Heart Attack Series# 1, Encountering the Love of God

Heart Attack Series# 1, Encountering the Love of God
By: Bobby Sullivan

The Day God Attacked my Heart

Encountering the Love of God

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness, Only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that” Dr. Martin Luther King

Matthew 3:17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

^{THE PASSION 3:13-17} Then Jesus left Galilee to come to the Jordan to be baptized by John. ¹⁴ But when he waded into the water, John resisted him, saying, “Why are you doing this? I’m the one who needs to be baptized by you, and yet you come to be baptized by me?” ¹⁵ Jesus replied, “It is only right to do all that God requires.” Then John baptized Jesus. ¹⁶ And as ^[ Jesus rose up out of the water, the heavenly realm opened up over him and he saw the Holy Spirit descend out of the heavens and rest upon him in the form of a dove. ¹⁷ Then suddenly the voice of the Father shouted from the sky, saying, “This is the Son I love, and my greatest delight is in him.”

Mankind’s greatest need is the need to be loved.

What does love look like in 2021?

You will know they are Christians by their love.

Ephesians 3:14-19 “Paul Prays for Love to Overflow

^{PASSION TRANSLATION 14}  So I kneel humbly in awe before the Father of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah, ¹⁵ the perfect Father of every father and child^[a] in heaven and on the earth. ¹⁶ And I pray that he would unveil within you the unlimited riches of his glory and favor until supernatural strength floods your innermost being with his divine might and explosive power.¹⁷ Then, by constantly using your faith, the life of Christ will be released deep inside you (KJV INNER MAN), and the resting place of his love will become the very source and root of your life.^18–19 Then you will be empowered to discover what every holy one experiences—the great magnitude of the astonishing love of Christ in all its dimensions. How deeply intimate and far-reaching is his love! How enduring and inclusive it is! Endless love beyond measurement that transcends our understanding—this extravagant love pours into you until you are filled to overflowing with the fullness of God!

NIV ¹⁴ For this reason I kneel before the Father, ¹⁵ from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. ¹⁶ I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, (NKJV INNER MAN)¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, ¹⁸ may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, ¹⁹ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. ²⁰ 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,²¹ to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

^{New King James Version 14} For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁵ from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, ¹⁶ that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, ¹⁷ that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, ¹⁸ may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— ¹⁹ to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

The validity of Love is knowing it through experience rather than experiment. It is found through inspiration not information. PBS

“The Love of Jesus is multidimensional. It has breath, is extensive, an all-encompassing ocean of adoration. It surrounds you with compassion and woos you with admiration. It covers you in dark seasons and protects you in the night. It greets you in the morning and smiles on you through the day. It is captured at dusk and expressed at dawn. It is hope to the discouraged and peace to the lost. The love of Christ has length, it goes the distance, you can’t fall so far that it can’t catch you, run so fast it can’t get you, or hide so well it can’t find you. His love is better than your worst days, stronger than your most defiant will, and more forgiving than your cruelest sin. When you give up, love goes on, when you fall down it picks you up. Love is courage to the fearful, hope to the helpless, strength to the weary, wealth to the impoverished, love goes the distance. The agape love of Christ has height. It exceeds all your expectations. 

Vs 20  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…..If you ask for it, love has more. If you thought it, love takes it higher. If you dream big, love dreams bigger. If you aim high, love aims higher. You dream of a family, love dreams of a legacy. You ask for a job, God finds a destiny, You hope for peace, love finds you a ministry. You pray for heaven, God gives you a city.  LOVE HAS ALREADY THOUGHT BIGGER THAN YOU!”    Kris Vallotton 

God’s love has depth, is intense and complex and profound and able to penetrate your soul. Loves revelation perpetually unfolds as you peer into its substance and experience its splendor. The depth of his mystery is hard to explain while the ocean within you is just the same.

1. 1
   The love of God is greater far than tongue or pen can ever tell. It goes beyond the highest star and reaches to the lowest hell. The guilty pair bowed down with care, God gave His Son to win. His erring child, He reconciled and pardoned from his sin
   chorus:
   O love of God how rich how pure. How measureless and strong. It shall forevermore endure. The Saints and angel’s son
   vs. 2
   Could we with ink the ocean fill. And were the skies of parchment made. Were every stalk on earth a quill. And every man a scribe by trade. To write the love of God above
   would drain the ocean dry. Nor could the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky.

Who can honestly say with confidence and conviction that we are established in love or better yet, have had an encounter with God’s love?

