“For this reason, I Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus on behalf of your gentiles- “Ephesians 3:1

Have you ever had a situation or circumstance put so much weight on you that it feels as if it was restricting you? That no matter how hard you tried this “thing” weighed you down, either mentally or even physically? That it limited your calling and your influence for the Kingdom?

No matter what season we are currently in now, we all have been through season where we felt constrained by the settings around us. In these seasons, we feel like we have been backed into a corner and have nowhere to retreat. The walls grow higher and higher, we feel trapped by the situation and are helpless victims to the outcome.

The apostle Paul was in one of those seasons. He had been locked away in a Roman prison for nothing more than teaching the gospel to the gentiles. The Judaizes held him in contempt of their law and had him expedited to Rome for further persecution.

Over the past year or so, I have grown to adore the apostle Paul. His boldness and love for Christ is a model for every believer. But you know what draws me to this character the most? He lived what he preached. Jesus actually made a difference in His life! He didn’t just mutter off words, those words wore shoe leather; his life was a testament to what he taught.

Do you know someone like this?

If so, have you ever seen them go through something outlandishly painful and unfair but yet grow in boldness and love of Christ?

That is what happened to the apostle Paul; suffering made him bolder and his love for Christ deeper. We see that demeanor here in the first 13 verse of the third chapter of Ephesians. He was so distraught over the fact that they may stumble over his sufferings that he feels the need to make it clear that when Christ is involved in suffering pity has no place in the minds of Christians. This is a deep truth, a height to which most of us never reach. Because its human nature to get tripped up on suffering, especially the suffering of a devoted and loyal follow of Christ. When circumstances get heavy and unfair, our first response in our flesh will be to tell God how devoted we (or the other person) are, how unfair it is for a

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“good” person to have it worse off than a “bad” person. In fact, no greater question hangs over humanity like this one: “If God is good then why is there so much suffering?”. Why would a missionary that has devoted their lives be asked to lay it down? Why would a faithful servant be diagnosed with cancer? Why do some ministries flourish while others seem to be dying? Why do husbands leave their godly wives? Or children rebel against a strong Christian home? Why is there cancer? Why is there unemployment lines? Why is there negative figure bank accounts? Why is there negative pregnancy tests? Why are their miscarriages or early graves? All these questions play racket ball across our brains. It doesn’t add up…. why?

This is what was happening to the Ephesian brotherhood, they were questioning the imprisonment of their beloved Paul. They had never seen anyone so loyal and true, yet there he was….in chains. That kind of thing can be heavy. Very heavy.

Paul sets out to set the record straight, he wasn’t a prisoner of Rome, he was a prisoner of Christ. It wasn’t suffering that bound him, it was the love of Christ. Look at 2 Corinthians 5:14 and circle the word controls.

“for the love of Christ controls us…”

The Greek word for controls is sunecho- to arrest (a prisoner).

Paul may have been chained by the Romans, but the love of Christ chained his heart. suffering may have seized the great apostle but it had no hold on his soul. Now, go back and read the remainder of 2 Corinthians 5:14-15.

Christ so captivated the apostle Paul that his love held the final word on every situation he faced. Life isn’t worth living apart from Christ, so with that mindset Paul starred suffering straight in the eye and commanded its subjection to Jesus. Because Paul was a prisoner of Christ, he was never a victim to his circumstances. He didn’t just put up with suffering, he exalted in them. That my friends is a picture of a person who is more than a conqueror. Instead of letting his circumstances define and deflate him, He let Christ define and deflate his circumstances. Even though Paul was in prison “there is no smell of prison in Ephesians. As you open the book it is just like going into some vast, open expanse and breathing in fresh air of heaven. There is no clank of prison chains to be heard, for Paul is not bound in spirit.”. what causes someone to be so bold in persecution and so faithful in bondage? What motivates obedience when the walls are closing in on us? the answer lies in one simple word: mindset. I’ve seen this one much too close to home lately. I’ve witnessed firsthand the toxin of wrong mindset. When we are thrown into our own “prison” (harsh and possibly unfair circumstance) we have two options: we can look outwardly at the cold walls of our prison cell or we can throw our heads toward the heavenlies. You see suffering didn’t tear down the apostle Paul because he was “seated with Christ in the heavenly places.” Ruth Paxton writes “what is the secret to such victorious otherworldliness? Paul’s spirit is with

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Christ in the heavenlies even though his body languishes in that foul Roman prison.”. When things get hard we tend to take on the victim’s role instead of the victors.

My middle son is very talented, he is athletic and a quick thinker. He always makes all-stars in baseball, he always bats in the top 4, he always plays third base because everyone knows he rocks it! everyone that is except for him. He has very little confidence. One mistake and he hammers himself into the ground. I’ve noticed this year something that bothers me, when he goes up to bat he is already beat. He doesn’t believe in the ability within him and so the opponents have the upper hand. All of us on the sidelines know that deep within he is powerhouse for that team. But for some reason he doesn’t believe the power within him is enough to overcome the power being thrown at him. So, he strikes out. Despite the ability within, despite the power he has…he walks back to the dugout with his head hanging in defeat.

Many of us approach our circumstances the same way; we have no faith in the power within us so the enemy has the upper hand on us. You have a powerhouse within you! You were meant to knock the hide off of the curveball the enemy has thrown you! What will you do: hang your head in defeat? Or swing for the fences?

We have got to stop mistaking simple inconveniences for real tragedies. We throw on the victims cap all the time, we just don’t realize it. it doesn’t even take a prison sentence to throw most of us into a turmoil. Just let the kids misbehave all day, or the checking account get a little thin, or let our work days get crazy…all it takes for us to label a day as being “bad” is for the car keys to get misplaced, the drive thru not be quick enough, our hair gets frizzy or our husbands misbehave. These things are frustrating. But here’s the thing- life is hard. It just it. But it’s harder when we are victims instead of victors. Honestly, Satan doesn’t have to try very hard to throw most of us off track. We derail over inconveniences all because of a victims mentality.

Did you notice in the first verse of Ephesians what the reason for Paul’s suffering was?

