EPHESIANS 1:15-23

15 For this reason, ever since I heard

about your faith in the Lord Jesus and

your love for all God’s people, 16 I have

not stopped giving thanks for you,

remembering you in my prayers.

EPHESIANS 1:15-23

17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord

Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may

give you the Spirit of wisdom and

revelation, so that you may know him

better.

EPHESIANS 1:15-23

18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may

be enlightened in order that you may

know the hope to which he has called

you, the riches of his glorious inheritance

in his holy people,

EPHESIANS 1:15-23

19 and his incomparably great power for

us who believe. That power is the same

as the mighty strength 20 he exerted

when he raised Christ from the dead and

seated him at his right hand in the

heavenly realms,

EPHESIANS 1:15-23

21 far above all rule and authority, power

and dominion, and every name that is

invoked, not only in the present age but

also in the one to come.

EPHESIANS 1:15-23

22 And God placed all things under his

feet and appointed him to be head over

everything for the church, 23 which is his

body, the fullness of him who fills

everything in every way.

You are APPRECIATEDby Jesus.

EPHESIANS 1:15-23

15 For this reason, ever since I heard

about your faith in the Lord Jesus and

your love for all God’s people, 16 I have

not stopped giving thanks for you,

remembering you in my prayers.

VERBAL PLENARY INSPIRATION

It means is that God wrote the Bible through people, and so

though it’s Paul’s voice, it’s God’s words. He’s speaking to all of his

people, including us.

God is omniscient.

Sometimes what can happen is in our desire to give all glory to God, we don’t

allow others to appreciate us or we don’t appreciate others. Yes, the glory does

go to God, but the appreciation can go to his servants. You can do both.

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

Sometimes we can give all glory to God and not give appreciation and

thankfulness to people, and as a result, we could be actually discouraging

people when we should be encouraging them.

FIVE AMAZING THINGS ABOUT APPRECIATED PEOPLE

APPRECIATED

PEOPLE EXCHANGE

GRUMBLING FOR

PRAYING

GRUMBLING is when you talk about people to other people.

PRAYING is when you talk to Jesus about people.

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

hard work.

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

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

he knows, he appreciates, and he’s thankful for you.

That allows you to stop grumbling because you know that you’re loved,

and cared for, and appreciated, and it allows you to start praying for the well-

being of others.

APPRECIATED

PEOPLE EXCHANGE

COMPETING FOR

CELEBRATING

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

others.

HOW TO CELEBRATE RATHER THAN COMPETE

WE SHOULD REALLY

APPRECIATE JESUS.

EPHESIANS 1:17-20

17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord

Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may

give you the Spirit of wisdom and

revelation, so that you may know him

better.

EPHESIANS 1:17-20

18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may

be enlightened in order that you may

know the hope to which he has called

you, the riches of his glorious inheritance

in his holy people,

EPHESIANS 1:17-20

19 and his incomparably great power for

us who believe. That power is the same

as the mighty strength 20 he exerted

when he raised Christ from the dead and

seated him at his right hand in the

heavenly realms,

It doesn’t matter how long you’re a Christian, there’s always something

new to learn about Jesus.

WE SHOULD HAVE A

DEEPER EXPERIENCE

WITH JESUS.

EPHESIANS 1:19-20

19 and his incomparably great power

for us who believe. That power is the

same as the mighty strength 20 he

exerted when he raised Christ from the

dead and seated him at his right hand in

the heavenly realms,

You know, if you have been obedient, if you have been generous, if you have

been serving, if you have been God says He never ceases to give thanks

for you.

You don’t have to grumble, you can pray. You don’t have to compete, you can celebrate. You don’t have to become

jealous of what other people are doing, you can rejoice at God’s grace in their life and rejoice at God’s grace in your life.

APPRECIATED

PEOPLE EXCHANGE

BITTERNESS FOR

THANKFULNESS

EPHESIANS 1:21-23

21 far above all rule and authority, power

and dominion, and every name that is

invoked, not only in the present age but

also in the one to come.

EPHESIANS 1:21-23

22 And God placed all things under his

feet and appointed him to be head

over everything for the church, 23

which is his body, the fullness of him who

fills everything in every way.

When you think it’s about your name, you get bitter, but when you realize it’s about

Jesus’ name, you get thankful.

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

We really want you to love Jesus and love the church, and it’s not just so that we can

use you to grow a bigger church.

It’s in part so that we can guard your heart against bitterness, that you would give

your life to what Jesus gave his life to, the well-being of his people, and that you’d stop thinking it’s all about your name and your fame and it would be about his

name and his fame.

PRAYERS

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

everything with prayer.

Let me say this: the shortest distance between two people is prayer. You want

to make a stranger a friend? Pray. You want to make an enemy a friend? Pray.

Sometimes prayer moves the hand of God, but usually it changes us and it brings us

into alignment with God’s will.

We see that if you know that you’re appreciated by God, that he loves you, and he’s thankful for you, and he encourages

you, it opens your heart to talk to him all the time because he loves you.

APPRECIATED

PEOPLE EXCHANGE

PERFORMING FOR

SERVING

People who don’t know that they’re appreciated, they have to brag about what

they’ve done, they have to exaggerate what they’ve done. They need to tell

everybody what they have done.

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

PERFORMANCE

• Done for the sight and approval of others

• Causes us to be enslaved to others’ opinions, unable to say no, and prone to being overworked

• Done knowing that God is watching and approving, whether or not anyone else is.

• Frees us to do what God wants, thereby saying no is needed

SERVICE

PERFORMANCE• Presses us towards

perfectionism, where we seek to do everything just right so that others will praise us

• Causes us to focus on the “big things” and only do what is highly visible or significant

• Allows us to do our best knowing that God’s appreciation of us is secure, regardless of our performance

• Allows us to do simple, humble, menial tasks, the “little things,” and God equally appreciates both

SERVICE

PERFORMANCE

• Where people are an audience and you want their praise

• It’s not enough because the audience isn’t big enough

• Where God is the audience

• It’s enough because the audience is One

SERVICE

Jesus says that he is a servant; he’s come not to be served but to serve.

That’s different than performing. You can see two people doing the same thing, and God sees the heart and sees that there

are very different motives between serving and performing.

APPRECIATED

PEOPLE EXCHANGE

BOASTING FOR

ENCOURAGING

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE FEEL UNAPPRECIATED?

WE OBSESS ABOUT

MAKING KNOWN

EVERYTHING THAT WE

DO.

WE EXAGGERATE.

WE LIE.

What we can appreciate about the example of the Apostle Paul, again, he’s not

boasting, he’s encouraging. He’s not talking about all the things that he’s done, he talks about all the things that they’ve

done.

We want you to be very encouraged, we want you to appreciate who Jesus is and what he’s done, and I want you to know that the Lord Jesus appreciates you. If

you have served, Jesus says thank you. If you have given, Jesus says thank you. If

you have prayed, Jesus says thank you. If you are growing, Jesus says thank you.

And he wants to free you from the performance trap and let you enjoy the

serving like he did. No one got more done than Jesus, but it was not performance,

it was service.

CONCLUSION

WHO DO YOU NEED TO THANK?

When we criticize one another, we make withdrawals; when we

appreciate one another, we make deposits.

And then, as we need to correct or criticize, we realize we’re making

withdrawals, but let us seek, by the grace of God, like the Apostle Paul, to

be people who have far more deposits than we do withdrawals.

WHO DO YOU NEED TO THANK?