Overview
Being filled with all the fullness of God happens through experiencing the love of Christ, not through study, knowledge or intellect. Working from Ephesians 3:17-20, Rev. Rico Magnelli shows that Jesus experienced God like no other man because of his love, and that the same four dimensions are open to every believer: the breadth and length of physical life on earth, the depth of the hidden spiritual competition, and the height of our elevated position in Christ. The main obstacle is surface thinking. A heart rooted and grounded in the finished work of Christ is what lets the word take root and the fullness of God be experienced day by day.
Transcript
What It Means to Be Filled with All the Fullness of God
Ephesians chapter 3, please. What we’re going to consider is filled with the fullness of God. We’ve got it illustrated there with a glass water being full. We want to be filled with the fullness of God. For that to happen, the love of Christ is going to have to be engaged in our life. Because the love that Jesus Christ exhibited on earth allowed him to experience God like no other man had ever done. Wasn’t his knowledge, wasn’t his perfect body, soul, package. It was his love. His love is what distinguished him and brought him to moments of decision making.
Was he going to hold on to anything or was he going to move on? Was he going to carry out what God asked him to do or was he going to turn the other way? It’s his love that did it. It’s going to do the same for you. Because Christ paved the way for every Christian believer to experience God’s love like Jesus Christ. And this love takes us beyond our own natural knowledge, our own wisdom, our own understanding to a level only God can provide. It is beyond anything that we can experience and understand in this world. Because what it does is it fills you with all the fullness of God. And that again isn’t done by having a cup of coffee. But it may be because of the love that was put into it, hands you a cup of coffee at the right time, that love can be transferred. But it’s not necessarily in the coffee as much as you like coffee.
Ephesians chapter 3, we looked at this, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith that you being rooted and grounded in love. You know, faith-based love is the love of Christ. Faith-based love is His accomplished work. We heard it earlier. It’s finished. It’s finished. So what’s been given to you is a finished package. There’s nothing left. You’re complete in Christ.
And this is something we’re going to have to rehearse again and again and again, probably till the return of Christ. Because the onslaught of attacks is always to downgrade and diminish anything that God does. See, the heart is the innermost part of the mind. It’s the vault of your soul. It’s where our treasured thoughts are kept. And in our culture, somebody asked me one of the most challenging things in our culture today, and I said it’s surface thinking.
Surface Thinking and Why the Word Finds No Depth of Earth
It’s superficiality. It’s what it is. Because surface thinking, it doesn’t address the heart issues. It’s like people kind of glaze over the things of the heart. And nothing pierces through surface thinking like the truth about Jesus Christ. I’m not talking about just saying His name. I’m talking about what He accomplished. You can look at any person in the eye. I don’t care if they’re black, white, Hispanic, Asian American, man, woman, from any continent, anywhere on this planet, and you can look them in the eye, and you can tell them about the accomplished work of Jesus Christ, and it’ll pierce through anything.
It’s that powerful. Anything. You just got to bring it up. Now again, sometimes that might be a little challenging. But you and I have to guard against being shallow, being superficial, playing the game, pretending to be something or something that we’re really not. See, look at Mark chapter 4. We’ll be back here. We want to be rooted and grounded in love. Rooted means that you sink deep into your heart the accomplished work of Christ. It allows growth in your life.
The reason why people don’t grow is they’ve got no roots in the faith of Jesus Christ. We all have roots, but I’m talking about in the faith of Jesus Christ. And the grounding gives you stability so you can flourish. You’re rooted and grounded in love. Look at Mark 4. Jesus Christ addresses this issue when He’s teaching the parable of sowing seed, which is the Word of God in this context. In Mark chapter 4, in verse 5, He says, and some, meaning talking about the seed, it’s a parable, fell on stony ground where it had not much earth. And immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up, it was scorched, and because it had no root, it withered away. Sometimes people hear the Word and they get all excited about it, but they don’t think enough deeply.