This ripped my heart wide open….watch this: even though Paul was imprisoned his purpose was not! The Romans may have taken his freedom but they could not take his purpose! We can’t do a whole lot about our circumstances, the view of the world would be that we are helpless victims of them. But scripture teaches us that instead of being a victim to our circumstances we are victors over them. Because we are victorious, the settings of our lives cannot limit our purpose! In fact, the influence given to you will only increase in the face of trials. I know I already mentioned this verse but it is a staple to a victor’s perspective, turn with me to Philippians 1:12-14. Paul also wrote this epistle while in prison, he in fact encouraging the church in Philippi the same way he is the Ephesians.

“what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel…”

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List the effects of Paul’s sufferings below:

Our afflictions serve the cause of Christ. In fact, it is the situations that we think will crush us that is a catalyst for outreach. Whatever Paul went through he leveraged it for the kingdom. Our particular callings will always flow from our captivity to Christ and so will our effectiveness. The degree to which we are willing to be shaken up will determine the degree to which we shake the world up for Christ.

Turning point:

What or who has you as a prisoner?

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Revelation. What does that word mean to you? What does it imply?

It's an important word in Ephesians chapter 3 . It's the Greek word “apokalupsis” and if derived from “apokalupto”. Look at it closely. If you are familiar with end time events, do you see an English word hidden within it? The English word apocalypse is pulled from this word. It means “to take off the cover, reveal, to disclose, to bring to light…”. We use it to refer to the revealing of Christ, when all His glory will be disclosed to the world. So, think of it as the unleashing of Gods will and glory. The purpose of revelation is to show the heart of God to the heart of man. Yoke it together with “mystery” and we have the theme of This chapter. Remember we mentioned mystery in week 1 of our study guide. The word mystery here conveys the same idea, that which is hidden or veiled. So, a revelation is the removal of that veil. When God lifts the film off of our minds so that we can understand His will or His plan. The Spirit is the agent of revelation. Without Him lifting the cloud off of our minds we cannot walkout our particular callings, we will operate out of a cloudy haze instead of a clear vision. Without revelation, we cannot be effective. Revelation unlocks the mysteries of our inheritance!

Have you ever felt like God gave you a revelation?

I have indeed! And I live off those moments-I absolutely love it when the clouds in my mind are parted and His word stands out with such clarity that I cannot miss it if I wanted to! We need it girls! We have got to have it to for our direction, without it we'll walk aimlessly through life.

Paul's ministry was founded upon revelation and focused on the proclamation of that revelation.

Look at that statement again, really chew on it. Paul's “direction” was founded up the revelation given to him. When God called Paul to carry the gospel to the gentiles, He did so by revelation. Look with me at Galatians 1:11-24 and we will see this very thing.

Revelation is so important because it is in fact God unwrapping something and handing it to us; it is His way of entrusting us with a very precious gift. Upon salvation, we all see the “unwrapping” of the gift of Christ Jesus-revelation is the first step in the process of salvation. Before we can ever believe, the veil must be lifted. Yet, it doesn't stop there, lock on Galatians 1:15-16.

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“But when he who set me apart before I was born, was pleased to reveal his son to me in order that I might preach him among the gentiles…”

Circle “in order that”. Those three little words tell us something very specific about the reason for revelation. It isn't just for us to “understand”, God reveals His ways so that we can act! Revelation always initiates a response. He reveals the next step so that we can move on!

Each one of us have a direction we are called to move in; the reason why we are left here after salvation. Look at the sentence below and fill in the blank if you can:

“Was pleased to reveal his son to me IN ORDER THAT I might_____________________.”

Our direction should be navigated by revelation, if it is we will arrive at the destination of our particular callings. Whatever you put in the blank is your particular calling (or one of them). The focus of our direction should be to fulfill whatever it is God has spoken over us. Our particular callings will be the thing God set us apart to accomplish. We will know this is our calling because God reveals it to us. The thing about revelation is, when God speaks to us and discloses our coarse we get excited and motivated; revelation revs up our drive. However, the rest of the world may not get it. But at the time it is so strong within us, we are so convinced of Gods voice, that we propel onward despite opposition or questions from others. That’s what the apostle Paul did. He was unconcerned about what the other apostles thought…because he knew to his core what God had showed him. Paul claimed to be the apostle that replaced Judas, the one who betrayed Christ. Yet, in Acts 1 the 11 chose the replacement by way of lot. So, to them this was a ludacris claim. It would be years before the 11 embraced Paul as an apostle. That didn’t hold Paul back, his ministry was founded upon the revelation given to him instead of revelation being placed on top of ministry. Stay with me here and think about this: if we let our “particular calling” be the foundation of our direction then we will be swayed like a tree in the wind, because we lose our solidarity. If our works become our foundation for direction in our lives then we will be easily thrown off course when things don’t go as planned; when it’s not as easy, or it’s not as fruitful as you thought then discouragement will settle in and we will throw in the towel. Yet, if our callings are based on revelation then no matter what the outcome of our works are we won’t give up so easily because we know to the marrow of our bones that God called us to this, even if things aren’t as easy or even if its not unfolding like we thought. we may have question’s, but we will not question our calling because the revelation of our call is the bedrock of our direction because revelation is when God speaks it to your heart but you can’t see it with your eyes! It’s that voice from within, that promise that was etched onto our hearts that cause us to keep looking for the fulfillment. Revelation will always cause us to go through a waiting period. Pay attention to this: when a family is expecting a baby and they are waiting for the arrival of their expectation they will not wait there forever, no, after the time has been fulfilled, after the preparation of the blessing is over, THEN the waiting room turns into the delivery room and the seed of promise will be harvested! Revelation keeps us expectant in the waiting room!!!