If we can grasp Gods love, and to love God, then we can pretty much live  life to its fullness. It’s one thing to read verses on God’s love and never experience it or even demonstrate it.

Paul prays that we may have the power to grasp how deep God’s love is and to know a love that surpasses our knowledge of it.

Paul does not exhort the Ephesian church to do more to attain more. He prays that we would see the glorious love that dwells in us.

God’s love is a Conqueror!  His love should overwhelm us, control us, dominate us, fill us. His love is both a servant and a ruler at the same time.

Luke 19:1-10 Story of Zacchaeus

*Chief tax collector. Worst sinner of all time in the eyes of a 1^st century Palestinian.

The Romans gave this position to the top bidders. They bought the right to cheat their own people.

People had to pay Rome but also King Herod. They paid tributes and direct taxes on land and everything.  There was also a head tax; the bigger the family the more tax you paid.

Plus, Jews had to give tithes to build Herods temple and support the priesthood. Some say the total tax on the avg family was 30% more than the household income.

Imagine how ZACH felt when Jesus stopped, looked up and said, I must stay at your home” Jesus never gave ZACH what he deserved in the eyes of the public and his followers. This hardened sinner had no defense against the depth and width of God’s love. Love conquered him and he became a willing servant to it.

What would happen when you willfully bond yourself to Jesus and willfully release yourself from your friends. Where you love Jesus more than the applause and acceptance of your friends.

What happens when people are no longer an inconvenience and a nuisance? What happens when we no longer view people who oppose our religious views as our enemy? What happens when the comforter makes you uncomfortable by confronting your Comfort zone?

Any grace that doesn’t lead to transformation is a disgrace and not of God. The comforter will help you not to conform to this world but in turn will help you to have compassion for it.

Pastor at First Apostolic church in Maryville, TN said, “The last days of the church aren’t to be spent fighting, they are to be spent witnessing”

We can’t take the gift of grace and fit it into our life, it takes over our life. You quit trying “to do”, “to be”. You “be” to “do”. Then all of a sudden your (doing) is out of your (being).

If you obey your conviction, you never hit condemnation. We can’t think what seems right to a man rather than what is right to God.

Paul Ellis said, “The love of God is transformational but it will not change you unless you know it in your heart. The truth doesn’t set you free; it is knowing and being convinced about the truth that sets you free.”

The key to being Free from bondage is understanding and walking in the grace of God’s love. People will do and pay anything to feel loved! When you don’t have the revelation that you are loved, you are on a treadmill of performance that will wear you out.

Intro: The verses before us today reveal a man in prayer. Beginning in verse 14, Paul turned his heart toward the Lord to pray for the believers in Ephesus

As Paul prayed for the Ephesians believers, he made some very specific requests on their behalf. It is interesting to note what he did not ask for when he prayed. He did not pray for anything physical, material or financial. He did not pray for the healing of their sick. He did not pray that they would be delivered from persecution. He did not pray about the economy in Asia Minor. Paul did not occupy his prayer with so many of the things that seem to mark our own prayer lives.

What Does Paul Pray For?

1. EPH 3: V. 16  HE PRAYS FOR THEIR SPIRITUAL POWER KJV

The first thing He prays for is their spiritual power, or strength. The word “might” comes from the Greek word that gives us our English words “dynamite and dynamo.” It refers to “inherent power, or the power which resides within something by nature.”  It can also mean the inherited ability to perform in the realms of the unknown. This does not mean that we possess spiritual power in and of ourselves. It does mean that because we are in a relationship with the Lord, we have been empowered. The word also refers to “moral power and excellence of soul.” In this passage, it is speaking of the “strength of God in the inner man that enables the believer to live for the Lord.” Let’s notice a few thoughts about this prayer for spiritual power.

I feel at times we need as much power to love people than we need for the power gifts. To me the most powerful gift is the gift to love unconditionally.

What people see in regards to love is a demonstration of what is on the inside.

1. The Arena of This Power– Paul prays that this power might be revealed in the “inner man.” He is referring to the soul, or the person who inhabits these bodies. He is speaking about the very source of all the problems we have in our lives. The soul is the center of our will, our emotions, our thought process, and our motives.

Everything we do in life results from the decisions we make within the “inner man.” When the “inner man” is weak, we are subject to being controlled by the power of our flesh. It is the weakness in the “inner man” that fuels everything contrary to Holy Spirit.