The world is designed to get you to be a surface thinker, to look at what people look like, to look at what their car they drive, the house they live in, all these different aspects of superficiality. When God doesn’t look on the surface, what does He look on? I’m telling you. That’s where it’s lived, right here. When you’re around people that have that kind of depth, you’ll know it. You will know it. And when you’re around people that are superficial, you’ll know it. You might be polite and not say anything, but you’ll know it. And it doesn’t matter how old you are, they’re superficial teenagers, they’re superficial elderly people, they’re superficial all over the place. So don’t give me this age thing, or gender thing, or whatever. It doesn’t matter. Because God looks on the heart. Even a child is known by his doings.
Stony Ground: Receiving the Word Without Root
That’s right. Because there’s no depth of earth. The word depth here is the Greek word bathos. It’s going to come up later, b-a-t-h-o-s, bathos. Depth of earth. Look at verse 16 of the same chapter. Now Jesus is going to explain the parable. He’s going to kind of elucidate, illuminate us. Verse 16, and these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground.
So the word goes on stony ground. It’s not a supple heart. It’s not a pliable heart. It’s not a heart that’s been fallowed. It’s stony. Who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness. Oh, they love it. They think it’s a great teaching. Great teaching.
I hear that all the time. Many people. That’s not it. Got to get into your heart. No one can do that for you. You can have 10,000 crowbars and you cannot open up the heart of man. You can have excavating equipment. You can have atomic bombs and you cannot open up the heart of man. Man has to make up his own mind.
Affliction, Persecution and Who the Real Enemy Is
Isn’t that a beautiful thing that God has allowed you to decide for yourself? You’re not deciding for me and I’m not deciding for you. You decide for yourself what you’re going to do. I love it. I love it. Takes the pressure off me. It says, and have no root in themselves, verse 17, and so endure for a time. In other words, oh that’s cool. The word. Accomplished work of Christ.
I like it. Good. Afterward, when affliction, that’s mental pressure, or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they are offended. It’s a stumbling block for them. That’s right. The word persecution means to pursue like an enemy. You start seeing your enemy in the wrong places. You start calling brothers and sisters enemies and all these different things. When the enemy is the adversary.
Look here. Without the depth of the word in our heart, we miss the real enemy and we waste time wrestling with the flesh and blood. When Ephesians says, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. It’s a spiritual competition. And we waste so much time wrestling with flesh and blood. And the adversary has whipped up the entire world, the entire compromised, corrupted world. I don’t mean the people. I mean the systems. He’s compromised the whole thing.
It’s riddled with it. To put people into categories, to put people into labels, give them a label, define you. When your identity is in who? That’s it. In Christ. That’s the foundation of this kind of love that we’re talking about. It’s not necessarily a good feeling, which I don’t mind good feelings. It’s nice. But there’s got to be some strength behind that love. And there was strength in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 3:18: Comprehending with All Saints
He wasn’t a wimp. Back to Ephesians please. Superficiality attacks the faith-filled heart. It gets you to start being superficial and fake. You know, you’re around, when you’re around this person, you’re one way. And when you’re around this person, you’re another way. And you know exactly what I mean. You show me where Jesus Christ changed his posture based on who he was in front of. You show it to me and I’ll eat the book.
So why do we do that? Just be yourself. I love the teachings here and the sharing. These people were just themselves. There’s Christ in them. It’s beautiful. Superficiality is socially engineered by Satan, who floods the air with valueless and worthless information to produce no good fruit. It’s a waste of time. We cannot be filled with the fullness of God if other things are dominating our heart. Now again, this may be not necessarily what you have in mind for the love of Christ, but this is the book of Ephesians.
This is the highest level, if you will, of understanding because it brings us into the context of the body. Back to Ephesians 3:18. May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, the length, and depth, and height. May be able, you’ll have the full strength to comprehend. Comprehend means to take to one’s own. Make it your own. Every saint has the potential to make their own. The length, the breadth, the height, and the depth. Every saint. To comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, the length, the height, and the depth.
This love of Christ can be measured in four dimensions, representing our physical and spiritual life. Breadth is the Greek word platas. Length is the Greek word meikos. Depth is the Greek word bathos. And height is the Greek word upsos. So somebody could make a song with this.
Breadth, Length, Depth and Height: Four Dimensions of Life
Platas, meikos, bathos, upsos. Oops. Notice that both categories, I broke these down this way. This is one way of looking at it. I’m not saying this is the only way to look at Ephesians, okay? But for the purposes of this teaching, I broke it down like this. Breadth and length represent physical life. The beauty, the symmetry, the balance, the expansiveness of what God illustrates on this beautiful earth we live on. And then the depth represents the spiritual competition. That which is hidden beneath, that very few people see.
