As some of you aware, I have been wrestling with the book of Ephesians (or perhaps a better way to put it is to be wrestled into submission) for the last five and a half years. Whether it be as I am rushing to visit you in the hospital or seating quietly in my office, on countless occasions, the prayer in Ephesians 3:14-21 has guided my intercession for you and our church family.
Paul, who is imprisoned in Rome and awaiting trial before Nero Caesar, pens this prayer with the help of his friend, Tychicus. Holding the young Christians in Asia Minor close to his heart, he bursts into a prayer that is full of fervor, love, and hope. Darrell Johnson describes it as "the prayer that blows the circuit boards". [1] In terms of its technical structure, it is one long, long sentence in the original Greek. Phrase after phrase, it gathers "rhetorical momentum" until the words crescendo into one of the boldest prayers in Scripture.
I am always taken by the movement from intercession (verses 14-19) to doxology (verses 20-21)--how Paul is moved from his prayer for others to the praise of God. Ultimately, the "efficacy" of prayer goes far beyond just the answers themselves. It inexorably leads us to God Himself. Our Triune God who is "able to do far more, abundantly, beyond" all that we ask or think! [2]
In describing who are praying to, John Stott puts it this way: [3]
God's ability to answer prayer is forcefully stated by the apostle in a composite expression of seven stages.
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He is able to do or work (poiēsai), for he is neither idle, nor inactive, nor dead.
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He is able to do what we ask, for he hears and answers prayers.
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He is able to do what we ask or think, for he reads our thoughts, and sometimes we imagine things for which we dare not and therefore do not ask.
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He is able to do all that we ask or think, for he knows it all and can perform it all.
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He is able to do more...than (hyper, 'beyond') all that we ask or think, for his expectations are higher than ours.
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He is able to do much more, or more abundantly (perissōs), than all that we ask or think, for he does not give his grace by calculated grace.
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He is able to do very much more, far more abundantly, than all that we ask or think, for he is a God of super-abundance.
As we enter into our second week of prayer, we encourage to be in prayer for the following outward-oriented ministry of our church family.
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Missionaries: Barbara Forster (SIM at Vancouver), Greg and Julie Slade (Frontiers at Ontario), Kaori Chua (OMF at Japan), Christina Winrich (OMF at Japan), John and Jooling Cuddeford (ISMC at UBC), Caitlin and Mathew Windsor (Wycliffe @ Kingfisher Lake), Tom and Grace Mei (Asia), David and Suzannah Nacho (Costa Rica), and Bill and Janice Dyck (Bolivia).
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Onion Lake Team: Bob Swann, our Minister of Mission, is forming a team to serve our First Nations friends at Onion Lake this coming summer.
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Refugee Sponsorship: Bob Swann and a number of lay leaders are in the process of filling out all of the necessary paperwork to sponsor a family. More details will follow next week via First News as a feature article.
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Kickers Soccer Camps: A significant number of those who take part in our camps are not part of our church family. Our camps are a wonderful way to embody the love and invitation of Jesus Christ.
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Hong Kong Bible Conference 2019: Our former Senior Minister, now a fellow lay member, Darrell Johnson will be preaching from a Baptist church in Kowloon City for nine days in early August. Last year, the conference reached around 249,000 people. This year, they are praying for 300,000! Please pray for the empowerment of the Holy Spirit as Darrell seeks to faithfully preach on Jesus' parables in Luke.
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Vocations and Neighbourhoods: Whether it be paid or volunteer, home or office, blue collar or white collar, all of us are called to be missionaries. Please pray that we may join in on what God is doing in our respective vocational settings and our neighbourhoods.
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Local Organizations: Kinbrace, First Steps, Promise Vancouver, Keats Camp (80% of the campers are from non-church background).
As you might have heard from Andrea Tisher (Minister of Worship) on Sunday morning, in two weeks, on June 23rd, she will be candidating for the role of Lead Pastor at Southwest Community Church in Kamloops. As she has requested, would you pray for her, her family, and our sister church in Kamloops? Should it be the case that the Lord is leading Andrea, Gordon, Emily, and Brendan to Kamloops, we--as a church family--need to celebrate that our sister church will be blessed by one of our own.
Integral to who we are a church family, we at First have always sought to birth and bless sister communities. Some of the communities that were birthed from us include Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, Jackson Avenue Baptist Church (now Ward Memorial Baptist Church), Fairview Baptist Church, South Hill Baptist Church, Broadway West Baptist Church, West Point Grey Baptist Church, Ruth Morton Memorial Baptist Church (now Mountainview Christian Fellowship), and Kitsilano Christian Community Church. And so, while we might be naturally saddened by this potential transition, we must rejoice in knowing that Southwest Community Church and Kamloops as a whole will be blessed by the Tishers.
Trusting in Him who is "able to do far more, abundantly, beyond" all that we ask or think,
Justin Kim
[1] Darrell Johnson's Experiencing the Trinity.
[2] Ibid
[3] John R. W. Stott's The Message of Ephesians, pg. 139-140
