As we take a moment to prepare to come to the Lord's table this morning, we're gonna look at a bit of Ephesians chapter three, verses 21, but I'm gonna back up to the beginning of Paul's prayer there, and so read verses 14 to the end. So here God's holy word. For this reason, I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might through his Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height, to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we ask and think, according to the power that works in us, to him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever, amen. Let me pray. Father in heaven, it is a privilege to gather for worship today and now to have the opportunity to look into your word and to anticipate coming to meet your son and to dine with him at the Lord's table. Give us grace now to understand and apply your word, to walk confidently in it. Please keep me from error and direct your people in righteousness. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. As was just prayed, and as we all know, we do live in an era when God is not being given the glory he deserves. He is still glorious. There's no question about that. The lack of respect paid to him does not diminish his glory. And while people fight against him and wallow in their wickedness, he is not changed by that. But in the text here today, we see the Apostle Paul calling out to God the Father in prayer and stating his absolute confidence that God will get the glory at some time and in some place, much more fully and extensively than he does now. So our present situation, when accurately described, is not both how it always has been or is even currently all over the world. There are places and times in the past where God's gotten more glory. There are other locations now that He is getting God's glory. It's also not how the situation always will be, because we know that there is a time, yet future, when God will receive the glory that He deserves everywhere and from all voices. So glory be to him is what Paul writes in verse 21. And this is not aspirational. This is not hoping. This is not wishing. This is not, you know, if I pray hard enough and spend enough time doing the right things, maybe it'll come to pass. It is not an if I hope it to be, it will be so. No, this is a statement of faith. which is a trust in things not yet seen, but things known to be true, and it is a statement of definite reality according to God's eternal plan in His character. Because God is glorious and He will be glorified. And of all the things that declare His glory and rightly bring glory to God the Father, this is what I want attention to today, Paul highlights one thing that particularly brings him glory, the most glory, and that in verse 21 is the church. Yes, it is the church that brings God the most glory. And this is extraordinary. I mean, the heavens declare the glory of God, right? And how grand, how breathtaking are the heavens, the warmth of the sun, still on these fall days. The pull of the moon to create the tides, the billions upon billions of stars, the amazing sights and vastness of space, for those of us who saw the Northern Lights recently, or if you did, I didn't get to see that comment, I think it was last Sunday. All of these things are part of what proclaims God's glory in the heavens. Yet Paul doesn't highlight that. He says, highlighting the church that it brings him the more glory. So God's glory in the church is even more extraordinary, shining all the more brightly, we could say, than the heavens. And I see three reasons I want to propose to you why he says that as evidence here. First, The power at work in the church is of a higher order, as referred to at the end of verse 20. The power of God's salvation that gives us new life, creating new man from the old, is glorious. The power of regenerating grace is more grand than the power that created and sustains all the stars and the quasars and the comets, the galaxies, all of that together. God's work in the heart of an unbeliever to take him, to take me, to take each of you from death to life is more grand, more glorious than all those things in the heavens. Secondly, the power at work in us here in the church is by Christ Jesus, verse 21. Consider that Jesus is the beloved Son. In Jesus, all the promises of God are yes and amen. Jesus has done all things well. Insofar as Jesus is with his people in the church, the glory present here, because Jesus is here, is then of the highest order. Nothing can compare. And third, the church endures. So this is the permanence, the endurance of God's glory as manifest in the church. The gates of Hades will not prevail against the church. No weapon formed against this church or us will prosper. So the glory evident here, as worded by Paul, is to all generations forever and ever. Amen. Truly is the word there, amen. Agreeing, affirming, we say, yes, God, that is true. The holiness lived out in the church, the thanksgiving that we need to express as members of church, the unity that is displayed within the body of the church, and also all the service done in the church in the Lord's name, the praise that we proclaim in the church. All of this will go on for eternity. That is beautiful. It is grand. It is glorious. So for these three reasons, brothers and sisters, it is right to agree with Paul that God's glory is most brightly evident in the church. Without a doubt, this kills our pride. That stirs up humility because all of this has been given to us, right? Left to our own devices, we'd be doing other things in other places on a day like today. But instead, we're here. We are by His grace part of His church. Every good gift we have has come from Him. So we come to this table now. because He prepared it, He invited us, and He has made us worthy. So I pray that we would partake in faith, getting a glimpse of His glory, which we will see all the more so in eternity yet future, as part of the church that gives Him supreme glory. Amen. Father in Heaven, truly, you are glorious, deserving of all praise and honor. We thank you for, by the spirits indwelling, our meager efforts to do so, and we trust that even our best attempts, though weak, are purified and magnified by Him, and that in your Son, who is supremely pleasing to you, our prayers and our offering of love and and gifts of talents to you are pleasing because you love your son, therefore you love us. So please meet us now, joining us by faith to Jesus in this table that we might be truly nourished and see him face to face. I pray in Jesus' name, amen.