The height represents that spiritual elevated position in Christ Jesus, that we read about in chapters 1 through 3. The depth would be represented in Ephesians chapter 6, the spiritual competition. You know, what’s interesting, this explained the scope of physical and spiritual life that God wants to open up to you for those that have a heart filled with the faith of Jesus Christ. How much of it do you want? It’s up to you. But this is what the, this is what captures, if I can say it this way, the fullness of God. You already have it spiritually. It’s in your walk, and it will not happen without the love of Christ being experienced in your life. Studying does not get you this. Nothing wrong with studying. I study the Word, you study the Word.
That’s not what I’m saying. What I’m saying is, studying doesn’t get you there by itself. You have to have the love of Christ experientially, or else these categories really are not open to you. You can see the birds, but you cannot appreciate that bird like Tom does. Tom is our bird expert. Where’s Tom? Yeah, anything you want to know about birds, ask Tom, without the love of Christ. You can’t understand what’s really going on in this world, in the depth of the spiritual competition that the adversary has orchestrated, without the love of Christ. You can’t understand that you are seated in the heavenlies while you’re living here on earth, that you have the full authority of Jesus Christ to bring the life of God to any human being on this earth, without the love of Christ. You ain’t gonna go there. It’s not intellectual. It’s not academic. Not.
To Know the Love of Christ Which Passeth Knowledge
Look here, look at verse 19. And to know, and to know, this means to experientially know, the love of Christ, the love of Christ, it’s in four dimensions, which passeth knowledge. That means it goes beyond your limitation. If you have a fence in baseball, if someone hits it inbounds, if they hit, if they hit the ball over the fence at the home run, they go over the fence. This is beyond any sense knowledge that you and I have. This love of Christ, the breadth, the length, the height, and the depth that opens up to us of life is beyond that, what we see, you know, limited by our five senses. Does that make sense? How much of it do you want? How much of God do you want to fill your experiential life? It’s up to you. Jesus Christ took God’s love to the greatest level possible. He experienced all four dimensions that God offers.
No one had ever done that. Not to this extent. No one had ever done that. Because it goes beyond the limitation. He broke down every barrier and moved as far as a human being can go. Because this is what opens up that you might be filled with all the fullness of God. He made his own, the beauty, the symmetry, the balance of physical life on this earth, the breadth and length. He made it his own. He appreciated the fish, the fowls of the air, the lilies of the field.
They weren’t just illustrations to him. His father made that stuff. He made his own, the hidden working of Satan, the adversary of God and his people. He made it his own because he loved. Like I said, the Bible is not an intellectual academic proposition. You’ve got brilliant people that can quote you everything about Hebrew, Aramaic, and everything else. And they got no love. They don’t have any understanding. That’s what’s interesting about this book.
The whole world’s got it. But how many people love? Well, he made his own, his elevated position. He had as the Messiah the only begotten of God. That would be the height. He made it his own. Who he was. What got him to that point? Not his knowledge of the Old Testament. That was absolutely contributed. But it was his love.
How Jesus Made All Four Dimensions His Own
It’s his love. You know, in so many of his teachings, he uses the rich and varied elements of the earth and its interdependent woven tapestry under God’s care to make spiritual points. His teachings reflect an understanding of the wind, water, soil, the sky, mountains, grass, wheat, lilies, fruit, sheep, wolves, birds, foxes, and on and on and on. He understood and appreciated the breadth and the length of life on earth. He understood the depth. In Matthew 4 and Luke 4, he was tempted and overcame a direct confrontation with the devil himself. Throughout his ministry, he delivered many who were possessed with evil spirits. And in numerous occasions, most specifically in John chapter 8, which is a very clear record, he directly confronts the henchmen of the devil. Those born of the seed, meaning children of the devil.
Those in society that are committed to stand against the true God and promote idolatry in all forms. Jesus experienced and exposed the dimension of depth spoken about here like no other human being had ever done. And the reason why he did it, it wasn’t because he was really hotsy-tossy with the Old Testament scripture. It’s because he loved. The scripture got him there and he understood, but he loved. And remember, love is not necessarily an emotion. It is an act of the will. It’s an action based on free will. Fantastic.