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I hope this makes sense to you, it was one of my favorite lessons so far in Ephesians. Ill tell you why; almost 5 years ago I walked down in front of the congregation and devoted my life to “ministry”. I had no idea what that meant, I still don’t. But I had told my pastor what I was dealing with in my walk, that I felt like He was calling me to something. I described to him in detail all the “word”s I kept receiving, I had pages of scriptures that were yelling at me from the ink of scriptures. He looked at me and said “Your being called into ministry..”. He only affirmed what I knew in my spirit. So, I made it public. Fast forward 5 years and not much has happened. I teach some, I write (if you want to call it that) a little, I’ve taken some classes….but it hasn’t unfolded like I thought it would. I imagined immediately God opening a door to vocational ministry…turns out that wasn’t the plan after all. I still have no clue what I’m doing, if I listen close I can hear the whispers of discouragement saying “you made this up….He never called you.”. But then I remember those weeks where He spoke so clearly and so powerfully, I remember the revelation, and so I ignore the voice and keep going. I keep going even though I have no idea where I’m going, I follow the light of the word and take the next step in front of me. Over the past few years I have realized something: we don’t have to understand our callings to be obedient. We may be called to live out those revelations without any monetary payment-you want to know what I think about that? I think it’s harder to stay faithful to our call when it’s NOT our jobs. It’s easier to give in when we aren’t held to such a high standard. I think it’s the laymen that MAY offer the most flavor to the world, because we are in it all day every day. (I’m not saying vocational ministry is easier, it’s not, Satan comes for them in full force but he does sneak in under the cover of our normal lives and affects our effectiveness more than we think. the world is most affected by the gospel when we live out that gospel in the context of everyday lives.) Our “particular calling” is much broader than church related service opportunities. For example, I know a relator, who if you asked her she would make it clear that her “job” is a ministry. She doesn’t think about it as merely selling houses, she sees the eternal affect her job can have on her community. How can the eternal effect your community through you?

That may be your particular calling. You may be like me and that call is vague don’t get caught up in filling out the details, live in the moment and do what is before you. Often times revelation takes time to fulfill. In other words, God gives us a revelation and then He prepares us to fulfill it. it even happened to Paul. Look at Galatians 1:18-2:2 and Acts and draw a time line of Paul’s calling below:

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After the initial revelation, it would be 14 years before the Lord directed him to go before the Jerusalem council. Yet, that doesn’t mean that he wasn’t fulfilling his calling where he was. Just because we aren’t where we are going doesn’t mean we don’t have ministry where we are.

Revelation is the fire behind our callings, without it we will burn out. If you need one ask for it! pray that the eyes of your heart will be enlightened and the Spirit of revelation will show you. Ephesians has two of the most potent prayers in the New Testament: in chapter 1 we see Paul praying for this exact thing- that God would reveal the hope of their calling. Don’t miss it, don’t be afraid of it. there are three different ways we tend to react to revelation: we run from it (like Jonah), we reject it all together (like the Pharisees in Jesus’s day), or we can embrace it (like Paul). if we reject revelation, we reject our callings, the two are bonded together. “where there is lack of revelation the people perish” Proverbs 29:18

We have been entrusted with something valuable; revelation shows us how and when to use it but revelation will never become reality without faith. Speaking of the great heroes of the faith the writer of Hebrews said, “these all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them far off (revelation) and were persuaded of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on earth.” These great heroes saw, were persuaded and embraced the revelation given to them by faith! That’s how the inheritance of revelation is dispersed; faith, believing what doesn’t make sense and seeing something that isn’t even there yet. Faith

Turning Point:

1. Have you ever received a revelation from God? If your answer is no, look deeper; sometimes revelation comes in a gentle whisper. We tend to think of lightening bolts and trumpets blasting-don’t limit revelation to “loud”, its often in the silence of our souls that God whispers over our hearts.

2. If you have received revelation from God have you embraced it with faith?

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***challenge- keep a revelation journal, where you write out when you feel God revealing something to you. Pray it out! Don’t just put it on a shelf and forget it-pray over the word you received!

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“…assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you…”

That word steward is the Greek word “oikonomia” and means administration, to be a manger of affairs. The closest illustration we can pull from is a manager of a store. The manager does not own the resources yet they benefit from them. They are over the outworking of the stores commerce, making sure the owners resources are utilized to the fullest.

We have been placed as managers over the wealth of grace so that the “Owner” can get the greatest return on His investment.

As we walk out our daily lives, our particular callings will be fueled by the grace of God, but that’s not where it stops. Our callings are a working display of that grace that bring honor and glory to the Father. God has opened the vault of grace, not so we can gorge on it and hoard it, but so that our callings will be equipped to work. And as stewards we are held responsible for dispensing this grace to the world around us.

We saw in week 1 that grace effects our positional callings (election) as well as our particular callings, which are extremely practical. In this verse Paul’s places the responsibility of administering that grace on our shoulder. We are stewards of God’s grace, we are the manager of the riches that have been lavished on us. Because we hold the “manger” title, we are the spout of grace that gushes forth and causes it to seep into our surroundings. So, let me ask you this- how well are you doing at managing the riches of grace? For grace to be working through us it must be working in us. We have to be effected by it in order to be effective in the world.

Grace always bring freedom, but with freedom comes responsibility. When we receive this gift of grace we were taken into its service. Take another look at 1 Corinthians 15:10.

“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me is not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.”

In order for this lavish supply of grace not to be wasted on us, we are called to work it out! Grace has a job to do in us but then we are responsible to use those resources and apply it to our everyday circumstances. Grace was given to us so we can make it through this life, not just surviving but thriving. A life void of grace will be a life void of not only impact but fullness.

Look at Philippians 2:12-13. List who works according to this verse.

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Grace has a target; our sanctification and His glory. Our callings work out because God’s grace works in us and through us. Yet, we are called to work the inward to the outward. We work out, bring out, what God has worked in us through His grace. All this takes time. Like it takes a great artist time to carve out the image hidden within the marble, so too with us. the chisel of grace is etching away, working in us, it’s a delicate process that requires patience. While we may think, we are ready to “work out”, grace is still carving the details that will be required to be effective. I have these words taped to the front of my bible “Be patient with Gods patient work within you.”. Something Ive learned the hard way: don’t rush ahead of grace. We get in such a rush to “fulfill” our calling that we speed ahead and once we get there we realize, we weren’t ready for this. All because we bypassed the preparation of grace. God is glorified when his work makes it through us. when they don’t get trapped within, but flow freely from our hearts to our hands. We can’t bypass the inner work, that is the crucible for our callings.

As I was preparing to move ahead to verse 10, a new verse jumped out at me: verse 8 in Ephesians 2 says:

“to me, though I am the least of all the saints, this grace was given to me to preach to the gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.”