When we came to Jesus, we were made “partakers of the divine nature,” 2 Pet. 1:4. It is from this vantage point that the Holy Spirit reforms us and remakes us into the image of Jesus Christ. As the “inner man” is fed on the Word of God, engaged in prayer to God, and encounters God, the “inner man” is strengthened. When the “inner man” is neglected, the life of the believer never rises to the heights of spiritual fulfillment.

When we fail to experience the power of God in the “inner man,” we are like Julian Ellis Morris. “Mr Morris was English, and he was a very rich and eccentric man. He liked to dress like a tramp and would sell razor blades, soap, and shampoo door–to–door. After a day’s work he would return to his beautiful mansion, put on formal attire and have his chauffeur drive him to an exclusive restaurant in his limousine. Sometimes he would even catch a flight to Paris and spend the evening there.

Many Christians live something like Mr. Morris, spending their day–by–day lives in apparent spiritual poverty and only occasionally enjoying the vast riches of His glory that their heavenly Father has given them. How tragic to go around in the tattered rags of our own inadequacy when we could be living sumptuously in the superabundance of God’s unspeakable riches.”

It is Paul’s desire that the Ephesian believers be changed in the “inner man,” or on a spiritual level.

I have heard it said, The battle belongs to the Lord but the fight belongs to us

1. The Abundance of This Power– Paul prays that their spiritual power may be, “according to the riches of His glory.” (KJV) He is praying that God will bless them “according” to His spiritual wealth. That is an amazing request!

Think about it. If a billionaire gave a thousand dollars to a cause, he would be giving out of his wealth. But, if that same billionaire gave a million dollars to that cause, he would be giving according to his wealth.

Paul is praying that God will give believers spiritual power that flows from the vast, limitless resources of God Himself. Those very resources became ours when we trusted Christ as Savior. The phrase “the riches of His glory” speaks of those spiritual attributes and abilities that belong to God because of Who He is. When He moved into your heart, He brought with Him the fullness of His presence and His power. Paul’s prayer is that the Ephesians would be able to experience the full benefit of their relationship with the Lord.

Sadly, most believers live like spiritual paupers when they are in fact the possessors of limitless spiritual wealth. We are like the young man who was on a railroad platform years ago begging for money for food. He walked up to an elderly man and said, “Sir, could you spare a dime?”

When the old man turned, the young man saw the face of his father looking back at him. He had not seen his father in 18 years.

The father immediately recognized his son and embraced him and through tears said, “A dime? Why, my son, I have been searching for you for 18 years so that I could give you everything I have.”

8. The Application of This Power– Paul prays that the “inner man” might be “strengthened with might by His Spirit” The power of God in our lives can only come from one place, the Holy Spirit. When He comes into a life, He comes in with power, Acts 1:8.

The outer man is always perishing, but the inner man is constantly being renewed. Ill. 2 Cor. 4:16-18, “¹⁶ For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; ¹⁸ While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

What does it mean for the “inner man” to be empowered by God? It means that our spirits come under the complete control of the Holy Spirit. It means that we yield to His control, His will, His power, for His glory. When that happens, the “inner man” grows stronger and is more able to live a life that is pleasing to the Lord. It is only when we yield to the Spirit and let Him control the inner man that we succeed in living to the glory of God.

RECAP      I.  He Prays for Their Spiritual Power

1. V. 17-19a  HE PRAYS FOR THEIR SPIRITUAL PASSION

Paul now turns from praying for their spiritual power to praying for their spiritual passion. His prayer is for these believers to be filled with the love of God that manifests itself in love for God and for others. Notice with me the ways Paul prayed for their spiritual love lives.

1. 17a  The Root Of This Passion– He prayed that “Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith.” He is not praying that they would be saved; they already were. When you give your life to the Lord, He takes up residence in the new believer’s heart. The word “dwell” means “to settle down; to be at home.” It is the idea of someone being “comfortable in a home.”

The idea here is that Christ will not be comfortable in the house of our hearts until our hearts are controlled by the Spirit of God. He lives in our hearts from the moment we trust Him as Savior, but He will not be “at home” there until the Spirit of God controls that heart.

Pentecost was not primarily an encounter with Gods power; it was an encounter with his powerful, transforming love. The apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit who is the Spirit of love.

1. V. 17b  The Reality Of This Passion– As Paul continues His prayer, he ask that they be “rooted and grounded in love.” These words speak of “putting down roots to give a strong foundation” and of being “stable or established.”

He is praying for their maturity in Christ. You see, the evidence that any life has been brought under the control of the Spirit of God is the presence of genuine love.