What else did he do? Well, in Luke, in Luke, Jesus stated that around 12 years old, while hearing and asking questions in the temple of the doctors of the law, his first recorded words are noted. I must be about my father’s business. I thought, I think he understood where he came from. He understood his elevated position. No question. Because throughout his ministry, and even at the end of his life, he knew who he was. He knew that he would be raised eternally, never to die again. He states in John 17, verses 1 through 4, Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy son, that thy son also may glorify thee, as thou has given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou has given him.
And this is the life eternal, that they might know, experience thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou has sent. Jesus and God were at one, were in union completely, to bring salvation. I have glorified thee on earth, and I finished the work which thou gavest me to do. He understood these categories, and it just comes up in the book of Ephesians, and how deep this truly is, that Jesus was aware of his spiritual life, his divine life, his heavenly calling, or the dimension of height. How much do we incorporate that in our day-by-day living? How many times do we, we don’t go to work, we don’t go to school as a son of the living God, we go as something else. You see what I’m saying? Love is going to get you there.
Genesis 13, Noah’s Ark and the Ark of the Covenant
The love of Christ is going to get you there. Look at, look at Genesis 13, please. Genesis 13. Experiencing the love of Christ brings us past our current limitations and boundaries of understanding. It’s not succumb to surface thinking, but take things deeper, because experiencing the love of Christ opens the storehouse of heaven, and fills us to the brim with the fullness of God, that we can appreciate, understand, and recognize the entire balance of the scope of our time here on earth, which involves the length, the breadth, the height, and the depth. It must include all four. Genesis 13. Let’s just look at a little bit of this here. In Genesis 13, this is Abraham, God telling Abraham to survey the promised land.
And in Genesis 13, verse 14, And the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art, northward and southward, and eastward and westward. For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it unto thy seed forever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth, so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. And this is one guy standing there by himself with God, and he’s telling him about what’s going to happen in the future. And God impressed upon him, and he understood. Look at verse 17. Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it, for I will give it unto thee. The earth has everything that we need to sustain us in life, everything. And appreciation of it, a really incorporating of it, comes through the love of Christ.
It does. Look at Genesis 6. Now there was a time when mankind had reached a point where there was only one individual on the earth that was willing to believe God, and that was Noah. And Noah has direction from God to build an ark. And in chapter 6 of verse 15 we get the dimensions of the ark. And this is the fashion which thou shall make it. The length of the ark. The ark was basically, it’s a box, it’s a container. That’s really what the word means, the best that’s understood from what I could see. It’s a container.
The length of it shall be 300 cubits, the breadth of it 50 cubits, and the height of it 30 cubits. Notice the dimension that’s added here, its height. The earth was no longer able to sustain man because the evil that had been moved among men. So God had to intervene and give direction to build a big box, an ark. That’s why you have three dimensions here. Length, breadth, and height. God had to be added. Look at Exodus. It saved the physical life of man.
Then the Ark of the Covenant was brought in, again with three dimensions, to add the spiritual life of man. Exodus 25 verse 10. And they shall make an ark of Shittim wood. Two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. There it is again. You got length and breadth and height. God’s direct involvement in producing this container. It’s not about the ark of Noah’s time or the Ark of the Covenant. It was what was in it. God retained the life, the physical life on earth, in the Ark of Noah. God contained the spiritual life of man and the covenant of God in the box called the Ark of the Covenant. Back to Ephesians.
The Depth of Satan and the Hidden Wisdom of God
Now, for some of you, you’re scratching your head. You’re thinking, well, wow. Love has vision in it. Love has vision in it. It has vision for ourselves. It has vision for people. Love sees down the road. Love is not short-sighted. It sees down the road.
You may not necessarily understand all this, but as you and I experience the love of Christ, you will more and more. And that understanding of the length, breadth, height, and depth may come through somebody else that helps you understand it and appreciate it. And that’s a great thing. It says, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, the length, and height, and depth. The height is clearly detailed. That element of our elevated position is clearly detailed in the first three chapters of the book of Ephesians. You’re seated in the heavenlies. What really gets us to live like we are heavenly citizens? The love of Christ. Experience it, not mentally.