“The least of all”….that stirs up something within me, it pokes that bear that hibernates deep within because I’ll be brutally honest, I can feel like I am not enough. The world holds up a standard that no one can meet, sometimes we reach for that standard, we strive to just be enough-but we never are. Social media highlights people’s success. There’s always someone more organized, more fashion conscious, better cooks, better moms, better wives that have better jobs, their kids get better grades, they have a higher degree, their families are more “normal”…..as we scroll through the posts something can creep in that we don’t recognize off the bat: comparison. It is the killer of destiny and the cancer to our callings. Our perspective gets so cloudy that we cannot even see the purpose for ourselves laid out before our eyes. When we call ourselves “…least of all…” we have concluded someone is “most of all” and it isn’t us.

We can be least in stature, in honor, in material possessions, talent, or intellect. Least of all in our works places, in our families, in our circle of friends, and even in Sunday School. We can even take that posture into our relationship with God; feeling inadequate for our callings. Comparison hatches inadequacy and insignificance and before long they dictate our decisions. We compare our particular callings with someone else’s, who seems more put together and fruitful, and just like that comparison has highjacked our callings.

Paul states that he is the least of all the saints, not out of insecurity but out of gratitude. Gratitude bubbles out of a heart that remembers what they used to be. Paul could’ve crumbled under the weight of comparison. After all Peter and John were the great apostles, the foundation of the church, the

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church that he tried to kill off. But those big shadows never cast down on Paul’s calling. Paul’s past should have disqualified him, but instead it prepared him. It should have discredited his calling, but yet his past aided and worked for the gospel. Read 1 Timothy 1:12-16

Here Paul makes no bones about his underqualification for his ministry, yet he doesn’t stumble over his weakness he embraces it! What does verse 12 say that The Lord gave Paul?

a. Strength b. clarity c. composer

Why did He give Him strength?

a. Because he deserved it b. he judged him faithful c. he asked for it

This verse tells us plainly that God gave Paul strength before he judged him faithful. The evaluation for faithfulness took place even before his conversion. God gave Paul the strength to fulfill his ministry before he was even commissioned. This divine empowerment anointed the head of Paul, not because he deserved it but because God empowers our faithfulness. Augustine put it like this “God does not choose a person who is worthy, but by the act of choosing him, He marks him worthy.”. When God judged Paul faithful, it wasn’t his inherent strength but his inherited strength that produced faithfulness. What’s the difference between “inherent” and “inheritance”?

One is supplied from our own resources, the other is supplied by God. We have inherited strength to be faithful. Our faithfulness never comes from within. This word faithful is in direct reference to Paul’s worth in Gods eyes.

So, Paul was appointed as a faithful servant even though he was the foremost of sinners. He explains how his past worked for the gospel in verse 16. What did Paul’s conversion and ministry show the world about God?

Paul’s life was a sketch of the patience of God. A porotype for those who are “least of all”. We may have been the least, but now we have been elevated with Christ and are crowned “worthy”.

Look up these verse below to see what Jesus had to say about “the least of these”:

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Matthew 11:11

Matthew 20:16

Matthew 5:19

You are great in the eyes of your God! Paul, who was littler in stature, stammering in speech, who was unimpressive in person, the least of the apostles set his world a blaze with the gospel. All because he knew “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.” . Our callings aren’t based on out strength but on pour frailty, because its then that His “power (the dynamis, resurrection power) is made perfect.”.

Write 2 Timothy 4:17 below

Paul’s calling was lonely at times, so it will be with ours as well. There will be times when we feel abandoned and pushed aside-but take heart in knowing we will never be pushed aside by God! He is standing with you on the front lines of the battle, infusing you with strength and courage. And because He stands with us, we fight the good fight that are callings will require from the stance of victory. And the victors cry is the message He wants you to proclaim-all of our particular callings, no matter how diverse, come back to this epicenter: the proclamation of victory. Like Paul our lives are a prototype of the victory Christ offers, a sketch of His patience to the world. Because when they see us, “the least of these”, living in victory they are given hope.

Turning Point:

What areas are you not managing grace well? ( examples: parenting, family relationships, your speech…etc)

What is your weakness? Ask God to show you how that can be used as a platform for the gospel.

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***challenge: Read the book of Esther in one sitting. Look at how the favor and call of God is displayed in our weakness and willingness. Esther is proof a woman who is “the least of these” can be used by God in mighty ways.

“so that through the church, the manifold wisdom of God might be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.”

This verse is so very interesting! Who did we learn dwells in the heavenly places?

All the spiritual realm, angels through demons, live and fight in this realm. So, this verse could be talking about the demons being taught about Gods wisdom through the church. But if we look at the entire council of the word it would point us to the other extreme; angels. Look up 1 Peter 1:10-12. What does it say angels long to look into?

Angels have been watching the creativity of God from the beginning of time. They were witnesses to the creation of the mountains, they were in awe of the glorious handiwork that is displayed through nature. They saw the set apart of Abraham and the dealings with Israel. They shook their angelic heads in astonishment at man’s rebellion and hardness toward the Most High. Humanity was in a plight that seemed unsaveable. Yet, then one day they witnessed the Son, the Darling of Heaven, get up from His throne and descend to the earth as one of them. Shocked at the display of love, the angels clung close to their God. They strengthen Him throughout His tenure on earth, in the wilderness of temptation and in the garden of submission ( Matthew 4 and Luke 22). Christ even told Peter on the night of His arrest that “do you not know that I could call down tens of thousands of angels at my side?”. It puzzled them; to see the great I AM clothed in frailty, to see the Prince of Peace among the chaos of sin and despair. As Jesus hung on the cross, they had to be on the edge of heaven, in total agony and utter confusion that God Himself was being tortured and ridiculed. As He breathed His last, the heavenlies were in an uproar. Who would have known? As they laid His body in a tomb, and soliders watched in vain, it is thought that two of the angels went down and guarded the body. So, they were the first witnesses, as they watched His chest start moving up and down, they saw the God of glory disintegrate the hold of death. As the

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stone was moved away, they had to be slack jawed from amazement! Peter said that they “long to look into these things…”. Turn with me to John 20 and read verses 1-10. Now, camp on verse 5. The ESV says that “stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there…”. The word stooping implies the idea of John bending down with curiosity into the empty tomb, that is the same Greek word for “looks” in 1 Peter 1:12. Angels curiously look into the things of salvation; they cant figure out why God would even mess with us, much less die for us. Ephesians 3:10 tells us that the church body as an entire entity explains it all to them. As the days and months followed Christ sacrifice, the church was born and grew, this new creation called the church is the working display of God’s manifold wisdom. The word manifold means “multifaceted or multi-colored”. I loved what Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones said about the witness of the church “…the church is a medium through which this wisdom can be manifested. The church is a prism that is placed in the path of ;light to breakup the whiteness into the colors of a spectrum. Without this, the angels could see the light, could see the wisdom in general, but not the amazing variety. It is through the church as a medium, that the angels have received a new conception of the transcendent glory of the wisdom of God! What we have to grasp therefore, is that the Christian church, which you and I belong is the most astonishing phenomime the world has ever seen. The church is the most wonderful than anything seen in nature.”. Think about it: out of all the jaw dropping glory that surrounds us; the mountains, the sunset on the river, the roars of the ocean, the fields ripe with harvest…all this pails to the unification of man through Christ!