When a person is saved, “the love of God is shed abroad” in their hearts, Rom. 5:5. This love manifests itself in love for God, 1 John 4:19, and for one’s fellow man, John 13:35. It is the Lord’s desire that we love one another. Ill. John 13:34, “A new commandment I give unto you, That you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.”

And 1 Pet. 1:22, “²² Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in ^]sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart,

When the Spirit of God controls us and we are walking in His power, we will prove it by the way we love the Lord and others.

Many years ago, Dr. Donald Gray Barnhouse pointed out that love is central to all the fruits of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22. He said, “Love is the key. Joy is love singing. Peace is love resting. Long-suffering is love enduring. Kindness is love’s touch. Goodness is love’s character. Faithfulness is love’s habit. Gentleness is love’s self-forgetfulness. Self-control is love holding the reins.”

In other words, there can be no Fruit of the Spirit, and no evidence of the presence of the Lord, apart from love.

Paul is simply reminding us that love for the Lord and for others is central to our existence as believers. It is as unnatural for a believer not to love.

The believer is given the love of God when he is given the Spirit of God. To fail to love is as difficult as failing to breathe.

BOLD STATEMENT: The only way for a believer to not love is to be actively disobedient to the presence and work of the Holy Spirit in his life.

We can claim any excuse we want to, but the fact is, a lack of love is never the fault of the other person. A lack of love in any believer’s life is always the result of a disobedient, unyielded spirit!.

1 John 4:20-21, “²⁰  If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, ^[a]how can he love God whom he has not seen? ²¹ And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.

Paul echoed that thought in Romans 13:8-10, ⁸ Don’t owe anything to anyone, except your outstanding debt to continually love one another for the one who learns to love has fulfilled every requirement of the law. ⁹ For the commandments, “Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not covet,” and every other commandment can be summed up in these words: “Love and value others the same way you love and value yourself.” ¹⁰ Love makes it impossible to harm another, so love fulfills all that the law requires.

God wanted His people to be rooted in His love and built up through loving others and by being loved by others. That is Paul’s prayer for the church then, and it is still the Lord’s will for the church now. So, how’s your love life?

1. V. 18-19  The Result Of This Passion– When we are “rooted and grounded” in the love of God, we will be in a position to “ to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height” of that love. As the love of God is worked out toward us, in us and through us, it makes the love of God more understandable to all who experience it.

When Paul mentions “the breadth, and length, and depth, and height,” he is not talking about four kinds of love. He is talking about the fullness or the vastness of God’s love.

1. Kent Hughes writes the following about the verses.

1.) A love which is wide enough to embrace the world. John 3:16 tells us, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

2.) A love which is long enough to last forever (1 Corinthians 13:8). As Spurgeon said, “It is so long that your old age cannot wear it out, so long your continual tribulation cannot exhaust it, your successive temptations shall not drain it dry; like eternity itself it knows no bounds.”

3.) A love which is high enough to take sinners to Heaven (1 John 3:1,2).

4.)  A love which is deep enough to take Christ to the very depths to reach the lowest sinner (Philippians 2:8).

The Four Magnitudes describe an infinite, incomprehensible love. In A. W. Tozer’s words, ‘… because God is self-existent, His love had no beginning, because he is eternal, his love can have no end, because he is infinite it has no limit, because he is holy it is the quintessence of all spotless purity, because he is immense, his love is an incomprehensibly vast, bottomless, shoreless sea.…’

Christ’s love is indeed incomprehensible, but Paul prays for our comprehension, that we “may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp” its dimensions — literally, to take hold of them, to seize them. He knows this is impossible, but he calls us to this grand spiritual exercise for the health of our souls. It is to be our life’s occupation.”

When we are controlled by the Spirit and filled with His love, we are brought into a place where we can “comprehend” the vast, immeasurable love of God. The word “comprehend” means, “to grasp; to lay hold on.”

Only as His love fills us can we grasp what His love means. Only when His love flows through us can others come to “know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge.” To know His love, and to show His love, is to experience a miracle like no other!

1. He Prays For Their Spiritual Power
2. He Prays For Their Spiritual Passion
3. V. 19b  HE PRAYS FOR THEIR SPIRITUAL PROSPERITY

Paul’s final petition for the Ephesian believers is that they “might be filled with all the fulness of God.” This is a remarkable request. How can the finite hold the infinite? How can something so small contain Someone Who fills all things?

The word “filled” means “to be full; or to be filled to the fullest.” It speaks of “total domination.”. The person filled with happiness is dominated by joy. So, to be “filled with the fulness of God” is to be dominated by Him.