You got to do it. What gets us to really experience the spiritual competition and understand and be aware of our true enemy? The love of Christ. Experience it. That’s what’s going to open up, if you want it. In Revelation 2:24, it talks about the depth of Satan. It uses that Greek word bathos, the depth of Satan. The reason why the depth is used for the spiritual competition is because it’s hidden. It’s below the surface. You cannot see the bottom.
It’s below the surface. And most of life, and what happens in life, that’s, people don’t even get it. They get caught up in the superficiality. They get caught up in the noise. And they don’t see what’s really going on. Look at 1st Corinthians chapter 2, please. 1st Corinthians chapter 2. In 1st Corinthians chapter 2, in verse 5, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. The faith of Christ is not in the wisdom of men. How be it we speak wisdom among them that are mature.
Perfect is mature. Yet not the wisdom of this world, nor the princes of this world, that’s the adversary, that come to naught. But we speak of the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our glory, which none of the princes of the world knew. For had they known it, they never would have crucified the Lord of Glory. If they had known that this kind of understanding would be possible for any Christian, for any saint, on any continent, in any time after the day of Pentecost, and until the return of Christ, they never would have crucified him. As much as they wanted him dead, they would not have crucified him. But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man. You can’t understand it outside the love of Christ. It will make no sense to you. How could you forgive somebody that’s done unjustly to you? How can you do that? How can you just put the past behind and actually live each day on a clean slate, with no regrets, no skeletons in your closet, and just live? How can you do that? The love of Christ that’s in you, that’s how you do it. The things which God has prepared for them that love him, but God has revealed them unto us by his Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God. Without that Spirit of God, without that Christ within us, we cannot understand these deep categories of life.
Most People Live in a Two-Dimensional Framework
Most people live in a two-dimensional framework. Most people. They never add the height and they never add the depth. They just live and they think what they see, taste, touch, hear, smell, that that’s all there is. That’s not you and me. We want to add the height element. We want to add the depth element. And the whole package, because that is how you are filled with the fullness of God. It’s the deep things of God.
Enjoy the beauty, the simplicity, the tapestry of life on this earth. That comes through the love of Christ. While being called sons of God with a spiritual commissioning and authority from heaven, that’s the height. That’s who we are. While being made aware as needed of the hidden realm of Satan and how he has corrupted portions of humanity and turned them against the true God. This is what it means to be filled with the fullness of God. It’s a practical filling and he wants to show us in a four-dimensional aspect way of how we can continue to develop. Some people don’t want to know. That’s okay.
That’s okay. No criticism, no judgment. I’ll move on to somebody else who wants to know. Some people are going to argue with you. Fine. I’ll move on to somebody else who wants to know. There’s so many people in your sphere of influence that are just waiting for somebody to reach out to them. For somebody to love them with the love of Christ. To not judge them.
To not criticize them. And maybe to open up a little bit of God’s fullness and explain to them that there’s an adversary. Maybe to explain to them that we don’t wrestle against flesh and blood even though everybody’s trying to rope you into some sort of campaign for something. I’m not saying you’re not aware of things, sure, but in your heart we are rooted and grounded in love based on the completed work of Christ. And then God wants to open up the scope of life to you like he opened it up to Jesus Christ. He wants to open it up to you in the length, the breadth, the height, and the depth. And to experientially know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge. It goes beyond your schooling. It goes beyond your five senses and reaches unto the very throne room of God and fills you with all the fullness of God.
Ephesians 3:20: Exceeding Abundantly Above All We Ask or Think
Every day this can happen. Not just at events. It can happen at work. It can happen while you play. You bring these four-dimensional aspects of understanding into your walk and then you’re not fooled. You’re not a superficial person. You think Jesus Christ was a surface thinker? Seriously, do you think he was? No. He was the deepest dude that ever walked. And look who he hung out with.
He didn’t go to Caesar and say, hey, you know who I am? He went among the people. A woman at a well. A woman that needed help for her daughter. A man who he wanted to help rise up to what God had called him to do. A malefactor who was crucified with him. That’s the love of Christ. And as we do this, God is going to fill you with all the fullness of what he is. The depth and the riches of God are right there for you if you want it. Then we read, and this verse will make more sense to us, Ephesians chapter 3 verse 20.