Look at Revelation 4, there are colors in this passage that our human eyes have never seen. The brilliance of the throne room would melt our eyes into their sockets. This is what the angels behold at all times, surrounded by brilliance and grandeur every moment. However, This scene only describes a fraction of Gods wisdom. Look further into chapter 5:9-11, 7:9-12. These passages represent the multitudes that will be worshipping around the throne. In chapter 5 “Saints” represent anyone who has trusted Christ for the forgiveness of their sins-anyone-all people-from every walk of life. Chapter 7 is more specifically the saints that come out of the tribulation faithful. How does verse 9 describe these people?

From every nation, all people, all tribes, and all languages. Think about all the diversity that represents! Think of all the different skin colors, hair colors, eye colors and remember with me what the meaning of manifold is: multi-colored. As radiant and grand as heaven is, this combination of peoples into one body is the most majestic demonstration of Gods wisdom. Look at the verses in Revelation again. did you notice that the angels sing praises to God immediately following the saints? What do they acclaim to Him?

Wisdom!!!! in the future, at the consummation of our salvation, it will all make sense to them. This entire divine plan will click and the angelic beings will burst out in praise! Because who would’ve ever

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thought that it turned out so well! Right now, they are being taught through the church but one day it will all make perfect sense and they will see and proclaim, “You are wise O Lord!!”.

We have now arrived at the most potent section in chapter 3. Spurgeon said this prayer is as one is ascending Jacobs ladder, each petition closer to the gates of heaven. In these verses 14-21, Paul recites a prayer for spiritual strength. He wanted the Ephesians to be spiritually healthy, for them to use the spiritual power Christ has accounted to them.

According to a survey, the majority of Christians feel as if they are spiritually drained and weak. Because of the erosion of life, our spirituality can ebb away under the constant current of the everyday stresses the tide of life brings. We feel depleted, wore out, cast down, depressed, disappointed, weary, lonely, undone, under accomplished and over worked. Like a finger without fingerprints, the daily grind smooths out the very trademark of our identities, leaving us unidentifiable to the world. We blend right in. for us to really live out our definition and our direction it will require a spiritual strength. For many of us our spiritual lives seem lethargic because our spiritual immune system is out of kilter. The immune system in our physical bodies is a defense system that guards against disease. This prayer lays out what a healthy spiritual immune system looks like, what the modes of defense are that fight of the disease of

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spiritual depression and weariness, the spiritual cancer of fear and doubt as well as the subtle killer of indifference and complacency. If the topics we will discuss today are not the absolute foundation of our thoughts and emotions than we will continue to operate out of weakness instead of Christs strength.

Read the entire prayer. Now, you may have noticed that there are 4 “that’s”, with each one a new height is reached, another surge of power to our walks charges are souls.

1. Strengthened according to the riches of Christs glory2. Christ may dwell in your heart through faith3. That you may be rooted and grounded in love4. Filled with the fullness of God

“according to the riches of His glory, that you may be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being…”

1. The words that fell off my tongue where heavy with spiritual sickness, as I grabbed my aching head, my heart was hot with spiritual fever and like someone whose fever is much too high, disillusioned by the chaos within, I uttered these words….”I can’t handle this Lord!”. I don’t remember what the “delemia” was that particular day, but I do remember the confusion and anxiety that drug me to the depths of despair. Our spiritual weaknesses are routinely inspired by our own absurd notion that we can be all things to all people. The deepest grave in all of Christendom, we dig with our own hands, as we carry the weight of the world on our backs; believing that we “can handle it” is the first symptom of a weak spot in our spiritual lives. I’m not saying that we coware behind “I cant” but that we realize going into the day that apart from the Spirit we cannot handle what awaits us.

This strength is engrafted to our inner man (our spirits, hence our subject of spiritual strength) by the Spirit who draws the resources from the glory of the Father. To understand this great phenomena the Lord had me look up “how a fire hydrant works”. Bizarre I know, yet this is what I got from it: a fire hydrant represents the vast supply of water that is hidden out of sight. When a hose is attached to the hydrant the unseen reality of the needed supply is rushed to the fire engine where the water becomes pressurized, in order to have enough power to put out the flames. The fire fighters hoses are connected to the pumps and through this conduit the supply’s ability was maximized. As a result, the fire fighters have the resources to handle the job.

You see the riches of Gods glory like the water, unseen and virtually unattainable, that is until the Spirit connects the hidden resources to the us. He takes those riches and “pressurizes” them, or He coerces the unseen source to the visible. Simply put He takes from the store house of glory and supplies us with its power so that we can handle what is in front of us.

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2. “…that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith…”

May dwell (2730) (katoikeo from kata = intensifying preposition and emphasizing permanence + oikeo = occupy a house) literally means to settle down and abide or to take up permanent abode. It means to live or dwell in a place in an established or settled manner as opposed to sojourning or making only an occasional visit.

MacDonald explains that "Actually, the Lord Jesus takes up His personal residence in a believer at the time of conversion (John 14:23; Rev. 3:20). But that is not the subject of this prayer. Here it is not a question of His being in the believer, but rather of His feeling at home there! He is a permanent Resident in every saved person, but this is a request that He might have full access to every room and closet; that He might not be grieved by sinful words, thoughts, motives, and deeds; that He might enjoy unbroken fellowship with the believer. The Christian heart thus becomes the home of Christ, the place where He loves to be—like the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus in Bethany. (Believer's Bible Commentary)

This verse describes more than Christ becoming our Savior it describes Christ becoming our passion, our very heartbeat! For Christ to dwell in our hearts is to be engrossed in the personal love affair with our Groom! He is to be the very core of our lives and our affections. But that isn’t always how it is in reality is it? have you ever noticed the difference in Christians? Some include Christ in their lives, but for others, Christ is their life, every faucet of life finds its source in Him.

