Ephesians Week 5 - I AM APPRECIATED

3. EPHESIANS 1:15-23
15 For this reason, ever since I heard
about your faith in the Lord Jesus and
your love for all God’s people, 16 I have
not stopped giving thanks for you,
remembering you in my prayers.

4. EPHESIANS 1:15-23
17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may
give you the Spirit of wisdom and
revelation, so that you may know him
better.

5. EPHESIANS 1:15-23
18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may
be enlightened in order that you may
know the hope to which he has called
you, the riches of his glorious inheritance
in his holy people,

6. EPHESIANS 1:15-23
19 and his incomparably great power for
us who believe. That power is the same
as the mighty strength 20 he exerted
when he raised Christ from the dead and
seated him at his right hand in the
heavenly realms,

7. EPHESIANS 1:15-23
21 far above all rule and authority, power
and dominion, and every name that is
invoked, not only in the present age but
also in the one to come.

8. EPHESIANS 1:15-23
22 And God placed all things under his
feet and appointed him to be head over
everything for the church, 23 which is his
body, the fullness of him who fills
everything in every way.

9. You are APPRECIATED
by Jesus.

10. EPHESIANS 1:15-23
15 For this reason, ever since I heard
about your faith in the Lord Jesus and
your love for all God’s people, 16 I have
not stopped giving thanks for you,
remembering you in my prayers.

11. VERBAL PLENARY
INSPIRATION
It means is that God wrote the
Bible through people, and so
though it’s Paul’s voice, it’s God’s
words. He’s speaking to all of his
people, including us.

12. God is omniscient.

13. Sometimes what can happen is in our
desire to give all glory to God, we don’t
allow others to appreciate us or we don’t
appreciate others. Yes, the glory does
go to God, but the appreciation can go
to his servants. You can do both.

14. If God sends someone and uses them,
you can glorify Him and thank them.

15. Sometimes we can give all glory to God
and not give appreciation and
thankfulness to people, and as a result,
we could be actually discouraging
people when we should be
encouraging them.

16. FIVE AMAZING THINGS
ABOUT APPRECIATED
PEOPLE

17. APPRECIATED
PEOPLE EXCHANGE
GRUMBLING FOR
PRAYING

18. GRUMBLING is when you talk about
people to other people.
PRAYING is when you talk to Jesus
about people.

19. Paul’s not grumbling, he’s praying.
He knows that Jesus appreciates his
hard work.

20. PRAYER is when we talk to God.
SCRIPTURE is how God talks to us.

21. The key to overcoming your grumbling is to
know that the Lord Jesus suffered for you,
that the Lord Jesus loves you, that the Lord
Jesus is generous toward you, and in any
way that you are obedient to him, he sees,
he knows, he appreciates, and he’s
thankful for you.

22. That allows you to stop grumbling
because you know that you’re loved,
and cared for, and appreciated, and it
allows you to start praying for the well-
being of others.

23. APPRECIATED
PEOPLE EXCHANGE
COMPETING FOR
CELEBRATING

24. If you don’t feel appreciated, all of a
sudden you become competitive with
others.

25. HOW TO CELEBRATE
RATHER THAN
COMPETE

26. WE SHOULD REALLY
APPRECIATE JESUS.

27. EPHESIANS 1:17-20
17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may
give you the Spirit of wisdom and
revelation, so that you may know him
better.

28. EPHESIANS 1:17-20
18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may
be enlightened in order that you may
know the hope to which he has called
you, the riches of his glorious inheritance
in his holy people,

29. EPHESIANS 1:17-20
19 and his incomparably great power for
us who believe. That power is the same
as the mighty strength 20 he exerted
when he raised Christ from the dead and
seated him at his right hand in the
heavenly realms,

30. It doesn’t matter how long you’re a
Christian, there’s always something
new to learn about Jesus.

31. WE SHOULD HAVE A
DEEPER EXPERIENCE
WITH JESUS.

32. EPHESIANS 1:19-20
19 and his incomparably great power
for us who believe. That power is the
same as the mighty strength 20 he
exerted when he raised Christ from the
dead and seated him at his right hand in
the heavenly realms,

33. You know, if you have been obedient,
if you have been generous, if you have
been serving, if you have been God
says He never ceases to give thanks
for you.

34. You don’t have to grumble, you can pray.
You don’t have to compete, you can
celebrate. You don’t have to become
jealous of what other people are doing, you
can rejoice at God’s grace in their life
and rejoice at God’s grace in your life.

