chained to him, But it didn't keep him from praying. An enemy can put him in chains and keep him from the church, but they can't keep him from praying. And God used Paul in a mighty way for the church and for the growth of the church even while he was in prison.

For he spent a number of his years, it's believed that this time a four year spent, in prison. And every time that he was in prison, God used him in a mighty way through prayer and through the writing of letters and through the encouraging of the saints. Think of this and the comfort of this to all the thousands around the world, even now, who are in prison for their faith or labor camps or they are under intense persecution, entire villages being wiped out by Muslims because they believe in Christ Jesus. Even if the enemy shuts their mouths, Even if men tell them they are not allowed to speak, they cannot take away this ability to pray. So what are your circumstances in life?

See, there are times as Christians that we might find ourselves in some other types of prisons. At this point In this nation, most of us are not worried about being put in prison for our faith. We live in a nation where we still have freedoms. We still have freedom of speech, even though we see those being attempted to be removed from the church as the one institution which most of the secular world does not believe has the right to speak the truth of the gospel anymore. Maybe we are sick or weak.

Maybe we have health problems that keep us out of church at times. Or maybe we feel that we're of an age that we are no longer as useful to the church as we once were. But these are lies of the devil. For we have all been given the opportunity and the ministry to pray. In fact, I believe we have lost sight of the spiritual warfare that we're in and the importance of prayer in the ministry of the Gospel.

We live in a post-enlightenment world where oftentimes miracles, the idea of the power of Satan, and the idea of God intervening in the natural order. Not only does the world see that as foolishness, but many in the church no longer believe it. But God has always transformed the world through His people, through the preaching of the Gospel, and through the prayer of the saints. Even if we're in a sick bed, We can pray for ourselves, we can pray for others, and we can take part in this great ministry of intercession. Are we too busy to pray?

Martin Luther said that he was too busy not to pray. He said the number of things that he had to do in the day were many, but that his day would never be complete unless he started each day with prayer. Prayer was a vital part of his ministry, just as we see that prayer was a vital part of Paul's ministry. If you read through Paul's letters, you will clearly see that he prayed for the churches, and he asked the churches to pray for him. See, prayer is the vital part of the ministry of this church.

Apart from the prayers of the people of this church, we will become an ineffective ministry. We need this church to pray for the leaders. Pray for the ministry of this church. Pray for the ministries such as Governing God's Way where we seek to end the Holocaust in this nation of abortion. We've already seen God answer prayers in this church in a great way.

Many times over, as those in this church were working for the abolishing of abortion in Texas. We saw doors opened and things accomplished that no one thought were possible, at least in the first year. The handiwork of God, and it was by the prayers of His people. We hear on a regular basis of those women who we are praying for that choose life and choose not to abort their child. In fact, we are currently witnessing the miracle of ransom.

How one who was thought to be beyond recovery, brain dead, is responding to his parents. And we pray then for the continued healing, recognizing that God is able. That God is able. We need to be known as a people of prayer. And we see, not only in this text, the attitude of prayer of Paul.

As one who, even while in prison, was able to say, For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." And we picture Him as one in prison, as one in chains, but as one who recognizes that his God is bigger than his circumstances. And we see not only in his attitude of prayer, where he does not allow his circumstances around him to keep him from praying for the church, He does not allow his circumstances around him to keep him from praying for the church. He does not allow his circumstances to allow him to think that the evil one is winning, for he knows whom his God is. And we see the posture of prayer. When Paul prays for the Ephesians, he tells us that he went to his knees.

Now this posture of going to your knees is a position of humility before the Father. He's showing his reverence for the Father and the position of the Father. Isaiah speaks of a time when every knee shall bow and every tongue confess. Whenever kings would enter, and we see this oftentimes in movies since our own nation is disconnected from this thought, but we always see people instantly go to their knees in reverence for a man. How much more so for reverence for our Lord.