Our hearts are the center for our spiritual lives. The word heart is “kardia” and does not refer to the physical organ but is always used figuratively in Scripture to refer to the seat and center of human life. The heart is the center of the personality, and it controls the intellect (mind), emotions (feelings), and will. The heart is the wellspring of man’s spiritual life. we see the most beautiful illustration of the throne of our hearts in the old testament. Remember that in Old Testament days they worshipped in the Tabernacle up until the reign of Solomon whom God chose to create a permanent residency among His people. Now, both the tabernacle and the temple proper were laid out the same way inwardly. There were two different sections, separated by a huge purple veil. The first one was the holy place, here the Priest did daily business but beyond the veil was the Most holy place or the holy of holies. Here is where the Ark of the Covenant dwelt. It was basically a trunk, overlaid in gold with two cherubs on the top, that faced inward, one on each side with their wings meeting in the middle. The Ark held Aarons budding staff, the stone tablets of the ten commandments and also a jar of manna from the dessert. But what made it holy wasn’t what it held but Who it held. The lid or the cover of this “trunk” was called the atonement cover or mercy seat, this is what the two cherubs guarded. This mercy seat represented the actually throne of God, it is here that the Shekinah presence of God came and dwelt. Not that this kind of glory can be caught in a picture but here is something that would resemble it just so we can have the idea in our minds:

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What does 1 Corinthians 3:16 and 6:19-20 tell us about the current temple of the Lord?

Right! We are! The soul of man is now the place where the Glory of God dwells. You may find this interesting that in the Old Testament, the use for the word “Soul” would refer to both the heart and the mind. Telling us that our souls are made up into two distinct compartments; mind (or our wills) and our hearts ( desires). This verse in Ephesians tells us that now, as we are the temple of the Lord having two distinct attributes of Him dealing with us our minds and our hearts, that it is the heart that is now considered the Mercy Seat where Christ comes and dwells! We see a further illustration in Hebrews 10:19-22, that Christ has sprinkled our hearts with the blood. Now, thinking back to the Old Testament Mercy seat, this is where the Priest once a year would sprinkle blood in between the cherubs for the atonement of the people. This same all-encompassing glory lives within our soul, dwelling in the Most Holy place-our heart! You my dear are heavy with the Glory of God!

Paul is praying for us believers to be filled with the full measure of Christ through His Spirit. Even though the Spirit has permanently sealed us and resides with us, there is a difference between Him being there and Him filling us up. This happens when Christ is president over our lives and not

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merely resident. Meaning that we are fully submitted to His will and authority giving up control. This filling up is the provision of the presence of God, its Christ supplying us with the full measure of His riches through the Spirit so that we can live for Him! This is where petition 4 comes into play (…that you may be filled with the fullness of God), that the Spirit of Christ now fills us so overwhelmingly by the very Shekinah Glory that we see in the Old Testament, that every compartment of our hearts-all the secret places are invaded with the Light of Glory and turned inside out in radiance….thats what it is to be filled with the fullness. But this fullness isn’t likely to just happen on its own, no we must prepare for it by making our hearts ready. Look up Psalm 15:1-2. Who does it tell us can dwell in the sanctuary of God?

Here blameless does not mean perfection. Do you remember what we determined it meant in week 1?

Sincere.

look at Psalm 107:1-9. In verse 4 the ESV says “ Some wondered in desert wastes, finding no way to a city to dwell in; hungry and thirsty , their souls fainted within them.”

These verses describe someone who is searching for fulfillment. The pining within causes them to bounce from one wasteland to another. The word soul here is the Hebrew word for “heart”. their hearts were faint because of a lack of stability. As emptiness drained the life out of them, they cried out to the Lord and verse 7 says “he led them by a straight way until they reached a city to dwell in”. when it says that He lead them by a “straight” path, that word is used to describe honesty. Do you remember in week 2 where we discussed having a “hagnotis” heart, one that was simple and undivided? The way to reach the dwelling of God is honesty; a pure heart one that is turned upward. We discussed this “upward turn” in our time together last week when we were discussing our prepared works and we drew the conclusion that we must also be prepared so that they won’t be too heavy for us to bear. We saw the picture our works being seed to sow and our hearts being the fertile ground…trouble is some of the places in our hearts are still hard. Bitterness, pride, disappointment, pain….all can cause the ground of our hearts to grow rock hard. These places represent the parts of our hearts that we withhold from God. For Christ to dwell in our hearts He must have our entire heart. if we give fragments, we will only experience Him in fragments! So, if we want to fulfill our works and if we want to dwell in the presence of God-continually not just sporadically then we must have a heart that is upturned. The problem with that is it hurts! When the Spirit pushes the blades of the word through our hard hearts, it cuts deep causes us to let go of

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things that we simply do not want to. This pain feels like an upheaval deep within. For some reason I a few weeks ago I became obsessed with these 3 words: upturn, upheaval, and upended. I got what God was saying about “upturning” but the others I wasn’t real sure, so I looked them up.

Upheaval- a major change, radical change, an occurrence in which part of the Earths surface moves up forcibly.

Upended-to cause to be upside down, to be defeated

When we go through a season of “upturning” then it causes an “upheaval” in our souls. The idea of the earths surface forcefully begin thrown upward made sense with me so. Because that is how it feels when God is changing our hard hearts and turning those dark places into places of fruitfulness. Radical change makes my mind dizzy, I’m not a fan. And because it feels like everything is spinning out of control we feel like we are being upended. Like everything is being turned on its head, out of balance and we feel defeated because we cant see what’s happening. But instead of being “upended” this time of “upheaval” in when God is actually turning us right side up. You see because we have a hard heart, we are already upended, we just don’t realize it. When our hearts are hard we see everything upside down and our perception is distorted. For example a hard heart sees God as disconnected and unconcerned in the trials of life. But its not that way at all, our hearts have given us an upside down view of God. So, when He calls for us to go through a “ploughing” season, where the sharp blade of the Word cuts through the false pretentions of our hearts (Hebrews 4:12) radical change is on its way….He’s about to turn us right side up! Instead of standing on our heads, upside down, He places us on our feet so we can see clearly. 1 Peter tells us that trials are sent not to burn us but to prove us genuine, to sift the fake out of us. It’s a beautiful thing! A pure heart is ripe for the filling of the Spirit! God is drawn to genuineness, its when our hearts have been cleaned out and purged that we find the Fullness of God.

