Pastor James will post his Sermon Study Questions every Tuesday with the previous Sunday’s sermon. Our hope is for these study questions to promote deeper personal study and further edify our church body.
Sermon Study Questions – August 9, 2026
1. Read Ephesians 3:14-21.
2. Discuss verses 14 and 15. How do we see the apostle Paul’s earnestness, sincerity, and love displayed in just these first two verses?
3. In verses 16-17a, Paul prays that the Lord “may grant you to be strengthened with power through the Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” Why does Paul pray this for believers?
4. Paul has emphasized who we most fundamentally are as children of God throughout the book of Ephesians so far. We are those who are loved, redeemed, ransomed, forgiven, raised up with Christ, adopted, secure in Christ, etc. What truth about your identity in Christ do you need to more fully sink down into your inner being?
5. Paul uses this dimensional language in speaking of Christ’s love for his people. Take some time to reflect upon and discuss the “breadth and length and height and depth” of his love for you.
6. Paul prays for believers to have strength to comprehend Christ’s love along “with all the saints.” Why is the church so important for us to better grasp Christ’s love for us?
7. Why is Christ’s love for us so foundational when it comes to our growth and maturation as Christians?
8. What things in this life can tend to compete with Christ’s love as the foundation of our identity?
9. Was there a particular part of the message that stuck out to you that hasn’t been discussed yet?
10. Pray to our Lord “who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think according to the power at work within us.” Reading of the Law
Micah 6:8, “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”
Prayer of Confession
Heavenly Father, we come before you this morning confessing our sins to you. You have told us clearly in your Word that which you require of us. But Father, we admit that we have failed in doing these very things. We often fail to demonstrate justice, fail to love kindness, and fail to walk humbly with you. We neglect the duties that you require of us in your Word when it comes to living justly. We withhold kindness and mercy from others even though you have been so kind and merciful to us. Instead of leading humble lives, we often act pridefully in our walk with you looking to our own performance instead of looking to your grace. Please forgive us now Father, and help us by your Spirit to be a people who are marked by doing justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly with you for all the days of our lives. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Assurance of Forgiveness
Colossians 1:13-14, “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
Heidelberg Catechism Lord’s Day 48
123. Q. What is the second petition?
A. Your kingdom come.
That is:
So rule us by your Word and Spirit
that more and more we submit to you. 1
Preserve and increase your church. 2
Destroy the works of the devil,
every power that raises itself against you,
and every conspiracy against your holy Word. 3
Do all this
until the fullness of your kingdom comes,
wherein you shall be all in all. 4
• 1.Ps 119:5, 105; 143:10; Mt 6:33.
• 2.Ps 51:18; 122:6-9; Mt 16:18; Acts 2:42-47.
• 3.Rom 16:20; 1 Jn 3:8.
• 4.Rom 8:22, 23; 1 Cor 15:28; Rev 22: 17, 20.
Old Testament Reading
Psalm 103
1 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!
2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits,
3 who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
5 who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
6 The Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed.
7 He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel.
8 The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
9 He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever.
10 He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
13 As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.
14 For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.
15 As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field;
16 for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more.
17 But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children,
18 to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments.
19 The Lord has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all.
20 Bless the Lord, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word!
21 Bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers, who do his will!
22 Bless the Lord, all his works, in all places of his dominion. Bless the Lord, O my soul!
Sermon Text
Ephesians 3:14-21
14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.