And so when one goes into this posture of kneeling, it's a recognition of the reverence for the Lord God Almighty. In Philippians 2.10, Paul speaks of a time when everything in creation will bow at the name of Jesus. We see throughout the Bible and the Old Testament that kneeling was a common posture of prayer. Psalms 95-6 says, Oh come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.

We are told that Daniel prayed on his knees three times daily. And we see what God accomplished through Daniel. But kneeling was not the only posture of prayer that we see in the Bible. We also see that there were many that prayed while standing and that's a common posture you see throughout the Bible. Solomon stood before the altar and prayed.

The Jew in the temple often stood and prayed. In fact, if you'll read and study on this, the Jew would bring his sacrifice to the temple. And his sins would be atoned for. And it was believed that after his sins recovered that he would stand with his hands lifted and oftentimes his eyes to heaven praying as a symbol that he had clean hands and a pure heart because he had brought a sacrifice before the Lord. And Even within that standing, there was an attitude of prayer in that posture that's being presented.

Jesus prayed while standing at the raising of Lazarus. But we also see Jesus fell on his face to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane. We see many postures of prayer throughout the Bible. So what posture should we pray in? Kneeling, standing, prostrate on the ground.

Prostrate seemed to be one of the favorites of Martin Luther when he was really crying out to God. You see, posture helps us communicate our attitude in prayer. Posture is important. According to Martin Lloyd-Jones, when we pray there are two extremes that we should guard against. One is formalism and the other is faultlessness.

Formalism is that one that teaches that, as some teach that unless you have kneeled in prayer, you have not truly prayed. Those that hold to some formalism or liturgical idea of prayer, that unless you do things outwardly in such a way, you haven't truly prayed. But What we see in these examples in God's Word is the posture of prayer only shows the inward attitude and inward posture that one has. And that one is able to hit their knees, but yet pray without being mindful of what they're saying. Or one can stand in the temple just like the Pharisee and the tax collector and pray to God that he was not made like that tax collector, thus unto himself.

Pointless prayers that never reach God because the heart is not right. But most of us in America today are not in the danger of formalism. It's more of the thoughtlessness of prayers. The principle that we should derive from Scripture is that our attitude and our posture matters because of what it communicates to God and to ourselves. We actually can put ourselves into an attitude of prayer by the posture in which we approach prayer.

And so if we feel that we need to be prostrate on the ground before God, crying out to Him, as David did when he was crying out for the life of his son, Or as Jesus did in the Garden of Gethsemane. Or if we feel that we need to be in our prayer closets, kneeling, praying to God. Or if we're sitting on the bedside with our children praying with them. Or in the pews of the church. It's about the inward posture, the inward attitude of prayer.

It's not a thoughtlessness. It's not a laxity. But it's a deliberate action. It's a deliberate attitude. It's a deliberate posture.

That helps us display our reverence for God the Father. Our reverence for a holy God in whom we have given opportunity to come before because of the righteousness of Christ Jesus. For we know that nothing unclean can come before the Lord. But just as that Jew stood with his hands raised representing clean hands and a pure heart, we are told that we can come before the throne of grace because We are covered in the righteousness of Christ. Our sins have been atoned for.

We have been cleansed of all unrighteousness. We stand before a holy God just, and we can bring our prayers before Him. For He is our Heavenly Father and He encourages us to bring our prayers before Him because He desires to answer our prayers. He desires to work through His people, through the prayers of His people, to bring about His will in this world. We also see in this text the people of prayer.

It says, For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named." We see Paul bowed before the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." There is a textual variant there I just pointed out. Some of the newer translations do not say of our Lord Jesus Christ. And some commentators say it's of no great importance because it's repeated earlier in the text. But I think it is of a great importance to remember that He's our Father only because Jesus Christ is our Lord. The only reason that we can bow our knees before the Father is because Christ Jesus is our Lord and Savior.

And it's for a particular people. He says, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. The word for family here denotes a common stock. The same word is used elsewhere in reference to those who were of the family of Abraham. And so if you were a descendant of Abraham, you would claim Abraham as your father.