He’s added another “up” word to that list this week: uproar. After the “upturning” and the “upheaval” we see the outcome: the “uproar”. When our hearts are pure, opened and turned toward God, the that’s when the Lion of Judah comes and roars in our hearts. Much too often our hearts are cluttered with debris and this muffles His voice. When the clutter from within is cleared out, then we hear Him….roaring deep within our hearts!

So how do we make Christ at home in our hearts? By faith! Faith induces the presence of Christ at salvation but it also realizes His presence, makes His presence acute, in our daily lives. Without an active faith, we will miss Him!

We can either wander aimlessly, sampling the goodness of God or we can dwell in His holy presence experiencing the penetration of the fullness of that presence, hearing the mighty roar of Christ’s

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voice. We don’t want to be dabblers. We want to be partakers, fellow beneficiaries that experience their inheritance, not in part but fully. If you were left a million dollars as an inheritance would you take it all or only part of it? of course we would take it all! how foolish would it be to only take a fraction of the wealth offered to us! Yet, we do it all the time; we putter around with Christ, making little of Him, and as a result we are wanders instead of dwellers. We settle, settle for the lesser things, taking only a fraction of what HE has. To receive the bounty of Christ, Christ must dwell in our hearts through faith. I desperately want to experience His fullness, not just in theory but in reality! In order for this to happen we have a part to play. while “dwell” has permeance attached to it, Webster’s adds to the definition and says it is to “keep attention directed”. For the presence of Christ to permeate our lives to the fullest our attention has to be locked on Him. (Christ is always with us, we are told that in Scripture, even when we don’t feel Him, HEs there. But this is a different kind of presence were talking about here. This presence is one that fills our souls with “good things” and satisfies the longings of our desperate hearts. This kind of presence is one that we get to experience and be a part of). I want to suggest to you that when Christ loses our attention there is a bigger underlining cause; our faith is dried up. I am a walking spokesman of a dry soul, I know what it feels like for the heat of famine to take over the depths of my heart. So, as I pondered over all the times and the reasons why my soul was parched every single time the culprit was doubt/anxiety. No matter the issue the instigator of my wandering heart has been faith-lessness. A lack of faith makes us act out in a variety of way from pride to insecurity, to waywardness to legalisim….every single dry spell in my spiritual walk resulted because my faith had dried up. We cannot and will not experience the deep penetrating presence of Christ if our well of faith is dry as a bone. Faith is more than believing, its seeing something that isn’t even there. So, faith is the focus on Christ and His hand, when faith starts to waver then we know our attention is off of Christ! I think it is impossible to focus on Christ and not be full of faith. We claim to be focused on Him all the time, but our actions would tell us otherwise. We may have our heads pointing toward the heavenlies but our spiritual eyes are cutting to the right and to the left, distracted by life, we lose our faith and then the experiential presence of Christ. This is the main idea of the entire study: to know Christ more intimately and as a result to know who we are and what we are doing here. Yet, if we simply “pass through”, living casually toward Christ, then the longing of our hearts will never be hushed because HE is what our souls long to be filled with. A causal mindset, one that is luke warm, will cause us to miss Him. We must have a heart that is prepared not only for our works but for the dwelling of Christ!

3. “that you being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge…”

The next step on what Spurgeon called “Jacobs ladder” is the love of God. His train of thought as he prayed went from Christ dwelling in our heart to us dwelling in Christs heart or in His love. Remember the idea of dwelling has the overtone of permeance to it, that one would come and make its home and settle down there. The words rooted and grounded are in the perfect tense

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in the Greek, that means that they are fixed and permanent. But instead of using the word dwell here Paul, inspired by the Spirit, uses the words “rooted” and “grounded”. When you read these words what comes to your mind?

Paul mixes two metaphors here, one agricultural (rooted) and the other foundational (grounded). So, we get the picture of a tree with roots growing deep into the soil, so that when the winds of adversity come it has a solid anchor. We also see the picture of a solid foundation, as a house that has a deep sturdy foundation that goes into the bedrock instead of the sand will withstand the erosion of the world. To see how this word is used elsewhere look at Matthew 7:24-27. The word “founded” in 25 is the same Greek word themelioo used in Ephesians 3:18.

What Paul is praying is that the love of God would be the root system and the bedrock of our lives. That every aspect of our intellect, our hearts, our reactions, our actions…all draw from the love of God. From this perspective, we see our entire lives from the filter of God’s love. Answer this question:

What is your habitual response to God?

For most of us God is a “category” in our life, something that is separated from the rest. But this calls for our entire life to be founded upon the love of God, that His love would be the deciding factor on our identities and our callings. There are many who will fail to live out the inheritance of Christ because the foundation is not love. It may be fear or even indifference because we have taken the love of God for granted and we assume that because we are Christians we love God. But if a x-ray of our heart could be seen we may be diagnosed with just “liking” God. There’s a BIG difference. One tolerates Him, while the other is obsessed with Him. One chases after Him, while the other insists on being chased after. No greater knife can be thrown into the heart of God than just “liking” Him. His love is meant to encompass our every emotion and every thought, it is meant to motivate our words and our hands. It is sent out to fill not to entertain. This love shifts our minds from temporal to the eternal, it strengthens our hands while it saturates our words, it eclipses our weakness with strength and is the medicine for the broken heart and the key to our freedom. It melts a cold heart with holy passion and softens even the most hardened continence. This love purifies, molds, heals, frees, restores, prepares, encourages, and most of all it is the banquet table where the rich fellowship meal of relationship is served.

Evaluate your life, to what degree is your entire life “rooted and grounded” in love?