Now, after all that, now unto him. And that’s reserved for one. There’s only one him. That’s God. The Lord God. Jehovah Elohim. Our Heavenly Father. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. Our heart is filled with the faith of Christ.
We’re growing and we’re stable in that love. And we’re walking, experiencing that love in the length, breadth, height, and depth of the scope of life. And he is able to do even exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us. And to that end, each and every day, each and every exchange we have another human being, each word, each action can do this. Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.
Identity in Christ Lifts You Out of Superficiality
Let’s retain this understanding. Let’s build an appreciation for the length and the breadth, for the height and the depth, the immeasurable capacity that is open unto us through the love of Christ. It is going to take some changing on each of our parts. And one thing that you can do to guard against it is don’t allow yourself to be a superficial thinker. Your identity in Christ is a direct contradiction to superficiality. It stems and grows from your identity in Christ. Not in your job, not in your family, not in your lineage, not in your bank account, not in your car, not in what you do. It’s in Jesus Christ that’s where your identity is. And it will lift you up and out.
The identity in Christ will lift you up and out of a life of superficiality and bring you to a life of depth and understanding. A life that is seated in the heavenlies. A life that understands what’s going on behind the scenes. A life that appreciates what God provides for you when you sit at your table and you eat. You’re thankful for that food and where it comes from. You’re thankful for the men and women that provide services that bless you and take care of you. The length and breadth is open up to you. There’s nothing being held back from you, nothing. God has done everything.
What we need to do is accept it and boldly walk out on it and start expanding that love of Christ capacity in our walk, not in our head, in our walk. That’s right. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the beginning and not an end. Don’t let this be another event. That was a great event. No, I don’t mind that, but let’s make a conscious change. Not to do more, to love. And you will be the primary beneficiary and anybody around you will get the benefit as well. So that’s the love of Christ and being filled with the fullness of God.
Key Takeaways
- It was Jesus’s love, not his knowledge of scripture, that let him experience God as no other man had.
- Rooted means the accomplished work of Christ has sunk deep into the heart; grounded gives the stability to flourish.
- Ephesians 3:18 names four dimensions – breadth (platas), length (meikos), depth (bathos) and height (upsos).
- Breadth and length cover physical life on earth, depth is the hidden spiritual competition, height is our elevated position in Christ.
- Surface thinking is socially engineered and is the main thing that keeps the word from taking root in the heart.
- Identity in Christ, not job, family, lineage or bank account, is what lifts a believer out of superficiality.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does it mean to be filled with all the fullness of God?
It means experiencing the love of Christ so that the whole scope of life God opened up to Jesus opens up to you. It is not academic or intellectual and studying does not get you there by itself. It is a practical filling that happens in your walk, every day and not just at events, as the love of Christ is experienced rather than merely understood.
What are the breadth, length, depth and height in Ephesians 3:18?
They are four dimensions of the love of Christ. Breadth is the Greek word platas and length is meikos; together they represent physical life on earth, its beauty, symmetry and balance. Depth is bathos, the hidden spiritual competition that very few people see, described in Ephesians 6. Height is upsos, the elevated position in Christ set out in the first three chapters of Ephesians.
Why does surface thinking keep people from experiencing the love of Christ?
Because the heart is the innermost part of the mind, the vault of the soul, and surface thinking never addresses heart issues. In Mark 4 the seed on stony ground springs up quickly but withers because it has no depth of earth. Superficiality is socially engineered by Satan, who floods the air with worthless information so that nothing takes root and no good fruit is produced.
Scripture References
Ephesians 3:17; Mark 4:5; Mark 4:16-17; Ephesians 6:12; Ephesians 3:18; Ephesians 3:19; Matthew 4; Luke 4; John 8; Luke 2:49; John 17:1-4; Genesis 13:14-15; Genesis 13:17; Genesis 6:15; Exodus 25:10; Revelation 2:24; 1 Corinthians 2:5-10; Ephesians 3:20-21
This text was prepared from the teaching audio. Please verify scripture references against your own Bible.