And then later we see Christ Jesus being named a descendant, physical descendant, of David. And so we see people divide themselves out according to families. But here we have a use of the word being of the whole family in heaven and earth. We are a part of that common stock of those that are named by God. The concept of naming is the concept, oftentimes we see through Scripture, of creating.

And so there is a sense in which all of creation, that God is the Father of all of creation because He created all things. But what is spoken of here is in different reference, a reference to those who have been set apart as the family of God. See, Paul is emphasizing here that both the regenerate Jews and Gentiles are in the family, as he has already taught earlier in this chapter and chapter 2. That the Jews and Gentiles have been made one. There are no longer those who are of the family of Abraham and those who are Gentiles.

In fact, he uses terminology elsewhere to say that Anyone who is in Christ is of, can call Abraham his father. But here he's saying that you are directly a part of the family of God. Those whom have been named by God. And he's not only speaking of the regenerate Jews and Gentiles as part of the family, but he includes those in heaven and earth. Now there's a lot of debate about what this is speaking of, but I believe from the context it's clear that this is speaking of those who are in the household of the whole regenerate church, both church militant and church triumphant.

And those terms have been used historically to point out that church that's still here upon the earth, being used by God as His hands and His feet, the church militants. And that that church triumphant is all those that have already gone on to be with the Lord. Speaking of those in heaven, against those who would deny the resurrection, against those who would deny life after death, as those who are still a part of the church, They are the church triumphant. They are those who have gone on before us. And they are those who are currently reigning in heaven with Christ as He brings about His reign upon this earth until His enemies are made His footstool through the ministry of the church militants.

We are the church militants. We are those who are used by God, and we are those who are the people of prayer. We belong to the whole family of God. Some are proud of their family or their family name. I don't particularly come from a family that I can be proud of, but at least a family name.

But some have multiple generations of godly families that they can look back to. Some are proud of country, or their class and society, their status. But see, we as the church are of a greater name and a greater family. A family that transcends borders. A family that transcends death itself.

A familial relationship that doesn't end at death. For we know that all those that go on before us are there waiting on us. They are there, present with the Lord. When we pray, let us remember that we are the ones that bear the name of God. We are the ones that have been given the name that God has given His people.

We have been set apart for His service. We are His family, and it is those who are called to pray. It's the way we communicate with God. And in fact, true instruction, Godly instruction, is always accompanied by prayer. For often times we pray, God is teaching us through our prayers.

We don't pray to change God. We pray so that God can change us. He brings us in line with His will. When we pray, let us remember that we are the representatives of God and God's family here on this earth. Let us remember who God is and that He is more powerful than the evil one.

The evil one is a defeated foe, and that he brings about his will through the prayers of his people. May our eyes be open to the great privilege that we have. The great privilege that we have that we have a Father in heaven who desires for us to pray to Him. He desires for us to call Him Abba Father and to share our needs with Him. May we come to God in the right attitude of prayer.

May we enter the throne room with the posture of reverence and awe. May we pray fervently as the family of God, as the family of God of our Father, the Lord Jesus Christ. May we turn our nation upside down again by the prayers of His people. I pray that as we look to what God's Word teaches and as we continue to look at the content of this prayer in the following weeks, that we will be mindful that we should be a praying people And that we would come to God with the attitude that our circumstances should not hinder our prayers. And that our God is bigger than our circumstances and that He will use the prayers of His people no matter what the condition of our nation, no matter what the condition of our status, no matter what the condition of our family.

And let us go to Him in the right posture. Not formalism and not thoughtlessness, but those who reverently come before a holy God with prayers for God's people. And let us remember that we are those who are the family of God, the people of prayer. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, we come before you.

And we thank you Father that you have given us this word, Father. And we pray that we would be used in a mighty way as your people, that we would be a people of prayer. And Father, help us to find times to be more diligent in prayer, not only individually, but that we would find times to be diligent corporately to pray. And Father, we come before you, and we pray in Christ Jesus' name, Amen.