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1--------2---------3-------4--------5-------6-------7--------8--------9------10

“…….to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of God that surpasses knowledge…”

Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones said that these two verses are the premise for the apostles prayer . all the previous petitions pave the way for this one.” They were essential as preparation, but they are not ends in themselves; they are designed to lead onto to this grand objective”. So, we find ourselves at the pinnacle of Christian faith! He concluded that “far too many of us are content to spend our time in the lowlands and the plains amid the mists and the characteristics of that level of life. forsake the flat plains of the Christians life immediately. Turn your back upon the ordinary level and let’s begin to scale the heights! Most of us are children paddling at the edge of the ocean; there are abysmal depths of Gods love that we know nothing about. There is a great possibility that we can know a great deal about God but never truly know Him. We can be raised in church, have a degree in theology and read every book off the market but doctrine is never to be the end of itself. if we separate the love of God from our doctrine then all we have a dry sterile religion verses an exhilarating liberating relationship. The study of doctrine should cause us to love Christ more, its purpose is to reveal the heart of God to man. So, the other extreme is just as dangerous; neglecting the study of scripture will cause us to feel rejected by God. And if we feel rejected by God we reject His ways. I have to quote once again from the anointed book by Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones, he said on the topic: “What foolish creatures we are! Many of us are not interested in doctrine at all; we are lazy Christians who do not read, do not think, do not delve into the mysteries. We have an experience and we desire nothing more.” This love we are discussing starts in doctrine, in the pages of Scripture but then it takes us beyond what any commentary can explain to us; it takes us directly to the depths of this love. This love cannot be explained by finite minds or grasped by our week hands, it’s something that only the heart can understand; the experience of this love goes deeper and farther than our brains can fathom-that’s why it’s a matter of the heart. The regenerate heart can grasp the unexplainable, because the Spirit translates the immutable voice of scripture so our hearts can hear it. This is the greatest endeavor in the Christian walk; to know the love of Christ. Because if we really know Him than our lives will be marked by that love and we will make Him known to the world. I love the amplified version of Philippians 3:10, this is my life’s plea, my ultimate desire:

“My determined purpose is that I may know Him-that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing the wonders of His person more strongly and more clearly.”

That makes my heart jump out of rhythm……this should be our hearts cry; to know Him! For we cannot know Him without knowing His love, the two are woven together. This love is the makeup of His character, so to become acquainted with Him at all will take an understanding of this love.

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One of the clearest portraits of Christs love in the word, I believe, is in the book of Zephaniah chapter 3 verse 17. Look it up and right down anything you see that describes Gods love.

I call this the “triple threat” of His love. Because in this one verse we see three different aspects that make up that love 1. Presence (The Lord your God is in your midst) 2. Power (a mighty One who will save you) 3. Comforting Protection ( he will rejoice over you, he will exult over you). This love described in theses verse is a conquering love, a love that is present and secure. I just want to type these words with tenderness and say: let Him love you. Let Him sing over you, sit still and bask in this love. Many of us aren’t experiencing the power and protection of God’s love because we refuse His presence, either by not allotting time with Him or it could be our hearts are still closed up. Let Him in, don’t push His love away!

Maybe it’s not that you’re willfully pushing Him away, sometimes we just lack comprehension of that love. That’s why Paul prays for them to be strengthened in order that they may comprehend. This word for comprehend is katalambano in the Greek and means to seize, to apprehend, to make one’s own. Figuratively, as used in this verse katalambano means to grasp with the mind, to perceive by making an idea or concept your own. It is absolutely possible to understand something and not make it your own. To comprehend Gods love means simply to own it.

“Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you just as I promised.” Joshua 1:3

This is a perfect example of what Paul is praying for the Ephesians; God has already given us the deep things of His heart but we will only benefit from what we take possession of. We have already learned that we have a vault of riches that have been given to us—but will we seize them as our own? This love, these deep things of God, come with a prerequisite for pursuit. We must go after them, otherwise they are ours in theory but not reality! And we ALL have the ability to dive into these depths, Paul makes that clear when he says “…..to comprehend with all the saints…”. Some scholars see that as a call to corporate worship but the majority see it as a clarification that any and every believer has been given this glorious inheritance! And because the call is personal so must the pursuit be, nobody can claim this for you, it’s between your “feet” and God! So, get to treading!!!

Here in this verse Paul tries to expand the unmeasurable love of God to four simple yet dramatic words: breadth, length, height depth. Here are the words in the original language with the definition:

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Breadth - (platos from platus = broad) is a measurement of width or extent from side to side and is used figuratively to refer to great expanses. Breadth means something of full width or of comprehensive quality.

Length - (mekos) means the longer dimension of something and is used figuratively.

Height - (hupsos from húpsi = high, aloft) means elevation.

Depth - (bathos) from bathus = deep) means a part that is far from the outside or surface and metaphorically in this verse conveys the senses of profoundness, inscrutability or abstruseness

Ok, in order for us to wrap our minds around the infinite dimensions of Christs love we are going to draw a diagram. Below draw a cross, just a regular cross allowing yourself room to right beside. Now, at the end of each line draw an arrow like this ^ to signify to line is continuously growing, it has no end. Now at the right side of the horizontal line write “breadth” (remembering what it means), at the left side write “length”, at the top write “height” and the bottom write depth. Now, this continuum symbolizes the love of Christ that reaches higher than our thought, wider than our emotions, deeper than our understanding and longer than our lives. Yet, as beautiful as that sight is I want to break it down a little more. If you have room right these clarifications out beside each word:

Breadth- includes all

Length- expands from eternity to eternity

Height- seats us in the heavenly places

Depth- reaches down and pulls us out of the pit of destruction.

God’s love is inexhaustible! This is the love we called to make our own, this love that elevates sinners to a place of honor, all this glory is ours…..its yours. Don’t settle for the plain you are on, don’t become content with the knowledge you have, for to do so is to say to God that we are content with small dosages of Him, that we do not need any more of Him. What a subtle attempt by the enemy to keep us from our inheritance: spiritual contentment. Contentment is a good thing to have in regard to the material realm but it is poison to our spiritual walk, it is the venom of the ancient Snake that strikes at the heels of anyone who stutters in their pilgrimage. Pursue Him and you will find out that He has been the One pursuing you all along.

Turning Point:

What needs to be turned up in your heart so Christ may fill your heart?

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What area do you struggle with having faith? Do you see how that is a direct cause of not experiencing the presence of Christ?

Do you react out of God’s love or your own emotions? How would it change your life if you started reacted from Gods love, seeing everything filtered through the lens of grace?

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