Crossway Pond Sermon Podcast · Crossway Christian Church

Filled to the Measure of All the Fulness of God

·36 min·2 clips

Paul prays believers will be “filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”

Dave Ripper begins by greeting the congregation at the pond and naming the day as a big moment in the life of the church. He frames Vision Sunday as the official beginning of the 2025-2026 ministry year. He says vision is not something the church invents on its own. Instead, the church discerns it and trusts that God is already going ahead of the church community. From there he turns to Paul’s prayer for the Ephesian church. He says that prayer still blesses believers now because it shows how the church is being prayed for by the larger church here and now. Paul prays for three specific things: power, love, and a richer sense of God’s abiding presence. The first emphasis is power. Ripper lingers on the line about being strengthened with power through the Spirit in the inner being. He treats that power as divine enablement rather than human effort. That means believers do not have to rely on willpower alone. He says spiritual strength begins with admitting spiritual need. He also connects that power to endurance. The point is not only mission or evangelism. It is also help for hardship, trial, and ordinary pressure. He then names the reality of spiritual opposition. He points toward the larger biblical picture of conflict that is not against flesh and blood. The sermon keeps insisting that believers need help beyond themselves. After that, it turns to love. Ripper dwells on Christ making a home in hearts through faith. He stretches the language of height, width, depth, and length to describe the love believers are meant to know. He calls it love that surpasses knowledge. The final emphasis is presence. The church asks to be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. The sermon ends as prayer, asking God to help the church let go of what gets in the way so his life can fill theirs.

As heard by us

A steady, Scripture-rooted sermon on strength, love, and being filled by God.

Filled to the Measure of All the Fulness of God turns a Vision Sunday sermon into a plainspoken walk through Ephesians 3. Dave Ripper stays close to Paul's prayer for strength, love, and God's presence, and the sermon works best when it links spiritual endurance to something…

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Why you'd press play

If you want a clear, heartfelt take on Paul's prayer in Ephesians 3, start here.

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