35. APPRECIATED
PEOPLE EXCHANGE
BITTERNESS FOR
THANKFULNESS

36. EPHESIANS 1:21-23
21 far above all rule and authority, power
and dominion, and every name that is
invoked, not only in the present age but
also in the one to come.

37. EPHESIANS 1:21-23
22 And God placed all things under his
feet and appointed him to be head
over everything for the church, 23
which is his body, the fullness of him who
fills everything in every way.

38. When you think it’s about your name, you
get bitter, but when you realize it’s about
Jesus’ name, you get thankful.

39. Paul here is thankful for two things: he’s
thankful for Jesus and the church.

40. We really want you to love Jesus and love
the church, and it’s not just so that we can
use you to grow a bigger church.

41. It’s in part so that we can guard your heart
against bitterness, that you would give
your life to what Jesus gave his life to, the
well-being of his people, and that you’d
stop thinking it’s all about your name
and your fame and it would be about his
name and his fame.

42. PRAYERS

43. One of the keys to CHRISTIAN
LEADERSHIP is prayer, and soaking
everything in prayer, and intersecting
everything with prayer.

44. Let me say this: the shortest distance
between two people is prayer. You want
to make a stranger a friend? Pray. You
want to make an enemy a friend? Pray.

45. Sometimes prayer moves the hand of God,
but usually it changes us and it brings us
into alignment with God’s will.

46. We see that if you know that you’re
appreciated by God, that he loves you, and
he’s thankful for you, and he encourages
you, it opens your heart to talk to him all
the time because he loves you.

47. APPRECIATED
PEOPLE EXCHANGE
PERFORMING FOR
SERVING

48. People who don’t know that they’re
appreciated, they have to brag about what
they’ve done, they have to exaggerate
what they’ve done. They need to tell
everybody what they have done.

49. Knowing God appreciates us allows us to
exchange our performance for service.

50. PERFORMANCE
• Done for the sight and
approval of others
• Causes us to be enslaved
to others’ opinions,
unable to say no, and
prone to being
overworked
• Done knowing that God is
watching and approving,
whether or not anyone
else is.
• Frees us to do what God
wants, thereby saying no
is needed
SERVICE

51. PERFORMANCE
• Presses us towards
perfectionism, where we
seek to do everything just
right so that others will
praise us
• Causes us to focus on the
“big things” and only do
what is highly visible or
significant
• Allows us to do our best
knowing that God’s
appreciation of us is
secure, regardless of our
performance
• Allows us to do simple,
humble, menial tasks,
the “little things,” and
God equally appreciates
both
SERVICE

52. PERFORMANCE
• Where people are an
audience and you want
their praise
• It’s not enough because
the audience isn’t big
enough
• Where God is the
audience
• It’s enough because the
audience is One
SERVICE

53. Jesus says that he is a servant; he’s
come not to be served but to serve.
That’s different than performing. You can
see two people doing the same thing, and
God sees the heart and sees that there
are very different motives between
serving and performing.

54. APPRECIATED
PEOPLE EXCHANGE
BOASTING FOR
ENCOURAGING

55. WHAT HAPPENS WHEN
WE FEEL
UNAPPRECIATED?

56. WE OBSESS ABOUT
MAKING KNOWN
EVERYTHING THAT WE
DO.

57. WE EXAGGERATE.

58. WE LIE.

59. What we can appreciate about the example
of the Apostle Paul, again, he’s not
boasting, he’s encouraging. He’s not
talking about all the things that he’s done,
he talks about all the things that they’ve
done.

60. We want you to be very encouraged, we
want you to appreciate who Jesus is and
what he’s done, and I want you to know
that the Lord Jesus appreciates you. If
you have served, Jesus says thank you. If
you have given, Jesus says thank you. If
you have prayed, Jesus says thank you. If
you are growing, Jesus says thank you.

61. And he wants to free you from the
performance trap and let you enjoy the
serving like he did. No one got more done
than Jesus, but it was not performance,
it was service.

62. CONCLUSION

63. WHO DO YOU NEED TO
THANK?

64. When we criticize one another, we
make withdrawals; when we
appreciate one another, we make
deposits.

65. And then, as we need to correct or
criticize, we realize we’re making
withdrawals, but let us seek, by the
grace of God, like the Apostle Paul, to
be people who have far more
deposits than we do withdrawals.

66. WHO DO YOU NEED TO
THANK?